October 25, 2009

In our last post, you were able to catch a little glimpse of us sisters playing around in the Zumanity gift shop. Well, after a lot of thought and many discussions on the subject, plus some expert advice, BigSis and I have decided to bust out from behind the caricatures and expose our real faces!

LilSis and BigSis at Elton's Red Piano

What better time to reveal ourselves than when we're talking about Zumanity!  You can't get much any more revealing than that!

This photo was taken at the Elton John Red Piano Concert a few years ago. This was a very special occasion for us as SisMama treated us to the concert and then it ended up being the last trip with were able to take with our Dad.  This is the actual photo we sent to the awesome artist, India Kalff, who designed our header and spent oodles of time helping us with the design of BigSisLilSis.

So, now that you know what we really look like, we thought we'd just go for it and make our very first EVER videos. Why the heck not!  We're brave girls, huh?  Be kind!  😀  We're just winging it and having fun!

In this first video, we were on our way to see Zumanity and were really, really excited, and a little nervous/worried, so we forgot to introduce ourselves. In case you hadn't figured it out, BigSis is brunette and LilSis is blonde.  (No makin' fun of the accents, okay??  You already know we're from Texas!)

If we were asked to sum up our thoughts about the Zumanity show in one word, it would be WOW!  In all reality, we were a little stunned after the show and could barely even get one word out. Check it out! (Oh, and notice the creepy lurking guy peaking through the show poster behind us.)  🙂

When we finally snapped out of our Zumanity-induced trances, we did a second “after the show” video with a few more words!

We both really enjoyed and appreciated some aspects of the show.  It is unlike anything either one of us has ever seen, or will see again. The production was incredible and beyond stunning; including the costumes (designed by Thierry Mugler), choreography, contortionism, acrobatics, music, and staging.  It was all truly superb.

One of our favorite performances was the Waterbowl. These two young women swam around in that bowl and performed out of it like they were dolphins.  It was absolutely mesmerizing.  (We added the red heart to the photo so you wouldn't have to see everything that we saw.  BTW, they do have on itty-bitty undies.)

Zumanity Waterbowl

In all seriousness, to say that Zumanity took this show as far as they could possibly push the envelope – even for Vegas – is an understatement. It's definitely NOT for everyone. There is a LOT of nudity, plus a drag diva emcee, a kiss between two men, suggestions of lesbianism, and simulations of sex acts that will pretty much curl your hair.  Plus other stuff that we won't even mention!  We're still not sure what the scary little horned goat/man creature was about; maybe we don't want to know!

While Zumanity features incredibly talented people and unbelievable performances, make no mistake about it – this is a very sexually-explicit show. If you choose to see it, be prepared to be shocked at the sexuality and amazed at the performances at the same time.

One last word of advice. Do. Not. Sit. On. The. Front. Row. And don't make eye contact with any of the characters that roam around. Unless of course, you would enjoy being dragged on stage to have strange men and/or women take your clothes off and perform very suggestive things on you (or to you).

All in all…we guess the final question should be, “would we see it again?”  LilSis says “yes”. BigSis says “nope, once is more than plenty”.  If you're thinking about seeing this show, we suggest you go to YouTube and investigate some of the videos there so you can make an informed decision.  As for us, we'd really like to see some other Cirque shows since we have a huge appreciation for the athleticism and talent we saw in Zumanity.

*Disclosure: BigSis and LilSis received free press tickets from Cirque du Soleil, with the understanding that we would tweet or post about the show. As you can see, we were very honest about our opinions!

October 24, 2009

We've talked a lot about Las Vegas this past week, but we're not quite finished yet!  We have more to tell you!

On our last night in Vegas, we had free tickets to see “Zumanity; The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil”.  And, sensual it was! Wowee!  We'll be reviewing the show shortly, but here's a little sneak peek at the real BigSis and LilSis playing around in the Zumanity gift shop.

