Tag Archives: vegas

How Lou Showed Us the Better Side of Vegas

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You may recognize this post from a year back, however I was recently contacted by Lou’s assistant who politely asked I remove his complete name, as it was the third item to show on Google search…Here’s the story sans the surname. Enjoy…

For every senior in college, there are three significant components of your final year. These include job hunt, thesis and of course, Spring Break. In true Cozy form, we wouldn’t dare disappoint on such a momentous occassion and planned a week long getaway to Lake Mead and Las Vegas. (Lake Mead is located right outside of Vegas. It is most famously known for providing a beautiful, scenic background for the Pam and Tommy sex video tapped some years back.)

The ten girls and I booked a houseboat and carpooled the ten hours for some fun and good times. We were on the lake for something like four days, three nights. Our time was spent tanning, drinking, playing games and of course, crashing the boat…

I believe it was the second night, we decided to dock the boat in the marina and headed back on land to the local tavern. Upon entering we realized the crowd was anything but ordinary…mostly men and appeared to all actually live on the houseboats. Real classy. Aside we settled at the bar and before I could place my order, an older gentleman yelled to the bartender, “Whatever these ladies order is on me.” I of course responded with a “Thank you…you really don’t have to.” and then proceeded to order double of whatever I had originally intended to.

With such a generous ploy I felt obligated to at least sit for one drink and chat it up. What I didn’t realize is that this single decision would not only change the fate of our next 24 hours at Lake Mead, but has forever changed the way I see Las Vegas. The man behind the bankrolls of cash: Lou. (No matter how hard I tried he would not let me take a photo of his face. A little suspicious, right?)

As you can see by his canadian tuxedo and western belt buckle, you don’t expect a lot from this man at first sight. However, after talking with him, I came to learn he was head of the largest Italian drilling company in the world and helped to build all the big hotels in Vegas and, at the time, was drilling for the new Bay Bridge in SF. He claimed the movie Armageddon is based on his life, Bruce Willis playing the part of Lou. And of couse I can’t leave out that I drunk dialed President Bush and the head of the UFC. Not kidding. I actually spoke to the head of the UFC. Bush didn’t pick up. I only got his security.

Not only did he treat us to several cocktails that night, but for those of us heading into Las Vegas after our time on the houseboat, Lou introduced us to the exclusive side of Vegas.

We were in Vegas for two nights and had booked a room at the highest-end hotel, Circus Circus (so gross BTW). Lou, however, had other plans in store for us. He had reserved for us a private cabana at Caesar’s, complete with our own cabana boys and private pool. There we quickly racked up about $1000 in food and drinks… Next, he booked for us a private suite to change before we headed back to Circus Circus. Then, that night, he asked if we’d like to join him for dinner at Caesar’s best steakhouse. We sat VIP, of course, and ordered the most expensive items on the menu. At one point I ordered a cocktail and when the server said they didn’t have the ingredients to make it, Lou demanded they find the ingredients and deliver the drink immediately.

And finally, Lou said he had a surprise dessert for us. I was expecting an ice cream sundae bar, but instead Lou had flown in his son and his friends for a night out on the town with us…Right at the end of our delicious meal, Lou’s son, only a couple years our elder, showed up with his buddies, limo service and cash to take us wherever our hearts desired. What a trip!

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That summer I was living out of my car post graduation and was staying in San Diego with a couple girlfriends. One night, in a very drunken stupor, I booked a hotel room in Vegas for the next day. When I woke up the next morning to find an email confirmation in my inbox, I demanded the girls call in sick to work and that we drive to Vegas for a quick getaway. (PS This is one of two times I booked a trip to Vegas and didn’t remember until the next morning.)

We spent two nights at the Excalibur, one of which we met up with Lou for drinks while he was in town on business. At the Belaggio Lounge we sat, drank and talked with Lou…I could tell he was pretty drunk when at 3am we ordered a final round of peach cocktails…Lou thought we said bowl of peaches (not sure how he got so confused) and paid the waitress $400 to find us their freshest peaches.

We left Lou shortly thereafter and headed home in our private limo back to the cheap life at Excalibur.

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I haven’t kept in contact much with Lou these days…I do miss our times together…Ironically he wasn’t creepy at all. I know that seems shocking, but he is happily married, lives on a big ranch in Utah and just enjoys life…He gave me one really great piece of advice and that was to live life to it’s fullest…I try to do so everyday in the name of Lou!

Is it true? Are John Montgomery and I meant to be afterall?

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In order to fully appreciate tonight’s post, I highly recommend you read “Michael Longly, You Are My Savior!”. In the case you’re being lazy, in sum, I pretended to have a fake bachelorette party in Vegas to get free shit. My girlfriends and I make up a fiance named John Montgomery who I had supposedly met at college. The details of his persona included childhood schooling, family history, employment plans, proposal story, etc.

