I have been uncharacteristically happy and chipper lately and I think that can be attributed to the fact that I have been putting other things in front of the grind that is poker sometimes, and just focusing on enjoying myself and sharing good times with good peeps. A month or so ago I could feel something weighing pretty heavily on my heart. I couldn't really pinpoint the source of unhappiness, all I know was that I definetely wasn't myself. I wasn't as happy-go-lucky as I used to be, I didn't walk around with that extra little pep in my step, and I for sure wasn't looking at the world through the rose colored glasses I have fought hard all my life to look through.

I think it was a combination of so many things that was going on in my life, and I slowly found myself disliking who I was becoming. Issues in my life were beginning to take its toll on me, and slowly but surely was wearing me down. I became a shell of who I once was, always wondering when I would find the real me, the person I had lost sight of. I can honestly say that playing less poker has really helped me in that respect. Now when I don't feel like playing, I don't force myself. Whether it is traveling cross country for the circuit, or going in to Commerce or the Bike for a cash game, I always make sure to be acutely aware of my mood and my mindset and to follow that instead of pushing myself in a different direction.

I can't stress this enough, but in this business it is paramount to your success to surround yourself with positive and supportive people, and I am lucky enough to have that. I am so incredibly grateful and thankful for my friends, who have been absolutely unwavering in their support for me. This past weekend I made that trek back to Vegas, with the intention of playing some of the Ceasars Poker Classic prelims as well as the main. I got there on Thursday, and went with Jeff Madsen to watch our good friend Lacey Jones who is the hostess of The Real Deal live interactive poker show at the Venetian. The show was awesome and Lacey did such a great job, you guys should go check it out if you get the chance.

Anyhow, Jeff has been hanging out with Michael Phelps since meeting him through poker, and so Jeff invited us to dinner and drinks with them later on that night. Liz Lieu came and met us and after having some drinks and eats at Simon in the Palms, we all headed to Tao for some serious partying. Now honestly, what Michael Phelps did in his sport at the Olympics was truly an incredible feat, and he was really down to earth and unaffected by it all, which is admirable for someone as young as he is. He is such a poker head, and its pretty cool to see that he brings that same competitive spirit to his poker game.

On Friday it was my good friend Etay's bday, so of course celebrations were in order. But first I headed to Ceasars to play their 1k heads up tournament, and found my first draw to be against Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, whose game I respect a ton. I tried to check raise bluff him on two streets when he had it, and lost most of my chips in the process, and never recovered. I left in a hurry and went over to sweat Devo who was in the 15k Festa still with 50 people left or so. Later that night, a group of us went to this Japanese restaurant Sapporo to eat, then headed to Christian Audigier nightclub. It was a great group of people, and a ton of people joined us as the night wore on.

On Saturday the girls decided to go to Thunder Down Under, for those of you who don't know, it is a male revue in Vegas. The guys were pretty damn hot, and needless to say after a few shots the girls were fully expressing their delight and glee. After that Lacey, Liz and I decided to head over to the Bank, where a big group of people were celebrating Nenad and Nam making the final table of Festa. This turned into another long night of partying. OBV.

On Sunday I was really in the mood to take it easy, so I decided to go meet Lacey after she got done with the show for a nice relaxing dinner at where else but Dos Caminos, minus the alcohol. Well that plan quickly went out the window after we decided to have "just one", which turned into shot after shot of the best top shelf tequila they had to offer on the house, after the manager came by and introduced himself. That and every dessert they had on the menu. Yum!

What about the poker you ask? Well I did manage to get in a 100-200 limit hold 'em session in the trip, and got bored of that after a couple hours and decided to play 200-400 badugi, triple draw + HORSE. That was fun for another couple of hours and I ended up small winner. I decided to skip the Ceasars main and come back to L.A and play. BTW congrats to Jon 'FatalError' Aguilar for his fourth place finish.

Tommorow is Halloween, and I am dressing up as a bumblebee, at the risk of being cliche, my costume is more of the sexy variety, than it is a true version of a bee. Oh well, thats the girlie girl in me. I will be out in Hollywood with 8 of my girlfriends, tearing up the town. It should be debauchery as always.

I am sorry to all of my readers who might be expecting a lot of poker from my blog, I promise there will be more of that to come, but right now I am just enjoying life and enjoying the feeling of being genuinely happy, a feeling that has escaped me for quite some time...

Best of luck on the felt and much happiness!

Some pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!