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We celebrated our Anniversary a few weeks ago and this blog helps me celebrate a little more by writing about his proposal to me... 

"Me and my husband (boyfriend back then) took our first trip to New York together to celebrate New Year's Eve at Times Square. It was even better than you can ever imagine from watching it on TV year after year. Then if that wasn't exciting enough, the next day, Dennis took me to the Statue of Liberty. It was extremely cold crossing on the ferry, so I wasn't too cooperative. He insisted we go outside to the front of the Statue of Liberty at one of the points. I was very hesitant, but somehow he convinced me to go outside. He sat me down and proposed to me!!! You can say I wasn't so cold anymore that day!!"

If you have a favorite New York memory, go here to enter the contest to win a book "Summer at Tiffany's".  Look at the 7th entry from the bottom and you will see mine!  And my comment being the 7th entry for the contest is so ironic!!  What I didn't mention is that 7 is a ...

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older... oh well... creeping on to the next milestone, so kind of not looking forward to it. Today I celebrate my 'thirty-something' birthday (still a couple years til that milestone). You know what's funny, until recently, my kids did not know how old I was - which was the way I wanted it. Whenever someone asked them how old I was, they would say 'she's thirty-something' just like it's another number. Then after their daddy's birthday (earlier this month), somehow my age came out... darn it!! And with friends who already hit the big-4-0, they haven't made it sound so terrible. Actually we had a lot of fun at my girfriend's 40th celebration!! I guess it's just the hype all around it. Ok, no more age talk...

On to happier things Yesterday, I received a package in the mail! I love packages/boxes with my name on it. Woo-hoo, this one was from Christy Tomlinson (the design editor for Scrapbook -name, I just love her style). A few weeks ago, Christy was giving away a RAK on her blog - we had to guess what her surprise was. ...<< MORE >>

Congrats to: Suzy (www.suzyole.blogspot.com) who wins the Main Prize of $25 of MK products (via my MK website) + scrapbook goodies!! And for the Bonus Giveaways ($15 in Free MK and some scrapbook goodies, too) goes to Lani (www.thewoodenporch.blogspot.com) and Kyleen !!


I will email all winners this weekend... Sorry, too much was going on tonight. More about that later this weekend...

If you didn't win this time, maybe next time!! Yup, this was sooo fun there will be a next time, so
check back often to see when my next giveaway will be!!!

I've got a GREAT End-of-Summer sale coming up!! If you want more Specials on cosmetics and skin care and don't already have a Mary Kay consultant, register on my MK website or leave me a comment here (with your email or blog) and I will include you in the sale...

Have a Great Weekend!!
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Updated: ******  My giveaway contest is over...  I will pick winners and post them today!! *******

I am giving away $25 in Mary Kay goodies (of YOUR choosing via my MK website) PLUS some scrapbook-goodies, too!! So you can scrap & look good, too!!  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name on Friday, July 27th.. 

Open to US residents only, you do not need to have a blog to enter, only one entry per person (sorry, no repeats), please leave me your email or blog so I can reach you if you're the winner, I will choose a winner on Friday and announce in a separate post...  and shipping is FREE, too!!

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Come back often, especially Friday to see if you won!!


Added 7/25/07: BONUS Giveaway!!

Yes... I said it - "scrapbook and poker" in the same breath...  I happen to like them both.  So before we left for our trip to Vegas - I made this...

 



It's a circle book I made to look like a poker chip for autographs. The week we were going so happened to be during the World Series of Poker (like the Superbowl of poker). I thought (really hoping) we just might see some famous poker people... So I made this 'autograph book' just in case I saw some poker folks! But as you see here (in a previous post), we saw even more people than I could imagine (we even saw celebs). 
We got pictures and autographs from: Daniel Negraneau, Howard Lederer, Phil (Unabomber) Laak, Jamie Gold, Men the Master, Mike 'Mouth' Matasaw, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman, Jennifer Tilly...  We also watched a poker charity event and got more pictures and autographs:  Don Cheedle, Shannon Elizabeth...

Day 4:  It's Saturday, July 7, 2007 (07-07-07) - Dennis' Birthday!!! Many people are trying their luck on this special day.  Today was to be the most weddings ever on a given day (including Eva Longoria's wedding to Tony Parker), and Vegas had its share of brides & grooms.  We saw them everywhere we went.  Then there were the gamblers to try their luck, including us, at the casinos!!  At midnite Dennis found a slot machine with 7's on it, put some money in, pulled the handle, and...



