Firsts and Lasts

As I end my time here in Atlanta, I have completed a bunch of firsts. Things I have always wanted to do in town, but never had time. Restaurants and attractions that every local should do.

I also have my series of lasts. My last meal at the Farmer's Market a week ago with Erin, my last oyster shooter at Six Feet Under with Angela & Chris and then yesterday my last shift at Souper Jenny.

Due to the fact that Sunday brunch is the red haired step child of the work week, I pretty much went out without major fan fare. And to be honest, that's really what I wanted. The "Party Here" banner hanging outside the restaurant and on the sneeze guard made me pretty uncomfortable, as did the pouty faces that I got from some customers upon hearing about me leaving. Kate, Chris, Ethan and little Jonathan stopped by yesterday and partook in the complimentary mimosas and that good-bye was very, very hard.

I must say that the support from the customers has been pretty cool. Jenn asked me if any of my regulars came in to say goodbye and the truth is I don't have any. Okay, there were two that came in specifically to say farewell. I am not disappointed by that, it's just a fact. I know that I have affected many a customer in my 5 and a half years. I don't really need the validation now. I got hugs and a very lovely toast from a complete stranger on Saturday and lots of well wishes yesterday (including a pair of Crocs) from customers upon their departures.

I am a true Taurus and change is hard, yet inevitable. This move is a change that was a long time coming. And I am finally ready to make the leap.

During dinner with Sarah yesterday evening at my last meal at Ru San's, she asked me if I am excited. For the first time, I answered "yes" without hesitation.

There's a disturbance in the force

I would not call what I am going through a freak-out. It's kinda a mini-freak out. Well, actually not even that. I like to call it a disturbance in the force.

The question that comes up often these days is "are you excited?" And the answer usually is "I'm equal parts excited and terrified." Which you musical theatre fans realize is very similar to how Little Red Riding Hood felt about the Wolf in Into the Woods. (You're singing now, aren't you?)

Well today, I am more terrified than excited.

Tomorrow my car gets picked up for transport so I pack my trunk tonight after Grilled Cheese Night at Souper Jenny and truly live out of two suitcases until I leave next Wednesday. There are tons of things that I still have to do as well as tons of things that I will never do.

However, let's keep positive with what I HAVE done. And the lovely LIST...

COMPLETED
Hike Stone Mountain and Nikoli's Roof-- There is a blog about these. Read on...
The Zoo -- Our fair Zoo is a mix of lame and really cool. It still feels that some of the cages are uber small and the animals are too constricted. The gorillas were fun to watch and I could stare at the smelly otters all day.
Luckie -- A perfect pair for the a trip to the aquarium. The service needs a little work and the menu needs a major cutting, but the food was great and the atmosphere is very hip. Stephanie Davis was the perfect dining companion.
Kyma -- Ah, another Buckhead Life Group restaurant. I did not see the same pretentiousness as we saw at Bluepoint, thankfully. Jenn and I shared the Meze Plate of 5 different menu selections. I overate, but luckily we only had a glass of wine a piece rather than an entire bottle. That way we have some room for the yummy Espresso Martinis!

SCHEDULED
Ann's Snack Shop and movies at the Starlight Drive-in -- 7/28 with Angela and Chris
The Kangaroo Conservation Center -- 7/31 with Erin

NEED TO SCHEDULE
The High Museum
Greenwood's on Green

LETTING GO
Zuma or Fune
Pericles at GA Shakespeare

Um, T-minus 6 days.

Don't hate me because...

You Are an "It Girl"

You're outgoing, friendly, and charismatic. You are aware of your image, and you are constantly improving yourself. You're definitely the type of girl people love to be around!

Are You An "It Girl"?

Lesson: the food of Ethiopia

As part of my last week at Souper Jenny, Jenny decided to order some lunch yesterday from the cuisine of my choice. Hmmm.

Thai? Sushi?

Nope, Ethiopian! It's been forever since I've dined on Ethiopian food. Of course, there were the endless jokes about them eating rice and dirt. Okay, folks, enough. The witty banter from the 80s is, what shall I say?...um, DATED!

Ethiopian cuisine is stinkin' great. It's communal dining eaten with your hands. How much cooler can you get? Anyway, enough with the jokes people. Here's another lesson.

