ATL

So, I'm back! I took a day off work because a) I am a little throat-scratchy, which might just be from sitting in the mold-infested Fulton County Courthouse all weekend, or it might be the start of a cold I could infect the whole office with just in time for the holiday, and b) after being gone all weekend I have so many little things around the house to get done.

Time for a little weekend recap!Like I said, I hadn't been to Atlanta in forever, and had never gotten to really see much of it, so it was cool to be down there for the weekend. It would definitely be a fun weekend road trip for me and PB sometime, because it's a fun city and there's a lot I still really want to see! Mainly I was sad that we didn't have time for the world of coke (wow, that sounded like a drug reference), or the Georgia Aquarium.

We did get to do a few cool things though. We stayed at the Omni, which is connected to the CNN center, which is super cool. Here's a view of the hotel and CNN from the outside:

It had a super-fancypants lobby too, which makes me feel real awk when I am traipsing around there in a t-shirt and sweatpants (that happened).

The hotel was also connected to the CNN center, which had an atrium and a giant food court with 94 billion delicious things to eat. Pretty sure I gained about 10 pounds in one weekend. There was a Dunkin Donuts that was a lifesaver every morning, and a Great Wraps place that makes a darn good falafel pita and some amazing fries with whatever seasoning you want on them!

The first morning there, the whole team went to brunch at a place called West Egg Cafe, and if you live in Atlanta and haven't been or are visiting, you HAVE to go there. They have an amazing menu and by amazing I mean that they put homemade pimento cheese and bacon into an omelet. Delicious, delicious. Also the atmosphere is so cool - very retro, very awesome.

The first night, my teammate Ash and I were having kind of a rough night for various reasons. So after a long day of competition, we found ourselves in the hotel bar, drinking $10 glasses of wine and $6 Michelob Ultras. But at one point, I think the bartender felt bad for us, and he brought out two giant pieces of cake and handed them to us. That's when you know you're having a rough night.

Fortunately, there was only one more day of competition and Ash and I got to be witnesses, which is easy peasy. Then there was a reception at Manuel's Tavern, which was the scene of the "crime" we were fake litigating all weekend. Thank goodness, everything was over for us at that point, and everyone enjoyed the free pitchers of beer with abandon. Here's the team!

We competed against the team from UGA during our last round and we all started hanging out together at Manuel's. When the trial crowd thinned out there and a super-obnoxiously drunk wedding party rolled in, the UGA team led us down the street to another bar in the highlands. And you can see how the team was doing at that point:

All in all, it was quite the weekend, and I have to say that it's good to be home, it's good to have a ton of extra time back since trial team is over for the semester. And above all, I'm ready for Thanksgiving break and some turkey!