The Finns in Vegas!

[Salla]

First of all, this probably is full of spelling mistakes and weird sentences, but it's almost 2:30a.m. and I'm too tired to proof read it. So you just have to deal with it. Also I probably left like half of the most important details out and rambled on about things that aren't really that interesting. Hopefully Anu can fill in all the places I've totally blanked out. I'll post the few pictures I took later and if I get inspired later on I will post my thoughts on the actual show and stuff, but now this is already long and boring enough, so this will have to do for now.

 

I think that first I need to explain a little what actually made me decide to go to Vegas during the week of Jan 16th-22nd . Some of you know about my illness this past fall. Won’t go into detail here, because this isn’t really the place to write about it, but feel free to ask me, if you feel like you want to know more. When I got very sick I was reminded that life is so fragile and that I really should do my everything to enjoy it and not let anything stop me from doing the things I love. While I was laying there on the hospital bed, after the surgery, listening to Céline I said to myself, that once I’m well enough I’ll book myself a trip to Vegas. It wasn’t supposed to happen this fast. At first I was planning on going in the summer. But then around the time I was getting back into “normal” life again the news about the DVD taping being in January spread. I didn’t really want to be ON the DVD, I just wanted to be a part of the experience and have the perfect memorabilia of the whole show experience. As I didn’t want to travel all by myself all the way from Finland considering, that I still wasn’t fully recovered, I bugged Anu to go with me. And just 3 months before the actual dates, and after counting our pennies, we decided that we would go. My Vegas trips before have taken at least 6 months to prepare for, so it felt like the time really flew by waiting for this one. Not that I complain! This is more like a diary than a review as I’ve never been very good with remembering details that actually interest most people. But so that this doesn’t end up being a total mindless ramble, here goes:

 

January 16th

 

Anu came over to my house the night before. We woke up at 3a.m. after about 3 hours of sleep and got in the car around 4a.m. My mom was driving us to the airport and as we left the weirdest thing happened. There were a black and a white horse running loose on the streets, they ran right past our car. It felt like a dream! Especially the white horse in the middle of the snow, appearing what seemed like from nowhere, looked magical. I said to my mom and Anu joking, that maybe this is a sign! And that maybe this means that there are more surprises coming along on this trip. The whole incident just felt so surreal.

 

I wasn’t feeling that awesome after having a colonoscopy done on Monday, so flying for 24 hours didn’t sound like the most amazing thing to do that day. The plane left at 6:10 a.m. and I remembered why I hate flying. First we flew from Helsinki to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, we flew to New York. At first we were supposed to have more time in NYC so we could’ve gone out and do a little sightseeing( and meet Tal!) but as the flights changed that never happened. From NYC we finally flew to Vegas. I think it took us about 30 hours to get from my place to Vegas. And I’m sure you can imagine, that I was just a tiny bit exhausted when we finally got to the hotel. hah. We arrived in Vegas around 9p.m. and it took us almost an hour to get to the hotel. We were staying at Barbary Coast and had a nice little room with a view of the Colosseum and Caesar’s. Every morning I woke up and just stood there for a little while staring at the Colosseum. The last day I was about to cry, cause I knew this could be the last trip to Vegas, at least the last trip to Vegas while Céline’s there. We were exhausted, but didn’t want to go to bed straight away, so we took showers and got pretty and headed out to Caesars. I wanted Anu to see Colosseum at night and of course peek through the window of the Céline boutique as she had never been to Vegas before. We walked around for a little while and then had to go back to the hotel, cause we about fell asleep on our feet.

 

January 17th

 

We woke up kind of early, got ready and headed out to the Strip. It was freezing! Yes, freezing even for the Finns! hah. And as I hadn’t packed enough warm clothes we headed to the Forum shops to see if there are any sales so I can get a cardigan or something warmer to wear. Afterwards we decided to go see if there are any tickets for the night’s show. On our way to the box office I decided we should check out the Céline boutique and even before I set foot inside the place I spotted the Dutchies in the boutique and of course had to go up to them to say a quick hello before going to the box office. After we got tickets for the nights show we met up with them at Cypress Street for a drink and something to eat, as we hadn’t even had breakfast yet and it was way past noon. We had a lovely time chatting with everyone!

