Week 4 - Where did a month go??

Today's topics are nature (again), roads and getting around (again), food (again), southern hospitality (again), and two new volunteer opportunities that I'm looking forward to:

I haven't cried in the car in a week - that's a huge accomplishment from the first week I was here. I'm not as impatient with the Garmin (although I have yet to name her - any suggestions?) and now that I have her stuck to the windshield, she's not losing the satellite as much as before. She actually tried to take me home a different way than I had been before and I knew enough of where I was to go MY way and make her recalculate! YAY!

So what's with the speed bumps around here? They are HUGE. Every parking lot has them in front of the store entrances and you seriously have to creep over them or you'll spill your coffee and hurt your car. It's nuts. My neighborhood has them about every 100 feet and they are serious "humps" as the sign says. Personally, my juvenile sense of humor makes me giggle every time I see "speed hump" but that's just because they were called "bumps" in Michigan and there's a big difference between a "hump" and a "bump". Just sayin'.

My yard is like Wild Kingdom. I love having deer go through my yard - they are so pretty and graceful. My boys go ballistic every time they see one and Sammy will sit in front of the window for hours watching them and/or waiting for one to happen by. The only bummer is that these graceful creatures are eating my flowers. The mangy, left-over rose bush from the former resident finally got a gorgeous bloom the other day. I looked at it and it was pretty. Then later that day, after the afternoon "Deer Parade", it was gone; an afternoon snack, I'm sure. Glad I saw it that morning!

We did two fun things this week that got us out and about:

Went to see "Let The Children Play" - a documentary about El Sistema and Gustavo Dudamel at this theater:

http://www.fandango.com/regalperimeterpointstadium10_aadit/theaterpage

Great movie, adequate theater. The area around the theater is nice with Starbucks and other restaurants in the same strip. We were horrified that a medium diet coke and a medium popcorn was $13!! We decided to pass on that - is that normal these days? Wow!!

We went to a lovely dinner in Johns Creek at Trattoria One41

http://www.trattoria141.com/

Food was excellent, service was good. We had sauteed calimari and shrimp in a delicious red sauce for an appetizer. The bread came with a wonderful red/cheese sauce spread. Amazing. Our caesar salads never showed up which was a bummer - they brought our entrees (veal chop and veal parmesan) first and were mortified when we mentioned that the salads hadn't come. We ordered chianti and the first glasses were musty so we sent them back. The replacement glasses were also musty so we sent them back too (and that's generally not how we are but if it's skunked, it's skunked) Waiter handled it very well and brought us a totally different wine, opened the bottle in front of us, etc. He made a great wine choice for us and I can't wait to go back there.

When we came home and went out to walk the dogs, we met our next door neighbors who invited us to sit on the patio for some wine. Then another couple of neighbors came over and they hung out too. It was nice to get to know some of them and our boys behaved well on their patio. They considered going after the fish in the koi pond and were twitching to get one of their cats but they didn't actually do either of these things (thanks to a leash on each of them!)

Speaking of the dogs, we've joined the golden retriever rescue group here called GRRA:

http://www.grra.com/

I'm hoping to do some volunteer work with them; my preference is to help with adoption events and to do some transport for dogs who are new to the program.

And since we also want to help people, we'll be helping out at this place on July 31st:

http://tcmatlanta.org/trinity-table

And next week, I'm actually working a little bit! Excited to play with the GSO on their outdoor pops concert:

http://www.gainesvillesymphony.com/press/

That's it - more soon!

As always, please make suggestions of fun things to do and I'll add them to my list!

Week Three in the ATL

Today let's discuss getting around, wild life (both human and nature), southern manners, shopping, and a few fun things we've done.

So after three weeks of living here, I'm still lost. Some friends tell me it will take YEARS to know where I am, others say they have lived here 10+ years and still need a GPS. I'm starting to accept the fact that it's huge and sprawling with street names that change without warning and bizarre intersections where I pray I'm not turning into oncoming traffic. There was one intersection where I was grateful for the red light because it gave me time to try to figure out where I was supposed to turn. Wow.

I did have a good day last Friday when I had three errands to do and made it to all three and home again with no confusion, tears, or the F-bomb.

Anyone else have their Garmin lose satellite reception though? Mine is doing it a lot and it's scary when you seriously are half way home and suddenly the lady can't help you anymore. Might just be the trees but it's super annoying to me.

The friendliness and manners here are nice but a tad unnerving. Never in my life have I been called "Ma'am" by so many people of all ages. It's a little weird and makes me feel old. But I do appreciate it and it seems genuine. I went to the Gwinnett County Library by our house to get a library card. Since I don't have a GA license yet, I brought a utility bill like their website said to do. However, it had Brian's name on it, not mine. The woman practically cried when apologizing for not being able to give me a card. She apologized so many times that I was starting to get uncomfortable...I finally just said "You know, it's fine. I'll come back - I was out anyway, I didn't make a special trip." She advised me to "just mail yourself something and bring it back" and then she could help me.

