Spring Break

Logan's school is a private school that operates on the corresponding county's school calendar. What that means to me, is even though he is 2 and is technically in daycare, his school is closed for holidays that are meaningless in the business world (i.e. MLK, Jr Day, President's Day) and Spring Break. As a child I looked forward to Spring Break. As an adult, who is not a teacher, I dread it. I thought I had plans for Logan to be cared for the entire week his "school" was closed, but those plans fell through and I was left with not only taking time off from work to care for my son, but also finding things for us to do while his school was closed. So I went to a few websites, I asked around and I managed to make Spring Break something I can't wait for next school year.

Atlanta is supposed to be a great place for singles, but those singles eventually get married and have children, or they skip the married part altogether and still have children; either way, from my experiences this past week I can say that Atlanta is a great place for toddlers. And good on your wallet. I like coupons, deals and discounts better than anybody. If there is a way to make something free or to save me a couple of bucks, sign me up. For a discount I found several things to do with Logan, just the two of us. And on a not-so-discount, I still found some relatively inexpensive activities.

Monday: My friend Carla took Logan and her two kids and her cousin to the Atlanta Zoo. I bought a zoo pass (which by the way is not transferable, but the pass was purchased with Logan in mind, and was still used for him, so technically there is no "infraction"). The zoo pass entitles two adults and two kids free entry into the zoo. This was perfect for Carla. She paid admission for only one person. The kids and Carla stayed at the zoo for the bulk of the day. There is so much to do there and the icing on the cake is that there is a playground right at the exit from the zoo. So just when you think your kids are done for the day, they see a sliding board and muster up enough energy for a full blown second wind. I met Carla at the zoo after work. Logan was dirty-a sure fire sign of a good time. The second Logan got into the car the went to sleep-another sure fire sign of a good time. He had a really good day!

Tuesday: Logan was kept by Melanie. A mother with a 1.5 year old daughter, Madison. Madison is such a little lady. I have seen her numerous times and only 2 of those times she wore pants. All of the other times she was in a dress. And even though her mother dresses her, I am certain if Madison had the option to pick out her own clothes, she would also chose to wear a dress. That is just her personality. Madison and Logan had what I like to refer to as an extended play date. When I arrived at Melanie's home I saw the driveway adorned with sidewalk chalk, I was met with a bird feeder craft that looked like something the Spout network should have in its repertoire if it's not already a mainstay. Logan was not ready to go. He was excited to see me, but I could tell that he still wanted to play. He enjoyed his time with Madison and they even exchanged a little smooch to end the day. Talking about sealing something with a kiss...

Wednesday: I'm off from work for the rest of the week, so it's on! We started our day, sleeping in. And by sleeping in I mean 7:30 instead of 6:00. I didn't get up until 8:00. We lounged around a bit and played with some toys from the birthday party. Around 1:00 we headed to Imagine It! Children's Museum. If I can be honest, this place is a lot like Chuck E. Cheese's without the booze and tokens and tickets. You have tons of things for kids to get into. You have the bigger kids monopolizing the play time of the better attractions and you have parents not watching their kids. I'll admit, we had a good time, but I was very frustrated by the lack of play areas for the 2 and under crowd. There was only 1 space for the little ones and it was near the most popular attraction. Logan wasn't having being confined to a small and somewhat remote play area with a play area specifically for water play nearby. And I wasn't having him playing with toys that haven't been sanitized in God knows how long. The 2 and unders outnumbered the bigger kids, but much in the way of apartheid South Africa, the powerful minority had dominion over the majority. And then there was Clifford, the big red dog. This was the highlight of Logan's trip. He ran up to Clifford and gave him a big hug, slapped him five and gave him a fist bump, in that order. After that we left, but not before paying $10 to park for 2 hours and 1 minute in the neighboring parking structure. Sheesh!

Thursday: We traveled up to Marietta for Logan's 2 year old appointment. It went well, primarily because Logan is doing wonderfully and he didn't need any shots! Logan and I left the appointment and then went to Terrell Mill Rd Park. This is a pretty large park with approximately 6 baseball fields, 4 tennis courts and a soccer field. This is the perfect place to try out Logan's new bubble mower, compliments of Auntie Carla. Logan loves this bubble mower. He "cut the grass" for what felt like every square inch of the park. And when he was done "cutting the grass" he decided to "cut the grass" on the sidewalks and in the parking lot. Logan had a great time pushing that mower. He even made a friend at the park, but he wasn't friendly enough to share that mower. For the third time this week, he got in the car and went to sleep.
Friday: This was a bum day for Logan. We didn't do too much. Our day consisted of going to two banks, getting a quick lunch at Olive Garden, going to the post office to get some stamps and ship the Oriental Trading extras back to the company, getting some gas, going to Old Navy to take advantage of the $5 shirts and $5 shorts, paying the electric bill and cable bill in person and handling one other inane business matter before heading home and watching  Bubble Guppies on Nick Jr. We were supposed to go to the beach at Lake Acworth, but it was too cold. Mind you, it's been hot since December so it was a shock to not hit 65 degrees on Good Friday. We were supposed to have big fun, but we ran big errands instead and did some review of colors using the Latches Board that Auntie O (Logan's godmother) bought for Logan's birthday. It was a great, plan B, day because Mommy didn't have to work and Logan didn't have to go to school.

