| a *very* busy three-week update & wedding recap! |
[01 Jul 2009|10:53am] |
I've been even busier than usual lately, which is hard for even myself to believe. So busy that I sat down to write this last night, got distracted for 2 hours ago by workstuff, finished it and just now found the time to post. Oof.
Ok, so, some quick things first:
* The Tack Shop/Retail Search section on RidingResource.com launched this morning! Go check it out and let me know what you think! clicky!
* We got an air compressor for the garage which I'm super excited about. Anyone needing to use an impact wrench or wanting to air up your tires, stop on by!
* Got my braces tightened again the other week, starting to see progress in the front where it counts. They say I'm still on target for 18-20 months, and it's already been 9. Woo!
* Been riding a very cute, very tiny pony at Huntcliff since Wally was sold. He's fun and I look absolutely ridiculous on him (because he's so small), but I haven't fallen in love yet. I need a pony of my own. One day...
* Went to a comedy show at The Punchline this past weekend with some friends and saw Lisa Landry who I've seen on Comedy Central a few times.
* Finally got around to hanging a new chandelier in the dining room to replace the not-terrible-but-not-pretty one that came with the house.
* Had a fun night out with my trainer last week. Didn't get home until midnight (on a work night, nonetheless!) but it felt so good to be responsibly irresponsible again. Reminded me of college. Ah, the good old days...
* Attended the SouthEast Linux Fest in Clemson, SC with Erik a few weekends ago. Clemson is an interesting town where you can find an abundance of cheap bars and cows. Dinner that night included a performance from Dual Core, a self-described "nerdcore group featuring music for hackers, by hackers" who were surprisingly dope!
A few weekends ago, I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in a very special wedding - two of my best friends got married! Congratulations to Cori & John, the new Mr. & Mrs. Kern, married on June 21, 2009.
Erik and I flew up to Newark on Friday and hung around Cori's place with everyone just relaxing and hanging out. I actually hadn't seen Cori since we graduated from Drexel two years ago and can't even put into words how thrilled I was to see her.
Saturday was spent getting mani-pedis with The Bride, doing the rehearsal ceremony, begging the rain to stop since it was pouring and partying at the rehearsal dinner.
Sunday was the big day with the ceremony taking place on the beach in Sea Bright, NJ. All the girls got prepped and ready at Cori's house, helped wrangle her into her beautiful dress, took photos and stuffed ourselves into the limo to head over to the hall. It had been pouring all day, but the rain stopped just long enough for us to get through the entire ceremony (which was beautiful) and take some seaside photos.
The reception itself was fabulous. This was the first time since graduation that all of the Sheep were together in one place. We had fun dancing and celebrating and catching up all night. Fortunately there was no drama nor any overly-embarrassing moments. Cori looked gorgeous as usual and I wish them all the best for a lifetime of love and happiness. Congrats kids!
I got to see my old roommate Monica while I was in town which was awesome. Thanks for hanging out MonBon! Unfortunately the trip home was pretty awful... our flight got delayed which normally wouldn't be a big deal except that it was a three hour delay, all of which was spent sitting *in the plane on the runway*. Awful. But hey, the important thing is that we got home safely and had an amazing weekend, right? :)
The Sheep (minus Kern): me, Cori, Alyssa, EJ and Sarah [06-21-09]
Want to see more fun pictures from the wedding? Friend me on Facebook to get the whole album!
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| Goodbye Mr. Wally, I'll miss you... |
[11 Jun 2009|04:15pm] |
I might as well start with what's most on my mind... Mr. Wally got sold. I've been riding/training him for the past few months and had fallen totally in love with this little horse. He's absolutely adorable, super fun to ride and incredibly smart. He's so wonderful and I had such a great time with him. Unfortunately, as with most lesson horses, he was always "for sale".
I went to the barn yesterday to ride and as soon as I got there people started asking me "have you heard about Wally?!" I immediately thought he had gotten hurt or sick or worse, but when they told me he had been sold I really wasn't too surprised. Lesson horses, for lack of a better comparison, are like rental cars. Anyone can ride them and they're usually subjected to people pulling on the reins and kicking and generally not riding too well. Wally is so willing and trusting and eager and he really deserved better than that, so as beyond miserably bummed as I am to see him go, I'm really glad to know he'll be going to a loving home with a good rider who will give him the care and attention and consistent riding that he deserves.
I did get to ride him one last time yesterday since he's not scheduled to leave until today, but we couldn't really do much in case he got hurt or sore for the vet check that was this afternoon. I spent a lot of time with him afterwards and said my (tearful) goodbyes. I'm very appreciative to him for being such a great horse, and am lucky to have had as much time with him as I did.
Me and Mr. Wally (brown horse on the left, I'm in the black tank top) having some fun team-jumping with Leila and Mickey at Huntcliff
Other news in the horse world, Summer Bird won the Belmont. While the race itself wasn't all that exciting, I was somewhat disappointed that Calvin Borel and Mine That Bird didn't win. If they had, Calvin would've become the first jockey in history to "win" a Triple Crown on two different horses. Oh well. At least Kent Desormeaux finally gets to add a Belmont Stakes win to his career!
Goodbye Mr. Wally – Thanks for all the memories, I'll miss you :(
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| I rock at being productive lately! |
[28 May 2009|05:56pm] |
Ah, what a lovely week it has been!
Last Tuesday, I got a phone call from a friend of mine in Miami saying that he was actually in Atlanta and asked if I would like to join him at a media event for Hyundai's new turbo Genesis Coupe. Umm heck yes? I drove over to the W in Buckhead for cocktails and dinner, all courtesy of Hyundai (thanks Hyundai!). We got to play with the car (they had about a dozen, both V6 and 2.0T models) a bit and to be honest, I was very impressed with it. It looks great, handles well and is affordable - all in all a nice little RWD sports coupe. The motor itself is very "SR20"ish and I'm looking forward to seeing what sorts of things the aftermarket world does with it.
This past weekend was actually really productive for me. When we moved into our house (two years ago this Saturday), I had a ton of boxes that had "followed" me throughout college and across the country that I never bothered to unpack since I never seemed to stay put in one place for more than 6 months. Erik's been after me for a while to unpack them, and I've really been meaning to but just hadn't gotten around to it. For some reason I was more motivated than usual and I actually took a few hours to go through them all. I was shocked to find that some of the boxes actually dated back to 2001! I trashed/recycled/donated about 90% and can't believe how much room I actually have in my room when it's not cluttered by boxes! Hooray!
Later, Erik and I were trying to figure out what we should do that night. We decided to stay home and watch a movie to save money. Well, my big mouth suggests the bright idea that we should finally buy a TV for the bedroom and he actually agreed. After a bit of research online to decide what we wanted, we headed over to BestBuy and picked up a really dope 32" Sony Bravia 720p HDTV for about $500. And yes, we "stayed home and watched a movie" that night. So much for saving money! ;)
Hung out over at our friends' apartment/pool for Memorial Day and then went to dinner. One has a hybrid (and a Corvette, so he's still cool in my book) and let me drive it a little... it was my first time driving a hybrid and holy hell it is WEIRD! The car was "on" but not "running". I've been so conditioned to think loud, powerful, angry cars are normal over the years that this quiet little thing sort of freaked me out. Very bizarre.
