Well as most know Roger and I went to Vegas Oct. 2- 4 so I could meet some of the Fabulous ladies from Fabulously40andBeyond . It is a wonderful site I joined October 22, 2008. It’s a place for women over 40 to meet and and share experiences. Drop by, and tell them MzTracy sent you! ;-).

I cannot tell you how excited I was to be going. The drive took us 31/2 hours and flew by. We checked in at the Paris Hotel, Vegas. We got unpacked and I immediately headed out to meet the girls. I met Laurie first and it was a if I had known her my whole life.

Isn’t she gorgeous! Her insides match her outsides. She is an amazing woman. Click one her links on the right and you can see for yourself. She was a tough one to keep up with… always moving!

We headed down to the bar! Hoorah!! lol There we met up with Lu and Kelly.

It was the same feeling meeting Lu as it was meeting Laurie. The second we met it was as if we had known each other forever. She is my candle girl. She makes the best candles ever. Check her link on the right as well. She has the best, smartass attitude like me! lol

And Kelly, she is as sweet as can be. So nice and kind. [hope we didn’t rub off our bad ways on her] lol

Kelly is adorable and takes gr8 pics! ‘Yes Kelly you do’ 😉 And she was on a winning streak! Lucky girl!

We all hung out at the bar by the Paris casino, where we all were staying. It was 2 for 1 martini time and we made sure to get our two. I had an apple-tini then a cosmo. We felt like the Sex in the city girls drinking our ‘tinis’. lol We took pics and just chatted and chatted away. We were killing some time until the dinner at 7:30 with the rest of the fab ladies. [minus Cynthia who was arriving in the morning] Time passed so quickly and the next thing we knew it was time to meet up at the restaurant.

We got to the restaurant and Yana and her daughters Stephanie and Daisy were already there. Another friend, Esther showed up soon after.

From left to right: Yana, Esther, and Yana’s gorgeous girls Stephanie and Daisy. By this time I was feeling so full in my heart. We ordered dinner and then started chatting. Yana started talking about how she started the site [she is the owner] and how gr8 it is to see women connecting, meeting, etc. Then she started saying how termagsea [Judy] had really wanted to be there. How she had been working on something for a while. I admit, I was kind of lost. Then Yana reached under the table and pulled out a huge gorgeous basket filled with bathroom goodies and she had cards and a picture clutch as well. She told me how after Judy read my bathroom remodel blog she wanted to help in some way. I was not quite sure what was happening. I felt tears starting but tried to hold back. I opened the first card which had fab friends names in it and a cashiers check for 500.00 to help get me started on my dream bathroom. That was all it took, the dam broke and the tears flowed. As I read all the cards and looked through the photo clutch I was so overwhelmed with a feeling of love and friendship. I still cannot express how It made me feel and still makes me feel when I re-read the cards, look through the pics and stare at the basket.

As I type this, the tears are ready to roll. I have not felt such friendship and hope as I did that night in a very very long time. What these ladies did [and I’m told are still doing] is such a blessing for me. There are so many times I feel so alone, and this truly did make me see that i am NEVER alone when I have friends like this. All the ladies that traveled to Vegas so it would be easy for me. Lu, who planned this trip and got the ball rolling. How special is that? And Yana for having a site where these friendships can be made.

Dinner was fabulous. Yana and her girls had to leave after dinner to go eat another dinner. lol It was her hubbies birthday weekend. We would meet back up with her for lunch the next day. Lu, Laurie, Kelly, Esther and I headed outside for some air and to get some pics. Lu was exhausted as she had been up since 5am her time. So she headed up to bed. Kelly and Esther went over to the MGM and Laurie and i went and got lattes and sat and talked for a couple of hours in a lil cafe inside the Paris.

I was getting tired and my legs were hurting from sitting in one position for so long, but I did not care. It was a good tired and even a good pain. We finally headed up to our rooms around 12:30 am or so. We would all be meeting in the morning. When I got to my room Roger was waiting up. He had been to dinner with us and witnessed the whole beautiful dinner. I had been so worried about the cost of the trip etc. Rog looked at me and said that dinner and what those ladies did made the whole trip worthwhile. Then he smiled and told me what an awesome bunch of friends I have. You know, when he’s right…he’s right!!

My head hit the pillow and out I went!

Be back with day 2 soon.

Blessings and Peace!