Showing posts with label a-town adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a-town adventures. Show all posts

Thursday, June 21, 2012

{memorial day weekend funsies}

I know Memorial Day was sooo two weeks ago, but I never got to share all of the fun adventures we had that weekend. Some dear friends and family came into town to celebrate the holiday. It was so much fun to have them here---we hardly slept!


We started the weekend with a trip to Turner Field for Jesse’s and my first Braves game. We had a blast! Our friends are true Braves fans so it was no wonder that they were able to find some awesome ticket deals. We purchased the family ticket plan which came out to $82 a couple and included parking, a $10 gas card, a souvenir brochure book, hotdog, large drink, and excellent seats in the most shaded part of the park. What a steal! It was a particularly hot day so it was nice to be out of the sun.








 


 


 
During the game the section next to us initiated the wave and after a few trial and errors, they got the entire stadium involved. It must’ve created some magic because one of the Braves hit a home run and everyone in the stadium won a free Moe’s burrito! So fun!





At some point Home Depot sponsored a tool run which was tons of fun to watch (probably not as fun for the guys in costume). Baseball games are always fun to watch but my favorite moments are the mini games, kiss cams, and trivia spots.


 
What a great game! We are happy that we got to share that first with our friends.




 
After the game we went home, changed, then headed back out for a yummy dinner at Yardhouse. The weather was so nice that we sat out on the patio. Yardhouse is very cool; I’ve been there a few times and have always had a great experience. My first visit to Yardhouse was in LA---they had the best happy hours. The one in Atlanta is fairly new and located over in Atlantic Station. They are a taphouse so you can expect a wide beer selection. They also have some specialty cocktails which are delish---my favorite is the Pineapple Express. The boys each decided to go for the yard glass which is awkward to drink out of. Let’s play a game shall we?



Haha. That was fun.


 

 
On Sunday another one of our friends joined us and we spent the day out in the yard playing cornhole and enjoying a few cool drinks. It made for such a relaxing afternoon.

 

 


That evening, Jesse’s sister and her husband arrived and our group was complete! We went out to find some food---which was incredibly difficult to locate. We learned that despite the fact it was a holiday weekend, things still close early on Sundays in A-town. Boo! It kind of foiled our plan for a fun food crawl. It was okay in the end as we ended up at Felinis Pizza. We couldn’t complain, the pizza was great and the beer even better! It was a very chill evening and the perfect opportunity for everyone to chat and get to know each other.











Remember how I said that I love to make brunch for our overnight guests? Monday I woke up early and went all out on brunch. I was hoping that everyone would stay asleep a little longer so I could surprise them, but they decided to be early birds and come down to watch the magic happen. I felt like I was taunting them as I put stuff out on the table. The good smells wafting out of the kitchen didn’t help either. Everyone seemed to dig in happily when it was all finished and returned for seconds of their favorites. I was so distracted by the goodness going into my belly that I forgot to take pictures of everyone eating. I’m sure they didn’t mind.

Oh what a fun weekend! Nothing is better than spending time with the people nearest and dearest to you.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

{mom visits a-town}



I stole my mom away for a week and introduced her to our new home. All week we were busy little bees, sightseeing a bit, and just enjoying each other’s company. It was so great to have her here; I can’t wait until her next visit!  






I took her to BAJA Fresh one day for some yummy tacos. Neither she nor I had ever been to one so it was a nice first. The tacos were pretty good---they even had free chips for our table and a wide variety of salsas.

After a delicious lunch, we headed over to the aquarium to say hello to the fishes. It was my second time there and it was much less crowded than my first visit, which made it easier to enjoy all the exhibits. We even caught a cute little 3D show full of splash and motion effects. My mom could not stop talking about how much she loved the aquarium. Our favorite room was the giant ocean view room. We just sat there and watched the whale sharks and fish schools for close to an hour. We even stayed long enough to watch the whale shark feeding. It was kind of cool; in a frenzied mess all the fishes swarmed over to try and steal a bite of krill. The aquarium presenter explained that sometimes the other fish get sucked into the whale sharks’ mouths along with the krill, but the whale sharks throats are too small to swallow them, so they end up being thrown out their gills. I imagine that might be a bit of a wild ride.












One of the weirdest sights at the aquarium was the tank above that had these little sea worms going in and out of the ground. They were really funky and made me think of the sandworms in beetljuice...haha.
















Of course we had to say hello to nemo!










We couldn’t leave without seeing the penguins!




My mom treated us to a fantastic dinner one night and shared a few cooking tricks she tried to teach me when I was younger but was too distracted (with teenage woes) to comprehend. It was very special for me and reaffirmed where my love for cooking came from. I can’t believe I had forgotten how good my mom is in the kitchen. She made three different dishes at the same time, used all of her ingredients (and parts you wouldn’t think to use, i.e. bean juice), and timed everything perfectly, to be finished and still warm by dinnertime. She even had enough time to take a shower, get dressed, and doll herself up. Impressive!






One of the dishes my mom made was her famous “albondigas” or dominican meatballs. To form the meatball my mom puts a scoop of her prepared ground beef into a coffee mug and swirls it around (while dancing to some good merengue) until a perfect little ball forms. I had lots of flashbacks of my youth when she would give my brother and I our own coffee mug and encouraged us to join in this meatball forming dance. It is such a nifty little trick and works everytime!  






I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful mother. She may not always be perfect (or quiet), but she goes above and beyond in everything she does. She has more energy than anyone I know (except when her novelas are on...hehe...don’t mess with those), and has an extremely big heart. I miss her already.

Bye for now!

The Mrs.

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