I hear that writing one of these lists is an easy way to write a post. Â So, here it goes –Â Top Twelve Things I Did in Atlanta This Weekend!
1)  Going with Jana to meet Miranda, her co-producer/co-director of Atlanta’s Listen to Your Mother show.
2)  Going with Jana to meet her friend, Karen, in a local TraderJoe’s,  which was a surprisingly good idea because we were able to taste the gnocchi from the guy in the chef’s hat who was giving away free samples.
3) Â Going with Jana to eat BBQ ribs with Dadcation and his family, and getting sauce all over my beard.
4) Â Going with Jana to a party at a bowling alley where I participated in my first game of laser-tag. Â Considering I am a man of non-violence and pro-gun control, Â I was pretty good at the game. Â My biggest man-to-man combat was with this eleven year old boy. Â He was quick with his trigger, but he lacked my intelligence. Â Using cognitive therapy techniques that I picked up over the years, I was able to trick him into trusting me as an ally, when I promptly shot him in the back.
5) Sleeping with Loretta, Jana’s dog. Â I loved this dog. Â For some reason, Jana became petty and jealous when I asked her to sleep in the living room couch so I could snuggle with Loretta in her bed. Â What’s the big deal? Â I’ll never “get” women.
6) Going to Ikea with Jana and her son, Henry. Â By the way, just in case you were wondering, Atlanta’s IKEA looks EXACTLY like your IKEA.
7) Forcing Jana to watch 4 hours of Gone with the Wind. Â Can you believe she grew up in Georgia and NEVER saw the movie?! Â This has to be rectified. Â After the marathon screening, she said she wasn’t impressed. Â “Scarlet is a selfish bitch,” she said. Â Confused by her reaction, I brought in the big guns to explain to her why she was wrong. (thank you, Â certified GWTW expert Danny on Facebook).
8) Driving on a country road somewhere in Northern Georgia and yelling, “Stop here for a photo!” every five minutes.
9) Touring the quaint town of Madison, which we learned from the tourism office was spared the flames of Sherman’s March because:
a) Sherman had a West Point buddy who lived in town.
b) or Sherman had a mistress in town.
c) or a combination of both.
10) Going on a tour of a pre-Civil War mansion. Â Jana and I were the only guests, and our tour guide was a junior in high school. After the tour, Jana tried to fix him up with her niece in Florida. I took a lot of photos of the lighting fixtures and creepy dolls in the children’s room.
11) Walking over a covered bridge, another first for me!
12) Â Just hanging out with Jana.
It was lovely to meet you, finally! It makes me happy to see Jana happy.
Love the pics! Henry is cute and so is Jana. I like the pic of you on the bridge. Glad you enjoyed your trek south.
Excellent! Number 12 is definitely the best.
Love-love your Vivian Maier mirrors image… and the dolls.
The image of you on the bridge – self portrait? It’s wonderful.
I took the one of him on the bridge! iPhone 6 pic!
Nice job!
Looks like Jana introduced you to the south in a most graceful, fun, and lovely way! Watch out! Sometimes people fall in love with it. And sometimes people fall in love with people…
Those dolls ARE creepy.
Did you run through town yelling the Bulldogs suck and Roll Tide or War Eagle?
No?
Good cuz everyone knows the SEC can’t play football.
He wore an Auburn shirt…
Looks and sounds like the perfect weekend.
I’m glad y’all enjoyed. 😉
* Jana can explain to you that I am a native New Yorker who was transplanted in the south in 2006 and now says y’all whenever possible. It’s just a thing, man.
No World of Coke? Just think of all the criticism you could have had at all the different tasting sodas from around the world.
I guess you’ll just have to go back, which I’m guessing is already in the works.
We did World of Coke last time and he LOVED Beverly. WTF?
It was awesome having BBQ with you again! Hope to hang out again on a future (warmer) visit !
-Michael
This was a pretty great post.
#8: I live here and I do this on a very regular basis. Part of the charm of the South is that there’s no lack of curiosities, and these things are stretched out just far enough from one another to give you enough time to ponder/savor/puzzle over them.
you’re adorable.
i love the second creepy doll so much.
I really liked the photos with tours of the mansion.
Great post