Saturday: Back to Marietta for us for an Easter Egg Hunt equipped with a helicopter drop of Easter egg onto Sprayberry High School's football field. Logan had a ball. He got his picture taken with the Easter Bunny. He picked up tons of eggs, one at a time. He got a balloon. He got a puzzle and he didn't have to wake up at 7:00 like he would have if we would have gone anywhere else. The Northeast Cobb Easter Egg Hunt started after noon. So we could enjoy some Backyardigans and a nice breakfast before heading out and all without waking up too early.

Immediately following the Easter Egg Hunt we headed south on I-75 to go to one of the best things I have done in Atlanta. We went to the Center for the Puppetry Arts Museum and got to see how Jim Henson's Muppets and Sesame Street Monsters went from paper to television. It was very cool. I got to relive my childhood watching both Fraggle Rock and Dinosaurs there. We also caught a puppet play of Peter Pan. Logan watched the whole thing! We only paid $13 for the both of us to enter the museum and catch the show. After the show all of the kids were able to create their own alligator puppets. This is a great place for a birthday party! I was impressed.

After we left the Center for the Puppetry Arts, we headed to Atlantic Station as we still had time for more Easter-related activities. Once we arrived there was still pictures ($5), face painting, inflatables, crafts and train rides going on. There was a long line for Italian Ice and all of the cupcakes were gone from the cupcake truck. We ate at Fishook Grille and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon before coming back home. It was an awesome day.

I have loved this week, at least the 3 days I had off.  It kicked off with Logan's birthday party and ends with Easter. We will have church tomorrow and then back to business as usual on Easter Monday. We might even go to the Museum tomorrow. I'm looking forward to my next day off and looking forward to hanging with my son.

Pure

There are not many reasons why I go to Alpharetta. I hate the drive there, even as a passenger; even though the Alpharetta Audubon (GA 400) allows you to drive as fast as you like. Alpharetta is just too far.  However, if the final destination is Pure Taqueria then I can get over the trek for a good Peach Mojito and a Prickly Pear Margarita and Pescado Veracruz. 

Now, I am biased; I love any restaurant that serves guacamole so I can't be objective about a Mexican restaurant that serves fresh seafood and guacamole. But I can say this, I enjoyed my time at Pure, if not just for the company of my girls and the perfect weather for outside dining, for the great food. And judging by the wait time for a table and the busyness of the restaurant, I am not alone in this sentiment.
My one gripe is that Pure needs a parking lot. Who ever heard of having to valet in Alpharetta?? There's way too much land out there to not have thought of putting a parking lot, with ample parking spaces, within a few steps of the front door. The valet guys had to run across the street to fetch park cars. (You read that right, they parked cars across the street).
The service was great and the bathrooms were clean. Sounds like I have a reason to go back to Alpharetta. Until next time

Empire State South

I had the pleasure, back several weeks ago, of dining with a small group of women at a restaurant in Midtown called Empire State South. It's where the style of the North is infused with the soul of the South. The food is fantastic. The ambiance is simple chic. If I had to gripe about anything thing it would be the gorgeous hardwood floor that I had a hard time walking on while wearing my 5.5 inch stilettos; and the awkward location of the restaurant. I think I drove by the restaurant several times before I found it. But the food made up for my traveling frustrations.
I loved my dish. I ordered the Winter Salad and the Strube Ranch Colette. The Winter Salad had fried greens, which adds a unique flavor and crunchy consistency that won't soon be forgotten. The Colette (beef dish) was cooked to perfection. I paired it with gnocchi and left the table feeling satisfied and happy at the choice of restaurant. To complete our experience we had fatty cakes for dessert. If you love a good whoopie pie you will fall in love all over again with the fatty cakes. Too bad I didn't write this post earlier. I am really not doing the dish or the restaurant justice. All in all, I loved my experience and I will be back.

Pioneering

I really don't have time for this. How ironic is that first sentence for a new blog? I love the concept of a blog; sharing, oversharing, becoming a self-proclaimed expert at something you just decided to blog about, or just diarying your life out because you are getting older and won't remember all of this stuff anyway...but you wish you could...at least the good stuff. I wish memories worked in a way that only allowed you to remember the good things and not the bad things.  But that's not how it goes, that's not how life is; what's the highs without the lows???

I don't really have a focus for this blog. I think my opening paragraph is a rather palpable example of this. When I first decided to write a blog I thought about writing one to discuss the many restaurants that my friends/coworkers and I frequent each month for our "Girls Night Out" events. We have had a ball so far, but it's only been two restaurants. Living in Atlanta there will never be a shortage of places to go, but if I only blog about us going to restaurants I will only blog 12 times a year. So I needed more. My friend, fellow mommy, attorney, genius, goregous girl inside and out, and funny woman, Erica watches Showtime, HBO, AMC, Bravo etc just as much as I do. I thought I could write about the television I LOVE, but I only think she and I would read it and I prefer the email dialogue we have for [longer than we should while at work] on the programs we watched the night before.   Then I thought about writing about my son. My most precious, amazing, awesome, intelligent, HANDSOME, Logan. I would never tire of writing or talking about him, but I really don't like hearing a whole lot about other people's kids. I have to force myself to be interested if I don't know your child or you like that, so I'm sure strangers could give a care about my wonderful, wonderful, soon-to-be-2 year old son. So next topic... I don't know... I guess I am still searching.  Don't be surprised if you find a lot of everything in this blog. I promise not to bore you. And I will tell the truth, but only in the nicest way possible. This blog is not to offend. It's just to share my thoughts.