britney pics

Vegas Vacation

Sorry I have'nt updated in forever, but I have been busy relaxing poolside with a drink in hand at the MGM lazy river. I got back from Vegas yesterday. It was a great trip! So great in fact, that Nicole and I extended our stay for 2 extra days. We started out by flying out of the Burbank airport (1o min from my apartment). We each had our own entire row of seats on the plane ride there! Plus free tv & free snacks. If you can fly JetBlue...do it! It's a great airline.

We arrived at our hotel (The Tropicana) which is located on the northern end of the strip next to the MGM grand (where our friends were staying). We had a nice little room for a cheap price. That night, we met up with Adam (my roomate), his friend Jenn who travelled from PA, and Adam's brother and his wife. We went to a club called Tabu in the MGM and just enjoyed good drinks, good company, and lots of dancing. Nicole and I met some new Australian friends that night, and hung out with them for a lot of the trip. They were very fun!

Friday we went to a place in the MGM called "Wet Republic". It's a day-time club next to the pool. They played music, lots of dancing, lots of drinks, everyone is in their bathing suits. It was an all day event. Very fun! There was a surprise performace from the guy that sings that old song "The Humpty Dance". Ha...it was interesting.

On Saturday night, I attended the Britney Spears "Circus" concert. It was a blast. She didn't interact with the audience much, but she looked great and the effects/circus-esque performances of the show were really great. Nicole and I decided to stay in the night of the concert and catch up on our rest. So we went to dinner (split some chicken strips) and an hour later we both ended up with food poisening! It was awful. So, our night of rest turned into us fighting eachother for the bathroom the rest of the night. Not a pleasant thought, I'm sorry. We took it easy by the pool the next day and recovered.

We had a great time!! I flew back yesterday and landed in LAX. I talked to mom the day before, and I was picturing walking into a zoo of mask-wearing people! I only saw 4 people wearing masks in LAX, one lady had on a gas mask!!! It was hilarious!! I think this Swine Flu stuff is a little over-exaggerated, but that's just my opinion. We aren't really even talking about it at work, although I know the ED has been FLOODED with people bring their kids in at the first sign of a cold! Nothing in LA....yet.

I'll be home on Monday! I can't wait to see everyone! Especially my new nephew, Ethan!!!

venice

Not a whole lot has been going on lately. I have been working a lot, which is going really well. I'm still loving my job! Took care of my first "celeb child" the other day. Can't say who though, privacy policies of course. The hospital gave us a "gift" the other day...it was an emergency kit. Kinda creepy, I think they are preparing us for "the big one" ....earthquake that is. Who knows, maybe they're just trying to keep us happy during this economic crisis. Construction on the new hospital has come to a halt at this time, and merit increases on pay have been postponed for 1 year. The economy has finally hit the medical field! The merit increase isn't really a big deal to me, I will still get my raise when I am promoted to "RN II". Merit increases are at the end of each year, when they go over your performance at work.

On to more uplifting news.... nephew Ethan is soooo perfect! I can't wait to meet him. Also, my new second cousin Kamdyn is beautiful! I cannot wait to meet them both when I come home, which is in 24 days...woo hoo! I'm excited to head back to So.Ill for a few days. I'll be home May 4th-10th.

Nicole is coming in next week to check out UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and CHLA. After that, we are roadtripping to Vegas in my convertable for the weekend! Should be a blast! Saturday is the Britney Spears concert, which is getting good reviews.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter! I worked and we had Greek food for lunch (at 1am), so that was my Easter dinner. It was really good though. I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures that I've taken in Venice Beach. It has come to be one of my favorite places in LA. It's so ecclectic and vibrant. Very laid back and super chill. I love walking down Oceanfront walk just taking in everything... seeing all the things people are selling and listening to the music people are playing. A great place for people watching.

counting

12 days til Nicole comes in town,
13 days til Vegas,
21 days til Southern Illinois,
55 days til St.Louis,
110 days til I turn 23,
111 days til Rachel moves to LA!

....lots to look forward to!

Ethan Joseph Fry

Welcome to the world,

Ethan Joseph Fry

8lbs 15oz
April 9th, 2009

Everyone is happy & healthy! Ethan was delivered via planned c-section around 7:30 this morning and I am a very proud Aunt! Will update more when I get more info!! Destiny is at 9+, so it looks like she's gonna go within the next hour or so. Little cousins born on the same day in the same hospital! How funny, family is running from room to room!

baxter.

My neighbors, by coincidence (or by FATE!) have an Old English Sheepdog! I used to see the woman walking her dog (without a leash, the dog running up ahead of the owner but never leaving her behind) when I drove to class in the mornings during my residency. Sometimes just looking at the dog would almost bring tears to my eyes- I miss Chlo Ann so much! One evening a few weeks ago, I saw her walking her dogs and I worked up the nerve to pull over and say Hello. I am so glad I did! Robin (the owner) & her husband (never got his name) were super nice! I told them I had an Old English Sheepdog back home and that I've seen her walking her dog on my way to class in the mornings. She said "Well get out & meet him!"...I didn't hesitate! His name is Baxter and he is a rescue OES (I still haven't gotten the full story). He's super sweet. I gave her my phone number and told her if she ever needs a dog-sitter to call me up! She and her husband told me to stop by the house anytime to say 'hello'. After work this morning, I was on a walk and saw some lawn workers in the yard and the door open, so I decided to stop in and say Hello. Robin was on the phone when she answered the door, but happily greeted me by name and told me to come on in. She went and got Baxter out from the backyard and told him he had a visitor. Baxter greeted me with a paw shake and a couple of kisses. I felt a little awkward because Robin was on the telephone and I didn't want to bother or intrude, so I loved on Baxter for a few minutes and then snuck out the door. I'll stop by again another time, and hopefully take him on a walk. They live in a super nice house just up the hill. But anyway, Baxter is super sweet, just like my Chloe. It's funny, because I rubbed his ears and he let out a sigh EXACTLY like Chloe does. I think that Chloe would be absolutely smitten if she met him. I took a little picture of him (because I knew Mom would want to see!), but it's not very clear because all I had was my iPhone.

