Monthly Archives: July 2012
Sometimes You Just Need To …
…Ride!
Riding is good for the soul and good to clear the head.
With all that is going on as of late, a cruise on the motorcycle is what the soul needed.
Took off after sunset once the storms had passed and cruised south. The temperature was so nice out. Surprisingly, the mugginess had not kicked in which is typical after a summer storm.
Although the bugs were out in full force. Yep, I am a bug’s worst nightmare!!!
Cruised down and ended up stopping in Steak n’ Shake for a sweet tea and some fries. Healthy?! Hell no, but sometimes you just have to say screw it and get greasy!
I take a hiatus from riding all the time and then when I jump back on the bike, I want to kick myself is the ass for not riding every single day.
Time for a change in that department!!
MIA But Back In Action
It has been a whirl wind of a week and my little blog was neglected 
Last week was the week of sailing! Thursday night race, Saturday play sail and then another race on Sunday.
Here are some pictures from the play sail, which was amazing!!! There were storms brewing all around us. A storm to our bow, a storm to our stern, and storms port and starboard. It felt like we were in the middle of a perfect storm. In the picture below you can see on of the storms off the bow of the boat. Surprisingly, we didn’t get hit by one storm. Not a single drop of rain!
Sailliiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnng!!
Looking all prim and proper
A proper rum and coke holder! Mount Gay or Bust 
No pictures from the Sunday race this past week. The wind was DEAD! Well, for a while at least. It took up 2 hours to go 4 miles. 2 legs of the course we weren’t what I would consider sailing, it was more drifting. One of the marks we had to round took about 30 to 40 minutes, so slow.
However, on the last leg coming back to the yacht club basin, lack of wind was not an issue! We were seriously cruising! Definitely made up for the slow start in the beginning!
This past Thursday night race was fun as well, granted, when is sailing not fun?! Wait, don’t answer that one
Thursday night race!
Lots and lots of sailing in the past week. It has been much needed, that is for sure!!!
Saaaaaaaiiiiiillllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, May It’s My ADD Baby
Thursday. Sailing. Racing. Rum.
Those are a few of my favorite things
What a night out on the water! From the moment I arrived at the club, a different kind of something was in the air. You know what I am talking about, those moments where something is off, whether good or bad, but something is different.
There of course was the pre-race gathering up at the club house, then the trek down to the boat to start rigging up for the race. That was followed by the typical pre-race coke and rum, Mount Gay Rum to be exact, cause is there anything else!??!!?
I spy something tasty!
Being Summertime Florida, there were storms looming in the background, which we didn’t get any rain at all. Quite strange for how the skies looked.
All seemed normal, but little one offs made it feel like a different kind of race. Perhaps it was the heated discussion that took place during the race in the cockpit, or the running a ground prior to the start of the race (oops!!) or maybe the looming storms that seemed to surround us but never actually hit in the bay.
All I do know, is it was a blast and we came in second place for the night. We also got some really cool pics during the race.
OHHHH, and I got to climb up the rig post race to fix the Flopper Stopper that has ripped in half and sent the topping lift line up the boat.
Who is that I see up the rig…It’s MEEEEEEEE
Pre-race all sailing around the bay waiting for the start
Pre-race
WE’RE RACING!!!
Back at the dock post race
Two Wheel L-I-V-I-N’
There are many loves that I have when it comes to hobbies. Some I like more than others. However, there are three things that rank higher than anything else.
Amy’s Top 3 Favorite Things:
1. Riding my motorcycle
2. Mountain Biking
3. Sailing
This past weekend involve 2 of the three.
Due to the lazy Saturday morning which lead to not going to Cocoa Beach, we spent Saturday doing random errands and whatnot. For dinner though, instead of driving to the local Chili’s we opted for taking the motorcycles about an hour east of us and finding some random, never been to restaurant for dinner.
