Senior Trip

Michael graduated a little over three weeks ago and is about to join the working world. We felt like it would be fun if we took a mini-Senior trip to celebrate this transition. We just bought a house, so a lot of our "play money" has gone to that lately, so we decided to zip over to Atlanta for a couple of days of rest and relaxation.
Nothing says rest and relaxation like Braves baseball, right? Michael truly does love watching baseball...minor league, major league...it doesn't matter...he is entertained. I, on the other hand, like about 5 innings and then I am kind of over it. Thursday night we went to see the Braves play the Marlins. I have to say that there were a couple of things made this game exciting:

1. One of my very best friends from college, Jennifer Burnley, was there and sat with us during the game. She and I got to catch up which made the game fly by. It is always so good to see her!
2. Micheal graduated high school with Josh Willingham, one of the Marlins players. We got to the game a little early and got a chance to see him and even got our picture taken with him. Josh is unfortunately on the "hurt player" list right now, so we didn't get to see him play, but going down to the field to see our friend the major league base player still made me feel like a VIP;)
3. Chipper Jones, Braves 3rd baseman (for all you non baseball fan), hit his 400th homerun. 400 freakin homeruns. It was actually a little emotional. He got a standing ovation, everyone was so excited...it was hard not to buy into the mayhem a little bit.

Friday morning we went to IKEA. This is my second IKEA experience and I am still totally amazed by it. There is just SO much to see. Michael was impressed for about 30 minutes, so it was a much shorter trip than the last time I went (with a girlfriend of mine). I got to see everything I wanted to see, though, and am ever amazed by how well designed that store is. I am realizing, though, that IKEA's cheap prices are tricky. You feel like you can buy a bunch of stuff and then there is some "sticker shock" when you get to the register. Thankfully, we didn't do too much damage.

Friday afternoon we went and got a couple's massage. I truly believe a massage is one of life's simple (or maybe I should say luxurious) pleasures. We went to a place called Buckhead Massage. I am always a little leery when I go to a new massage person, but my girl, Charlene, was great. Micheal said his girl pulled his hair (kind-a weird), so I was glad he had his masseuse and I had mine.

Friday night we went to a eat a CELEBRATION dinner at a place called Restaurant Eugene. Michael and I both love a good meal (honestly, though, who doesn't), but sometimes it is hard for me to find a good place to eat in a town I don't know a lot about. There is this website called chowhound where folks post restaurant reviews about restaurants in various cities (everybody else may already know about this, but I am kind of new to the chowhound scene). That's where we got the recommendation for Restaurant Eugene and it turned out to be delicious. As a matter of fact, the chef at Restaurant Eugene was one of the 5 nominees for Southeastern Chef of the year. I looked last night and turns out he didn't win, but I still give him two enthusiastic thumbs up. YUMMY.

Saturday morning we got up had a delicious Embassy Suites breakfast and headed home. It really was such a great trip.