Restaurant Week!!

This week is Midtown Restaurant week in Atlanta! For those of you that aren't familiar with restaurant week, it's basically the opportunity to taste some of Atlanta's best food at the most expensive restaurants for a fraction of the price!(lots of other cities do restaurant week too...DC, NYC, Chicago, just to name a few)

Last night myself, Amanda, Steph M, Caroline and Tiffany went to Oceanaire Restaurant! It was a "to die for" meal. They started out by bringing bread and pickled herring to the table. Then Steph M and I split the mussels as an appetizer! My dinner of Scallops and Risotto was so YUM!

Then for dessert our waiter brought us out Baked Alaska (for free...HOLLA)! I had never had Baked Alaska before but it was awesome to see your dessert go up in flames before you chow down!

Highly recommend the restaurant but only if you want to cough up some major dough. I ended up deviating from the restaurant week menu a bit...so my total with wine and tip was $75...YIKES! But it's good to go for a good meal with the girls every once in a while!

House Party Fun...

This weekend was one of our last weekends in ATL before our crazy September/October schedule begins!!!
Friday night we headed over to Steph Stringer's pool for a bbq. There was a crowd of about 10, so it was good times drinking beer, eating burgers, and praying that Hurricane Fay didn't boot us inside!
Saturday Ben and I went to Kim and Will's for "Will's bday Shrimp Boil!" It was a blast! Ben and I almost won at beer pong!

For Friday's party I made an ice cream cake made of Ice Cream Sandwiches and it turned out delicious! Saturday night I made my famous Rosemary Red Roasted Potatoes for the shrimp boil and they were a big hit!

This weekend I will be heading to Phenix City, AL and Raleigh/Durham, NC for work.
I'll be gone Wed. - Friday. Saturday morning Ben and I head to the airport bright and early to catch a flight for Caryn and Brett's wedding in DC on Sunday!

Can't wait to hang with the DC crew this weekend! The countdown is on!

Happy August Bdays!!!

Amanda, Steph Stringer, Me, and Steph M

Me, Mom and Dad at the pool
Travis in the groomsmen bunch
Kristen and Borden
Kristen, Will, and the nasty martini he tried to make for me

Happy August Bdays to

Family Members:

Daddy Heatherly

Bro-in-law Travis

Friends and Boozing Buds

Christine Bordenia

Will Stone

And a Late July Bday shout out (I left it off my last month shout out post...my apologies) to Steph Stringer!

Ben's Boo Boo

So many of you have heard this story already but I thought I would make a quick post about it just to poke a little more fun at my husband.

What should have been a nice evening with Ben's coworkers...ended up being one CRAZY night!

Here's the recap!

So... Wednesday night Ben and I went over to his boss Roy's house for one of their coworkers birthdays.
Well, Roy has this AMAZING bar in his basement fully stocked.
He kept pouring shots, making cosmo's...anything you wanted.

But little did I know that Roy kept sneaking Ben tequila shots, and Ben (wanting to impress his boss) Kept taking them....

Somewhere around 10pm the booze hits him...hard!!!
Well, as the night is coming to an end, Ben reaches under a table to grab something (I think it was a napkin that had fallen...not even sure what exactly it was he was reaching for at this point) and when he came up..he had a Huge cut on his forehead and blood was dripping down his face.
He had no idea that he was a bloody mess until his coworker and I started screaming! Well...at this point I decide it's time to leave.

As we are driving home I hear the dreaded words from Benny as he says "Pull over"...I quickly turn into the first store I see, where Ben proceeds to throw up all over the Radio Shack parking lot (I felt bad for those employees on Thursday morning)....
Anyways, we get him home and put him to bed...but Thursday morning Ben was sitting in his cube and trying not to talk to people at work.
Because
1. He had the worst hang over of his life
2. He has a huge bandaid on his forehead

Ahhh...the lengths you will go to impress your coworkers. Luckily, he is just fine and his cut will heal soon!

Did you know?....

Did you know that Nordstrom really does take ANYTHING back??? It's truly amazing!

I bought this really cute bathing suit cover up (That's me modeling it in the pic above) back in November to wear on our honeymoon! The other day I was at the pool with my girlfriends when I realized it had a huge rip in it.