My lesson yesterday was a nice, relaxing change of pace. I finally got around to wearing my Ariat field boots for the very first time and breaking them in is miserably painful so I was glad my trainer took it easy on us. Not to mention it was 80*+ and about 9000% humidity. Ugh.
Speaking of riding, we'll be launching Riding Resource's first email newsletter on June 1st. Want to be included? Shoot me an email and let me know!
Lastly, I booked me and my mother's flights to Spain for October. We'll be spending a week riding and relaxing at Epona in Seville. Only 135 more days!
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| '62 Nash, Worthersee and Boots! |
[18 May 2009|06:42pm] |
It's that time of year again! What time exactly? The time we buy another car! Our neighbor sold us (and by us I mean Erik) his super-cute 1962 Nash Metropolitan. Hooray!
Cute, isn't it? :)
I've actually been beyond busy again lately, which I really do enjoy. My best friend from college, EJ, has decided that she wants to go to grad school and therefore applied to a few schools. One of them just happened to be Georgia State, so she flew in the other week for her interview. Long story short, she got accepted (YAY!) and will be moving to Atlanta in July (YAY again!). I absolutely adore her and can't wait to have my favoritest girl local again.
On the subject of friends, our friends Gerard and Gellian are getting married in July and had their engagement party while EJ was in town so I dragged her along. We had a great time and I really am so beyond thrilled to see such good friends so madly in love.
That same weekend was Formula D Atlanta, but since we were busy with the shower and other things we didn't make it to the track. I was bummed but hey, friends only get married once, Formula D will be back next year. We did manage to squeeze in dinner with our good friend Antonio, chief wheel offset inspector and photographer extraordinaire. If you don't live under a rock, chances are you've seen his work. He also brought me some cute Cipher Garage tee's. Thanks Antonio!
Spent this past weekend up in Helen, GA for the Southern Worthersee event which is one of the largest Volkswagen/Audi/etc. car shows in the country (they stopped keeping count after reaching 560+ cars this year). It was great getting to see some friends and some really incredible cars. Also enjoyed the cheesy-touristy-ness of Helen (it's a re-creation of an alpine Bavarian village in the mountains of northern Georgia).
Unfortunately since we were away all day I missed the Preakness, although I did watch a replay of it later and was very impressed by the filly, Rachel Alexandra's win and second-place finisher Mine That Bird's incredible last-to-almost-first sprint. Bummer we won't have a potential Triple Crown this year, but I'm almost glad as that means I don't have to spend $250 to fly up to NY to watch the Belmont.
Back to work today, ran some errands during lunch and *finally* exchanged the beautiful Ariat Crowne Pro field boots that Erik so generously bought for me when I graduated for a size that actually fit and bought two new pairs or breeches to replace my one pair of 12-year-old Miller's. I think I'm ready for Spain – only 145 more days!
As for now, I'm sitting on the couch trying to break-in the aforementioned field boots. I think it's time for me to go enjoy the yummy muffins I just baked with some fresh, delicious strawberry jam, courtesy of my soon-to-be-neighbor and awesome coworker!
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| It happened - I'm finally 25. |
[05 May 2009|02:06pm] |
Well ladies and gents, I'm officially in the "25-34" age range on surveys and that isn't a good feeling.
I had the day off from work so of course I spent my 25th birthday at home, working on Riding Resource. Erik took me to dinner that night which was nice, and he got me a CalumSult ECU for my car which is dope because it allows you to tune with a laptop via USB. Yay!
My G20 turned "Sweet 16" on April 26th. I wanted to drive around with a party hat strapped to her roof but I was too lazy. Happy birthday to her!
I watched the 135th Kentucky Derby on Saturday and was amazed by what a spectacular race the winner, Mine That Bird, ran. It was unbelievable, to put it mildly. Here's to hoping he can repeat this performance in both the upcoming Preakness and Belmont Stakes for the first Triple Crown win in 30+ years!
I got the rest of my braces put on today (everything in the front, I've had the backs for 8 months already). So far so good, they're not hurting at all but I'm sure that'll change tomorrow when I try to eat. It's weird having so much "stuff" in my mouth...
That "old friend" that I got an email from the other week has since disappeared yet again. That'll teach me to get my hopes up. Bummer.
Otherwise, nothing really new to report here. Riding's going well and I'm having fun as usual. EJ is flying in tomorrow night for an interview at GSU for grad school and then we might swing by Formula D at Road Atlanta this weekend if we have time.
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| Getting ready for my mid-midlife crisis. |
[16 Apr 2009|02:56pm] |
The next time you hear from me, I'll be 25 and having my official mid-midlife crisis. I wore a black sweater to work today (not on purpose) and someone asked me if I was wearing it "to mourn the loss of my youth". I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
So last weekend was Passover and even though neither Erik nor myself are very religious, we decided to have everyone over to our house for seder. In addition to his cousin, cousin's wife and cousin's son who were already in Atlanta, his mom, dad, brother, aunt, other cousin, other cousin's fiance and other cousin's fiance's two daughters flew in for the weekend making it a grand total of 13 people. That's right - 13 people - in my dining room. Our table seats 8 at the most, so we had to squish and set up a smaller, additional table and we actually were able to fit everyone somewhat comfortably. Where I managed to come up with 13 place settings is beyond me, but it happened. We busted out Erik's grandmother's silver for the first time and I kept thinking "I am SO not old enough to have antique silver". LOL.
Anyway, the seder turned out very nicely. Much nicer than the ones I used to go to at my grandmother's when I was a kid. Nobody died, nobody cried, everyone had a great time. The food was excellent (thanks to Erik's momma for her kitchen magic!) and I enjoyed having a "family" moment, since I never got to experience them when I was younger. Went to dinner Sunday night with everyone and they all went back home Monday morning.
At one point, Erik's little bro (I say "little" but he's my age) wanted to see my car (he's a carguy too, shockingly enough) so we went into the garage and there was an Optima RedTop sitting on the ground. My first thought was 'well, that explains why the damn thing wouldn't start... there wasn't even a battery in it!' [my battery is so dead that it can't hold a charge anymore and therefore the car won't run/start] My second thought was 'wait a minute, that battery is too new/clean to be mine... WTF is going on?' And that's when I noticed his bro was smiling. Erik denies any knowledge of the "surprise" and claims that he had nothing to do with it - it was all the work of the Optima Fairy. He's so thoughtful. :)
Riding's been going well and I'm having a ton of fun with Mr. Wally. I re-injured my ankle the other week pretty badly but I blame that on the crazy Atlanta weather... it was 70* one day and it literally snowed the very next! Unfortunately the cold wreaks havoc on my ankle/back so I suffered, but I'm all better now. My trainer is moving to a new barn and I can't decide whether to stay and ride with someone else or to follow her to greener pastures (literally and metaphorically) since the new place is quite a bit further away. Eh, oh well.
In other news, I get my front braces put on in three weeks! WOO! I can't believe how much progress they've made in only seven months and I'm super excited about this. I also got an email from an old friend who I was fairly sure I'd never hear from again which was a lovely surprise and totally made my day. Here's to hoping this isn't the last of that!
