The Good Guy

Last night I watched another movie that I got on Netflix, The Good Guy, starring Alexis Bledel.  It's weird, I'll basically watch any movie she's in.  I think she's a great actress and I always enjoy her characters.  Maybe it's because she plays a similar role in every film?  

The basic plot goes like this: Cute girl, Beth, in NYC is dating Wall Street guy, Tommy, who looks like Prince Charming.  He's on top of his game and successful at work and he's making her fall in love with him. As the film goes on you learn more and more about Tommy and his co-workers.  For me it was another example of first impressions don't always tell the whole story.  It's for this very reason that if I meet someone and they ask me out and I'm interested enough to give my number, I'll go on a date.  I always want to give someone a chance to show me who they are.

I give the move a 4 out of 5.  It's nothing original, it's the good guy vs the bad guy story but I wanted it to go on 30 minutes longer, so that has to mean something.  It felt like it flew by.  I recommend it for those looking for a nice chick flick to watch with a glass of wine.  I drank two glasses and ate a small bowl of ice cream.  Don't judge me.

Mad Men - Season 1

I work in Advertising, Mad Men is about the advertising industry in the early 1960s on Madison Ave.  I thought I'd hate the series, so I never bothered to watch.  I thought it would be so far off from what really happens in an agency that I'd get mad and turn it off.  Like a doctor watching Grey's Anatomy.  There is no way there is that much drama at a hospital, or at least that much sex between co-workers.  BUT, I have Netflix and Mad Men is on Netflix so I gave it a shot.  I just finished Season 1.

I LOVE IT.  It's not a fast paced TV show, there aren't crazy cliffhangers at the end of every episode, but the characters are amazing.  You hate each of them yet at the same time you're pulling for each of them at the same time.  It might be one of the most true-to-life programs I've watched in a long time.  Not everyone is perfect and Mad Men does a good job showing that even those with the perfect face and perfect family and perfect home can be sad and have their own demons.

The thing that shocked me about the show is how much people smoked!  In meetings, in elevators, in their baby's nursery, while eating breakfast.  It's nuts.  BUT talking with people who worked in advertising back then, or not long after, that's exactly how it was.

I love how beautiful everyone is in the show and I'm so impressed with the details that the producers put into set decoration and costumes.  I now finally understand why the show keeps winning awards.  It was just announced yesterday that Season 5 will be postponed until early 2012!  WHAT!  No! I want it this Fall, but it seems the creator of the show and AMC have some differences of opinions when it comes to payment.  Good thing I still have Seasons 2-4 in my queue to keep me company.

Peachtree Road Race 2011

One of 60,000 runners.  That will be me on the morning of July 4.  On a whim at the office last week I registered for the Peachtree Road Race lottery and Monday morning I got the email that I was chosen at random for the race.  This is only the first or second year they've done the numbers for the race by lottery, it used to be first come first served and the race would fill up in one day.

It's the largest 10k in the world.  For those of you not in Atlanta, the Peachtree is a 10k that starts in Buckhead and ends in Piedmont Park.  It's a pretty hilly road. The finish line is actually only a few blocks from my house.  Click here if you want to see the course map.  I've heard that it's really popular because of it's difficulty - the big hills are at mile 2 and mile 5.  Awesome.

Your start time is determined on your times in other official races.  This will be my first official race (I doubt The Warrior Dash counts) so I don't have a time.  I can only imagine I'll be number 59,000 something.  The first wave of runners starts at 7:30am, I'll probably be starting closer to 10:00am when it's nice and hot.  I'm not complaining, I'm overly excited about this!  My first race will be a 10k AND it's the Peachtree!

For a couple of weeks I've been talking to my dad about when he's going to come up and visit with my stepmom.  We'd chosen the 4th of July weekend because we all have more time off work that weekend.  I signed up for the race after we had chosen this weekend, again, never thinking I'd get a number. Having them at the finish line when I cross will make the race even more special.  My dad never missed a game of mine growing up and having him there for this accomplishment will mean the world.