We have several kinds of wildlife in our neighborhood: bluejays, bluebirds, cardinals, woodpeckers, deer, turtles, and the college kids who live across the street. The deer are in our yard (I think it's the same one every time but what do I know?) and the turtle was on our dog walk one morning. The boys freaked out barking at the deer and didn't notice the turtle at all. The boys did notice the drunk Auburn students in our front yard last Friday night though. I mean, they were sort of hard not to notice with two kids hog tying a drunk out-of-control kid face down near my sidewalk.

We came out, asked what was going on, and got varying answers. It was clear he'd been "over-served" but one of his friends also said he had "roid rage". Now drunk I can handle but I get a bit uncomfortable around someone who potentially is all roided up, pissed off, and super strong. I asked if they could take care of him, they said yes; I asked if he needed an ambulance, they said no, but when he got up and started coming toward me, I bolted for the door. Not gonna deal with that. They got him out of the yard soon after that. Now here's where the Southern Manners come in:

A handful of young men knocked on the door TO APOLOGIZE. I was flabbergasted. This would not have happened in Michigan or in Ohio. They assured us it wouldn't happen again. Then later when we had the boys out to use the yard one more time before bed, the kid who lives across the street also came over to apologize. He said "This probably wasn't the best "welcome to the neighborhood" that we could have given you." He's right but I was impressed that they handled it like they did. Now keep your friend out of my yard.

We had two social outings to explore the area a bit:

The Peachtree Corners Festival - http://www.peachtreecornersfestival.org/

This was the first one they'd had for my little neck of the woods - it was fun but hot! Lots of vendors, food (kind of like of Taste of Peachtree), musical acts, community groups like animal rescues and voter issues, etc. It was hot and rainy at one point during the day but we stopped by toward the end and it was fun. Another example of "southern hospitality": a lady overheard me telling Brian that I'd forgotten to put on sunscreen and she took a small bottle out of her purse and gave it to me, saying she never burns anyway! Wow.

Vallarta Mexican Grill - http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/9/121597/restaurant/Atlanta/Vallarta-Mexican-Grill-Norcross

A new friend told me about this place and it turns out to be literally 5 minutes from our house. So we checked it out last Thursday night. The food was great, cheap, and fast. Margaritas were $4 and they walk around topping off your drink! The refills aren't as strong as the first one but what a nice touch! We'll definitely be back.

Did a little furniture shopping:

Underpriced Furniture - http://www.underpricedfurniture.com/

I was a little skeptical because of the name but once in the place, I was amazed. It's good quality, mostly tasteful with a range of styles, they give you free hotdogs and bottled water when you get there (we only had water), and it was huge! We were not hounded by salespeople but could find one when we needed one. We bought a dinette set there and will definitely check it out again when we need something else.

Lastly (a huge step for me) - I may have found a church I can handle.

Simpsonwood United Methodist - http://www.simpsonwoodumc.org/

I've been twice and the people are nice, not pushy about joining or attendance, not so "Ned Flanders" that I feel weird, and it is close to home. The traditional service is still fairly casual and they offer "contemporary" services that I'd probably hate because of the music (haha) I'm hoping to volunteer at the soup kitchen that they help in July.

So that's all from my THIRD WEEK in Atlanta! As always, please message me about suggestions of cool stuff to do, places to eat, etc!

:-)

Eating and Exercising Go Hand in Hand

It's true. I love to eat. I'll eat almost anything and usually in massive quantities. Once in high school, we had to sell these amazing candy bars for band. Chocolate with the most incredible gooey caramel center that oozed out onto the chocolate like sweet gold...I can almost taste it now. Which isn't surprising since I ate the entire box that I was supposed to sell and had to pay for it myself. Kind of not the point for a band trip fundraiser. Sometime I'll tell you about how I ate so much of the candy that was going in our table favor boxes for our wedding that I had to buy more...but I digress.

Since I eat shocking amounts of food, I also work out a lot to offset the caloric intake. It was imperative that I find a gym upon relocating to Atlanta. I had done some research on the internet first but being completely unfamiliar with the area, I didn't want to commit to anything until (of course) I had seen the facility and I had some idea of how long it would take me to get there. The two that I were interested in (Lifetime and LA Fitness) proved to be too far of a drive and I just couldn't see us doing it. Luckily for me, there is a Gold's Gym just 5 minutes from my house. So far, it's been great with a good class offering, excellent instructors, and a nice facility. Thank God because now I'm going to talk about food.

Here are the places we've been so far in our limited time in ATL - this list includes two from a previous visit in December:

Goldbergs Deli - http://www.goldbergsdeli.net/

This place was a total lifesaver for a post-rehearsal dinner hangover of unprecedented proportions. The bride (my second cousin Kristen) is about 27 or so. I apparently thought I could keep up with my younger cousins and her friends. Saturday morning, it was obvious that I was mistaken. As I sat on the edge of the bed with my eyes closed, Brian (who had been working a lot in Atlanta and knew the area somewhat) said "I know just the place. Get dressed, we're going to Goldberg's." The bagels, corned beef hash, potato latke, and coffee (and a gallon of water) made me able to function by about 3pm.

