I’ve made no secret that Las Vegas is a place I have little love for. Despite this, we return time and time again as so many of our favorite acts set up shop in that chaotic city. Honestly, the magnetic draw is just too powerful for us to overcome. This recent trip to Sin City was no exception, but I will say, it did prove to be quite exceptional. Which is not a descriptive I’d normally give, but credit must be given where credit is due…
We went for a long weekend in mid-November to see my absolute #1 favorite artist: Leona Lewis. You’ll most likely know her best from her smash hit, “Bleeding Love,” which reigned as 2008’s biggest song of the year. She’s had many other hits in her native United Kingdom and across Europe, but here in the states, her career was sadly limited. Nonetheless, she’s performing her first Las Vegas Residency at the Voltaire at the Venetian and there was no way we were going to miss it. Melissa, Nancy, my mom, and I are all avid Leona fans and as you’ll see by the end of this post, she did NOT disappoint!
You may recall that a handful of years ago I went to this magical place in Denver called Meow Wolf. Well, Las Vegas has a version of this immersive and interactive art institution as well! Inspired by a retail store – obviously something I can personally really relate to – Meow Wolf Omega Mart proved to be the perfect way to begin our trip!
It’s honestly difficult to explain a Meow Wolf, but I would recommend one to anyone. There are about half dozen across the western United States and my goal is to one day visit them all. These whimsical wonderlands are unlike any place else.
The number of photographic opportunities that lie inside one of these museums is second to none. Each one is themed so differently from the next that all the experiences would be wholly unique.
Group photo: Melissa, Nancy, me, and my mom.
Rest Stop.
The mysteries that lie inside are just unreal. You never knew what kind of terrain, art, or lighting you were going to stumble upon.
As you can see, musical talent runs in the family.
Area 15, where Meow Wolf was located, was definitely an interesting place. They had a Universal Studios Horror Park that I would’ve loved, but no one else I was traveling with would have. Plenty else to do there and it was mere minutes from the famous Las Vegas strip.
We never visit Vegas without visiting the shops at Caesar’s Palace. Despite not being able to afford much from many of the stores, it’s a shopping mall I absolutely love.
We ate at two Wolfgang Puck restaurant’s, this was the first. We loved them both quite a bit honestly. The first one was Italian style with the second being a steak house. Nancy loved these breadsticks and for good reason, they were delicious!
Following dinner, Melissa and Nancy went and saw New Kids on the Block while my mom and I took a tour of the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and took in a show. The shark aquarium was super good despite maybe being a bit smaller than I would’ve guessed, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.
The show my mom and I saw was Cirque Du Soleil’s, Michael Jackson’s One. It was everything you’d expect from a Cirque Du Soleil show mixed with the legendary music of Michael Jackson. We absolutely loved it!
I made the incorrect assumption that because our hotel, New York New York (pictured above) was an MGM Rewards Casino just like Mandalay Bay, I could use my gambling voucher from the latter at the former. Well, I was wrong. You can only use vouchers from the very casino you’re gambling in. This caused me to have to take a 1:00 a.m. walk back to Mandalay Bay to cash out my voucher. It took less than 20 minutes each way, so it wasn’t awful. There was no way I was letting that voucher go to waste, so despite it all, I walked by myself in the wee hours of the night down the less-traveled part of the Las Vegas Strip to get my money.
“Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this…”
This photographer walked up on Melissa and I as we were taking all our photos with Leona’s pictures and props and let me tell you what, this man was my angel. I would’ve sworn up and down that he was wearing all white while Melissa maintained he was in all black (she was right), but I clearly saw him that way because when he started photographing us, he mentioned Leona brought a fan on stage every night to sing with her and asked me if I thought I could do it. As you’ll soon see, I clearly could…
I love her so much. I’ve probably listened to “Bleeding Love” over 100,000 times since it released in late 2007. It is my absolute favorite song ever and I go on binge’s where it’ll be the only song I’ll listen to for like three days at a time. She has so many other songs I love and adore, but that one is MY song!
Leona’s “A Starry Night” was absolutely captivating and amazing. I loved everything about it and wish I could’ve seen it every single night it was performed. Needless to say, Leona don’t owe us nothing!
Naively I thought this would be the best moment of my life. Little did I know that about twenty minutes after this life-changing moment Leona would deliver to me an even better life-changing moment. I can’t even tell you how special getting to hold her hand was while she performed the best song of all time. My life was made till it was made again…After the show I thought I was going to throw up, but during the moment, I was all in. This was my now and I will NEVER forget being on stage with Leona singing my absolute favorite Christmas song: “One More Sleep!”I was brought on stage to sing and the guy to my right and the woman to my left were there to dance. I wasn’t sure what the guy was doing, so I tried sharing the mic with him, but this song was my jam and this was my moment. Leona’s backup vocalist’s told me the lyrics were on the stage if I needed them and I told them, “I’ve listened to this song a hundred thousand times, I appreciate it, but I was born for this.”
As you can infer, this was THE BEST time I’ve ever had in Las Vegas. Really and truly, I have no complaints. Yes it rained unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in that city. Yes we got caught in it right before Leona’s show. BUT that slight inconvenience was nothing compared to the incredible highs handed to me by Leona. It was – without doubt – the single most wonderful and special moment of my entire life. For sure an evening that I will never, ever forget. Thank you, Leona. You really are an angel amongst us.
As always, THANK YOU so much for viewing! Please feel free to leave a comment below as I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’ll return very soon with a 2025 year end roundup, so until then, I wish you all, all the best!
Working hard everyday towards achieving my goal of becoming an international best-selling author. Wrote the book, just need the agent and publisher. Received the ultimate endorsement when Britney Spears wrote me saying she'd be one of the first in line to buy my book! #FreeBritney