Lastly, as of Monday, April 6th, RidingResource.com has officially partnered with Equine.com to integrate our Stable Search feature into their website. This is a huge deal for us as it'll make our listings/data available to hundreds of thousands of people while helping grow our brand. I'm very much so looking forward to helping connect the equestrian community, both riders and businesses alike, and am confident that this collaboration will be beneficial to both our sites. Stay tuned for more news!
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| She's alive! Roadtrip to the SR20 Convention '09. |
[30 Mar 2009|04:01pm] |
Wow I haven't updated since the beginning of the month! Either I've been really busy or things have been abnormally un-interesting lately. You decide. Either way, let's jump right in-
So my car hasn't run in 13 months. It's a very long story and I'm not going to bother going into those details. Either way, a friend of ours came over last weekend (Sammy from Tiger Racing in Norcross, GA) to make a house-call. I've completely given up on even touching the damn thing since I'm so frustrated with it, but lucky for me Sammy knows his stuff and was able to determine what the problem was (exhaust cam timing was off by 5 teeth!) and get her running in less than an hour. Started her up and I happy-cried. I drove her around the neighborhood for a few minutes to make sure she wasn't going to spontaneously combust and then stuck her back in the garage. Drove her to work for a few days to start to rebuild the "trust" and was able to confirm she would not explode.
This weekend was the SR20 National Convention sponsored by the SR20forum, G20.net and many, many others. They do a national convention every year, each time at a different location. This year it just so happened to be in Savannah, GA. I had made a hotel reservation for Friday and Saturday night and was planning on spending the whole weekend there and getting to see some of historic Savannah, but the weather had other plans. It started raining here on Friday and the forecast predicted "severe thunderstorms and large hail" in Savannah. The hotel did not have covered parking. I made an executive decision that we would stay in ATL on Friday and wait for the weather to clear up on Saturday.
Since we now had a free night to spare, Erik and I went to Dad's Garage, a local improv comedy place, to see one of their shows. We wound up meeting a really awesome couple and went out to dinner with them afterwards at the Vortex.
Saturday morning we woke up and guess what? Still raining. A huge storm had settled over Georgia and wasn't planning on leaving any time soon. Personally I've never really been one to let weather stand in the way of my roadtrips, so I said let's go anyway. Packed our bags, loaded up the car, crossed my fingers and headed off towards Savannah.
The weather was absolutely horrendous - what should have been a 3.5hr trip took almost 5. The roads were flooding and my tires are definitely not made for rain driving. There were quite a few times I had to drop back to 40mph and drive with my hazard lights on just to make sure someone didn't hit me because visibility was practically non-existant. We arrived at the convention hotel around 5pm and promptly headed to the hotel bar for a well deserved drink and a chat with some fellow SR20-enthusiasts.
All in all, Saturday was sort of a waste because there were tornado warnings left and right, nonstop torrential downpours and all the streets were flooded; didn't get to go downtown at all. We (the convention crowd) wound up spending the night hanging out in the hotel bar/lobby looking at pictures from the track day at Roebling Road on Friday and playing Wii games. I was still pretty happy, however, since I got to see a lot of my friends who I hadn't seen in ages and play with/talk cars all night. Good times :)
By the time we all woke up on Sunday the rain had (finally!!!) cleared out. There was a DIY carwash place up the rode so I grabbed some cash (which I had won off my friend the night before by betting him I had actually driven my car to the convention. He didn't believe that it was running since it had been down for so long. Went out to the parking lot to prove him wrong. Sucker.) and gave her a nice bath. This was the first time in 2.5 years she'd gotten washed (the water restriction during the drought here made it almost impossible and I can't take her through automated washes). I was SO happy to finally get all that brake dust off my wheels... they went from disgustingly-dirty-brown back to their pretty, shiny bronze. Yay!
Drove over to Fort McAllister Historic Park for the traditional car show & picnic. There were a ton of really dope Classics and even a real, RHD GTiR!! It was absolutely lovely out and I had a blast getting to see so many SRs all together. I find it funny how it used to be rare to have a DET or VVL motor and now it's rare to have a regular DE.
Anyway, after the picnic we drove back to ATL (which, thanks to the good weather, only took 3.5 hours). Thanks to the turbo and staying in vacuum, my car absolutely loves highway cruising: I got 250 miles on a half a tank of gas (~35mpg)! Got back to ATL and went to the Vortex again (a different location this time) for dinner before the rest of the boys went their separate ways.
All in all, I'm bummed the weather sucked but glad I had such a fun weekend and got to see so many friends. I'm also really glad my car didn't die and made the trip and was a rockstar. Thanks to everyone who made it possible!
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| Snowboarding didn't kill me! And was FUN! |
[04 Mar 2009|09:21am] |
So a few weeks ago Erik decided that he wanted to go snowboarding since he hadn’t been in 4+ years. My BFF EJ just so happens to live in Ogden, UT which is 20 minutes from Snow Basin. Next thing I know, he’s booked us a flight! (Used his miles so it was free, cool deal.)
We flew out to SLC on Friday evening. EJ and her guy met us at the airport, and it goes without saying there was much squealing and hugging and bouncing up and down. Had dinner at a local sushi joint called Tona. Headed back to EJ’s parent’s place afterwards and went right to bed in preparation for the long weekend ahead of us.
Saturday morning Erik woke me at 6:45am (ugh) so that we could go pick up the rental gear before going to the mountain. Erik, the very smart man that he is, offered to not only pay for my snowboard rental, lift ticket AND lesson, but for EJ’s as well! I think he knew that the less miserable we were, the less miserable he would be. :) Anyway, I was outfitted with a midget board (size: 140 – tiny!) and some boots. We packed up the truck and headed to Snow Basin. Yay!
We actually got there about an hour before our lesson started, so the boys went off to play on the big-kid slopes while we waited for our lesson to begin. Our instructor’s name was Adam and he was absolutely wonderful; he was super encouraging and had a great sense of humor, plus he actually taught us how to not-die in just two hours! We had one other girl in our lesson group, this really dope chick name Dara (whose husband grew up literally in the town over from where I grew up!) who we wound up hanging out with for the rest of the day since we were all newbs. Erik took a few snaps of us during the lesson to document us falling on our butts and failing miserably. Had some lunch at the lodge and then went to play for the rest of the afternoon. Surprisingly enough, we all did really well once we stopped hurting ourselves! By the end of the day I was making it all the way down without falling at all, and picked up a lot of speed.
EJ’s parents cooked us an awesome dinner Saturday night and we decided to stay in and recuperate from the day’s adventures. We watched a movie but I fell asleep halfway through because I was so pooped. Called it a night relatively early and we all headed off to sleepytime.
Sunday we woke up around 9am and went to breakfast at Jeremiah’s, a local place with some pretty good eats. Note to self: a big breakfast right before lots of exercise is not the best idea. We got up to the mountain around noon and got half-day lift tickets. EJ and I hit the slopes immediately and did back-to-back runs until 3:30pm. We rocked it. HARD. I was amazed at how much better we had gotten in just one day. I can carve somewhat decently, control my speed and direction, ride regular or goofy AND I even went over some small bumpy-jumpy things and lived to tell about it! Yay! I have decided that I really enjoy snowboarding, especially since it was super warm out and I didn’t manage to break any bones. Why is it that I only enjoy dangerous sports? Horseback riding, racing cars, target shooting, snowboarding… oof.
