SR20DETg20girl’s Blog

With the year winding down, I thought I’d do one last post to recap the last couple of weeks.

Alyssa and Cori flew in from Philly in November so that we could join EJ, Sarah and Jill for a bridesmaid dress shopping weekend o’ fun! Alana couldn’t make it but was still a part of the selection process. We actually wound up finding a really pretty dress in the perfect color that all the girls agreed on at J. Andrew’s and I’m really excited to see them all in it on “The Big Day”. I love my ladies so much and I’m so honored that they’re a part of our wedding.

As I mentioned in my last post, I separated my shoulder in a horseback riding accident and was in a tremendous amount of pain. After about two and a half weeks, I was still very miserable but had healed enough to go and play polo again with Leslie, Erik and Sarah. Erik had never played before and hadn’t been on a horse in well over a year, so it was really cute watching him struggle a little but he did surprisingly well overall! It was my first time back on a horse since the accident and I’ll admit, I was nervous as heck but the polo ponies at Polo Bear are so well broke that I was cantering around trying to hit the ball in no time and was too busy having fun to realize I was scared!

Erik and I spent Thanksgiving in New York with our families, as usual. I was especially glad to be able to visit some friends while we were up there and I even got to ride a zebra at Indian Head Ranch! We also went up to GPNY for some killer gokarting which would have been a lot more fun had I actually been able to focus on driving instead of not barfing in my helmet thanks to the insane amount of food and ice cream we had pigged out on beforehand… LOL. Good times, though.

Here I am riding a zebra. Yes, it was awesome.

We attended the 2011 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show down in Orlando, FL with Precision Turbo & Engine, which was a ton of fun as always. Despite the fact that I have to stand in a convention booth for three days non-stop, it’s SO much fun because I’m surrounded by some really amazing people and I get to talk about racecars all day – awesome. We debuted a lot of exciting new products at this year’s show, too, and I’m excited to see what the next year has in store. I also wound up meeting some really great new friends and reconnecting with some long lost old ones!

Other notable events from the past month and a half include: Ray & Betsy’s rowdy wedding (congratulations, you guys!) here in GA as well as Caio & Michelle’s wedding (congrats to you both as well!) which also included a fun weekend roadtrip up to Charlotte, NC. We had a super-yummy “Girls Only” potluck holiday dinner which was a blast, too! I feel so lucky to have such a great group of girls in my life. Our gun club’s (GPSL) holiday party was this weekend and it was nice to see those guys again, especially since I’m usually riding on the nights that Erik shoots so I don’t get to hang out anymore.

On December 9th, Erik and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary; it’s amazing how quickly the years have passed. He surprised me by picking me up early from work, blindfolding me and driving me to a “secret location” for my “surprise”. It turned out to be a private jeweler and he let me custom-design a setting for the solitaire engagement ring he proposed with back on August 12, 2010! It was an amazing experience overall and very surreal. He’s such a great guy – I think I’m the luckiest girl in the world. Afterwards we headed downtown to go see Cavalia’s Odysseo show, thanks to some amazing tickets from our very sweet, very generous friend Jonathan. We ate dinner and had cocktails in the tent before the show which absolutely blew my mind and then toured the stables after to see all the beautiful horses that starred in it!

Speaking of horses, last week I had my first lesson since the accident. It had been 6 weeks and I was surprised at how weak my shoulder still is/was. I’ve lost a lot of strength and conditioning (and, to be perfectly honest, almost all of my confidence) so I’m not quite sure how I feel about riding at this point. We’re getting a new trainer tomorrow (this will be my 5th in just 10 months… ugh) and hopefully I can start riding strongly and well again. I’m sick of dreading something I used to love so much. *fingers crossed*

Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but I feel like my life just keeps getting busier and busier and crazier and crazier. I don’t even know where to begin! I guess chronologically is good, though.

Back towards the end of September we celebrated the end of summer by attending the Stone Mountain Chili Cook-Off for the second year in a row. Just as we had remembered, it was delicious and a great way to end the season. We ran into some friends, ate some good food and wandered around in a meat-induced stupor. What’s not to love?