WON 50!!!  Wow, he did that on his first pull!!  He cashed out on that and came back to play more Pai Gow.  We played til almost 10am.  By then another surprise, Cecilia and Caroline (friends from college) drove up from Tustin and met us at the Casino.  Dennis did not know they were also coming...  We found some breakfast/brunch on the way back to the condo and everyone was starting to get tired.  Hmmm, will they uphold to their pact?  They headed back to Mom & Dad's house - and they were down for the count, sleeping a few hours before dinner.  Cecilia, Caroline and I headed back to the condo and napped there.

We ate dinner for Dennis' Birthday at Maggiano's.  Yumm!!  I missed their calamari!!  Everything was soo good.  Later, we went to the condo to make some calls to get in Studio 54.  Since we were owners at MGM, we could jump in the front of the line (cool perk!).  We walked over to Hooters casino to play before going to the club later.

We were having so much fun playing, we just kept playing and looking for other places to play.  Later, close to midnite, Dennis found another slot machine and played a little and then...


won 250.25!!!  What a way to end his special day (777) - no wonder he likes #7!!!

Day 5:  Well, we stayed up til 7:30am!!  Dennis and I played in the poker room with Julie at MGM.  I think we got her hooked with playing cash games at the poker tables.  My best hand for the night was a 4-of-a-kind!!  4 10's!!  Wow!!  That was sooo nice...  

We slept a few hours before meeting up with everyone at Dad & Mom's house to have lunch.  After lunch, we went to a local casino - South Crossing.  Really big casino off the strip.  We found a Pai Gow table we can all play at.  We had a fun dealer who had to leave our table to deal black jack.  Julie decided to find him after our table wasn't doing too well.  She made out with making 150!  We should have followed her... We ate Dennis' other favorite - Hooters wings for dinner and quickly packed up to make our flight.  After quick goodbyes, we rushed off so that we didn't miss our red-eye flight, but at the airport, found out we were an hour early (or they changed our flight an hour later).  Either way, we were already there.  But at the airport, they have MORE slot machines!!!  I told Dennis maybe it was a sign we got there earlier...  so he found a slot machine and played and... won again!!!  over 150!!!  yes, it was a sign...  Wow! We had so much fun, and we hope our friends and family did, too!  Being there with them made it so much more enjoyable.  Hope to meet up with you guys there again!


Dennis, Dad & Mom


T: Heidi, Ronald, B: Julie, Dennis, Marissa


Caroline, Cecie, Dennis

Day 3: Dennis' brother, Ronald, our SIL Marissa, and cousin Julie all drove up from San Diego and Dennis had no clue they were coming to join us!  He was very surprised to see a truck in his parents' driveway.  I tried to pass it off that it was probably the gardener, but he noticed the truck had UVA alumni license plate holder over Texas plates (they used to live in San Antonio).  But he was still surprised!  We had only been hiding it for awhile now... 
And we thought we saw them all...  We went to the Rio to watch some of the WSOP being played.  It was the 1st day of the Main Event and it was very crowded.  We 'thought' we couldn't see more poker players, but they were there!  We saw Chris Moneymaker, Jennifer Tilly, and... (Dennis' favorite)...



Johnny Chan!!!  Dennis got half his poker dream - maybe next time he'll get the other part - to play Johnny!!
Happy pre-Birthday Den!!!  More pix of poker celebs coming...

We also checked into our condo at the Signature (at MGM Grand - Residences) for the rest of our stay...


It is connected to the MGM Hotel & Casino by moving walkways (pretty cool).  We invested in the condo with a few friends.  The condo is very nice, really nice.  My favorite parts of the condo are the balcony, sleeper sofa for guests, cabinets close 'automatically', its own Starbucks - part of the Residences - just down the hall (omygosh!!), and there is also valet parking - it took awhile to get used to that!!

Julie taught us how to play Pai Gow poker and boy are we hooked!  Usually Texas Hold'em is our game, but since this was a version of poker, we tried it and got hooked.  We played all night.  The guys made a pact not to sleep through 777, so we all stayed up...  Let's see how long that lasts!!