This past weekend was one of my absolute favorite weekends in my entire 3 decades of living. (Now, if you do the math, that’s 52 weekends in a year x 30 years of living = 1,560 weekends. That’s a lotta weekends to choose from. But this one has got to be one of the best.)

Let’s rewind.

My flight back to Atlanta was scheduled to land around 5:30PM on Friday evening – which would leave ample time to drive the 4 hours back to Harrogate. But, speaking from experience plus keeping in mind all the craziness that has been going on with Southwest this past week, I knew I wouldn’t be on the road until much later. So I went ahead and booked a hotel room in Atlanta for the night, knowing I would set my alarm for 5AM and be reunited with Ankur by 10ish on Saturday morning.

I ended up being pretty spot on with timing at the airport. It was past 7PM by the time I walked outside to wait for the shuttle to my hotel. I waited for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes and the shuttle still hadn’t arrived. Meanwhile, I was sleepy and hangry and texting Ankur all the terrible things about the airport and the hotel and the shuttle and the weather. And then right as I pulled my phone out of my pocket to complain some more, someone cleared their throat behind me and said, “Excuse me, ma’am. Can I help you with something?” 

THIS KID WAS BEHIND ME. 

WHAT?

He wasn’t in Harrogate.

He wasn’t in the apartment.

And he wasn’t at the social event that he said he was going to attend.

He had driven 5 hours – in traffic – to meet me in Atlanta so I wouldn’t have to do the drive solo and so that we could have a fun weekend exploring the city before the craziness of his semester starts up this week.

Hands down the sneakiest, most thoughtful surprise I’ve ever gotten. 

All of my anger disappeared and I was actually grateful for the fact that I didn’t get on an earlier shuttle because timing worked out so perfectly.

So…instead of grocery shopping and settling into the apartment (again) this weekend, we explored Atlanta. Together.

On Saturday, we went to Egg Harbor Cafe for brunch. Good food. Healthy options. Good service. And coffee while you wait for your table. What’s not to love?

I ordered the protein wrap which included egg whites and a house-made black bean patty with chia seeds + flax seeds + all the good-for-you-stuff. I then had half a pancake smothered in syrup. #Balance

We went to the aquarium which was packed full of people. And, you know, fish and stuff.

The sea otters were probably the cutest.

And the sea dragons were the weirdest!

We also explored a nearby park which had adult swings. They’re probably not called adult swings and probably shouldn’t be used as a swing set, but there were no rules saying not to. So I did. Oops.

We didn’t stay for long because it started raining. But it was nice to spend some time where I wasn’t being smushed by people trying to take pictures of jellyfish on their iPhones and selfie sticks.

We were pretty hungry when we got back so we turned down the free alcohol at the hotel in favor of trying out a restaurant nearby. (Most adult thing I’ve done all year).

Custom pizzas. Custom salads. Boom.

We came back and watched a few episodes of Big Bang Theory in the hotel room and then after the 85th time of watching Penny pour herself a glass of wine, I wanted one for myself. So we went downstairs to the lounge area.

The bartender poured me a glass of wine…but then I spotted Malibu rum on the shelf above it.

So, I changed my mind and he dumped the wine down the drain (THE SHAME!) and I relived my college years in the form of Diet Coke + Malibu Coconut Rum + lime.

And then the bartender became our friend. And upgraded my glass.

And then he sent me back home to Dry County with a gift bag. Er…gift cart?

We didn’t keep the party going for too long since we wanted to make sure to get up and out and hiking before heading back to Harrogate.

We stopped at Red Top Mountain State Park on our drive back and hiked near Lake Allatoona. 

It was exactly the kind of hike we were looking for. The right length (4 miles total), close to the water, and covered by trees so we didn’t feel too hot and sticky.

It was perfect.

Just like the weekend.

I’m re-living the past few days over and over through these pictures and I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have married such a thoughtful, caring, wonderful guy. Thank you for such a special weekend!

Hope you all had a great one!

Questions of the Day:

• What was your college cocktail?
  
• What did you do this weekend?