I have 14 weeks before the race.  I have an 8 week 10k training schedule ready to go.  My goal until i start that schedule is to be able to run 2 miles, maybe 2.5 miles without walking once.  I'm not there yet, but I have a few weeks to build.  I want to RUN the Peachtree!!!  I'll need motivation - I have 14 weeks of running ahead of me.  That sounds terrifying.  :)

Nice, but not for me

I'll get to the date details, but first I have to talk about Friday, since you know, it happened first.

Friday night I went to dinner with one of my best friends, Hanieh, at the new Flip Burger on Roswell Road.  SO good.  I've been to their first location on Howell Mill and loved it, but it was my first time at this location and one feels much different.  The space is an old Blockbuster Video, so it's much larger than the other location, which is a good thing.  The bar area is also much larger and separate from the dining area so the people waiting for a table aren't standing over the diners watching them eat.   And they have a pretty nice patio, a necessity for the Spring.   Hanieh got engaged a few weeks ago while on vacation and just told me her wedding is going to be August 27 - THIS August 27.  I introduced the two of them and lived with them for a year, I couldn't be more happy about this wedding.  I can't believe it's so soon, but they've been dating for years, so there really isn't the need for a long engagement.

Okay, now onto the blind date.  He's a nice guy, just not for me.  I think it ultimately comes down to our personalities not matching.  I'm a very outgoing and social person and he's not.  I'd rather be hanging out with friends than sitting alone at home and he seems to be the opposite.  And I was interrupted a few times while talking - NOT the way to get a second date.  I'd be asked a question and before I could finish the complete answer, he'd change the subject.  I was trying not to do the one word answers and he wasn't feeling it.  I didn't feel like he was there to get to know me.  Lastly, I think he was uncomfortable with my height when I was in heels.  If you're still taller than me when I'm in heels, I'm going to wear heels.  Don't make me feel bad about it.

The date actually made me more comfortable being single.  I'm glad I'm confident and know what I want.  I'm not going to settle.

Let's Go Gators!!

Last night was the Sweet 16 game between BYU and my beloved Florida Gators.  My boys dominated.  BYU has one awesome player (32) and we did such a great job holding him to his average points and not letting him run away with the game.  All the other BYU players were kept to single digit points.  We will play Butler on Saturday afternoon for the chance to make it to the Final Four.  Butler has been a strong opponent for us, it's going to be a big, big game.

Sometimes, nights don't always work out as planned and I ended up at a bar alone.  Definitely wasn't planning on that "new thing" to happen without mental preparation.  But it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.  There were plenty of other people around me that were solo, so I avoided the staring and pointing that I thought would happen.  I'm not a fan of sitting alone and watching a game, but now that I've done it, I won't be as nervous to do it again.  (I'm choosing not to have cable for a few months to save money, the game was on TBS.)

I really said I'd do that?

Yesterday started out normal.  I woke up, got to work a little early, worked hard and did good work.

When I got home I made mussels for dinner.  I've never cooked them before and they were delicious and so super easy.  I cheated and got the frozen mussels from Publix and they cook in just 7 minutes and have sauce with them already.  I served them (to myself) over some spaghetti and light tomato sauce.  The only thing I was missing was the toasty bread to go with it.  Next time.  And I'm not sick!  I was really worried that I'd get sick from the frozen seafood, but I'm safe.

Here is where I surprise myself - while cooking dinner I agreed to go on a blind date with the brother of a guy and old co-worker has started dating.  I'll give you a second to work that out in your head.   Yep, I'll be going on a blind date.  I don't know much about him, but my friend has given him the thumbs up, so that's all I can go on right now.  I know I'm not going to meet someone at a bar, so maybe this is the right way to do it.  He now has my phone number and he'll be calling sometime today or tomorrow to set up our date.  I hope it's soon so I can stop thinking about it!

Scott Pilgram vs. The World

I love Netflix.  It allows you to watch movies and shows you'd never think to watch.  Last night I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  Netflix guessed that I'd give it 2.5 stars, it was close, I give it 2.  When you have a queue of over 100 movies or shows, there is bound to be a bad apple.

The movie is based on a comic book, but that usually doesn't automatically mean I'm going to hate the movie.  I love the Batman movies.  Ironman is fun.  This one was too weird for me and I couldn't connect with the characters.  For me, the best part of the movie were Scott's roommate, played by Kieran Culkin, and his sister played by Anna Kendrick.  I would have watched a movie just based on the two of them.

