2 trips to Heaven in one year???(Richmond!!!)

OK WOW! I'm actually still reeling from this past weekend, but have FINALLY gotten time to sit down and tell the tale! And oh, what a tale it is! Richmond....the race I have been looking forward to for quite a while....a race, in my backyard, 2 days before my birthday....what more could I ask for????

So Friday, Lesley and I headed up to the track to see what was going on that day. We really wanted to see Riki Rachtman, but found out rather quickly that his appearance was not for the general public...oh well right? We would see him on Saturday, hopefully! So we drank some brews and hung out at the track and had ourselves a GOOD time! Maybe too good a time, because we figured out we had drank a little TOO much and were unable to drive home. So..we decided to stay and check out the Nationwide Race....

(les and I!)

(the Nationwide race...go Denny!)

Ahhh..Saturday has arrived....RACE DAY!!! WE packed up around 10am with me, Les, Tanisha, Tim and Zach and headed to teh track! Started off the day with a PINK DRINK!

Here are Les and Tanisha...2 of the best friends I could EVER ask for!

So the deal was.....about a month before the race, I had scored some VIP passes for being a Sprint customer and having race tickets. I had 2 passes to attend the post race Chase celebration in Victory Lane! How cool eh? Of course, I always felt bad about this, as I had 5 people in my party. I felt horrible that Tanisha, Tim and Zach would not be able to go with us to the celebration, but they were ok with it. Until, the opportunity presented itself....

I was also the messenger for the Walnutz this weekend, which meant, I was deliivering fan letters to Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann. I had these 2 binders full of messages for them that I had to drop off. When I went to the track, I had high hopes that I woudl meet Michael at his souveneir trailer, but those hopes were dashed when I found out....not gonna happen. I resigned myself to the fact and dropped off the binders with Mike in the trailer (Mike who works there, not MW!) A few minutes later, Tim wondered off...wtf TIM! We hunted him down on the other side of the midway, and low and behold, what do my ears hear? I hear 'and Michael Waltrip will be appearing.....' and it drowns off....OMG! where! when! I must find out! Further investigation and I find out it is at the Sprint tent! AND...they are playing Sprint PLINKO! So i run over, as I have a Sprint phone right? Come on! I have a blackberry with a Michael Waltrip skin on it! So, I get to play PLINKO, and what do i win???? 2 more VIP passes! So now Tim and Tanisha are hooked up for the party! POOR ZACH!!! BUT! even BETTER (for me....heehee) as I am up there, the guy who has me playing plinko, gives me....a private meet and greet pass to meet Michael! What are the odds???? So now, i am meeting Michael, Tim and Tanisha have VIP passes! WOW! and THEN, Tanisha manages to get one more pass for Zach! It is amazing! Everyone is happy! OMG! I have to go retrieve teh binders so I can deliver them in person!!!

So......I go get teh binders....and prepare to meet Michael! Turns out....I can take one person with me...and Les demands that Tanisha go! Awesome!!! And here we go, teh big meeting! Check out this picture...see that smile? It is for ME! Michael came back with a huge smile, walked over and gave me a super huge hug! I about melted..He asked if I had something for him, which now I knew, he knew who i was! Tanisha asked, jsut to be sure....LOL! She is like....'do u know who she is???' and he confirmed!

So I deliver teh binders.....

and get my picture!

ANd then go out to watch the public appearance...which, I am so incredibly happy, nothing else matters!

So then, I had pit passes too....and Tim and I tour the pits...look! it is Wendy Venturini!!!

Michaels pit box...awesome!

the most beautiful car in the world...

ANd now....into the track....

the second most beautiful car.

the 3 of us!

and then the REAL fun begins! we headed inside the track at lap 360.....I met Miss Sprint cup! Anne Marie! She (and Monica!) are AMAZING!

