Five Days in the ATL

Before I get started on the trip, I have to mention the part that I'm sure none of you care about: the conference. My colleagues (my principal, our social worker, and our academic interventionist) and I attended the College Board's A Dream Deferred and Preparate conferences.

I have attended these conferences for the past three years now, and I would have to say that this was the best year yet. The keynote speakers (including John Quiñones and Soledad O'Brien) were amazing, and I learned something new at each breakout session. Best of all, however, was that I have so many ideas rolling around in my head -- and on paper, don't worry -- as to what we can bring back to our school for next year and years to come.

Again, I am so thankful to my school district for supporting diversity and educational equity -- and for allowing me the opportunity to attend this conference to better myself (and hopefully my school).

Now, let's chat about the stuff that might interest y'all a bit more. :)

We left school at 1:00 on Tuesday and headed straight to the airport. When we got seated on the tiny little airplane, I of course had to take a selfie:

Looking super fly after a day of work and running around an airport.

Both flights out there were just fine: I was pleasantly surprised at how little turbulence there was based on the size of the aircraft.

I never cease to be amazed at how airplanes work. Seriously, I feel like a little kid based on my intrigue. My colleagues totally judged me (rightly so) as I took a bazillion pictures of clouds, verbalized everything that popped into my head ("That looks like heaven!" "I feel like there should be Care Bears out there!" "I'm pretty sure airplanes are magical!"), and was, basically, just being myself.

When we landed, we headed straight to our hotel:

Does it look familiar to y'all? This is where The Hunger games was filmed. It was 47 stories of awesomeness.

We quickly threw all of our stuff into our rooms and headed out for a bite to eat:

We stumbled upon Max Lager's as we were paging through the packet of restaurants that the concierge gave us, and it sounded like a decent place.

First, we received a compliments-of-the-chef appetizer: fried jalapenos and onion rings. (Before I go any further, let me clarify that Whole30 was non-existent during this trip.) The jalapenos were amazing.

Each of us ordered one of the four things that our server recommended: the Creole BBQ Shrimp, the Southern Fried Chicken, the ribs (on the other side of the menu), and the pork chop (also on the other side of the menu).

The boys ordered beer (it was a brewery, after all), and Emily and I ordered Haymakers. It was a super delicious drink, but it was way too sweet after not having consumed sugar, so I only had about half of it before calling it good.

We also split the best dessert ever: fried cheesecake.

Back at the hotel, we turned in fairly early so that we could get up for the morning sessions.

After the conference on Wednesday, three of us headed out for a run. We saw that Centennial Olympic Park wasn't too far from the hotel (0.4 miles, to be exact), so we headed there.

I've said it a million times (and I'll probably say it another three zillion), but exploring a city by running it is one of my absolute favorite things.

The fountains were very much appreciated after a hot, sweaty run.

I really loved the park -- so much so that I headed there a few times before hitching the plane back to Des Moines.

Yes, I was absolutely thrilled to see flowers after the winter we've had.

After running around the park a few times (it's actually fairly small), we headed back in the direction of the hotel. Instead of going straight "home," though, we wandered past the hotel toward a different area of town -- just to explore.

The churches were just gorgeous -- as was the artwork outside of them:

I'm pretty sure I could've wandered the whole city by foot (taking pictures of everything, of course) given the opportunity.

After our workout, we showered and headed down to the hotel bar where we had a couple of drinks and waited for the rest of our crew to get ready.

This is where I should also mention that I had such a good self-esteem trip. I don't know where it came from, but I got such a boost of confidence and flirted with several very attractive men -- and they flirted right back. As silly as it sounds, it was just what I needed.

For dinner, the four of us headed to Ray's, a seafood joint near our hotel. We started with some sushi for an appetizer, and then I gorged myself on crab cakes and some praline dessert -- and yes, more cocktails.

A couple of us stayed up a bit later when we got to the hotel, mingling with new friends in the hotel bar.

On Thursday, we attended the conference and then went for another run through Centennial Olympic Park:

We had to then head back to Max Lager's because I -- being the genius that I am -- forgot to grab the itemized receipt, a definite must for the district.

So, we went into the restaurant looking like hot messes. We were so gross, in fact, that not one but three people asked us if we wanted a glass of water, and one of the servers stuck washcloths in our hands so that we could dry off.

Hot Mess Express

We then headed back, took a quick swim in the pool, and headed to the cocktail reception that the conference threw for us.

I got a bit tipsy after enjoying three free glasses of wine (each of which was quite large), and then we headed to Gladys Knight's restaurant for dinner:

I chugged two huge glasses of sweet tea (my favorite beverage on the face of the Earth) and had a few bites of chicken and waffles before passing on the rest. (My tummy was full of wine and cheese and crackers from the reception.)

It was okay, but it definitely wasn't the best meal of the trip.

I ended up giving three quarters of the waffle and all but one piece of chicken to a homeless man on our way back to the hotel.

After I felt a bit better, a few of us headed out for a night on the town. I wish I would've taken pictures, but we looked hot.

