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What Happens in Vegas…

by Stephanie Casher on September 5, 2006

The famous saying goes – What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas…Well not this time… The bonds forged and memories made this weekend will be in my heart and mind FOREVER. Soul2Soul Summer definitely went out with a BANG.

The weekend started off kinda stupid cause I got stood up and flaked on by a girlfriend in LA which left me a little stuck and stranded for a minute. Thankfully I just came off five weeks practicing my flexiblity and resourcefulness, so I managed to salvage the night, even though I feared it was an omen of bad things to come. Fortunately, the weekend just got better and better and better.

Got to Vegas around 4pm on Saturday, met up with Miss Jane (my roommate for the weekend, xoxo), and then we headed over to the Luxor Buffet for dinner. The food was soooo amazing. I think I had like 3 plates of food AND managed to save room for dessert (oreo cheesecake, chocolate mousse AND this brandy cake with whip cream). I love food, so that really put me in a happy place :-) Unwillingly, lol, we tore ourselves away from the food and headed over to Mandalay Bay to meet up with the rest of the posse and see the concert.

I use the word posse intentionally, lol. There were a GRIP of us, from as far as New York, DC and Chicago. I swear, its gotten to the point where when I head off for a show, I’m not sure who I’m more excited to see – Tim or my girls. I’ve become ridiculously attached to some of these women (Iris, Colleen and Mom for SURE after partying with them in Dallas, Nashville, LA AND Vegas), and they just made this tour. McFriends freakin’ ROCK ya’ll!

I was so excited because I had a 3rd row seat on the opposite side of the stage from where I usually sit, and I finally got to see Faith perform Cry! JohnJohn also hooked me up with a 256MB memory card, so I got lots and lots of amazing video from that vantage point. It was a great show, as usual.

Afterwards, a group of us headed over to the Coyote Ugly to drink and dance. Colleen must be working through some latent exhibitionism, because the first good song that came on, she was up on top of that bar, LOL. Everyone except Mom and Jane joined her at one point or another, including me. I swear, the things I’ll do for my girls ;-)

We were fully on Vegas time by this point, and Jane and I didn’t get to bed until after 4am… Then I had to get up 6 hours later cause there was much to do and see! Spent the morning laying out by the pool working on my tan, then hit up the spa, then met up with the girls for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Mama Karen’s 50th Birthday!

I LOVE YOU MOM!!!

After lunch, I squeezed in a quick power-nap, then headed back over to Mandalay Bay to attend the pre-party concert backstage. This was very, very cool. Lots of band members and random entourage folks (like Sherman, Tim’s video director of choice) were milling around where I was standing so I got to overhear some pretty random and hilarious conversations. And Joe Don from Rascal Flatts was there with his wife! I kinda flipped out a little bit at that one cause I LOVE Rascal Flatts. Anyway, Jimmy sang a song “The Illness and the Cure,” Billy came up and sang a song on request, I *think* Denny sang a song, then Tim and Faith came out. Tim sang “Suspicious Minds,” which Faith finished for him. And I think he might have sung another song but there was so much going on and I was a little drunk, lol. Then Faith sang “Lights” by Journey and they took some questions from the audience. It was a really intimate performance, and even semi-catered, so I enjoyed it.

I got a little emotional during the concert, choking up a tad when I’d realize “Oh, this is the last time I’m going to hear ‘Cry’ this tour…” and stuff like that. But the show was incredible and Faith was so on point it wasn’t even funny. I’m telling you, that girl can SANG. Since it was the final show, Tim treated us to 3 extra songs that weren’t on the original setlist – “Break Down” by Tom Petty, “Mama Tried” by Merle Haggard, and “So Good in Love” by George Strait. AWESOME! Then after “I Need You” everyone came out on stage for one huge curtain call and they were all hugging and waving, then walked off stage in one huge processional… *sniffle* I can’t believe its over.

I cannot even describe how much fun I had hanging out with these wonderful, wonderful, women this weekend. There is something so amazing about having someone to share your obsession with. I’ve never really had that before, and it just makes everything so much more FUN. I miss ya’ll so much, but you better believe I will be seeing you next tour! :-)

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