Still here.

So my excuse for not posting for over a week: I was moping. This is the longest Joe and I have been apart! I know - tear for me. No worries though, he's on his way to Cleveland today! Another excuse is that I didn't have much going on - just catching up at work and looking forward to Nicole's wedding on Friday! I'm very much excited for the next 3 days!

Home.

I flew home today with Mr. and Mrs. Patrick - we were all excited to be reunited with Bailey whom we had missed so much! Joe is staying in Vegas for another week to continue to play poker so I will just have to get along without him. Anyway, I'm typing this from bed in hopes that I will be tired soon so that I can wake up for work tomorrow and not be overly exhausted and grumpy. I'm not looking forward to hearing the alarm in the morning...

Jersey Boys

With a day off from poker, Mrs. Patrick and I convinced Mr. Patrick and Joe to accompany us to see Jersey Boys. Mrs. Patrick had been wanting to see this show for awhile so she was excited when everyone agreed. We all really liked it, the music was the best part! We had a nice steak dinner before heading home very full!

Auld Dubliner

While Joe and his dad left for the Rio to play poker, Mrs. Patrick and I headed to the Village in Lake Las Vegas. We got front row bar seats at the Auld Dubliner for the 11:30 showing of USA v. England. We enjoyed the game, especially since there was an English bloke sitting next to us. Looking forward to more World Cup action.

South Shore

Today was an off-day from poker and the weather was around 85 degrees (a cool day relative to Las Vegas summers) so we lined up a tee time at the South Shore golf course where the Patricks have their condo. It's the only course still open and the only one we had not yet played. The views were great - you could see everything on the 18th hole - even the Strip in the far far distance. I took my video camera which is what produced the poor quality picture below. Perhaps I'll put on some footage later on...

Take II

Because Suzi was jealous and I was bored...

P.S. I didn't have many options for Jon's photo.

World Cup.

I'm excited for the world cup to start on Friday! And in my excitement I put together the following for Nicole and her fiance (both big soccer fans).

I love Starbucks.

Nicole, the soon-bride-to-be and long time blogger, has a Starbucks giveaway that my addiction to coffee could not resist entering! Check out her post to see how you can enter too...

However, if you win, you owe me a coffee.

Apple Girl.

I cannot wait until the iPhone 4 is released on June 24th. Joe and I are both eligible for upgrades but have been holding off since we knew a new phone was coming coming. It seems as though I am becoming quite the Apple products lover! If you want a summary of the new features:

Poker Debut

I made my poker debut today when Mrs. Patrick and I registered for a $200 Deepstack tournament at 1 pm. I was pretty nervous even though the buy-in is very small in comparison to all the other World Series of Poker tournaments. 250 people entered and I was knocked out around 160th. My initial goal was to make it through half the field before taking down the whole thing. That obviously did not happen but I felt as though I played well (after my hands stopped shaking from the nerves) for my first time live.

Here is the hand I went out on: I raised with pocket Kings and was called by one guy. The flop came King, Jack, Ten. I bet, he raised and I shoved all-in. He had the one hand I hoped he hadn't - the Ace-Queen for the straight. The board did not pair to give me the full house and thus ended up my tournament.

MAC!

It couldn't have been more perfect. The Fed Ex man came and delivered my new computer just a mere 5 minutes before my mom and I left for the airport! So, I'm now in Vegas and writing my first blog post on my new Mac. Thank you to my cousins, Ryan and Holly, for the encouragement to make the switch from a PC. So far, I love it!

Bachelorette Party!

We celebrated Nicole's bachelorette party was last night in downtown Cleveland. It was quite a fun night and went a little like this: We ate dinner at Pickwick & Frolic and we happened to see Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigalow is what I best remember him for) on his way in for his comedy show. Next we went to the Chocolate Bar where we got drinks that were deliciously desserty. We went to the House of Blues and the Wonder Bar, both on East 4th. Around midnight we headed to West 6th so we could dance at The Barley House. Overall, it was a very funfilled night for Nicole and our group!

MacBook Pro!

I did it! Early this week I ordered the MacBook Pro 13 inch. It looks so pretty in the pictures! I've been following it's transit since it was shipped yesterday. It has already made it from Shanghai to Tennessee. However, it is scheduled to be delivered the day after I leave for Vegas so I won't really get it until the 22nd of June! It seems so far away...

Home Game.

Joe and I went over to his parents last night for a quick practice session on how to play live poker. I play online (and I like the idea of the anonymity) but have never played where I can see the people I'm playing against. To put it concisely, I don't have a poker face. So they 4 of us played so that I could get used to playing with real chips and cards. I may be playing the ladies event on June 11th in Vegas, so I must be ready!