The following weekend we attended our first (and last) autocross of the year with the Atlanta Region SCCA. I wish we could have done more because they’re SO much fun but we were just so busy that the scheduling didn’t work out. The Miata really needs shocks/tires/brakes/etc. so it’s kinda scary to drive it as-is, but I still enjoyed it. I drove in E-Stock Ladies and given that I was the only driver, I placed both first (and last) for my class! Ha! I suck, but I’m sure I’ll improve eventually. Speaking of Miatas, I met a random guy in the parking deck of my work who happened to also be a Miata/autocross enthusiast. Small world! I’m always up for meeting new friends, too.

October 7-10 we spent in San Francisco, CA for Erik’s friend’s wedding. Despite having lived in Los Angeles from 2004-2006, I had never been to SF before and was super excited to finally get to visit. We did lots and lots of tourist things and saw pretty much the entire city in a span of just a few days. Our adventures started when we walked into our hotel room to find that the Blue Angels were practicing right outside our window! Apparently it was Fleet Week and we had a great, albeit unintentional, view of the air show.

Our first night in town Erik met up with some clients at a local bar for a happy hour and I found out that one of my good friends who I hadn’t seen in almost 10 years was living nearby. We got together and it was so absolutely wonderful catching up with her. I love you, LoLo! Afterwards Erik and I dined at a restaurant that we had been wanting to try for years – The Stinking Rose. It’s a garlic-centric restaurant and while the entrée itself wasn’t as good as I had hoped (I had the “40 Clove Garlic Chicken”) the garlic wine was interesting and the garlic ice cream was freakin’ incredible! Anyway, we got back to the hotel later that night and were super tired from the jet lag and excitement of the day but our plans for sleep were interrupted by the hotel’s fire alarm going off at 11pm (2am “our time”) and had to evacuate. Turns out that it was a false alarm but it definitely added to the craziness of the trip.

The next day was Saturday and Erik and I walked down to China Town to get lunch and explore before the wedding. We found a yummy Thai place (Banana House), a Toyota commercial being filmed and even a Chinese dragon celebration in a park (I got to wear the dragon costume, somehow). The wedding itself was beautiful and we had a great time seeing Jenny and Jim tie the knot. Congratulations to them!

Sunday we decided to do as many tourist things as possible and hopped on the bus to go down to the pier. We couldn’t get on a tour of Alcatraz because it was sold out from Fleet Week, but at least I got to see it from a distance. We walked around and saw the sea lions before finding an open-top bus tour to take us around the city. We saw most of the major landmarks: Haight/Ashbury street, the Painted Ladies and then stopped for a bit at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was all so pretty! After the bus tour we walked up the back of Lombard Street (or, as I call it, “Squiggle Street”) and down the front. We randomly came across an Italian Heritage Day parade complete with ponies and then had lunch at In-N-Out! At that point it was getting late so we hopped a cable car (so cheesy and clich&eecute; but yet so much fun) back to the hotel and went to dinner with another of Erik’s college friends at a really excellent local Italian place. All in all the trip was fun beyond words and I am looking forward to going back!

Erik and me at the Golden Gate Bridge

View the complete “Adventures in San Francisco” album: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.895605437466.2326505.10503411&type=1&l=46ccd0123c

The very next weekend Erik and I drove down to Valdosta, GA for the “No Mercy” Radial Revolution event at South Georgia Motorsports Park with Precision Turbo & Engine. I got to spend the weekend playing photographer and loving on some pretty serious racecars. It was hot, tiring and a total blast.

Two weekends ago we celebrated Miss Jillian Kuhn’s birthday and Halloween with a super-fun 20s-esque/flapper-style murder mystery dinner party. We all dressed up and had character roles that we had to play which was really cool!

This past weekend I was supposed to go play polo with Erik, Leslie and Sarah but Blue threw me at my riding lesson on Tuesday and I bashed my shoulder really badly; he started bucking after landing a jump and there was just no way in hell I could hold on. In 19 years of riding, that fall was the most painful I had ever had. I was lucky in that I didn’t break anything but I knocked my head really hard and saw stars. My shirt got torn up and I was all bloody… turns out I had a separated shoulder. Ugh. It was excruciatingly painful to move or do anything so I asked EJ if she would take my place at polo. She agreed, but later that night I got a phone call from her and all I could understand were the words “Grady” (a hospital), “emergency room” and “car accident”. Erik and I turned the car around and headed straight downtown.

