+Ante Up for Africa London Looks Like a Go!
Some exciting news: It looks like we will be doing another Ante Up for Africa event at the WSOP Europe on September 5th. Ty Stewart suggested adding an AUFA event to the WSOP Europe about a month ago and we have been working to put it together. Ty has been great to work with and I am consistenly reminded of what a great partnership we have with the WSOP.
So it looks like the night of September 5th at the kick off party infor WSOP Europe we will have a small, invitational 2 table or so tournament with poker pros and celebs to continue to raise awareness about Darfur and get the word out that Ante Up For Africa’s goal for next year is to raise over 1 million dollars for IRC and Enough!
The only unfortunate thing is that Don will be unable to attend because he will be in rehearsals for his new movie that starts shooting on the 10th. I will miss him but he will be able to do press for the event by phone. And then we will start planning AUFA for the WSOP 2008. All very exciting.
In other charity news, I hosted an event for Make A Wish at Social, Hollywood to raise money for their LA Chapter. At that event I had the pleasure of meeting Jerry Yang, our current WSOP main event champion. Jerry made a promise to donate 10% of his main event winnings to charity and I had the honor of witnessing him follow through with this promise as he was at the event to present a $250K check to Make A Wish. It was moving to see that kind of generosity, to say the least.
If any of you don’t know Jerry’s story it is pretty incredible. He was born in Laos when it was taken over my communists. His family attempted an escape to Thailand but was captured at the border and held at gunpoint (we are talking AK-47′s here). His family was then sent back into Laos. On their second attempt they made it to Thailand where Jerry lived in a refugee camp for 4 years. He witnessed many of his relatives die of malnutrition and disease there. After 4 years, his family made it to America where has has lived ever since. And then this year, from those beginnings, he won over $8 million. That is a helluva story.
Jerry could teach us all a thing or two about humility. He is going to make a great ambassador for the game.
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OK…I know everyone is wondering how this cleanse is going…have I killed anyone yet? Eaten ice cream in a moment of weakness? Am I done being bitchy and spacey yet? Well I am happy to report that I feel great and have lost 15 pounds on this thing. I seriously haven’t felt this healthy in forever. I have tons of energy and I am not hungry and no, I haven’t cheated once. In fact, my results are so good that everyone I know practically is joining the bandwagon: my assistant, my nanny, my manager, a bunch of friends of mine. I would say 10 people I know are now on the cleanse.
Yesterday I put on a pair of jeans I haven’t been able to button in two years and they went on easily and I even had a little extra room! I have been working out about 5 days a week doing cardio and weights, either going to the gym or hiking in Runyon Canyon. Between that and the nutritional program I can’t believe how much smaller I am. I have been really unhappy recently with both my weight and how I feel and now all that is gone. I even bought a dress yesterday from BCBG Max Azria and a small was too big! I needed an XS! Psych!
I told Hollywood Dave today, who is the one who got me started on this, that he is like a virus, spreading this throughout LA and the country since everyone we know seems to be on this stuff now. We have all drunk the Kool-Aid.
If you are interested in the cleanse you can check it out at http://aimeezannoni.isagenix.com/us/en/home.dhtml. It is really amazing but, of course, check with your doctor before starting any program like this. I am not a licensed physician so I can’t say whether this program would be healthy or safe for everyone. I just know I have had some prtty sick results on it.
I am done with the 30 day cleanse on Sunday. Then I am just going to try to eat healthy until Dave and I do a 9 day cleanse in mid September. That way I can’t fall too far off the wagon 
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The most important and exciting thing happening right now is that my kids will be home tomorrow! I haven’t seen them in a month because they have been with their Dad. Each of us get a month with the kids each summer and they just spent their month with him up in Montana. But tomorrow they come back to me and I am beside myself with excitement. I have a big barbeque planned for tomorrow then Saturday we are all going to the salon because Maud has decided she wants to die her hair red which is totally cool with me. I think the fact that she wants to start expressing her individuality is pretty cool and I am all for it. The brighter the better as far as I’m concerned.
On Sunday, Joe and I are taking all the kids down to Laguna Beach for 4 days of doing absolutely nothing but hanging on the beach and chilling with the kids. I am so looking forward to this. I need a vacation and I can’t think of anything better than just hanging on the beach with my little ones. Plus I will get to show off my new bod in a bikini 