So...today (after searching everything and FINALLY locating the receipt) I stopped by Nordstrom and told them the story! The saleslady said, "You don't have to explain anything to me Ma'm...as long as you have the receipt, we'll take it back".

So there you have it. $100 put back on my credit card! What a great day!

PS- I already purchased a replacement cover up online! So so much for the $100!!!

Happy Hump Day!!!

BOOKED!!!

Viva Las Vegas Baby!!! Ben and I officially booked our trip to Vegas last night! WOOHOO!!!

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to celebrate my last year as a twenty-something (I'll be 30 in October 2009...AHHHH) with a trip!!!

Ben and I LOVE Vegas...but who doesn't right? The food, the shows, the gambling, the hotels, the pools...it's just too much fun!

We were able to use some flight E credits and Ben's frequent flyer miles with Delta to get us both round trip tickets for only $85 each...can't beat that right?

Now we are just trying to figure out which hotel to stay at...any suggestions? Feel free to comment.

Together we've each been to Vegas a few times so we want to stay somewhere we haven't stayed before...and NO I'm not staying at the Hooters casino!

I think we have it narrowed down between the Monte Carlo and the MGM Grand!

The dates we are going are October 3-6...so if you see any deals and want to come out to Vegas and play with us...then let us know!!!

Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away with ME....

Ben...right before the show began!
Kristen giving her best "rock out" pose!
Styx was a great show!

Sunday night Ben and I headed to the Styx/Boston concert!

I think most people know what a HUGE classic rock fan I am...Journey, Chicago, Billy Joel, the Beatles, Led Zepplin...you name it...I love it!

My hubby on the other hand...not so much!

Well Friday morning Ben gets an email at work from a guy that we had met at a few UNC Alumni Happy Hours. Really nice guy who I ended up having a long convo with about Classic Rock. He said that he was heading out of town for the weekend and needed to offload his tix for the Sunday Boston/Styx show! I was like...HELL YEAH!!!!

Ben (being the wonderful hubby that he is) got the tickets and we headed over to Verizon Wireless Amphitheater last night for the show!

We ate some sandwiches in the parking lot (repeat of Journey tailgating...holla Erin and Jannell) and then headed inside for the show. It was definitely more chill than Journey and I wasn't as familiar with all of their music...but it still ROCKED!!!

Hot Fun in the Summer Time!!!

This weekend was another fun time in ATL!
Friday night Ben and I went out with his coworker Chris and his wife Meghan...they just got married two weeks ago so it was fun to rehash wedding planning again!
We went to Pure Taqueria in Roswell...such an AWESOME restaurant with great food and drinks! We will definitely be hitting it up again soon. Definitely one of the most popular restaurants in Roswell seeing as the line was out the door and we had to wait over 45 minutes to be seated!
After dinner we headed over to the local bowling alley for a few games! I didn't get a strike (so no windmills for those of you that know about my "strike dance") but I did get a few spares, which I think worried Chris and Ben a little!!!

Saturday morning Ben and I headed to a wine tasting with our friend Amanda at a restaurant called SNOB (Slightly North Of Buckhead). It was fun and I ended up purchasing a couple of bottles!
That night Ben and I headed over to Steph and Pats for a BBQ!!! Great time with lots of food, wine, and catching up!

Livin on the "Edge"

The view looking out our door
View from the driveway
View from the street

So Ben and I are now the proud owners of "Edging". All of you apartment/condo/townhome owning peeps out there might not know what this is...so I'll explain...it's basically using some sort of material (concrete, stone, or wood) to create a barrier between where your grass ends and your plants and mulch begin.

Check out the pics! It looks great!!! We chose stone!

Is it lame that I'm UBER excited about this???...I guess I'm old!

Props to our landscaper Cliff...He's the bomb!

If anyone in ATL needs a recommendation for an excellent landscaper who won't rip you off, then give me a holler!

A "Heroic" Weekend!!!

This weekend was a lot of fun and very chill! It was exactly what Ben and I needed after all the crazy traveling we've been doing! Once Labor Day comes it's going to be pretty busy for the rest of the year, so our three free weekends in August are going to be dedicated to some quality R&R and hanging with our ATL friends!