We went to a karaoke bar down the road and people-watched until quite late. We met some interesting characters: undercover cops from New York who were busting up arms deals in the South, for instance. After, we headed back to the hotel for yet another night at Pulse, the hotel bar.

On Friday, the conference ended mid-afternoon, so Emily and I hit up the hotel pool:

Let me tell you how glorious it was to be able to lay down in a bikini and soak up the sun. I can't wait for summer.

We took quick showers and then once again got ready for another night out.

Em & Em

First, we went back again to Max Lager's for dinner. If you ever go to Atlanta, I highly recommend that place: and get the fried chicken. Trust me.

Then, we figured out the MARTA system as we took the train -- and then the shuttle (after walking through the underground mall) -- to the Braves game.

This photo cracks me up: clearly the boys were over selfies. Whatever.

This is the second time I have been to a Major League Baseball game while attending a conference, and I think I'd like to make it a tradition. Even if the game isn't good, it's great people-watching.

And I always love a good ballpark.

And, of course, the company:

We are such nerds.

Since when is the Tomahawk Chop still an acceptable thing, though? Seriously.

After the game, we navigated MARTA back to our hotel (barely) before hunkering down at, you guessed it, the hotel bar. There was some really interesting people-watching happening there, but Emily and I decided to head back to the karaoke bar for some singing and dancing. We sang so much that my voice was hoarse the next day, and we danced so hard that my muscles felt like they had run eight miles.

And it was awesome.

The next morning, we woke up fairly early and headed back to Des Moines.

Another airplane was racing us. We won.

It was an absolutely wonderful trip, and I am so glad that I was able to experience it with the people that I did. One of the best things about conferences is getting to know your colleagues in a different way.

I am so thankful.

Ladies' Weekend + A Giveaway

This weekend was absolutely wonderful.

On Friday morning, my best girlfriends and I headed to St. Louis and met up with Alicia's sister, Tamara. We figured Alicia getting married was the perfect "excuse" for a super chill ladies' weekend/bachelorette party.

Me and BFF: backseat buddies.

About six hours after we left Des Moines, we arrived in the 'Lou and immediately started wandering since we were a tad too early to get checked into the hotel.

First, we headed out to eat, as we were all a bit hangry. We started walking toward the Arch and stumbled upon the Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar.

I was still trying to be relatively Whole30-compliant, mainly because I didn't want to spend the duration of the trip in the bathroom.

So, I first ordered a vodka-soda with lime and sucked that down like there was no tomorrow. And, I got a little tipsy. I mean, when you don't drink for 47 (or something) days, that'll happen.

After that was gone, I ordered a strawberry cider from Crown Valley Brewing. It smelled exactly like Pop Rocks and was really, really tasty: not too overly sweet, but just enough.

For lunch, I opted for a create-your-own burger with two patties, mushrooms, onions, jalapenos, and avocados. I ate it without the bun and only had a few French fries. I was pretty proud of myself for not "straying too far" for lunch.

After lunch, we headed down to the Arch since it was only a block or so away -- and absolutely gorgeous outside.

It was very arch-y. I mean, it was cool, I guess, because it's a national landmark and all, but it wasn't anything super amazing. It was definitely neat to see, and it was pretty cool seeing it from pretty much everywhere in the city.

After we did our requisite site-seeing, we headed back to the hotel and checked in. The rooms we got had a pretty freaking awesome view:

Yep. This is literally from our hotel window. We saw directly into Busch stadium, and who was playing? The Cardinals and the Cubs.

It was crazy.

And, it was pretty good people-watching from 18 stories up.

After we all freshened up for a bit (and ate some snacks and drank some wine), we headed out for another walk around the city as we headed toward Bridge Tap House & Wine Bar for dinner.

Unfortunately, they didn't take reservations, but we were able to steal a reserved table (and the reserved table tent that we used to indicate our VIP status the rest of the weekend) at the front of the bar, where we enjoyed a bottle of bubbly.

We really liked the ambiance of the bar, as it was super chill and classy. When we were seated at our table upstairs, however, our love of the ambiance changed a bit: it was sooooooo loud and pretty crammed together. We could barely hear each other from across the table.

What the restaurant lacked in acoustics and space, however, they made up with in food.

Holy yum.

For an appetizer, we ordered a couple of different cheese & charcuterie plates: the manchego with quince paste plate and the belletoile brie plate that came with an amazing orange marmalade.

For dinner, I opted for something somewhat Whole30-compliant: Braised Pork Belly w/ succotash, crispy celery slaw, and rosemary-garlic glaze.

I apologize for the horrible photo: lighting was a bit tricky.

The loads of lima beans obviously weren't super Whole30, but I feel like I did a pretty good job overall. And, it was really, really tasty.

We also split a bottle of malbec during dinner.

On our way home, we goofed off in the sculpture garden a bit because, well, we're 30-somethings on a bachelorette party. What else would we do?

They had two bunny statues, so of course, I had to pose with one of them. (Since we saw children twerking on the statues earlier, we figured sitting on them was just fine.)

