The adventures of Napkinnights Girl, Part 2- Guardian Angel, Allen Beasley.. Mile Marker 163.)

In the morning, I simultaneously wiped the sleep out of my eyes while I also packed the car. I originally planned on staying in phoenix through tuesday, but I was feeling the need to get back to Las Vegas.. When I am there, I can't wait to leave, and when I am gone, I can't wait to go back!! So I hopped in the car, made a stop at Subway and then got on the road home.

I made it to the Joshua Tree Parkway again, and I start thinking, I REALLY want to have my own joshua tree, so let's stop and get a seed... So I pulled off the road by a tree, and started hunting.. Since I couldnt figure out where to find one, I snapped a couple photos, and jumped back in the car.

Well, I see right in front of me where I had pulled off the highway, a dirt road heading off into this canyon. Me being the adventurous sort decided that I am going to head down the road a ways and go see if i can get some cool pictures! The road started getting extremely rocky and steep, so I decided, I don't want to get stuck, I better turn around. I am at least half a mile from the highway by this time.. I found a place that looked like another dirt road crossed it, and proceeded to make my 3 point turn. And thats when I realized that it wasn't a road, it was a dry creek bed. And the dry creek bed was lined with, you guessed it, SAND!!! The tires started spinning, and I quickly took my foot off the gas. I jumped out of my rental car and saw that the tires were at LEAST 6 inches deep in the sand. I kinda freaked out for about, oh say, 30 seconds, and then got my wits together.

I rocked the steering wheel back and forth and gave it a bit of gas, and that didn't help, it just got worse. So I pulled out the manual to try and figure out whether it was a front wheel or rear wheel drive. My mind was going a million miles a minute so I wasn't even reading the words. I decided to hit the gas real fast to see what tires spun out. It was the rear ones, so I got on my hands and knees and started digging out the sand from below the tires. Then I hunted around the creek bed to find a bunch of flat rocks to place behind the tires in the hopes that it would give it some traction to get out. Half an hour later, I jumped behind the wheel, and found that my effort had been pointless. The car was stuck, and wasn't going anywhere! "Time to walk back to the highway and see if I can flag down someone to help," I started thinking..

And thats when I saw it.. The oasis in the desert. It wasn't there when I drove in.. The 35 foot, gleaming motorhome towing a ford clubwagon. I thought, "I must have a guardian angel! I hope it's not some guy who's going to molest me." I thought about the way that I was looking after digging in the sand for half and hour, and decided, "NO WAY thats going to happen, look at the state I am in." So I trotted over to see if I could get some assistance. "Hey, can you help me? I got my car stuck over here!"

The guy was old.. Not as old as Chocolate Milk and Cat Food (see previous blog) but old nonetheless.. If I were to put an age on him, I would guess late 60's, early 70's. We walk back to my car and look under to see if there is a tow hitch. Of course there wasn't! So he goes and pulls some boards out of the motor home (who carries boards in their motor home?). I grab the jack out of the back of the car, and we jack up the car using one of the boards so it doesn't sink into the sand. Doing this we are able to place boards under each rear tire (all the while I am worried that the old guy is going to have a heart attack from all the exertion) We found an old tv (the kind with the wood on the outside) and busted off the sides, to use the boards from that too. The wood was somewhat rotted from the weather, but it was better than nothing! WE had to move the car back and forward, digging out sand and moving boards for 2 hours till we finally got the car back on the dirt road.. I said, "I can't thank you enough! I don't have much on me, but here is all the cash that I have." I shove 23 dollars in the front pocket of his shirt, and he trudges off towards his camper.

"Wait!" I yell.. "What's your name?" He says, "Allen. Allen Beasley." And then the door slams shut on his home. I drive back to the highway and notice the mile marker ..163. I won't be going down that road again any time soon. I spotted another interesting road to check out next time around mile marker ..156!

For some reason through it all, I spaced on taking pics.. I guess I was kinda stressed out. But here are pics of the Joshua tree that lured me in, as well as the canyon in the distance. Then pics of the car after all is said and done, and the pants that I was wearing through my predicament!

