Vegas Stars

Injured Police Officers Poker Tournament

Reality Stars Support Injured Police Officers

Minddie Lloyd

Once again the reality stars of Big Brother, Survivor, The Amazing Race and the NFL players of the Cardinals, Lions and Raiders turned up to raise funds for the injured police officers at a poker tournament in Las Vegas. The Palms Hotel Casino and The Rio Hotel hosted the events. On Friday November 12, 2010 a meet and greet was held at The Rio for the fans to meet the reality stars.

I always attend these events and I look forward to talking to the stars and celebrities who are all very interesting and so much fun to be with. I got the scoop from Russell Hantz of Survivor 19 & 20 as to how he managed to have all the women follow his plans and decisions in the game of Survivor.

Russell Hantz, Nikki Artale, Jessica Sugar Kiper

He attributes his success in leading the women to his way of thinking by a social game he was playing. Russell was modest about how he found the six immunity idols without any clues. Russell was very charming and had a twinkle in his eyes and a big grin as he shared his story with me. He was proud to have won a total of $200,000 for Americas Favorite Player, although he still stands firm that he should have won the One Million Dollar First Prize. I agree, he did deserve to win because he did play the game best. It was the first time Russell attended the Live at the Studio event and I hope he comes back to many more.

Artie & Niki Congero
Donning outrageous outfits once again was the flamboyant Jonny Fairplay who also has a lot to say.

Russell Hantz & Jonny Fairplay
Everyone likes a little Sugar and she sure didn’t disappoint. She was the life of the party as she made her way around the room and flirted with Lane Elenburg.

Jessica Sugar Kiper & Lane Elenburg
Deep in discussion were Andrew and Brendon of BB 11 catching up on life after leaving the Big Brother house in September. Andrew is a practicing Podiatrist in Florida and Brendon is a full time student in CA.

Andrew Gordon & Brendon Villegas
Fans love to come to these events so they can spend quality time with everyone. It doesn’t matter what reality show the stars were on, they all have an automatic connection to each other.

Dan Kaminsky & Michelle Noonan
Paul DeAngelis along with Minddie Lloyd of The Injured Police Officers fund (IPOF) helped put together the Poker Tournament to raise funds for Policemen and their families who have been killed or injured.

Injured Police Officers Group
Lacey Jones a professional poker player went all in on the first hand with a full house and she was beat by Russell Hantz with a higher full house. Everyone was very surprised that she was eliminated so suddenly. David Zayas, who plays the detective on the TV Series “Dexter”, held his own for quite a while. I was happy to meet him because I love “Dexter”. David is a sweet guy and everyone flocked to him and lots of photos were taken.

Lacey Jones, David Zayas, Kylie Ireland
Attending the tournament, NFL players from the Cardinals, Lions, Raiders, Dallas & Colts, were Anthony Bell, Frank Middleton, Anthony Simmons & Kevin Brown. They are a massive powerhouse of men who stand out in a crowd. They were the gentle giants in the room.

Frank Middleton, Anthony Simmons & Kevin Brown

We can always count on Sheila Kennedy to give of her time to come to Las Vegas to support all the events. She was given a lot of attention by the Police Officers.

Anthony Bell (NFL Star Player) & Sheila Kennedy
Rachel Reilly wore a stunning green outfit and looked beautiful as always, played poker for quite a long time with the big boys.

Rachel Reilly Big Brother 11
I loved seeing Michelle Costa and Louis Stravato and spending some time with them. Louis will be fighting in a celebrity boxing event at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City this month and given the shape he is in, I predict he will be a winner.

Michelle Costa & Louis Stravato
Hamming it up for the cameras were Jonny Fairplay and Kylie Ireland.

Kylie Ireland & Jonny Fairplay
Minddie Lloyd presented the first place winner, Richard Spore with a trophy. Richard is a student from Lancaster, PA and came to Las Vegas to play in the tournament and meet his idol, Russell Hantz. Richard started playing professional poker five years ago and has been very successful at it.

Minddie Lloyd & Richard Spore
Derrick Piece placed second in the tournament. Derrick co hosts a radio show on Sirus XM 99 with Kylie Ireland.

Minddie Lloyd & Derrick Piece
It was an exciting two days and we are all looking forward for the TV Reality stars to make their way back to Las Vegas real soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cdJ7gSN0V0
Sugar, Lane, Jonny, Brendon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JQmGJRbwEY
Russell Hantz & Sheila Kennedy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uxUgDmjilc
Alex Coladonato, Dennis Luciani, Louis Stravato

Vienna Girardi and the Chippendales

Vienna Girardi

Jaymes Vaughan, Vienna Girardi & Chaun Thomas

Vienna Girardi hosted the Chippendale show on November 5th and had the men all to herself before the show. The Chippendales showered her with red roses, posed for many photos and lifted her high in their arms. Vienna was the winner on “The Bachelor” an ABC hit series that I watch faithfully. Jake Pavelka won Vienna’s heart and broke it several months later on public TV. Not to worry, the bachelorette got a lot of attention from the Chippendales.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=602fdSGjD_o
Vienna said she never saw the Chippendales before and was a little nervous but very excited to host “The Ultimate Girls Night Out”. Vienna joined the men on stage for the Ride a Cowboy segment of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DORQ3CjfG5w
Vienna is now living in Beverly Hills and plans on going home to Florida for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. She is becoming quite the star with many TV appearances on Ellen and Entertainment Tonight and featured in numerous magazines including Star and People.

We are looking forward to seeing more celebrity guest hosts on the show with the handsome Chippendales. Whenever they appear on stage it causes hearts to skip many beats looking upon the most perfect men in the world.

