Our weekend in Atlanta

We packed up our dancing shoes and our furry child and headed to Atlanta around 7 pm on Friday. Because of some lovely road construction, we arrived at about 11:30 pm.

We gave tons of lovins to my mom’s dog Lily. Have you read about her? She seems to be doing better, but it is a slow process. I think she enjoyed having company!

Saturday my mom made French toast, which we topped with delicious apple butter. (We ate a whole jar while we were there). And then spent the rest of the morning drinking coffee, catching up, and touring her garden to check out what is in bloom. My parents built this beautiful stone and wood shed in their backyard (mom – can you blog about that?), and she will be in the Georgia Master Gardener’s Garden tour in May. So while she says she has a lot of work to do (and I don’t doubt that her garden is a lot of work!), for my standards, it is tour ready now!

After that, it was time to head downtown to celebrate the marriage of two wonderful people. 

Thanks mom for the picture!

The wedding was at 2:30, the shuttle from the hotel left at 4, cocktail hour started at 5, and I don’t think we left until about 10:30. This allowed for lots of time catching up with friends and celebrating the beautiful couple. I love how they did the schedule that way.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful with no detail spared. The church was gorgeous, PAIGE was gorgeous, the cocktail hour was outside in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, baskets were filled with flip flops as dancing shoes, tea and lemonade were served prior to the bar opening, the flowers on the tables were beautiful, the food was some of the best I have had, the mother / son dance turned into a flash mob to "Staying Alive," the photobooth / guestbook made for lots of laughs, and I could go on and on.

Chihuly Fountain

Table 13:

The place card table. Blurry ... but a glimpse of how beautiful the wedding was and the details involved.

Dance moves by the groom:

He swept her off her feet (pun intended):

After the wedding, we all headed to The Ivy. Somehow, in all of downtown Atlanta, one person mentions "people are going to The Ivy" and all of us head over there. It was like an unofficial after party.

Now. The part I wish I had documented: The cajun fries. Wait. Let me back up.

It's now 3 am (which is way past my bed time, and the Matchbox 20 song is playing in my head, along with "Closing Time," because it just seems fitting .. I'm rambling). Well Brett decides that he needs something to eat. None of us thinking it is a good idea .. just yet. He asks the lady at the front desk who delivers at this hour, and she hands him the menu of a Chinese Place. 

I know. ...You are wondering where cajun fries are coming into play? We are still wondering that today. 

You see. On the menu, they had cajun fries. And, as much as it pains me to tell you this, they sounded like a wonderful idea at the time. None of the following went through our heads:

1. What non-sketchy restaurant delivers at 3 am? Exactly.
2. Oprah says not to eat past 7.
3. What Chinese place serves cajun fries? Identity crisis? Who. Are. They?

Let me tell you. These were the worst fries ever. They were clearly baked in 2002 and microwaved around midnight. Unfortunately, we ate way too many of them. Moral of the story: don't order cajun fries from a Chinese place. Oh, you never would? Well someone should have told us.

After the cajun fries and a few hours of sleep, we went back to mom's to have brunch with my Aunt and Uncle, who I hadn't seen in too long. It's always so good to see them, and I end up with wonderful recipes and other creative ideas from my Aunt. She is an awesome cook!

My mom made her Chicago Breakfast Bowls. As soon as she puts the recipe up on her blog - I'll share. If it takes too long, I'll post it myself. 

We watched the Falcons win and headed back to Charlotte just in time for bed. It was a great weekend!

PS. You now have "Closing Time" stuck in your head don't you? You don't have to go home but you can't, stay, here.