The Ship & Anchor Pub

My coworkers and I have Happy Hour occasionally.  Our location of choice is The Ship & Anchor Pub.  The Ship & Anchor is about a mile or so from our office, so we can get there fairly quickly.  The staff also knows us, so that's a good thing, too.  The best thing about The Ship & Anchor is the drinks.  They make a tasty cosmo!

We also absolutely love their food.  They have typical bar foods - nachos, wings, fries.  Their nachos come with chicken, but I always get them without chicken.  I also love their fries.  They're served in a terra cotta flower pot, which is kind of neat.  We were recently introduced to a new item on their menu.  Ghetto wings are rather yummy.  I don't eat the chicken, but I eat the little pieces of batter that are left on the plate.  Oh, my!  That is some delicious stuff!

Chef (that's what we call the main guy who runs the kitchen) introduced us to ghetto fries.  He seasons their fries with a special seasoning blend and then covers them with runny white cheese.  He then adds crumbles of bacon, which he excludes from my ghetto fries since he knows I don't eat meat.  He'll even bring a special plate of batter "cracklings" when someone at our table orders ghetto wings.

A small group of us decided to visit The Ship & Anchor today for lunch.  I had the lobster grilled cheese sandwich with fries.  The sandwich is a grilled brie and cream cheese sandwich with large chunks of lobster.  It. is. delicious.  So rich and creamy!

I really enjoy the atmosphere at The Ship & Anchor.  It's calming and a nice way to relax after a rough day at work.  When it's cooler outside, we'll even sit in their outdoor area, which is kind of nice.

Flashback Friday

I decided to share this photo of my father and me.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the year.  I'm guessing I'm three or four, but I don't know that for sure.  Without knowing the year, I don't really know where the photo was taken.  I'm assuming it was taken during a summer vacation.  I remember going to Daytona in 1986 when I was five, but I think this was before that.  My guess would be that it was taken in 1984 or 1985.

I also played around with Picasa and added the Polaroid look to the photo.  I kind of like it, especially for this photo.  It wasn't originally taken with a Polaroid camera, but it could have been.

My Birthday

My birthday was Monday, July 2.  It was a low key kind of day.  I don't mean for this to sound negative, but because my birthday is so close to July 4, it has been hard for me to plan parties in the past.  Most people are out of town or have holiday plans that seem to begin on or before July 2.

My mother's birthday is on June 30, so in an effort to keep from having two birthday cakes, we usually got my mother a cake.  I've whined about not having a birthday cake for years.  To end this vicious cycle, Justin got a birthday cake for me.  I ran an errand and when I returned home, this cake was waiting for me.  He's really sweet like that!

Later that night, Justin took me to TWO Urban Licks.  TWO Urban Licks is one of my favorite restaurants in Atlanta.  We began with cocktails.  They have these liquor infusions.  I'm not sure how they're made, but they're potent.  My favorite is the key lime infusion.  It has rum infused with something, coconut milk, lime, and brown sugar.  Justin had a sangria infusion.  They were both quite tasty!

We also began our meal with the watermelon and yellow tomato salad.  It has watermelon, yellow tomato, feta cheese, mint, and a chili sauce.  It doesn't sound all that appealing, but it is fabulous.  We had it the last time we were there and it is wonderful.  So refreshing!

For my entree, I had the scallops.  Justin and I have eaten at TWO Urban Licks five or six times and I've gotten the scallops each visit.  They're that good.  The three perfectly cooked scallops are served atop Gouda grits surrounded by a tomato sauce and topped with a tomato salsa.  The blend of flavors is perfect.  You wouldn't think three scallops would be satisfying, but it is the perfect amount of food.

Because it was my birthday and the waitress noticed this while checking my ID (Woohoo for looking like a teenager!), she offered a free dessert.  Justin and I planned to have a drink after dinner, so I got the carrot cake without the ice cream so we wouldn't have to rush home.  I love carrot cake, so it was a win win situation.


We visited Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium (It's a bar.).  It is a local bar that has tasty drinks.  I had my usual cosmo and we headed home.

As I said, it was a low key day, but a great day.  Justin got me a recumbent exercise bike, which we put together on July 4.  I haven't used it, yet, but I'm planning to get on it later today.  It's gonna make me skinny!  While we met my family in Macon on June 30, I got my birthday presents from my family.  My mother and Larry gave me a pair of gold hoop earrings.  They're really pretty and I know I'll wear them often.  My sister and niece gave me a pretty blue ring.  I'm not sure if it's topaz or aquamarine, but it's very pretty.  Justin's parents sent a check which was used to purchase some clothes at my favorite store, The Limited.  Shhh...don't tell Justin I went there!  I also treated myself to a much needed pedicure.

My mother is getting married!

My mother has been dating Larry for a about two years.  He is the first person she dated since my father died in 1986.  I've been expecting this for a while, so I wasn't totally surprised on Saturday when she showed me her ring.  It is very pretty!

Her sixtieth birthday was on Saturday, so we decided to meet in Macon for lunch.  After we sat down, she presented her left hand and I quickly spotted the diamonds.  She was so excited, so my sister and I were excited for her, too.

My sister and me. 

My JB and me. 

The happy couple!

Congratulations Mama and Larry!  Love you two!