A Birthday in Vegas

Yesterday was George’s birthday. We celebrated his special day by doing some clothes shopping and getting See’s chocolate, a nice leisurely stroll on the Las Vegas Strip, and a nice dinner at the Bellagio. Most of the preceding week was rather cloudy and filled with chilly and gusty winds. Yesterday the sun decided to come out in full force. And boy, did it warm up quickly. The forecast for next weekend calls for temperature well above 90 degrees. Looks like the desert is once again skipping Spring altogether and heading right into Summer.

Below are some photos we took yesterday on the Strip.

The birthday boy at the atrium of the Wynn Resort on the Las Vegas Vegas Strip.

I call this photo “A Local Among Tourists.” This is me in front of the waterfall next to entrance of the Esplanade at Wynn.

The new Spring display at the Garden Conservatory inside the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.

A fantasy tree inside the Bellagio.

The Bellagio Garden with this year’s Spring display.

Art sprung to life. A “painting” made of real flowers.

George is enjoying the Spring show. We had a nice birthday dinner at the Bellagio shortly after this picture was taken.

Seven

Yesterday, the number 7 had a significant meaning for George and I.

• There are seven wonders of the ancient world.

• There are seven continents in the world.

• There are seven colors of the rainbow.

• A ladybug commonly has seven spots.

• Most people in Europe, Latin America, and New England write 7 with a line in the middle.

• In “Star Trek: Voyager,” Seven of Nine (also called Seven for short) is one of the crewmembers.

• ProSieben (sieben being German for seven), a television network in Germany.

• The Marilyn Monroe film “The Seven Year Itch” is famous for the white dress blowing up.

But more importantly, we celebrated our seventh anniversary together. It’s amazing how time flies. And I couldn’t even imagine my life without George anymore. Thank you for an incredible ride of a lifetime. I’m hoping it’ll never stop.

Ich liebe Dich!

Class of 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the Class of 2010!

Saturday was a big day for George. He graduated to receive his Master in Education.

His brother Thomas drove from California to join us for this joyous occasion and spent the weekend at our house. And on Saturday morning the whole gang witnessed the ceremony at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Along with thousands of other spectators whom were all cheering for the accomplishments of their loved ones.

It goes on this way. No, no, that way! George's mother and brother trying to dress him up appropriately.


That's my George. I'm so proud of him.

One proud and happy family. No, the dork in the blue shirt is not part of it!

After the ceremony, we all celebrated at Strings, our favorite Italian restaurant. The rest of the day basically consisted of eating food.

Where's the food? Here we are waiting for the rest of the family to arrive at Strings.

Later that evening, George, Thomas and I spent a fun evening on the Las Vegas “Strip.” And wouldn’t you know...The eating frenzy continued! As if it was even possible to stuff ourselves with more food. But here we were, having a good time.


The brothers on the Strip.

Congratulations, George. All the studying and hard work paid off. Next item on the list of reaching high goals...the United States Secretary of Education.

Or just a nice teaching position. That would be great too.

Marching Out

Can you believe this is the last day of March already? Why not simply post some pictures before this month of March 2010 fades into history.

Just outside the Paris Las Vegas Resort and Casino, looking towards the new Cosmopolitan Towers which will open later this year

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris Las Vegas Resort is an exact half-size replica

The patio of the Mon Ami Gabi restaurant at the Paris Resort faces the famed Las Vegas “Strip” where diners can also watch the dancing water fountains of the Bellagio across the street

Our friend Margaret, George and I spent a lovely evening at Mon Ami Gabi to celebrate George’s birthday

We enjoyed delectable meals and were served by a very charming and quite handsome French-Canadian waiter. Le vie est belle!

Just me in our kitchen, enjoying another weekend

Happy Birthday, George

Today one year ago we spent George's birthday at one of our favorite places on this planet. What a fun day it was.


Unfortunately, I developed a terrible cold and that kind of puts a damper into our celebration plans for George's birthday today. We'll have his mom and sister over for a nice dinner and we were planning to meet some friends later this evening. I hope I'm up for it. I feel terrible to be sick today of all days.


