White Sunglasses

When my sister and niece visited Atlanta for Thanksgiving last year, my niece found a pair of white sunglasses that didn't belong to Justin or me. She fell in love with them and asked if she could have them. I really wanted to give them to her, but they weren't mine to give so I told her she couldn't have them. Justin asked the owner about them and he said they were purchased at a second hand shop to go with a Halloween costume.

I decided I was going to try to find a pair for my niece for Christmas. I searched all over Atlanta for a pair but didn't find a single pair of white sunglasses. Close to Christmas, we visited Filene's Basement and I got very lucky! I found a pair of white sunglasses that were nearly identical to the pair at my house.

The sunglasses from Filene's are on the left and the original ones are on the right:

With the exception of the lens color, they are basically the same! When she opened them on Christmas, my niece said she loved them and immediately put them on top of her head. Yay Justin and me! The owner of the original ones said that we could give them to my niece if we didn't find a pair. That was really nice of him, but I'm glad we found a pair. After a while, it became my goal to find the one pair of white sunglasses in Atlanta.

And I did.

Two Urban Licks

Last night, Justin and I tried a restaurant that we've never been to before. Two Urban Licks is located near downtown in what appears to be an old industrial factory or warehouse. The ceilings are super tall (maybe thirty feet?) and the lack of textiles seems to amplify all noise. We had reservations at 6:00 p.m. That was the only time we could get one until 10:00 p.m. The man who walked us to our table commented that this was the calm before the storm since they had reservations for 800 people that night. I don't know if I was impressed or shocked at that number.

They offer complimentary valet (tips are accepted) and since we weren't sure about parking (they share parking lots with other businesses and there were "no restaurant parking" signs everywhere) and didn't want to get towed, we opted to have the car valeted.

Once we were seated, our waitress stopped by to take drink orders. Since we decided we wanted dessert, we skipped drinks. I love the way they serve water. It is brought out in clear wine bottles and poured at your table. I think we consumed three bottles. After ordering, we munched on the bread for a few minutes before our entrees arrived. Our entrees arrived about fifteen minutes after we arrived! We were very surprised, but it was still somewhat early. I ordered the bronzed scallops and they did not disappoint. The gouda polenta was heavenly. Justin ordered the tuna and it was also very delicious. I can't remember if he ordered it medium or medium rare, but I tried a piece and the texture was very different than I was expecting. I've eaten other fish that were rare and the texture was what I expected. Even the very rare parts of the tuna tasted like normal tuna (way better than canned, but similar texture).

For dessert, I ordered the carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream. It was just as good as it sounds. Justin enjoyed the hazelnut mousse cake. I was expecting cake, but it was a cake made of mousse with a crunchy toffee crust on the bottom. It was very good, but not as good as the carrot cake. I love carrot cake and this one didn't disappoint.

When we arrived, they were about fifteen or twenty-five percent full. When we left, they were at 100 percent capacity. My car was quickly retrieved and we headed home, full and satisfied. When we got home, I couldn't find my coat and I was sure I had put it in the backseat of my car. It seemed odd that the valets left my phone, but took my coat. After some searching, I found my coat...in Justin's backseat. Glad I didn't accuse anyone.

We both want to return to Two Urban Licks and try the monkfish entree. Yummy!

More Snow and Ice Tales

These photos were taken on Tuesday, January 11. This was nearly forty-eight hours after the storm dumped five or six inches of snow and ice on Atlanta. We stayed at home until early Tuesday evening when we both were about to go stir crazy. We headed to Moe's for supper. I hit the grocery store Sunday morning so we had plenty of food, but we just wanted to leave the house.

Our road ramps up to Clairmont, so navigating the hill to leave the neighborhood was tricky. We watched people try over and over until they got out or gave up and went home. We had seen what worked and what didn't. The method that had the highest success rate was if the vehicle started their approach from sixty or so feet from the intersection of our road with Clairmont. This method only worked if you had a spotter stand on Clairmont and watch for oncoming vehicles. This wasn't a big problem since very few people were out and about, so traffic was very light. The spotter would motion for the person to "Come on!" when no vehicles could be seen on Clairmont. The vehicle would quickly, but safely, begin moving. If you got some momentum going, then usually you could get out in one try.

