Friends: Old, New and Strangers

Yours truly with new & old friends (and 1 stranger) in Vegas...

Me and Corey McNabb's shoes (his is the bigger one, thank goodness). Corey was the first to notice we're shoe twins (these are the Converse slip-on's and I LOVE them).

Serena (my OSPW bed buddy), Steve Florin (kept me giggling like a school girl throughout the awards show - we were joking about the lady handing out the awards... she'd kiss SOME of the winners but not others and we tried figuring out who she'd get and who she'd avoid) and me crooked because I'm holding the camera. I don't know how others do the self-portrait-hold-the-camera-with-your-own-arm shot.

One of my valets at The Westin. They gave my Harley a special spot right in front of the stairs so I wouldn't have to worry about its safety or mine. The other cool valets were Erik and Craig but no pictures (dang my memory to pull out the point-n-shoot).

Party of 6 a.k.a. The Asian Mafia & Token White Girls: Ingrid, Junshien, Aimee, Jerry, me and Serena. Cool thing about this Pearl kiosk is that they had real oysters with pearls sitting on the counter in water - very stinky but cool! We didn't buy any pearls because we spent $7+ on ice cream next door!

Damon, um I mean, Davide Greene... international photographer who didn't mind me calling him by the wrong name because the BluDomain party at the Palms Playboy Kingpin Suite (the suite wasn't as impressive as I imagined it would be - again, should've taken pictures, dangit) was so noisy (and my hearing ain't so hot anyway). So it's my secret pet name for my new friend.

Mister Sexy Six-pack Dancer Man, Brian Adams, with me and Aimee. What a gentleman, dangit :o) Just kidding about the dangit part. Thankfully he knew his way around Vegas and hooked us up with a great dinner at Bellagio's Fix restaurant with stellar service (my 1st pick is still Mon Amie Gabi at the Paris for lunch) and kept us safe all the way back to our hotels. I heard his name mentioned at the awards ceremony but he's playing it down like no big deal.

CONGRATS Brian!

Tom Flint from Rochacha (seriously, Tom, I can only remember what you DON'T like to refer to Rochester, NY, as) and Corey McNabb (my shoe twin) in a Shannon sammich. I loved running into these guys throughout the trip. That's what makes these conferences so much fun in between classes.

Here's the stranger part of the post. This guy walked by when me and the Asian Mafia were eating our $7+ ice cream (obviously I have an issue with paying so much for ice cream) downstairs and I thought he looked familiar. I mentioned it to Serena because she knows who I think he looks like but she didn't get a look. So I said if he walks by again I'm going to show her to see if I'm right. Well, he DID walk by but I was too late to get Serena to look. As we went upstairs to the awards ceremony he was leaning against the concierge desk as if he was WAITING for me to bug him! So, of course, I freak out and squeal to Serena that's the guy, she giggles and thinks I'm crazy but I approach him and tell him the story and ask if we could take a picture. He was very obliging (see the smile) then I gave him my card and said I'd blog about it if he wants to see himself famous. I also explained that I wasn't hitting on him and he said it's all good because he's married too. Phew. Just a fun moment that's caught on film! By the way, it's Aimee's brother, Riley, I kinda thought he looked like -- I think it's just the glasses now that I look closer. But fun anyway! Thanks for being a good sport, Stranger :o)

Adrian Campos, Aimee, Juan Ortiz, me and Joaquin Moreno. George is taking the picture. Because George is underage and clumsy with the mayonnaise (all over Juan's pants), he wasn't allowed to be in the pic but we let him to take it for us. However, he did compliment me on my new scent without me asking so I should've taken a picture of him just for that. Thanks, George!

It's a Jillian Kay "Dear Silly Lady" sammich. We first met at OSPW but knew of her on the forum for her "Dear Silly Lady" letters. She's got a knack for responding to difficult questions in a clear and concise manner that isn't offensive or demeaning. Plus, she's got great taste in shoes (has been known to taste them too).

Don't Colin Michael and I look related? He's notorious for turning people over to the dark side (Canon) and I am one of his followers. We had been in touch on the forum about my new Canon 5D and he said he'd show me some quick tips on how to use it when I was at OSPW (it came in the mail only 2 days prior). Before our first shoot, I ran up to him and said, "Colin, show me how to use this thing!" He happily obliged but later I find out that Mike from Big Folio overheard me and said, "I can't believe the amateurs here. One girl didn't even know how to use her camera!" Luckily the people he said that to knew me and explained that I actually knew what I was doing just not with my new camera. We all had a laugh over that (especially since he doesn't even take pictures - he's a programmer!). Anyway... thanks, Colin, for hanging with me at the awards ceremony. Sorry if Steve and I were embarrassing (it was HIS fault hahaha - j/k). Congrats on getting 5 entries past the judges! For some reason, Jefferson "JT" Todd has this face when we take pictures together. I AM really funny but maybe just once we can get a normal smile out of this guy? Aimee and I at our $120 dinner in my $100 dress and borrowed gems from Azucar, (thanks babe and congrats on your new baby, James).

Awe! It's my buddies! Griff (fastest texter in the west), Sharon Henderson (that's Tom Co's pet name for me), Jason Groupp (whom I had snorting with laughter at OSPW until 4am) and Tom Co. (Tim Co. to everyone else). Thanks, Griff, for taking this picture and letting me steal it off the forum ;o) Email me more!