Dinner that night was at Rooster’s Brewing Company, a local bar/pub in historic Ogden. This is also the same place that EJ took me last time I was in Utah to have a Polygamy Porter and bought me a t-shirt that says “I tried Polygamy in Utah”, lol. The food was really good, but unfortunately, I was way too exhausted to enjoy it, let alone realize I was eating. I was on autopilot. I had a handful of bites before I managed to (almost) fall asleep in my chair. Came back to EJ’s and went straight to bed at 9pm. Slept 12 hours and damn it felt good.
We left Monday afternoon to fly back to Atlanta, but stopped at one of my favorite west-coast fast food joints for lunch before getting to the airport, Wienerschnitzel! The flight back was easy, watched a movie, tried to figure out when the next time I could go snowboarding would be, the usual... ;)
All in all, I had a great trip. I got to see my best friend and her amazing parents, try a fun new sport that I’m actually pretty decent at, and had a lovely weekend with my boyfriend. I didn’t get hurt (aside from a little soreness in my back, shoulders and tush from the Saturday-morning tumbles) and I met some cool new people. I can’t wait to go again!
Pictures: Facebook album here!
I stopped falling mid-day Saturday and spent all day Sunday rocking out hardcore. Unfortunately, this was taken as I was slowing down from my last run, so you can't see how awesome I was :(
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| If you're not paying rent, get out of my attic! |
[26 Feb 2009|11:28am] |
A quick update before I flit off to Utah for the weekend...
So for the past week we've been hearing "noises" up in our attic. What kind of noises? The kinds small furry animals make when they're trapped and are trying desperately to claw and chew their way to freedom.
We got a Havahart no-kill trap and left it up there to see if we could catch anything. Turns out we're pretty good at this animal trapping stuff! We caught two squirrels (one on Saturday night and one on Monday night) and took them each on a little roadtrip to the other side of town to be released. They were absolutely adorable! We had an animal control guy come the other day to double-check and he said there wasn't anything else living up there, but set some traps just in case and will check back over the next two weeks. If you're not paying rent, get out of my attic!
Rode wonderful Mr. Wally again on Tuesday, again with only a halter and reins. We worked on flying lead changes, which surprisingly enough I've never done before. Mr. Wally hadn't either and I'm very impressed with how fast he learned what to do - that horse is scary smart. After the lessons I had to go turn him out in his new paddock home (no more stall for him) but it was a long walk and I was tired, so I just hopped up bareback and rode him out. He's such a wonderful little guy... He's probably getting sold soon which makes me sad, but at least he'll go to a good home where he can get the attention and consistent riding that he deserves.
Last night Erik and I went to dinner at my cousin's house, who I never knew existed until recently. My pop-pop is in town visiting and staying with them, so they invited us over. It's cool having family locally and they were all super nice and funny and we had a great time.
Signed an agreement last week for a partnership for Riding Resource. This is a very big deal and I'm excited to get the ball rolling so we can start making announcements about the good news!
Heading out to Utah tomorrow for a snowboarding trip with Erik. We're staying at EJ's and I absolutely cannot wait to see her! Yay!
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| Valentine's recap and bridleless hunter courses. |
[18 Feb 2009|11:15am] |
This weekend was absolutely lovely, and I have a very special boy to thank for it.
Valentine's started out wonderful - Erik woke me up with breakfast in bed and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The card said: "For you, me, and us- three. Hopefully much longer than these flowers can be. I love you, Erik" Isn't that the sweetest? I'm SO lucky to have him!
Valentine's flowers from Erik
We hung out in bed cuddling and being lazy, then finally got up to go check out washers and dryers since there was a dope President's Day sale going on at Sears. We've (well, mostly him) been saving up for the amazing Kenmore Elite HE5t steam pair for quite some time now. I know this will probably sound very 1950s-housewife-lame, but, he bought me a washer and dryer!! I'm SO excited!! These things are friggen incredible. They've got tons of settings and buttons and fun things to play with and they're beautiful and QUIET (can barely tell they're even on) and OMG I'm beyond happy. :D
Ran a few more errands, came home and hung out with Couch for a while, then went out to dinner with Kathryn and her boyfriend Seth. We went to Phoenix and then to Sheridan's, this cool 1950s-esque frozen custard place.
Sunday was spent sleeping, being lazy, and watching the handyman fix stuff around our house, including patching a very small gap where the roof over the house meets the roof over the garage because squirrels were getting in. He did a great job, except that now we have two squirrels trapped in our attic! We've set no-kill traps but so far haven't been able to catch the little bastards. I can hear them trying to claw their way out and I'm praying they don't hit an electrical wire. Eep.
Had Monday off for President's Day (thanks work!) and spent it working on RidingResource.com and doing laundry in my awesome new washer and dryer!
Yesterday I had my weekly lesson at Huntcliff and rode Mr. Wally, the love of my life, again. My trainer had told me not to use a bridle, just a halter and reins. (Note: for all you non-horsey people, this means I would be riding with no bit in the horse's mouth. The Bit is a major part of your steering/braking mechanism.) I was a little nervous at first because I was worried I wouldn't be able to control him using just my seat and my legs, but after a little warmup at the trot/canter, I was surprised at how incredibly easy it was! We wound up jumping for a good 40 minutes - full hunter courses of 8 to 10 fences, 2'6" to 3'. It was the highest I've ever jumped, the most fences I've ever done in one course, and I did it all with just a halter! Holy crap it was FUN!!! I had such a great time and Wally was wonderful and I'm still all smiley just thinking about it. I can't wait to do it again. No more bridles for me! Woo!
Oh, and I finally got around to scanning that article from Trail Rider Magazine that I was in. Check out the picture HERE!
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| 90+ hour workweek for 1.5years? Oh yes, I'm pooped. |
[11 Feb 2009|04:04pm] |
I finally realized that I've been working 90+ hours for the past 1.5 years and I'm friggen *exhausted*! I keep telling myself it's for a good cause and it'll all pay off one day... hopefully the same day my student loans are paid off themselves! :)
Erik and I have been working up a storm on Riding Resource. We added a nifty little lightbox to the homepage so people can sign up for our awesome mailing list. You should go check it out and join! We promise to never spam you.
Had a second meeting on Monday about some potential goodstuff for the site. I'm not giving up the details on that until it actually happens; don't want to kick myself in the butt. It's definitely worth being excited over, however.
Rode Wally yesterday - he's come such a long way since I first rode him a few months ago. He still gets a little retardo excited at the canter though, but that's to be expected since he's so green. Miriam wants me to ride him in just a halter and reins next week, over fences. I am probably going to die, so if you don't hear from me after next Tuesday, that's why.
Erik decided the other week that he wants to go snowboarding, so he used his miles and booked us a trip to Utah! We're going to stay with EJ (YAY!!!) and play on a mountain. I got snowpants and an awesome silly hat because, well, if I'm going to be cold and miserable and falling on my butt all day I might as well look ridiculous. :) 16 days and counting!
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| Riding Resource, riding Wally, & misc. |
[28 Jan 2009|08:50am] |
Hello my babies!
