Join Me and Stop the Privatization/Expansion of Briscoe Field!
Greetings,
I just signed the following petition addressed to: Board of Commissioners Gwinnett County. I've lived in Gwinnett County for about 20 years now, and grew up in Lawrenceville, GA where Briscoe Field is located - There has been so much great development in Lawrenceville and Gwinnett it would be a shame for them to ruin all the great stuff with this new plan to privatize and/or expand!
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Stop the privatization or expansion of Briscoe Field
Don’t Land in My Back Yard
Join together and let Gwinnett County Commissioners know they need to care more about the quality of life of their citizen’s than making a buck.
There have been numerous article, commentaries, opinions, etc. about expanding the use of Briscoe field. We need to deal in facts and realities, no matter what they call it; this privatization will evolve into the expanded use of Briscoe Field.
What does that mean to the residents of Gwinnett County, more traffic, added pollution, noise and larger planes landing and taking off from Briscoe Field? The quality of my life over the last 18 years has been impacted with the rapid growth of Gwinnett. Growth is good if it does not also impact the value of your home as well as the quality of your life in that community. Real Estate motto, location, location, location try and sell your home with large and frequent planes landing 10 miles from your back yard. In my case I’m about five miles from the airport, less as the crow flies.
I did a search looking for the number of residences within a 20 mile radius of Briscoe Field. These are the zip codes I came up with 30011, 30017, 30019, 30024, 30043, 30044, 30045, 30046, 30052 and 30052. There are over 70,000 homes based on information from the post office in these zip codes. If you live in these zip codes your probably within about 20 miles of Briscoe field.
I can sit in my back yard and watch planes every 5 minutes fly over heading for Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. I’m over 35 miles away from the Atlanta Airport and the planes are usually fairly high but we do occasionally hear them. Try to imagine being 5 or 10 miles away from the run way.
You can say not in my back yard, you can attend meetings and get verbal or we can band together. There is strength in numbers and it has more impact than an occasional article or TV spot on the news.
Let your voice be heard, tell Gwinnett County Commissioner’s that we do not want Briscoe field privatized or expanded.
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Please join me and sign this petition today! Click here to SIGN!
Anniversary Weekend: Limo, Champagne & ARIA
The first evening of our wonderful anniversary weekend, started with an amazing evening on the town! We checked into the same hotel we were married at and stayed at our wedding night. We were married at Ventanas which was packed with great new exciting wedding events which others will be celebrating for years to come. And connected to Ventanas is the great hotel, HGI Downtown. We were lucky enough to get the Presidential Suite for our anniversary, and it is definitely worth the stay!
Following check-in we got ready for our evening out. Paul reserved our favorite limo driver/service James with .... and we were on our way, limo, champagne and now onto aria.
This was one of several dinner options Paul had thought would be great for our anniversary dinner. We made a reservation for 9:15, and got there in plenty of time to hang out at the cool bar and lounge. It was a very cool experience and moving from the bar area to our dinner table was like transitioning from one very cool space to another even cooler space. It was quite the experience!
aria's menu changes on a daily basis, so you never know for sure what you may be in store for, but every bit of the menu that we experience was extraordinary!
We started with several appetizers, the Thin Sliced Smoked Atlantic Salmon (with red onion, capers crème fraîche, and crispy potatoes), Lemon Ricotta Ravioli (chanterelle, shiitake, sage brown butter and parmesan), and finally the Pan Seared New Bedford Jumbo Sea Scallops (with white corn, bacon, and parmesan risotto). It was all AMAZING! We were absolutely blown away especially by the first two, the smoked salmon just melted in our mouth, and the Lemon Ricotta Ravioli was such a unique and amazing mixture of flavors with the lemon, ricotta and sage butter. You would think this could not be topped, but the entrees were even better!
