I watched the The Blind Side yesterday and it was fantastic!  I thought it was a terrific story and Sandra Bullock did a great job.  S.J. was definitely my favorite character in the movie because he had so much pizazz.  I highly recommend watching this movie.

This weekend a few of us went to Bell Mountain in Hiawassee, GA.  There is a paragliding launch site at the top that is gorgeous!  It used to be a quartz mine and has rose, yellow, and black quartz everywhere.  The road to the top is a forest road that is in HORRIBLE condition.  I still can’t believe people could drive all the way up it.  There are 2 1/2 foot deep snakelike trenches the entire way up.  We did have an opportunity to watch a tandem paraglide flight.  They actually had to stop in the middle of launching because there was a knot in the line.  That was scary.

Here are some pictures from the top of Bell Mountain.  On one side at the top you look out a a group of lakes and mountains in the background and on the other side is just rolling mountains.  There is quartz rock all over the top and there is spray paint all over them.

Then, a few of us went to Triple Falls in Dupont Forest.  Wow, the falls are beautiful and very entrancing.  We took the dogs with us and that was interesting.  Natasha does not like the water at all.  I pulled her into the water and got her out on a rock in the middle of the river and she just stood there.  Then, when it was time to go back to the shore I tried to get her to swim back over and she refused!  Literally!  I called her repeatedly and she just stood there looking at me.  Finally, Matt gave her a good pull and she swam back to the shore.  It was very entertaining though and we tried for about 10 minutes to get her to swim back.  I think I am convinced she HATES the water, but I love her.

Then, on our way out we stopped at Bald Mountain that overlooks Table Rock.

Idiocracy was so bad I watch 45 minutes and turned it off.  It was awful and a waste of my time to watch.  I was very disappointed!  Luke Wilson can do so much better!

Food Inc. was not very good either.  I thought the movie was somewhat educational, but to many missing links since so many people chose not to be interviewed.  I watched about 3/4 of this movie and turned it off.  It became very monotonous as it continued towards the end.

Crazy Heart was not to bad.  I enjoyed it very much.  I think you have to be a fan of the music though if you really want to enjoy it.  Jeff Bridges earned that Oscar for sure!  He did a great performance throughout the entire movie.  If you like fast pace movies, this is not for you.

This has been a very eventful weekend!  The weather was awful, raining and dark so flying was not really looking good for the weekend at Lookout Mountain or Hensons with the Tennessee Tree Toppers.  Matt and I drove to Lookout Mountain Flight Park to pick up my new harness.  I bought a GT cross country harness from them.  It fits perfect!  It is snug and very comfortable.  I also finally had the opportunity to set up my Airwave 9m Pulse hang glider!

We also went to Maryville, TN to visit one of Matt’s College friends.  We went to Aubreys for dinner and hung out.  On Sunday we took the long route to Asheville, NC to see Matt’s mother.  We drove thru the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and made some fun stops along the way.

We also drove down part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The weather was cool and slightly sunny with lots of clouds.  The views were amazing.

This weekend was the Fly-In at Glassy Mountain.  On Saturday there was a good turn out of people that came to fly.  I believe John Ray had the longest flight.  Most everyone else had a sled run or flew for just a little bit then landed.  The weather was great even though the wind was not exactly giving us prime conditions to fly.  The last few days for me have been frustrating because my eye has been giving me lots of trouble.  As a result, I was not able to set up my glider or do any runs off the training hill either.  I was very bummed!  I met some great people though!  We also had a great confetti egg fight to end the evening between Matt, Noah, and I.

Matt on launch:

Sunday (today), the weather was not showing the right wind direction, but there are people flying from what I understand.  I stayed home because I am still not quite feeling up to my normal self.  Hopefully, I will hear some great stories later this evening.

Matt and I arrived in Austin, TX on Friday May 14, 2010 at 9:30am.  We had to get up at 4am eastern time and fly!  Early Early Early!!!   When we arrived we went to Kerby Lane Cafe for some lunch with Casey and Jackie.  This is a local restaurant here in Austin that has a great reputation for their food and service.  Matt tried their signature Bloody Mary and couldn’t stop raving about how good it tasted.

Then, Matt and I went to visit with one of my closest friends… Brent!  We all hung out at his condo and relaxed.

Dinner at my parents house was too follow that included some knock out lasagna and chicken alfredo.  Yummy!!!

