Top Flr

Let me start by saying - I love this place.  I drive by this place every day on my way to work because it's at the end of my street.  I've been dying to go since I moved in to my apartment in January.  It always looks like it has a good group of people inside and it looks like a cool vibe.  I was 100% correct on both AND the food is amazing.

We started with an appetizer of mussels and a side of their mac n cheese.  A direct quote from my date, "the mussels are divine."  Yes, I gave him crap for saying that the rest of the date, but he was right.

And the mac n cheese - definitely a top 3 in the city.   Then it was time for our main courses.  I had the Pan Seared Halibut and Stephen had the Duck Confit Pizza.  Now in all honesty, I don't think we could have made a bad decision, but both entrees we selected were delicious.  I wanted dinner to last all night the food was so good.

The place was packed and service not the best, but I'll give the place a pass because the food was so amazing and I was with great company.  We each had a drink before we got our table and we had another with dinner.  The wine list is pretty expensive, but worth it.

If you've made it to the end of this post, then you know I was on a date with a new guy, Stephen.  We met Friday at the Braves tailgate, he's friends with my friend, Micah.  We hung out a few times before our date when I was sick, but last night was the official First Date.  It went very well, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

What's the big deal?

I'm pretty lucky, my apartment is in a walkable part of town and it allows me to get out and do things without having to worry about parking or driving home after drinking.  I won't live in Midtown forever, so while I'm here I plan to do as much walking and exploring as I can fit into my few years.

On these walks, I often pass a pretty large Starbucks with a nice patio.  The inside and patio of the coffee shop are always full, no matter what time of day I walk or drive by.  It made me curious - what do these people do in Starbucks that makes it so much fun.  Maybe I'm just late to the game, but I've never been one to pack up my computer or a book and head to Starbucks in the chance that I'll get one of their comfortable chairs to sit in for an hour or two.  I don't see the benefits to that.  I love my couch at home, why would I leave?  And at my home I have wine.

So last night I tried it out.  After my run (after only a few weeks I can definitely run longer than I could before) I showered, ate dinner and then packed up my stuff and walked to Starbucks.  Like I suspected it was packed and I had to sit at a weird, uncomfortable high top table until a chair or table opened up.  Eventually I did get one of the giant chairs by the window which was nice, but it didn't beat my oversized chair at home.  I stayed for an hour reading my book and downloading a new one to my Kindle.  It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be but if people are going there to meet other people or to be scene, it's the wrong place.

Things I noticed:
1. 90% of people in Starbucks are on their computers.  80% of those people are on Facebook.
2. Nobody talks to the person sitting next to them, even though they are sharing the same table and electrical outlet.
3. The music was so loud that even people on cell phones (I was one of them for a little bit) were difficult to hear - thank goodness.
4.  As soon as your coffee is done, it's weird to just sit there reading/working.  I had to leave as soon as I was finished.
5.  The patio would have been nice with a dog or a friend - but there are so many other more interesting places than Starbucks in Midtown
6.  Speaking of electrical outlets, there must have been one every 5 feet

I Scream for Ice Cream!!!

Yesterday Ben & Jerry's was giving out FREE ICE CREAM CONES until 8:00pm.  If you know me, you'll know that there is not an ice cream that I enjoy more than B&J.  They were even the focus of an entire semester of work in college.  I love me some Half Baked.  My good friend, Jessica, and I decided we'd head over after we each got home from work and grabbed a little dinner.  We headed over around 7:15.  This is what we saw...

The longest line for ice cream that I've ever seen. It was a block long.  Now we really wanted some ice cream, but we didn't want to stand in line for that long.  So off we were to the nearest Cold Stone.  We pull in - IT'S CLOSED!  WTF.  We could have easily headed home, but we wanted some ice cream so we turned to Yelp to help us out.  The nearest place that showed up was Jake's Ice Cream, so off we went.  A few detours and wrong turns later we arrived to the CUTEST PLACE!

It turns out the building is a co-op and there are quite a few businesses that operate out of the one location, Jakes was the only one that was still open.  Also inside was a cooking class studio, lunch place, a giant living room area with chairs and sofas, games and books.  We were so very excited we stumbled upon this little gem of a place.  Believe me, we were definitely on streets we've never been on before, yet it wasn't too far from home.  I got a strawberry shortcake ice cream waffle cone and Jessica got an amazing chocolate mixture and we sat outside and took it all in.  We also signed up for information from the cooking class, I'll post about that if we end up going.

Sometimes what you really want doesn't happen - but make the best of it and find something better!

I'm back!

I know, I know.  I've not posted in a few days but it's been crazy busy at work and I was sick this weekend so nothing really got done at all.  I'll update as much as I can on the days that I missed. 


Last Wednesday was our Dinner Club night with a Mexican theme.  YUMMY!  I brought an Apple Enchilada Dessert.  Basically, and apple pie in tortillas instead of pie crust.  

The ingredients were pretty easy, see above.  You probably have most of that in your pantry right now.  It was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made.  I got a lot of compliments on them and I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.  

• 1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling
• 6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Spoon fruit evenly onto all tortillas, sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down on lightly greased 8x8 baking pan.
3. Bring margarine, sugars and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.
4. Pour sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle with extra cinnamon on top if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
5. Makes 6 large tortillas; may be cut in half to serve 12.

