Back Home To Atlanta

Essentials for a fabulous flight: Bridget Jones and TONYMOLY Peach Anti Aging Hand Cream. This cream smells heavenly...like peach gummy rings.  You'll want to eat your hands. Which could be bad. Southwest has been pretty badass at letting you watch inflight free live TV on your devices.

I tried to be a good girl and work out during my vacation.  My ClassPass allows me to visit studios in any participating city. This was my first time doing it outside of NYC. I took Pure Barre in Decatur. It was neat to see a view like this outside the window rather than...my windowless studios in New York.  You're cute, Decatur!

While waiting for my friends to eat dinner, I grabbed an iced coffee at the Java Monkey.  It's a fun creative joint that hosts poetry night, musicians, readings, and other performances.

We ate dinner at Makan, a Korean Chinese fusion restaurant that was oddly located inside of a Marriott Courtyard.

Pork belly bun!!! Slow roasted local pork and pickled red onions. The pecan sugar was a beautiful addition to this traditional appetizer.

Shrimp and pork dumplings: thumbs up!

The fried chicken was tasty. I wasn't blown away, but I wasn't complaining while I cleaned up my plate. The ramen was meh, and my friend's black bean noodles (Jajang myeon) was not impressive.  Stick to the dumplings and buns here!

My mom's "garden" is adorable. All these crazy pots of plants growing on the deck. 

I showed my mom this pic: "My tomatoes look beautiful! Your hands look old."

My mom wanted me to go through my old boxes of memorabilia.  I have a problem. I am WAY too nostalgic about life. I want to be able to be reminded of EVERY little thing.  So I'll have random napkins from bars ("oh, my first Bloody Mary ever!") to stupid trash like this.

Those CD clubs! Kids, this is like the Netflix of music back in the day. What am I talking about--You probably don't even bother with the DVDs. Just stream, huh? All about instant gratification now. My mom actually loves to receive the physical DVDs in the mail.  Plus, most of the gangster movies she enjoys watching are only available on DVD.

I guess I was upset about an ex boyfriend? OR this is the more likely scenario.  My ex probably passionately tore up these photos and showed me.  In my obsession to keep proper documentation, I probably swore to tape all of these pics back together and create a scrapbook of our relationship despite his hatred for me. Sigh. Young love.  

PS. No, I didn't do anything horrible. I just ended the relationship. Which makes you the bad guy sometimes. I get it. Whatever. I still have fond memories of us- OF COURSE!

I know it looks phallic. A delicious popsicle treat made of red beans!

The Atlanta Beltline. It's like an urban trail with art installations.

Homes along the Beltline

I am learning how to edit photos in Light Room. I did not intend to make this building to stand in smog, but by this time, I kind of gave up on prettying up photos.

I couldn't find info on the pieces above. but I can properly credit the below art.

 Kyle Brooks

Faces, a.k.a. Eyes and Friends or &@^%@$#&

Fun stuff around the Beltline

Inside the pizza shop, there was artwork all dedicated to PIZZA.  These children know what's up. Pizza is LIFE.

Krog Street Art

Krog Street Market

Little Tart Bake Shop

I had to do it. I had to get Jeni's ice cream again. Brown butter almond brittle and darkest chocolate. DO IT.

To avoid traffic, I loitered at Target and then became the only patron for the entire time at Sobban. It's a Korean Southern diner.  Hmmm, what? The food was alright . But my experience dining outside in the beautiful weather was amazing.  Although I do love some company while eating and drinking, I also truly enjoy my own company. Ok, that sounded very strange. To better explain, I am happy eating in silence, people watching, actually having time to think about life, and yes, embarrassingly enough, taking a zillion food pics. :)

Kimchi deviled egg

Pork belly with miso mousse and pecan ssam sauce. 

It's not like the food was horrible. I think the menu could be a fantastic gateway to Korean food for people who are not used to Asian food.  I unfairly wanted the Korean Southern plates to have more of the Korean bold flavor. 

Indoors

Where I dined outside. :))))

One of my last meals was with another human. My cousin and I had the best chicken sandwich ever at Buttermilk Kitchen. The pimento cheese grits and hashbrown with rosemary salt complemented the sandwich perfectly!

What a way to end the trip! I loved eating way too much in Atlanta. When I told my mom I was gonna get fat while home, she said, "Don't worry! You already came that way." Touche, Mum. Gotta love her!