Wow, I have had a stretch of days where so much happened, and I haven’t updated in a while. I just got back into town today, but I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start: Friday night was all kinds of fun. Jackie and I went to see From Justin to Kelly. It was so bad, we loved it! All weekend, we were quoting from it to each other. I think we were among the 10 people in the country who saw it, but rest assured, we will be purchasing the movie when it comes out on DVD. I know Mike and my brother are horrified to hear that, but I don’t care! I am proud of my love of American Idol! EXCEPT – I do NOT agree with Clay being on the cover of the new Rolling Stone. Oh my God, just thinking about it gets me so angry, I need to talk about something else. After the movie, Jackie and I met up with the ladies and we went out for a night on the pier. It was so much fun, I can’t remember the last time we all went out and were so HAPPY at the end of the night! Of course, it helped that our friend, Suzanne, got engaged. We were all on a high for her – she’s the first of the college pals. After closing down the bars, we all assembled at the apartment of Woodsy, Christi, and Dana for some late-night pizza. On Saturday…well, my day didn’t really begin until about 3 or so. Jax started me off right by putting my “12 Days of Heather’s Birthday” gifts outside my door – that helped get me past the bathroom!!! Christine and I got some quality TV time in, then we all got ready for a night in Santa Monica. We went to four different places, and I swear, we were treated like royalty at all of them. We got to cut lines without asking, and no one tried to grope us or anything. It was so different from the pier! We ended the night with more late-night food, this time at Rocky Cola Cafe, where I poured sugar into my mouth for 5 seconds because Jax dared me to. Everything tasted kind of funny after that…oh well! On Sunday I got up at the crack of dawn to go to Vegas, baby! I met up with my parents in Burbank and we made it to Sin City in a little over four hours – I was SO happy! I got some quality sun and drinking time in while my parents did some shopping, then we went to a great dinner at Paris. Where we drank some more. My Horrible Gambling Luck continued, but my Amazing Good Luck Charm abilities also continued. Literally within a minute of sitting down at the slots, my parents had each won fair amounts of money. And I lost about $8. This normally would have reduced me to tears after the amount I’d had to drink, but since it was my mom’s eight bucks I just got really pissed off instead. I called Woodsy to tell her about my parents’ wins, since she has had the good fortune to sit next to me on the slots as well. It never fails – I lose EVERYTHING, while my companions walk away richer. I should charge a fee or something. At least while I was sitting there with my parents I was offered a free drink. I told my parents to order drinks, but they didn’t, not realizing that I would have relieved them of their free beverages. You have to get your money back somewhere! We then walked back to the MGM from Paris, not a short walk, and bought more drinks. Then we all pretty much passed out in our rooms, but not before my sweet and pretty mom told me that she thought Advil Gel Caps were adorable. I woke up yesterday at 7:30 and cursed my internal clock. I always wake up early on the days I don’t have to, it’s so annoying! But, it allowed me to be lazy all morning while my parents went for a walk. I got to watch all of the Today Show! When my parents returned, we lathered up and went to the poolside cafe for breakfast, then hit the pool. I enjoyed the heat, but I swear, I got no color at all! So annoying. We met up with my parents’ friends for dinner, and we attempted to wipe out the Bellagio’s amazing buffet. I ran out of gas quickly, but others did a good job. Also, in the bathroom at the Bellagio, a woman stopped me to tell me that I had a good Aura. I thought that was pretty cool, even though it was obvious she wanted me to pay her to give me a reading. But, she didn’t tell anyone ELSE in the bathroom that they had a good aura – in fact, she went out of her way to tell me. So, I’m full of aura-y goodness. Go me! This morning, I had to wake up at the crack to catch a flight back to Burbank so I could make it to work on time. Except, my flight was delayed for almost an hour, so I was an hour late to work. Excellent. I’m lucky I have a cool boss. And super-cool parents who take me to Vegas! Yay!!!! After catching up on a bit of work, I started calling the local book stores to find out when they were going to get another shipment of Harry Potter books…and I was delighted to find that the Walden Books in the mall down the street had five left! I seriously RAN the three blocks there to get a copy. The only thing that’s keeping me from blatantly cracking it open here at my desk is writing this! I’m so excited to read it all. I think I need to re-read the end of the fourth book, though, just to get refreshed with what’s going on. Hmmm…what else? Well, my birthday is on Friday! YAY! As I was telling Christi and Mike, I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about my birthday. I mean, I’m always excited – I love birthdays, especially mine – but it feels different this time. Probably because almost all of my favorite people will be there (Mike, Jackie, Kyle, Diane, and Brookums, I’ll miss you!), and I just know that my friends are going to make it a really fun night for me. Mike and I are going out to dinner to celebrate on Thursday, and his excitement is contagious. I can’t wait to go! He’s surprising me with where we’re eating (unlike SOME people, I LOVE surprises!), and I know he’s put a lot of thought into the presents he got me. It makes me so happy to have such a wonderful family, boyfriend, and group of friends! Look at me, I’m all gushy and it isn’t even my day yet! I’ll stop all this now and start my Harry Potter!!!