Nevertheless, Happy Birthday, George. I'm wishing you all the best in the world. And I love you lots.

Fab!

That’s my George. Isn’t he just fab?


It was kind of a slow day at work yesterday for whatever reason. So I was having fun playing around with a photo of George in PhotoShop and Illustrator, trying to turn it into some sort of pop art, if you will.


Fabulous, Dah-ling. Absolutely fabulous!


Don’t you think?

Hunched Old Men

While taking a nice leisurely walk through the park with George on Sunday afternoon I somehow manage to throw my back out. A few hours later at home, George did exactly the same thing. No joke.

So here we were, both in pain and could barely move. We stayed home from work yesterday too and tried our darndest to recover as much as possible. It helped as we’re back at work again today. Still in pain but not nearly as bad as on Sunday. I hope we’ll feel better by Thursday for our trip to LA-LA-Land.

Talking about sympathy pains. George and I really share everything together. If that’s not true love...

We obviously had nothing better to do than throwing our backs out. Couldn’t we have thrown a party instead?

Below are a few photos of us from the weekend...before we both turned into hunched old men.

More on Homer's Odyssey

Here are a few more photos from our exploration into the Valley of Fire with Homer last Saturday.

George took this “behind-the-scenes” peek of the “photo shoot” with Homer. The final result can be seen here on Homer’s blog.

The two blogsters Homer and Jim.

One of my favorite spots in the Valley of Fire, the White Domes.

George and Homer in front of the Lost City Museum in Overton, Nevada.

I Now Pronounce You...

...well, not quite.



But today makes George and I an officially partnered couple. We’ve been a couple for over five years, mind you. However, today it’s officially legal as well. The new Domestic Partnership laws go in effect as of today in the State of Nevada.



We are “Domestic Partnershipped.”


Okay, that does sound hokey. Is there another word to describe this more appropriately? It surely doesn’t have the same ring like “we are married,” but that is what it feels like to us at least. Even if our relationship and our newfound rights are not recognized on a federal level. But all that doesn’t matter for now.


George and I are a happily partnered couple and we are finally being legally accepted as such in Nevada. The state’s motto is “Battle Born.” What a battle it has been for the LGBT community in this state. But we prevailed and now it’s time to celebrate. And we hope there will be more celebrations like this to come for every state in this country in the very near future.


Links to the web sites of the local newspapers and their contribution to this historic day are here and here.


Congratulations to everyone involved and all the best for the future.


George, I love you with all my heart.

George’s Birthday

George’s birthday was this last Friday and we celebrated in Disneyland. His brother Thomas and girlfriend Sharon came as well and we all spent an amazing day at the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

The next day George and I drove to Manhattan Beach but finding a parking space there was next to impossible. We ended up in Hermosa Beach and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day walking along the Strand and having a gigantic pizza at Zeppy’s.

We really can’t add much more other than it was another wonderful weekend in California. So why don’t we let the photos do the talking. Isn’t a picture suppose to say more than a thousand words?

Enjoy.



The evening before - the entrance to Disney’s California Adventure theme park, adjacent to the Disneyland Park.



We started George’s birthday by heading over to Downtown Disney where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Catal restaurant.




And here we finally are at Disneyland.



There is trouble even in paradise. A maintenance worker checking the Alice in Wonderland attraction.


A car got stuck on the Alice in Wonderland ride. The guests take it in stride while a cast member entertains them.



Even extra-terrestrials have to go sometimes.



Here’s the big cheese himself. No, no, the one with the big ears.


The following photos were taken in Hermosa Beach which we’ve visited the next day.



Above is a picture of Zeppy’s where we had pizza. The photo below was taken at the Mad Greek in Baker, CA. Located between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert and literally in the middle of nowhere.



Of course, we had to add more to our Disney Pins collection. Yes, we’re afraid it’ll turn into some kind of addiction. Here above you’ll see some of our booty.