There is something joyous about finding an email addressed to friends@livinginlv.com in my inbox.  The stories.  The kind words.  The photos of groovy listeners from around the globe. So imagine my uber-joy as I proudly added three more folks to the Friends of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast page!

First we have Jason, who hails from Missouri and is clearly capable of any bodyguard duties I may need in the soon or distant future.

Next is Amber, a Las Vegas local who is a very impressive graphics designer. (She’s worked with several casinos here in town.)

And the latest addition is Michael and Melissa, a cute couple from Oregon who are in the midst of buying a short sale home here in Las Vegas.

Welcome all to the site!

By the way, are YOU on our Friends of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast page? It’s easy! Just attach a photo of yourself to an email and send it to friends@livinginlv.com. Include your name and location and you will join fabulous folks like Jason, Amber, Michael and Melissa!

79: Cirque du Soleil Plus ELVIS - A Little Less Conversation?

Melissa and I are big fans of Las Vegas, Cirque du Soleil and Elvis Presley.  So, combining the three into one big show has got to be fantastic!  Right? 

Today’s Living in Las Vegas Podcast gives you a personal account of our Viva ELVIS experience. Show notes:

• Weather (Nice and toasty. . .) / LiLV Pool (. . .as long as you’ve got a pool)
• LiLV Stuff
  • Listener Line: 206.312.0105
  • Sign up of Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
• Total Wined
• Scott’s Dieting Journey
• New Contributor to Join the Site: Bridget Magnus
• Overheard on The Strip (visit. . .and SHARE!)
• Recent Blog Post Review
  • Wolfgang Puck Local’s Discount
  • Las Vegas Strip Street Performers
  • Fontainebleau
  • Lake Las Vegas
• Listener Email: Job’s in Las Vegas
• Viva ELVIS

It would be obvious to think that because our latest Living in Las Vegas Podcast “Friend” Bob W. shares two distinct traits with me, THAT is why I believe his recently-added photo epitomizes the pinnacle of cool.

But you know I’m much more fair and balanced than that. 

Long before I recognized the powerful one-two punch of groovy that presents itself when a person like Bob rocks a goatee and rides a large, v-twin motorcycle, it was deemed groovy by the universe.

Bob and I just fell into it.

I have since stopped riding my motorcycle around Las Vegas.  (Have you seen how people drive around here?!?!)  But you can bet I still respect and admire the goatee+motorcycle combo that has proven to keep America great.

Thank you Bob for continuing the tradition of grooviness.  And welcome to the website!

(And kudos to Bob’s wife Donna for playing along in the motorcycling fun!)

By the way, are YOU on our Friends of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast page? It’s easy! Just attach a photo of yourself to an email and send it to friends@livinginlv.com. Include your name and location and you too will be groovy, just like Bob!

77: LiLV Podcast — Bowling, Beautiful People, Brrrr, Bird Poop and Blues

While not for the faint of heart, sometimes, you just got to pick a letter of the alphabet and form an entire show around it. Lesser folks would shy away from such a bold move. . .but not your fearless hosts. In this edition of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we focus on the letter "B" — which is what "Melissa" means in Spanish (bee, that is)**. Show notes:

• PHOTOS! (Utah girl’s snow trip)
• Weather (Ahhh, that’s nice) / LiLV Pool (clear and slowly improving)
• LiLV Stuff
  • Listener Line: 206.312.0105
  • Sign up of Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
• LiLV
  Spring 2010 Meet Up Latest News
• New Friends of the LiLV Podcast (Mike, Jennifer, Greg)
• Bowling at Red Rock (Bowling #b1)
• XS Nightclub at Encore (Beautiful People #b2)
• Utah Ski Trip (Brrrrrrr #b3)
• Le Reve / Stratta (Bird Poop #b4)
• Listener Email: Elvis asks a question, Mark offers a drink
• Hot and Horrible: BB King’s Blues Club (Blues, #b5)

** Okay, we really didn’t start off trying to create a show about things starting with “B”. I was just looking for a theme. Don’t judge me.

For those new to the show and our website, the Friends of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast page was started way back in November of 2006.  We’ve added people from around the world, enjoying every additional smile place on our pages.  However, today is the first time we’ve achieved a certain level of balance previously lacking.

Thanks to the efforts of our latest friend, Greg M., we have created a warm and embracing bookend to this page of friends.  With Greg’s photo, our very first photo (Sheena) and our last photo are both from the great state of Massachusetts (and yes, I had to spell check the name of the state. . .don’t judge me.)

The minute I added Greg’s photo, I felt a certain sense of feng shui come over me.  As I published the updated page, a small bluebird landed on the windowsill outside my office, gave me a wink and a nod, and said that all is right in the world.

This, naturally, scared the crap out of me.

But, as is the case with all great Disney movies (Mary Poppins, for example), I buried my fears and decided to interact with the animated bird.

During our conversation (which included tea. . .he likes decafe like me), I asked him if this balance means I should stop accepting new photos.  ‘Billy’ said no — that in fact this balance required many more photos to further the good of all mankind.

