The weekend with "no plans"

My weekend started out 100% void of plans.  I was excited.  I had time to clean, do some laundry and catch up on some TV programs that I've been trying to get into.  By noon on Saturday my plans were foiled.

Saturday I attended my second Oysterfest.  And for those keeping track, it was my 3rd festival in 3 weeks. Hurray for nice weather!  This Oysterfest was held at Steamhouse Lounge, an actual seafood place, and was HUGE.  I'd guess 4 to 5 times larger than the one at Park Tavern two weeks ago.  I went with a pretty big group of friends, ran into another group and had a blast.  And this time I even ate some oysters.  Saturday night I was in bed by 9:30.  Nine hours of drinking will put you right to sleep.

As you can tell from the pictures, it was another glorious spring day in Atlanta.

Sunday I spent with my favorite family with a 7-month-old.  Because it was still so nice outside, it was perfect to take the wee one to the park for the first time.  Now she's been to the park with her nanny, but it was the first time Whit and I got to take her.  She LOVED the swing and looking at all of the other babies.  The slide with mom wasn't her favorite until she got to the bottom of the slide and taking pictures with Aunt Katie was exactly opposite of what she wanted to do.  

As soon as the two of us sat down to take a picture, the shoes went in the mouth.  This was the only time all day that the shoes went in the mouth.  Just for pictures with me.  I'll save you from the 10+ pictures that we took trying to get a good one, here is a pretty good sample of what they look like.  

All of the nice weather is coming to an end.  We should have some pretty severe storms coming in today. 

Spoon Westside

Last night I used yet another ScoutMob coupon and tried out a Thai restaurant, Spoon, on the Westside of town.  I'm not a fan of spicy food.  At all.  So my choice are limited at any Thai place, but it allows me to compare the different Thai places I've visited because I only get Pad Thai.

Spoon is in the Top Two!  My all time favorite Thai place is in NYC, Thai Select.  My sister and NY co-workers all LOVE it there and I feel the same way.  I try to go every time I'm in the city.  Spoon came in as a very close second.  The food was wonderful and the wine was great.  I had shrimp pad thai.  I forgot to take a picture, sorry!

I highly recommend Spoon to anyone looking for great Thai food.  There are two locations in town so you're never too far if you're ITP.

The weekend is finally here.  It's going to be a much quieter weekend than it was last weekend, so I'll have to be creative in my "new things" for the next two days.  One week until DC!

I got myself a Kindle!

I've struggled for months with the decision to buy a Kindle.  I LOVE to read and I understand how expensive my book buying habit has become.  The problem is that I love building my library at home and I love the smell and feel of a good book.  While I read the book I like to see my progress.  For those reasons I've been 100% against a Kindle from the beginning.

Then the price started to drop.  I saw how cheap some of the books on the Kindle really can be.  The classics are all downloadable for free.  A book I want is $15 but the Kindle version is $9.  And after a lunch conversation yesterday with one of my co-workers who reads more than I do, books and with the Kindle, I decided that now was my chance to get one for myself.  Just because I have a Kindle doesn't mean that I can't still buy those really good books that I'm going to want to share or reread in a few years because I love them so much.  I can read both.

My new friend will arrive on Monday.  I can't wait.  It's just in time for my trip to DC!  No heavy book to take with me, Kindle it is!  There is also a Kindle App for the iphone and it will talk to my Kindle so I can read from my phone what I'm reading from the Kindle, and it will even know what page I'm on!  Game on.

Are there any books I should download right away?

It's a secret

I hate to say it, but my new thing of the day yesterday will be kept to myself.  I know that's the opposite of what this blog is about, but some things are best kept close to your heart.

I promise, it was new, it was fun and one day I'll do it again.

Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine is easily my pick for best movie of the year.  I'll admit that I haven't seen Social Network which is thought to be the obvious winner, but I can't imagine that it is any more well acted or moving as Blue Valentine.  I think being NC-17 is what is ultimately going to hurt its chances.  (It was my first NC-17 movie!)