 

So we weren’t really supposed to even get tickets for the show on Wednesday, but ended up buying ORCH6 KK seats. The seats were pretty sucky actually. Or maybe I’ve been spoiled with too many ORCH4 tickets? hee. We couldn’t see much because the stairs were blocking our view and if it wasn’t the stairs then the cameramen were in the way. Céline seemed a bit tired as well. I think she has the “Monday-feeling” on a Wednesday. You know, like when you’re sitting at school or at work and are like I wish this day would end already! She didn’t interact much with the audience and really just seemed to want to get the show over with. She looked pretty, though and I still really loved being in the Colosseum again. It had been over year and a half since the last time. I had missed that place!

 

 

January 18th

 

I think the first thing we did this day was going to the box office to check for tickets. We walked from Caesar’s to the MGM grand and back during the day. We went in pretty much all the hotels and stores like CVS and Walgreens in between. And of course got lunch at Wendy’s. I think I pretty much ate junk food once a day to keep myself from not fainting. And breakfast was totally overrated. heh. I thought it was funny how at least 3 people commented on my hair color that day and two of them in Walgreens. Needless to say we were pretty exhausted afterwards, but hey, it was a good exercise!

 

We met Erin in front of the Colosseum that night. First time ever meeting the Vegas pimp herself! ;D It was just a few hours before the show and I don’t think we had tickets for the show until like an hour before it started. The dutchies had some extra ones, and we of course had to buy them, cause we really couldn’t let all the effort of making ourselves pretty go to waste, right? (What do you mean I’m trying to make up excuses for spending all that money on Céline!?;DD) I felt like the show was a bit better than the one the night before, Céline seemed to be a bit more into it too. We had seats closer to the centre a bit further from the stage, but still it was a much better view. I’ve never really spent much time actually watching the show itself, as I’ve always had my eyes glued on Céline. Now that we were a bit further back you could see the whole stage and actually experience the whole show. It’s one hell of a show, by the way! ;D

 

January 19th

 

We met up with Erin for a little drive to Lake Las Vegas. (NO Céline stalking, seriously! ) We just wanted to see a bit more than The Strip and Erin was awesome enough to take us for a ride over there. I loved the mountains! I never really realized before that Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains and how gorgeous mountains can be!

 

Anu was scheduled to do the interview for the DVD at 7:30 p.m. that night. We had heard a little rumour, that we might be meeting Céline before the show, but as it wasn’t 100% sure I wasn’t really getting my hopes up. We went up to Colosseum around 7 p.m. and people started showing up pretty quick after us. We were meeting Nadia, from J Productions, and the rest of the fans being interviewed at 7:30 p.m. Everyone was anxious to see what was going to happen! I was extremely nervous and when I get nervous I stop talking altogether. Then starts the shaking! It got baad by the time we actually got to the green room. While we were standing infront of the Colosseum we got contracts to sign. I still don’t know what I signed my name on. hah. But probably nothing too bad! ;D Nadia told us, that we would be escorted inside the Colosseum where Patrick would be waiting for us by the Chrysler sign and that we will be followed with some cameras. When we stepped inside the Colosseum the cameras where right there! They were big and scary! I tried to act all natural, but you know how that goes. Not natural at all! They followed us to the elevator that took us downstairs. When we all got downstairs we were divided into groups. Anu and I were in the group 3 along with Jane and 4 ladies from Montreal. They didn’t speak much English, and as my French is preeetty bad, we didn’t really get to know them very well. We had some, ok, a lot of nervous giggles with Jane, though! I remember Patrick asking us all where we were from and I think when he heard Finland, I think his response was “ohh, WOW!” He was probably trying to figure out where the heck a place called Finland is! hee. After a little wait, each group was escorted to the green room and when we were inside, the cameras zoomed on us and someone (I think it was Patrick) told us that the whole interview thing before the show was a cover up story and that they have a surprise for us. Right there and then I knew we really would be meeting Céline that night. I have absolutely no idea how I reacted, though. In a way I was like, “yeeeah, I knew it, bring her in!!” And the other part of me was shocked, happy, excited and very, very nervous at the same time.