Sorry it's been a bit since I've updated; I know you're probably all dying with anticipation to hear all about my life, yes? ;)
Riding Resource has been doing well (we've been live almost a whole month now!) and is seeing a decent amount of traffic. We've gotten quite a bit of very positive feedback from people which is always nice to hear. We've also got a couple potential "exciting things" in the works, but I'll only write about them if/when they actually happen. Keep your fingers crossed!
The braces are going well… teeth are moving... hooray progress. I'm hoping I can use my tax returns to pay them off so I can re-allocate that $200/month to promoting Riding Resource. Yay for the government giving us back money that was ours to begin with! Oh, and on that note, you should check out the Fair Tax - it's a brilliant idea that would really do wonders for our economy and our country. Spread the word, we want the Fair Tax!
I took two friends from work (Sonja and Valerie) to the range last week to teach them to shoot and they did shockingly accurate. There's something about girls and guns that goes together really well...
Rode Wally this week and last, and I'm totally falling head over heels in love with this horse. He's so adorable and *so* smart and very willing and all he wants to do is have fun and jump stuff and hey, that's exactly what I want too!!
Had dinner last week with Dan, Jill, Rachel, Eugene and all the other kiddies. I know it might sound corny but damn, I'm so glad I have such wonderful friends in my life. I really am fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people. Much <3 to them all.
Anyway, nothing much else has been happening around here. It's just the usual work, eat, sleep, repeat. I am, however, noticing a decrease in my commuting time/traffic due to unemployment which is bittersweet.
Love and kisses!
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| I'm in the January issue of Trail Rider magazine! |
[14 Jan 2009|01:36pm] |
Ever since we launched RidingResource.com, I've been super busy fielding emails, making updates, etc (but that's all good stuff!). This weekend I finally had a chance to "relax" a bit, relatively speaking that is.
Saturday afternoon Erik and I went with a friend from my work to a Georgia State basketball game. Why? Because they were playing Drexel! In the 5 years I spent there, I never once went to see the Dragons play so I figured why not see them play in Atlanta instead? It was actually a really good game, very close the whole time and pretty exciting. In the end, Drexel won 53 to 50 and Erik and I were two of only three people cheering for them. Go Dragons!
Sunday we went up to the North GA Premium Outlets. I did my best not to spend any money and came home with three really nice sweaters, a cute polo and a dope pair of jeans for about $100.
Afterwards we went on a crazy search all over Atlanta to find a copy of the January issue of Trail Rider Magazine. Why? Because if you turn to page 59 you will see a cute girl in a pink/white striped shirt riding a Peruvian mare at Rancho Loma Linda who just happens to be... ME! :D
Yesterday I rode at Huntcliff and got to ride lovely Wally again. He's come so far in the past month with his training it's incredible. He's such a talented horse, and unusually smart as well. You can almost see his brain working to figure things out when you ask him to do new stuff, and the moment it "clicks" is very obvious as well. He's so sweet and so good and I really wish I could afford to buy or lease him or something. Oh well, maybe one day...
Okay, back to work for me (as usual). Go check out Riding Resource please! </shamelessplug> ;)
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| RidingResource.com and New Year's |
[02 Jan 2009|03:29pm] |
Happy 2009 everyone!
It's going to be an exciting year for me. Why? I finally started my own business! For the past 1.5 years Erik and I have been working insanely hard on this new startup and as of January 1, 2009 it is finally officially live! Here's a bit about it... (please spread the word and tell your friends!!)
 Riding Resource is the only fully-searchable online database of riding stables and tack stores that lets you find exactly what you're looking for.
Founded as a way to help riders connect with local facilities, Riding Resource is unique in that our visitors can fine-tune their searches with specific criteria in regards to location and services offered.
Whether you're interested in taking riding lessons in a certain discipline or riding style, in need of a local boarding stable with an indoor ring, want to go trail riding on vacation, looking to purchase, train or breed a horse and more, Riding Resource can help you quickly and easily find the perfect facility to meet your needs.
Our innovative setup allows you to select as few or as many options as you'd like to see results that meet your requirements. Mix and match options to find a stable that offers the exact services and amenities that you want. Specify your location and maximum travel distance to find convenient nearby facilities.
We have over 12,000 stables and over 2,800 tack stores in our directory for you to choose from. You can click on the name of a stable or store in your search results listing to go directly to that facility's detailed information to see what services they offer and more.
Please check us out today at RidingResource.com!
Otherwise, things here are good. We had a party at our house on New Year's which was fun and we had a bunch of people over. We bought a dining room table (which won't be delivered for a few more weeks, ugh) so sometime in June we're going to have our "We've been living here for 2 years already" Housewarming. Woo!
OK, back to work for me! RidingResource.com now Now NOW! :D
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| 4-year Anniversary & Caribbean Cruise |
[17 Dec 2008|08:44pm] |
Day 1 – Carnival Victory Sets Sail!
We flew down to San Juan, Puerto Rico using Erik's miles (a free flight is a great way to start any trip). Two points of interest: the entertainment system/computers on Delta's 767 run RedHat, and you can play Insanaquarium which will annoy the person in front of you because you have to poke the touch-screen in the head rest a lot.
Our ship, the Carnival Victory, set sail at 10:00pm for a week of adventures. One of the couples we met last year, Susie and Rick (who happened to win a free cruise in a raffle), decided to come with us this year and it was great getting to see them again.
One of the professional portraits we had taken on the ship. We look so grown up!
Day 2 – St. Thomas
We decided to take it easy on our first day since we didn't have any "relaxing day-at-sea"s on the itinerary this year. We rode the skyride to Paradise Point on St. Thomas and walked around the nature trails on the top of the island. Took some pictures, enjoyed the spectacular views and sunshine, and played with cool tropical birds. We didn't really do much, but it was a very nice, very low-key way to start the trip.
A view of our ship, the Carnival Victory, from Paradise Point on top of St. Thomas
Day 3 – Dominica
Our original excursion had gotten canceled, so we decided to do a river tubing one instead. We wound up meeting a fabulous couple (Amber and Tony) at the tubing place and instantly hit it off with them (we actually wound up spending the whole week hanging out with them. The crazy part is that they won the free cruise this year, just like Susie & Rick did last year while sitting in the exact same seats that Susie and Rick did in the theatre during the raffle!).
The tubing was fun – Dominica has 365 rivers and we got to see quite a few on our perilous trip across the island on crazy roads with steep drops off the sides on top of mountains. The river we tubed (is that a word?) down was clear and somewhat shallow and had a few rapids that kept things interesting. At one point we all stopped for a swim break and our guides (who were awesome at helping me get un-stuck from rocks and the banks and other "road"blocks) climbed a palm tree to retrieve a coconut for us. Erik used a huge rock to break the outer part and I used a smaller rock to open the actual coconut itself. I've never had fresher coconut. It was a pretty cool experience - I made "food" for the entire group!
After tubing they drove us over to a little thatched hut on the banks of yet another river where we had a traditional Dominican lunch (which was delicious) and were entertained by a tribe of true Carib Indians. Tony and I got up on stage (after being invited, of course) to participate in a ritual dance with them and we made total fools of our tourist-selves. Still fun, though!
Before we went back to the ship we stopped off on the side of the road for a 20 minute hike through the rain forest. When we came to a clearing, it was because we had reached a gorgeous 200-foot waterfall. It was dark and kinda cold because the trees were so dense, but we went for a swim in the clear pool that was below the falls. It was like being in a movie it was so gorgeous and picturesque.