Ethiopia, located in Northeast Africa at the base of the "horn," is a country more commonly associated with political upheavals and drought, rather than gastronomy. Yet Ethiopian cuisine offers an exceptional and exquisite array of flavorful food that is unique to Africa and the world. Ethiopian food is the ultimate in spicy cookery, not only because the food is hot, but also because of the wide variety of spices used.

Ethiopian Recipes
Spice Paste (Berbere)
Chicken Stewed in Red Pepper Paste (Doro Wat)
Eggplant Salad
Spiced Butter (Niter Kebbeh)
Beef Stewed in Red Pepper Paste (Sik Sik Wat)
Chick Pea Fritters (Yeshimbra Assa)
Lentil Salad (Yemiser Selatta)
Vegetables with Garlic and Ginger (Yataklete Kilkil)
Honey Yeast Bread (Yemarina Yewotet Dabo)

Ethiopian cuisine consists of various vegetable or meat side dishes and entrees, usually a wat or thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread made out of fermented teff flour. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses injera (always with the right hand) to scoop up the entrees and side dishes.

For more information: Ethiopia on Wikipedia

I'm on the TOP of the WORLD

On Friday, I checked two things off my list that allowed me some of the best views in the area.

I drove to Tuxworth Springs at 9AM and Erin and I drove out 78 to the Mountain of Stone. Or as the locals say Stone Mountain. I have not been on the grounds since I saw Maria Parra there with the Big Apple Circus LAST year and I forgot how vast it is. There's antebellum homes and educational centers and lots of walkers. We drove to the base of the walking trail parked the car and with our bottles of water started the climb. I remember Angela saying to drink lots because you are basically walking on stone. She wasn't kidding! It's odd terrain. A path of smooth granite with woods on both sides. There were lots of intricate carvings (you know of the initial variety) from 20-30 years ago, which makes me think that the kids today do not have the same level of patience. Or there are more trolling staffers that won't allow the defacing of the rock. Anyway, there were a bunch of kids from a church group or camp that were RUNNING up the mountain. Um, yeah, crazy!

The best is when we got to the halfway point and there was a sitting area a group of counselors were standing at the top of a small staircase and one counselor yelled to one of the kids, "Miles, why are you walking!" That cracked me up. Mostly because Erin and I needed to take a breather from our WALK.

At the top of the mountain the view is very cool. There is also a little pit stop and snack bar. We sat down on the rock and just took it all in. After 10 minutes or so, we bought a box of popcorn and headed back down. Luckily we found some nice walkers who took our picture since we planned to take photos of each of us and then photo shop them later.

Even though both of us wanted a nap, we got back, took showers and headed to the farmers market and to Kroger to get some groceries for Erin and Steve's Wisconsin Cheese Party. Can anyone say, cheese curds?!

I did manage to sneak a nap in later before meeting Crystal Dickinson at Bajarito's to talk about her experience teaching acting and her impending move with Brandon to NY. Then on to the Hilton and Nikoli's Roof.

My expectation of this place was pretty high, so I have to say that I was a tad disappointed based on that alone. It was very old school and the place was just not that busy. It was white glove service and the waiter was very nice and much more approachable than the dudes at Bluepoint. Kate, Chris and I decided to do the Chef's Tasting Menu which clicked in at $95 a head. There were lots of yummies -- a trio of pieroshkis, sliced scallops with microgreens, halibut, lamb chops and these fantastic cheeses. But I have to say that at that price EVERYTHING should have been OUTSTANDING. I also expected it to be, oh I don't know, a tad more Russian.

It was great to see Kate and Chris and get a cool view of the city. I certainly do not regret the decision to dine there.

T-minus 10 days 'til departure, baby!

I wish I had a camera!

It's so funny to be in the cubicle maze at CCCS. What looked like a monsoon just went through downtown and since we're on the 18th floor everyone ran to the windows to see.

I also saw someone throwing a small orange ball up in the air. Or it could have been a real orange. Anyway, funny to see just a ball projecting up above the cubicle wall and a bit of the hand throwing and catching.

I also found a large, opened bag of Chocolate Tortilla chips in the break room. Yes, I had to try one -- maybe 2...

They were oddly good.

THE LIST Updated

I promise a more interesting post with lots of fun pictures soon. In the meantime, here's the updated list.

