Best Birthday Ever

Viva Las Vegas!

This is going to be the best birthday ever! My birthday is next Saturday, Nov. 22. I wanted to do a cruise initially, but a lot of friends couldn't take off a whole week of work to go. So, another couple of girls, suggested doing a girls trip to Las Vegas for a weekend. The weekend, just happened to be my birthday weekend. So, needless to say, I'M ALL IN!!! (Pun intended)

So, next Thursday, Nov. 20, 11 girls (Me, Jacquelyn, Ashley, Jody, Jessica, Gabi, Jayme, Autumn, Holly, Denise and Stacie) will board a plane from CLT, an additional 2 (Jackie and Jodie) from Detroit and 13 girls will meet up for what will be the best girls trip EVER! 13 girls in "Sin City" already spells TROUBLE, for sure!

This will be my eighth trip to Las Vegas, but my first time going with friends and not for work or a race. We're staying at a new hotel for me, New York, New York. I do love the casino and the piano bar they have there. Hopefully, we can get all of our rooms together so we can have our own party. I'm so excited though. I couldn't ask for a better group of friends to go with, well maybe if my two best friends had been able to go, but it's going to be full of wild and crazy times!

It's going to be a weekend full of drinking, gambling, shopping, eating, relaxing, sight-seeing, and more drinking! Ha ha...

I can't wait!!! I can guarantee lots of pics and stories from this trip! I just don't know how many will be shared. Because as we know....

"What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas!"

Here's a group shot of some of the girls going from a dinner a few weeks ago.

(L to R: Holly, Denise, Me, Jac, Lauren (not going), Jayme, Autumn, Ashley, Jody) (not pictured: Gabi, Jessica, Stacie, Jodie & Jackie)

Catch Ya Up to Date

So, this blogging thing hasn't taken off for me...LOL. I said the last time I was going to try and do better, but obviously I haven't kept my word...ha ha! Oh well. You get what you get.

Done quite a bit since the last update...but nothing overly exciting. That's coming up next weekend! More details in a bit...

Working at Kohl's is keeping me busy and with the holidays almost upon us, that will just get more busy!

I'm so lucky to have a great group of friends and I have been able to go out quite often and have lots of fun. A lot of dinner dates with my girls at Red Rocks, my favorite restaurant here in Huntersvillle, Joel's grill in Mooresville for sushi, as well as Carrie and I's fave place, OTB.

I've also been to a few Panthers games, woo hoo...we're 7-2 right now, pretty darn awesome even if our quarterback sucks. That's why it's called a team...way to go defense to overcome our offense!

I've been to a few races. I went to Martinsville with Sheri George in October for the truck race. I hadn't been to one since Charlotte in May and boy, did it make me realize how much I missed being there at the track each week.

On Nov. 2, I went to Rockingham for the season finale for the Hooters Pro Cup race. Gabi had tagged along with me and we had a good time. My driver, Drew Herring, had the lead with six laps remaining until a stupid lapped car got in his way and the 2nd place guy went cruising by. It was such the heartbreaker for Drew who really wanted to win a race this season, but had to settle for second. On the flip side, he clinched the 2008 Rookie of the Year title so he had nothing to complain about (other than the stupid lapped car ;))

Following Drew's race, Gabi and I headed home. Gabi took off and I headed to the LMS Dirt Track to meet up with the Showalters and Jody to see my gangsta buddy Kraig race. I also was excited to see Kraig & Dirt's son, Kash, who I hadn't seen in a while. Kraig did a great job and finished 2nd.


That Tuesday night before, Ashley and her boyfriend Josh, had a Halloween party at their place. It was themed, "Pirates of the Bahia Bay," which is their subdivision. Everyone was dressed as a pirate. I am usually not one for dressing up but it sure helped to know what I already had to dress up as so the decision was an easy one. We had a great time playing flip cup and chatting. On Halloween night, Jody had invited me to go to a friend of hers for a Halloween party. So, I dressed up once again in my pirate garb. It was fairly low-key, but Jody and I might have left too early too. I had to be up early to head to Rockingham so we got out of there around midnight.

This past weekend, I headed down to Georgia to see my friend Brelan. She had invited me to her baby shower held on Sunday. I probably wouldn't have driven down there all that way, but it was held at a winery and vineyard and that was too tempting to resist. My friend, Jason Hogan, is how I met Brelan when he and JR raced against each other in the NASCAR Southeast Series. Jason raced Saturday night so Brelan and I met at the track to watch. He didn't fare well, but still finished 8th since there were only 12 cars in the race...ha ha! Afterwards, we went to the Waffle House for a post-race meal. Sunday was Brelan's baby shower and it was a good time. The scenery where she lives is simply breathtaking, especially this time of year with the fall colors. She had probably 20-25 people there and everyone enjoyed the wine, food, and festivities. I got talked into staying afterwards to join some of the girls in the hot tub, then I drove home.







Today is Grace Hamlin's first birthday! I can't believe she is one year old already! Time has flown by. That girl is so cute. Her birthday party is this Sunday so I'll be sure to post some pics of the birthday girl.

More news to follow...