And then, for the second amazing moment of my day....I got to talk to Jimmie Johnson!!! We got to ask the chase drivers anything we wanted, and all i wanted to do was wish Jimmie Johnson a Happy Birthday! I am exactly 3 days older than him and wanted to share! So....i got the microphone and told him! I was shaking teh whole time! my lips were quuivering, it was amazing! I tlaked to Jimmie! WOW! He said thanks, I told him about my bday, he said 'so we are in this together!'....wow! look! here it is! he is talking to ME here!

And then......they ssang happy birthday to me! in Victory lane! WOW! I feel so incredibly lucky! I think I am the luckiest girl in the entire world! And so lucky to have friends like I do....I am so glad they were there to share my day with me! It was teh best day ever! Here are a few more pics from Victory Lanee.....we got up close in personal with the drivers!

This truly was like a trip to heaven.....I am not sure I have come down yet...it was amazing. Funny, I keep thinking of other things I would have said to Jimmie and Michael if I could go back....guess I will have to wait til next time eh???!!!!! Hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures at the track!!

Crop weekend at Scrap Queen!

I joined this website a LONG time ago and totally lost track! So glad I was reunited! This weekend they are having a crop (goes thru tomorrow night!) The site is called the Scrap Queen, and is run by the fabulous Miss Sarah! If you haven't been there, and love to scrap and buy fun scrappy stuff, GO THERE NOW! Click me to get there now! Now that THAT is out of the way....on to the fab challenges from the weekend crop (which u still have time on! ) This one was from something called 'paper pinata'. It is like a round robin type thing, were everyone posts different elements and you claim what you want to put on your page. This is my entry in paper pinata. Also, it is a page dedicated to one of my FAV pictures! It is the one of me and Mikey, from my trip to MWR this year. I LOVE this picture! I totally look like crap in it, but still love it! It is motivating me to lose like 40lbs so next time i meet him, I will look ALOT better. There WILL be a next time and i WILL look better, I have dedicated myself to it! Oh, and it actually has input from MW himself...I used his fav color for motivation....red. That was easy, as it is one of my fav colors too!

This next layout was from teh '30 minute layout' challenge. Yes, you heard me right, 30 minutes! No way right! I am so SLOW! BUT, I managed to speed it up, and this is what I came up with! It actually was easy using the fabulous Cosmo Cricket Early Bird line provided by the fab miss Judy at Simply Scrapping. Check out the new June challenge forum for YOUR chance to win the WHOLE LINE! Awesome rigth?? Anyways...here is what I did with it in 30 minutes!

Last but not least, a special note to MW. I know this week sucked, as other weeks have. I hate every week saying "next week will be better! go get em!". It may not be better. I hate sugar coating things. I hate when people sugar coat things for me. I always know when they are! You may end up 43 next week. Such is life right? It is what it is. Just know, I personally don't care if you finish 43 every week. Actually, you aren't even racing next week right? Patrick Carpentier is. BUT. Doesn't matter. I will still think of you and tune in for whatever shows you are on. You are always always #1 in my book. Always. Remember that. You are
#1! Could be worse, you could not even be in nascar right? You got it good MW. <} ya.

Thanks for stopping by!

~tracey

B is for 'Because'

This is the second page in the ABC's of me art journal, from the A Year in the life of Art Blog. The letter B was to stand for the word 'because'. Because what? Because ANYTHING! Whatever I wanted it to be! I focused on things that make me happy, and titled it 'Because it makes me Happy!'. What may you ask makes me happy??? Well, I picked some of my favorite little 'habits' of mine, 1. social networking, 2. Michael Waltrip, and 3. spending mega $ on scrappy stuff! Shocking right? This is also my very first picture-less layout! It was really difficult for me to make a layout without a picture, but thanks to a fabulous sketch on Simply Scrapping, it all came together. The sassafrass patterned paper made it easy as well, so much you can do with that paper! Thanks for stopping by today!!!