So i decide to take a much needed vacation and I head down to Scottsdale, AZ to visit friends and party in their kick ass party scene.. I decided while I might take pics, I knew that I was going to try and relax and not take too many while I am down there. I picked up a rental car (a 300m for anyone who knows what that is) on tuesday and plan my trip around making it to the Joshua Tree Parkway in AZ around sunset so that I could take some pictures of the Joshua Tree. I have a weird affinity for these trees, as you will see later in this BLOG... My timing is impeccable and I make it there with just enough time to find a place to park, grab all my lighting equipment, and shoot a few test shots...

Right as I was pulling my equipment out of my car though, a cop car pulls over to make sure that I am ok... I said, "of course, I just want to shoot a photo of the Joshua trees!" I check to see that he is good and gone before I start pulling out all my equipment (lighting, stand, power supply, camera, reflector umbrella). I ran across to the west side of the road to start searching for a tree. I didn't have much time, so I picked the closest one to me, and started setting up my gear. Somehow, I got a thorn in my shoe. Weird thing was, i felt it stab the OUTSIDE of my shoe, and somehow it got inside... So i had to take photos with it stabbing my foot the whole time! Oh well, the price we pay, right?? And the effort was well worth it. See??



I pack up all my gear and head in towards Glendale, where I plan on visiting the friends that you see in a previous blog from Feb, Sean and Everett... Sean has to work the next morning, so he's not going out, but Everett was down, and so was their other roomie, James. I grab these 2 hotties and head out to NEXT where DJs Richard Humpty Visson and David Garcia are spinning! The place was packed and I ran into a ton of friends! We make a stop at Martini Ranch to say hi to my buddy Chris, and then it's back out to Glendale to crash!

Thursday I went to have lunch with my boy Scott who works for the Arizona Diamondbacks. We went to lunch at TGIFriday's in the Stadium. Our table looked out into the Ballpark.. How friggin' cool is that??? He had to run off so I spent the rest of the day goofin' off till Sean got off work.. OoH!! Sexy military boy in uniform.. Need I say more?? We take off to this place that actually overlooks the base and get their in time to catch the sunset. It's his first time doing a photoshoot, I was rushing him so that we could catch the light, and he was a bit self concious, but I think that the photos came out just fine!! Don't you agree ladies??



After the shoot, I took off into Tempe to pick up Dave who used to work at Rum Jungle out here in Las Vegas. Grabbed him and his friends and met up with Sara and Dallin at PussyCat Lounge, or PCL for short when you're text messaging.. I do a ton of this so shortened versions are neccessary! Jimmy, my buddy i ALWAYS stay with down in AZ meets us there, and I run around talking to everyone that I haven't seen in forever.. A guy looks over and says, hey I know you! Turns out it's this guy Bryan I partied with out in Vegas, who lives in Dallas.. Weird running into him in Scottsdale! We finished the night off over at 6 (LOVE the guys over at 6, this is a GREAT lounge/club) and then met up with Chris from Martini Ranch over at Casmir's. weird thing about this place is that if you didnt know it was there, you would never find it!



I spent most of friday catching up on work from my laptop.. Even though I was out of town on vacay, I still needed to constantly be connected to what was going out here in Las Vegas... I met up with Jimmy and his friend Mandy over at The Salty Seniorita for lunch/happy hour around 3.. Scottsdale is weird, and people start getting drunk at this time on a Friday!



The place was PACKED!! Hit up Triangles (a bikini store on Scottsdale Rd- love this place! Cute cute stuff for REHAB or Pimp & Ho!) and then went back to Jimmy's to start getting ready for the night. I guess I lag, because it took me a few hours to get out of the house and get over to Devil's Martini to meet up with my friend Scott (duh, one from the diamondbacks, gosh! how could you forget already??) and the 45 people that he was out with.. Hung out there and ran into Sean, Everett and their friends (weird coincidence- I had no clue they were going to be there, and they had no clue that I was either.) Stayed there till pretty late and then met up with Sara and Dallin over at PCL (do I really have to tell you what it stands for again??). The place was about to close so Sara and I went to IHOP.. The place was packed with guys so I requested the farthest table away from everyone. Thats a clue fellas! Just cause we are dressed up to go out, doesnt mean that we want to be picked up on and harrassed! We just wanna go out and have fun!

Saturday Jimmy and I went shopping at the mall. Somehow I managed to find the cutest formal (I wasn't even looking for formals!) so I had to try it on. What do you think??



