It's Friday!

Turns out that I am one who lives for the weekends! I think that's the one thing about life's journey that I wasn't quite expecting... or ever really knew about. I guess that's because I've always had a history of working during the weekends.

Ever since the age of 15, when I started my very first job (Papa John's phone girl,) I always worked after school and on the weekends. When I was a waitress in college, I always worked after class and on weekends. And even since the full-time job I have now, I worked some nights and weekends at the mall. I think it was December of 2008 that I finally stopped working part-time.

I suppose I am now 'fortunate' enough to work the standard Monday through Friday 9am-5pm. But I have to say that I think it's a little boring! Maybe it's because I've never really had a set schedule and my weeks have become so predictable and routine...

I can't figure it out, because I do know that when those Friday's roll around, I am always happy to have the next two days OFF! So for that, I am thankful.

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Lefty

Phil Mickelson is my favorite golfer and he truly deserved to win The Master's this year! I believe in my heart of hearts that he is just a stand-up guy...

These are comments from his press conference today on the photo of him wearing the Green Jacket at a doughnut shop the day after his Masters win:

"Well, throughout the week I don't eat a log of sugar or carbs or what have you, and my kids wanted doughnuts, and I said Monday morning we'll go to Krispy Kreme and grab some. We used to do that in san Diego on football Sunday; we'd go grab some doughnuts Sunday before the games. We don't have them over there anymore. That was their big thing. They wanted to go Monday morning, so I threw on a jacket (laughter) and went through the drive-thru."

LOVE IT!

"Local Food"

Tyler and I have become notorious for not being able to make a decision when it comes to deciding what's for dinner. We'll get in the car and drive until we come across something that seems just right - perfect atmosphere for our moods and great food for our bellies. We drove for over an hour once... ridiculous you say? You could say that but when we aren't in any sort of hurry, it seems normal.

We were on our way to what we thought was going to be the Highlands, not on purpose, but just because we were heading in that general direction. While we were at the intersection of Briarcliff and La Vista, we saw a little neighborhood joint called Waikikie Hawaiian BBQ. We've passed it a few times, and each time, have said to each other that we needed to try it - so yesterday, we did. We're suckers for local dumps that look 'pretty cool' from the outside.

This place was no dump and was truly a delicious gem! It wasn't tradidional barbecue like you would think. Having never been to Hawaii or ever eaten the food, I thought for sure it was going to be the standard shredded pork with some type of Hawaiian pineapple sauce instead of the conventional barbecue sauce. It turns out I was completely wrong. It was more of what I would consider Asian food.

Hawaiian "barbecuing" is considered "grilling." Their food is an East-West Pacific mix that was created in the 1920's by local lunch wagon cooks and small restaurants in the area. Plantation immigrants were brought to Hawaii from places like China, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Puerto Rico and the Phillipines. With each new wave of culture came the plants and animals from those native lands. So their food has been influenced by numerous cultures over the years and was constantly changing with every new wave. It is a very unique cuisine created from a very diverse background.

It eventually developed into what they now call "Local Food." A typical Local Food plate consists of rice and meat covered in gravy, served with salt seaweed or chili peppers, sesame oil or soy sauce. Gravy is pretty much Teriyaki sauce and so is Hawaiian "ketchup." Not so sure I would put that one on the the burger, but I guarnatee you it's delicious!

Overall, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Waikikie Hawaiian BBQ and loved learning about the food. The restaruant has been around since June 2006 and is about to celebrate 4 years in Atlanta. It was such a friendly and warm environment that I hope to go back to soon. The only other Hawaiian restaurant in Atlanta that I'm aware of is Roy's in Buckhead but I hear it's overpriced and not quite as yummy. Check out http://www.waikikie.com/ to learn more... Mahalo!

The MASTERS

The Master's golf tournament is always the first full week in April and Tyler has gone every single year he has been alive, including the one when he was in his Momma's belly! I was lucky enough to get the chance to go with him last year for the first time and can I just tell you... it is absolutely breathtaking! I did not grow up a golf fan but quickly become one after visiting Augusta National. I was able to go again this year and enjoyed it just as much!

