Monday, December 29, 2008

Horses and Cheesecake

Yesterday was Andrew's birthday. On Saturday, we had watched something on GPTV about trail riding, and Andrew said, "that'd be a great way to celebrate my birthday: trail riding." On Saturday afternoon, we called a barn in Blairsville and made a booking for two for an hour and a half trail ride.

The next morning, we wake up, and we're excited. It had rained overnight, but it wasn't raining when we left, and there was only a 10% chance of rain in Blairsville. We drive a little over an hour up to Blairsville, get to the farm, and no one is there. We call the farm owner who said, "I thought you guys woulda called. We can't ride in this weather. It's a 100% chance of rain the rest of the day." Well I don't know what meteorologist or what weather he was looking at, but it didn't rain the entire time we were at the farm, and it didn't rain the rest of the day. We were annoyed. The guy took us on a brief tour around the farm where Andrew saw his dream horse: Isabella, the Friesian.

When we left there, Andrew asked, "Helen or Dahlonega?" I said, "Helen," and off we drove on 129. We passed the hairpin turn on Blood Mountain that Andrew laid down his bike on (aka wrecked and was rushed to Chestatee not too many months ago), and we enjoyed the drive. We got to Helen, and I was saddened to see Jack...my carriage horse I used to drive. He didn't look happy, peppy, or jovial as he always was. He had fallen into the same ole same ole as all of the other carriage horses. I also saw one of the carriage owner's biggest rivals and enemies SITTING in the carriage. I thought, for sure, the carriage owner had passed away. His enemy sitting in the carriage holding the spot while the driver went and got food....and ate in the carriage (also a former no no), the carriage was peeling and chipping away (also a no no), covered in mud and dirt (no no), etc. There are so many carriage companies out there now that it's not even funny. I had Andrew take my picture with Jack. We went to Das Ist Leather and bought Cash his "big boy collar:" a leather collar with spikes and studs :) We walked around Helen some more and decided to head into Dahlonega. Because it was Andrew's birthday, and I knew he loved Italian food, we went to the Piazza. If you haven't been there in awhile...they completely remodeled. They rent ALL store fronts in where they were, re-designed it...it looks great! They also added "Porter House," a steakhouse in with it as well. Andrew was very impressed and now loves Piazza as much as we all do. They changed their menu...again, and they finally replaced the *ahem* missing cheese decorative sign on the wall. Andrew was impressed with their pricing. He thought they were going to be expensive, and he ended the evening with, "$33?! I will pay $33 all day long!" He had the "Taste of Piazza" which was a stuffed shell, manicotti, lasagna, and something else. I had Penne Arabiatta with Italian Sausage.
The staff embarrassed him with "Happy Birthday." Two waitresses sang...the entire restaurant joined in while presenting Andrew with a huge BRICK of cheesecake! I told him I was going to upload the photos (having difficulty), and he said, "good...then you can see how red my face was!"
We headed home afterwards, and, all in all, it was a good day (minus the horseback riding).

1 comment:

Amanda said...

Aw, man, I'm sorry you guys weren't able to go trail riding...that would have been fun. And I'm sorry that Jack's not his normal spunky self. Can you post the new picture of you and him? I'd like to see him! :)

But aside from those disappointments, it sounds like you guys were able to salvage the day. I got your text about Piazza while I was driving back, so I couldn't respond in time, but suffice to say that I was jealous, lol. And, funny enough, I was trying to send you vibes to have a piece of cheesecake for me or a glass of Chianti. So I'm glad it worked out. ;) I miss the Piazza...they are they very very best place in the world. :)