I Love You Even More Now, Danica Patrick

 

I've always totally respected Danica Patrick. I'm not much of a feminist, but I just love to see women breaking into the boy's world (in some circumstances) and doing it well. I never realized how physical of a sport racing truly is until feeling the impact of my little go-kart school experience. The bruises on my knees look painful (and they are) but what hurts worse is my back. It's so tender, I can't lean into even the most cushioned of chairs without wincing. Knowing just a tad bit more about racing now, that girl is my hero!

I admitted to Chris on the way home that part of me really dreaded racing school. It was an ordeal to get away, take the dog, get back late etc..etc... It was going to be a lot of trouble to play catch-up at work and I wondered if all the effort was really going to be worth the experience of going really fast in a go-kart for a few hours. It's a lot easier to stick to the routines of life. But I realized that getting stuck in the 8-5 shuffle and losing focus of what's important really takes the fun out of living. No, it wasn't important that I know how to race a go-kart. But, what was important was having a few hours to bond with my husband over something we can both find interesting. The play-by-play analysis of the whole thing on the way home. Taking turns letting little Molly snuggle around our necks as if she's a scarf while we drove--which is now the only position she will be in while in the car. Looking through the photos that Chris proudly snapped of his wife around the track. And, seeing the pride on his face. Our daily routine rarely allows for memory making moments like those. It's times that we break away from everything that do. I never want to get so stuck in my daily life that I avoid interrupting the flow, that I don't take risks and try something new. I can now say that I've raced a go-kart. Whether that was my first and last experience with it is yet to be known. What I do know was that I had a really good time and I love hanging out with my husband. And, that's all that matters.

I just passed the 5 year old!!

 

This is the part where I swallow my pride and tell you--I had one classmate at racing school, and he was 5 years old. I opened his Powerade for him during teaching time. It is really, really scary to me that they let tiny kids race go-karts.

It's Harder Than It Looks

 

Here's one of my two spin outs. I took the bank too high on this one and hit the brakes too hard, sending me spinning around into the grass. Ironically, I had my fastest lap after this happened. The coaches said I must have been angry. I think they were right. I have an inner competitive little tom boy living inside of me sometimes. They told me my time was respectable. This is the point at which I probably should have called it a night and gone home feeling good. But no, I couldn't wimp out, so I kept practicing.

Getting There is Half the Battle

 

Before I get too far into my tale from racing school, I should start with the drive to Indy. This was our 3rd attempt to make it to racing school--Weather and scheduling problems at the track had cancelled the other two attempts. There were other issues, too boring to get into. Suffice it to say that things had not been easy in the battle to even make it to the Interstate. Upon entering it in Lexington, Chris drove over something in the road that was impossible to avoid. We got out at a rest stop, but the tire looked fine. I took over driving and as we entered Louisville, the familiar sound of a flat and unusual feel of the steering told us all too clearly that our tire was indeed having issues...big ones. I got off the road just in time to not ruin the wheel. We actually had a nice spot for Chris to break out the jack and get to work putting on the spare. I'm soooo blessed to be married to my own personal pit master. Molly was with us and as one can see in this photo, I think she was wondering what we had gotten her into now! We were able to make it to the track on the spare, thanks to my mechanical Chris.

In the name of love

 

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary at the end of July. These past four years life as a newlywed has given me the perspective of getting to know myself through someone's eyes who gives me the same level of love a parent gives child, but by choice rather than blood. I can't wrap my mind around how another human can see me--the good stuff and the flaws--and choose to be in love with all of it, even though that's exactly what I do with him. Marriage has given me the chance to live with someone whom, when we pass a go-kart race track and he hears me say, "oh, I so want to do that" makes a mental note to make that happen for me. To be honest, I'm not sure how much I really meant those words at the time. It was more of a "Of course, I'd never truly want to do that, but it would be kind of cool to be a go-kart racer." Chris tends to take me literally though, so I've learned these past few years.

This may explain why I ended up in go-kart racing school this week--his gift to me for our past 4 years of wedlock. It was a 3 hour drive (on a work night) to near Indianapolis, Indiana to take the course--the closest one Chris could find. This was the real deal. The school was meant for those who are ready to start competitive racing. Me, I knew not the first thing about any of it. Sure, sure I've ridden in my share of rental karts at tourist traps. But, this was something completely different. Open wheel, full throttle racing. Intimidating!