 

The cameras were everywhere. We were given instructions of what to say and how the whole thing would work. “Everyone will have their turn, the cameras will be filming it all, stand on the carpet, Céline will come and greet you, if you have a gift, that’s the time to give it to her, then it’s time for a picture.” I had to keep repeating that in my head, so I wouldn’t faint. I don’t know if it was the cameras and all the people around or the fact that in a few minutes I would be meeting Céline, but I was shaking all over! I had huge butterflies in my stomach and I needed to keep reminding myself to breathe. It feels so silly now! While we were waiting, Julie Snyder came to greet everyone. I have to admit, I had no idea who she was at first! After a while I kind of put the pieces together in my head and figured out who she was. While we were waiting for Céline to walk into the room we all were just trying to calm down and her team members and everyone from J productions were really nice. I don’t know why, but I remember so well when one of Céline’s team members asked me if me and Anu were hairdressers back home. haha. I think I had a bit stupid look on my face at first and just said, “nooo” she looked at me a bit funny and then I started rambling about having great hairdressers back home, but neither of us were one. I was so nervous I really didn’t know what I was saying!

 

Our group was all standing up and just waiting for Céline to appear. We applauded and screamed and just couldn’t really contain the excitement. And then there she was! People started clapping and cheering again and it felt like it was all in slow motion. The first thing I remember was how beautiful she looked in all white, with glittery eye make up and oh my god, that smile! First she went up to the Dutchies. I only remember bits here and there, but she was hilarious, when she was trying to rip Mathias’ shirt off and calling them and herself crazy. I think the most memorable moment was when she started singing “Let’s talk about love”. And of course we all joined in in a heart beat! While she was singing she looked around the room and stopped for a little and looked straight into my eyes. I think that was when I completely lost the words and just giggled a little.

 

I can’t remember the right order, but after the Dutchies, there were the two ladies with the A New Day tattoos, and Céline’s reaction to those was pretty interesting! haha. I think she wasn’t really sure what to say at first, but then she said something like “You didn’t have to go THAT far to show your love” and then joked about getting one herself. Oh and who remembers the song she was singing about cars? My mind is totally blank right there. There was also a family from Australia before us. Céline really loved their little girl. Oh and then there was a couple, I didn’t catch their names either, unfortunately, I loved how Céline was saying to the husband something like “Remember: a happy wife, a happy life.” She repeated it a few times and then said something about after her husband understood that, life has been good. I can’t remember if there was anyone else before our group.

 

Jane was the first one to go to meet her from our group. I can only remember how after hearing Jane was by herself that night, Céline wrapped her arm around her and started singing “Are you lonesome tonight” to Jane while they were walking to the spot where the picture was taken. Then it was Anu’s turn. Patrick introduced Anu to Céline and Céline went up to her and shook her hand. I have no idea if they talked about anything before Céline came up to me. She took my hand and looked deep into my eyes as I introduced myself. When she looked into my eyes, everything else around me disappeared for a little while. And when she looks into your eyes, it’s like she tries to reach down to your soul and see if you’re true. In a way I felt like she could see all the sadness in my eyes and as if she was trying to tell me with her eyes, that it’s going to be ok. I know, it sounds all sappy and silly, but that’s how it really felt. I think we then talked about how long it had taken us to travel to Vegas and after hearing, “almost 30 hours” she looked all shocked and said “I didn’t know the world was so big!” I think it was after that when I gave her a gift and told her that we had brought her a little something from Finland. Straight away she started digging into the gift bag. I think the first thing she got her hands on was the little box of candies called Salmiakki. Those are candies you can only find from Finland and some of the neighbouring countries, but we really think it’s pretty much only “a Finnish thing”. She read the name of the candy out loud and pronounced it with the cutest accent! And then said something about not tasting them before the show, but after she was done. The she pulled out the “Hip Guide book to Helsinki” She looked at it for a little while and then looked at me and said “Thank you for showing me the world” which I think was such a beautiful thing to say! Then she handed the gift bag to Patrick and joked with him about not eating the candy before she gets to taste them. I wonder if she liked them…haha. Then it was time to take a picture with her. I was still shaking and it felt like my face was twitching from all the excitement as well. There were so many cameras everywhere, that I got a bit confused at first to which one to look at, but Céline gently said, that “this one” and pointed at the camera right in front of us. After the picture was taken she gave me a hug and said “See you in five minutes!” Then we were escorted to get our belongings and taken to the elevator and to out seats. I can’t remember any details of the show, but Céline was on fire, you could really see she got some energy from meetng all the people she did and seeing all of us in the audience. We were giving her standing ovations and dancing and singing along and warming her up for Saturday’s show!;D