We got there around 9pm and sat in the waiting room for an hour until they allowed me in to see her. Turns out she had been walking home from class with a friend (who is 8 months pregnant) and a guy in an SUV literally ran them over! EJ got thrown up onto the hood/windshield and the awful, horrible person driving the car actually sped away, leaving them there in the middle of the street. It’s a miracle that neither of them were killed. EJ, fortunately, didn’t have any broken bones nor any internal damage, just a ton of cuts, scrapes and severe bruises. We stayed with her in the hospital until about 3:30am at which point we went home to sleep. Early the next morning I got a call from the hospital that she was being discharged so I went and picked her up, then we just flopped around my house all weekend being gimpy and miserable together which was surprisingly fun. Oh and in case you’re wondering what happened with polo, it’s been postponed.

When I was 14 I got trampled by a horse. I wound up fracturing some vertebrae in my back and compressing a few disks. I also hurt my ankle really badly and was told at the time that I had partially torn a tendon. I’ve had back/ankle problems ever since but never went to the doctor because when I initially had the accident I was told there wasn’t anything that could be done to help. Lately I’ve started to notice some changes in my ankle which kind of freaked me out so I decided to finally go to the orthopedist and get it looked at. At the time of the appointment, I was so absolutely furiously livid with how awful the doctor was that I couldn’t stop ranting. Now, several weeks later, I’ve calmed down to the point where I don’t care to rehash the entire visit but I do want to say that the doctor I saw at Southern Orthopaedic Specialists was such a complete and total dickhead to me that I absolutely, positively do NOT recommend anyone go there. Ever. They were AWFUL. He didn’t listen to a word I said, focused on another area than what was hurting me, implied I was fabricating the entire story/pain and refused to even acknowledge anything pertaining to a tendon injury. After 45 minutes I was so upset that I literally just got up and walked out. If anyone wants more specific details I will be happy to explain further but if you need an orthopedist in Atlanta, do NOT go to SOS!!

Anyway, on to more fun stuff, like the earthquake we had a few weeks ago. I’ve always wanted to feel an earthquake; not a major, catastrophic one like Northridge, but just “a little tickle” sort of shimmy. I lived in Los Angeles from 2004-2006 and never once felt anything. Well, I was sitting in a conference room on the 18th floor for the monthly meeting at the advertising agency that I work at and I felt this weird shaking… They’re building a new highrise next to our building and there have been a few construction mishaps since we moved here so I thought maybe they had hit our building or something. When it didn’t stop I looked around to see if anyone was jiggling their leg against my chair and realized the blinds were moving… wait, what?! I was totally confused. Then someone suggested it was an earthquake. In Atlanta? Seriously? No way. Turns out they were right, though, and I got to experience my very first earthquake!! It was SO awesome! Crazy how I lived in California and never felt even a tiny one yet I move to the south and BAM, biggest earthquake in VA history. LOL. I wish I had felt more, though, to be honest, but it was still fun nonetheless. Lifelong dream = achieved.

Went to the Ruby Hoedown in Nashville with Erik a few weeks ago. It’s a computer convention that he goes to for work and I tag along for a weekend of catching up on sleep. This year was fun, it was nice to see some of the guys and enjoy a little time off. Nashville’s a great city and I always enjoy a visit. On the way home we stopped by the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN for a tour of the facility and it was surprisingly very, very interesting!

Speaking of visits, EJ’s man invited me and Erik to spend the weekend with them at his friend’s lake house in Talladega, Alabama for Labor Day weekend. We detoured through the absolutely beautiful Talladega National Forest on the way there and got to play on some fun gravel roads. The house itself was really cool and EJ’s guy’s friend was super nice. He had a boat that we got to go out on and a jetski we could play with! I’d never ridden a jetski before but after I got over the initial “omg I am going to die” fear, I maxed it out at 60 MPH. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Lee dampened our plans (literally) and so we spent the evening and following day hanging around the house eating, napping and watching movies which actually wound up being perfect.