~tracey

My trip to heaven

Not sure why it has taken me so long to get this post up, I think I am still kind of suffering from withdrawals or something! Anyways.....here goes! I have included my fav photos from my time with Mikey for y'all to share my excitement! Also, keep in mind, I had no food this day to ensure I couldn't get too sick to my stomach! AND...I totally used my kids as much as I could!

This first picture is when Michael first came out, before the public autograph signing, he randomly came over where we were. I am pretty sure he came over to say hi to Kathy and Cathy, which SO JEALOUS! He hugged them! I am way to shy to go there, I probably should have, but I didn't......instead, I handed Alexis a photo to give him to sign! Here he is making a silly face at her and getting ready to sign it for her (really for me!)

Now here, is where I actually gave him the infamous 'Nascar Hotties' poster to sign. Can u believe it? He didnt' even LOOK at it! He just signed it! So here I was all embarrassed about it, and he never even saw what it said! Silly ME!!!!! But hey...it is signed now by my number 1 favorite nascar hottie! YAY!!!

Here is when the public autograph session was about to begin. Mikey was sitting there waiting, and well....I just watched.....for some reason, and this is so sad, I just couldn't pull myself away. I felt like I had to stand there and watch him for the whole time....and i DID!

While we stood watching Michael sign autographs, the lucky dog came around! Alexis was so excited! How CUTE is this picture? This is one of my fav moments of the day.

Caitlyn wasn't so excited about hugging lucky! Poor lucky, he laid down and cried because Caitlyn wouldn't say hi and give him a hug! So mommy had to hug him first to show her, and then we managed to get a group pic with him....gotta love the lucky dog!

OK.....I LOVE this picture too....check out the smile on Michaels face. He woudl periodically look up and smile if he saw one of us holding a camera up. Well....this smile I am pretty sure was for me...unfortunately, my camera was NOT cooperating, so I caught the tail end of it....still was SWEET!

They did provide us lunch there at MWR....how nice right? My kids enjoyed their pizza on the floor, yes, they laid on the floor! That is because mommy just couldn't pull herself away from drooling over Michael...pathetic, I know.....

So here is a picture I took of Michael during the private Walnutz event, Michael did a Q &A session with us for a good hour, I just took it all in, and snapped like a million pictures, here is one of them...seriously I have a TON!!!

So then, after teh Q&A, we went and took a group Walnutz photo, and they presented Michael with his 'head nut' tshirt! If we are all the nutz, he is definetly our head nut! I am proud to be one of his nutz!!!

Lastly, this is the REAL picture of me and Mikey, yes, my kids were in it....how horrid that i cropped them out for a closeup of me and him.....I just can't help myself! I know I have a goofy look on my face, but I was just so nervous! It was so intense! Shocked that I even got up the nerve to ASK for the pic! But I did, and this is what I got, so until next time, this is it!!!!!!!!

Now you woudl think this picture is the best of the best right? And it is since it is like, tangible evidence, I REALLY got to meet Michael, and be THAT close to him (gives me chills just imagining it....) BUT...the dialogue between him and Alexis is even BETTER. I had made a card for Michael before I left. And of course, I was too shy to give it to him, so I decided to use my kids AGAIN. I gave it to Alexis and told her to go give it to Mikey. She did! She ran right up and gave it to him! Here is the dialogue, as I remember it:

MW: thankyou! and what is your name?

Alexis: ALEXIS!

MW: and is this your sister caitlyn?

Alexis: yeah.....and THAT'S MY MOMMY! (pointing at me!)

MW: and she is a very beautiful mommy!

yeah...um....that is where I about lost my cookies.....suprisingly, I maintained composure. This was FABULOUS! Kept me going to the rest of the day.....which is good since I had to drive home for 5 hours! Of course the whole time all I kept thinking was, do u think he really meant it? Or was he jsut being nice??? I will just pretend that he really meant it, it meant so much to me!!!

My time at MWR was one of the best days EVER!!! I will always remember taht day, so glad my kids were there to share it with me!