{Travel}: Living it up in the ATL.

As mentioned in my last post, I went to Atlanta for a week of training for my new job. While down there I stayed with one of my best friends from college, Beth, and her husband Brad. It had been a while since I last visited them in Atlanta (we went over Christmas break a year and a half ago, posted here) and since then they had moved into their new house and gotten a new dog.

They were such gracious hosts and made my stay so wonderful. From good food to good conversation, it was a great week.

I got there Sunday night and we went to one of their favorite dinner spots, a taco place called Verde. It was great. I got a ground beef and a buffalo chicken taco and loved both.

After dinner we spent some time catching up and hanging out - and I got to meet Ollie, their more recent addition to the Vaughan family. He is a basset/lab mix (a bassador) and let's just say I was ready to smuggle him out of the house.

We also loved on Toby, their first dog and a full blooded basset hound:

We had a stereotypical Southern summer night - Beth and I sat on the porch rocking and chatting while Brad watered the lawn.

I sent Jake a picture of the beer they had to make him jealous - he loves Sweetwater Brewery and we can't get it in Memphis. I promised him I would pick some up on the way home.

Monday I had my first day of training and then Beth and I went for our trip to IKEA - post to come.

When we got home, Beth made the most delicious dinner.

It was slider burgers using a beef/pork/bacon meat mixture. Then she topped them with pimento cheese from the farmer's market and had homemade pickles from the farmer's market too. It was first class.

Tuesday night after training Beth had a meeting for the non-profit she works with so I met Brad at his office and we went to dinner. We had a really nice visit and I loved getting to chat with him. His office was very classy and reminded me of those legal shows. Dinner was so nice - we went to Pasta Da Pulcinella in Midtown. I definitely recommend it.

When we got back I snapped this pic of Toby - he loves sitting on the office couch!

Wednesday night Beth had one of their couple friends over for dinner. We were so excited to make the IKEA meatballs we snagged Monday night so those were an appetizer and then we made pizzas for dinner.

Beth pulled out the Cracker Barrel apron to cook with. She actually had more stars (she waitressed there for years) but when she quit and started back she lost her stars.

Thursday was Beth's birthday and so we went to this really trendy, fun place called Miller Union. We started with fancy drinks from the bar and then got three appetizers once we were seated before moving on to dinner. The highlights of the night were the fried grit balls and the fried okra.

My training ended on a Thursday and so the next morning I slept in a little bit (getting up at 8AM versus 6AM) and then went with Beth to a neat diner called the Silver Skillet for breakfast (can you tell we ate a LOT on this trip?!).

It was a fun place that was living large in the true time warp spirit. Situated right in the middle of Midtown Atlanta, it was true to its roots. It even was used to film a scene from "Remember the Titans".

After that, I headed out of town. On the way out I held up my promise and stopped to get some Sweetwater beer. I'm sure the cashier was concerned since it was 9:30AM and I was buying beer but oh well!

Then I hit the road back to Memphis!

I already miss my pals so much - the trip was so much fun. Beth will be here in August but I'll definitely be going back down to the ATL soon!

In friends that are like family,