Yay I didn’t die!

The wedding plans are coming along well. We’re done with all of the big stuff and I finally purchased my wedding dress the other week. I’m not going to say what it is because I want to keep it a surprise, but the overall look I’m going for is “classy disco ball”. It will be awesomeness.

Spent some time with my ladyfriends who I lovelovelove. We had a big Girls Night dinner and then went to see The Help after which was great, I definitely recommend checking it out. I also did a class at the Circus Arts Institute with some friends which was cool. We did some trapeze-y work and I (finally) learned how to properly climb a rope. Speaking of fitness, I now have a new riding instructor yet again. This makes 4 in 6 months due to scheduling issues at the barn. Ugh. I’m so not happy. Blue is an awesome horse, I just wish I had a trainer to match.

Yet again I’ve put off updating for what seems like forever but this time I’ll be completely honest and admit it was (mostly) due to laziness and procrastination.

Every year my best friends from college come down to Atlanta to visit and we entertain ourselves for days on end being silly and going on random adventures. This year, Alyssa and Tom flew down to join me, EJ, Sarah and Erik. We roadtripped to Tennessee to do fun tourist-y stuff. Our first stop was at Rock City, a gigantic rock outcropping/formation on a mountain in Chattanooga that’s got incredible outlooks and views of up to seven surrounding states, beautiful gardens and lots more.

After Rock City we stopped for lunch at a local eatery and then went over to Rock City’s sister attraction, Ruby Falls, the largest underground waterfall in the country. After an hour-long adventure exploring the amazingly gorgeous cave itself, we finally got to see the falls. To say the entire experience was stunning does not do it justice. I know it may sound cheesy, but I highly recommend checking both of these attractions out if you’re nearby!

In addition to lots of yummy nomming and general laziness, we also went to Stone Mountain for their Fourth of July Laser Show Spectacular. They had changed it up a bit from the show we saw last year and the new special effects really were pretty spectacular! I had a great weekend with my ladies (and the boys!) but as always it wasn’t nearly long enough.

Click here for the whole “ReRe Remix 5.0 – Rock City & Ruby Falls” album

The following weekend was my bestie’s birthday! To celebrate the world enjoying another year of EJ we got a group of friends together and went to Six Flags White Water for a day of splashing around on waterslides. Afterwards we had a nice little dinner and party at Sarah’s house which was a blast. Speaking of friends and the ladies, we’ve all been trying (and succeeding!) to do a monthly Girls Night were we all get together and just have fun. August’s was dinner out and then relaxing and dessert at Sarah’s yet again – her apartment rocks!

This past Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Erik and I getting engaged (August 12, 2010). To celebrate, we went to a really fun wine tasting at the Atlanta Wine School and had a great time learning, sipping and meeting new people. On that same subject, the wedding is almost 100% done being planned. We’ve booked our DJ, florist and rabbi. All that’s left is for me to buy my dress, order invitations and put the whole thing together! We’re still 10 months out and I still can’t believe how easy it’s been. I’m sure I’ll regret saying that once the wedding actually gets closer, though, and things get more chaotic.

Riding hasn’t been great lately, but that’s no one’s fault except for Mother Nature’s. The past few lessons have been canceled either due to excessive heat or to rain – I haven’t ridden in three weeks! Yuck! I’m supposed to ride tomorrow with a new trainer and hopefully that will actually happen. I’m simultaneously looking forward to it and dreading the pain and soreness that I know will follow soon after. Wish me luck!

So as many of you know, I’m currently working for Precision Turbo & Engine doing marketing and other fun things. Last month, the NHRA was in town and I got to attend as a PTE employee to work the event. I spent two days at the track surrounded by insanely high-horsepower racecars and incredibly nice people. I was taking photos/videos for Precision and therefore got the amazing once-in-a-lifetime chance to stand right up on the starting line while the Pro Mod cars launched. I even got to hang out just a few feet away from the Top Fuel and Funny Cars! The latter resulted in me being absolutely covered in little black bits of tire, but it was unreal and the power these cars produced was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Overall the weekend was fabulous and while none of the Precision boosted cars won the Pro Mod class, I came away feeling like the event was a success. I’m incredibly grateful to the entire PTE crew for giving me this opportunity and for having the chance to meet so many wonderful people!