I lost track of how many times I have seen the Chippendale Show but it doesn’t matter because I intend to go to see the show many more times. I am still excited and thrilled to be in the Chippendale showroom amongst the most handsome, sexy and perfect men.

My best and favorite photo of the night was of Chaun Thomas

Chaun Thomas
Chaun is beautiful and charming. Most nights you can see him in the Flirt Lounge after the last show of the night. That is a plus meeting the Chippendales after the show in the lounge. http://www.chippendales.com/
Chippendales perform nightly at 8:00 p.m. (dark Wednesdays). Friday and Saturday at 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $39.95 and $49.95. For tickets call 702 777-7776. Tickets for locals are $25.00 with a valid Nevada I.D.

Nunsense Las Vegas

Nunsense Las Vegas

Nunsense has a cast of five local women performers who are the epitome of Broadway singers and actors. They are fantastic, believable and have mastered their roles of the Sisters of Hoboken. Diane Ellis plays Reverend Mother and she is having a fund raiser to get money to pay for the funeral of four sisters, who along with 48 other sisters were accidentally poisoned by the resident nun cook. Reverend Mother bought a plasma T.V. and then did not have enough money to bury four of the sisters. The bodies were put in the freezer while they planned a benefit show to get money for the burials.

That is where the humor begins as they plan the event. Outrageously funny is Sister Amnesia, played by Janien Valentine who can’t remember anything. Janien puts on a spectacular performance with a singing puppet.

Sister Hubert played by Michelle Johnson took charge of the stage and belted out a song at the end that had everyone standing and clapping. Michelle is a powerhouse.

Sister Leo is played by Robin Vincent and Sister Robert Anne by Kathryn Arianoff. They sang and danced in perfect harmony with the other nuns and it was magical watching them.

Congratulations and great job to Nancy Gregory, who choreographed and directed Nunsense. The Shimmer Cabaret in the Las Vegas Hilton is a perfect venue for the show.

I always love it when the cast come out to meet with the people and take pictures with everyone.

Diane Ellis robin Berry Vincent, Michelle Johnson, Kathryn Arianoff.

Janien Valentine also stars in Peep Show at Planet Hollywood and left before the picture was taken.

Epicurean Affair 2010

Epicurean Affair

Suckling Pig from Valentino's

The season is approaching for our get together dinners at Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. The holidays are a time for celebrating with family and friends, eating, drinking and sharing our famous foods with each other. As my mouth waters talking about the holidays, I can’t help but think back to the Epicurean Affair I attended last month at The Palazzo. It featured over 70 restaurants and beverage suppliers in our valley and prepared by the cities renowned chefs who prepared their delicious foods and fabulous creations for everyone to enjoy. It was a foodie’s paradise tasting all the delicious foods.

Some of the restaurants featured were Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House, Nobu, The Grape, Prime Steakhouse, Valentino’s, Wolfgang Puck, Hash House A Go Go, Bradley Odgen, Maggianos, Jasmine and many more.

This was the Gourmet event of the year with the most delicious food from these fabulous chefs who offered all the attendees the best of Kobe Beef, Peking, Duck, Suckling Pig and Sushi and Sashimi from the Asian Bistro at Tao and much more.

Painted topless models were on hand greeting everyone. The artwork on the models was beautifully painted on their bodies by artist Jen Ashton. http://www.jenashton.com/

Melanie James, Jen Ashton and Annie Kim
Not hard on the eyes was Gabriel Galvao, waiter

Girl in a bubble was an added attraction floating and dancing in the pool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Ah_GMBMzI

Enjoying the evening with was Michael Neal of Ksne106.5 radio and Collette Wieland of news 3 kvbc.
This was a night I won’t forget for a long time and I am looking forward to next year’s event.

Pure Spanish Horse Show

Pure Spanish Horse Show

The pure Spanish Horse is beautiful and strong, elegant and noble in appearance. The best quality of the Spanish Horse is the nobility and grace that is demonstrated as he performs in anything he is asked to do. Pure Spanish horses are known for their big oval eyes and their thick mane. They are known for their obedience and easy handling and are a horse of pleasure. Not only were they the darlings of European Royalty, they were the worlds greatest war horse who carried great warriors into battle.

It was an exciting day as I went to visit the horses in their stalls and in the arenas. I stopped to talk with Richard Nickerson, President of the Foundation, PSH. Linda & Richard Nickerson own the Snowy Peaks Ranch in Oakley UT and it is home to P.R.E. Broodmares, some of whom have been imported from Spain.

Richard Nickers

A class was held to learn about judging the P.R.E. horses from the world’s leading experts, Col. Javier Velazquez and Mercedes Cort. The class started at 9:00 am and ended at 2:00 pm in the practice arena for hands on learning. (Javier Velazquez)

Javier Velazquez

Terry Waechter is the proud owner of FugitivoX11 who was used in the judging class. Watchman Pura Raza Espanola is home to many special horses. Terry has used Fugitive X11 to breed for over two years and about a month ago when he was available for sale; she jumped at the chance to buy him. He truly is an amazing and beautiful horse. www.purespanishmares.com (Terry Waechter) (FugitivoX11 winner)

Terry Waechter with her horse Fugitivo XII Winner

Many awards and a $5,000 money prize were awarded to many of the Spanish Horses. Barbara Clark, Executive Director of the Pure Spanish Horse Association did a fabulous job and was there to present the awards. Barbara Clark said she went to Spain 30 years ago on a scholarship and met the Pure Spanish horses and fell in love with them.

http://www.prehorse.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzzJ1KIimD8Video
Pam Nelson, a trainer and judge, and her daughter Heidi Gaian was there with her horse.
Another winner was one of my favorites. The outfits and the flowers in the horse’s mane were so beautiful.