10 Days in Atlanta!

I kicked off my first of 10 days in Atlanta by having dinner at Lure with my friend, Liz.  She is an executive chef, but as a side gig she works for a company that is hired by restaurants to do anonymous assessments of their establishment.  So, every few months she invites me to join her for a delicious meal at a place she is assessing.  Lure was fantastic.  I can't believe it has been open for 10 months and I haven't been there before.  The atmosphere was cool, the food was scrumptious and the staff was amazing.  I don't know what she is going to write up in her assessment, but I can only imagine it will be a glowing review.  Check out Lure if you are in midtown Atlanta.  After dinner I was meeting my good friend Peter and his girlfriend Elizabeth at The Family Dog for a few drinks before Peter goes in for open heart surgery on Monday.  He would be really mad at me for revealing this news in my blog, but the way I see it - - - the more people who can be thinking of him and wishing him well, the better.  We had some great conversation and laughs and parted ways about midnight.  I will be relieved when I see him at Emory on Tuesday after the surgery is behind him.

I met my friend Lori for lunch on Thursday in Kennesaw.  She is now working up there, so it's only fair that the person without the job makes the drive!  :)  It was great to get caught up with her and hear about her "new" job.  She seems to be kicking butt in her role as VP of Marketing and was kind enough to offer assistance in my job search when my sabbatical comes to an end.  I am so fortunate to have such wonderful, smart, generous people in my life.  She was heading up to the north Georgia mountains for a long weekend the next morning and for all accounts was going to have perfect weather the entire time!  Yay!

I had plans to hang out with my friend Meghan on Friday.  Walking, touring the Monday Night Brewing facility, lunching on a deck somewhere and playing dominoes.  We got a bit of a late start, but ended up having a great afternoon.  Her husband Adam is the head brewer at Monday Night Brewing and I had been wanting to check out the brewery since they moved back from New Mexico.  The entire facility (including the tasting room) is AMAZING!  If you are looking for a cool space to host an event, check them out!  We had a fabulous lunch at Flip Burger Boutique and headed home for some dominoes after Zoey went to sleep.  The weather in Atlanta was nearly perfect on Friday night and Saturday was slated to be even better!

I awoke to a text on Saturday morning that Cille was ill and Jonas needed help managing the moving parts of Nora's soccer game since he was coaching and Annika (while extremely mature for a 2-year-old) is not quite ready to play independently.  So, I headed to their house at 8:00 am to ride to the field with them so I could entertain Annika while Nora and her teammates kicked butt on the field.  Sue joined us at 9:00 am and the two of us tag-teamed so we could each watch some soccer and get some playground time.  It was great.  Jonas and I took the girls to Sidney Marcus park after the game before meeting up with Cille (post-doctor's visit) for lunch at Bantam & Biddy.  She was diagnosed with viral laryngitis which is a real bummer, but she was already feeling better after some medicinal gargle.  Sue and I met up for a 5 mile walk on the Atlanta Beltline in the afternoon and then grabbed a quick bite at Willy's for dinner.  I think everyone and their brother was out and about due to the awesome weather.  The beltline was packed, Piedmont Park was packed and when I drove home the highway was packed.  An early start to Spring brings out the masses.

Annika about to hit the slide all by herself!

Hope Solo has nothing on Nora Goodman!  Go Turtles!

It was hard to believe St. Patrick's Day was here already.  The year is flying by faster than I care to admit.  I slept in on Sunday, but did make it to George's for brunch/lunch at 11:30.  As I drove down Highland Ave I noticed the road was closed for the Atlanta Marathon. I grabbed a quick parking spot and started walking towards George's.  As I crossed Los Angeles Ave I heard someone yell my name.  I looked up to see Chris McDaid cheering on the runners with his two sons, Will and Jack.  I walked across the street to chat with them and find out where Colleen might be?!?  Chris told me that she was shopping for some dresses for their upcoming trip to Las Vegas.  I had completely forgotten, but we will be in Las Vegas at the same time.  I am leaving Sunday for a few day in Las Vegas with Rachel and he works in the same division of Wells Fargo that she does, so he will be there, too!  We may meet up for a drink it time permits!

On Monday my dear friend, Peter, had his scheduled open heart surgery.  While he is doing much better now, he had some complications that made for a very anxious few days for all of us that love him.  Thank you very much to everyone who kept him in their thoughts and prayers this past week.  All of the positive thoughts certainly helped.  I look forward to his release from the hospital soon and lots of quality time on his couch when I get back from Las Vegas.  He still has a long recovery ahead of him, so please keep the thoughts and prayers coming...  Much love sweet Pete!

I went to the doctor on Friday to get a new round of biometrics and blood work done to see how all of my diet and exercise have impacted by blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides.  I only got the biometric results on the spot, but am feeling really great about those:  blood pressure was 121 over 80 and I had lost 36.7 pounds since my last visit in August.  All of the numbers on my blood work were pretty good last time, but I look forward to seeing how they come back with all the dietary changes I've made.  I should have them next week sometime.  Fingers crossed!

Annika's 2nd birthday party was Saturday and in typical Goodman fashion, it was spectacular.  Even though the weather didn't cooperate, everyone had a ball and the Yo Gabba Gabba theme was right up Annika's alley.  She is obsessed with the show and having the entire house decked out with Yo Gabba Gabba gear was awesome!  It did stop raining long enough for everyone to enjoy some outside time and bounce house fun which was a relief.  Of course, she got more gifts than any child could ever use, but you only turn 2 once, right?  :)

Birthday girl... Someone loves cake! 

This is how to close out a party - 5 kids on a bed watching a show!

I am off to Vegas in the morning.  Look for a post on that adventure when I get back next week.