I'm not going to waste any more of my time on this movie, but can we stop giving Michael Cera leading roles?  He's trapped in one really long Juno movie. His characters are always exactly the same.  It's time to move on.

I did get another run in last night.  It took a lot of convincing by myself to do it.  It felt great to be done, but getting out there was hard.  It's better to run outside because once you're halfway done, you can't stop, you still have to make it home.  I felt like stopping after a little over a mile.  Too bad, Deegan, you're still over a mile away from home!

Keeping motivated

I'm going to try everything to keep myself motivated to run.  I tell people about when I run, I try on my summer clothes that I don't quite fit and I've put on a bikini.  All definitely push me to run.

I know I'm not fat.  I'm blessed with a fast metabolism and 6 feet to spread all my weight.  I just don't like the jiggly areas.  Jiggly isn't pretty in a bikini or sundress.

I keep hearing about the "runner's high"and I want to find it.  I've never enjoyed running, but I like the results I see in people who keep it up.

I downloaded an app on my phone, iMapMyRUN, to help me stay on track.  The app tracks my run with the GPS on my phone.  When I'm done with my run I can see the map of where I went, the elevation of the run and how fast I was going.  There is even a website, MapMyRUN, that has even more information for me on my run and shows similar runs in my area.  Pretty neat.  I'm hoping that if I can see what I've done and track it, I'll keep it up.

Tonight I need to run again - let's hope I can find it in me.


My run

What a weekend!

It's been a while since I posted, I knew last week was going to be a crazy one.  I wasn't at work on Friday (birthday present to myself) so I was never in front of a computer to write about St Patrick's Day.

To celebrate my favorite holiday I went to dinner with two of my good friends at DBA Bar B Q in the highlands - one of the best burgers ever! - to watch the Gator basketball game.  It was a complete domination by the Gators, so my night was off to a good start.  Then we met up with a bunch more people headed to a block party hosted by Limerick Junction.  It was PACKED.  I don't think we actually stepped foot into LJ but had a crazy time out in the back.  Once that party was over and the music stopped we headed to a house for the after party and continued to have a blast.  I didn't work on Friday, so I wasn't worried about the time.

My plan for Friday was to sit on a patio enjoying the wonderful weather with friends watching basketball.  That's exactly what I got.  PERFECT day.

The rest of the weekend was spend with friends.  Oyster grilling party, patio drinking, basketball, dinner, dancing.  So much fun.

My new thing Thursday was DBA BBQ, Friday was taking a day off just for myself, Saturday I met two new groups of friends (and gave my number to a 24 year old that I never expect to actually call) and Sunday I made a new meal.

I have a Trader Joe's cookbook that I've been trying to use for a while so I made a Mustard and Maple Chicken dish.  SO easy and actually really good.  I'd never cooked dark meat, so that was interesting too.    Basically you mix together maple syrup, dijon mustard and rice vinegar and coat the chicken and bake.  I made some veggies and rice to go with it.  It's definitely added into the rotation.

Business trip and running!

I traveled for work for the past two days so I didn't have time to update the blog.  BUT I still did new things!

The night of my birthday I went out for drinks with two friends to Spice Market at the W hotel.  The drinks were expensive (but good) and the bar definitely closed too early.  AND PARKING WAS $8 AND HOUR! WTF.  We will not be going back there.

Tuesday I drove to Salisbury, NC and went out with a co-worker for dinner.  It was my first time traveling with her and it give us a lot of time to get to know each other.  I took her to my favorite Italian restaurant in Salisbury, La Cava.  I can't put into words how delicious all of their food is.  I haven't had a single bad meal and being the only good restaurant in the city, I've been there a few times.  The eggplant parm is to die for.  It's only on the menu as a special and when they have it, I don't even listen to anything other special.  Eggplant Parm all the way.

I live in the best part of town!

Yesterday was also the first real day of "get bikini ready 2011".  I ran 2.4 miles in 30 minutes.  I really need to get that distance up in 30 minutes, but it was my first day out I'll get better.  I'm building a calendar to keep myself on track.  Any suggestions as to how to motivate myself?  I'm not really good at getting myself out to run.  I have such a great park, I know I have the best place in the city for running.  Check out my last run!  Day One Run  That's my favorite website for tracking my runs.... is there a better one out there?