Greg and Deanna

 

 

 

 

We ended up with a lot of photos of Greg and Deanna! :-) You get the 4 of us together and some PS2 Rock Band, makes for a great weekend.

Cicadas

I'm wrapping up my blogging for now, but--until the next trip--a few words about cicadas. This year the 17 year cicadas invaded Kentucky, but not so much Lexington. At my parent's house in Lawrenceburg, though, it was cicada mania. The noise they made was deafening. Driving down the interstate, Chris once thought something was wrong with the car, until we realized it as cicadas he was hearing. They're just so freaky and disturbing. Yuck!

Typically, the cicada invasion would be a very stressful thing for me. I owe a big thank you to Brad Duncan for giving me a whole new perspective on the cicada. Through Brad's creativity, I learned to embrace the cicada. Whether it was cicadas invading Memorial Hall, cicadas joining Harrison Ford in a Indiana Jones flick, cicadas chasing me on my scooter, or a cicada becoming my new pet, Brad Duncan did a good thing with his Photoshop skills and taught me that these little bugs are not one-dimensional creatures, but a rare phenomenon to be embraced.

Mr. Duncan, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope I can do the same for you when they return in 2025.

12 Hours, In The Car, Yeah!!

The ride home was more enjoyable than the trip up because I wasn't as sick and our friend Whit rode back with us. Whit now lives in Denver. Whether it's God, finances or classic country music, Whit's always up for a good conversation. Whit makes fun of my Scion, lunch box on wheels, a bit. During one of our pitstops, I was sitting in the drivers seat with the windows down and Whit was in the back. Chris was in the KFC men's room. A man and little girl walked past the car and, not realzing our windows were down, the guy said to the kid, "What do you think about these cars that look like a box?" She turned, gave it the once over, looked up at her dad and said, "I don't like it!!" I, of course, busted out laughing, which caused the poor embarassed father to realize his mistake. He stuck his head in the window to chat and make up. It was cute.

The Ferry Ride Home

 

 

 

 

I don't know what came over me this morning, but I was up at 6:30 a.m. getting ready and down to breakfast by 7:30.

The 8:30 a.m. carriage ride to the ferry was overbooked. I got permission from the driver to sit in Chris' lap because it would be a while before the next carriage ride and we had a 12 hour drive ahead of us. There was also way too much luggage packed on the back. They had to wrap it in plastic wrap to secure it all. Still, two suitcases fell off. Yvonne and I went to buy some fudge while the boys unloaded our luggage at the ferry.

Above are some unflattering photos of us on the ferry, sleep deprived and wind blown.

Scenes from the wedding

 

 

 

 

I married into a great group of people!! As much as I like to complain about Chris' fraternity days, these guys and their gals are really cool. The wedding and reception were awesome. Many thanks to Deniz & Brad for inviting us to celebrate with them.

I didn't get a shot of Brad & Deniz, but here's their wedding Website: www.bradanddeniz.com Notice the coffee table in the bottom right photo on the home page. I really like it, so I had Chris take me to the furniture store where they got it (in Chicago, which who knows how we would have gotten it home if I'd found it, since Chris had aready bought an engine on that trip and it was in the back of my car....long story). I ended up finding a very similar coffee table in Somerset, Ky.

Congrats Brad & Deniz!

The Ceremony

 

Good News! It stopped raining in time for the wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony with the lake in the background. It was perfect.

The Wedding Day

We woke up to heavy rain Saturday morning. My heart sank for Brad & Deniz. It looked like one of those rains that would be around for a while and the ceremony was to take place outdoors. If it weren't for the fact that it had the potential to put a damper on the wedding, I must admit there was something nice about the rain. Some of us had agreed the night before that the place was reminiscent of Dirty Dancing's Kellerman's Resort. As I got ready, I had the room to myself because Chris, Sam and Yvonne were at breakfast. The windows were open and the smell of the rain was fantastic. I pictured Johnny Castle somewhere outside kicking down a wooden post so he could bust the window of his car and take Baby to the lake to practice "The Lift."

