NJDONA at the AtlantiC City

My friend and colleague Ed Ruiz was nominated and won the 2008 New Jersey Association Directors of Nursing Administration (NJADONA)LPN of the Year. We were given the opportunity to attend the exhibit, conference and awarding dinner at the Trump Mahal at Atlantic City, NJ. I was so thankful that Joey allowed me to go with my colleagues for an overnight stay at AC to attend the awards dinner as well as the following day's activities.



I went with our Director Rosanna Luna and Assistant Director and my good friend Jeannette Nunziata. Jeannette was at the wheel for 3 hrs but she said she didn't mind it so I gladly took the role of a good passenger. :) Travel was fast and uneventful. We arrived at around 4PM. Went to the different vendor's booth.



I will have to say that the vendors are all creative as they tried to decorate their booths according to theme "ExZOOberance in Nursing." Met lots of people, took a LOT of give aways and enjoyed my day out.

Went to the slot machines before dinner the dinner party. I actually won a couple of bucks at this point.

Then it was time to attend the awards dinner.
















After dinner, there was a party without pictures **wink** **wink** basically because everyone in our team were so happy to just relax and be among colleagues.

Went back to the slots after the party. Lost what I won and then some more. Oh well, I don't gamble all the time anyway.

Slept after I reached my gambling limit. I shared the room with Ate Rosanna. Considering it's my first night to be away from my family in a long time, I surprisingly slept well. Must be the 3 hrs trip + all the walking that we did.

Woke up and visited the booths some more. Ed and I drove back home and reached Bergen County at 4PM. So happy to see my kids and Joey. I got my energy back as soon as I was home. We went to make "pasyal" right away, but that's a subject for another post.