Erik and I tubing down a river in Dominica
Day 4 – Barbados
Ah, Barbados… This was definitely a good island to do some fun stuff on!
The first part of our excursion was to go snorkeling with sea turtles! We had bought our own snorkels and masks before the cruise and I was *so* glad for this because I didn't get one single drop of water in my eyes (which usually happens and hurts like hell) and was able to enjoy every moment of the swim. The turtles were really cool, and huge! Our guy was feeding them so they came up real close and we got to touch them. This is something I'd love to do again, for sure.
After the turtles we went to another snorkel spot where there were a few sunken ships for us to explore. Susie and Rick had come with us and we brought croissants so that we could feed the fish. To say I was surrounded by thousands of brightly-colored, beautiful tropical fish is an understatement. The shipwreck itself was really neat, and it made me wish I knew how to scuba so I could poke around better.
Last stop for the day was a beach. We sailed over (on our ship, The Thriller!) to a local, secluded beach where we hung out for about an hour, drinking rumpunch from the swim-up bar on our boat.
When we got back to the pier, Erik and I went to Diamonds International to "just look". I fell in love with Tanzanite when we went on our cruise last year and so I headed over to that section immediately. I saw a beautiful ring which the friendly salesguy let me try on "just for fun". Then I found another I loved even more. The next thing I know, the salesguy and Erik had shook hands and I was crying happy tears because I am the luckiest girl in the world - he bought me an unbelievably gorgeous .45ct Tanzanite ring with .35ct tw of diamond accents. The perfect end to the perfect (and sparkly!) day.
I like turtles! Swimming with awesome sea turtles in Barbados.
Day 5 – Antigua
I have wanted to go horseback riding in Antigua since I was a little kid and read Walter Farley's "The Island Stallion". It has been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember, and luckily enough, we went horseback riding in Antigua! I found the Spring Hill Riding Club online several months ago and had booked Erik and I a private trail ride. We took a cab to the stable where we met our FEI dressage trained "trail horses" (Bilbo and Gandolf – yes, I laughed when I heard that, too). We wound up getting a 1.5 hour tour of the island, through palm tree forests and across hills with beautiful overlooks of English Harbour among many other places. Then we went back to the barn where we stripped the saddles off the horses and changed into our bathing suits to head back out to the beach for a swim.
Let me first say that riding a horse, bareback, barefoot and in only a bikini is WEIRD. I totally felt like I should be wearing jeans and boots or *something*! Anyway, so we headed to a private cove where we convinced our horses that plunging into the water would be fun. It was. I've never had the chance to ride a horse while it swims and I think I will always remember that "wtf?!" feeling, because when they swim it is unlike any other "on land" gait I have ever felt. We rode, er, swam for about 30 minutes and then headed back to the stable. On the way we got caught in a tropical rain shower which was warm and beautiful and a very nice finishing touch to the ride.
Our awesome trail guide, Terri-Lee, gave us a ride back to English Harbour after wards where we walked around and eventually hopped the local #17 bus (for $2USD each) which took us back to the other side of the island to the cruise terminal.
This day just also happened to be December 11th, our 4-year anniversary (and the reason I got the ring, which is NOT an engagement ring so don't ask, k?).
The beautiful Tanzanite and Diamond ring that Erik bought me for our 4-year anniversary.
Day 6 – St. Lucia
When I say I have a wonderful boyfriend, I really mean it. Erik jumped at the chance to go riding not only once in Antigua, but two days in a row in St. Lucia too!
We rode at a local stable with a bunch of other Carnival Victory-ians. They asked who the experienced riders were so Erik and I raised our hands. We told them we rode English, and they pulled out the "good" horses for us (ie: the ones that had the least amount of bad habits and vices. It was, after all, a typical hack barn). I wound up riding one of the owner's private horses who had just been gelded recently, named Jeepers. He was a real sweetie and a very fun ride.
When we got to the beach they tied up the horses, untacked three and asked "who wants to go for a swim?" Of course, Erik and I were the first ones mounted. I rode a nice little bay who made the funniest noise I've ever heard a horse make the entire time we were in the water. It was like riding a horse that thought he was a foghorn – every 3 seconds or so he'd go "HHHHYYUUUUUHHHHH" as loud as he could and we were all cracking up. Awesome :D
The ride back consisted of a flat-out gallop down the entire length of the beach (woo!) and a relaxing trip back to the barn.
Swimming with ponies on a beach in St. Lucia.
Day 7 – St. Kitts
Our last real day! We signed up for an excursion called the "Catamaran Fan-Ta-Sea", and that's a pretty fitting description if you ask me.
We boarded a lovely catamaran around 9:00am and sailed for 45 minutes to a snorkel spot where we jumped off the back of the boat and watched all the pretty fishies swim around. It was like floating on your belly in a tropical fish tank!
Spent about an hour snorkeling, then we got back on the boat for a fabulous lunch and rumpunch that was mostly rum and very little punch. We headed over to a local beach called Reggae Beach where we hung out until the sun started to get low. There was this ginormous 600lb big black boar that was super friendly and you could go up to it and hug it and play with it and a baby monkey who loved attention and also a baby goat who gave kisses to anyone and everyone.
Hanging out with Wilbur, the friendly pig, at Reggae Beach in St. Kitts.
Day 8 – Back in Puerto Rico, Home to Atlanta
Not much to say here, except that we got off the ship and spent the day hanging out in the airport with our new friends who we had met on the cruise (Amber & Tony, Mr. Jeff & Terry, etc.) while we all waited for our flights.
Overall, this cruise wasn't as fabulous as last year's (mostly due to the crappy service by some of the on-ship staff and the terrible people a few staterooms down from us who woke us up at 2:30am on three separate nights screaming Puerto Rican music and playing fuggin bongo drums whom had to call security on, seriously) but we met a lot of great people, ate a disgusting amount of food and had a ton of fun going on incredible excursions. We're thinking Panama next year, maybe.
Rick & Susie, me & Erik, Amber & Tony, Terry & Mr. Jeff – 2008 Cruise WOO HOO!
My riding lesson on Tuesday at Huntcliff went well; I rode a nice 5 year old named Jag who Miriam (my trainer) said I did "amazing" on and she is convinced that I will be showing (successfully, even) this spring. Eep.
Now it's back to work as usual, trying to play catch up and get Riding Resource ready for our official public launch on January 1st, 2009.
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| Thanksgiving craziness in NY |
[01 Dec 2008|11:51am] |
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their loved ones - I know I sure did!
Erik and I flew up to NY Wednesday night for the holiday. We did Thanksgiving at his mom's on Thursday which was low-key and relaxing. Friday was the "real" dinner at his Aunt Tema's in NJ and it was lovely as ever (also his 28th birthday!). Tema cooked a ton of stuff and it was all unbelievably delicious (that woman can cook her butt off!). Got back to Long Island pretty late and went right to bed to sleep off the nice Turkey Hangover.
Saturday we slept in a bit and then went to Indian Head Ranch in Huntington which our great friends Lia & Wayne own. It was wonderful to see them both and I ran into a few old friends who I hadn't seen in ages. I also rode this wonderful horse (Stewart, lol) for a bit who was an absolute dream. After riding we went home and got un-horse-ified before heading out for Erik's 10-year high school reunion.