 

January 20th

 

I was in a Céline high after meeting her, so I can’t remember anything that happened this morning. haha. At 2 p.m. a bunch of the fans gathered in front of the Colosseum for ‘The surprise’ It was the first time seeing most of the fans and it was really nice to see some “familiar faces”, people I had spoken to online before. Everyone was extremely nice and just everything you can expect any Céline fan to be. I love the surprise! It had been one of my dreams to stand on the stage and just see what it looks like from up there. It was beautiful and you can really see the very last seat in the theatre from there! I loved hearing all the little stories about what went wrong and how everything works. I might have not understood every technical detail, but I’m damn good at pretending I did. ;DD

 

After the surprise backstage tour we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the dinner and the show. It was so much fun to be in the same room with so many fans! And especially people from around the world. I think we got juust a little bit loud while “rehearsing” our little special something for the show. I hope we didn’t bother the other people dining there too much! The couple of hours we had really flew by and soon it was time for us to pay the check and leave for the show. I remember the weirdest things, like going to the restroom and suddenly out of nowhere hearing Jane’s voice go “Vivaaa..” and of course I had to join in with “ ..Laaas Vegas!” haahaa. I think the people who didn’t know us thought we were insane! ;D

 

Almost all of us were sitting in Orch4. Anu and I sat in row DD, Alanna was sitting right next to me and Paula right next to Anu. Miss CheerfulJane was couple of rows in front of us. And I think Marisa and Darryl were in Orch5. I think most of “our group” was spread evenly in Orch4 and you could definitely hear and see it. We were all having such a blast! We hardly sat down during the whole show and I think there were hoarse voices all around afterwards. The best part was definetly when Céline sat down to sing If I could. We had rehearsed this at the dinner, but everyone got a bit confused and we started hearing “On t’aime” a few too many times. Then suddenly someone from our group yelled “I love you Céline!” And she answered with the line we all were waiting for: “I love you too!” and in a heart beat a bunch of us in the Orch seats yelled at the top of our lungs, leaning forward, “We love you MORE!”, Céline leaned backwards with a shocked look on her face and looked like she was about to fall off the steps she was sitting on. Then she got this cute smile on her face and said “Let me tell you one thing: I love you the MOST! Now beat that!ha!” You could see that Céline was LOVING it! The whole cast of A New Day was on fire that night! And we, the audience, did our best to keep the party alive in the seats, and I think we did a pretty damn good job with that one! It was, hands down, the best show ever! Even the little technical difficulty during River deep mountain high didn’t bother anyone. We all were shocked for like half a second when the sound went of, but when we saw, that Céline kept singing and the show went on, we all joined in and started singing as loud as we could. It really made the evening in a way even more special. In a way you could see it like this; she has helped us through a lot and now we were there to help her.

 

After the show we all went to Cypress street for a drink and a chat. It was lovely to have the opportunity to spend time with all the fans. I’ve never experienced such an emotional, fun and love filled night in my life. The show, Céline, the whole A New Day… cast, all the fans. Every person and little detail made it beautiful!