The Real Chow Baby

At the office, we go out to lunch a lot.  Some people go to lunch every day.  I try to keep it to once or twice a week.  With that many days going out, you really get to know the lunch places around the office and those that aren't too far away.

There are also two distinct groups who go to lunch - the boys and the girls.  And they don't mix.  There is one guy who every now and then will lunch with the girls, but girls are never even invited with the guys.  It's the way it is.  There is no changing it.

The boy lunch group goes to The Real Chow Baby quite often and the rave about it, so for my birthday lunch with the girls we headed that way to check it out.  They call themselves "new American stir fry" but basically it's a build your own stir fry bowl.  Once you sit down you get your little wooden stick to write your name then you head to the buffet line.  You pick your rice or noodles, your veggies, then your protein, then your sauce then seasoning and hand it to the stir fry guy and they bring it out to your table when it's done.  They have TONS of choices so you can probably try a new meal each and every time you go.  I was quite impressed.  I filled my bowl with brown rice, lots of green veggies, some beef and shrimp and then topped it off with teriyaki sauce.

(not my meal, but you get the idea)

The food was delicious!  Now I will say my food didn't come out right, I ended up with salmon instead of shrimp and it took a good 15 minutes to get my shrimp after I told our waiter, but the food itself was great.  I highly recommend Chow Baby.

One of the girls in our group brought up the good idea that there should be a pizza place like this place.  There are build your own taco places, build your own stir fry - why not pizza!?

Check it out!

Check out the blog post on Jenn Hopkins Photography today!!!

Pat and Patti - Married!!!

Best Week of the Year

I strongly believe that the best week of the year is March 11 - March 17.  A lot happens in those few days: the SEC Basketball Tournament, my birthday, the birthday of an unusual number of my friends, the start of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and of course, my favorite holiday, St. Patrick's Day.  Today is day 4 of the best week of the year, my birthday.  I'm beginning my last year of my 20s.

The first 3 days of the week couldn't have been more prefect.  The weather was gorgeous so I was outside as much as possible.  Friday night was the first game for the Gators in the SEC Tournament.  We kicked UT's ass - 85-74.  Thank goodness.

Saturday I ran some errands then went to the park with a friend.  Everyone else in Atlanta had the same idea, but the park didn't feel crowded.  I'm so lucky to live so close to such a great park - you know where to find me in the next couple of months.  

From one of the hills towards Park Tavern

Saturday night I went out to celebrate my birthday.  It started with dinner at HobNob in Midtown with my three best friends then we went to Cypress Street to meet up with everyone else.  I have the best group of friends.  After a few hours I didn't want to sit still anymore so a group of us were talked into going next door to Halo, a dance club.  I haven't been to a club in YEARS.  We had fun, danced and drank.  It was 4am by the time I got home.  I'm nuts, but I don't have a single picture to share from that night.  Oops!

Sunday I needed to recover from dancing and I had a lot of errands to run so I decided to stay within 5 blocks of my house and do what I could walking.  I walked to Barnes & Noble on the GA Tech campus.  It wasn't a quick walk, but in no way bad.  This weekend was the Anime Convention at Tech.  People watching at it's finest.  DragonCon draws people of all ages, this convention really looked like high school and college kids only.  I should have taken more pictures, but I only had my phone with me.  

This group was putting on some sort of battle... in costume

My last errand was grocery shopping so I decided to try to do my week's worth of shopping at Trader Joe's only.  Some of the food was cheaper than I thought it would be, which was a nice surprise, while some stuff was far more expensive than at a regular grocery store.  Most of my purchases were frozen foods and pantry items but the cheese was much cheaper than Publix, so I'll def buy TJ cheese only moving forward.  I didn't get everything I needed, but I def got enough to get me through the week.

Happy Birthday to me!

The Hunger Games - complete!

I haven't flown through three books as fast as I flew through the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. It took me a week and a half and I wish I could keep going.

I'd heard of the series a while back but wasn't interested because technically it's a young adult book.  I should have known better, my love of Harry Potter eclipses all other books.  I should have seen this coming.

