Cupcakes!

When I go to Atlanta on the weekends, for some reason I usually crave cupcakes. I don’t know why…it’s just one of those things. I found the Atlanta Cupcake Factory online a few months ago and insisted that Justin and I go.

The shop is in a small retail strip and is tiny. I doubt more than four customers could comfortably fit inside. I remember buying a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing and a chocolate cupcake with almond icing on my first visit. I can’t remember what Justin ordered. Mine were both delicious! The cream cheese icing was unbelievable. It was light and fluffy and heavenly. The almond icing was the same except that it was almond flavored. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

The Sunday before last, I needed a cupcake, so Justin and I headed to ACF. When we arrived, we found them closed because they were sold-out! I can understand and accept that they sold-out (those cupcakes are delicious!). What can they do if they’re out of cupcakes?! We drove to another cupcakery only to find them closed, too. I was beyond mad. Atlanta had to have one cupcake for me!

We then went to Whole Foods. I’ve had their cupcakes before and they’re ok. Their cupcakes aren’t as light and fluffy as ACF’s cupcakes, but they’ll do. I always get a carrot cake cupcake from Whole Foods. One good thing about the Whole Foods cupcakes is their size. They are huge!

This is a link to the Atlanta Cupcake Factory's website (http://www.theatlantacupcakefactory.com/index.htm). It’s not very informative, but there are a few pictures.

Food

Since I don’t have anything new and exciting to blog about, I am going to talk about food.

Obviously, Atlanta has many more food choices than Nashville, Tifton, or Valdosta. Justin is a lot more adventurous than me when it comes to food. He’ll try most anything and really likes moldy cheeses. I, on the other hand, am much more reserved about what I eat. If I don’t recognize something or if I perceive something to be unsanitary, I just won’t eat it. Justin, moldy cheese is unsanitary. If meat doesn’t come from the supermarket, I don’t eat it. I know that is absolutely absurd, but that’s the way my mind works. Since I no longer eat most meats (I only eat seafood), I don’t have to worry about the meat thing.

Our house is near Buford Highway. If you’re familiar with this area in Atlanta, you know that there are many ethnic restaurants here. There are a lot of Mexican restaurants on Buford Highway. Farther north, there are many Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian restaurants. Justin and I enjoy Mexican food. He likes very authentic while I like Tex-Mex. We went to this taco stand/restaurant on Buford Highway called El Taco Veloz. Justin chose it and it was quite authentic. The employees did not speak English (if they did, I never heard them). Customers ate outside in this covered area where birds walked around under tables. Yes, there were birds walking around where people were eating. This wasn’t really a problem (the birds didn’t bother you) and I’m sure it’s hard to keep them away when customers put excess food on the ground for them to eat. Luckily, the restaurant was clean so I ate a cheese quesadilla and rice. Those are usually safe.

One of my favorite places to eat in Atlanta is Taqueria del Sol (http://www.taqueriadelsol.com/). I love their cheese enchiladas with lemon cream sauce. Mmmm…delicious! They have weekly specials which usually include a taco special. One of the first special tacos I at Taqueria del Sol was The Bob. It was a soft shell taco with fried shrimp, lettuce, pickled jalapenos, and a flavored mayonnaise. It was delicious! I could have eaten 10. Sadly, they haven’t had that again (that was in October or November). They have had other special tacos, but none have compared to The Bob. If you’re in Atlanta (or Athens), you should try this restaurant. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I’ll talk about my favorite place to buy cupcakes soon.

Annabelle Plays Dress-up

While my niece was out of school for Christmas break, she stayed at Mama's house with Pete and Annabelle for a few days. One day, she decided to dress-up Annabelle in some Halloween costumes. I'm not sure why Pete didn't play with them.

My niece got "artsy" with these black and white photos. I'm glad she knows how to make the camera do that...I don't!

Master Bedroom and Sunroom Repairs (Part 2)

We finally have the structural work at the house complete. Justin ended up hiring a different contractor to finish the work and we are pleased with the results. The only remaining items are to lay and stain the oak flooring, touch up paint in one room, paint the other room, install the closet organizers, and install the base moulding in both rooms. I’m not sure when all of that will be completed, but I will post photos when the projects are complete.

This picture shows the master bedroom after the supports under the house and the damaged plywood were replaced. The walls had some imperfections, so the contractor had them repaired. I need to paint those areas before the new floor is installed.

This is another master bedroom picture. Those closets are a little small, but the house has so many other closets that I think we'll be ok.

This is the sunroom. I think this entire room will need to be painted. There are a few damaged areas and since we don't know what the paint color is, I think it would be best to just paint the whole room. The hallway on the right side of the picture has a closet that used to house the air handler/furnace for this end of the house. The unit had to be removed to replace the flooring below it, so we decided to have it installed in the attic, which gives us another closet! That closet will need to be painted, too.

This is another view of the sunroom.

This is the other side of the sunroom.

I decided to take a picture of the view of the backyard. It will be nice in the spring and summer. Due to the weather and other pressing issues (structural work, contractor, etc.), we have neglected the yard. We really need to rake and mow this, but it's so hard when it rains and is so cold every weekend.

This is a view of the courtyard behind the house. This really has a lot of potential, but as I said earlier, we've had other items at the top of our to-do list. That white planter has the equipment in it to make a fountain, so that will be neat when we get it going.