This shop was full of fun items: t-shirts, masks, sunglasses, and also lots of sketchy stuff that we WON'T show you!

Don't forget to come back for the Zumanity review in our next post.  Pssst…here's a secret.  It's going to be a video!  Our first video ever! 😀

PS: Just a reminder that BigSisLilSis is still PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Don't forget to support your local breast cancer charities!

~LilSis

October 23, 2009

As LilSis and I were rushing out of Caesar's Palace toward the Las Vegas airport the other day, we stopped at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for a quick but really delicious lunch at the bar.

The bar at Mesa Grill in Las Vegas

We wanted to try Mesa Grill the last time we were in town, but never got there, so we were determined to work it into our schedule this time around all of the BlogWorld stuff.  We were super-happy that we were able to squeeze in a speedy lunch at Mesa Grill as we were scrambling out of town.

Initially, we had an awesome impression of Mesa Grill.  The decor was absolutely beautiful with copper, wood and glass elements working perfectly together in the dining room.  Secondly, we were greeted by a very friendly, professional and helpful bartender.  So far, so good!  We're happy.

We've been pretty disappointed with the service recently at most hotels and restaurants in the city.  We don't know if it's because we're women or that we're straight or that we're forty-something, but 95% of the service has been horrible, so Mesa Grill was a breath of fresh air.  Not hating…just being honest.

Now, on to the food.  We like to try several things at a new place, so we split three appetizers.  Here's what we got:

• Grilled Asparagus Salad with Wild Mushrooms ($14) Mixed greens, grilled asparagus, pecans, Maytag blue cheese, wild mushrooms, and Red Chile Mustard Vinaigrette.

• Sophie's Chopped Salad ($10) Chopped romaine, tomatoes, chickpeas, kidney beans, kalamata olives, cubed cheddar cheese, and crispy little squares of  blue corn tortillas with balsamic vinaigrette.

• Wild Mushroom Quesadilla with White Bean Hummus and White Truffle Oil ($14) Housemade tortillas filled with sauteed mushrooms and really good cheese (whatever it was), with a big dollop of garlicky white bean hummus on top, and drizzled with a spicy chile sauce and truffle oil.

We absolutely loved all 3 of these dishes, as well as the jalapeno cheese bread, and agreed that it was one of the best meals we'd had in Vegas.  We ate every crumb and almost licked the plate!

Was it fancy?  Not really.  But was it well-executed, flavorful, creative, and even delicious?  Was it served in a gorgeous comfortable setting by friendly, well-trained people?  Was the service quick and efficient?  Were the prices reasonable?  Oh, heck, yeah!

Mesa Grill Dining Room

We loved Mesa Grill and will absolutely go back the next chance we get.  It was totally our kind of place.  Way to go, Bobby Flay.  You've done a great job with your decor, your menu and your staff.  We're impressed!

~BigSis

October 22, 2009

Have you ever heard of Fatburger? Or maybe a better question would be “have you ever eaten a Fatburger?” I had never even heard of Fatburger until we saw The Fatmobile that was stationed inside the Exhibit Hall at BlogWorld in Vegas.

I was surprised when I put my zip code into the search box on Fatburger and found out that there are two locations within 30 minutes from my house. You can also go to a Store List where you'll find their locations listed by state.

Fatburger Fatmobile

Just take a look at this burger! I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't love to sink my teeth into this 24 oz. Triple King cheeseburger!  (Maybe just one nice BIG bite!)

I rarely eat hamburgers, but don't get me wrong, it's not because I don't love them! I'm just really having to watch my calories and fat intake these days. If you're thinking you might want to give one of these a try, take a peek at the Fatburger Nutritional Facts first. And notice that there is no info on the Triple King!

Could you eat this Fatburger Triple King?