Huge fan of trying new places. I do have my favorite spots but I love to venture out and see what else is out there. Most of the time the place is a hit. I have a couple of new fav places added to my list that are in towns no where you could consider “right down the street”.
Other times the place fails or is just “OK”. This place was just “OK” although I really did dig their tater tots After pigging out on more food than we should have ordered, we somehow managed to get our fat butts on our bikes. I swear I should have adjusted my suspension before riding. I was feeling quite plump!
The ride home was amazing. By the time we hit the road after dinner the sun was quickly setting. Night riding is so nice.
What isn’t nice is the stop and go traffic. The bikes were no liking that at all so hopped on the interstate to cruise home. First time taking the good ol SV on the interstate, she did great.
Funny how scared I use to be of interstate riding and now, I love it! So nice to just cruise…and NO STOP LIGHTS!!!!
Sunday was ambitious. Decided to hope on the other form of two wheels the bicycles. We cycled from our house to a quaint little island for some lunch. Round trip it was about 22 miles. Solid workout…sweated, A LOT. Florida summers,what is there not to love!
The day wrapped up with an awesome storm that rolled in. We sat out on the back porch and enjoyed it. I sipped on wine and read a book while Colin smoked a cigar and played with his phone (geekiness right there, pure geekiness).
Perfect end to the weekend
In my future there is sailing…and lots of it! Thursday race, Saturday play sail and Sunday another race!
Tough life 
Hope you all have a great week!!!
GET OUT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL
So this past week, I have been super Amy at work (my cape didn’t come in time for me to wear it around the office but next time, it is soooo on). My department is a massive two people!! So when one of us is out, the other one covers. Luckily, it was a holiday work week so we were semi slow but with covering 2 jobs I was kept busy enough.
Friday’s are usually are busiest days of the week, complete opposite of every other person in the country. Which may or may not be true but in my head that is how the story goes.
This past Friday was no exception, I was pretty much slammed all day trying to wrap up everything for the weekend.
Colin has off Fridays, the perks of being a Ph.D student that is teaching 1 class during the summer semester! So him and a buddy of ours were going to have a boys days cycling, drinking beer and more than likely some pool action.
Yeah, I was only “slightly” jealous. One day I will find a job that will allow me to roam the world…and not require me to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day. UGHHHHH!!!
But that is a whole other blog and one that will probably go on and on forever so to spare you that, for now, I will get back to the point.
Work Friday was cruising right along and before I knew it the time was 1:30-ish. I look up from my desk toward my door that faces the entire work floor and notice everyone was filing into the conference room. I made a joke to the guy that was leading them all there if I got to be invited to the party. He said no, but then I ended up having to go anyways. The WHOLE company piled into the conference room.
We were told that we all had to leave the premises RIGHT NOW due to safety reasons. Wait, what?!??!!
My company is awesome but they are not the type of company that just shuts down on a random Friday for the entire afternoon. Money is money and we all like to make it.
So whatever this safety concern was, it had to be pretty serious to make us all leave immediately. I asked to stay for about 10 – 15 more minutes to wrap up somethings that needed to be done and they approved it. I quickly got done what I needed to and hit the door.
Colin invited me to meet up with him and our friend for some drinks and some pool action. Why can’t every Friday be a day that doesn’t have to be spent at work!!!!
Hopefully all is well with what ever the situation was at work!
The trip to Cocoa Beach was cancelled this weekend due to pure laziness this morning! There were no waves in the forecast anyways so it works out. We will probably do it beginning of August sometime.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!
The Day After….
The day after the 4th of July should involve the following things:
1. Sun
2. Sand
3. Water of some sorts
4. Rum (of your preference of alcohol)
Things the day after the 4th should NOT involve:
1. Work
2. Work
3. Work
Think you see the trend there! I bet you can also guess what I was doing yesterday
Luckily, yesterday was Thursday and you know what that means…SAILING!!!!!!!!!!! It was great out there! After storming all day, the sun came out and so did the wind! We ended up in 2nd place for the night. Not to shabby.
