Not the Strip

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My first few weeks of living in Las Vegas consisted of learning where everything was, multiple trips to Target for furniture and the little stuff that I didn't bring, and Home Goods (which is a very cool store). I live in a developing area where roads and stores are being constantly built. That means that I have to drive a decent distance to any real stores -- like Target. And most things are designed to be accessible from a freeway so it took me a minute and my good old koala karl to learn the back roads to places like my bank.

Decorating the house has been fun. I've never had my own bathroom or a walk in closet. I now have both!!! At first I found it hard to utilize my closet space, it was so empty, but now.. it's well stocked with books, boxes, suitcases, shoes, and clothes. Buying hangers was an adventure (previously I got them free from my dad). I have a culmination of both wire, cloth, and plastic. My favorite are the wire hangers (those are what I brought from home).

My bathroom actually was unusable for the first month and a half of living here. The hot water in the shower wasn't working, I finally got one of my roommate's friends (Mark) to fix it for me by replacing the valve in the pipping. Mark is our resident handyman. He actually tiled our hall way and it looks awesome! He'll be tiling the house (dinning room and kitchen) but first we are going to restyle our backyard, more on that later.

Anyways, my first few weeks in Vegas were pretty ordinary. I was looking for a job and stylizing my room. It was about a month after moving that I found a Best Buy that would transfer me. I had to take a huge step down from supervisor to Part-Time, but they did move me back up to full-time pretty quickly. Now I'm their catch all girl.

The Best Buy that I work at is in a great location. It's actually down the street from Red Rock National Park (which I have a yearly pass for now) and across the street from the Red Rock casino. The drive to work every day is an easy one, right down the 215 where it's pretty light traffic and beautiful scenery.

One of the biggest things about living in Vegas is the scenery. I get in my car every day and I just can't believe how pretty the world is. Back home it's all grey skies, tall buildings, and cars. Here we have all of those things ( minus the grey skies) and yet the skyline and mountains are just so breath taking. I seriously thank God every day on my drive to work.

But lets talk about Vegas driving. It's horrible. People out here just do not know how to drive and everyone blames it on talking/texting distractions. We have spaced out stop signs (most intersections are a two way stop only) and then we have VERY very long lights. A light here might actually take a good solid minute and a half. No joke or exaggeration. In my case I get bored waiting at the light and that is why I might look at my phone.

None of this applies though on the most congested part of Vegas. The 95 and 15 junction is how you get to the strip and LA. This stretch of road often has a number of accidents daily. I try to avoid this part of town during busy hours. If I have to be at school around rush hour I make sure to leave around 11 (which is one of the best times to drive down). Holidays are the worst too, this traffic can be in lock down for a good 20 miles. I guess I not only thank God for the lovely view but also for the fact that I didn't get into an accident.

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