SCHEDULED
Hike Stone Mountain -- 7/20 with Erin
Nikoli's Roof -- 7/20 with Kate and Chris
The Zoo -- 7/21 for Angela's birthday
Luckie -- 7/24 with Stephanie Davis
Kyma -- 7/25 with Jennifer Levison
Ann's Snack Shop and movies at the Starlight Drive-in -- 7/28 with Angela and Chris
The Kangaroo Conservation Center -- 7/31 with Erin

NEED TO SCHEDULE
The High Museum
Zuma or Fune
Pericles at GA Shakespeare
Greenwood's on Green

Long time, no post

Okay, I know it has not been THAT long, but after writing either every day or every two days...to not post for a week during my last 2 weeks in Atlanta is bizarre, non? Well, maybe not bizarre, but inquiring minds want to know what the heck is going on, right?

As I sit in Jen Levison's living room drinking my now cold coffee, it's quiet but for the sound of the dishwasher. No kitty screaming or Jonah running hither and thither. Quiet. I have just under an hour to get dressed and packed up for my day -- yoga, CCCS and then hip-hop.

After my 4 yoga classes and a massage last week, my hamstrings are not happy. I meant to stretch yesterday, but all I managed to do was to take a pre-dinner walk around the block with the Levison pair before hopping a squat for the evening with a few glasses of wine.

After a yummy dinner of salmon and ravioli eaten al fresco on the back patio, Jen and Jonah watched Spiderman as I finally grabbed my box of papers to go through. Receipts, contracts from the sale of my condo, headshots... I was able to recycle about 1/4 of the papers, but need to go through the remainder. I tried to do the last bit of data entry for Synchronicity, but my password was disabled on the system. Hopefully this will be fixed, so I don't have to just pass them off for someone else to complete.

T-Minus 14 days until Depature. Everything is set and all plans are made, which I must say is quite freeing. My furniture and belongings are in a storage facility in Sacramento and the cat carriers have arrived. I am just cramming in the last of my list and do everything before I go. Now that Jen is reinvigorated with the cookbook, I may need to head back to Atlanta earlier than later to celebrate the release. Kinda exciting, huh?

In the meantime, here's where THE LIST stands:

COMPLETED
Piebar -- I went with Chris and Angela. The food was good, but can anyone say pretentious?
Papi's on North -- Well it was actually on Ponce and I did take out with Michele Pearce. We ate it in the picnic area before we saw -- da, da, da da..
The Servant of Two Masters at GA Shakespeare -- Very silly, and I would hate not to know all of the inside jokes. Go and see this for Daniel May's grounded performance.
Camelot at Aurora -- was one of 50 million actors who ushered that night. Okay, not 50 million, but I have never seen so many ushers in one place. Big congrats to Tony and AC on a great new venue.
Bluepoint -- Another pretentious experience with Chris and Angela. However if you get over that fine dining craziness, the oysters and the duck entree are stellar!

SCHEDULED
The Kangaroo Conservatory -- 7/20 with Erin
Nikoli's Roof -- 7/20 with Kate and Chris
The Zoo -- 7/21 for Angela's birthday
Luckie -- 7/24 with Stephanie Davis
Zuma -- 7/25 with Jen Denning and Margaret

NEED TO SCHEDULE
The High Museum
Kyma
movies at the Starlight Drive-in
Ann's Snack Shop
Pericles at GA Shakespeare
Greenwood's on Green
Hiking Stone Mountain

Gosh, so much to do and less and less time. Let's get keep on truckin'!

Tickin' off the list

T-minus 21 days until the big move and I am gradually ticking off items on the to-do list.

Yesterday I returned a bunch of items to Lowe's and brought Bill Murphey the gift of my old crockpot. I have to say that I was going to keep it, but Jessica at Souper Jenny said that it was a cooking appliance for "old people." So, I decided against it. And lord knows that Bill needs something to keep his holiday snacks warm for his Christmas Eve party.

I have also started going through my box of papers and CDs. I still need to post all my receipts to Quicken and rip all my CDs. And for the love of all that is holy, I will get all of the checks and contacts into Synchronicity's database.

In terms of the list from June, here's where we stand...

COMPLETED
Piebar -- I went with Chris and Angela. The food was good, but can anyone say pretensious?
Papi's on North -- We'll it was actually on Ponce and I did take out this evening with Michele Pearce. We ate it in the picnic area before we saw -- da, da, da da..
The Servant of Two Masters at GA Shakespeare -- Very silly, and I would hate not to have know all of the inside jokes
Camelot at Aurora -- was one of 50 million actors who ushered that night. Okay, not 50 million, but I have never seen so many ushers in such a small venue. Big congrats to Tony and AC on a great new venue.