A very brief description:  The story is set in the distant future when the United States as we know it no longer exists.  There are now 12 districts that all answer to The Capital.  To remind the districts of the all of the people who died that last time they tried to revolt against The Capital, each year there is a drawing in each district for one boy and one girl to participate in The Hunger Games.  There can be only one survivor of the Games.  Teens are forced to kill each other to survive.  The story follows the girl who is selected from District 12.  There is romance, suspense and a very interesting look at how people react when they are placed in life or death situations.  Who do you trust?  How far would you go to stay alive and to save the ones you love?

I don't want to give any more of the plot away.  If you've read the books, let's discuss!  With the Harry Potter series getting a 10 out of 10 in my opinion, I give this series an 8 out of 10.  They are making the books into movies (don't they do that with everything these days?) and I'm anxious to see how they are done but at the same time terrified that the movies will ruin the story for people who would rather go to a movie instead of sit down to read.  

Dates!

No, not the go-out-to-dinner-with-a-boy dates, the fruit dates.

Last night for Bunco I made a new appetizer that I owe to my friend, Michelle.  She's made them a few times and I'm in love so I had to make them.  I was silly and forgot to take a picture, but here is something pretty close to what mine looked like, but I added pecans.

They are SO easy to make and SO delicious.  

1 package of pitted dates (approx 40)

small package of goat cheese

pecan halves

5-6 thin slices of prosciutto

Heat oven to 350

Slice the dates on one side so they open and you can put stuff inside (they're stickier than I thought) and place on a foil lined baking sheet

Spoon half a teaspoon of goat cheese into each date (you can never have too much goat cheese)

Put one pecan half into each date, they'll stick out a little bit, it's okay

Take your prosciutto slices and slice them again into 3-4 thin strips and wrap a strip around each date

I heated them for 3 minutes, just until the cheese started to melt

Enjoy!

One blog just isn't enough

The agency where I work, Ames Scullin O'Haire, has a blog that all employees are encouraged to contribute to.  Posts don't have to be about advertising, they can be movie review, thoughts about life, restaurant review or anything else we can imagine.  Mainly to show our current and potential clients the variety of personalities and thinking at the office.  Our office is filled with unique people and minds, we want to share that. 

I've never been a fan of sharing my writing with the public, but that's the point of this blog and I'm supposed to try something new everyday right?  

Well yesterday one of my posts was posted to the ASO blog.  It's my Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint review, cleaned up for the work and business environment.  Check it out.  Check out some of the other post, check out our agency site.  Have fun!

Thoughts from within the Circle

Etsy!

I could talk for days about Etsy, one of my favorite websites for shopping when you don't really know what you're looking for OR when you know exactly what you're looking for, it's out there.

I wanted to give my sisters a little something to remember the trip so I started looking around etsy.com.  It gave me so many ideas, but the winner was.... CROCHET KOOZIES!

so amazing

Who knew the even existed.  I talked to the designer at knotworkshop and she made 4 custom koozies for me.  They're fantastic.  I always carry a koozie with me, my crochet love is in my purse at this very moment.

DC Pictures

As promised, here are a few more pictures of the Sister's Trip last weekend.  ENJOY!

The best breakfast in DC at the Eastern Market, the line is forever long.

Goofing around while shopping

The Washington Monument

This is the view you get if you lay down at the bottom of the Washington Monument, put your feet on the wall and look up...

...Like this

WWII Memorial

The albino squirrel that was not afraid of Bonnie one bit

Lincoln Memorial, much larger than I thought it was going to be

sisters!

The man himself.  Huge!  his room was smaller than I thought it would be

yep (notice no water in the reflecting pond...sad)

Our 4th bottle of bubbly for our Bellinis

The End

Sister Weekend 2011

Sisters are fantastic.  Really, there is no one like them.  I’m so grateful that I had a weekend with my sister and stepsisters.  We had a blast.  DC was just right for our first trip together.  I was also my first trip to DC for fun.  I've probably been 5+ times in the past 3 years, but always for work.  It's far better visiting for pleasure!!

yep - they're crazy

I don’t have all of my pictures yet (I’ll have them for tomorrow’s post - check back!!), but there was a lot of drinking, eating and walking around.  Just what we wanted. 