 

 

January 21st

 

We went to the box office like the minute it opened and I was rude and got the AA seat(sowwy girls, I wuv youuu *puppy eyes*), though I think Anu had a better view than I did and Alanna and Erin got whisked down from the 2nd mezzanine. But hey, it’s first row and Céline definetly noticed me up and dancing all by myself. Don’t really know if that’s a good or a bad thing. I probably look like a freak when I’m dancing;DD Before the show started René got on the stage. He was adorable when he was explaining that why they needed some audience shots and he was asking us to pretend that he’s Céline and it’s been “the biggest song” and we’re applauding her. You could see his face all lighting up when he mentioned Céline’s name. They both just adore each other, no doubt. The only thing I can remember of the show is, that when someone yelled at Céline to sing more love songs and she was like ohhh you will hear plenty and half ad-libbing and half speaking she was all “I’m made of love love love love loooove….” It definetly was the quote of the night!

 

After the show we ended up sitting at Slice with a few of the fans. There was Anu and I, Jane, Sophoan, Brenda and Paula and couple of others kept popping up every now and then. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel room before we really had to se we ended up staying there until it was almost time for them to close. Then we went up to our hotel room and started backing as we had to leave really early for the airport. It was so sad to leave everyone behind, that I think I hugged everyone like 10 times before I could leave. haha.

 

January 22nd

 

It’s always so sad to leave when you’re on a holiday, but this time it was about million times harder. I felt like the whole week had been so full of love and new friendships, that it was really hard to leave it all behind. We ended up on the same flight with Mireille from Holland, so we took a taxi to the airport together. It was EARLY, having practically no sleep at all and about to cry like every 5 seconds I was probably looking like a mess and so much fun to travel with. heh. The flight was extremely long, but thankfully the planes weren’t too full, so we had a lot of space and it was fun to travel with Mireille and get to know her a bit better.

 

 

I really want to thank everyone who was there making this experience a beautiful one. All of the fans, Céline and her team, the whole cast of A New Day, everyone at J productions. Thanks for making this THE BEST TRIP EVER! You all are a special bunch of people!

[tativale]

Great review Salla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whhooooo I remember seeing you dancing on Orch 5 on Sunday show hehehe Celine loves it !!! Whhoooo

 

I'm glad I wasnt the only one who really cried every 5 mins... i was alone and I trying to holding back my tears during the breakfast...oh God... when i got in the room again I totally did fall apart.. I cried a lot!

Edited January 30, 2007 at 01:52 AM by tativale

[Koolan]

Great to finally see your review Salla. so much memories left of Vegas, it all ended so soon. You will be back for the finale, right?

[Ted]

Good to see your review.

[nano]

Woohoo. Thanks hun for the review.

 

 

I will probably add some things later on; my feelings and thoughts about the trip...

[Scully Dion]

Amazing review. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Salla]

Great review Salla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whhooooo I remember seeing you dancing on Orch 5 on Sunday show hehehe Celine loves it !!! Whhoooo

 

I'm glad I wasnt the only one who really cried every 5 mins... i was alone and I trying to holding back my tears during the breakfast...oh God... when i got in the room again I totally did fall apart.. I cried a lot!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Heh, I hope I didn't look like a weirdo.

 

aww, yeah, it wasn't easy to leave.

 

 

Great to finally see your review Salla. so much memories left of Vegas, it all ended so soon. You will be back for the finale, right?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Vic, I still can't believe you were there! You're so sneaky! I will be therel, at least I'm buying tickets on Thursday! I have no idea how I'm getting there, but gotta have the tickets!

 

Woohoo. Thanks hun for the review. 

 

 

I will probably add some things later on;  my feelings and thoughts about the trip...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

yess, add your thoughts. And pictures, pwetty pwease!? My brain wasn't working properly and I completely forgot some stuff.

 

Amazing review. Thanks for sharing it with us.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm glad you liked it!

[Dionesque]

I just LOOOOVE this review, it's so emotional and I just feel like i were there with you.....

 

Awww..... how could I make it possible for me to experience something like THAT???!!.....