Paul ordered the Slow Braised Colorado Lamb Shank (with soft polenta, swiss chard, garlic parsley crumbs, and natural lamb jus) and I ordered the Painted Hills Ranch Natural Beef Short Rib (with shiitake mushroom risotto, pea shoots, sugar snap peas, and tender carrots). AMAZING! The Lamb Shank was so tender and moist and HUGE! We needed a to-go box for that, and I cleaned my plate, with a little help from Paul. The Short Rib was absolutely delicious, and accompanied by the unbelievably amazing risotto, I was in heaven! FYI the Short Rib is something they have chosen to keep on the menu for a long time now, so if you aren't keen on change, it's still a restaurant you should check out if not only to try that Short Rib!!!
Before leaving this amazing establishment, we inquired about the very interesting chandelier and apparently it was a piece that was commission specific for the restaurant and has been inquired about by many. I don't know that I need to describe is so much as just show you...
Following that amazing mean, we hopped back into the limo for more champagne and limo photo fun!
And finally, back to the hotel for a fun little toast of the evening and our anniversary! SO MUCH LOVE!
Oktoberfest 2011, What a Blast!
Every year we go to Helen, GA for Oktoberfest, unfortunately last year we didn't make it out because we were busy planning our wedding, but this year we didn't let it slip and it was totally worth it! We had such a great time. We headed up to Helen with Kristin (Andrus), Curtis, and Natacha.
We were very excited because our VERY pregnant friend Kristin (Kneeland) was all about it and checked with her doctor far in advance as she wasn't letting her pregnancy stop her from doing anything! She's 9 months and a week pregnant and she was out having fun! She is quite the trooper, I can only hope that when I'm in her shoes, I would wear it as well! And if she had the motivation and energy to be there, there was no way we could miss out.
We had to work the Sugar Hill Fall Festival, but decided to dip out early to head up to Helen! I strategically mapped out route to avoid traffic, and we were absolutely successful. It was actually pretty nice because it was a gorgeous scenic ride and we were moving the whole time!
Once we go there, we walked a bit, mostly to get to the restrooms, and then we headed over to Margaritas' (we like to call it Paul's cause that's the place you see from the road), and they sell the big plastic cups that say Paul's on them. We actually had several other friends there to meet up with like Denise and Sean (who just had their little girl Catie)! She was adorable, and not allowed in the bars or course! They even asked, and the response they got was no one under 21! haha
Kristin's husband, Patrick, and Robin also made it out and it was very nice to see them! And we also had a couple other friends, Natalie and Micheal who we hung out with and drank with for a while!
It was such a fun time! Kristin (Andrus) and I even took some time to walk around to a few shops! Had to stop in Hansel and Gretel Fudge Shop. Kristin bought some yummy Pumpkin Pie fudge for her friend Jamin, and we got a taste. It was delicious, and they only do that flavor in October (maybe into November) so if you're up there you should check it out!
And I couldn't leave without stopping by the shop we bought our awesome dog Chunk from. They of course were selling puppies again, and had an Rat Terriers this time. I couldn't resist, I had to hold him, although he was already sold! I wasn't about to buy another dog, he was NO CHUNK!
We headed back to meet up with our group, had a couple more drinks and then headed out. It was totally a blast! I can't wait until next year!
Happy Birthday Chunk Master!
Chunk Master turns 2 years old today! He's been the best dog we could have ever asked for, and I wouldn't change having gotten him for anything!
Just under two years ago, Paul and I were in Helen, GA celebrating Oktoberfest with a group of friends. We were partying it up with lots of beer and good eats, and decided to tour around Helen's array of shops.
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Robin, a fellow dachshund lover, saw a sign outside one of the shops "Dachshund Puppies For Sale" and immediately wanted to check it out! All the ladies rushed down to check out the pups, and the guys fell behind. By the time Paul got down, I had the adorable little Chunk in my hands and it was LOVE at first sight! Paul and I looked at each other and kept going back and forth saying, "you wanna?", "you wanna?" We gave in, RUSHED to the ATM, and came back cash in hand to claim our pup!
Chunk has been such a joy to watch grow up! He's a very mild manor-ed, well-behaved, happy dog, with a puppy personality at heart! We adore him, and hope to be able to keep him with us for many years to come, he's like Paul and my first child! Hehe
Click HERE to see Chunk grow!
