b.and.d: 2014

ATL {Part 4}

Our last and final day in the ATL was full of food, CNN, food, food and our 4th Braves game. The last game was a miracle - it didn't rain!!!

This restaurant has a claim to fame in tons of movies. It had the most delicious lemon ice box pie. and other southern things... like biscuits and gravy. We ate a few meals this day and stopped back by the Varsity to get some more dreamy slushies. Call us pigs.

Squinty Brightness.

Goodbye Atlanta....

ATL {Part 3}

Day 3 was a pretty low key day. Especially since we were both recovering from the night before. We toured the city a little more and visited the Atlanta History Museum - which included a few different houses and exhibits. One of the homes {or mansions} was the one portrayed as President Snow's house in the Hunger Games. I kinda geeked out. It was absolutely gorgeous. Built in 1928 on 28 acres of the greenest grass and trees and shrubs ever. Well when you come from Tucson, everything seems a little more green than it probably is.

Pretty sure I want the kitchen in this house... 1928 is my style.

With modern accommodations of course.

We did a little more driving around and exploring before hitting up The Varsity - where every Braves fan must venture for pre-game delectables. MMM soooo good. Everything that we ate on this trip was delicious which probably made me gain 10 lbs. It was all worth it.

Brad with the famous ORANGE DRANK. jk I don't know how famous it is. And it's just an orange dreamsicle slushy, but it's the best orange-dreamsicle slushy you will ever have in your life.

The good news about the game tonight was that there was only a short rain delay. But still rain.

I was kind of obsessed with the tomahawk chop drum... I had to get a pic with it. :) It's the simple things that keep me going at my 3rd game in 3 days.

GO BRAVES!!

ATL {Part 2}

Day two did not prove to be less rainy... at least in the evening. The day was perfect though. In the ATL they have a CityPass that you can buy that gives you a discount into different attractions such as... the Aquarium, CNN tour, Coke Factory, ATL History Museum, etc. We got it and it was definitely worth it. Day two we were able to go to the Aquarium and the Coke Factory since they are across the street from each other.

The Georgia Aquarium was HUMONGOUS!!! As in humongous enough to have an indoor dolphin show. Yeah, it's big. And it's the coolest aquarium I have ever been to, hands down. Here's some pics.

They even had a "Bodies" museum for the ocean creatures ... it was really cool!

Next up was the Coke Museum. We learned all about Coca-Cola - that is except for the secret formula. The best part was probably trying the different coke products from around the world. Some were nasty - like the European ones. And some were delicious - like the Asian ones. MMM so fruity.

Next up... Braves v. Nationals #2. If only I knew what I was getting myself into.

The night started with BBQ from this hole in the wall.. But the reviews were correct. IT WAS AMAZING!!! So... go there if you are ever in the ATL. See those clouds in the background though?? oh boy....

With the forecast predicting rain to start around game time the field was covered and the game didn't start. Luckily Brad found a super nice security/usher guy to talk to during the FOUR HOUR DELAY. OH MY GOODNESS. The game didn't start until 11:00. Which meant it didn't end until 2:30 A freaking M. I fell asleep sitting up a few times, but Brad loved every minute of it, so it was worth it and we made a really good decision afterwards. The security/usher guy told us of this delicious place that is open 24 hours that he always goes to after work. So what did we do? We ventured out to this fast food place at 3:00 in the morning. IT WAS WORTH IT. I was out of it so everything was funny and tasted better than it probably was. But it was so fun to just be spontaneous and not worry about what time it was! Don't know how we stayed up that late when we were younger...

ATLANTA {Part 1}

It's been Brad's dream to see the Braves play at Turner Field in Atlanta. This summer seemed to be the perfect time to fulfill that dream. So to Atlanta we went. Getting there was not an easy task... We flew from Tucson to Phoenix in hopes to catch a direct flight from Phoenix to Atlanta. That flight was full. We waited 2 hours to see if we could fly to North Carolina. Then at least we would be on the east coast and could drive to Atlanta in 4 hours if we needed to. But as the last flight pulled out at 1:00 a.m. we were not on it. This was after the pilot got off the plane and told the ticket people they had seats on the plane for us. The ticket people didn't care and told him to go fly the plane. He was nice. He tried, but didn't succeed which meant we were spending the night in the Phoenix airport. Oh Joy. This wasn't the first time I had done this. When your father works for the airline and flying standby is all you know, the airports around the country (particularly the west coast) become familiar territory. Thank goodness I had a few pairs of jeans packed in my carryon to use as blankets because the airport might as well have been an igloo {the kind of igloo that isn't warm}. Needless to say we barely slept thanks to the temperature and the seemingly endless vacuuming. {Insert GRRRR here}

When people started showing up at the airport we went in search of sun. And Bradley found it and we began to thaw. I also laid down on the airport floor. Don't judge.

After an hour or so we made the first flight out to Atlanta. Which was good because we had tickets to the game that night Braves v. Nationals. And then... the game was on rain delay... which foreshadowed how the rest of our week in Atlanta would go! I can't even remember which games the Braves won, all I know is that Brad and I came home with about 15 souvenir soda cups.

Nickelcade ... SURPRISE!!

I can't believe I pulled this one off. Seriously - I can never fully surprise Brad. EVER. He always knows that something is going to happen, but never what exactly that something is. This time he didn't even know that something was in the works.

We drove up to Utah a few weekends ago for my sister's baby's blessing. I made Brad get the Friday before off so that we could "spend more time in Utah." But the real reason was that we were going to party it up at the Nickelcade, just like we used to when we lived there.

Well Brad is super curious and inquisitive so as we were about an hour away from Salt Lake he started asking what we were doing that night. He made me call my mom. And she was busy. We learned that his parents were "busy." And I started getting nervous that he was going to figure it out. Then Joey called to save the day and invited us for a date night at the Nickelcade. Brad accepted. YES!!!

Joey and Kandace picked us up so that we could control what time we got there. Walking into the building I was so excited! Brad made me buy a bunch of nickels.. and Joey and Kandace led us to the back because there were "new games" back there. We happened to stumble across one of those super good asians that do Dance Dance Revolution at the speed of light. Brad was amazed/intrigued/stunned and watch him for five minutes. At that point Kandace and I were about to pee our pants from laughing cause we could not get him to stop staring! He just needed to go a little further for the surprise. And finally... he did. And.... he was surprised. Hallelujah!!!