Start Your Engines!

This past weekend Elaina and I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix. I have been going pretty regularly for the past 10 years or so but this was Elaina’s first year. We made it a co-ed race weekend so it was Elaina and I, Jerry, Jakki, Matt and Leanne. My buddy Marshall from work hooked us up with free Saturday tickets. Can't beat $free.99!!!


We got there early because we wanted to get some decent seats. It was a warm day and we knew it was only going to get hotter. After the national anthem was sung, there was a fly over by this HUGE tanker jet thing. I don't know much about planes but this thing was BIG and they said that it was flying at 500' and at its slowest speed possible. It looked as if it was going to land right on the track.



First group shot, we're not burnt red yet and we're still smiling. (Me, Elaina, Matt, Leanne)



Someone should have told these four clowns that there's an auto race going on behind them! (Leanne, Matt, Jakki, Jerry)



Okay, NOW it's time to load on the sunblock. It was about 11am and already over 90 degrees without a cloud in sight. Jerry REALLY didn't want to get burnt! At least Matt had Leanne there to help him, Jakki and the rest of us just laughed at Jerry. He still has WAY more in his hands too!




After a couple of hours of sitting in the grand stands baking, the girls left us for ice cream! They even left the race track entirely and were wondering around downtown Long Beach. Elaina found herself this hat and then they eventually came back to find us burnt, drunk, and grumpy. Oh, they forgot OUR ice cream too. Nice!



We smuggled in a couple bottles of hard alcohol and some mixers. There was NO WAY we were gonna pay $10 a beer! Once the alcohol was gone though, we moved on to $10 beers, DAMN!



All in all it was a great day at the races. A little warm but nothing a lot of booze and some ice cream couldn't fix.








Oh yeah, the race was pretty good too. I think?













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Downtown, Everythings Waiting For you

This past Saturday we had a few errands to take care of in Downtown LA… check out suits for our groomsmen, have my engagement dress altered and kill time having lunch at our favorite spot, The Standard Hotel.

The Standard is the location where Mike and I were the night he proposed to me. Every time we go to The Standard I’m reminded of the night of our proposal.

The rooftop bar is my favorite place in The Standard. I just love looking at the surrounding skyscraper buildings. I’m completely fascinated by them even though I’m staring at the same buildings every time.

Afterwards we drove around and did a little shopping.

…I know… I thought the same thing when I saw this….thing.

Eye candy…I’m always diggin’ the city art. The world needs more of this (in a non-gang-graffiti way).

That’s all for our Saturday afternoon. Just remember:

“When you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go….Downtown!”

You know the rest of the song, click to sing along: Downtown - Petula Clark

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