Atlanta: The Spence, Trey McIntyre, and Baseball

Trey is doing a farewell tour since he has called it quits with his full-time dance company. I've cried just about every day since it was announced. 

The BF knew how much this has hurt and suggested we take a trip to see a final show so I could mourn the loss of one of my favorite pieces of dance the world. We settled on Atlanta and selfishly did so for the addition of some good food and a baseball game to make it a complete weekend. 

We left DC bright at early (maybe not bright- but certainly early) on Saturday morning and were in Atlanta before brunch time had passed. After a brief stop to grab some metro cards (way to go Atlanta for a way better ticket system than DC!) we headed to our hotel and checked-in. A brief nap and a little research we set off to track down some pancakes at Ria's Bluebird. Now I am not much of a pancake lover. I typically opt for bacon, eggs, hashbrowns-those types of things. However, these pancakes were supposed to be epic, and throw in the words "caramelized bananas" and I was sold.

They. Did. Not. Disappoint. Be still my heart-- they were phenomenal. By far the best pancakes I have ever  had. Epic. The bananas created this amazing syrup that I would have drank from a cup if given the opportunity. 

On our way back to the hotel we wandered through a beautiful historic cemetery and also wandered a bit farther than anticipated to see Coca Cola world (can we say diabetes? It was a zoo, but with 9 million bottles of soda and overly caffeinated children). After our minimal sleep the night before, we opted for pulling the black out shades and napping until we had to get ready to go to dinner.

It is no secret that Richard Blais is at the top of my list for favorite celebrity chefs (ok...I'll be honest...he IS my favorite...I mean...can you blame me?!). 

SIDENOTE: I am practically bff's with Richard's sister, so it is just a matter of time until we get to meet.

Anyways, back to the trip. We had been long awaiting an opportunity to eat at The Spence.  It was phenomenal. Even just going to Atlanta for that meeting was entirely worth the trip. Not only is the food fantastic, the space was beautiful, the staff was friendly, and the cocktails were delish.

Did I mention that my love of keys was indulged as well!

Oysters & Pearls

Fried Olives

Bone Marrow

Beet pasta

Short Rib

Sweet Potato "brulee"

And of course we had to have the table-side liquid nitrogen ice cream dessert (how could we not after watching Blais on Top Chef!?!)

The Spence dining room is sunny and beautiful!

Couldn't get enough of the key!

We ubered back to the Rialto Theater, just in time to grab our tickets and make it to our seats for Trey. I can't even begin to tell you about the performance. It haunts my thoughts. 

We saw The Vinegar Works, a work commission on part by the Rialto, which was eerily beautiful and satirical. When Trey nails it--he nails it.

We also were lucky to see Mercury Half-Life, which took my right back to the first time I ever saw work by Trey in a cramp studio theater in Boise Idaho. I remember getting chills. It was the first piece of dance I had seen that made me realize that dance was so much deeper than movement with meaning. His choreography is human, relateable, and emotionally pungent. I can't shake some of the movement that I swear will be seared into my memory forever. It was almost as good as that first time I saw him. Forever I will think of The Reassuring Effects of Form & Poetry, but Mercury half-life was in its own realm of wonderful.

It was a good goodbye. I cried. No joke. Its a close to a period of my life that has such fantastic memories tied to it. I do hope there will be more of TMP in the world, and hopefully some more dance too.

 After a night of emotional recovery- we woke up and headed for a Braves baseball game. All I can say is....Tomahawk chop.

We avoided getting drenched in a horrible rain storm, made it back to the hotel, grabbed a snack and then headed back to the airport to get back to DC so we could pack up and both leave on work trips the next day!

Empire State- New York Day Two Cont.

After the ESB adventure we started walking up 5th Avenue in pursuit of a macaroon shop I had seen over at Amanda's Blog.It was the perfect walk to see many of the New York-y things I had wanted to stumble upon.
We had been walking and my neck was starting to get sore from starring up at all the amazing buildings when I saw it. My feet immediately did the excited scuttle step that the bf says I do when I get excited about something. But there it was. Magnolia. Cupcake mecca.



We had to try the vanilla/vanilla cupcake that has been the focus of my cupcake baking for awhile now. The cupcake did not disappoint. The cake was incredible, and true to form--the frosting was beyond yummy. The store was really cute and I even found a "Baked Fresh" onesie for Miss Ava!
We pressed on despite our feet really starting to get tired at this point.


But then the fun really started. The story goes like this: We are walking, nearing Central Park and the boyfriend goes, "Hey, we should get you a crazy extravagant engagement ring, and matching necklace. Because I just love you that much". I naturally couldn't refuse. So off to Harry Winston we went.

And I decided on this ring and complimentary necklace. Well the boyfriend decided that Tiffany’s was more our style and since we were right cross the street….


Ok. I kid. I kid. There was no ring shopping. Well not past window shopping and my wishful thinking!
So as I mentioned, Amanda had written about some of her favorite places to snag a macaroon in New York. One of her pictures in particular really caught my eye. There were 8 little perfect macaroons nestled in a cute little box that had POODLES on it. Well I had to have this box. So we tracked down Macaroon Café.  The box did not fail to have adorable little poodles on it, and it is one of my favorite souvenirs from NY. Both the boyfriend and I are yet to to be completely sold on macaroons, but we did vote that the less “florally” flavors were the best. I loved the mocha and traditional vanilla. It was fun to sit in the park with our ice tea and treats and got to people watch.






We found a perfect little bench to plop on to rest our feet and I could have sat there forever! Central Park has a magical quality to it that had me head over heels in love.









After people watching for an hour or so and walking around the little lake we headed back to our hotel to relax before celebrating our version of Valentine’s day.
I am a celebrity chef groupie, and I have a particular interest in the Top Chef contestants. For dinner the boyfriend treated me to an amazing meal at Tom Colicchio’s restaurant: Colicciho & Sons.
The food was incredible and the décor was really well done. We bailed into a cab to avoid a horrible rain storm and quickly crashed after our very full day in our big comfortable hotel bed.
Our last day was brief due to the rain and without any photos, but I do have some fun things to share!

Gush. Relish. Bask.

So this twitter, tweet, bleep, burp, whateveriammostrecentlyaddictedtointhesocialmedia world....is amazing.

So you all know this guy:

image:via wikipedia and can we say....SO Yum!

Or you should. Or I won't be friends with you anymore. Anyways---he is adorable. His wife--lucky lucky lucky. And they have a new baby. And he got emotional when he won. Basically--I adore.

ANYWAYS. I tweet, he tweets, we all tweet. And he mentioned catching up with his sister. So me...I check out his sister's twitter. AND she is an HR person!!!!! O.M.G. . I tweet at her or whatever it is called.

She tweets back.


I feel special.


Yes I nerd out on HR. Yes I adore RB. And now....I adore his sister.


Check it:

And to be fair- Lori made my day.