 

You were all soooo lucky to meet Céline, to "show her the world" - not only in your gifts but just in yourselves, coming from different corners of the globe!! WOW!!!.... Just WOW!!! :clap:

 

...and I'm just sitting here with eyes full of tears, so emotional.... and if I could... if I could just one single chance like that.......

[Cheerfuljane]

Bravo Bravo Bravo

Most excellent review my dear

 

When we were sitting in the green room waiting for Celine I could tell that Salla was very nervous. I was trying to make jokes to make her laugh and it worked. But I was ssooooo nervous myself it wasn't easy

 

The other couple there: I remember that the womans name was Jane She got the rose that night.

On Saturday night it was the little boy at the end of ORCH 4.

On Sunday it was the lady in ORCH 3 who cried during If I Could. Celine went to her at the end of the song and said "You're suppose to help me sing not cry" and gave her a hug and a kiss. I'm gonna cry really loud next time

 

I had TOTALLY forgotten about singing Are You Lonesome Tonight

Thanks for reminding me.

When I met Celine I said "Hi, I'm Jane from South Africa". She turned to Salla behind me and said "are you all together" and I said "No. I'm all by my lonesome."

So she started singing "Are you lonesome toniiiight....."

 

Salla and Anu - You 2 are the greatest

Thanks for all the laughs!!

 

About the crying every 5 seconds thing......

I cried at breakfast on Monday morning because it had been such an emotional weekend. My friend Mark said "stop it you're being stupid". Non-fans just don't get it

[Salla]

         

Bravo  Bravo  Bravo

Most excellent review my dear 

 

When we were sitting in the green room waiting for Celine I could tell that Salla was very nervous. I was trying to make jokes to make her laugh and it worked.  But I was ssooooo nervous myself it wasn't easy 

 

The other couple there:  I remember that the womans name was Jane    She got the rose that night.

On Saturday night it was the little boy at the end of ORCH 4.

On Sunday it was the lady in ORCH 3 who cried during If I Could.  Celine went to her at the end of the song and said "You're suppose to help me sing not cry"  and gave her a hug and a kiss.  I'm gonna cry really loud next time 

 

I had TOTALLY forgotten about singing Are You Lonesome Tonight 

Thanks for reminding me.

When  I met Celine I said "Hi, I'm Jane from South Africa". She turned to Salla behind me and said "are you all together" and I said "No. I'm all by my lonesome."

So she started singing "Are you lonesome toniiiight....."

 

Salla and Anu - You 2 are the greatest 

Thanks for all the laughs!!

 

About the crying every 5 seconds thing......

I cried at breakfast on Monday morning because it had been such an emotional weekend. My friend Mark said "stop it you're being stupid".  Non-fans just don't get it 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

LMAO. I was REALLY nervous. I'm so glad you were there, though! I would've passed out if you hadn't been telling jokes and reminding me to breathe!

 

Duude, I was crying during If I Could too on Sunday! I probably looked all pathetic there all by myself, sobbing. LMAO Next time we're all gonna just bawl our eyes out and she has to come and hug everrryone!

 

I think she went up to Anu, not me, but yeah, doesn't really matter, now does it. haha. We got all confused, cause Nadia was telling us all to go to the carpet thing together. lol

 

Emotional indeed! I think we all bonded with each other so fast and then there was meeting Céline and seeing the show and just everything together made the whole trip fantastic, and then going back to reality, leaving everything and everyone behind made it reaaally difficult. awww, I don't wanna be back home.

[CSCfan]

Very beautiful review Salla....thanks so much!

 

I wanna go baaaack..

[Mireille]

I am having a great time reading all your reviews! It's all coming back to me now!!! LOL

Salla it was so nice to fly back with you and Anu. It was so great to share our experiences in the plane.

If you fly alone.. strangers will talk to you and ask you what you did.. and nobody would understand!

 

I know.. when Celine looked at me with If i could.. i almost started again!

 

It was a magical week, with so many good things! New friendships, meeting Celine!

It's hard to be back home and go back to work , to the normal life!

 

But everytime i think of this trip i have a on my face!!!

