"If the internet were a boy, I’d totally date it" – random quote heard at work

Summer’s officially here, and my driveway is officially delicious.
We have a tree next to our driveway that blossomed some very pretty white flowers in the spring. A few weeks ago we noticed that it was starting to develop some fruit. Erik and I looked online to try and figure out what it was, but couldn’t come to any solid conclusions. Then Eugene came over and ate one of the “mystery fruits”- it was a plum! It’s been a few weeks and he hasn’t died yet, so we’re assuming they’re safe to eat. They’re actually really good! I have a food tree! Hooray!
We went to the grand opening of the Atlantic Station H&M the other week which was pretty cool. Red carpet, invite-only, catered and open bar with a DJ, and everything in the store was 25% off. I got a few cute tops and a skirt and enjoyed being one of the “privileged few” for a night.
On a sad note, my mom got thrown in her horseback riding lesson on Sunday and broke her knee. She’s in a full leg cast and can barely walk. I’m super upset for her and wish I was up in NY to take care of her. If an
yone reading this knows my mom, feel free to drop her a “get well soon” note (let me know if you need her email address, or you can find her on Facebook). I’m sure she’d really appreciate it.

My food tree. Eat my plums!

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2008 Belmont Stakes

The last horse to win a Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes) was Affirmed in 1978. It’d been 30 years, and just about everyone (myself included) was convinced that Big Brown was going to be the one to do it, especially after his spectacular performances in the Derby & the Preakness.
I flew up to New York on Friday night to watch (what I thought would be) history in the making. Pat came over and we hung out for a bit, then I called it a night early so that mom and I could get to Belmont by 8:30am to claim our spots on the rail at the finish wire, just as we do every year.
Got there at 8:30am, found the perfect spot (about four galloping strides back from the finish wire and directly across from the starting gate) and sat down in preparation for what would be a very long day. By about 11:00am it was starting to get disgustingly hot, so we started with the sunblock (and water and snacks, which we had brought… it’s like tailgating for a horse race). By noon, it was unbearable. One of the hottest days I can ever remember- I didn’t know it
was possible to sweat that much. Gross! And we didn’t have any shade nor were we willing to get up and lose our seats, so we suffered. One horse actually collapsed right on the track from heat exhaustion after a race. They cooled him down by pouring buckets of ice water on him and he was okay, but still… crazy.
Alyssa and Kyle showed up around 4pm and thankfully we were able to hold off enough space for them to join us. Anyone who has ever been to the Belmont knows that if you don’t get there at the buttcrack of dawn, you will lose all hope of getting a spot remotely close to the rail.
So about 6:25pm and it’s time for the 11th race, the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes. Big Brown broke decently right in front of us and we were so excited. Somewhere along the backstretch he dropped back into third but we still had confidence he could do it. Coming into the far turn at the top of the home stretch he dropped back and off the board completely. What the hell was going on? Then we saw his jockey, Kent Desormeaux pulling him up and intentionally stopping him. WTF?! Alyssa and mom and I immediately freaked out, thinking Big Brown was hurt… He eventually came trotting past us to cross the wire, straining against Kent’s attempt to stop him.
We’ll never know what happened. It wasn’t his hoof, it wasn’t the heat, it wasn’t the steroids… it was just racing.
It was definit
ely disappointing and heartbreaking, but this is why winning the Triple Crown is so incredible – it’s incredibly difficult.

Kyle, Alyssa, mom & Me at the 2008 Belmont Stakes as Big Brown crosses the finish wire in last place.
You can totally see how we are all going “WTF?!?!”, along with a crowd of 120,000 others. EPIC FAIL.
Congratulations to Da’ Tara who was like “Hey Big Brown- I’m in your Belmont, stealin’ your Triple Crown!”
After a long day at the track (12 hours, to be exact) I came back and showered and went out with Maty to see Paul and Jay. I hadn’t seen Maty or Jay in about 6 years and it was definitely 6 years too long. I love my boys. Long Island Street Punx (re)unite!! 😉
Oh, also, from the random-stuff-happens-to-me-all-the-time and the I-know-everyone-everywhere files, a fun story:
As I was leaving Atlanta to go to New York, i handed my boarding pass to the TSA agent at the security metal detector. She took one look at me and was like “OMG I know you!” Personally, I was a little freaked that the security agent “knew” me, but, whatever. Then she grabbed my ID and checked my name and exclaimed “We had art together in high school!” Turns out we went to high school together up in NY (
haven’t seen each other in 6+ years) and she lives in Atlanta now. Small world huh?

my little toe

So last Monday, Erik and Ronny and I went to grab some food at our favorite local burrito place and sat outside to enjoy the weather and our meal. About halfway through, I felt something bite my toe (I was wearing sandals). It was a quick, sharp pain. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid Erik would tease me for imagining it (since I’m such a complete and total bug-wuss).
Later that night, I noticed a little red bump on my toe and it was a little sore. I knew I wasn’t imagining it! I shoved my foot in Erik’s face and was like “Seeee? I told you so!”.
Today, I looked online and it seems to be a Fire Ant bite. Eh, it happens… But what angers me most is that this stupid fire ant came into *my* shoe, uninvited, and bit *my* toe! It’s not like I shoved my foot into the fire ant’s shoe! Then it would’ve been justified. But nooo he had to invade my space, where he wasn’t even supposed to be, and make me suffer. It’s not like the box my shoes came in said “Fits Ladies Size 8 and Fire Ants” or anything. The only thing I want in my sandal i
s my foot, not an ant, especially one that is biting me!
What a jerk 😦
Supposedly my toe won’t stop being red and itchy for a few weeks either. Stupid ant!