My house smelled wonderful for days, too.  

Thursday night I went out with a few friends to see a new band at a venue I've never been to.  It was pretty fun.  Good music, not who I would normally listen to, but I had a great time.  

Friday was a big day, so big that I took a half day off of work to fit all of the fun in.  Friday was Opening Day for the Braves.  My friend's friends set up a HUGE tailgate, 13 kegs this year, and it's a party. This year was year 4 or 5 of The Big Bang.  There seemed to be some confusion on how many years it had been going on.  I guess that happens with 10+ kegs at one event.  The Braves won Friday night, the only game of the series.  It was a blast.  It's always fun to meet new people and go to a Braves game.  Maybe it's because I grew up in a city that didn't have a professional baseball team, but I don't take the Braves for granted.  I love going to games and I'll go any night I have tickets.  GO BRAVES!

Saturday morning is when things went downhill.  I woke up and wasn't feeling 100% right and by the end of the night I was feeling pretty bad.  I went to the drive-in with Jessica and Micah and I slept through the second movie I was so tired and cold, even though it was 80 degrees outside.  

The rest of the weekend I was sick, in an apartment without AC.  I even missed work on Monday which I haven't done in a very long time.  I'm feeling better today, not 100%, but I'm back at work and PRAYING that I'll have AC when I get home today.

Sorry for the long post!

Back to High School

I'm still struggling with how to keep motivated to run 4x a week.  I want to run, I know I'll feel better when I'm done, but some days I can't get myself off the couch.  One problem I was having was with the music I was listening to.  I have some good, upbeat stuff, but I don't want to get bored.  So, I went back to my club volleyball days in high school and thought about what I would use to pump myself up before games.  One CD came to mind - Booty Mix 2.

It's full of '90s classics and just what I needed.  I bought Booty Mix 2 and it's sister, Booty Mix 3 on Amazon.com and they were delivered yesterday.  I made a new playlist for my iphone and I hit the road.  Check out the songs:

1. Shake A Lil' Somethin' - 2 Live Crew
2. Hear What I Hear - Kilo
3. Scarred - Luke
4. Heiny Heiny - 95 South
5. Give It All You Got - Afro-rican
6. Tootsie Roll - 69 Boyz
7. 2 Much Booty (In The Pants) - Soundmaster T
8. Can't Stop The Rock - D.J. Kizzy Rock
9. Get Retarded - K.J. & Da Fellas
10. Dickey Ride - Southern Playas
11. Run Forest Run - Get Some Crew
12. Bass Mechanic - M.C.A.D.E.
13. Booty Bounce - Goon Sqwad
14. Work It Out - M.C. Shy-D
15. Shake Watcha Mama Gave Ya - Poison Clan



My favorites being Scarred, 2 Much Booty and Run Forest Run.  I need to really work on the playlist to make sure those 3 songs play when I'm approaching the 2 mile mark and I'm getting tired.

Technically, this isn't a 'new thing' for me - but I haven't had the CD since 1998 - so there should be a 10 year plus caveat.

A weekend without rain!

We finally got a break from the rain this last weekend and it looked like the entire city was celebrating.  The parks were packed and even with the cooler air, the sundresses we out.

Friday night I went out "early, so I can get home early." Famous last words.  We were out until 3:00am.  It was such a great night it was totally worth the hangover in the morning.  We started at Ormsby's then came back to my place, destroyed my kitchen in a few short minutes with shots and beers.  We then walked to RiRa.  It was my first time walking to RiRa and it wasn't that bad!  It was also my first time at RiRa for more than one drink.  Normally I head there when I'm so far gone that I can only make it one drink and I send myself home.

Saturday was a day of recovery.  I hit up two different BBQs and only drank one beer all day.  My body couldn't take it.  I didn't go out that night and stayed in to watch Love and Other Drugs.  Good movie, lots of topless scenes and lots of sex.  But a good story.  I recommend it.

Sunday was even prettier than Saturday so I spent as much of it outside as possible.  Dinner was at a rooftop BBQ at my neighbor's fiancee's condo.  It was the perfect way to end the weekend.  I'd never been in any of the high rise condos around my place, but this one was pretty awesome.

Dip 'n Dab

All set up and ready to go!

Last night I headed to painting studio, Dip 'n Dab, with the one and only Kristen O.  Dip 'n Dab is one of a few different places around town that make painting fun (Sips 'n Swirls, Cork & Canvas are the other ones I know of).  It works like this: you pick a night to go paint based on their picture from their calendar.  You show up with a bottle of wine, some food and get ready to get messy (we accomplished all 3 last night).  Then the instructor walks you though each step of the painting while you sip on your wine and try to keep up.

Halfway finished.  Drying break.

We chose to paint the wheat field, or field of dreams, I can't remember.  I was really nervous going into it, but it wasn't that bad.  We actually did everything in the picture above (except for the clouds) with a plastic knife.  Like spreading peanut butter!  The next step was to put in the grass.  Not as great as I wanted it to be, but I'm not repulsed by my painting, so I'll keep it.  

The finished product

I told Kristen, one day, when I'm super rich and have a huge house I'm going to have one room dedicated to all of my paintings.  Future husband - get excited.

tada!