It ain't over til it's over!

Andre Ethier slugged his SIXTH walk-off hit, a homer in the 13th inning to give the Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Pirates!
What? You went to bed? Are you kidding me?

'The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer,
but rather what they miss.'

~Thomas Carlyle

Oh what a night...

I have actually lost track of how many ballgames I have been to this year. My best estimate is that last night was number 30.
But this one took the (cup) cake!
Section 1, Row 3, Seat 9--about 20 feet behind home plate.

Advertised as "twelve inches of goodness", it was Free Farmer John Hot Dog night at the stadium. But I didn't have a dog. Nope, I enjoyed a crab-crusted salmon, garlic butter mash potatoes, Caesar salad, and "petite pillows of basil pesto gnocchi". As if seats behind home plate were not enough, they throw in the Wolfgang Puck-inspired all you can eat buffet as part of the deal. Dessert you ask? No mini helmets of melted ice cream...just a 10 foot offering of cakes and pies and cheesecakes and cupcakes and ice cream bars....and plates of all kinds of cookies, and candies...! Absolutely unbelievable.

And, as you walk out to your seat, there is a table STACKED with bags of peanuts and crackerjack...just to remind you that you are indeed at a ballgame!
This was my view of the game. Incredible.It was "USC My Town" night as well and the marching band lead us in the National Anthem and gave the crowd a (no doubt) season's best version of God Bless America.This is pretty much what I looked like all night long.
The happiest girl in the whole USA.Besides all that, the Dodgers beat the Pirates 6-2. And, as "I love LA" rang through the stadium, we all shuffled out of the Dugout Club past a beautiful little trophy shining in the corner...
What a night indeed

The DiLallo Family-Est. 1962

My Mom and Dad have been married for 47 years!

My dad, Pete, was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, moved here when he was 16 and graduated from the same high school as I did! Still working as a Landscape Architect, he has designed golf courses for years and takes great joy in the long hours of 'research' necessary for such work. He loves hockey and had Kings (then Ducks) season tickets for most of my life. And of course, he's an avid Dodgers fan...I gratefully inherited his deep passion for baseball.
My mom, Donas, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and grew up in Southern California. She is the original Martha Stewart, and can whip up a cake or a wreath or a dinner for 10 at a moments notice. She can tie a bow on anything and make it look spectacular! She paints, sews, draws and can do crafts that require glue guns--like none other! Though I truly don't possess any of these kinds of skills...I do like to think that I inherited her positive spirit and optimistic outlook on life.

They have five daughters, three granddaughters and five grandsons.
And tonight, I had them all to myself...
Lucky me.

Two tickets to Paradise!

Before I even left for work today, I had received an email telling me that Tim, the Front Desk Manager, had called and wanted to see me right away.
Having no idea what it could possibly be about, I immediately gave Tim a call. Here's our conversation in a (pea)nutshell:

Tim: "Hey Jules, are you working on Wednesday?"
Me: "No, I'm off, what's up?"
Tim: "Would you like to have two tickets--seven rows behind home plate--for the Dodgers game that day?..."
Tim: "Oh...and it includes a free preferred parking pass..."
Tim: "OH...and...it's Manny "Curtain Call" Bobble head day!"

Me:

Seriously? What do you think I said?

Back to the Future

Laura and I, like so many of our associates, spent the Summer months working in other departments within the hotel. Fourth of July through Labor Day, I worked at one of the hotel restaurants while Laura was part of the In Room Dining team.

This week, we returned to our regular positions!
And I've quickly been reminded of how much I love my job! I literally could not custom design a more perfect position for myself. It's work that excites me, fulfills me and GIVES me energy and satisfaction. And people thank me. I consider every work day time very well spent.
Without that time away, I may have just taken all of that for granted.

And OH how I love working with Laura...
We are back--
Here's to the future!

Special thanks to Chris Loidolt for the beach photo!

Magic Numbers and Mathematical Eliminations OR The fat lady has entered the building

If the most wonderful time of the year is Spring Training--where each and every team (and its fans) dream of the possibility of going to the playoffs and winning the World Series--then the least wonderful time of the year is when the "E"s start showing up in the standings.
"E" stands for (mathematically) 'eliminated'; meaning even if that team won every single one of its remaining games, they would still not be in contention for the playoffs. It's a sad day when you have to admit that it's not gonna happen. Not this year anyway.
As of today, the Pirates (sorry Jay), Diamondbacks (sorry Sherri, Robin and Lauren), Nationals, Blue Jays and Orioles (sorry Logan) have been eliminated from contention.


There will be many more eliminations over the next couple of weeks...disappointing for some, but ever so exciting for others!


The Dodgers "magic number" is 20 tonight. No E--and no fat lady--in sight.
For now.


It's been a GREAT season to be a Dodgers fan! I actually saw them play at Camelback Ranch and at the (Angels) Diablo Spring Training facility as well as at Dodger Stadium, Anaheim Stadium, Petco Park and at AT&T Park this year!
How lucky am I?!

And it ain't over yet.