Want to see the rest of the awesomeness? Check out http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=39962955&l=8543e4f42b&id=10503411

Speaking of cars, the annual VW/German car extravaganza known as Southern Worthersee went down in north GA. We went with some friends and spent the day wandering around looking at cool cars and eating yummy German food. This event is always a blast and I think they had 1,000+ cars this year in attendance!

Other notable things that have happened since my last post: it’s now been officially four years that Erik and I have been homeowners. It blows my mind how quickly time has passed. Also, I’ve started my search for the perfect wedding dress and I’m convinced it does not exist. I can’t reveal any details of what I want because I do want it to be a surprise the actual day-of, but I’ve been to a ton of stores and tried on a billion dresses and none of them have made me feel like they’re The One. All those stupid wedding shows on TV make it look like it’s soooo easy to pick the perfect dress and that is definitely NOT the case in my situation! Oh well, I’ll keep looking… We’re thisclose to booking a florist and DJ, though, so at least we’re making progress with that.

As for riding, things are going well at Huntcliff. I’ve been riding Blue who is wonderful and finally feel like I don’t suck anymore. I went down to the PoloBear Polo Club in Tyrone, GA with some friends to try my hand at polo again and had a blast. I rode a lovely gray Criollo mare named Memphis and was impressed at how good a pony she was. We played a mini game (just one long chukkar) and I’m absolutely addicted. I can’t wait to play polo again!

Lots of exciting things are in the works for the next few weeks – stay tuned!

I have been meaning to update this for the past few weeks actually, but have to keep pushing back the reminder (I’ll be honest, without Outlook I wouldn’t remember to do anything) over and over. Ugh, and I actually got a work IM that distracted me for a good 30 minutes the very second I wrote that first sentence! Ironic, yes?

Anyway, we’ve been actively trying to knock more items off our wedding To Do list. We booked a photographer and are so excited to be working with the amazingly talented Nadia D. We met with a bunch of florists/décor specialists and right now we’re just waiting on quotes before we can make a decision, unfortunately. We’re also looking for a great DJ so if anyone out there in internetland has a recommendation, let me know!

In early April, my best friend EJ and I celebrated our five year friendaversary. I feel so fortunate to have this amazing girl in my life and love that we make a point to celebrate our friendship every year. This year we went with some other wonderful girlfriends to Sips N Swirls, a local place where you bring your own wine and learn to paint. It sounds ridiculously cheesy (which it was) but it was so much fun and our art turned out great!

We made art, and it didn’t suck! Lauren, EJ, me & Sarah with our “masterpieces”.

Also in April was my birthday. Yep, that’s right – the one day a year everyone gets to focus on how amazingly awesome I am and shower me with love and presents. I spent the day with friends, was lazy (which was such a nice change from my usual hectic pace) and then went to dinner with Erik, EJ and Sarah at The Sundial, a rotating restaurant on top of the tallest skyscraper in Atlanta. It was fabulous, dinner was delicious and turning 27 wasn’t too bad. I’ll leave out the part about how both Erik and my mom thought I was turning 28, though… bastards.

Speaking of birthdays, April was also the month of Sarah’s 25th! Being such a milestone occasion we decided to give her a whole weekend of happies. Friday night we did a “Girls Night” and got a ton of ladies together for dinner and a movie which was so ridiculously fun and then Saturday night we also did an official birthday dinner at Trader Vic’s. My little girl is all grown up!

That same weekend, Erik’s mommy Linda came in to visit us and it was so wonderful to see her. I feel so fortunate to be marrying into such a warm and loving family and to have a fabulous (future) mother-in-law!

Riding at Huntcliff has been going well. I switched to a new trainer now that Miriam’s living her real-life fairytale in Germany and I’m really happy with how things are going with Kindra. I’ve been having fun riding Blue and feel like I’m getting my strength and confidence back after a few shaky months.