SCHEDULED
Bluepoint -- 7/11 with Chris and Angela
The Kangaroo Conservatory -- 7/20 with Erin
Nikoli's Roof -- 7/20 with Kate and Chris
The Zoo -- 7/21 for Angela's birthday

NEED TO SCHEDULE
The High Museum
Fune or Zuma
Kyma
movies at the Starlight Drive-in
Ann's Snack Shop
Pericles at GA Shakespeare
Greenwood's on Green
Luckie
Hiking Stone Mountain

Okay, 11:24PM. Not too tired to watch another Scrubs...

Incoming!

I got a call today from ABF that my Relocubes have arrived in Sacramento. They wanted to know where to deliver them. I guess I need to call them and remind them about the month of storage.

Since they only deliver the units in the afternoon, I hope to get someone to be there to receive them or if I can arrange to have them delivered in my absence. I would like the unloading process to happen as soon as possible.

Guess I didn't need that Moth Quarantine form for the State of California after all...

Do it for the Earth!

I started my day with an episode of Scrubs from the 3rd season (I *heart* Zach Braff) and then stopped by the farmer's market at the Cathedral at St. Philip's in Buckhead to pick up some locally grown produce. This evening Angela and Chris hosted a Live Earth party at their loft.

They had some organic beer and the makin's for some organic martinis. I made a swiss chard stirfry and a salad with fresh avocados and little heirloom tomatoes. There was cheese a-plenty and some organic cupcakes -- and we got to watch some of the acts from the concerts in New Jersey, London, Shanghai, and Johannesberg.

But the real deal is the pledge for the environment. Check out your carbon footprint and little things you can do to save our planet.

I for one will no longer get receipts at the gas station and will fill my used water bottles with filtered tap. It's easy folks. Please join me.

Happy Co-dependence Day!

That's what Mitchell Anderson wished Jenny this morning when he called to say hello.

I am sitting out in Jenny's beautiful backyard. While it's not my secluded patio, it really is quite lovely.

I have been reading the beginnings of Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins and thought I would take a break to expose some of my most recent happenings.

I was more than pleased yesterday to return to my regular routine. Yoga in the morning before my hours of staring at a computer at CCCS, followed my a little hippin' and a-hoppin' at the LA Fitness at Atlantic Station. I did take a lunch break with Michele and had pretty decent falafel, but it's hard to do that much work in front of a monitor for extended periods of time.

Maxie took to destroying the fabric on the underside of the box spring of the bed in Jonah's room, so I awoke this morning with quite a headache from the lack of sleep. I hoped to walk the Peachtree Road Race this morning, but I did watch it on the ol' tele for a few minutes this morning and of course, showed Jonah some of the funny things my lap top can do.

Jenny is at the restaurant doing a little prep for tomorrow and Joanne took Jonah to the pool. I am not sure what merriment is in store for me today.

I am starting to get a bit bored, but I do have to say that the quiet is most welcome after the past week of craziness.

Here's a little taste of Friday morning with Erin before my closing. What we did not capture was the ant infestation in my office before my buyer and her agent did the final walk-through. I did see the agent (after a frantic phone call with Ashley) and told him that I put bait down and it should clear up within 24 hours.

It did not come up in closing which is most positive. Katie, the buyer was very complimentary of my condo and told of the paint color changes. She will also be tending to my potted plants in the backyard. Closing for that matter was a pleasurable experience and better yet, I left with a big fat check.

Happy 4th!

Let's play catch UP!

Jenny called the shop yesterday from her jaunt in Miami and said that we would be closed today. We have been pretty slow sinc ethe weather here in Atlanta has been so stinkin' hot. This gives me a good day to check some things off my list and get a bit settled here. It also allowed me to take care of my horrible looking nails. Look how pretty they are now! The folks at the salon also warned me about foot fungus. There was a lot gunk under the nail of my big toes. They're squeaky clean now. Yippee!

I cannot believe it's already noon. I still hope to get to the Margaret Mitchell House today and will probably join Jenny and Jonah in seeing Ratatouille this evening.

If that's the case, I will finish up here.

As soon as I get the photos from Erin, I will continue the tales of my journey from my condo to Jenny's house.

Ciao, or with the movie in mind I guess I should say, a bientot!