[Salla]

Mireille! It was so nice to get to know you and fly back home with you! Well to Amsterdam at least. lol

[Salla]

ohh, I just realized! The first time I met Céline it was the 19th of September '03 and this time it was the 19th of January! 9 has always been my lucky number, but maybe I need to add the 'one' in front of it. haha.

[tativale]

How did you meet celine Salla before this meeting?

[ahmed]

thanks for your review i love it

[Love,]

Awww Salla, AWESOME review! I am so glad I got a chance to meet you and Anu! Brief but special!

 

January 16th

 

Anu came over to my house the night before. We woke up at 3a.m. after about 3 hours of sleep and got in the car around 4a.m. My mom was driving us to the airport and as we left the weirdest thing happened. There were a black and a white horse running loose on the streets, they ran right past our car. It felt like a dream! Especially the white horse in the middle of the snow, appearing what seemed like from nowhere, looked magical. I said to my mom and Anu joking, that maybe this is a sign! And that maybe this means that there are more surprises coming along on this trip. The whole incident just felt so surreal.

.......

 

Awwww!

I am a nature freak, especially when I'm in the midst of natural wonders, such as mountains, or the sea... I just think the natural world is SOOO BEAUTIFUL. For you to see these horses in the snow, it is very fairytale-ish . I remember having a similar experience about four years ago, when the Monarch butterflies made their migration across California. I was on my way back from school, and as we were driving, there were hundreds of thousands of butterflies flying through the air. Immediately, my mind just drifted back to my childhood, and I felt overwhelmed with a sense of beauty and peace. And I just smiled and smiled. It was so magical, so beautiful... and so surreal!

 

 

January 17th

 

We woke up kind of early, got ready and headed out to the Strip. It was freezing! Yes, freezing even for the Finns! hah.

 

So we weren’t really supposed to even get tickets for the show on Wednesday, but ended up buying ORCH6 KK seats. The seats were pretty sucky actually. Or maybe I’ve been spoiled with too many ORCH4 tickets? hee. We couldn’t see much because the stairs were blocking our view and if it wasn’t the stairs then the cameramen were in the way. Céline seemed a bit tired as well. I think she has the “Monday-feeling” on a Wednesday. You know, like when you’re sitting at school or at work and are like I wish this day would end already! She didn’t interact much with the audience and really just seemed to want to get the show over with. She looked pretty, though and I still really loved being in the Colosseum again. It had been over year and a half since the last time. I had missed that place!

Yeah, I felt Celine was kinda out of it on the Saturday night when she first appeared! However, as the show progressed, she gained so much excitement and energy from all of us!

[Love,]

January 19th

 

We met up with Erin for a little drive to Lake Las Vegas. (NO Céline stalking, seriously! ) We just wanted to see a bit more than The Strip and Erin was awesome enough to take us for a ride over there. I loved the mountains! I never really realized before that Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains and how gorgeous mountains can be!

..... and I think when he heard Finland, I think his response was “ohh, WOW!” He was probably trying to figure out where the heck a place called Finland is! hee. After a little wait, each group was escorted to the green room and when we were inside, the cameras zoomed on us and someone (I think it was Patrick) told us that the whole interview thing before the show was a cover up story and that they have a surprise for us.  Right there and then I knew we really would be meeting Céline that night. I have absolutely no idea how I reacted, though. In a way I was like, “yeeeah, I knew it, bring her in!!” And the other part of me was shocked, happy, excited and very, very nervous at the same time.

 

Our group was all standing up and just waiting for Céline to appear. We applauded and screamed and just couldn’t really contain the excitement. And then there she was! People started clapping and cheering again and it felt like it was all in slow motion. The first thing I remember was how beautiful she looked in all white, with glittery eye make up and oh my god, that smile!

 

I'm going to head out to Lake Las Vegas in December I think I might be driving to Vegas this time! (or else I'll rent a car in Vegas) Primarily, I just want to do it for the drive through the mountains and the desert!