We went back to the house, got ready to go out and then hit up Frasier's... If you don't know what Frasier's is, you are missing out. It's a family owned smokehouse on Scottsdale Rd. Everytime I am in town, I go there. And every single time I go there, the owner George remembers me. Now keep in mind, I am there only once every few months, and it's been a total of about 4 times prior. To me thats DAMN GOOD customer service!!! And the best Filet Mignon for the most AWESOME prices! (wow, i sound like a commercial! Maybe I can get him to sponsor me and the NN Girls, lol!!) After dinner (wow, full belly.. not good wearing a halftop) we take off to Elixir to visit Chris and Corey..



It's just starting to get going over there, so we take off to PCL (do I really have to explain it again??). We stay about 5 minutes, and go to Axis (where i run into a ton of people from Ameriquest in Sacramento that I have known for YEARS), Mist, back to Axis where Sara and a couple of her friend's meet up with us, and then to Elixir. I think I liked Elixir the most that night. It was really laid back and there was room for me to dance. But the guys didnt seem to understand that I wanted to dance by myself! I don't go out trying to meet and dance with guys... It's more fun to just kick it with my friends!! After the clubs closed, I made it an early night and headed to bed!

Sunday was a blast! It was a beautiful, sunny day! I woke up and headed over to my friend John and Kris's house. If you have ever seen the reality show, The Amazing Race, they were the couple who finished 2nd. I met up with Scott, and a whole bunch of friends and we took a limo bus (with a slot machine in it??) down to the Brewer's Spring Training Facility. We were there to see the Diamondbacks play the Brewers in a preseason game. And John and Kris were there to throw the first pitch of the game! And I guess it's a tradition to have a Bratwurst, Polish Sausage, Italian Sausage, and Hot Dog race after the 7th inning. I don't pretend to know anything about baseball.. But I sure as hell took lots of pics! and ate a ton of Kettle Corn. Someone told me that there was a baseball game going on, but somehow I must have missed it with all the fun that we were having, lol...





We took the limo back to scottsdale and I parted ways with the group to go visit my aunts, uncles and cousins for dinner. then it was back to meet up with the crew! drinks and sushi at Stingray Sushi, and then off to 6 to finish out the AWESOME day. Somehow we got on this afterparty kick and I had 7 people up in the 300m (Luke actually ended up face down with his feet in the backwindow-by the time we got him turned around, his face was turning purple! Like so many highschool afterparties, it ended up being a bust, and everyone went home. I was ok with it; it was a great day altogether and I was ready to sleep!





To be continued..... (see next Blog: The adventures of Napkinnights Girl, Part 2- Guardian Angel, Allen Beasley.. Mile Marker 163.)

Napkinnights Has A Hangover! March 8th, 2005

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I can't believe it's finally over. Last week was CRAZY as it ALWAYS is when the Nightclub and Bar convention hits Las Vegas. Imagine, people that work in the Nightlife industry from all over the country converging on Las Vegas in the same period of about 4 days. Put them in the Las Vegas convention center with every single alcohol brand that you can think of, and you have chaos, mayhem and utter insanity! And this year did not disappoint.
We started off the week with The Main Event at PURE hosted by Las Vegas Food and Beverage Magazine. We made a beeline over to the Hard Rock to hit the Journey concert and party hosted by Bacardi! This invite only event was fully catered and was held upstairs in the Joint as well as downstairs inside Body English. That night also saw the kick off of Secret Society at SUshi Roku inside the Forum Shops. With a great view of the strip and Graham Funke on the tables, this is sure to be a new hotspot! We went with the old tried and true of the Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay who has been holding strong to their monday night for YEARS!! Last monday night was no exception! To finish off the night, we went downstairs to Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce, to say hi to Gino and Tony, the Godfathers of Las Vegas Afterhours. AM has finally found a home, and tell you the truth, it's a perfect fit! This cozy atmosphere was a perfect place to end our evening!

Tuesday we headed down to the convention.. No matter how hard we tried, we didnt get there before 3:00 and the thing closed at 6! With every liquor company and energy drink out there offering free samples of their product, it was a surprise that everyone wasn't either falling down drunk, or bouncing off the walls. Now that I think of it, they were! That night we covered the Legends VII Flair Bartending Finals at RA, the Sammy Hagar/Cabo Wabo Concert at Club Rio, PURE's locals night, and Tabu's 2 year anniversary! Happy birthday Tabu!