Ryan Gosling is unbelievable in his range of emotions and I forgot how great of an actress Michelle Williams is.  I realized at one point in the movie that I hadn't seen her since the Dawson Creek days.  Their relationship on screen was 100% authentic.  It was so believable at times it was very difficult to watch as they fell apart.

The sexual scenes were graphic, which gave it the NC-17 rating, but nothing seemed too over the top or too graphic.  The scenes fit perfectly with the story and, in my opinion, nothing seemed to go beyond what hasn't been seen before.  I can't believe that a movie as honest as Blue Valentine is handed a NC-17 rating and there are 5+ Saw movies that show God knows what on screen, I won't watch those.

Blue Valentine for Movie of the Year and Ryan and Michelle deserve them as well.

Winter Beer Carnival weekend

What a fantastic weekend.  So much time with friends and so much laughter, I couldn't have asked for a better couple of days.  The weather was absolutely perfect, which added to everyone's excitement.

Friday night I met a new friend with two of my best friends at Cypress Street Pint and Plate.  The bar is only 3 blocks from my house.  It was my first time since moving to Atlanta that I was able to walk to a bar and not worry about having to drive home later.  As we were walking one of my friends even said, "it feels like we're in a different city!"  Welcome to Midtown ladies, I'm as excited as you are.  This weekend was my first full weekend really getting to enjoy being in town.  I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time at Cypress.  I plan to go to the bar one night, alone.  I've definitely never done that before.

Saturday morning I woke to 72 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  My neighbor and I grilled in the back yard and then friends came over to join us for the Winter Beer Carnival.  Not exactly the weather they expected for a winter beer carnival, but it couldn't have been better.

There were 100+ beers to taste at the event.  Everyone got little glasses and all the beer was free to taste.

Who would guess it was the middle of February!

The crew

Beers I tasted:

Magic Hat Winter

Magic Hat Pale Ale

Red Hook Mud Slinger

Lagunitas Pilsner

Dogfishhead 60 min IPA

Bells Best Brown Ale

Southhamption Double White

Peak Organic Spring

Rogue Mocha Porter

Leffe Blonde

Shock Top Belgian White

Holy Mackerel - two types, forget what they were

Woodchuck 802

Hoegaarden

Abita Amber

Abita Dark something?

That's right - 17 beers  My fave had to be the Double White.  I didn't care too much for the Organic.  Towards the end, everything tasted wonderful.

Sunday night I started watching Season 1 of Mad Men.  I work in advertising, you would think I'd have been watching this show from the beginning, not the case.  I'll let you know how I feel about it after season 1.  So far, so good, three episodes in. 

And the winner is....

Last night was the Atlanta Ad Club's ADDY Awards. The awards recognize creative excellence in advertising.  I'm in the media department, so none of my actual work was up for awards, but projects I negotiated were nominated.  I've only been at my new agency for 7 months, so it was a lot of USMC work that I was hoping would win - and they did!  The USMC team won two Golds and two Bronze awards.  I was so proud of them.  I know how much hard work went into the projects. 


My current agency definitely didn't go home empty handed.  We won the following awards:


Cheerwine “Forest Dance Off” won a gold in TV
Cheerwine “Chillest Ride won a gold for vehicle graphics
Cheerwine “Chillest Ride” won a silver for sweepstakes
Cheerwine “Long live leisure” won a silver for illustration
Food Lion “Neighborly Practice/ACC” won a bronze for TV
Georgia Aquarium “Belugas” won a bronze for TV
Vortex print won a bronze for newspaper ads
Vortex print won another bronze for newspaper ads


NICE WORK!!  It was my first time attending the awards and it was totally different than I thought it would be.  The event was held at the 755 Club at Turner Field with plenty of open bars.  About 1/3 of the way through the awards presentation the emcee had lost control of the room and most people were just walking around talking and drinking.  Fine with me!  


Check out Turner Field completely empty at night