A Peek at Life as a Natic

Friday night we went with Dan, Bobby, and Kara to Gordon Biersch down in Buckhead.  Gordon Biersch is a brewpub / restaurant chain that has a few locations in the Atlanta area.  I had been wanting to try it out for quite some time but my fear of lagers has kept me away.  Well I was wrong.  I should have gone there years ago.

I am a big ale person and love my dark, bold, thick beers.  Since most of the American popular beers are lagers, I have built up a large amount of hate for this type of beer.  I should have opened up sooner.  These beers at Gordon Biersch were quite good!  They are not as heavy or as bold as the stouts that I typically like, but they were still quite tasty smooth and flavorfull.  I am a fan and will be sure to give more lagers a shot when out drinking at Taco Mac or similar bars.  I will certainly look for ales first, but I will not turn my head to the lagers anymore.  Well most of them that is.  I still dont care for the typical American Lager, but the darker more complex styles were good. 

The food there was also very good.  We had some hiccups with our order but they were polite and very quick to resolve them with no questions asked.  The management staff came by to make sure all was corrected as well which was nice.  Without a doubt, I would return to Gordon Biersch.  I really enjoyed it!

I would certainly recommend you give them a shot!  We loved it!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Preston’s first Christmas here

With Preston being born such a short time ago, we were very hesitant to take him to our family Christmas Eve gathering that we do each year.  Since we have such a large family, it is usually about 35 people getting together to celebrate such a great time of year.

We were thinking that it would be too many people to worry about, all in once place, at one time.  The last thing that we would want is for Preston to get sick from someone who was not feeling 100%.  We decided to check with our doctor and see what she thought when we were there this past week and she said “dont do it!  Blame it on me if you have to.  Just dont do it.”  We decided to go with the doctor’s orders.  She mentioned that fortunately swine flu was on the decline but RSD was on the rise and unfortunately that would put our little bundle of joy in the hospital .  It is just not worth the risk.

We were home alone for evening which made for a boring night.  We love hanging out with our family and it was really tough to not go.  We watched a lot of tv and just relaxed.  Before long I got a text from our awesome neighbors asking us if we wanted some sushi.  They had people over and ordered way too much and wanted to know if we wanted some.  HECK YEAH!!!!  Heather came over to see Preston and to drop off a ton of sushi.  It was excellent!  Thanks guys!

We headed off to bed shortly after and had a decent night’s sleep.  He was up for a bit, but all in all, we couldn’t complain.  We got dressed and came downstairs for breakfast and to open the gifts that we got.  After that we sat around while Alisha’s mom went crazy cooking.  She was cooking up a storm as we were having my parents (with the kids) and Kara and Lin over for Christmas dinner.  The food turned out excellent and we had a nice chill evening together.

It was a very chill Christmas but was a much needed one.  Hope everyone had a safe and great Christmas as well.

On Friday night we headed into the city to check out a brew pub that I had been keeping an eye on with some of our friends.  It was called Max Lagers which was located right by the SunTrust building in downtown Atlanta. 

We went down with Bobby and Dan to grab some dinner and drinks and met Andrea and Ryan there.  We had a great time just talking it up but I will say I was not impressed at all with the beers.  I felt as though they were very watered down.  It was almost like good beer Bud Light style…I don’t know… there was absolutely no beer taste there.  Let’s put it this way.  We all know Alisha hates beer…. she actually liked this. 

I dont know if we had a bad batch or something, but it was no good in my book at all.  We were one of three tables on a Friday night and that may be why.  The food was okay, nothing great really, but the service was great.  Our waiter really went out of his way for Alisha and that was really cool of him.

It was a chill night with some good company to wrap up my birthday.

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of the Atlanta Gay Pride Parade at pictures.neilnatic.com or here

On Sunday morning we woke up and tried to figure out what we wanted to do.  We had been talking about heading down to Andrea and Ryan’s house as we had not seen them in a while but were not sure what to do for the morning.  Alisha then got a call from Kara who was heading down to the Gay Pride Parade in Midtown Atlanta so we decided to go as well.

It is no secret that Alisha and I support gay couples and believe that they should be treated equally and we figured, why the hell not?  Let’s check it out.  We hauled ass to meet Kara, Lin, and their friend Bobby down at Kara’s apartment.  We then headed off to find parking and get a spot for the parade.  We certainly underestimated the parking situation as we got down there but it all turned out fine.  We had to walk several blocks to the parade but at least we got to check it out. 

