Viva Las Vegas and a 4 day weekend!

In efforts to try and fit everything in before we go, Dan and I whisked away for 24 hours in Vegas this weekend.

Thanks to my Uncle John, Aunt Kathryn, and cousin Alex for the Travelocity Hotel voucher- we stayed at the Venetian! I've always wanted to stay there, as it seems like one of the more luxurious hotels on the strip, and it definitely was!

We just got a normal room, but all the rooms are suites. It had a King bed on one side then a few steps down to the living area with a full couch, tv, desk, table, etc. The room had a TV by the bed, TV by the couch, and TV in the bathroom! insane.

Although the room was nice, we didn't spend much time in it. We landed around 10:30am Saturday, checked in and then headed to Downtown (Old) Las Vegas. We had lunch there and played slots and Roulette at one of the casinos. Then late afternoon we took a power nap before we headed out to dinner.

Photo collage of inside the Venetian

Lunch downtown Las Vegas

I took Dan to Fogo de Chao which is a Brazilian Steak House where waiters come around with various types of meat to try. I had been to one in Orlando and knew Dan would love it. So we ate there then headed out to the strip for the evening. We roamed around, played some games, and then made our way back to the hotel.

Ready for our night out!

Chandeliers at the Cosmopolitan

The one photo I got before the water show ended

The next day our flight left around 1:30, so we managed to squeeze in a breakfast buffet and some more gambling before we left.
I'm sure you are all wondering if we had a big win- and just to help out with future blog posts that may include gambling- you can always just assume that we didn't. (Just ask Dan's Punters club... we're not very big winners when it comes to gambling). But we did have a good time.

Sunday we got back and picked up Jackson from his overnight camp, and spent the rest of the night relaxing.

Jackson is a professional at relaxing

Monday Dan and I were both of work, so we met up with Kelly and Mauricio and (per Mauricio's suggestion) went for a hike and picnic in Irvine. It was such a nice day and a really nice hike. They even had a zoo in the  middle of the park with bears, beavers, mountain lions, bobcats, and weasels!
After the hike, Dan and I met up with a prospective buyer for my car... fingers crossed.

Overall it was a really great long weekend. Now it's only a few days of work left for me this week before heading to Arizona for Thanksgiving.

More soon!
 

Colorado

This past weekend, Dan and I were able to get away to a little (or A LOT) cooler weather, and visit my mom and Heidi in Colorado Springs.

We got in on Thursday night and it was snowy! Dan was like a kid on Christmas seeing the snow fall, I could barely get him to go to sleep, he said he just wanted to watch the snow fall all night.

Then Friday the snow stopped and it spent the rest of the day melting and erasing it's tracks that it existed in the first place. The weather was still nice and cold though.

Saturday we all drove from Colorado Springs to Boulder (about an hour and a half drive). Boulder is a cool college town with shops, bars, restaurants, etc. So we stopped there for a little bit to explore and have a drink for my mom's birthday (which was saturday!).  Then after Boulder we drove to a little town called Black Hawk and went to a couple casinos to gamble a little bit. Some of us won a little (not us), some of us lost a little (us.), but overall we had a really nice time.

Sunday we just laid low and relaxed and then flew back home.

Overall, it was a great getaway, and we're looking forward to catching up with family again in a few weeks in Phoenix for Thanksgiving!

We're really doin it!

So the waiting time is over....

I (Holli) finally got my visa!

The Australian Embassy emailed me with all the information I need! I am officially a Resident of Australia! (In case anyone is wondering, I'm a "temporary" permanent resident for the next two years and then after that I will be granted the official permanent resident visa and from there I could apply for citizenship)

I can enter anytime between now and August 2013, so our game plan is still set for December.

Yay!

Here's some photo proof for your viewing pleasure :)

Now time to get myself a job... anyone in need of a marketing manager?!?!

xoxo

Going, Going... Waiting...

Well it's all over and it's all beginning.

Dan and I had such an amazing time during the wedding week and the day of the wedding. It was so amazing to have all of our friends and family (or most) in our local spots, in our local bars, in our local hang outs and to be able to share all of our daily lives with everyone, not to mention having all those people join in supporting us the day of our wedding as we officially become the O'Brien's. We really felt so blessed to have everyone there and we made memories to last a lifetime. We are so lucky to always be able to look back at that time and think fondly of our wedding day and week thanks to everyone who came out and made it so special.

Then we got to go on an amazing honeymoon filled with relaxation, amazing food, amazing locations, amazing people. We had such a relaxing stay in Zihuatenejo/Ixtapa and then had a great time in Cabo San Lucas as well.

Then... we came home. We were both excited to come home to get settled into daily married life, however the stack of wedding decorations, gifts, etc that we had stacked before we left wasn't as exciting as our relaxing honeymoon.

Now we are sorting, packing, planning, etc, for the next move in our married lives. Plus I found out a few more hoops I need to jump through for my visa that I thought I wasn't supposed to initiate, but rather Australian immigration was going to initiate. wrong. silly me.

So we are done with this super fast paced exciting phase of planning for our wedding, planning for everyone coming to town, planning for a relaxing honeymoon, and have entered into this strange area of planning for a future move that is somewhat unknown, somewhat hard to grasp, and somewhat hard to plan for.

Nonetheless- we're planning and we're waiting.

Jackson got his rabies test signed off by the officials at the USDA office here in LA, and we've officially sent in for his import permit which is exciting. And I'm just trying to stay on top of all my visa needs to reach our goal timing as well.

We are hoping to send Jackson around December 10th or 11th and for us to fly over to Sydney around the same time as well. Dan and Jackson are seemingly a sure thing at this point, and as for me... I'll just keep waiting :)

Patience is a virtue, I just need to find that virtue....

We are so excited about getting to Australia and finding jobs and settling into a house, Casa de O'Brien I feel has a nice ring to it,  I just can't wait for that time to get here!

Here's some photos of the honeymoon to leave you all with. Thanks for reading our blog and keeping up with the newly appointed O'Brien's.

Love you all!

Test to see it in action

Hooray! we've taken the next step and created a blog!!