Our New Years Getaway

Since there wasn't a whole lot of things on Jonathan's wish list this year, we decided that our present to each other would be a little getaway after Christmas. Having worked in the transportation industry for the past 10 years, Jonathan hasn't had more than a day at Christmas and a day at New Year's off He was able to take the week between Christmas and New Years, so we researched places within driving distance that we could spend a few days and leave Savannah with the grandparents. We concluded that we could get a pretty good rate on a nice hotel in Atlanta, I had found a white dresser online at IKEA that would work for Savannah's room, and I figured we could always find something to do in Atlanta, even if we had both been there before.

We drove over Monday morning, checked into our hotel, and decided to see Twilight. We spent at least an hour trying to look up cinema and times in the area on our Blackberry phones. I'm enjoying the convenience of having a portable Internet with me at all times, but it still isn't as easy as using a computer. So we made it to the theater at Phipps Plaza just in time. I read Twilight for the first time about a month ago and convinced Jonathan he should read it too. He seemed to enjoy the book, and well the movie just isn't the book, but we both enjoyed getting to see it. The movie seemed to play out really fast though.

Tuesday was a beautiful, warm day in Atlanta. We drove downtown and went to the new Coke Museum and Georgia Aquarium. This is the first time either of us had been to these newer attractions. I handed Jonathan the old Rebel camera and told him he was going to learn to take pictures today while I had my new camera with me. I must say it was fun for me to watch him get into playing with settings and learning about what he was going. I haven't uploaded that memory card yet, but flipping through he did a pretty good job. =) With the Chik-fil-a bowl in town the next day, great weather, and Christmas vacation, the museums were pretty crowded. At least we did avoid the long lines and some of the crowds by getting there early. After the Aquarium we walked around downtown Atlanta looking for a place to eat lunch. We walked down a few wrong streets in search for Ted's Montana Grill, but finally found it. I love their bison burgers. On the way back, I was drawn to the red doors at the Tabernacle Event Hall. We did a quick little photo shoot while Atlanta's finest crazies walked by. After that we stopped at Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Since we have passes for Huntsville, we were able to get in free. With about an hour before they closed, we walked around and looked for things to take pictures of. I enjoyed the indoor orchid house, and never knew there were so many varieties of orchids.

Wednesday we stayed in the Perimeter area and went to the mall and several of the stores around there. We ate a late lunch at Doc Greens and then picked up vanilla bean cheesecake and chocolate cake for J at the Cheesecake Factory to take to the hotel to eat later. We hung out relaxing in the hotel the rest of the afternoon, passing New Moon, the 2nd book in the Twilight series, back and forth. Or should I say fighting. HAHA! For once I was actually ahead. We went to church at Embry Hills and then decided to find a restaurant to eat at afterward. There were lots of great restaurants to choose from in the area, but they all looked crowded. We decided to go to P.F. Changs. We sat up and watched the ball drop and ate a few bites of our favorite desserts.

Thursday we slept in late and then headed to IKEA on our way out of town. I had preselected a tall white chest dresser that I wanted to get for Savannah. But of course I wanted to look around at everything else that they had there. It was fun walking through the showroom and seeing how organized and efficient they could make furniture look in such a small space. So, lo and behold when we get to the warehouse to pick up the dresser in boxes, they were out of stock! For some reason I had that fear ahead of time. So, I had to decide between the tall dresser in black or a longer, shorter dresser in white. We ended up getting the longer white dresser and a bookshelf to put in our playroom.

Although we missed Savannah, and every little girl holding a baby doll reminded us of her, It was nice having a few days all to ourselves without being on a set schedule, and fitting in naps, and everything else that goes along with a 2 yr old 24/7.