Hmm… what else. I took a coworker to the range a few weeks ago to teach her how to shoot with some other friends which was a lot of fun, too. It’s funny how much people really enjoy shooting; it’s not necessarily a sport that you’d assume most people would take to so quickly! Also, the new Precision Turbo & Engine website is finally live!! We’ve been working hard on this for months and I’m so pleased to see it come to fruition. Check it out: PrecisionTurbo.net and please tell all your friends!

This past weekend was also pretty mellow and I’m starting to enjoy the slower pace my life is trending towards lately. We went to go see Fast Five, finally, with some friends and I was surprised that it was actually really good! The only downside was that it wasn’t really a car movie, but predominately an action move. I want more Paul Walker and more cars! LOL

Okay, that was a LOT of stuff but thankfully that’s all I’ve got for now!

It’s been another fun month filled with friends and lots of “busy”, but hey, that’s my life and I like it!

If you know me even a little bit, you know that I absolutely love punk rock music. I’m not talking the watered-down crap you hear on the radio but the real stuff. The in-your-face, wild, rebellious-youth mohawks-and-safety-pins punk rock. Lucky for me, I grew up in NYC so I got to go to hundreds of amazing shows. Somehow, I’m still not quite sure, I managed to never see NOFX (I heard they suck live, though). Well, that all changed last month! They played here in Atlanta at the Masquerade with the Bouncing Souls (who I also absolutely love) and I finally got to go! The show was pretty awesome, despite the sound guy sucking majorly. Both bands played all my favorites and I’m glad I no longer have to live with the shame of never having seen one of the greats.

I was sitting at work one Friday and saw an ad on Facebook for “free couples photography”. Normally I don’t click FB ads but that one intrigued me, and I was a little bored. Turns out a local photographer was trying to build his engagement/wedding portfolio and needed couples to act cute in front of his lens. Erik and I were happy to oblige and not only did the shots turn out awesome, but the photographer, Darrell Ardita, turned out to be a pretty cool dude! We had a great time and definitely recommend him!

I love this shot. The rest came out great, too! See them all at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=10503411&aid=2289357

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with an awesome dinner at Taka Sushi. It was also their 9th year in business so they were celebrating their anniversary with $0.09 appetizers and sake. Cool!!

Riding has been, um, “meh” lately. There really aren’t any good school horses for me to ride at Huntcliff and I haven’t had any fun at all for months. I’m just so sick of riding horses that are completely dead to my leg, my hand, my seat, etc. or that are crazy and I wind up having to train them for the hour. No, not cool and definitely not fair considering I work my butt off 80 hours a week just so I can afford to spend 1 hour in the saddle. Anyway, one of the super-nice girls there has very generously offered one of her horses for me to ride and I am incredibly grateful! The horse is really nice and I’m looking forward to riding not being miserable anymore. *fingers crossed*

We spent last weekend out in Utah for our annual snowboard trip with some friends. We all crashed at EJ’s parents place (thank you Debby and Bill!) and they, as always, were amazing hosts. We hit up Snowbasin on Friday and I finally got off the Bunny Slope and did some Green/Blue trails! I was breaking in my new board and unfortunately it wasn’t set up right for me but I was too lazy to fix it so I got super exhausted by riding incorrectly all day. Regardless, it was fun. Saturday we took the day off to recover, run errands and just hang out. Sunday we went back to the mountain and (after having adjusted my board) had a great time, although I did notice that one of my brand new bindings had broken. Bummer. I was painfully tired by the end of the day but it was worth it. I’m already looking forward to going back next year!

As for wedding progress, we’re currently interview photographers and hope to have someone picked by April. I found a great videographer that we’re in love with (Three Ring Media) and we just sent in the deposit. As always, you can visit AinsleyAndErik.com to stay up to date on the planning progress.

Speaking of websites, I also finally got around to building my AinsleyHyman.com site. I’ve had the domain and layout for years but there was no content and the code was very, very out of date. Go check out the new and improved version!

We’re almost into February and I haven’t even posted an update yet! Happy New Year and whatnot, I guess.

We had a party at our house to celebrate 2011 and also to officially welcome Sarah to Atlanta! It was nice getting everyone together and I especially liked not having to drive home after a late night.