Seeing Green

March is my favorite month of the year... St. Patrick's day and my Birthday all rolled into one! It also actually means that it's time for Chicago! It has become an annual tradition over the past few years to make the trip to Chi-town with Kelly and her family. We first went in March 2008 and have been going every year since (this was our third time). Kim joined us this year and I hope she makes it a tradition, too!

I've only ever been in the month of March but hear that the summer months are only better, which is hard to imagine since the winter there is such a blast. Chicago is such a beautiful and FUN City, the food is amazing and the people are incredibly nice. If you ever get the chance to go - DO IT!

February

February 2010 was pretty uneventful.... it was too cold out!

I know it's spring now and not exciting to talk about the cold and snow, but we actually had THREE snowfalls here in Georgia this year and the one on Valentine's weekend was gorgeous! Things closed down pretty early that Friday afternoon so it was great to enjoy a nice long weekend.

Tyler and I celebrated Valentine's Day with a great brunch at Restaurant 57th {http://www.the57threstaurant.com/} located at PDK Airport. The restaurant is actually located directly next to the runway and has great views of all the small airplanes coming and going. When you walk into the restaurant, you feel like you just walked into the year 1942. They have the best beer cheese soup in all of America - it's worth it to go just for that!

After brunch we went to the Atlanta History Center{http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/}and were also able to take a tour of Atlanta's Historic Swan House which was gorgeous.

If you haven't done these things in and around Atlanta, it's pretty neat and I highly recommend all of it!

I Heart NYC!

I want to give a quick recap of 2010 so far... here is January.

Tyler and I traveled to New York City in late January to suprise one of his very best friends, Ben (Landis) for his 30th Birthday. We visited them (Ben & Melissa) in July of last year and had THE BEST TIME! I fell in love with the city and wasn't ready to leave. Ben's now fiance, Melissa and I became fast friends. They got engaged in November of last year and will be married in September.

Ben had no idea we were going to be there for his Birthday so he was very suprised and Melissa was especially excited that she pulled it off! She can't keep secrets very well, but this one was safe. She told him she was feeling very sick and that they should just stay in and order some food. So when Ben's "Thai" (ler) came to the door, he didn't know what to do!

It was freezing there, but we had a blast as expected. We were able to visit so many different places in so many different parts of the city... the West Village, Soho, Times Square, Upper East Side, Upper West Side and much more!

I can't wait for another trip to NYC and can't wait to see Ben and Melissa again. NYC is a very special place for me. I just LOVE IT!

Hello World!

Ok, so I borrowed that from Tiger Woods' E! True Hollywood Story last week... which I thought was pretty weak, actually. Not nearly as juicy as I thought it was going to be (or should have been).

I discovered recently that blogs are not just for the newly engaged, married, and/or those with adorable children. I have been stumbling across blogs from all people from all walks of life. There are certainly those about wonderful families, new babies, couples beginning their life together... but there are also blogs about single, working gals (and males) in this world, trying to make a living and trying to just make sense of it all. I think we're all trying to "figure it all out", aren't we? So here I am on a random Tuesday afternoon creating a blog while I should actually be working.

I've decided to call this the ATL Gal... a basic blog about a single (with boyfriend, just not married) 29 year old female living in the ATL trying to make sense of it all. I will write about things that I've done, things that I plan to do, goals I have, life's lessons learned, note to self's, etc. This will be a journal. A place for me to make ideas and thoughts concrete, a place to post opinions and hopefully learn a little bit more about myself while doing so.

I certainly don't claim to be a writer in the least. This is for fun... and for honesty. I want to be 100% honest with myself and all of you... all the two readers I may come across. So please enjoy, feel free to comment, post ideas, tell me how terrible my ideas are, think I'm really weird and strange, or just read along for your pure boredom cures... make of it whatever you want!