We took Justin's car to Moe's, so I was the spotter. It took several tries because he would lose traction on the sheet of ice that was our road shortly after moving and then a car would be spotted on Clairmont. He would have to back up and wait until I gave the signal to come. This was a lot of fun for me since it was sleeting while I stood in the road. I finally gave the signal and Justin made it up the hill and onto Clairmont. It was kind of funny because once I realized he was going to make it out, I moved out of his way. A ridge of ice had formed in the middle of Clairmont so he had to get over that. He did, but kept going until he found an area he could safely stop on. I was chasing him down Clairmont trying to get into the car. I don't know what it looked like, but I felt pretty ridiculous. Lots of fun.

I went to work Wednesday morning at eleven o'clock. I left the house at ten so I could make sure I got there on time. There weren't many vehicles out, which was good for me. One of the roads I take to work has a deep valley in the middle of it. That was the one area I was somewhat concerned about. The other roads I take are multi-lane roads, so those weren't bad since they had been traveled on by other drivers so there were sort of clear paths on them. I did discover that I didn't lose traction as much if I moved at a steady pace. I didn't drive fifty miles per hour or anything like that, but going ten miles per hour while trying to go up a big hill wasn't going to work. The big 4x4 truck in front of me chickened out at the big hill. He turned around, which made me happy since he had driven five miles per hour up until that point. I put my car in second gear and went right up the hill. The vehicles behind me came, too. Front wheel drive cars of the world unite! I made it to work in about thirty-five minutes which is only fifteen minutes more than my usual commute. Yay me! It wasn't my speed, but the lack of traffic. I promise. The roads really were dangerous, so I was very careful.

Our parking lot was clear at work, but the area around the building was still covered in ice. Honestly, walking across that scared me more than driving to work. My thigh muscles got a work out that day since I would tighten my legs when I started sliding on the ice. I only heard of two people falling on the ice in the parking lot, but neither worked in our office and they both fell on Thursday morning. We got to leave work Wednesday through Friday at four since they didn't want us driving in the dark. Everything is now pretty much back to normal. There are still some muddy spots in some roads, but these are very few.

Our backyard:

Pete and Annabelle like to hang out by the gate because they can see under it. Luckily, the ground beneath the gate is concrete, so they can't burrow under it.

Pete is happy about something.

Annabelle looks so pensive.

Stinky Pete is carefully navigating the ice and snow.

Anne is ready to go inside. They usually get a treat, so she's licking her lips.

Justin filmed this video with my photo camera on Wednesday in the back yard. We were heavy enough to break through most of the ice when we stepped, but the dogs weren't. There were a few spots that didn't have ice and those really slowed down the dogs when they stepped on them.

More Snow

Atlanta and the surrounding areas are currently in a winter storm. The snow began at our house last night around 10:00 p.m. It snowed pretty heavily for several hours (it was still snowing when we went to bed around 11:45 p.m.) and began sticking to objects almost immediately. It started accumulating very quickly. Within an hour or so, three inches were on the ground.

This is what our courtyard looked like last night before we went to bed.

The Honda:

Pete and Annabelle were pawing at the door to go outside. I opened the door and Pete immediately ran outside and made it about two feet before she turned around and came back. Annabelle was satisfied watching from the doorway.

The driveway last night:

The front yard this morning:

My poor Honda:

More front yard:

The courtyard this morning:

Annabelle wanted to go outside this morning. She made it further than Pete, but she, too, eventually turned around and came back inside. The snow was up to her hips.

It's currently sleeting. The freezing rain is expected later today, which will make the roads even worse than they are right now. Justin is working from home today and I'm just at home today. I called work and told them I couldn't get out of the driveway, much less all the way to work. I don't think they were surprised.