The Vintage Project: The Girls Go To Georgia Part 1

Afternoon Darlin's!

As I've mentioned a few times, two weeks ago a few of us girls boarded planes and headed for Atlanta to visit our friend Sakura who is getting her PhD at the University of Georgia. Initially I had mixed feelings about the whole thing - I was a little concerned as we are a rather motley crew (no umlauts) and at a certain point, the other girls started talking about hiking and floating down rivers. If it's not painfully obvious, I am not outdoorsy - not in the least. But I was also very excited since I'd never been to the South and I miss Sakura terribly. So, I went out and purchased some water shoes (yes, you read that right - I had a trip planned to the South and I had to go purchase water shoes...have those words ever been uttered before?), packed my bag and stayed up all night for fear of not waking up in time to get to LAX by 6:20 (!!!!) in the morning.

After almost missing our flight because we decided a $28 breakfast was a good idea (which for the record, it totally was) and five hours in a sub-zero airplane cabin, we FINALLY made it to Atlanta!

photo credit

It did not take long to feel that you were in the South. Even at the airport where people do not tend to be on their best behaviour, everyone was nice and you could even see pride taken in the planters at the airport! I don't believe there are ANY planters at LAX. Oh, and if I had any lingering doubts, the humidity would have been a dead giveaway...

Tina was excited!

While we flew into Atlanta, the airport and the freeway were really all that we saw of it. Sakura lives in Athens, which is about an hour and a half outside of Atlanta. We landed around 3:30 and finally made it back to her house shortly after 5. She lives in a cute little house in an older neighborhood with a nice big porch and, as is a requirement in the South, we all decided to decompress there for a bit. Glass of wine in hand, feet up, and puppies under foot!

Janice, Henry, and Brianne

Janice being photobombed by Henry

Henry and Lucy were so wiggly from the excitement of having all their Aunties there! This is literally the best shot I was able to get...

One of the things that I REALLY wanted to do on this trip was sip mint juleps on a porch with some old Southern women, the compromise was sipping nice wine with my girls (and puppies) on Sakura's porch while she kept working "Oh Mylanta!" and "Bless her heart!" into the conversation. I love this girl so much!! After about an hour on the porch, the five of us piled into the car and drove through the rustic neighborhoods to the oasis in the desert (with the Southern heat, this phrase isn't that much of a stretch).

Barber & Beauty Shop/Realty - when you don't have time to make two stops.

I wish I had ended up with more photos of all the beautiful buildings. This is the only one I got - enjoy!

Where did we end up, you might be wondering? Shiraz! This Athens wine shop far surpassed my expectations! It didn't look like much from the outside, but once we got inside, I was super impressed!!

The ladies who work at Shiraz are absolutely fantastic!! So friendly and incredibly helpful.

You could say we had a few choices...

After staying past closing, we had quite a few bottles that came with us. It was a varied selection and I don't think we were disappointed with any of them. We then popped into the grocery store to pick up a few things and headed back to the house. Once there, Sakura lit some lanterns and bug repelling spiral doohickies so that we could spend the evening on the porch in peace.

Staring the evening off with a glass of wine, some olives, and a meat and cheese plate.

After enjoying the last remnants of daylight, we took turns in the kitchen to prepare the dinner. Admittedly, the fact that I had not slept at all the night before was catching up with me and my contribution was minimal. There was some serious culinary greatness under Sakura's roof that weekend, so my lack of contribution, hopefully, went unnoticed.

Janice finishing the meat and cheese plate. Waste not want not.

Roasted veggies for the pizza!

Roasted veggie pizza. These girls have skills - not only did they roast all the veggies, but they made the tomato sauce from scratch. The house smelled like heaven!!

Sakura appeasing the carnivores.

A short while later, dinner was had by candlelight.

And the next day, things got interesting.

It had been decided the night before that we were to drive a few hours in the morning and go...shudder...hiking. When we all slept until about 11, I knew I was off the hook for that one, although I had started to get used to the idea. Instead, the girls decided that we would throw on our bathing suits and water shoes and float down a river for a few hours. With my aptitude for nature-related activities, I was convinced that we would encounter some rapids and that I would end up capsized. But I sucked it up and, while I voiced my reservations, I'm pretty proud of myself for not outrightly complaining. I'm a team player, so I threw on some sunblock, grabbed my big hat, and we were off.

Sakura had to stop for gas on the way and I found another indicator that we were truly in the South...

The joke was that I could not have looked like more of a tourist taking a photo of this sign in my over sized black hat and sunglasses...

I was DEFINITELY out of my element. And I eagerly await the girl scout badge that Janice has promised me for stepping so far outside of my comfort zone.

They're serious.

Just put some string on it.

Stylin'!

Getting shuttled upriver in an old school bus.

PROOF I actually did the outdoorsy thing!

Brianne is still able to be fabulous in a kayak.

Race to the finish.

After a few HARROWING hours on the river - okay, not really. It was actually a really good, relaxing few hours of five fabulous gals just floating along, we showered and got all prettied up to go out for the evening. Sakura chose VERY well - I don't think we could find any fault with the Last Resort Grill.