More Birthday Fun

Saturday night Elliott and I hired a babysitter (who was fabulous by the way) and headed out for a night on the town to finish celebrating my 30th birthday. There were a couple of things that have been on my "to-do" list since we loved to Las Vegas and I excitedly decided to cross them off. First we went to dinner at Olives at the Bellagio. It is a Mediterranean-food restaurant by celebrity chef Todd English. I am a HUGE Todd English fan; he's a Boston-based chef, who's restaurants I used to frequent there. Even though I am not that enthusiastic about Mediterranean cuisine, I had confidence that I would like whatever Todd English created. And we did!

Olives overlooks the fountains at the Bellagio, so although we couldn't get a table on the patio with a direct view, I faced a window and saw a few shows every now and then. The service was superb and the menu was very yummy. They had a prix fix menu that both Elliott and I ordered off of, ensuring we got a little taste of most everything. Discussing it over dinner, we both agreed that we really enjoy the concept of prix fix menus - they force us out of our normal comfort zone, making us trust the chef, and 99.9% of the time we are pleasantly surprised that we enjoyed a particular flavor.

One of the funniest moments of dinner was when I came back after a visit to the restroom. We had had our dessert and I assumed in my absence Elliott would take care of the check. However as soon as I sat down I realized we were still waiting, and in the brief moment it took me to wonder out loud why the waiter appeared with a beautiful plate of three truffles and strawberry, with "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate. I almost cried with surprise and happiness. I immediately complimented Elliott on being so sneaky with the surprise, but he openly admitted he was surprised as me! He hadn't told the waiter it was my birthday! (I then realized I made a comment in the online restaurant reservation letting them know it was my birthday, and they had made note of it.) About 5 minutes after Elliott's confession he wondered outloud why he hadn't thought more quickly and taken credit for the surprise which made me laugh (and still does). Here's a photo of dessert (after we had eaten the goodies, since I didn't think fast enough to take a picture before):

And here's one of us at the restaurant:

After dinner we went to see "O" by Cirque du Soleil, also at Bellagio (so we didn't have to walk far). When I booked the tickets I did what I normally do - looked for a deal. So I purchased balcony tickets. However, after mulling this over for a week (which is what makes me know that it is indeed bothering me) I called the box office and upgraded our seats to the orchestra section. Hey, I'm only going to see the show once, it's my birthday, and I had a little money set aside. So I splurged. And after the show Elliott and I agreed this was the right thing to do. In the future if we ever go see another show on the Strip, we will always splurge for orchestra seats.

From our incredible seats we sat amazed for an hour and a half. "O" is a water show, so the stage had an enormous swimming pool where performers would swim, dive, float, (and when a floor was raised) walk and dance. It was truly awe-inspiring! MANY times I gasped outloud and was too engrossed in the performance to remember to clap. There was always so much going on on-stage, in front of the stage, and in the wings it was confusing to know where to direct my attention. I quickly learned to keep my eye on the main performers, whether aerial acrobats or high-rise divers because I would get distracted by a dancer on stage and then miss the best parts! It was a true spectacle and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

After the show we headed to a piano bar at the front of the casino to sit, have a drink, and people watch for awhile. We both like to people watch at casinos (you never know who you'll see or what the heck people will wear) so we enjoyed a little more relaxation. Then we went outside to take in a water show (always fun) and then we called it a night. I didn't want to overdo it, but quit while I was ahead (so to speak). We went home to a quiet house (cleaned too!) and our fantastic babysitter who said she would come back anytime (yeah!) So Elliott and I are already planning our next date night. I can't wait!