 

I can’t remember the right order, but after the Dutchies, there were the two ladies with the A New Day tattoos, and Céline’s reaction to those was pretty interesting! haha. I think she wasn’t really sure what to say at first, but then she said something like “You didn’t have to go THAT far to show your love” and then joked about getting one herself. Oh and who remembers the song she was singing about cars? My mind is totally blank right there. There was also a family from Australia before us. Céline really loved their little girl. Oh and then there was a couple, I didn’t catch their names either, unfortunately, I loved how Céline was saying to the husband something like “Remember: a happy wife, a happy life.” She repeated it a few times and then said something about after her husband understood that, life has been good. I can’t remember if there was anyone else before our group.

 

Jane was the first one to go to meet her from our group. I can only remember how after hearing Jane was by herself that night, Céline wrapped her arm around her and started singing “Are you lonesome tonight” to Jane while they were walking to the spot where the picture was taken. Then it was Anu’s turn.....I think the first thing she got her hands on was the little box of candies called Salmiakki. Those are candies you can only find from Finland and some of the neighbouring countries, but we really think it’s pretty much only “a Finnish thing”. She read the name of the candy out loud and pronounced it with the cutest accent! And then said something about not tasting them before the show, but after she was done. The she pulled out the “Hip Guide book to Helsinki” She looked at it for a little while and then looked at me and said “Thank you for showing me the world” which I think was such a beautiful thing to say!

 

LOLLLL at all those adorable Celine comments! LOL

 

After the show we ended up sitting at Slice with a few of the fans. There was Anu and I, Jane, Sophoan, Brenda and Paula and couple of others kept popping up every now and then. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel room before we really had to se we ended up staying there until it was almost time for them to close. Then we went up to our hotel room and started backing as we had to leave really early for the airport. It was so sad to leave everyone behind, that I think I hugged everyone like 10 times before I could leave. haha.

 

I really want to thank everyone who was there making this experience a beautiful one. All of the fans, Céline and her team, the whole cast of A New Day, everyone at J productions. Thanks for making this THE BEST TRIP EVER! You all are a special bunch of people!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That was a nice moment we spent all together at Slice! Our talking topics were VERY random and fun! I will never forget the excessive smoke though! Next time I should bring a portable air filter

Edited January 31, 2007 at 02:38 AM by Love,

[Salla]

How did you meet celine Salla before this meeting?

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It was in 2003. We bumped into René in front of the Colosseum and talked to him for a while and in the end he asked us if we had met Céline before and he arranged the whole thing.

[tativale]

OOhhh that's great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are so lucky Salla!!! I bet that meeting was "better" than with all those camaras....lol

[Elaine]

Well, it's from reviews like this one that I get my faith that evrything's gonna be just fine and I'll see Céline in December.... AND THAT I'LL SEE ALL OF YOU TOO!!!!

[Salla]

After the show on the 20th:

aww. i miss everyone!

[CSCfan]

After the show on the 20th:

aww. i miss everyone!

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Awwww, thanks SO much for that!!

Brings a LOT of memories..*sigh*

[Love,]

After the show on the 20th:

aww. i miss everyone!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

LOL! You can hear me but you can barely see me!

[Salla]

After the show on the 20th:

aww. i miss everyone!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

LOL! You can hear me but you can barely see me!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

LOL you were showing off your picture to everyone.

[CSCfan]

LOL you were showing off your picture to everyone.

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That's Sophoan!!

[Salla]

LOL you were showing off your picture to everyone.

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That's Sophoan!!

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Indeed.

[Cheerfuljane]

After the show on the 20th:

aww. i miss everyone!

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Thanks Salla.

I took a lot of videos on the trip and I've been thinking "how do I put them on the forum?" DUH !!!

So tomorrow I'll get working on that

[Salla]

After the show on the 20th:

aww. i miss everyone!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks Salla.

I took a lot of videos on the trip and I've been thinking "how do I put them on the forum?" DUH !!!

So tomorrow I'll get working on that

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yaay! can't wait to see them!!

[Love,]

LOL you were showing off your picture to everyone.

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That's Sophoan!!

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Let me clarify THIS:

 

"OUR" pictures!

Edited February 2, 2007 at 05:40 AM by Love,