Good good news!

click on image to view larger
Checkout the lovely greeting sent to me by our awesome friends Krista and Braden from out of province!! Why the congrats? Well I did a crazy thing a little while ago...I didn't really tell anyone, just worked my butt off to prepare my portfolio of twenty and sent it in for CKs Scrapbooker of the Year contest! I never imagined I could have a chance at something so Big ( if you are not sure what it is all about click the link and check it out!!!) but there are a few pretty great ladies out there who believe in me and gave me the confidence to give it a shot. Well, I am sure thankful, because yesterday I got a phone call from Tracy White telling me that I am one of the ten finalists they are sending to Las Vegas!!!!! I am so incredibly honored and amazed.

It is only starting to sink in today after seeing my name on that list and getting so many very kind congrats that this is real and it is totally HUGE!!! I am someone who seems to have a delayed reaction to things whatever it may be I just do what needs to be done and sometime later I actually feel all of my emotions! So I don't think I sounded nearly as excited as I really am when Tracy called. I have been asked a few times to share about getting the call so...

Here's my story:

I had planned to be home all day and it's nice that Cam is on holidays right now so he was home too...Just in case somehow there would be a call! They announced on the message board that they needed more time and would probably not be making calls until Tuesday, bummer because I had to be out ALL day Tuesday. Oh well, I carried on with my day got lots done and then around quarter to four or so the phone rang and I thought nothing of it but checked the call display anyway....801 area code!!!!!!!!!!! I knew!!! But I answered all calm and cool in my nice voice, and on the other end there is Tracy telling me how nice it was to meet me and my "cute husband" ( he loves that!) last week, I calmly talk with her a bit and then she says "so I did wanted to call and say how much I enjoyed meeting you at CHA, but also to tell you that you have been selected as a finalist in our scrapbooker of the year contest!" at this point I am still all calm sounding but I am totally totally shaking, I am sure I said something like " no way! wow thank-you!" way too quietly...She's telling me that they will be sending me to Las Vegas but it is a bit of a blur because my mind is spinning and I'm trying to walk my shaky legs up to the kitchen where Cam and my mom are. Then ( this is totally too funny!) I ask her to hold on for a second and just say "CAM..." And point at the phone and nod because I can't form any words to tell him, he shouts out a big "WHOoHOo!!!" and my sweet mom who is in the kitchen lovingly making us rice pudding is trying to give me a hug, but is feeling all proud and emotional and can't see where she is going through her tears so she ends up spilling the raisins all over the floor and shouting out something like "congratulations there are raisins going all over the place!!!" and here I am in that moment remembering listening to the HOF calls and thinking "oh goodness please don't be taping this!" Everyone will think us Muckoskys celebrate by muttering half sentences, shouting out sounds and scattering small dried fruit!!! So
I quickly left the room and tried to listen as Tracy was telling me she was making calls from home, that I had to keep it a secret for now, and to pack my bags. At the time I had a nice talk with her and I think sounded fairly calm and normal but now it is just a big blur because by that point I was shaking so badly and I was just so completely thankful!!! I'm pretty sure I thanked Tracy a whole bunch of times and said something about getting to hang out with her again in October.

I can't even express in words how truly thankful I feel for this opportunity. My art is my passion, and that is good enough for me! Being on such amazing creative teams, and having the chance to go to Chicago is so dreamy, But then being recognized in this way and in such awesome company is just really unbelievable!!! The icing on the cake for sure! congrats to April Peterson, Beth Opel, Holly VanDyne, Jody Ferlaak, Leah LaMontagne, Liana Suwandi, Mou Saha, Samantha Walker, and Tiffany Tillman. Can you really believe that we all have a one -in-ten chance at $10,000 and a 2 year contract with CK??!!!! WHOA! Thank-you so much to CK for this chance, and my wonderful friends and family who totally stand by me and believe in what it is that I love to do even when you don't all totally understand what that is! This is where my treasure lies! Right here spilling raisins with the ones I love!!! :)