Had an awesome pic from my phone to post but when we got back to the dock realized it didn’t take.
The 4th was fun and involved two wheels and started at 6pm on Tuesday!
We did a really quick pack up Tuesday. The packing consisted of bathing suits, shorts and a bottle of wine. Thank you motorcycles for having saddle bags!
The trip was down to Sarasota taking Highway 41 all the way down. It equals out to about an hour or so, close enough but far away enough. As we arrived in Sarasota, we headed to Hillview Dr.
Hillview is a cute little road that has lots of restaurants and shops. We came across a corner restaurant that looked low-key and had outdoor seating. Since it was later in the day, it was perfect temperature outside to fully enjoy it!
Colin sunk his teeth into a bison burger while I enjoyed the orgasm inducing Ahi Tuna Nachos! THEY WERE BEYOND AMAZING and I still managed to share two of them with Colin, guess I love the guy
While at dinner we pulled up our Expedia Apps to find a nearby hotel for a low price. The reviews for this one hotel said that it is easier to call and talk to someone because there is no front desk, they leave the keys in the room for you. So I made a call to the hotel and $62 later, we had a room booked and it was only about 10 minutes away from us.
When we arrived at the hotel, it was super adorable. Great deal for the $62 buck-a-roos!
We made it to the hotel!!
As we were unpacking the saddle bags and getting ready to hit the beach, we had the TV on for background noise. Independence Day was planning and it was on my favorite part!!!
The beach leads up to a place called Saint Armand’s Circle. Lots of overpriced shops and restaurants. So walked around there for a bit before making our way back to the beach and to the room where we enjoyed some vino and listened to our loud neighbors sitting outside playing drinking games.
Morning arrived too early! We ventured down to St Armand for some breakfast, then hopped on the motorcycles home. We had a cookout to go to and wanted to have so kick back and relax time before we had to go there.
Once we got to our friends house, the sky opened up and it stormed! I mean, topical storm style weather!!! We decided it was perfect for going to hang out in the pool. Yep, sometimes don’t always make the smartest decisions but they are fun at the time. Also, us Floridians aren’t always the most brilliant of people sometimes.
Colin and our buddy just hanging out in the middle of a huge storm
Once we were nice and pruned up, we headed back to the house to meet up with everyone else and grilled up more food than humanly possible. When we were nice and stuffed we went back to the pool and got a stellar 360 degree view of the entire neighborhood setting off fireworks. Good thing the rain stopped.
Aww, cuteness in the pool
Independence Day – Welcome to Earth!
First, I must apologize for my Independence Day shout out for the title of this post. Somethings in life just HAVE to happen and that was one of them!
Not to mention I am a huge movie quoting lunatic, so yeah, random movie quotes are going to happen
(Source)
What are your plans for this middle of the week 4th of July?!?!
Our only “HAVE TO HAPPEN” for the 4th is a motorcycle ride to a hotel on the beach cause I MUST have sand between my toes and fireworks in the sky. Not asking too much there
Only 8 hours until freedom (I totally didn’t mean that play on words but it worked out nicely)!
Saw this on Pinterest the other day and it is sooooo true:
(Source)
So true! This weekend we are planning another hotel filled excursion over to the East Coast of Florida to the world famous Cocoa Beach. That city may sound familiar, especially if you are into surfing. Mr. Kelly Slater (my first surfer crush) learned to surf and perfect his world champion moves there!
This trip will be done in 4 wheels though so we can pack in all the water toys. If there are no waves, no problem. We are also bringing the surf kayak and may/may not rent an SUP while there.
Fingers crossed there is a fire works show as well. A couple of years ago, we headed over to Cocoa Beach for New Year’s. There was a great fire work show over the water and people all along the beach were setting off their own. It was soooo cool.
Fireworks, sand in between my toes and water, what more can a girl ask for!?!?!?!
I hope all of you have a safe and happy 4th!
Motorcycles, A Castle and Some Racing!!