ELLEN!

Ellen was amazing!! It was an absolute blast. Jocelyn, Kara (Jocelyn's sis), Carly (Joc's roomate), and I all got seated in the very front row! We arrived at the show around 11:30am...check in wasn't until 1pm, but we decided to play it safe and get there early. We parked at the Warner Bro's studio parking lot, got our hand stamped for the Ellen show and waited until they called everyone for check in. Kara (being super excited to see Ellen, too) jumped in the check in line before they announced it, which caused everyone else to line up too. Kara got our numbers for the show #1-#4 to be exact :) and we had to wait some more. It was a lot of waiting. They had a seating area and played the previous days episode of Ellen while we waited. They also had an "entertainer/enthusiast" to get us pumped up for the show. During waiting they had an audience talent show, which none of us girls participated in. We watched though. After that, a couple of ladies who work for the show went around and picked out certain people to meet in the back parking lot. They chose us 4 girls and when we got back there, they asked us our names and asked Carly to stay. Carly was picked to be on TV (one of the audience participants) BUT she had to decline because she called in sick to work!! Bummer! She works at a studio for the Carson Daly show, so they would have probably seen her. After more waiting, they finally lined us up and took us over to Ellen's studio in groups of about 30. We were one of the first groups to go and when we got inside they pointed out where they wanted us to sit. FRONT ROW! Couldn't have been more excited! After everyone filled up the studio, they played upbeat music and the "entertainment guy" pumped everyone up. Finally, Ellen came out and the show started! It was awesome!! It felt like the camera's were in our face the whole time and it turns out we were on tv a few times! I think Ellen was sick though, because during the commercial breaks she kept blowing her nose and they had to retouch her make-up around her nose. Her eyes looked kinda watery and she seemed a little tired. She still kept up her tempo though. After our filming they rushed us out, handed us our prizes (Slumdog Millionare on DVD and Martina McBride's new CD), and we headed back to our car. They film 2 shows on Thursday, the second one was filmed right after our episode and will air on Monday.

All in all, Ellen was a blast!! It was almost exhausting...all the dancing (they made us dance during the commercial breaks too), screaming, and yelling...but sooo worth it!! I was SO tired afterwards but headed straight to work to play nurse for the night. Camera's weren't allowed in the studio, but I *snuck* this photo on my iphone!

excited!

Tomorrow I am going to see ELLEN!! I am SO excited! My friend Jocelyn has an extra ticket and invited me to come along...I have wanted to go to her show forever! Hopefully we actually get to sit in the studio. Like most talk shows, they oversell the tickets to insure a full house. The overflow of people go to the Tom Hanks "Riff Raff Room" where they project the show activity on tvs. So keep your fingers crossed that we get in the studio!! Here is the description of the show from her website...including a special give-away ( I wonder what it could be?!?!?!) It airs the next day- So tune in on Friday, April 2nd!!!

From: http://ellen.warnerbros.com/thisweek/

Friday, April 3
MARILU HENNER

Today I’m trying a new twist on my ice cream game! Contestants will still use their arms to grab food and shove it into their partner’s mouth, but this time we’re using peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Of course, everybody will still be blindfolded! (Just the way I like it!) I’ll also play some videos of the best pranks we’ve ever done on my show! There might even be one that was pulled on me! And I’m giving away something special to my audience! Here’s a hint: It requires the help of four Bollywood dancers!

MARILU HENNER (“Wear Your Life Well”): She’s always so full of energy and very competitive! I hear her family has Game Night every Friday, and somebody once ended up in the emergency room -- from playing Charades! (I have got to learn that version for my show!) She also gives helpful advice when she’s here. In her book, she tells people how to “use what you have to get what you want.” I’ve spent years trying to figure out how to do that!

LIL’ KIM & DEREK HOUGH (“Dancing with the Stars”): She may be lil’ but Kim’s got some very big dance moves! Gilles and Cheryl blew me away on Monday and now it’s Kim and her partner Derek Hough’s turn! They’ve got a tough act to follow, but the smart money has them pulling it off! You be the judge of who’s the best dancer of the week!

MARTINA MCBRIDE: She was up for a Grammy earlier this year, and last month she sang at The White House! (That’s always a good “warm-up” for my show…) She’s got a new hit single called “Ride” -- and if you guessed she’d be singin’ it for y’all, you guessed right!

one night in vegas.

After working a 12 hour night shift Sunday night, instead of going to bed...I hopped in my friend Jocelyn's car and we headed to Vegas for the night! Her sister & sister's friend are in town visiting, so they inviting me to come along for the overnight road trip. We had a blast!! We went to "Thunder From Down Under"...the world-famous Australian male strip show. It was hilarious, and cheesy....but so much fun. After watching the Aussie's dance around on stage half naked, we went to a club in our hotel (Planet Hollywood) called "Prive". It rained money (literally) and we saw Steven Adler (the drummer from Guns N' Roses) perform. We danced & sipped on cocktails all night (true Las Vegas style) and left our hotel at 11am this morning. I got home around 4pm and went straight to bed. It was so much fun!

Casino in Planet Hollywood...
At Prive' in Planet Hollywood...
Jocelyn & I with one of the Australians...

Steven Adler from GNR...