Work + Vegas + Celine Fan-Girling

Many of my wonderful travel opportunities come through my job, and working with great people always make the trips a great time.  This November my colleague and I were asked to be a part of a panel discussion hosted by one of our sponsors at the SEMA/APEX Conference to speak about cause marketing.  And because you have to have a little fun while your in Sin City, we made some time to see Celine.  I was so excited that she had returned to Caesars just a few weeks before our visit. 

Vegas has a new ferris wheel attraction from Caesars called the High Roller.  It looks over the magnificent Las Vegas strip and is actually larger than the Eye of London.  Tickets run about $26 per person and takes around 30 minutes to make a full revolution. Although we didn't get a chance to ride the High Roller we were definitely taken back by it's enormity. Welcome to Vegas! 

Our accommodations were set at the beautiful Venetian Hotel.  I've only stayed in Vegas two other times, but I have never step foot in the Venetian.  It is quite impressive and the ambiance takes you to Italy in a heart beat. 

  

Our rooms were not ready at the time of our arrival...lucky us, they decided to upgrade our rooms free of charge. (Travel Tip: Popular hotels will often upgrade your room free of charge if they are heavily booked and the room is not ready when you arrive.)  We stored our luggage at the concierge desk and scouted out a place to eat lunch. 

We grabbed a quick lunch in the Grand Canal Shops at Canaletto.  I ordered the Cannelloni di Pollo which was fabulous. You'll notice the olive oil and balsamic vinegar with the bread in the picture...my weakness! You can view the rest of the delectable menu at Canaletto here. 

After lunch we headed down to the APEX Conference and did a run through of the panel discussion.  Our sponsors are absolutely the best people in the auto industry and were wonderful hosts to us. 

After the panel we finally got to go back up to our room to get settled in.  What we didn't realize is that they had upgraded us to huge suites! All of this all to myself - WOW! And the view was killer! This suite was basically an apartment. I had an entry hallway, half bath, office area, dining room, living room, and a full master suite.  3 tv's a huge closet and a ginormous bath tub. #thesuitelife

  

That night we dined at the modern Italian kitchen, Buddy V's.  The restaurant welcomes you with homey decor, and live music in the bar.  The wait and kitchen staff are all friends or family to the infamous Buddy V; our waiter was actually his cousin.  You can read more about the chef and family history here.

  

The view at night was awesome! 

The next day we had another session of the panel in the afternoon and had a great time meeting the leading ladies in the auto after parts industry. #GirlPower! 

After we wrapped up the panel for that afternoon we decided to head over to the SEMA side of the conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  There was 3 times as many people at this venue and it's partly because the SEMA conference is were all the new model and concept vehicles premier.  The first few days are closed to the public and even with that it was still a mess trying to make our way through. We did get to see some amazing vehicles though. 

  

Work was finished and now we got to play! We made dinner reservations at Searsucker at Caesars Palace and the meal was phenomenal. I ordered the beer braised short ribs and was in heaven. Too bad we were there just to see Celine, I wanted to take my time over dinner. You can view the rest of their creative dishes on the menu. 

We headed over to the show which was only about 100ft away - thank goodness! I was a little worried about my seat since I had booked at the last minute and was on the very top row.  Let me just tell you, at Caesars there is not a bad seat in the house. This apparently is the entire reason why Celine chose the venue because she wanted everyone to have a great view.

The set was amazing, she was emotional, her background vocals and band were flawless, and let me just say...Celine was FLAWLESS. You would think after years of singing there would be some age to her voice...none whatsoever. From beginning to end the show was fabulous.

We left Vegas the next morning after I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise with a cup of coffee over the Las Vegas strip. 

We were pleasantly surprised when our car arrived to pick us up...we got a limo! Leaving Las Vegas in STYLE!