Wedding Bells in Sin City

I just spent an extended weekend in Las Vegas forΒ my younger sister Adrienne’s neon-themed wedding – she the older of my 2 younger sisters! We weren’t on the strip, but in DTLV (downtown Las Vegas) and it was filled with fun festivities, true to the style of the couple we were there to celebrate. We stayed at the Downtown Grand Hotel which is a block off from Fremont Street, recently remodeled and very comfortable (and reasonably priced). We did head over to “the strip” for one night of table and bottle service partying, but everything else was within walking distance to the hotel, which was really nice. From the Container Park to Gold Spike, The Neon Museum and her post-ceremony venues of Le Thai and Commonwealth, it was the perfect wedding weekend. Many congratulations to my sister and new brother in law, may their marriage be blessed and filled with endless love.

Check out some of my favorite photos from our Sin City festivities…

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Flat Stanley

I just spent a week with Flat Stanley! My friend Eric in Phoenix sent him to me and asked if I knew who he was and if I’d be willing to participate…of course I obliged, and Stanley and I had a great time!! πŸ™‚ So who is this “Flat Stanley” character, for those of you who aren’t familiar??? Well, he has a website – http://www.flatstanley.com/

Basically he’s a character from a book and because he’s “flattened” he can be mailed, thus allowing for great adventures all over the globe as he gets passed from friend to friend. I did this for Mrs. Mac’s 1st grade class at Cottonwood Elementary in Hesperia, CA!

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I received Stanley in my Oakland mailbox right after Thanksgiving and of course he got to ride on Southwest with me cross-country to Florida! See how he got the window seat and was watching the luggage get loaded!?!? ha

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We had one layover and plane change in Las Vegas, so Stanley took that opportunity to sit in front of the slot machines! Unfortunately we didn’t hit the jackpot and proceeded to board for our Fort Lauderdale bound flight.

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The highlight of Stanley’s South Florida visit was a day out at an NFL game to see the Miami Dolphins host the Oakland Raiders! Here he is getting ready to enter Sun Life Stadium amidst all the pre-game festivities….

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We had great seats at the game, but sadly the Raiders lost…womp, womp, womp… πŸ™ However, it was fun and Stanley got to meet my road dawg Jeanette and she will now be hosting him for a week over at the Raiders facility…hopefully he brings them better luck for this Sunday!

Reunion RECAP and VIDEO

I wanted to share some of the VIDEO highlights produced by On The Flipside (aka me), for the Pro Football Cheer Alumni Reunion in Vegas! It was a fabulous event and a huge success, being the inaugural year. I met some amazing women who are both inspiring and empowering… I just KNOW this event will grow by leaps and bounds with each year, so I hope all the ladies who can claim the “elite” status of having cheered on the NFL sidelines will consider joining us next time around! As NFL Cheer Alumni we can be such a powerful group affecting change…and of course we make great girlfriends and memories.

Press “PLAY” to see the “reunion reel!” Also, big shouts to Abe who joined us in Vegas as our Official Video Man and captured all the great footage that I edited together!

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A couple shots with my “NFL” sisters!

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OTF: Episode 33!!!

Another episode of On The Flipside is here!! For this edition I used the Pro Football Cheerleader Alumni Reunion in Vegas as the backdrop and filled it with lots of fun! πŸ™‚

On this show we’ve got Dwyane Wade at a charity basketball event in Beijing, China, interviews with Brad Pitt for his new baseball flick, Moneyball, a flashback with the SF 49ers on their first Super Bowl win and a SEXY look at the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders and their calendar reveal event! Go now >> http://ontheflipsidetv.com

AUBS + GABY: Adventures in Sin City

One of my very bestest friends Gaby joined me in Vegas this past weekend… We both went for the Pro Football Cheerleader Alumni Reunion, but it was also a nice girls getaway for us! And – our hang outs are usually 1 of 2 things…really chill, lay around and relax…OR we go from 1 to 100 in no time! This trip we did a little of both! ha

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We did the nightclub thing, stopping by Playboy LV …

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Our favorite quote of the weekend, “Gabriela, splits!” It came via a couple guys from Australia, one of which was throwing up signs for “West Side!” LOL

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Our second going out night spot was HAZE…where we ran into DJ E ROCK!