On the last day of BlogWorld, as we were browsing through the vendor booths, BigSis and I happened to walk by the Fatmobile as they were having a Fatburger eating contest. As you can tell by the photo, by the time we showed up on the scene, most of the contestants were slowing down a bit.  I wish we could have gotten a photo of the winner but there was quite a crowd of curious spectators surrounding this Fatburger eating contest.

1 chewing, 1 contemplating, 1 looking to Heaven for help

I was lucky enough to try a tiny sample of a Fatburger. (Okay, I'll be honest, I had two.) As most of you probably know, BigSis doesn't eat critters, so she couldn't enjoy one of the tasty little treats. First, and most importantly, the beef was very lean and grilled perfectly. I also love that they toast their buns. Not everyone likes a toasted bun on a burger, but I do.

Call me weird, but I like mayo on my burger so I wasn't totally in love with their sauce. It reminded me of the Jack in the Box secret sauce that seems to be something like ketchup, miracle whip and sweet pickle relish all mixed together, but I could be wrong. I also prefer dill pickles instead of sweet ones, so I did scrape most of that off of my tiny bite.

I might have a different opinion if I had been able to taste a bite of a Triple King. If I'm going to eat a burger, I'd rather have it smaller in size but still a double because I prefer to have more meat than bun.

Bottom line, Fatburger still gets a thumbs up from me. I can't say that I'll be eating them often, but I may take HayHay for a Triple King one day for a treat.

~LilSis

October 21, 2009

What a time we had at BlogWorld!  We won't bore you with all of the blow-by-blow details, but we'd be crummy selfish friends if we didn't share the highlights of the conference with you!  You can go to our flickr photostream to see more photos.

• It was incredible to be involved with the new Guinness World Record for the most social mentions in 24 hours.  The goal was to raise money for cancer.  For every tweet, facebook update or blog post mentioning #beatcancer, 1¢ was donated by ebay/paypal and Miller/Coors.  Over $70,000 was raised.  That's over 7 million mentions in just 1 day!

Jermaine Dupri at BlogWorld

• The keynote panel on “New Celebrity” was moderated by Brian Solis and featured Robin from the Pussycat Dolls (?), producer and Grammy winner Jermaine Dupri, singer Matt Goss, Don Lemon from CNN and Anthony Edwards.  Quite a diverse group, wouldn't you say?  That diversity ended up with a bunch of sparks flying around that we could have done without.  On the positive side though, Anthony was totally likable, and spoke sincerely and passionately about his cause Shoe4Africa.  Very smart of him to make friends with a bunch of big-mouths like us bloggers!

Anthony Edwards at BlogWorld

• We were really impressed with what Chris Brogan had to say.  Just wisdom from this expert; no BS!  We need to read his New York Times Bestseller “Trust Agents“.

• The final keynote session was moderated by Guy Kawasaki with Jenny the Bloggess, Kevin Pollack, and Chad Vader.  It was pretty funny, although I'd say a few too many f-bombs for my taste.  But Jenny was hilarious and totally held her own as the only woman on the panel!  Check out her stories on the alien apocalypse and William Shatner.  Go Jenny!

• We had a chance to chat with Lou Mongello from wdwradio, and got some great input on wherever the heck it is that BigSisLilSis are going.  Thanks for your thoughts, Lou!  All the best to you with wdwradio.com.

• And lastly, we had the awesome opportunity to meet Darren Rowse.  Yes, THE ProBlogger!  In person.  😀   Woo hoo!  Seriously, we didn't want to leave BlogWorld without meeting Darren because of the enormous respect we have for him, his expertise, and the way he conducts his business…with total integrity.  So we send a HUGE thank you to Darren for kindly tolerating our gushing, and giving us some extremely valuable input that we're going to be acting on asap!  THANK YOU!

Oh, and the big surprise that we mentioned yesterday?  It's a direct result of the ideas and encouragement from Lou and Darren.  Whatever could it be?  😀

~BigSis

October 20, 2009

We're back!  We both flew back to our homes last night after 4 days at BlogWorld in Las Vegas, and you can bet that we have lots to tell you about that long weekend!