Friday Night

 

The first night was a carriage ride into town for Brad & Deniz's rehearsal party at Sarducci's Pizza. The pizza was REALLY good. The gang went out afterwards, but Chris and I decided to be lame and call it a night afterwards. We spent the evening walking in the dark along the grounds of the hotel. I wished we had a flashlight. There were tiny little frogs hopping around in the grass.

The Room

 

This is the room where we stayed. No two rooms here are exactly alike. We shared with our friends Sam and Yvonne since the rate was pretty high ($300/night).

Inn at Stonecliffe

 

The hotel (also where the wedding would be held) was called the Inn at Stonecliffe. It was built as a residence more than 100 years ago and has since been converted to an inn. There was no air conditioning, television or Internet. I was a bit dissapointed over this at first, but later came to appreciate how peaceful it was. My only regret was that I hadn't brought a book or Bible and it appeared the Gideons have yet to stock this place. Since Chris has allergies we never have the windows open at home. I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to have a nice breeze blowing through the room at night.

Taxi!!

 

There is no motorized transportation on the island--just horse drawn carriages and bicycles. When we got off the boat, all the carriages we saw were going to specific places, but none had signs saying they were for our hotel. We had no idea how to get one. Chris called our friends Greg and Deanna who were smart and had flown in. Their hotel was in town so they met us out on the street. We asked one of the carriage drivers to radio for a "taxi." We waited what seemed to be a long time. The ride from town to our hotel was 40 minutes.

Ferry

 

As we pulled off the exit for Mackinac Island it started to rain. By the time we found the ferry, it was REALLY raining, lots of lightening too. It didn't make for the best conditions for unloading our luggage and buying ferry tickets. The boats left every 30 minutes, so each one we missed, that would have been a lot of waiting. I was eager to get on that boat and to our hotel. Finally, the rain let up a little and we decided to brave it. By the time we were on the ferry and riding toward the island, the rain had stopped, however the water was pretty choppy. People who get seasick probably should think twice about this island.

More Driving

Friday

Thinking the more sleep I could get, the sooner I'd be rid of this cold, we slept in late as possible at the Ramada this morning. We missed the hotel's breakfast so we stopped at a Tim Horton's down the road. We don't have these in Kentucky but always eat there when we're up north. I would describe it as a low quality mix of Panera, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts all in one restaurant. They have all the right things I like on the menu, but the quality just isn't up to par. I just got an OJ and blueberry muffin and decided I'd do a late lunch somewhere up the Interstate.

We had 3 hours left to drive and boy was it rough. I was still run down from the cold and tired from all that sleeping (it's true, sometimes you really can get too much sleep). About an hour from Mackinac I asked Chris to stop at Subway and he was less than pleased about my request. First, he hates Subway and second, he didn't want to stop. Whatever. The place was a gas station/Subway/tube rental store (I'm assuming there was a river nearby). There were lots of animal heads mounted on the wall. The people inside looked like lumbar jacks. The woman in line behind me at Subway ordered a footlong and it came with bacon and boy did this sandwich artist load up the bacon on it. I was kind of grossed out. I finally paid for my stuff and ran back to the car. As I got into my seat, I slid my hand down the Subway bag and it was warm. Trouble was, I had not gotten my sub toasted (That toasting machine at Subway is not normal...I mean, what is it? A toaster? A microwave? All I know is, it "toasts" the sandwich way too fast and it never tastes good, I've learned that lessson). Then, I remember the bacon lady behind me saying she wanted her sub toasted. Oh crap, they've given me the bacon toasted sub...Yuck! I run back inside, find the lady and explain that I think they confused the sandwiches. Thankfully, she hadn't bitten into mine yet, so we made a quick exchange and Chris and I were soon back on the road.

Are we there yet?

We are less than 3 hours from Mackinac Island. We went to Carrollton, Michigan tonight (accidentally). Let's just say, I hope we never get lost in that town again, yikes! As usual, booking a hotel for the night was drama. When we finally found the place, they didn't have our reservation. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending some quality time on the phone with a Ramada manager in a few days when they end up double charging our credit card since I had to make another reserveation. While I was at the front desk a local guy came in and proclaimed he just didn't feel like sleeping at home tonight. He then asked if people ever check out prior to mid-night because they're done with the room "if you know what I mean." Classy, this place. When Chris went to the car to get our bags, he disturbed a couple who truly should have booked themselves a room rather than do what they were doing in a parking lot. Nice! Glad it was him who walked into that rather than me!