Friday night Ben and I went to dinner with our next door neighbors Jared and Melanie! They are a very fun couple and we had a great time. We went to this awesome BBQ Joint/Bar in Downtown Roswell called Swallow the Hollow...
http://www.theswallowatthehollow.com/

We didn't stay long enough to hear the live music so I can't wait to go back there another night! It's supposed to have great performers with surprise celeb appearances by Brad Paisley and Trace Adkins !

After dinner, we headed back to our house to catch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics! It was AMAZING!!! Watching all those Olympic Heroes really got me emotional!!!

Saturday Ben and I got up early to run some errands and then went to Roswell Park for a run. It was a beautiful day, and we definitely felt like heroes after finishing the 5K course and then walking an extra 1.25 miles to cool down!

Saturday night Ben and I had our date night. Ben had a great idea for the "perfect date night" and had been researching the restaurant and bar that we went to. Both got rave reviews from his friends, and I'm happy to report they were right.
We started the night by going to an amazing Thai restaurant downtown called Tamarind Seed.
It was YUM to the max! I had baked grouper topped with Minced Shrimp and Ben had a noodle dish with chicken and broccoli. I could have licked my plate but I refrained ha ha!
They sat us outside where the weather was perfect!
http://www.tamarindseed.com/

After dinner we headed to Shout, which is a restaurant/bar next door to Tamarind Seed.
http://www.heretoserverestaurants.com/
They have a great rooftop bar area, so Ben and I hung around there and had a couple of drinks.
By the way, their Peach Mojitos are to die for!

Funny story though....Ben and I had just ordered our second drink, when we were invaded by Lasquishas....I'm not even joking about this!!! When we arrived, we found a corner of the bar to sit and chat while we had drinks, however there was an open bench right across from us. All of the sudden a "cheerleader reunion" had taken over the bench and there were 20 Lasquishas surrounding us doing cheers...If you could have seen this random white couple in the middle of this you would have cried laughing!!! We got up and left while the ladies apologized...but I wasn't upset at all. Our waiter and the other people at the bar felt bad for us though...within 5 minutes they had placed us at another table. It really wasn't a big deal to me though.... Coming from a loud group of college friends I understand obnoxious people!
It definitely didn't damper our date night!

Sunday Ben and I headed to the gym and then went to see the Dark Knight in IMAX. That was on the best action hero movies I've seen in forever!
We finished the night with dinner and wine on our deck!

Hope everyone else had a fab weekend!

Don't Stop Believin....

BEST BAND EVER!!!
We got pretty close during the Encore!
Erin and Jannell singing their hearts out!!

So last night Jannell, Erin and I headed to Chastain Park for the BEST CONCERT OF ALL TIME!!! Those of you that know me, also know that I'm a HUGE Journey fan...

We got there a little early and had a great time tailgating in the parking lot with beer and sandwiches!

Walking into the concert we ran in to our friend Jennie Lewis who had just moved to ATL from DC a few weeks ago! We were so excited...we all started screaming...it was just all too random!

It was a crazy night but SO much fun! The music was great, and their new lead singer (an Asian guy they found on You Tube) was the best Steve Perry since...well... Steve Perry!!!

Check out the pics!

BBQ....ATL Crew meets College Crew!

Last night Erin and I arrived home from Nashville (truly exhausted) around 5pm.
We proceeded to take quick power naps and get ready for our bbq.
We had a big crowd over and Ben grilled out burgers.

Everyone brought a side dish and a great time was had all around!

Thanks to Erin, Jannell, Andy, Angela, Leah, David, Hayden, Anastasia, Kim, Will, Carissa, Amanda, Jay, Steph, and Pat for hanging out!!!

Fave Moments from this weekend in Nashville!

Seeing Tim and Faith's House!!!
Getting wasted at Cabana on Friday night with the girls!!!
Dancing on the Bar at Tootsie's for Caryn's BIG NIGHT OUT!!!
Seeing Caryn getting sandwiched between two cowboys!
Finding a stupid drunk boy to put on all of Erin's clothes for a fashion show in our hotel room!

Nashville is the MOST FUN!!!!!