Weekend, weekend oh where did you go?!?!?!
Seriously, the weekends fly by way to fast and the weekdays just drag beyond what is acceptable in my opinion. Fortunately, this is a four day workweek so no complaints, well not that anyone would listen to them anyways
This past weekend was GOOOOOOD! The stuff legends are made of kind of good!
Colin was able to Afro Engineer my bike so we could ride, we ended up taking a late night ride out to BFE to a Steak n’ Shake. I had a delicious milk shake while he ordered the largest, and I’m assuming very healthy sandwich complete with fries.
Saturday morning started with the Moto GP race in Assen. For those of you that follow Moto GP, how about that start?!?!!? I’m not a Lorenzo fan but it does suck that he was taken out the way he was. And of course my other Colin, Mr. Colin Edwards had to retire due to his electronics on the bike. I miss seeing the days of ol with Edwards kicking serious out on the track. Not sure how I feel about this whole CRT thing.
After the race, we took the motorcycles to brunch to meet up with some friends from out of town. When brunch was over and we were in full on rolly polly mode, Colin and I sat outside the restaurant trying to figure out something to do where we could ride the bikes and then enjoy AC. It was hot as a mother*&*#$*#*& outside, the kind of heat where your so sweaty your jeans stick to you and it is fully unpleasant.
There was a castle that we had passed about a month ago on our last motorcycle weekend trip. It was about an hour or so away from us and all back roads so it was a good.
SOOOOO HOT!! Damn you summer and your heat. With all the gear on, helmet, boots, gloves, motorcycle jacket and jeans, it was toasty. I felt like an Amy-kabob!
We made it to Solomon’s Castle in what felt like no time!
And the princess stumbles upon a castle in the middle of nowhere!
I was jonsing for some serious AC but not in this castle. There was light-hearted AC and fans blowing everywhere. The inside wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but there is no denying Solomon is a very talented man. The tour is very short and guides you through his gallery/house.
It is equal to going to a house party at a friend of a friends house and they want to give you a tour of every room and talk to you about every picture on the wall. Even though the pictures are interesting, you are still walking through this strangers house staring at everything. It is kind of awkward at times, especially standing in his living room while the tour guide is explaining everything and anything in the room.
As we exited the house, the tour guide lead us over to the moat. Now this was cool. There was a “pond-ish” looking body of water with a HUGE boat in the middle, which the boat is the restaurant. There is a little dirt road you are allowed to roam down to check out his work shop and whatever else you find along the way.
There was a really cool trail that lead around the property, however due to the heavy rains of Topical Storm Debby, the paths were underwater. We were able to walk to this adorable bridge. Beyond the bridge I needed floaties and since we were on the motorcycles, I wasn’t able to bring it along.
From here, we hopped back on the sweat mobiles and headed back home. Home = The Best Damn AC you can have!!!!
Sunday was Sailing and we had more than 4 people for the race this time. The last Sunday race (on Father’s Day) we only had 4 of us; Myself, Colin, a guy that has only been sailing for a couple of months and a girl that has never sailed. It was actually a lot of fun!! We race in the spinnaker A division but we didn’t put up a spinnaker due to the lack of crew but we still kicked some serious sailing booty!
During that race one of the other boats had his rudder snap in half prior to the race. Yep, that will end you race very quickly! There was another boat during that race who’s spinnaker sail tore in half on one of the legs. Ekkkk! So there was carnage all around!!!
Yesterday’s race was awesome. Got some glorious sun, had some tasty rum and awesome wind! And this prize gem, on our boat, you just hope you don’t go overboard
Pop Quiz:
When you set foot on a sail boat and you notice this as the rescue device, which of the following do you do?
A) drink more rum!
B) um…is there really another option after A!?!?!?!
C) if I have to even type an answer here, you and I wouldn’t make good friends
We also put together a play sail crew for next weekend (the 14th!!!). Racing is fun but there is always a time and a need for play sails!!!