Upon our return from Vegas we learned that John Montgomery was actually a real person! He went to school at Loyola Marymount University and had almost the identical back-story (minus our proposal, of course). My housemates found him on Facebook and even realized our own roommate Lizzie was acquaintances with him back when she was at LMU! Pure craziness…

Soooo fast forward FIVE years later… It’s Thursday night last week and I’m grabbing a cocktail with Adrian, Mark, Christie and Sean at Paxti’s (which is delicious BTW). We’re sitting at the bar and Adrian’s totally hitting on the bartender. He asks her what’s she’s doing after she gets off work, like she’s never heard that pick up line before (no offense Adrian). She then starts to go off on how her neighbor has been stalking her for the past couple of months to go out on a date (creepy, but whatever) and she finally agreed to meet him for a glass of wine that night(do girls really give in that easy…I guess it’s none of my biznasty). For whatever reason this girl decides to share entirely way too much information about the situation, including this guy’s name: John Montgomery.

WTF?! I immediately freak out with excitement and learn that is indeed JM from LMU. Turns out he lives here in the Marina only a few blocks away from me…I haven’t stalked him or anything (’cause that would make me creepy), but I feel like this may be some sort of wierd fairytale…hopefully more to come…

Viva Las Vegas: 10 Days Isn’t Too Long

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I guess it’s sort of become a tradition, and with the coincidental timing of my conference at work, it just made sense to celebrate my birthday in Vegas again this year. So on Friday, February 28 I set off for my 10-day extravaganza in the beautiful city of sin… Viva las Vegas !

I was thrilled to be staying at The Mirage simply because of my several trips to Vegas I have only been to this hotel once… The last couple of trips I stayed at Caesar’s, The Wynn and Paris, so The Mirage had a lot to live up to…In my book, the first couple hours of your trip is indicative of how your entire stay will play out…So when I entered the baggage claim and found Diane with a sign for Mirage Limo Service and my last name, I knew I was headed in the right direction (literally).

The conference started on Monday, but I was there a couple days in advance to prepare for the opening night Fashion Show. Despite the several hours of work required Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I found time to party it up.

Day One: On Friday afternoon I was thrilled to discover my friend Adrian happened to be in Vegas celebrating the birthday of his childhood buddy. So after a delicious dinner with the team I headed over to Encore to meet up with Adrian and his all male review. Knowing I had to be up for a meeting at 9am, I tried my best to resist, but I couldn’t help but stay out with the guys…we wandered through the casinos and ended up back at Revolution for “Latino Night” (wierd, I know).

Day Two: Saturday was filled with work until around 2am when I decided it was a good idea to meet up with Adrian at The Wynn’s Tryst Nightclub. Let’s just say he had a friend I was ‘interested in’ and was willing, yet another night, to stay out a little late. (I now refer to Adrian as my good luck charm.) This resulted, of course, in the need for a nap on Sunday. (Again, thanks to my little lucky charm), it was a fantastic nap.

Days Three -Six: Once the conference began I was buckled down with business. Professionalism ensued. On Tuesday night I joined the team for some dinner, dancing and drinks at Pure. Such a good time. Oddly the girl from The Hills, Spencer Pratt’s sister was there. She is totally skanky. Gross. Unfortunately for me, Wednesday resulted in a HORRIBLE case of food poisoning for myself and a couple other peeps on my team. I took this as God’s way of saying, you need 40 hours of sleep for what’s about to happen. I acknowledged and slept through Wednesday straight to Thursday.

Day Seven: I was awakened by Cravings Breakfast Buffet (which I was barely able to enjoy) and the thought of my friends arriving in a short couple of hours. Milo and I enjoyed my first birthday cocktail before the Christie/Kristy’s arrived.

That night we went to the Michael Mina’s restaurant, Nobhill Tavern, and I ate a delicious meal of bangers and mash…Looking back this probably wasn’t the best choice in regards to a night of boozing ahead, but it was mmm good! During that meal Kristy #2 pussed out, puked and ended up going home after we ate. This left Milo, Christie #1 and I up to no good.

Over the course of the evening Christie danced on stage, I made out with a girl, we convinced a stranger we were swingers looking to meet some new additions and I earned a lot of free shots! (Don’t we look classy?!)

Day Eight: Friday was definitely one of my favorites! Myles showed up at Margaritaville after telling us he wouldn’t be able to make it. In true Myles fashion we had not idea he was coming to Vegas and while we’re enjoying lunch he shows up and says “Surprise” like it’s no big whoop! Oh gaysians…they’re crazy!