Can you even begin to imagine how much stuff it takes for 2 blogging women to get through 4 days of work and fun in Las Vegas?  These photos will give you an idea of what our room looked like!  Just imagine a bomb going off in both our suitcases!

Here's the bathroom we shared at the Renaissance…

Vegas Bathroom Mess

and the desk we shared when we moved over to Caesar's Palace…

Vegas Desk Mess

Somehow we managed to pack all that cr*p back into our bags and get home with it all, plus a bunch of business cards, marketing materials from vendors and swag from the show!

We're going to have gobs more on BlogWorld this week (plus a big surprise) so don't go anywhere!

~BigSis

October 15, 2009

Today is a big day for us!  This morning, I'm hopping on a plane to meet BigSis in Vegas, where we'll be attending the BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2009. We've been planning this trip for months so we're really excited that the much-anticipated day is finally here!

We've been studying like crazy to prepare ourselves for all that we hope to learn this weekend at the Expo. And, we're secretly (ok, not so secretly now) hoping to meet Darren Rowse, the infamous ProBlogger. I'd also like to meet the zany, Jenny of The Bloggess. And, we're both curious about Anthony Edwards being a Keynote Speaker.

We're going to be extremely busy with morning til night sessions and plan to crash a few ‘After Parties', so if something exciting happens, you can bet we'll be Tweeting about it! If you aren't already following us, just go to the right sidebar and Follow BigSis and LilSis. We promise not to bore you with what time we get up, what we eat for breakfast or what time we get in from the casinos; just maybe a couple of quick Tweets about our adventures and misadventures!  We'll also be putting up our photos on flickr.  You can find our photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/bigsislilsis.

And, if time permits, we'll throw up a post or two from Vegas so stay tuned for more on our BigSisLilSis adventure @ Blog World in Vegas!  Look out Vegas; here come the sisters!

~LilSis

November 30, 2008

We're back home now, and our long week of celebrating Thanksgiving and BigSis' birthday in Las Vegas is winding down. Here's how it all went.

First, in Vegas:

• LilSis had a smooth flight in on Tuesday, but BigSis and SisMama got stuck in Amarillo on Monday for over 4 hours due to mechanical problems. There was a problem that caused hydraulic fluid to spill out all over the runway as the plane was about to take off, and the jet had to be towed back to the gate. Southwest doesn't have mechanics in Amarillo, so the part and the mechanics had to be flown from Dallas to Amarillo, and then it took them a couple of hours to fix the plane. Thankfully, they did a great job and BigSis and SisMama got to Vegas safely, although they lost half a day of their time there.

• Once we all got there, Vegas was fun fun fun! And no, we didn't get into any trouble. There was no reason for you to worry, Big T. It was a very “G Rated” trip. Although we were very much looking forward to a fun night of indulging in gambling (something we don't have much experience with) and scoring some great casino bonuses. How that turned out, well, it'll be revealed in just a bit.

• We were not thrilled with the service at our usual favorite hotel so we decided to check out as many others as we could on this trip. We really liked Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino and love that The Miracle Mile Shops are attached to the casino. We tried to get out to look at the “infamous” pool on the 6th floor but it was closed due to the weather. We loved Caesar's Palace and The Forum Shops and just might stay there on our next trip. We each fell in love with a purse from the Coach store at The Forum Shops but we resisted buying them. (It took every ounce of willpower.)
  

  BigSis wanted this one!

  

  Lil Sis wanted this one!

• We did see Luciano Pavarotti, Elvis, a girl who looked like Sarah Jessica Parker, two hookers, and two drunk Europeans.

• The weather in Vegas was not great, especially on Wednesday…BigSis' birthday! How dare it be rainy and cold and windy! Still, it would have made a great time to admire the beauty of some of the most beautiful casinos in the strip.