Uncle Julio's Fine Mexican Cuisine - http://www.unclejulios.com/

We went to Uncle Julio's to watch Sunday NFL football the day after the wedding. The drinks were good, the food was delicious, they had all the games on at the bar and the bartender didn't talk too much. I can't wait to go back and have a real meal since we basically just sampled appetizers and had margaritas. I would like to experience some more "authentic" Mexican here though - any natives with suggestions?

The Loving Hut - http://www.lovinghut.us/georgia/

Great vegan food - even though I personally need some meat for protein. Every now and again I get the urge for something super healthy and this was great. We ate it the day our movers were supposed to come with our stuff. We'd been eating so poorly and drinking lots of alcohol (the stress of a move will do that to you) that I decided to clean out our systems a little. We had the Rainbow Salad and the Won Ton soup and both were really great. Definitely will go back and try more!

Ten Bistro - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ten-Bistro/217069984976750

We went on their "soft opening" night for friends and family. We know the owner so we scored an invite. This is going to be a great restaurant! The night we were there the staff and kitchen were still sorting things out but the food we had was excellent. Brian had a caesar salad, and salmon served with something I can't remember, and I had flat iron steak with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. We'll definitely give them a few weeks to iron out service and go back - I think it's going to be a huge success!

Caribou Coffee - http://www.cariboucoffee.com/

I'd been in one before but they weren't common in Cincinnati. I was pleasantly surprised by the breakfast sandwiches and the coffee was good. Service was great at the one in The Forum - http://www.theforumonpeachtree.com/

Chick-fil-A is apparently an Atlanta staple - http://www.chick-fil-a.com/

I had no idea. The first one I went to with Brian was on a road trip to ATL before we moved here. I think it was in southern Kentucky or Tennessee. I was underwhelmed. But yesterday my friend Shannon wanted to meet me for lunch at one since she'd have her little boy with her and this is super kid-friendly. I said sure and went off for an adventure. The chicken salad sandwich was excellent and didn't feel like fast food. The fries were delicious so I'm sure they weren't good for me. But all in all, I was super impressed. Even more impressed hearing that they are a family-owned company and all locations (including in malls!) are closed on Sunday. I appreciate a company that sticks to what they believe in even if they could make more money by being open.

So that's all I have for now - I would love more suggestions on where to eat in Atlanta!

Welcome to Atlanta!

I'm new here - a transplanted "peach" I guess. I've decided to write a blog about my first year here and what I've found that's cool and some of the experiences we will have in this first year. If anyone decides to read this and they know the area, please feel free to chime in with suggestions of places to go, restaurants to try, festivals to hit, etc. I'm open to adventure!

It's a huge sprawling area and as far as I can tell, most of it isn't anywhere near the actual city of Atlanta. Coming from Cincinnati, which is a navigable medium-sized city, this is a little crazy to me. There are so many street names that contain the word "Peach" that to a new transplant, it's a little overwhelming. Peachtree Road, Peachtree Street, Peachtree Industrial, Peachtree Boulevard....and don't even get me started on the hyphenated names of streets! Peachtree-Dunwoody, Chamblee-Tucker, Chamblee-Doraville, and more that I can't even remember or haven't been on yet. It's crazy. I'm not prone to breaking down and I cried five times in one trip to run errands. One of those errands was to get my tire fixed since we got the "Welcome to Atlanta" flat tire while exploring "Historic Norcross" on Memorial Day. Then (ironically) I needed to get to Costco to buy a Garmin. I never did find it.

I gave up and went home but Brian and I found a Costco later that day and bought one. I'm sure I'll cry a lot less now even if I am a little sick of that woman saying "Recalculating." Seriously, shut up and recalculate. That's what I paid for. And stop with the snarky tone already.

I had heard the term "Hotlanta" and just sort of laughed it off. I figured "How much hotter than Cincinnati can it really be?" Well, I'm here to tell you that it's much hotter than Cincinnati and it will last much longer. While the degree number might be the same, the humidity (which I thought was bad in Ohio) is astonishing here. People tend to be harsh on southern girls with big hair. I'm a northern girl and I now have big hair. Cut these ladies some slack, people. They're working with what they have, embracing the hand Mother Nature dealt them!

In stores, everyone seems to move slow...both the shoppers and the employees. Last weekend it was bugging the crap out of me but yesterday I started thinking "Is this such a bad thing? Why do I rush around stressed out all the time anyway?" I'm thinking I'll just adjust my "to do list" (which is always olympian in size anyway) and just be a little more realistic and calm.

Plus it's too damn hot to run all over the place anyway.