Our Busy Weekend

This weekend started out early for us on Saturday morning, when our friend David and James and I drove down to West Point, Georgia to take a tour of the new Kia manufacturing plant. It just started mass production a month ago, and right now they only have one shift. They are producing the 2011 Sorento, and can make about 500 a day. They plan to add a second shift soon. I think they said there are 1200 employees currently. Eventually they will be able to make over 1000 vehicles a day. Interestingly, the tour guide said 80% of the employees went over to Korea to train. What a huge opportunity and once in a lifetime moment, I'm sure, for a lot of the local folks.

We started off by signing up for a chance to test drive the new cars. David already drives a Kia, and James and I weren't interested, so we only took the tour of the plant, which lasted about an hour. Because it was Saturday, they were not actually making the cars that day. But the cars were right on the assembly lines where they left them on Friday at closing time, in all phases of production. It was actually quite interesting to be able to walk around and get a close up inspection of everything. I wish I could show here the massive size of the plant, it would have taken at least 4-5 panoramic shots to get it all in here. It's enormous. Unfortunately there were no photos allowed inside the plant, I guess in case I was a corporate spy from Toyota.

After the tour we three headed north of Atlanta to Marietta, to pick up our new "Christmas present" to each other. We are finally replacing the old red Ranger we gave away earlier this year. James did a lot of research online before picking out the 2010 F150. He did, however, let me pick out the color! I'm not sure if he wanted a black one or not, but I was afraid if he got the red one he was looking at, people around here would assume we were Georgia Bulldog fans!! And as a diehard Gator, I take offense at that...

We barely had time to get the truck parked in our driveway when we had to get ready for a Christmas party Saturday evening. It was at the house of James' boss, so I tried to be ready on time so we wouldn't be late. But I spent forever in front of the mirror fussing with my hair. I don't know why, because it was raining and, although the temperature was around freezing, it was very damp outside and my hair just fell flat. We had a great time, and before we knew it, five hours flew by and we finally had to excuse ourselves to head home.

Sunday morning I had a super early appointment with the massage therapist, to make up for an appointment I missed while in bed with strep throat. My therapist recently started carrying items from local artists who she's friends with. She has stunning quilts, hand-stitched purses, and artwork. I picked up this original piece from local Newnan artist Georgie Dunn, painted on what looks like handmade paper. She had several beautiful pieces there, and when I go back to my next appointment I may get a mate for this one. This photo doesn't do it justice, it's beautiful.

We ended Sunday with a Falcons game, the last one for me this year. They only have one home game left, and it's Christmas weekend so I'm letting my dad go with James to that one. I think the guys will have fun. We just renewed our season tickets this week, so I'm looking forward to the Falcons having a hopefully better season next year. Today they had a big chance to hand undefeated New Orleans their first loss of the season, but a really stupid play call on a big fourth down ended what could have been an exciting finish!