• BigSis came away with about $60 in winnings against around $80 total in losses, so a net loss of $20 in slot machine fun isn't too bad! You can't even see a movie and buy popcorn for that! LilSis and SisMama didn't fare quite as well, but none of us are big gamblers so we can't cry about our small losses. We've been told you can win money without depositing any money while gambling online, so perhaps to avoid some more losses, we'll take a look at some online slots in the future instead!

• If anyone EVER recommends to you that you take the Deuce mode of double-decker transportation, DON'T DO IT! Let us just say that we had a terrible experience with it, and lost about 2 hours out of Wednesday. Nuff said. Don't do it. Take a ding dang cab.

• We had some fabulous meals in Las Vegas! On Tuesday, our dinner at The Palm at Caesar's Palace was by far the best! They had the best creamed spinach that any of us had ever eaten. The recipe is also in The Palm Restaurant Cookbook. Wednesday, we had a great birthday lunch for BigSis at Taqueria Canonita in the Venetian (delicious mushroom tacos). And The Studio Cafe in MGM Grand actually has one of the best breakfasts in town (excellent omelets and hashbrowns).
  

  The Palm in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas

Then, back at home:

• LilSis made her first homemade pecan pie. She made the 2008 Thanksgiving Pecan Pie from Cookie Madness and the Eagle Brand Basic Pumpkin Pie . They both turned out great!

• LilSis and her family had an excellent Thanksgiving dinner, in spite of her flying in that afternoon and spending 2 hours in traffic getting home from the airport. The turkey was perfect and the Refrigerator Mashed Potatoes were the big hit, as usual. Thanksgiving dinner was great and everyone was thankful to be together.

• BigSis and SisMama also flew back to Texas on Thanksgiving, but opted for the Furr's Cafeteria buffet instead of cooking, since they'd done the family meal on the previous Sunday. The pros: no cooking, no clean-up, and only $9 per person. The cons: it was good but not like homemade.

• On Black Friday, BigSis and SisMama braved the crowds at Galleria Mall to see the lighting ceremony for the largest indoor Christmas tree in the country. Can you say “crowd control”? Great googly moogly there were bajillions of people there!

Ok, girls and boys, start your engines! The Christmas season is now here in full swing! Since we had a late Thanksgiving, we have a short period of time until Christmas. In the coming weeks, we're going to focus on Christmas, of course.

BigSis is organizing a bake sale on December 15th at her office building to benefit the Dallas SPCA, and her team's goal is to raise $3000. She will have much more to share about that project in the next couple of weeks.

LilSis and SirHoney have to get busy putting up the exterior Christmas lights. It just hasn't felt like Christmas yet in California since it's been 75 degrees and sunny almost every day. LilSis also has to get busy on shopping since she has to ship all their Christmas gifts.

We hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving week, and that you'll stay with us throughout the Christmas season! We love Christmas, and we'll be talking about shopping, decorating and merry-making!

November 26, 2008

The day started off running across the street in the freezing cold rain to the Tropicana to play BigSis' new favorite game!

Meowing for Moolah!

Meow meow meow!

Here's LilSis' favorite game! She hunts this one down in every casino she visits.

Congratulations Podnah! We're drilling for Oil!

Who knew we would run into Luciano Pavarotti at the Venetian with a birthday greeting for BigSis!

An unexpected birthday greeting from Pavarotti!

After our meeting with one of the great tenors, we had a fabulous lunch on the canal at Taqueria Canonita.

Lunch at Taqueria Canonita

Now at 9 pm, we're back at our hotel and freshening up to go on to birthday celebration phase 2!  We're off to the Wynn to have a birthday cocktail at Tryst, and then maybe whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

~BigSis

November 25, 2008

Vegas, here I come! It's early Tuesday morning and I'm heading to Vegas to meet BigSis and SisMama!  The minute I get on that plane, I'm leaving my worries behind! These next two days are going to be dedicated to celebrating BigSis' birthday and having a little bit of fun!

~LilSis