C is for cousins, canyons, and chapstick!

Well, last weekend I met up with my cousin who has been living here in Vegas for six years now (time flies!). We had a great time, she is such a cool woman. Growing up, we've only seen each other previously on three occasions, and the last time I saw her, she was a high-schooler (I'm 14 years her senior). Now she's an adult, and she is just really cool! It will be nice to reconnect and to have family in the area. She seems to have a free-spirit, which makes me nostalgic for my college/early post-college days, when everything seemed possible. That was such a great time in life and a great perspective from which to enter the "real" world, and who says we can't keep that perspective as we get older?! Vegas is a whole new world to me, and with the new comes a host of possibility, right? Amen!

So, my cousin took me to see Red Rock Canyon, and yes, ladies and gentlemen (all three of you who are bothering to read this blog!) this is what I am talking about. I can see glitz and neon anytime in NYC, but red, striated mountain ranges are hard to come by back home, and this is the Vegas I want to experience. Not to say that I won't be strolling up in the casinos, or seeing Cirque de Soleil twenty times, but I want to have as rounded an experience as possible, and Red Rock Canyon seems to be a good place to start. It was gorgeous, in a daunting way. The mountains are beautiful, but they also seem devoid of life, left behind like relics from a time long ago. Or maybe they appear to predate life, like life hasn't made its way to those ranges, yet. They look untouched. It's funny, the colors remind me of the autumn leaves back east, which I find awe-inspiring, but isn't it interesting that it is the dwindling of life that creates the vibrant autumn palette? Thanks for the deep thoughts, Morbid Martha.

If I had any sense, I'd put my money on Chapstick out here in Vegas - everyone who has relocated here in the company is complaining of chapped lips! The air must just be dryer than I even realized, but it is doing a number on my lips. It's like I can't have enough lip moisturizer. So if you're headed out here, make a list: quarters, sunscreen, luck, and Chapstick.