Wednesday we made it to the convention by 2.. We ran around getting pictures of people, and you could tell by the look on their faces that partying at this level was starting to wear on them.. This night we covered last event of the Bar & Nightclub Convention, the DJ Competition at Studio 54. We finished off the night with trip to Tangerine, and as always, this place was PACKED!

Thursday we made our rounds to Tangerine, Vivid, and Tabu for FUSION!

Friday Brand 1 Clothing Celebrated their 1 year anniversary with the Launch of their spring line over at ICE! We headed over to RA to check out Roonie G on his DVD turntables, PURE for it's crazy Friday Nights, and finished off the night over at RUBBER to see Superstar DJ Keoki!

Saturday saw us at PURE again, Club Rio, and ICE for Josh Wink! We tried to make afterhours, but the week was so eventful, we were exhausted! And we still had one more night to go!

Sunday night we checked out Risque for their hot locals night, and then ran over to Body English for THEIR rockin' locals night! The club was packed till 4:00 in the AM!

Now it's Tuesday... We start it all over again!

So this weekend was kinda slow and not too crazy for me... For ONCE!!! When I say slow, I mean for going out... I got in a car accident (see prior Blog), and I had 4 photo shoots.. Thats a pretty interesting weekend in itself.. But I dont have any crazy "boogie like a pool man" stories to tell..

This did remind me though... A few weeks ago during MAGIC, I ended up at the Peppermill with some of my friends. We were there for a special industry party for one of the clothing lines. In the booth that we ended up with was an older couple from the midwest. They only seemed too eager to strike up conversation with us, and of course, being the nice folk that we are, obliged. The guy starts off our rapport with, "did you have a chance to try the chicken strips? They are delightfully good!" HIs wife chimes in, "And the onion rings were incredible as well. You should definitely get your hands on some of those!" They make more small talk, telling us how last years party was much busier than this year's, but this year's was pretty off the hook. I look around the lounge (I see the flames dancing on the water down in the lower part of the lounge area) and see very few people hanging around. The place is not empty by any means, but far from "off the hook!" This made me realize. People's perceptions of things are often supported by the surroundings that they come from. I party for a living, so the get together was a nice loungey atmosphere to me. To them it was the party of the year; something that they looked forward to and planned for months in advance! I chuckled and let them keep raving on about the deep fried foods that I wouldn't touch. "the sauce for the eggrolls is soo spicy. unless you like it spicy, I don't suggest you try it!"



Friday consisted of my car accident, and my business meeting (again, read the other Blog already if you really wanna know all about it) and then for the evening I went to ICE, RA and Rubber... Brand 1 Clothing had their 1year anniversary party, and fashion show showcasing their new spring line. Modeled by none other than the Vamps!! These hotties had on some cute outfits or lack of outfits that I just wanted to jump up there and rip off!! but did I? no, I just calmly stood there and took my pictures and plotted for the day that I too would have these similar clothes... Especially the black and hot pink new logo that Brand 1 has!! (hint hint Jay or Chris if you are reading!)

After ICE we ran down to RA to check out Roonie G mixing it up on DVD turn tables. I keep telling everyone... If you haven't seen this yet, you HAVE to check it out.. On top of being an incredible DJ anyway, Roonie G tears it up on the DVDs; scratching the VIDEO back and forth. This is all watched on 12 TVs that are strategically placed around the DJ booth.. Check out the pics on Napkinnights.com if you havent done so yet!

After RA we went over to Club Rubber to catch Superstar DJ Keoki's set, opened by Scott Stubbs... For any of you who have been clubbing a long time, especially for all you former ravers out there, you know what a treat this was.. I even put down my camera to dance!

Saturday consisted of a VERY RAINY photo shoot in the desert with 2 VERY HOT models.. You can view pics from this shoot on my profile, or check the 2 previous blogs to this one... HOT HOT HOT!!!