A few weeks later there was a freak snowstorm in Atlanta and we wound up getting about 6″ of snow. Seriously. In Atlanta. Crazy, right? So anyway, the “blizzard” wound up being pretty awful since it didn’t get above freezing for a week which, combined with the fact that Atlanta does not plow or salt its roads, means everywhere was completely iced over and I got trapped at home with no way to leave. The driveway was a 1/2″ of solid ice and there was no way the Miata could have made it up all the hills in my neighborhood. The worst part was that Erik was in Raleigh for work so I was completely alone for an entire week and it sucked! By the time I finally got back into the office, I had been home for a total of 10 days straight. Ugh! It was definitely an adventure, though. Watching the news was hilarious. People were abandoning their cars on the interstate and literally ice skating on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta.

Snow “turbo” that I built during the Great Atlanta Blizzard of 2011, complete with a machined billet compressor wheel! LOL

Last week Erik and I hit up Philips Arena for an Atlanta Thrashers vs. Washington Capitals game in a dope VIP suite thanks to our friends Tim and Sara. The game itself was okay (Thrashers won 1-0) but it was hanging out and meeting new people that was really the best.

Speaking of entertainment, we also picked up a sweet 50″ plasma TV for a killer price from a friend of ours. In the words of the great Black Flag, TV PARTY TONIGHT!!

This past weekend, EJ, Sarah and I had a lesson all together at Huntcliff. I hadn’t ridden in a month due to the crazy weather we’ve been having here lately and it was okay but I still really, really miss Toby. I haven’t found another horse that comes even remotely close to how awesome he was. *sigh*

Saturday night a bunch of us ladies did a “Girls Night” that we’re hoping to make a regular occurance. Eight of us met up for dinner and then saw No Strings Attached which I thought would be good but it absolutely exceeded my expectations. It’s hilarious and pretty non-click-flick-y for a chick-flick, if that makes any sense. I had a blast with the girls and I think it’s so strange how my whole life the majority of my friends have been dudes but now I’m surrounded by a fantastic group of ladies. I’m fortunate either way, though, and grateful for that.

As for the wedding, we’re slowly but steadily making progress. We met with a wedding planner who we absolutely loved (Daria from Circle of Love Weddings) and decided to claim her for our date. I’m looking forward to working with her and getting started on the planning! We’re also in the process of locking down our venue and will be signing those contracts within a week or two. Fingers crossed!

Well, this will be my last update of 2010. It’s been an okay year overall with plenty of ups and downs but at least it was memorable.

First, I’d like to welcome one of my bestest friends, Sarah, to Atlanta! She’s moving here today and I am soooo excited to be able to spend more time with her!

Erik recently celebrated his 30th birthday so he’s officially a grown up now (at least he is on paper). We had a big birthday dinner for him with a ton of friends at a local Korean BBQ place and it made me smile to see him smiling so much.

I was down in Orlando a few weeks ago for the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show. PRI is a lot like the SEMA show in that it’s automotive-centric, but unlike SEMA, PRI is specifically focused on hardcore racers and racing products. I was with Precision Turbo & Engine and spent three days working the booth, talking to people, seeing some old friends and generally having a blast. It’s funny but when it has to do with racecars, work feels more like fun to me. I also ran into some of my coworkers from when I was at Garrett and it was wonderful to see them again. I’m especially grateful to the entire PTE crew for making me feel like a part of the team and for their hospitality. Everyone go buy a Precision turbo, now!! PRI shout-outs to Full-Race and Enzo Racing, too!

Precision Turbo & Engine’s booth at the 2010 PRI show.
http://www.facebook.com/PrecisionTurbo

While in Florida, Erik and I also celebrated our 6 year anniversary. Sometimes I can’t believe we’ve been together this long and other days I feel like we’ve been together forever. Regardless, we waited until we were back in Atlanta before officially celebrating with a fabulous dinner at Tom Colicchio’s Craft. Everything was delicious and I ate so much I was in tremendous physical pain. Craft is the absolute best restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life, hands down, and they’re closing! If you live in Atlanta, make sure you get there soon before it’s too late!