Friday night we had a delicious birthday dinner at Boa’s in Caesar’s. Great dinner…rounds of tequilla and of course, one HUGE birthday candle. (Despite my skills, I couldn’t blow this one out. Hopefully my wish still comes true.)

After dinner we headed to Pure (yes, my second night there). A fantastic table was awaiting us…vodka, a creepy guy named Ricky and a whole lot of dancing filled our night with good times! (Thanks to Milo for the CC that night!) After the club, we did some gambling and enjoyed a $20 sandwich the size of Mary’s head, all in the hopes our hotel room would eventually be freed up for us to sleep. (I’ll let you figure that one out). All I have to say is Stina, Blaire, Mary and I ended up in one of the two beds.

Day Nine: Despite going to bed at 5:30am on Friday morning, we weren’t going to let Saturday pass quietly. What was intended to be a breakfast buffet at Cravings (my third time there), ended in a bottomless mimosa brunch that lasted until 3pm.

Needless to say, we were drunk after our 18th or so bottle of champagne. (Thanks to our server Lee for the consistent refills. That was a hard earned tip.) The afternoon concluded with two people having some sexy time in the bathroom,  one person puking into a bucket in the closet and the rest of us dancing around while housekeeping changed the sheets (thank gawd).

As you can imagine Saturday night was not nearly as aggressive. It was my day nine and everyone elses’ day two/three. It was rough. We made it to dinner, a couple hotels, but couldn’t stay up past 3am.

Day Ten: On Sunday, as I boarded my place home to San Francisco, I thought to myself…despite what everyone says, maybe 10 days in Vegas isn’t too long.


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Michael Longely, You Are My Savior!

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In light of my week long stay in beautiful Las Vegas, I thought I would share a couple of my favortie stories from the city of sin…The first is my love affair with John Montgomery…

Although I had been there in high school, when my parents asked what I wanted for my 21st birthday, the words just came pouring out: Las Vegas. After a horrible 12:01 experience at The Claran, my parents arrived at Cozy the next day for a birthday dinner. With them they had birthday a card, which on the inside read: “Good for one 2-night stay in Las Vegas.” So I rallied the troops and a couple months later headed to the adult playground I’ve grown to love.

The trip was filled with everything I could have imagined…closing down the bars at 4am, Thunder From Down Under (which Hart’s gay ex-boyfriend hooked us up with), line dancing, penny slots for free drinks, roller coaster rides, yard margaritas and more!

After our first debaucherous night we spent the next day roaming the strip looking for trouble. Upon entering a sketchy little gift shop, I saw, under the scratched glass counter, a gleaming bright wedding ring (CZ of course)! This was it…for the duration of the trip it was no longer a birthday celebration, but instead a bachelorette party! I slapped on the ring and a pink princess vale and we hit up the the town for a second night.

To ensure no one would question the validity of my wedded bliss to be, we created a little white lie…The story was that I had met John Montgomery, my husband to be, in college at Santa Clara. He was a bit older and was graduating the next year to go off to law school. He had grown up in the San Francisco and went to all the local Catholic schools there. We had met at an SC Frat theme party: “Role Models.” He was dressed up as Bill Clinton and I was Monica Lewinsky…it was love at first sight. The story went on to include a wedding date, Gainza as my maid of honor, etc…

We were scheduled to head out Saturday night on the last flight, so we decided to make the most of our last day and my ring and vale. We hit up Coyoto Ugly at New York New,York Hotel while our bags sat at the concierge back at Excalibur. After several shots, purchased t-shirts and to go cocktails, we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport.

It’s no surprise that doing booty drops with to-go cocktails in the airport line would catch the attention of the airline staff. When Sue called us to the front desk and said “I can take care of you ladies all at the same time.” We, ignorantly, were thrilled with their level of service, however, this was not the case. Sue informed us it is illegal to board a place noticeably under the influence. We threw out our to-go cups and removed our cowboy hats and attempted to convince Sue that this was not the case and were actually completely sober. I even tried to tell her that my wedding shower was the next day and my mother was going to kill me if I wasn’t back in time.

Just across the way a lovely gentleman by the name of Michael Longely was simultaneously checking in for his flight. He of course had noticed us while in line and overheard my desparate plee to Sue to let us board the plane. He walked up to me and said “Sweetheart, you are too young to be getting married, but I hope it works out…I won big here in Vegas this weekend, so here’s $300 to stay an extra night here on me.” So I took the cash and gave him a HUGE hug!

We went back to the hotel and upon telling the room reservations lady our story, she upgraded our room. We spent 12 hours at the airport the next day, but it was totally worth it!