Saturday night had us at Club Rio, then ICE again.. THis time we hit ICE to see Josh Wink, another name that in the past has brought us to a "higher state of conciousness".. Again for all the old school ravers, you will for SURE know what I am talking about!!!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday... I slept 7 hours... 7 hours! I had decided that it was my day to sleep in, and thats what the hell I did! Then I got up and started doing some work as I waited for Tina to show up. We ran down to PTs to get my new all time favorite, the egg and mash potatoe burrito.. Sounds kinda odd, but it's completely good! WE headed back to my house, and then since we didnt have much time to shoot, we did the photos in my bathroom... Yup, my bathroom decked out in Paul Frank.. And guess what? If you wanna check out the photos, thats right, you guessed it, go to the prior Blog! Hehe... Duh! I went to dinner at FireFly this weekend instead of RA Sushi like last. This is a great spot to hit on a sunday before you go out for the evening. Tapas and Sangria is the name of the game for most as a DJ spins soothing music to go with your meal. I X'd on the Sangria but went to town on the Tapas.. Then before you know it, it was time to come home so that i could geek out on my computer for a few hours before my SERIOUS date with my pillow. I even hear it calling me now..

So we went out in the desert, to try and catch some of the cool rain clouds that were out yesterday, and we got rained on!! But the photos came out kinda cool!

Does anyone else have a problem keeping up with myspace?? I am totally and utterly addicted, and I spend MANY hours on this thing, but I never seem to keep up with the messages and the friend adds... I want to be able to add more blogs and stories of things that happen to me (for god knows that when you live in Las Vegas, crazy things tend to happen that are EXTREMELY noteworthy) along with pictures to prove it all!!

Like today for example.. I make myself get up early... about 9am, whicxh considering how late I am out every night, is a very early thing.. I cheated though and didnt go out last night... I did a ton of work here at my computer including myspace and then got ready for a business meeting at 1:30.. One of the things on my list to get done today was pay the car insurance for my mom (who happens to be traveling in hong kong of all places); she had forgotten to send it off before she left out of town.. So I have to call a number of places just to get her account number (which they gave up willingly; odd, no??) and THEN call the actual insurance company to make a payment.

By this time I have to be in my car on the way to my meeting, so multitasking I am driving and trying to type numbers into my sidekick to pay the insurance... Of course you can imagine what happens next.. Brakes lights ahead and nothing to do but slam on there brakes.. Right into the back of an SUV!!! Luckily for me, my car is low, and i hit his tow hitch... Luckily?? Yeah, my whole carbon fiber hood was buckled, along with the smashed up front head light. But I am the type of person to see the glass half full, and was glad that nothing had happened to his car... He tells me that he isn't going to report it to the insurance (**CROSSING FINGERS**) And I call my meeting to tell them I had gotten in an accident and would be late..

Who wrecks their car, and still continues on to their meeting??? Well I was determined to get there, even after my hood flew up on the freeway, smashing back into my windshield as I am trying to drive!!! I pull over, and the carbon fiber had delaminated from the frame of the hood, so nonchalantly I throw it on the side of the freeway, tie the rest of the hood down with an old phone charger, and continue on my way- broken windshield now and all!!

I make it to the Venetian where I meet her for lunch at Tsunami's... It's seriously like a mile walk from the parking garage through the Grand Canal Shops.. And you know how when you are in a hurry, all of a sudden no one else is and they all stop in front of you?? I finally get there, and thankfully she was arriving at the same time.. We had a great meeting, and I think I am going to sign them as a new client (***CROSSING FINGERS AGAIN***) and so I leave, back on my mile long walk, not so distressed as I was earlier..

Driving home, as it's starting to rain, I start thinking about all the calls that I have to make to try and get parts to fix my car. If I can get away without turning it into the insurance, I am really going to try to.. Especially since I am about to resign my policy... So I start checking the internet to find parts and calling people I know... At this point of the evening, I still havent solved my problems, but I definitely have ideas on how to get past this..

Now I sit here in front of myspace, thinking about getting ready so that I can go out for the evening.. My mood?? it's good!! Cept for a small "hiccup" in the beginning of the day, I am doing ok.. No one was hurt in the accident, and my car isnt TOO BAD....

I always think that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we never know what those reasons are but we have to believe in that, and move on.. I can't dwell on what happened today, or I won't be ready for the next strike that life pitches my way...

Believe you me, that won't ever happen!

I did a couple photo shoots this week.. One was of priscila and the other was of DJ Faarsheed... Here are some of the photos that came out of the shoots.... Hope you like!!