Last week I took off from TMP so that Erik and I could continue our wedding planning by hitting up as many potential venues as possible. We looked at 19 different places, met with a planner and stopped by a bridal services boutique store – woo I am tired!!! The first 18 venues we visited were all nice but not quite what I had in mind and I was starting to get incredibly discouraged, it was awful. Then, with lucky number 19, we found the absolute perfect place! I’m SO excited! I won’t say what it is yet (in case it doesn’t work out) but I’m hoping we can make it work within our budget and book soon so we can lock in a date. Keep your fingers crossed!

Christmas eve we cooked a big dinner and had some friends over which was nice; it makes me so happy when the house is full of people we love. The next day, Erik, EJ and I opened presents then did the good-Jew-on-Christmas traditional Chinese food and a movie thing (Tron, which was awesome, by the way). Overall it was very low-key but that’s exactly what I had wanted!

Switching gears (no pun intended), Damnit came home last night after having spent over a year up at Balanced Performance getting work done. (Damnit it is our ’92 Lexus SC300 that used to belong to our friend Sae Kang who passed away a few years ago.) I’m excited that Erik will have something to race now and that we still have a bit of Sae still in our lives.

Now, let’s get 2011 started!!

Okay, while I’ve got a few minutes of downtime I figured I’d knock out a post.

I went up to Maryland a few weeks ago with the guys from Precision Turbo & Engine for the World Cup Finals Import vs. Domestic race at MD International Raceway. I’ve been doing some work for them over the past few months and it was great to finally meet some of the guys as well as my boss. I had a blast hanging out down at the starting line taking pictures and talking to new, interesting people. I hadn’t been to a drag race in forever and I forgot how much fun they can be, despite the fact that it’s straight line racing. LOL

Riding has been very meh lately. I actually haven’t ridden in almost a month because my last three lessons have all gotten rained out and the last time I did manage to get on a horse I wound up on the ground. We had done an entire hour-long lesson of no stirrups (took them completely off our saddles so we couldn’t cheat) and I was absolutely dead tired by the end which was when we started jumping and the ridiculously tall, painfully uncomfortable horse I was riding decided to take a long spot for one of the jumps and I was too exhausted to stay on. Eh, at least I didn’t get hurt and the ground was surprisingly more comfortable than being in the saddle. Ha!

Erik and I went up to NY for Thanksgiving to visit our friends and family which was nice. We got in Thursday afternoon and had dinner at his mom’s. Alana stopped by which was awesome because she’s been one of my best friends since I was 6 years old (seriously) and I love her to death and hadn’t seen her in years.

Friday we hung around, got rear ended in Erik’s mom’s car by some 18 year old kid (he was absolutely terrified and shaking after it happened, poor baby) but luckily nobody got hurt and the damage wasn’t too bad. Had dinner with an old friend and then went to Grand Prix New York to meet up with some other friends for go-karting. I was surprised at how baller the place was – definitely the nicest facility I’ve ever been to, period.

Saturday was spent down in NJ doing the big family Thanksgiving dinner. As usual, I really enjoyed hanging out with Erik’s family. I’m so fortunate to be marrying into such a wonderful group of people!

Sunday was Erik’s 30th birthday but also the day we got to do our engagement photos! A good friend of mine, Paul Nart, is a very talented photographer and offered to take some snaps of us. We met down under the Brooklyn Bridge and suffered through the cold weather for the sake of looking good. Paul got some really incredible photos and I couldn’t be happier! We even found two beautiful old cars in a parking lot that we managed to pose with for a few. Check out the album here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2276775&id=10503411&l=8c62126645

Erik mentioned that he really liked this photo because it shows our past, where we’ve come from (the city) and our future which is still “under construction” and I couldn’t agree more.
See them all at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2276775&id=10503411&l=8c62126645

Yesterday we went to go see two potential wedding venues and I was incredibly underwhelmed. I don’t know what it is about Atlanta, but it seems impossible to find somewhere that I love! Maybe I’m being too picky but I’m really bummed about the lack of quality wedding space for what we want/need. Feel free to suggest places… argh.

This weekend is shaping up to be a good one. One of my favorite peoples ever, Miss Sarah Fick, will be spending the weekend here with her mommy as they go apartment hunting in preparation for her move to Atlanta in January! I can’t wait!!