Friday night Bonnie and I got in after Meaghan and Tina and met the two of them at Bar Dupont.  What a fun scene.  We drank and people watched before moving on to Kramerbooks & Afterwords.  I’ve never seen anything like it – a tiny little book store with live music a bar and people everywhere!  We continued to walk around looking for a bar before heading back to the hotel and hitting up the bar there, which was hopping. 

Saturday we started at the Eastern Market for breakfast and to do some shopping.  We had to wait more than 30 min in line for our food, but it was beyond worth it.  The Market was full of jewelry, crafts and art.  From there we headed to the Mall to do our own monument tour.  We started walking towards the Washington Monument, past the WWII Memorial and then to the Lincoln Memorial.   Absolutely amazing.  The Reflecting Pond was drained for maintenance, which was a complete bummer.

From there we walked to Georgetown to do some shopping!  Whoo hoo!  The area was PACKED.  It reminded me of SoHo, but the buildings are much cuter with their DC charm.  After a few hours of shopping we walked back to the hotel for our 5-6 happy hour of FREE WINE in the lobby.  Yes, please and thank you! 

We headed to Lauriol  Plaza which has to be the best Mexican food I’ve had in a long time.  There was a crazy wait so we drank a pitcher of frozen margaritas and chatted.  Tina talked about how great the food was, but I wasn’t really ready for how good it really was.  I’m going to try to make that a “must eat” restaurant every time I’m in town. 

Sunday was icky and rainy so we went to brunch and drank away our last morning.  Unlimited Bellini’s – YES!  The best part of Sunday was that we could have been anywhere in the world and had just as much fun as we had just sitting together and eating and drinking.  That’s how I know our trips will continue to be great for years and years to come. 

The ride to the airport was long and rainy and Bonnie and I didn’t want to have to say good-bye.  At least we know we’ll all see each other in 2 months for Meaghan’s wedding!!  Two days in town and I’ll need 3 dresses.  Shopping starts today.  So exciting!

Buckhead Restaurant Week

Once a year the different parts of town get together to host restaurant weeks where for a fixed price diners get to sample a full meal a participating restaurants.  Last night was the first time I participated in one of these weeks and we decided to try a new restaurant, Basil's.

The wine and appetizers we fantastic and the dessert was delicious.  It seemed like the restaurant was too busy for the kitchen or the servers to handle as our poor girl never had a calm minute.  My stuffed chicken wasn't really that stuffed and it was over cooked.

I'll definitely check it out again but I'll try another dish.  With an atmosphere and menu like Basil's, they deserve a second chance.

Baroni Casual Italian

Yep, my blog is turning into a daily review of restaurants around Atlanta.  I have so many dinners planned with friends this week they are taking up my evenings when I'd have time to do something new.  Don't take that the wrong way, dinners with friends are one of my favorite things.  Probably top five favorite thing.  Especially when it's at a new restaurant.

Last night I met 3 former co-workers at Baroni Casual Italian.  They are old co-workers but these three ladies are far more than people I used to sit next to in cubeland.  They are three of the best friends you could ever ask for.  They are sounding boards when I need advice, they are always there with new exciting things going on in their lives and they can always be counted on to share a glass of wine or two.  They have each seen me cry, laugh, get angry and make a fool out of myself after too much alcohol.  I love each of them and can't wait to see what the next years hold for us.

Back to the restaurant - Baroni was fantastic.  Great Italian at decent prices.  I'll definitely be adding it to my list when I need some pasta and red wine - which is often.  The manager sent two desserts to our table, totally unnecessary and totally welcomed.  And something that a lot of people take for granted - Baroni has TONS of parking.  BONUS!

Tonight I'm going to yet another new restaurant because it's Buckhead Restaurant Week!  Then this weekend is full of 100% new things - it's my sister's trip to Washington DC.  Get ready men and women of our capital city, the Deegans and Dormans are coming.

Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint: Restaurant Review

Working downtown Atlanta has its benefits.  The office close to all of the sporting events in the city and we have tons of places to walk for lunch.  Most of the lunch places are fast food type restaurants, but as busy as our days are, that's what we need most of the time.  The downside is that downtown Atlanta has some pretty rough areas and a lot of nice restaurants have closed.  They city is going through a revitalization, but change doesn't happen over night.