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We did a lot of loungin and talking…

The eating was not so healthy! :/

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Took a stroll thru City Center, and got our “player cards” at Cosmopolitan (big pimpin’) – I look like a giant next to Gabs!

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But — our favorite thing of the weekend was SLOTS!!

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I hit this straight row of 7’s on the penny slots, looks like it should be something BIG…but it wasn’t really…HAHA! Oh well, you win some, you lose more…fun times!

Pro Football Cheer Alumni Reunion

AMAZING weekend in Vegas with FABULOUS women representing most of the NFL teams and several eras of Pro Football!! I’m so glad I can say I was part of the inaugural..and this “association” is only going to grow bigger and bigger every year… a collection of a very elite group of women!

“On The Flipside” I created the opening slideshow (above) with photos showcasing many of the attendees in their “cheering” days – I’ll be editing a highlight reel with video from the event very soon… In the meantime, below are some of the unofficial event photos! Such a GREAT, inspiring and empowering weekend filled with lots of new “sisters!”

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OTF – Ep. 29: Wynwood!!!

Whew! I just edited my 29th episode of On The Flipside!! This one is a little extra special because I fine tuned my audio editing skills and exported it entirely in HD..but then BLIP (which I use to host my videos) only lets me upload 1GB and since this is more than 1GB…well on blip and facebook it’s SD, but youtube is HD!

At any rate, for this episode I hosted from the Wynwood (art) District of Miami and it features Michael Jordan’s 10th Annual Celebrity Invitational in Las Vegas, my sit down interview with Minnesota Viking Bryant McKinnie and a close up with Sideline Distraction Katie of the Sacramento Kings Dance Team… and of course the SKDT is a little closer to my heart because well I used to dance for them – my first PRO dance team, AND next season they may be (in Sacto) NO MORE! πŸ™ Anyway, tune in, watch and enjoy!! This episode and all the preceding 28 episodes can be found at http://ontheflipsidetv.com

VEGAS…Again!

Everyone always teases me about how many friends I have that are getting married..so it’s always a wedding, shower, bachelorette party, etc… and well yes, honestly there have been and continue to be a lot for those said events! At any rate, I just spent another 48 hours in Sin City, this time for my home girl Carol!!

I met Carol years ago when we were in college I was at SJSU and she went to CSU Hayward…is it CSU East Bay now!??! Anyway, over the years we have taken many girl trips and she’s always been there for me. We even traveled to Australia together in 2002!! This trip was SO MUCH FUN! It was a great time being silly and getting all dolled up with these girls who kept me laughing all weekend. I call this crew the “Santa Clara” crew, since that’s where they’re all from (Norma, Claire, Roselle & Arlyn – who is not pictured) …and we go way back to high school!!

I love the background of this picture (above) which is actually the wall outside of our hotel, Vdara at the new City Center. Those were my roomies for the weekend…we had an awesome suite!! πŸ™‚

Night 1 we went to XS at Encore…good times!!

One of the highlights of the night was my $100 (tip) chip for being a “good luck charm” at the craps table!!

I LOVE this shot of me and Claire walking through Wynn as we were leaving…

The next day our feet were still sore, but we got up and headed to brunch…and you know we all were on the SAME PAGE cuz everyone got the “green” memo! LOL Total coincidence, but we all rocked the color of $MONEY$ … πŸ™‚

And — stopped by the Vdara pool…still HOT in October!

Night 2 we did some traditional “bachelorette” party activities…

..then dinner at Aria and out to Haze nightclub. *Note – I did not get the everyone wear black except the “bride-to-be” memo! haha But hey, gray is the new black..just a lighter shade!!

All in all, such GREAT times with good friends!!