I mentioned before that I’m helping Mom become a bit more adventurous every year when it comes to trying new activities. Where I haven’t succeeded was in getting her to be adventurous with her food. She loves to eat at Houston’s, so for every anniversary, birthday, Mother’s/Father’s Day, graduation, and in town guest visit, she wants to go there to eat. Not that it’s not delicious food, because it’s friggin fantastic, but Atlanta and Georgia constantly rank in the top 20 cities/states for having some of the best restaurants in the country according to Thrillist, US News, WalletHub, and The Daily Meal! I refuse to let this palate neglect go on any longer, so I have decided to force her to go on a food tasting tour of the restaurants owned by none other than Ford Fry.
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We’re all about trying unique experiences throughout Atlanta and Georgia, so this sake tasting was right up my alley. It wasn’t until I attended a sake tasting with an official Kikisake-shi (sake sommelier) at Yakitori Jinbei that I realized the sake breweries are going out of business at an alarming rate. I also didn’t know there was such a thing as a Kikisake-shi who could pair foods with different sakes. That’s what I love about the cultural diversity of Atlanta. You can go to a Japanese restaurant in Smyrna, get a history lesson on sake hosted by a sake sommelier, and enjoy a Japanese-fusion paired menu of deliciousness by a chef who went from being an optometrist to a culinary expert. Let’s talk about it.
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No, the title isn’t a joke, and no, I didn’t mean Napa Valley or Sonoma. I will say it again, Georgia has award-winning wines and they’re made at Yonah Mountain Vineyards. Yonah Mountain Vineyards’ harvested land sits on 20 acres and grows Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot up in Cleveland, Georgia. Now that I have your attention, let me take you on a tour of the only wine cave in Georgia.
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Mom and I love a good unique experience, so it’s no wonder we spent Mother’s Day at a glassblowing class in Decatur. We know we could have made dinner reservations, gone to a spa, or the movies, but we wanted to do something different this year. Nothing screams Mother’s Day more than fire, glass, and flowers. Don’t agree, I’ll explain…
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Although we took the scenic route through Jheri Curl town, Just For Me Relaxer-Ville, and Wave Nouveau City, we ended our hair journey with natural hair. It was never even a thought to just be natural until 2013. Prior to that we were doing everything under the sun to our hair. Let us take you on a little trip down black hair memory lane to explain why we finally decided that natural hair was the best thing we could have ever done.
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If you haven’t had a chance to read our bio page, then let me tell you that Mom has come a LONG way from the sheltered woman she was 10 even 4 years ago. Let me explain. It wasn’t until 5 years ago that she took her first international flight. It wasn’t until this year that she took her first girl’s trip, where she went out of the country for the first time without myself or my father in tow.
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Before I started planning my wedding or even before I got engaged, I always thought I’d have a beach wedding. Of course I met a guy from Georgia who has a big family, and he wanted that entire family to attend the wedding. That meant we needed to keep the celebration close to home, which meant bye bye beach wedding. Dream number 2 had been to have a rooftop wedding, but prices were high to have a rooftop wedding in Downtown Atlanta, and I naively thought we’d stick to a $20,000 wedding budget. This meant I had to search for Georgia wedding destinations outside of Atlanta.
Continue reading “Top 3 Georgia Wedding Destinations That Aren’t in Atlanta”
Mom has been more open to adventure lately now that we’re doing Mom & Daughter Chronicles. Her new brave face quickly went away when I suggested we do this axe throwing class with my Dad for Father’s Day. She didn’t have much choice after Dad agreed to do it. So I hopped on Hand-Picked Atlanta, and booked a 90-minute axe throwing class with Axe Throwing Atlanta.
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The first stop on our #FordFryFoodTour 10-part series is perfect for any seafood lover. We went to none other than The Optimist restaurant in West Midtown, Atlanta. If you haven’t read about why we’re doing this restaurant food tour, then check out our blog post introducing this series. In summary, my Mom is the least adventurous eater on the planet! She also only eats at 3 restaurants–Houston’s, Benihana, and Pappadeaux. To save her from herself, and for fun content for our lifestyle blog, I decided it was time to broaden her palate. Guess what she tried on our first outing? Oysters, y’all! Yes, there’s a video!
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When searching for an outdoor wedding destination in Georgia, we decided it was best to focus beyond the city of Atlanta. With such beauty to explore in my own home state, it’s no wonder, our wedding destination search ended with us choosing Montaluce Winery. Most wouldn’t consider Georgia wine country, but I’d beg to differ. Georgia is home to over 20 wineries according to the Winegrowers Association of Georgia. Sadly, we’ve only been to 3 of them, but we plan to tour them all. Most recently we tasted wines from Yonah Mountain Vineyards that rival the best that Napa Valley has to offer.
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As you all know, Mother’s Day is around the corner. Yes, it’s Sunday, May 12, so get those last minute gifts if you think your Mom wants one. Now that I’m a mother, I want something really sweet and sentimental from my kid, some money from my husband, and to be taken to do something fun rather than just going to the usual dinner that everyone does for Moms during Mother’s Day.
For Father’s Day, my husband and I have been taking the Dads to do stuff. One year we went to Top Golf and one year we went to The Painted Pin both in Atlanta. So this year we decided that Mother’s Day would be all about experiences (and gifts, too). My husband suggested taking all the Moms to do a glassblowing class, which I agreed to because I’ve done it before.
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I recently wrote a post about how Mom is coming out of her comfort zone and starting to be more adventurous. After our Colorado trip, I realized she was down for a little adventure and excitement so I started inviting her to try new things with me. One thing I had always wanted to try was indoor skydiving. I have no desire to jump out of a plane, hell, I barely like flying as it is, but I did want to see how it felt to fly.
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This week I had to fly to Phoenix from Atlanta for work. I was scheduled to be in Phoenix from Monday-Thursday afternoon so I had planned with the best of intentions to see 5 Phoenix tourist hot spots while I was there. I shared all the places I wanted to visit and why they’re such interesting spots to visit whenever you’re in Phoenix, Arizona. Of the 5 I selected, I really only had time and energy to visit 1 per day for the first 2 days. It’s very hard to incorporate tourist stops on a work trip…
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