Our Weekend - The One with the Trip to Athens and Atlanta

Happy Tuesday!  We had a nice three-day weekend!  I always love three-day weekends because I feel like they are the most well rounded.  This weekend we had one day to explore and do something fun, one day to spend with extended family, and one day to get things done… doesn’t that seem so much more balanced than a two-day weekend??

Anyway, we kicked off the weekend Friday evening with Mexican for dinner with Brian’s best friend and his family.  We used to hang out with them all the time, but his friend travels a ton for work now and isn’t home very often.  It’s always good to see them when we can, though!

Saturday we were up bright and early to spend the day in Athens and Atlanta!  We headed straight to Athens first for the Georgia vs. Florida basketball game.  Since we don’t have a Trader Joe’s in our city, we always visit them in Athens and Atlanta when we go, so we made a quick stop at the Athens TJ’s first to pick up some staples that we were nearly out of – mini chocolate chip cookies, chia seeds, and three cases of their Charles Shaw wine… at only $2.99 a bottle you can’t go wrong!

The basketball game was at noon, so we grabbed some lunch at the venue on the way to our seats, and then watched the game.  Both of the kids were really into it, and at one point Brian said Olivia was even saying how many points were earned each time someone would shoot a basket, and she was also saying how far we were ahead or behind.  How she knows the difference between a two-pointer, a three-pointer, and a free throw, we will never know, though, because neither B nor I told her.  I’m now convinced she was a basketball player in a previous life.  She is tall for her age.  Lol.

My cousin, Shelby, who goes to school at UGA was at the game, so she came and hugged the kiddos and, as always, they were super excited to see her.  At halftime, we went down and grabbed some treats for the kids (sour worms for Jacob and cotton candy for Olivia) and then we went back to our seats for the second half.  Unfortunately, we ended up losing, but at least we had a good time!  I don’t get all bent out of shape about losing at basketball like I do football.  Haha.

After the game, we drove into Atlanta to hit up Ikea for some things for the house.  Jacob has a set of three Ikea frames by his bed, and one had fallen off the wall and broken recently, so we finally got to grab another to replace it.  We also grabbed a couple of pairs of curtains while we were there since Ikea’s are the best!  I can’t wait to hang them!

We were in there forever (as you pretty much are any time you visit any Ikea) and the kiddos were surprisingly good.  I asked them to take a picture while we were waiting in the check-out line and Jacob said, “Mommy, I’m too tired to take a picture.”  And this was the face he gave.

Lol.  Yep, Ikea is exhausting, Buddy.  I feel ya.

After our long trek through Ikea, something delicious for dinner was in order, so we found a Tin Lizzy’s Cantina nearby… it’s our favorite Mexican place and we don’t have them at home so we have to take full advantage when we’re in Atlanta!  We all loaded up on queso and guac and salsa paired with their most delicious tortilla chips (I swear, theirs are like crack – you cannot stop eating them) and B and I had each ordered margaritas.  Their margs are delicious, too!

Just as we were getting close to finishing up with dinner and heading for home, my brother sent out a group text to everyone in our family asking if we were all okay.  I had no clue why he was evening asking, but it turned out that there was a tornado in the area near our hometown so the sirens were going off and everyone was huddled in their bathrooms and laundry rooms.  B and I checked out the radar and saw that the worst of it was heading just south of Atlanta, so we decided to hang out at the restaurant a little longer and wait for it to pass so we didn’t risk having to drive through it. 

We did have to drive through some pretty hard rain some of the way home, though.  And if you’ve ever been in Atlanta then you know the traffic is AWFUL there, so having to drive through Atlanta traffic in the pouring rain at night is pretty much the worst.  Fortunately it wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated, and we made it home safely and avoided all of the really bad weather in the process.  Whew.

Sunday morning we woke up to a forecast of SNOW for the following Sunday.  I’m sure it’ll change before then as we rarely get snow, but it’s always exciting to know that there’s a chance!

We spent the day at my MIL and step-FIL’s having lunch.  The rain the night before had brought in some kind of crazy cold front so it was freezing and windy all day which meant outdoor time was not able to happen. 

We had Sunday dinner at my parents’ house and we celebrated my uncle’s birthday.  I got to get lots and lots of baby snuggles, and as always, it was a great way to end the day.

B and the kids were off Monday for the holiday so we spent the day getting lots of stuff done around the house and running some errands that we had needed to run for a while.  I got B to help me hook up our old VCR and I was finally able to see what was on an old stack of video tapes that I had in my office that were unlabeled.  It was all just a bunch of old TV shows, mostly Dawson’s Creek.  Haha.  Those, of course, are going in the trash! 

We also got a few loads of laundry done, and then we headed out to Chick-Fil-A for a quick lunch and to let the kids play on the indoor playground for a few minutes since it was super cold again.  After that, we went to Lowe’s to grab some things that are going to help me check some things off of my long list – I grabbed some new paint to repaint my office, we grabbed some screws for the new pulls that I got for Olivia’s dresser, we got a new curtain rod for the front sitting room downstairs (for the new Ikea curtains), and we finally, finally had new house keys made to give to our parents.  We gave each of them spares years ago when we first moved in our house (for times when they come over to watch the house while we’re out of town), but it’s been so long they’ve all misplaced them.  I’ve been meaning to have keys remade for them for years, and we finally got it done this weekend!  CHECK!  Monday was super productive!

Olivia had ballet and tap Monday afternoon so she and I went to that while B and Jacob stayed home, and then we ended the weekend with slowcooker chicken soft tacos and an episode of The Bachelor. 

See?  The perfect mix of fun, family, and productivity.  You can’t go wrong with that!