We drove to Astoria with some of his old HS buddies and grabbed dinner at a diner (I miss NY diners *so* much) before heading into the City for the actual reunion itself. We got to the Sixth Ward, a bar off of Houston, around 11pm and were immediately overwhelmed by the amount of people there. Erik had a great time catching up with old friends and laughing about old stories. We left late and didn't get home until about 4:30am.
Had to get up at 6:30am for our flight on Sunday (ugh) and we both were a mess from the sub-2 hour sleep we had gotten. We snoozed a bit in the airport and on the plane (which had a transfer in Ohio, which got delayed...) and finally got home around 5pm.
All in all, it was a great weekend with the perfect mixture of relaxation and exhaustion. He's headed to Boston for work for the week and then we leave on Sunday for our cruise.
I can't wait to go home and go to bed...
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| Riding Resource - A Stable Place to Search |
[17 Nov 2008|11:24am] |
So for the past year and a half I have been working on a secret project. Long story short, I've started a business.
"The Project" is almost live. We've finalized a design with Hustlewood and will be launching shortly. I'd really appreciate it if you would Follow us on Twitter for updates and advance-notice of our site launch and/or check out the Riding Resource page on Facebook to learn more and become a fan.
I registered the Riding Resource, LLC business name on Saturday, got an EIN/Tax ID number (which happens to end in 127 which is my lucky number!) and a GA sales tax ID. As of November 15, 2008, I am officially a business owner. Woot!
What exactly is Riding Resource you ask? Well, read on!
Riding Resource is the only fully-searchable online database of 12,000+ riding stables and 2,600+ tack stores that lets you find exactly what you're looking for.
Our innovative setup allows you to select as few or as many options as you'd like to see results that meet your requirements. Mix and match options to find a stable that offers the exact services and amenities that you want. Specify your location and maximum travel distance to find convenient nearby facilities.
Whether you're interested in taking riding lessons in a certain discipline or riding style, in need of a local boarding stable with an indoor ring, want to go trail riding on vacation, looking to purchase, train or breed a horse and more, Riding Resource can help you quickly and easily find the perfect facility to meet your needs.
Founded in 2007 as a way to help riders connect with local facilities, Riding Resource is unique in that our visitors can fine-tune their searches with specific criteria in regards to location and services offered.
We're hoping to launch by January 1. I want more than anything to make this a success. Wish me luck!
You can check us out at RidingResource.com" once we go live.
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| DMGGMASD and Gizmo. |
[11 Nov 2008|03:57pm] |
I've been super insanely unhealthy busy lately, so I'll make this short.
We (DGTrials) did a super-secret exclusive private event at Nashville SuperSpeedway last weekend for the DriftMechaniks guys. The event was absolutely awesome and everyone averaged about eleventy billion runs. I don't know who decided it, but the theme was "prep school elite" and the event's official title was "DriftMechaniks Gossip Girl Marathon and Some Drifting". Needless to say, it was pretty funny watching everyone run around in khakis and argyle sweater vests while playing with racecars ;)
I voted last Tuesday for the very first time, which was not at all as exciting as I thought it'd be. It was actually pretty cold and somewhat boring. But, it was worth it. Funny thing to note: there were some people selling hot chocolate for $1 (we went at 7:00am) and a few minutes later another group of people showed up handing out *free* hot chocolate. Ah, competition at it's best. Thanks, America!
My past two lessons at Huntcliff I've ridden this lovely dark bay hunter named Gizmo. He's pretty much a pro and it's so nice to ride a horse where I can concentrate on my riding and not fighting the horse. It goes something like this-
Me: Hey Gizmo, let's jump these fences over here, okay?
Gizmo: Sure, let's go! You just sit up there and look pretty while I do the rest.
I *love* this horse :)
A lot of progress has been made with "The Project" lately. I'll post more on that in a few days. If all goes well, this will be my ticket to paying off my loans and finally being able to ride more than once a week (maybe even buy my own horse?!). Keep your fingers crossed everyone!!
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| Riding, shooting, and screws in my jaw! |
[29 Oct 2008|03:03pm] |
It's been a while so I'll try to condense this down into a somewhat readable length...
Mom came to visit from the 17th through 20th. We went to Netherworld, a haunted house a few minutes from my house that was rated one of the best in the country. I have to admit, it was really good and pretty scary! We went with Erik's cousin Warren and his finace Courtney and some other friends. The special effects, makeup/costumes and animatronics were incredible. If you're within 3 hours of Norcross, GA, you should definitely make a trip to visit because it is SO worth it!
We spent the weekend down at Rancho Loma Linda visiting our wonderful friends Andrea & Angel, riding and relaxing. They're building guest cabins on the property that are super adorable and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out for them.
Last week I rode Copper again (the horse I rode the very first week) but actually used a pelham bit (like he's supposed to go in) this time and he was much better. Hooray!
This week when I showed up, the whiteboard said I was riding a horse named "Taylor". Turns out Taylor was new, and had just arrived at Huntcliff two hours earlier and I was the first person to ride her. She's a super cute 9y/o chestnut pony with the *hugest* eyes I have ever seen on any horse (everyone was calling her "Bugeyes"). Warmed her up a little then took her over a few decent-sized hunter fences and I was thrilled when my trainer said they were "beautiful". Then she started getting crazy. Not normal I'm-a-horse-and-it's-cold-out crazy, but absolute mental-meltdown-psychotic-nutso. She has an incredibly light mouth and any pressure whatsoever annoyed her, however, not holding her back caused her to take off. Any pressure from my legs at all caused her to take off. Halt-canter transitions were like riding a barrel horse, or a rocket launcher, or both. Poor mare was getting so worked up towards the end that my trainer got on to try and "smooth her out". That didn't work. I've never actually heard a trainer say "it's not you, it's definitely the horse" before, so hearing that was not only a first, but a huge relief (I don't suck!). By the end of the lesson, Taylor's name had officially been changed to CrazyMare. Ha!
Otherwise, things have been good. Erik's friend Jenny from when he was at Columbia was in town so we went to dinner with her (I adore her) and her boyfriend. I got a massage last Saturday (which I needed after the nonstop crazy past few months) and then me, Erik, Eugene and Dan went for a bike ride around Stone Mountain. Erik and I went to Bullseye afterwards to shoot a bit and I shot a really great consistent alpha grouping (of which I am *incredibly* proud, considering this was only my third time) without pausing between shots!
Today I had my second orthodontist appointment. They inserted two 1/2" long 8mm screws into my jaw (one on each side) to which they attached some wires and will use as anchor devices to move everything in my mouth around. It didn't hurt too bad, but it certainly wasn't painless. Regardless, I'm not suffering (yet?) and I'm glad that I'm making progress towards being able to smile again. Woot!
I also got back the first layout concept for The Project from Hustlewood and I couldn't be happier. It's absolutely amazing, and I can't wait to launch the site. This is gonna be so dope :)
My awesome alpha grouping! Go me! Cute *and* dangerous (not really)! Shooting: Springfield XD-9 tactical, 9mm
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| Re-Re*s Re-United - Polo, Guns & Pirates |
[16 Oct 2008|03:32pm] |
Grab some popcorn guys, this is gonna be a long one...
