My Daily Top 10

These are my top 10 links of interest for today... Check em out if you're bored, and come back tomorrow for some new ones!

Combatlifestyle.com Gory Pic
Napkinnights.com Hot Album
MMA Link
Hot Myspace girl profile
Hot Myspace guy profile
You Tube video
Excelleny Travel Deal
Awesome Band
Weird News
Misc Link

This particular weekend started thursday.. I had just flown up to Sacramento on tuesday morning to pack all my sister's stuff into a moving truck, only to turn around and drive it back to Vegas that night. I'm used to driving a lot so thinking about trips like this is no big deal to me as you will see from the following paragraphs.

My plans on thursday were to head to SD via Temecula to catch up with my friend, Gabe Ruediger. He's on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. He was heading to training at Team Quest MMA South, so I tagged along to shoot some pics of everyone working out. When we got there, we caught Terry Sokoudjou hiding out in his car. We said hello and headed into the gym. I walked in the door just in time to bump shoulders with Mayhem Miller.. Touting something about needing express written permission from Mayhem Artist Management, he was off to change for practice as I greeted some of the other guys.

Shawn Tompkins was running this session and didn't hesitate to get these boys training hard;it was just minutes before they were breaking a sweat. I had a whole conversation with Ryan Parsons, one of the gym owners, as we watched Dan Henderson stroll in late looking like he just woke up. The guys grabbed their pads and began sparring and as I watched, a swift punch to the face had mayhem's nose spouting blood. He paid it no mind and kept going as he trained for his upcoming WEC fight in Vegas.

The session ended at 9, and I had to find somewhere to get ready for the night. Shawn and Terry let me get ready at the Team Quest house right up the street from the gym. They had just moved in so there was a lack of furnishings in the place. I rushed to get ready as I had an hour drive from there to get to San Diego for the Skinnie Magazine party with Mickey Avalon and Raekwon of the Wu Tang Clan. A quick stop to TGIF's for a to go salad, and I was on the road to downtown SD.

I drove around looking for a parking spot on the street but urgency had me giving in to the $18 parking lot robbery. At least it was very close to the club and I was approaching the bouncer at the door within 5 minutes. Years of dealing with club doors had me past the rope in no time in spite of the massive crowd vying to get in the place. I was texting Teri and the guys from skinnie to find out where they were and found some of the peeps in the White Room VIP area. I got a text from a friend in the Green Room where Mickey Avalon was getting ready for his performance and I went back there to snap a photo of the artist before he went on stage.

............

I somehow secured a spot in Mickey's entourage and I was on stage with him, Simon Rex or "dirt", and Andre Legacy, as they performed Jane Fonda, Mr Right, My Dick, and So Rich, So Pretty. The crowd was amazing and the show surprised me as I didn't expect that I would enjoy it. Now at home for no more than 30 minutes, I have already hit napster to download all their tracks. I digress.. Show over, club closed, we're being ushered out the door and it's the front bricks where I finally see Jimmy from Skinnie. Midconversation, someone grabbed my wrist as he walked by and I found myself being dragged backwards down E St. It was my SD Promoter friend, Chris Strickland and we were off to Martini Ranch (although it was closed). We didn't stay long and after a 20 minute drive up to Del Mar, and then an experience at McDonalds that included Chris begging the guy to make him a Filet 'o Fish, I dropped chris off and drove all the way back down to Shawn and Erin's house in OB. Shawn and I sat up chatting til 530. My alarm was waking me at 7:30 for a business meeting in Del Mar; 2 blocks from Chris' house where I had been just a few hours earlier.

Breakfast meeting (ooh! New cool stuff for Napkinnights.com!) over, I began the drive towards Brittney Skye's house. I made 3 stops along the way; Irvine to drop off stuff for repair at Canon, Samurai Sam's in Mahattan Beach for a yummy chicken and broccoli bowl, and beverly hills for gas that cost me 3.57 a gallon. Ouch! 4 hours of driving, and I was pulling into her driveway around 4pm.

No motivation caused this evening to be quite uneventful. We watched all 3 episodes of The Ultimate Fighter (I had NEVER seen this show before) and then went and grabbed sushi. Our friend Matt drove up from HB to go watch 300 with us. I love this movie and was so excited to see it again, I fell asleep within 10 minutes in the theater.

We got up the next morning for a yummy breakfast and then Britt and I were getting ready for a crazy plan I had. Drive from Valencia to Temecula for the Team Quest UFC Viewing party, then to Irvine for the No Limits fight, then up to Beverly Hills to go to the Playboy Mansion. I had no clue that it would take us 2 hours to get to our first destination where we stayed for 30 minutes.

An hour long drive to Irvine was cake, and Justin from MMAMix was outside handing us our all access passes to get in. I couldn't believe how big this gym was; over twice the size of Randy's and packed to capacity. We saw Razor Rob, Tiki, Joker, Justin Levins, Tom from Affliction, and Manny Rodrigez. This is where we faltered, and somehow lost motivation to head to the Playboy Mansion. So many of our friends were here, we tried to leave, but just couldn't seem to do it. So I watched the fights and shot them instead. The first fight I saw was a heavy weight bout over in 27 second with a knock out by Big Perm. After his opponent was able to speak again, he announced his retirement. Wow, Perm "knocked him the fuck out!" The next one was a disappointment because the ref called the fight; one of the fighters got poked in the eye (see pic below). After a short break he was ready to go again, but they wouldn't allow it. After the ref calling another fight, we were over it and headed out the door.

