leaving las vegas - o sole mio

i arrived in vegas saturday morning around 9am, waited for eli’s flight to arrive, and then we headed to our hotel. we were both so completely exhausted that we decided to take a nap for a few hours until we had to go to dinner. we end up eating at a really good brazillian steakhouse inside the mirage and i ordered my first drink in vegas, which was a huge fruity rum drink that had 1/2 of a pineapple hanging off the side hahah after dinner we went to see cirque de soleil “o” performance at the bellagio hotel. that show was so amazing! after cirque we went to the venetian where we took a gondola ride, where our gondolier sang “o sole mio.” loved it!
we met up with our friends chris, jason, nathan & nick and headed to the palms. we ended up drinking there and at the rio until about 8am sunday morning. again we slept until about 4pm, headed to the affiliate summit meet-up which was pretty much dying out so we chatted until we had to be at the palms g suite for the copeac party. it was nice to see my friends that i haven’t seen in way too long. from 7-9 we all hung out in the g suite then headed to ghostbar. monday we met up with jason & nathan for lunch @ the rio and walked around the summit booth area for a little while. i’m glad eli got his skateboard we headed to the airport at 4 and both of our flights left at 6pm. my flight almost got cancelled due to weather but luckily we made it out on time, cause that would really suck if i had to stay another night in vegas…………

enclave chicago

friday night i drove up to chicago to do some club promoting at enclave. i met my group of friends (derek, carlos, blair, katie, amanda, leo) at the pre-party at carlos’ condo off of navy pier. wow, what an amazing place..the view from his living room looks onto navy pier and you can watch the lighted ferris wheel as you play call of duty carlos’ roommate spun on the tables as we had some drinks before we headed to the club. our group was going to be rolling in there about 50 deep so when we got to the club we immediately got upgraded to 2 more tables and put right next to the dj booth. as people started arriving we ended up going through about 7 bottles of greygoose! i must say, enclave is one of the funner clubs i have been to. the energy in that place was so amazing, and everyone was really cool.

what keeps me going

i have really been blessed with the people who have come into my life in the last month.  i’m not a religious person, but i used to be.  certain events happened in my life that made me question faith and God.  i’ve always thought of myself as a loving, giving, and kind person with a good heart.  in the last week, 3 different people have approached me and began a conversation about religion and people being lost but finding their way back.  it seems as though someone is trying to get my attention.  you have it.

my professors this semester have been nothing but awesome.  i feel very comfortable sharing my concerns with them about difficult assignments, and they are very willing to help.  dr isele even offered to meet me at steak n shake at 3am to discuss history standards as they pertain to researching family heritage.     i look forward to being a teacher someday, or at least making a difference somehow in a child’s life.

“Remember that there are multiple classes of children in your future just waiting for their teacher to come into their lives and smile back!”  - Professor Isele

well, tomorrow is valentines day and i will be working until around 9.  my friend steve and i decided that we are having a anti-valentines day night (since we both do not have dates) drinking beer and watching espn at a neighborhood bar after i get off work.  nothing like hanging out with the guys on the most romantic day of the year lol

my mom has been recording old family vhs tapes from christmas and other events onto dvd, so hopefully soon i’ll find some good video of me with a serious mullet and leg warmers dancing to debbie gibson and riding my strawberry shortcake bike with the awesome handlebars.

birthday wishes and snow storms

 today is my dad’s birthday so i went to dinner with the birthday boy and my mom.  he’s not one to celebrate or make a big deal out of it anymore.  love ya pops!  i hope i never lose that birthday excitement.  however the big 3-0 is staring me straight in the face in less than a month.

i wanted to wish my friend steve a very happy birthday!  i first met him about 10 years ago when we met playing quake online and i ended up taking a train 23 hours to visit him and play together in a tournament in washington d.c. we had lost touch soon after that, but somehow our paths crossed again.

you have made a huge impact on me and i am forever grateful to have you in my life. people like you only are made every so often. you are a true friend and an amazing person who deserves nothing but the best.

today we were dumped with about 10 inches of snow throughout last night and all today.  i ventured out twice and both times it felt like i was in a bad movie.  our city has decided not to put salt down until the snow is completely done because they are running low on supply.  now our streets are so packed with snow that it feels like you’re driving over rocks starring in a ford f-150 commercial.   because of this latest storm, school was cancelled this morning, and i found out from a 6am automated phone call.  so much for sleeping in!