Two blocks away a new restaurant opened two weeks ago, Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint.  I was a little skeptical because it is across the street from Hooters and Hard Rock Cafe and I didn't want another large chain.  Boy, was I pleased!

My boss and I went to lunch with two magazine reps, two of the best ladies to lunch with, by far, and met at SWJJ.  The food is labeled as "deep south" cuisine,  indeed it is.  On the menu you'll find a lot of pimento cheese, fried foods, catfish and crawfish.  We started with the house-made pimento cheese spread and black-eyed pea hummus along with the southern starter (fried green tomatoes with goat cheese) for appetizers.  Both were delicious.  Plenty to share between four people.  The starter went much faster than the spreads, but I think that was because we didn't get enough flatbread to go along with the spreads, but the

My Big Ol' BLT was just that, huge and full of bacon, lettuce and tomatoes.  And this isn't your Denny's bacon, it was thick-cut, perfectly crisp bacon in every bite.  My side item was their aged white cheddar macaroni.  I think you can tell a lot about a restaurant by their southern mac n cheese.  It was very tasty, but probably wouldn't rank in my top 5.  Looking at the other sides around the table, the servings are small, but probably the correct portion size for southern food.  The other entrees were all given great reviews as well.

The most interesting thing about the restaurant has to be the atmosphere.  The far back wall is set up for a live band with the full drum set and key board still set up.  While we dined, at lunch remember, there was a sax player playing live music for us.  A very nice touch for a lunch.  You can tell the space transforms at night for a dance crowd.  There is a 2nd floor DJ booth and there is a shelf around the entire dining area that must be used to hold drinks once the tables are gone.  It will be interesting to see the crowd Sweet Georgia draws at night.

I will be adding the Juke Joint to our list of options for lunch.  I'm thankful for a sit-down restaurant within walking distance to the office!

Rocky start...but victory in the end!

My Kindle arrived yesterday to much excitement.  It is so much cooler than I expected.  It's SUPER thin, thinner than my iphone when it's in it's case, and the e-ink technology is shocking it's so realistic.  Now the big thing with the Kindle is that it is supposed to work as soon as you take it out of the box, Amazon Fail.

The Kindle worked, it turned on, it was registered to me because I bought it with my Amazon.com account and it was ready to go BUT to recognize who it belongs to it needs to connect to wifi.  Sounds easy, my office has wifi, I put in my password.  Nothing.  For a few hours we tried to figure it out.  We (by this time my entire half of the office knew what was going on) took a trip downstairs to the food court area where we know there is free wifi, we even went to the hotel next door.  NOTHING.  Katie = pissed.

I called Amazon tech support and the guy didn't sound shocked that I was having a connectivity problem.  It was even option #3 on the menu when I first called.  Let me back up for one second, before I called tech support I also checked online to see if there was anything I was missing - nope.  Now the guy asks me to go to the home page, put in "date" and tell him what shows up.  My Kindle thinks it's Jan 2010.  There is the problem.  Most wireless networks won't accept a device if it has the wrong date.  So he told me to go to Starbucks and get on their wifi network because it doesn't use a date for verification.  Really?  Big, monster company Amazon's advice was to go to Starbucks to fix their problem.  Well, I did and it worked.

I'm going to write a review of the Kindle and include this problem.  Not the best way to start using a product that should work right out of the box.  However, now that it's working - I'm in love.  I started my first book last night, the first book of The Hunger Games.  I've seen a lot of people comment on it on facebook and the reviews are great.  Yes, it's a young adult book, but I'll read anything if it's good.  And that's how I plan to use my Kindle most of the time- for books that I don't want to own down the line.

Reading a book has never been easier.  No more turning pages, just one push of a button and it does it for you.  I got in one position and didn't have to move to shift the book from side to side or worry about my arm getting tired of holding a heavy book.  I can't wait to get home and read more.  The story is good too.  I'll review that when I'm done.

This was a long post, I'm sorry, but I feel passionately about my Kindle and wanted people to know the crazy issue that nobody mentions, but they know about...