So instead, we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Tom From Affliction, his lovely wife, and Justin Levins. I soon found myself to be a party of 1, and was heading into Costa Mesa to meet up with Joker, Sid, Nick and Ian. I found Ian first and he was with one of the guys who won his fight that night, as well as Rob Emerson from the Ultimate Fighter season 5. We shut down Cantina on Balboa and then went over to rob and Corey's house where we partied till 5 in the morning. I got up at 7 to make the drive back to Vegas for the Bare Grand Opening Pool party. Lucky for me it was postponed for weather. After the weekend, I was EXHAUSTED!

If you want to see all pics from these days, you can find them here:http://mma.napkinnights.com/pics/view_album.php?id=4621

http://mma.napkinnights.com/pics/view_album.php?id=4622

***NOTE*** All Photos from last night can be found here:

http://tracylee.smugmug.com/gallery/2721210/179/144352300#P-1-15

I'm barely recovered from my crazy week in Houston from UFC, and I get the call from Angela, Phil Baroni's girlfriend, "It's Phil's birthday tonight, and we're all going to Body English to celebrate. You should come! Dinner at Simon's at 9pm."
I look at my watch (my favorite Nixon one), and it reads 7:30. I text back, "Crap! I'll try and get ready and get down there!" I have an hour and a half to tie up loose ends on work I'm trying to get done, jump in the shower, get ready, and get down there. I get ready faster than most girls, but I am still a girl. I knew I had to go out anyways, because Kendall called me thursday about the issue release party at Light for the magazine that interviewed him. As I put my face on, I pondered on what the night may bring and came to the conclusion that it could only be craziness..

I jumped in my car and headed down to the Hard Rock. I was a little dressed up which is uncharacteristic for me (I'm a jeans and a cute top girl); I had on a skirt and a dressy top. One that I might add, drove me nuts all night long! Fashion before function with us girls, right? I happened upon a parking spot REALLY close to the front door, and it wasn't long before I was walking into one of my favorite hotels in Las Vegas.

I headed straight to Simon's; I did not pass go, I did not collect $200. It was already 9:20 and I thought I was way behind everyone else. I said to the hostess, "I'm here for Phil Baroni's party." She pointed at a couple of people at the bar and stated that they were as well, and that Phil had yet to arrive. I glanced over to the bar and knew I recognized the guy, but had no clue where or why I knew him. It wasn't till Phil and Angela arrived that I figured out it was Shawn Tompkins, team captain for the Anaconda's. I had met him at the IFL fights a month prior when his team swept Frank Shamrock's, Razorclaws. Ironic that the reason he's in Vegas is to train Phil for his upcoming fight.

A group of 8 of us sat down to dinner; Pav and Linsei were flying in and had yet to arrive. We ordered an array of appetizers and it wasn't long till the conversation turned to fighting, training, and last week's UFC fight. I bugged Phil, tell me what really happened in Miami, not what I read on the message boards. So he and Angela tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth..

Dinner was over and it was off to Body English. A bunch of local Vegas fighters (Gray Maynard, Mike Pyle, Jay Hieron, and Martin Kampmann) were on hand to wish Phil a happy birthday and celebrate along side him. Freddy flew in from New York to be there, and more and more people arrived at the two tables we had in VIP. I danced my ass off as I snapped photos of the festivities and somehow lost track of time. I glanced at my watch in shock, it was 2am, and I was supposed to be at Light for Kendall's party. I texted my girl who was shooting over there, and she assured me they were still there having a grand ol' time, so I rushed over there in the hopes they wouldn't leave. I caught Dewey Cooper on my way out heading in to give his birthday wishes to Phil. He was with some boxers whose names I didn't catch.

I got to Light with my camera in hand and as I approached the table, the guys saw me coming and moved into formation as if we had choreographed the whole thing. I snapped a couple photos and then realized, Jay and Martin had beat me over from Body English and were in the pics! I looked down the roster of guys in the picture and it included Kendall Grove, Dave Terrel, Heath Herring, Rude Boy, and Nahenu. Kendall decided since he had a UFC win under his belt, it was time to try something new and grabbed my camera and did his best impression of a Napkinnights girl. He wandered around the club snapping pics of people until I convinced him and his crew to head back to the Hard Rock. 8+ people deep, we took off to continue the party at Body English.

They were down to a group of 6 when we arrived, so we added our 8. We hung out for about 30 more minutes and adjourned to Phil's suite; we picked up about 6 more along the way. 20 people into the elevator and down the hall to room 920. We were there maybe 10 minutes before someone started chanting,"Drai's!" It was the last thing I wanted to hear as I found myself hauled off to the netherworld of Las Vegas Afterhours spots.

5am, and I was the only sober one amongst a ton of die hards on a Sunday night. I lasted an hour, got my pics, and then said my goodbyes. I recall hearing someone say, "just stay one more hour"; calculating in my head 7am when the place shuts down anyways. My voice sounded hollow to me as I stated, "NO WAY!" and darted out the door. It was at least 7am before I got to sleep anyhow, and at 9am was being rudely awoken by my sister needing a ride to work. What a way to start the new week!