On Friday night, we turned in pretty early, as we had a big day planned for Saturday. (Oh, and we're old and somewhat responsible.)

Tamara, Alicia's sister, somehow scored us free breakfast at the hotel, so we headed downstairs bright and early to cash in on that:

Again, I did a pretty darn good job: loads of fruit, bacon, sausage, and eggs. The eggs, however, were most definitely from powder, and I ate maybe half of them before saying no thank you.

I also may or may not have inhaled a cranberry muffin -- and loved every single bite of it.

After breakfast, we headed out for a stroll around the city yet again. The ultimate destination was the City Museum (again, we're 30-years-old: what else would we do?), but we took a few detours along the way.

First, we went to Left Bank Books, a really cute independent bookstore in downtown. Katie finished her book on the drive down to St. Louis and needed a new one, and we all just love looking at books. We definitely killed about 45 minutes there. Sadly, I only bought a couple of cards: the books were quite pricey, and I didn't want to carry 'em around all day.

Second, we stopped at MacroSun International, a really cute fair-trade store that specializes in clothing and gifts from Southeast Asia.

I spent a whole $2.00 on some new Nag Champa.

Finally, we made it to the City Museum. Essentially, this is a huge-ass playground. The museum is 600,000 square feet of sculptures of unique and found objects, all of which children and adults can play on.

First, Alicia, Tamara, and I climbed up a treehouse-type structure until we were at the very, very top of the building.

Yes, I realize this is not the outfit to be wearing.

We had to shimmy through tiny spaces, across wrought-iron rungs, and over and under various limbs. And then to get down, we had to slide down a twister slide, something I haven't done for, oh, 20 years.

But that tiny slide was nothing compared to what we did next:

The three of us climbed ten stories just to slide down the biggest slide ever.

And then I was super sweaty and decided to chill outside with Mindy and Katie -- where I had a cider beer (that tasted like porta-potty) and, I'm not going to lie, a Snickers bar. It was sooooooo good.

After we had had our fill of playing (and children screeching), we headed across the street to Alpha Brewing Company, a taproom that my sister's college roommate and her husband opened last year.

We loved the space, especially the garage-door patio.

It was decorated really cool with a lot of wrought-iron fixtures and old coins.

And, most importantly, the beer was pretty darn good. I was very, very impressed.

I obviously couldn't decide which beer to order, so I opted for a flight. Five samples only cost eight dollars. How awesome is that?!

After drinking quite a bit of beer, we decided that we should probably find something to eat. So, we walked down the street to Pi Pizzeria, home of President Obama's favorite pizza in St. Louis.

It was so, so good.

First, I ordered the Pi Squared cocktail, some combination of vodka and basil and I don't know what else. It was so good, though, that I may or may not have had two.

We also split a couple of appetizers: Pi Bites (fontina, mozzarella, volpi prosciutto and rosemary, breaded and baked with a spicy tomato sauce) and Roasted Vegetable Bruschetta (portabello mushroom, zucchini, red pepper and red onion, with ricotta cheese and balsamic reduction, served on companion bakery rustic bread). Both appetizers were to die for.

For d

We had the Thin-Crust Maplewood, which was mozzarella, spicy homemade Italian sausage, cherry peppers, fontina, and fresh basil; and we had the Deep-Dish South-Side Classico, which was mozzarella, sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions.

Holy cow.

There was zero caring about Whole30 happening here.

You guys. If you're in St. Louis, please hit up Pi. I promise you won't be disappointed.

After a delicious dinner, we headed home to freshen up for the night -- and to take advantage of the free-drink coupons Tamara was also able to score.

Mindy (my friend from summer orientation at Drake -- 13 years ago!) and me

BFF, me, and Mindy -- the three roommates

Me, Tamara, Mindy, BFF, and Alicia -- the whole crew

After getting ready in the room, we enjoyed our free cocktails (a vodka-soda for me) while people-watching the prom-goers enter the hotel lobby. Let me tell you the theme of prom dresses this year: lots and lots and lots and lots of bling and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of tulle.

We finished our drinks and walked a mile or so to the arena where we saw Chelsea Handler's show (and drank yet another beer). I thought both Chelsea and her opener were quite hilarious. I know Chelsea is super raunchy and very non-PC and inappropriate, but I enjoyed her for the most part. There were a few things I wish she would've left out (the R word, for example) since I think she's hilarious without needing to be offensive, but oh well, I suppose.

She was quite different than when I saw Jim Gaffigan a few weeks ago: that's for sure!

After our comedy evening, we headed back to the hotel and were asleep by 11:00. That's how we old ladies roll.

This morning, we woke up for another free breakfast

Mostly healthy again, minus the biscuit and gravy and muffin.

before hitting the road.

We stopped for a gas station lunch (ice-cream Snickers and caramel popcorn -- oh yeah) about halfway home, and I walked into my house around 3:00 this afternoon.

It was an absolutely wonderful trip with the best friends in the universe. I need more ladies' weekends in my life. Love those girls.

But now: back to reality. :)


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How do you get back on track with nutrition (and fitness) after time away?