EJ flew in on Wednesday, I picked her up and we came home to hang out and catch up. Thursday night Ronny was looking for something to do so we decided to get dinner. There's this really great Thai place up the street from my house, L'Thai, that I absolutely love so we decided to go there. Their food is excellent, prices are reasonable, wait staff is friendly and courteous- it's really lovely.
Friday night the rest of The Sheep came in. Erik, EJ and I had gone to dinner to wait since Alyssa's flight didn't get in until 9pm and Sarah was landing an hour after that. We went to Nuevo Laredo which is this really awesome Mexican place where you have to wait forever for a table (about an hour and a half for us on a Friday night) but they give you free chips and salsa while you wait and the margaritas are strong. Finished up there just as Alyssa was landing and drove down to Hartsfield-Jackson to pick her up. She insisted we go to Sonic while we waited for Sarah, so that killed an appropriate amount of time. Retrieved Sarah and headed home so that we could wake up super early the next day.
Saturday was "The Big Day" - the day we had been waiting for for months: POLO! We had decided to take a polo lesson at Chukkar Farm in Alpharetta, GA with owner Jack Cashin, 83 (the oldest polo player in the country and one of the most amazing guys ever). We arrived at 9:30am to watch a video about the history of polo and learn interesting facts. We talked with Jack a lot about his past and how he's played polo all over the world, including in Jordan with the crown prince and how he "got bombed" in Jamaica when he was younger. Hysterical!
After the video we went over to the practice cage to learn the basics on a wooden horse. It's much safer if you screw up since you won't whack the real horse with the mallet (which is surprisingly a hell of a lot heavier than I expected, and very difficult to maneuver!). We all made fools out of ourselves but had a ton of fun. Jack even invited Erik to take a few shots off the test-pony, which I thought was really nice of him since only us four girls had actually paid for the lesson. :)
Tally Ho! Next it was time to play for real. They had saddled up four horses for us (ironically, a polo team has four players, how perfect!) and I rode a lovely pony named Tiku. All the ponies (technically they're not ponies as they are all about ~15h) were super sleepy and tired until we walked out onto the field, when they instantly perked up and got excited. We practiced hitting the ball at a walk at first. Surprisingly, it was much easier to hit the ball off a real horse than off the wooden horse. After a bit I decided to try it at a trot and discovered that to be significantly easier than the walk, since now you've got the horse's momentum to help you. I felt brave and tried at the canter several times, but found out that it's pretty much impossible to hit the ball when you're going that fast if you have no idea what you're doing... But it was fun trying!
To end the day, Jack suggested we take a trail ride around the property. We headed out into the woods and explored his beautiful farm. At one point we got to a big clearing and he told us we could canter if we wanted to. I put my horse into a nice lope and felt that he really wanted to run so I let him go. We flew at a full-speed gallop and it was exhilarating. Alyssa was all smiles after and she explained that she had "always wanted to do that" her whole life. What fun!
Tallo Ho! Me on Tiku looking like I know what I'm doing. Ha!
All in all, we were there for 4.5 hours and had the most incredible time. Polo is a lot more challenging than I would have ever imagined, but definitely fun. I can see myself getting into this sport seriously, if only I had the money to support the habit. Oh well, one day.
POLO PHOTO ALBUM HERE!
After polo we stopped at a package store called E&J Liquors (because EJ is the "drinker" of our group, ha!) and got some Sweet Tea Vodka. Then we headed home to shower and get cleaned up before going out.
I had made reservations for us at a local pirate-themed fondue restaurant called Dante's Down the Hatch. They have live crocodiles and turtles hanging out and a jazz band playing and a huge pirate ship right in the middle of the restaurant, which we got to sit on! (in?) The food itself was great and we didn't stop laughing once all night.
Yar! Alyssa, me, EJ and Sarah at Dante's Down the Hatch
We decided to go shooting at the range the next day so we drove over to Walmart to pick up some ammo, while still "dressed up". What do four incredibly silly girls (and one boy) in fancy clothes do at a Walmart on a Saturday night you might wonder? Well, good thing we had a camera! We played with pretty much everything and anything we could get our hands on and took tons of silly pictures. I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out, it was hysterical!
EJ, me, Sarah and Alyssa playing dress-up at Walmart.
GUNS & WALMART PHOTO ALBUM HERE!
Sunday morning we slept in a bit and went to Waffle House for breakfast. Came home, lazy'ed around the house for a bit, then went to go shoot stuff.
We went to Bullseye in Lawrenceville and fitted the girls with eye and ear protection. Sarah has shot guns before, but EJ and Alyssa never had. Alyssa was terrified; she was practically shaking and almost chickened out. We shot Erik's new Springfield XD-9 and they all did very well! After everyone had gotten comfortable with the gun, I decided we needed to rent a machine gun (yes, this place rents machine guns, including Tommy guns, for $10 - awesome!). I got us an HK MP5 and was incredibly surprised at how easy it was to shoot! It had practically no recoil at all and was very smooth firing. I shot it on full auto and couldn't keep the smile off my face. I love that gun! The girls all shot it too, and although Alyssa had said she didn't want to, once she saw how much fun we were having she tried as well.
Me shooting the MP5 machine gun - you can see the muzzle fire and shell discharging! Cool!
What's a good way to "relax" after an adrenaline-filled afternoon of target shooting? Mini golf! And what's better than mini golf? Pirate mini golf! Again, the camera came out for tons of inappropriate pictures, but I've never had a more entertaining round of golf in my life.
When Mini Golf Goes Bad! Alyssa, me and Sarah.
PIRATE RESTAURANT & GOLF PHOTO ALBUM HERE!
I wanted to take the girls to Dominick's since every time I've been there it's been fantastic (their garlic bread is unreal). When we got there, however, they had this big celebration thing going on and when I asked for a table for five the woman laughed and told me it was their "Customer Appreciation Night" - they had a big buffet set out and it was all free! Including beer/wine/etc! Very cool! We grabbed a table and loaded up our plates and felt "appreciated". I highly recommend Dominick's if you're in the Atlanta area, by the way.
Monday was pretty low-key compared to the weekend and also pretty sad since Alyssa and Sarah had to go back home to Philly. Bummer. EJ was staying until Tuesday and she had decided to take my riding lesson with me at Huntcliff. I rode this new Appaloosa pony named Cisco who was an absolute dream. I'm totally going to fall in love with that horse if I keep riding him. We worked on timing and counting strides, etc. Erik had his lesson and rode his Buttercup again and is making some serious progress. I'm so proud.
Alyssa, Sarah, EJ, Jack and me at Chukkar Farm in Alpharetta, GA.
Back to work the next day, and I dropped EJ off at the MARTA to catch her flight back to Utah. I spent the rest of the day catching up on workstuff and missing my girls terribly. Came home to a quiet, lonely house and did laundry. I want my girls back! I love you girls!!
You'd think after a crazy hectic weekend like that that I would want to just sit and relax this weekend. Nope! My mom's coming in to visit tomorrow morning and we are going back to Rancho Loma Linda to visit Andrea & Angel and ride and have fun. Expect another (not as long) update about that sometime next week!
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sr20detg20girl's journal