Well, at least we have wireless and the room is fine actually. I'll have to go back out and tell that guy who didn't feel like going home that maybe it's worth the $79.

I still feel awful. I slept all the way to Michigan. Chris gets husband of the year points today for trying to make me feel better via outlet mall shopping. I bought a shirt for $5 at Gap, that was it. Chris, shockingly, actually tried on a pair of shorts and bought them. I think it's the first time I've ever seen him buy something outside of Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot or Auto Zone.

We had dinner in a German town. It was really nice. Would have had some beer, but didn't think it would go well with the cold medicine. I've already forgotten the name of the town, but I'm too tired to look it up. There were cute little tourist stores, but the only one we went in was for dogs. Yes, we've become one of those couples who goes in trinket shops and oohs and ahhhs over figurines that look like our dog. Sometimes I wonder how I got so old so quickly.

Sick!

 

Well, it's been confirmed, this blog has one reader, so I'll keep blogging. (Thanks, Deniz!). We were supposed to leave today, but I'm not feeling too hot. I have to say, the best thing about being sick is plenty of time to lounge around with my puppy Molly. She was so sweet today. I think she knew mommy wasn't feeling well. The second best thing is watching TLC's What Not to Wear. The women made over today included a fashion school graduate and an interior designer. I figure if people with such skills don't know how to dress, there's no hope for the rest of us.

I finally get a few days off from work and am SICK. This is the typical Amanda luck. The nose is running, head hurts, etc... It wouldn't be so bad if I just had some ENERGY. I went downstairs to take care of some laundry this evening. After dropping off the dry stuff on the bed and heading back down to put the stuff from the washer into the dryer, Chris stopped me to tell me something. I had to keep walking and yell "Not right now, don't break my momentum." I seriously thought that if I stopped to talk, I would fall down and not be able to get back up.

I sure hope I'm better by tomorrow. I'm excited for Mackinac and to see the gang heading up to Brad and Deniz's wedding. Brad and Deniz are one cool couple--Can't wait to spend their wedding day with them!

Does anybody read this thing?

OK, gang, it's almost time for another adventure. We'll soon be heading up to Mackinac Island (near Michigan's upper penninsula, I believe). Don't know too much about the place. I'll check it out and let you all know what it's like. I wish this blog were as exciting as my brother's blog about his big shot life in Rhode Island. You can check his out, it's in my links.

My Favorite NY Food

If you go to NY, these are some must-do things when it comes to food:

1) Croissants (or any bread, really) from Bread Factory Cafe (I'm currently eating one of the six I brought home with me).
2) Bagels from H&H Bagels
3) A meal in Little Italy
4) Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (Had my first experience there on this most recent trip...reminded me of my grandmother's cupcakes, which is saying a lot.)
5) Giant margarita at Dallas BBQ

Thanks, Entertainment Tonight!!!

(THIS LINK DOES NOT WORK.)

Below is the working link to Entertainment Tonight's video from the event that you can copy and paste into a Web broser (I walk behind John at 56 seconds into the clip):

(Copy and paste this link into Web broswer):

http://www.etonline.com/news/2008/05/61953/index.html

The blog is in reverse sequential order. Enjoy!

Wow

Each trip I've taken to NYC has been special in its own unique way. This one was fun because I got to be with John, a great cousin and a great friend, as he lived out a dream. Back in 1984, two of my aunts (one of them being his mom) took him and his sister to see Romancing the Stone. But, John broke away from them and ran into the theater showing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He wanted to see that guy from Star Wars in it. Aunt Dinie didn't have the heart, I suppose, to drag him out of there, so she went in with him. She said he was running up the aisle afterwards saying "Wasn't that GREAT?!?" That was the beginning of, well, let's be honest here, ...an obsession. For as long as I can remember, John has been working on his Indiana Jones impersonation. It paid off for him when he won Entertainment Tonight's "Give Us Your Best Indy" contest. I've very proud of him and just want to say "thanks" to John for letting me ride on his coattails and enjoy the celebrity treatment he and videographer, Jason, received.

Chris

Chris couldn't go to NY this time, but I can't do a blog without him, so here's a file photo from 4 years ago :-)

More Pics

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