So, welcome to the page, Greg.  And to the rest of you reading this, Billy wants you to send a photo.  Remember, it’s for the good of all mankind.  Sure, he’s only an animated bluebird, but I think he’s got a little vulture in him. 

Not pretty.

Do you understand the power that is Billy?!  Just attach a photo of yourself to an email and send it, along with your name and location, to friends@livinginlv.com.  It’s Easy.  It’s Free. And it’ll keep a flock of angry bluebirds off your front porch.

Listeners to the Living in Las Vegas Podcast know that there are many sides to this groovy little podcast. 

Laughs?  You bet.

Insight into the Las Vegas lifestyle.  Of course.

The warming embrace associated with puppies, cookies and milk? Surprised?

Don’t be.  As those already on our Friends pages have discovered, besides whiter whites, a sense of warmth and calm gently cascades over them upon their appearance on the page.  This explains why Jennifer, who is a new listener to the podcast (and who lives in M-M-Minnesota), longed for the warmth we provide.

Welcome to the website, Jennifer!  No need to bundle up any more!

Feeling a little chilly yourself?  Then chilly no more!  Just attach a photo of yourself to an email and send it to friends@livinginlv.com.  It’s Easy.  It’s Free. And it’ll cut your heating bill by 13% (uh…or less).

The picts keep coming!!

Today I added our latest Friend of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast photo. . .from active listener Mike S. from Connecticut. I’ve had the pleasure to swap emails with Mike and have also feature Mike during the Listener Audio segment of the show.

When he’s not listening to the show, he works for a company that makes colored guitar strings. . .which he was kind enough to send my way.

Welcome to the Friends page, Mike!  Thanks for playing along!

By the way, are YOU on our Friends page?  If you’re not, be a part of the most exciting photo upload website in existence!  Just attach a photo of yourself to an email and send it to friends@livinginlv.com.  Life as you know it will be free of stress and full of love and happiness!

76: Living in Las Vegas, Acting Like a Tourist

While there are certainly a few things making life in Las Vegas a bit tough for many of our fellow Las Vegans (unemployment and housing prices, for example), we love that we live in a city that was once our go-to place for weekend getaways. We’re just 30 minutes away from some of the best food, lodging and entertainment the country has to offer.

Which is pretty cool.

In this edition of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we review some of the touristy things we’ve been up to during the last couple of months. Show notes:

• Pre-Bachelorette Party Chat
• LiLV Stuff
  • Listener Line: 206.312.0105
  • Sign up of Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
• Weather (enough with the rain) / LiLV Pool (blech)
• Taxes
• The next LiLV Meetup has been DECIDED
• New Friends of the LiLV Podcast
• We Select our Deer’s Name
• Listener Audio: Congrats, Melissa’s Singing, “Man Pizza”
• Living in Las Vegas, Acting Like a Tourist
  • A Great Show (ROAR)
  • Downtown Foodie Love
  • Pawnshop Stardom
  • Birthday Fun (Aria, Dining, Amazing Comedy)

We really get a kick when one of our listeners sends us a Friends photo and includes a tip-of-the-hat to the Living in Las Vegas Podcast!  Our very first photo, from Sheena in Massachusetts (now San Diego, I believe), did so and so have Mark & Luz (Spain), Stuart (Moscow), Bill (Indiana), and Joel (Israel).  About 30 minutes ago, Dani from Las Vegas added her own T.O.T.H . photo as well! 

According to Dani’s photo, she is “Definitely ‘Living in Las Vegas’ Baby!”  That’s the way we like it!  Living.  In Las Vegas. 

Welcome to the website, Dani.  And thanks again for joining the fun!

By the way, are YOU on our Friends page?  Kim O. did it.  And so did Dani!  Just attach a photo of yourself to an email and send it to friends@livinginlv.com.  It’s Easy.  It’s Free. And it’ll likely get Scott to pay for the first round of drinks if you’re sipping a beverage with the Whitney’s.

Okay, well that’s not completely true. 

Yes, Melissa and I think of all our listeners as our friends.  And if it were up to me, I’d simply grab your photo from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, wherever and automatically add your smiling face to our Friends of LILV Page.

Buuuuuuut several privacy statutes prevent me from doing so.

So, we get by with an little (email) help from our friends – most recently, Kim O. from San Diego!!

Kim continues to prove that along with being the smartest podcast audience in the world, the Living in Las Vegas Podcast listeners are good looking people, too!

I don’t mean to brag, I don’t mean to boast,
but LiLV Friends are the BEST (according to this post).

Kim recently signed up to our E-mail list and immediately decided that besides receiving groovy email stuff, she wanted her whites to be whiter. 

“But how?”, Kim thought to herself.

Then it dawned on her.  She remembered visiting the Friends page and learning that by simply emailing her photo to friends@livinginlv.com, her whites would be whiter.

“Ahhhh, problem solved,” Kim sighed.

Welcome to the website, Kim!  And may I say, what nice whites you have.

By the way, are YOU on our Friends page?  If you’re not, you should be!  Just attach a photo of yourself to an email and send it to friends@livinginlv.com.  Life as you know it will improve and you’ll be blessed by the universe!

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