Some Nice Things Happened in Vegas

I've always absolutely adored this print on my in-law's vintage lawn furniture.

Glad to be home. And a lot of good happened on what would seem on the surface to be an awful trip, with my father-in-law passing away:

• I am glad beyond words that we got to spend time with my husband’s father in the days before he passed
• Seventy degrees and sunny in January—can’t beat it. Especially when there’s cool lawn furniture to hang out on
• The evening of the day my father-in-law passed, we went out to dinner at a swanky Chinese place with my mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and a close cousin and his wife. It sounds strange to say, but we all had a really, really lovely time. God, it’s sad that my father-in-law passed away, and everybody’s feeling it, no question (there were lots and lots and lots of tears that day), but it’s not the horrible tragedy and utter, paralyzing despair that went on around the sudden death of my young brother. I think it’s been good for me to see that death can happen without everyone’s world being shattered beyond repair
• A Vietnamese food lunch at the Lemongrass Café. This is the one thing I always want to do when I come to Vegas (all the Asian food in my town sucks, and there is no Vietnamese). Vermicelli noodles—yum. Not quite the same as Golden Star in San Francisco on lunch break from the ad agency with Marco and Habeeba, but I’ll take it
• Meeting my husband’s next-oldest brother was such a pleasure (I’d never met any of his siblings before this past year and his dad getting sick). I’m still kind of in awe of what he did for his dad, sat with him day and night in the hospital over the entire last month of his life, worked hard with those in the healthcare system to get him the best possible care. He’s staying with my mother-in-law indefinitely, to help her with the transition. Oh, and he makes the best fried eggs over easy I’ve ever had