To wrap up our first day in Austin, Matt, my parents, my aunt and uncle, two of my cousins and their other halves, my sister and her husband, and all of my closest friends went to Sherlock’s Pub for a night of entertainment from LC Rocks. Their video is at youtube.com.  We all had a fantastic time!! I was so happy that they all came out with me to meet everyone and just hang out.  I can safely say I think everyone had a great time.

My immediate family at Sherlocks.  I promise the extended family is there too…

On Saturday, we all attended my brother’s wedding reception.

On Sunday, Matt and I went to see Iron Man 2 in the IMAX in Pflugerville.  I really enjoyed the movie.  I thought the CGI was a little much during the fighting scenes.  I think it should have been slowed down a bit.

I had a great weekend at home and enjoyed seeing all of my family and friends.  I can’t wait to see them all again.

The picture below is my dad, my sister, and I

I finally saw the movie Up in the Air with George Clooney.  I really enjoyed this movie.  It was not traditional or your classic love story.  I laughed some and saw a different perspective on a few things I never thought about.  It is about two people that work for a company to lay-off employees by traveling all over the United States.  If you like George Clooney, I think you will like this movie.

This last week I had a great opportunity to go to the Rob Kells Hang Gliding Competition at the Florida Ridge Air Park in LaBelle, FL.  You can look at the pictures posted here or check out their blog.  I took three tandem lessons with Steve Larson.  I also got a rare chance to take a tandem flight a mile high up with Jonny Durand.  We were towed up by a Dragonfly (i.e. tug) and dropped off above some huge puffy white clouds.  You could not see land in any direction, it was so gorgeous!  While we were flying above the cloud, we saw our “Glory.”  This is when a rainbow that is in a complete circle has our glider shadow in the center of it.  It was breath taking!  It was so amazing.  We flew about a 30 minute flight and enjoyed the clouds and watching our Glory.  We also worked on S turns and figure 8s.  Jonny Durand is the #1 ranked Hang Glider Pilot in the World.  You can see him fly the Morning Glory in Australia by clicking here.

Jonny Durand and Me

I was also very lucky that Jeff Shapiro asked me if I would like him to take me up on an instructional flight.  He is one of Wills Wings World Team Pilots.  We had a rough launch and landing, but a very informative instructional flight!  I was the most at ease on this flight than any other tandem I have taken.

Jeff Shapiro setting up his Wills Wing T2C Glider (I love this glider)

This entire week was full of learning experiences for me as well as for Matt.  I had a spectacular time and met some really neat people.  I can’t wait to see them all again in the next competition.  Good luck to those in the Flytec Race and Rally!  I am sure wishing I was there.

Overall at the end of the week Matt got 4th place in the Sport Class.  He also beat his personal best glide.  His new best is 31.5 miles!  Go Matt!

Below is a picture of the gliders staging for take-off.

The truck packed with me and 6 others

While I was at the Rob Kells Hang Gliding Competition at the Florida Ridge Air Park, a bunch of us went to go see How to Train your Dragon at the Imax 3D.  It was a very cute movie with some awesome flying scenes in it.  Check it out if you like to fly!

April 2 thru April 4, my mom, sister, Rachel, Michelle, and I went to Washington D.C. for the Cherry Blossom Festival.  It was so wonderful to see all of them!  I miss my mom and sister a bunch and wish we could see each other more often.  The Cherry Blossoms were so gorgeous!  We took hundreds of pictures as usual and all of them were so good, it was hard to choose which ones to post.  We went to the different Memorials and Monuments as well as the Capitol and White House.

This is my mom, Michelle, Rachel, my sister, and me

My Mom, my sister, and me

Rachel, my sister, and me (Totem Pole)

So… I loved everything we went to see and take pictures of and the great memories we made.  One that stood out the most to me is that Rachel can not stick her tongue out without raising her eyebrows.  This was hilarious to watch her try to hold down her eyebrows as she stuck out her tongue.

My most favorite part of this vacation other than seeing everyone and the SNEAKY confetti egg fight we had, was going to eat at the restaurant Matchbox!  They have the most fabulous food I have ever eaten.  Between the 5 of us, we ordered about 9 dishes each of the two times we went to eat there.  My top two favorites were the stuffed french toast with cream cheese and rum infused syrup and the waffle sandwich with pruscetta and gruyere cheese with rum infused honey mustard.  WOW, WOW, WOW! Highly recommend! Everything we ordered was just mouth watering.  You can find the menu here.

Here is a picture of the first day we went.  All the food we ordered is not on the table yet.