Thursday, October 10, 2013

an atlanta adventure.

about two months ago, lee and i decided we wanted to take a mini-vacay. who doesn’t love that idea, so i said hallelujah amen; let’s do it. we noticed that j cole was making a stop in atlanta at the fox theatre so we purchased vip meet & greet and front row tickets to his show. that night alone was enough to make lee’s entire life, so he left the rest of the planning up to me, and if you know me, you know i loved that.

we both took last friday off and after stopping for some much needed breakfast at bojangles, we were on our way to conquer the four hour drive. working in hospitality industry has it’s benefits as you have awesome knowledge as to where to stay when visiting out of town. after some light research, i chose our home away from home for the weekend to be at the w atlanta downtown hotel. first off, i love w hotels. they are trendy, modern, swanky, and all around pretty much an episode from the jetson’s.

{bed}

{small panoramic view} 


we walked into a dream of a hotel suite and were both floored that we got to experience atlanta this way. the room had a huge bathroom with his/her sinks and modern glass shower. the corner suite room spoiled us with both walls being all glass providing a breathtaking view of the city from all angles. it was an awesome way to begin our mini vacay.

{view from the room}

have never in my life met an artist whose show i was about to see. after waiting in a short line, j cole casually strolls out as we all went pretty star struck. i was legit shaking and nervous to meet him! lee went first, followed by myself with my awkward “hiiii j cole!” *hugs* *smile* *hehe* attitude. he was literally so down to earth. every vip person got to talk with him for a few moments introducing ourselves. he seemed to genuinely care about his fans and didn’t treat us as just another number & picture.

{j cole and i}


{vip's}


so we were sober when we met him. i know. what the heck were we thinking? but the meet & greet was at 5pm and doors wasn't until 7pm. so to fix that, lee and i headed straight next door to a cool bar called publik where we downed some drinks and ate some delish food below. it’s a perfect spot right next to the theatre so we didn’t have to go far away and potentally get lost in the never ending streets of atl. i snagged a pretty cool picture of the theatre sign as well.


{calamari & drinks}


{chicken eggrolls}
{venue}

also never in my life have i ever sat front row at a concert. i know i blogged about the show in charlotte, so i’ll just let these pictures do the talking, but just know there is no experience quite like one when you’re in the moment and they’re performing their chart topping hits three feet away from your face. so no these photos are not zoomed in. yes i could’ve straight up laid my head on the stage (prior to security yelling at me). it was unreal and an experience i won’t and can’t forget.

{inside of fox}

{wale}

{j cole}
there are no words. 


saturday was spent with a late lunch at a local irish pub and a trip to the georgia aquarium. neither one of us had been there before so we were pretty pumped. between petting stingrays (which are super slimy; fyi), to walking through a complete enclosed tube with two 25,000 lbs giant whales and thousands of other fish, to see the scariest crab of my life that looked something like a huge spider.....

{japanese spider crab}


{fish everywhere!}

{enclosed tube}

even coming from someone who is kiiiiiiinda claustrophobic and can’t swim that well, it was awesome. it’s almost unreal to think animals exist that are that much bigger than us. the dolphin show at the end of the afternoon really just topped off everything else. if you’re in atlanta, definitely go here. and it’s pretty reasonable priced!

{whale shark}


{georgia aquarium}


saturday evening we decided to be fancy. we had reservations at 7pm, just as the sun was setting, at the sundial restaurant atop the westin hotel. this spot is a rotating 360 view of the atlanta skyline 70+ some stories high. i had the pleasure of dining here over a year ago and knew it was on my list of to-do’s for this trip with someone special.




the view is unlike anything else i’ve ever seen before and the food was impeccable. we both ordered the filet and split a shrimp and bacon appetizer. lee went all out and ordered us a $40 bottle of wine. he doesn’t even like wine all that much, but knew i would love it. i love that guy.

{filet at sundial restaurant}
{sunset view}

{table setting}

{when day became night; atlanta lights}

we spent that evening back at the hotel playing funny games of "never have i ever" in pajamas and finishing off the pack of coors light we bought the night before. we had a silly thought to order some champagne and toast to the weekend, but once we saw champagne in the hotel was 90238402 dollars, the beer worked just fine. i even put mine in a martini glass because yolo; when do you get to do that?

{classy?}

sunday morning we packed our things up to check out of the room, but the trip wasn’t over just yet. the varsity is a landmark restaurant in atlanta with grease, grease, hamburgers, and a boatload of fries. it's a blast from the past feel of a 50s diner. their saying to take your food order was "whaddddya have?" we decided to give that a whirl since we were in the “tourist-y” atlanta mood.



{fast & cheap & greasy}

 {thumbs up that calories don't count on vacay} 

close by the varsity is the world of coca cola; which was our final to-do for the weekend. this museum is home to all vintage coca cola gear, signage and even has the secret formula tucked away in a vault that we got to view!

{secret formula!}

{bubbl-ized!}

at the end of the museum, they had this awesome exhibit which had about 4 different pods displaying coke products that are sold all over the world. Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America selections were available in a soda dispenser for you to try. some awesome! some that tasted like burnt tar. some that tasted worse than burnt tar. and lastly you could do the same with all coke flavors in those cool 2016 dispensers which you can mix and match whatever your heart desires.

{countries}

{coke worldwide}

oh and let’s not forget that i was STOKED when i got to meet the coke bear. lee said my face light up like a 5 year old. he's probably right. 


 {coca cola bear}

the entire weekend was the definition of a mini-vacay – one with fun things to do, awesome sleep, and spending it with someone you love. can’t wait until i travel to nashville for work in two weeks!

xo,
-A