The parade was NUTS!  There were so many people there to watch that I NEVER would have thought it would be such a long parade.  We were there well over 2 hours and it was still going.  There were just a ton of groups walking to support their cause and it was a good time.  It was really incredible to see so many people support equality and pride for gays.  While we were certainly outnumbered as a straight (pregnant) couple, but our support was certainly welcomed by everyone.  It was a good time even though it was as long as it was. 

Check out our link above for pictures from the parade.   

After the parade we headed out to Ryan and Andrea’s house to hang out and have dinner with them.  When we got there Andrea had told us that they also invited their friends Nathan and Sarah over as well.  We had not seen them in a while and really like to hang out with them as well so it was a great surprise.  We brought Andrea our Kitchen Aid mixer so that she could whip up some of her oh so delicious pumpkin cookies.  DAMN those things are soooooo good!  You just can’t stop eating them.  MMMMM!!!  Ryan and I took Anthony and headed out to his data center down town to grab some pictures for their website while the ladies baked away.   Shortly after we returned Nathan, Sarah and the kids came over and we threw some chicken and pulled pork on the grill to get dinner started.

As always, we had an excellent time with the DiRoccos.  We dont get to see them as often as we wish we did, so it is always a great time seeing them whenever we can.  Thanks for having us over Andrea and, of course, thanks for the cookies… I wont thank you for the 5 lbs I’ll gain eating them though LOL

Last night Bobby and Andrea were over and stayed for dinner and to shoot the shit.  Anthony was being talkative as usual and asked Alisha what Bobby’s name was.  Alisha said “ask’ em.”  So Anthony looked puzzeled as ever pointing at Bobby’s jacket and said, that is Askem’s jacket.  :crackup:

It was hilarious!  We had a nice evening.  It was great seeing all of you!

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of my birthday dinner at pictures.neilnatic.com  or here.

This past weekend we decided to get everyone together to come out to have some dinner and drinks for my birthday.  We had an excellent turnout. We had to make reservations for 20!  Ashley, Kevin, Mike, Aubree, Jason, Amber, Krystle, Phil, Spencer, Shawn, Hector, Reagan, Bobby, Jen, Paul, Rickie, Lauren, and Craig all made it!

We grabbed dinner at Loredos across from the avenue in Cumming.  It was a little tight there but we made it work.  While we were there I got the typical birthday celebration at a Mexican restaurant with the sombrero. 

Is that a Dirty Sanchez??

After dinner, we were sure to show Kevin http://1guy1cup.net.  I know most of you have not seen this and if you are one of our grown folk readers…. I urge you to proceed with caution… as a matter of fact I can almost assure you that you do NOT want to see this video.  Now that your curiosity has the best of you, if you MUST proceed you HAVE to be ready for the biggest shock of your life.  It is not at all what you expected… and you have to watch it all.  It is NOT work safe and certainly not child safe either.  To see Kevin’s reaction check out the photo gallery.  It explains it all.  :crackup:

After that I had Kevin watch the video above.  It is a humorous take on puberty from a talking penis with some nasty adult humor tossed in.  Quite hilarious but you must have a sense of humor

We then headed over to Taco Mac to have some drinks before calling it a night.  Thanks to everyone that came out… and I am sorry to those that could not make it.  We’ll catch ya next time!

Friday was my last day at Opteum which led to celebration on its own but to top it off, much of Mike’s family was in town for Sandy’s wedding.  Since everyone was there, they decided to get the guys together and play some golf.  Mike gave me some heads up so that I can try to make it there as well.  Fortunately, it worked out great as it was my last day at Opteum.  I took off a few hours early and met up with Mike, Jamie, Dan, Abe, and Jessie for a round of golf at the Hamptons Golf Village (Kevin’s neighborhood).

We had a hell of a good time out on the course.  After our 18 holes, we headed out and went our separate ways for a few hours.  Mike and Aubree had planned to come out to dinner with us so we met up with them a little later for some Italian food.  Jamie stayed home to watch the Boston Red Sox play but Dan decided to come out.  We met up at Provino’s in Cumming for some much needed grub.  We had a great time eating and joking around with our waitress.  She was quite cool and really added a great time to our dinner. 

After dinner we headed out to Taco Mac for some drinks… wow what a trip this was.  Our waitress… well.. was not quite all there unfortunately.  Dan ordered a drink first and I asked her to print my list (like I always do).  She comes to the table with Dan’s beer and looks at me like I need to order so I ask her if she printed my list.  She says she forgot and goes to print it.  5 minutes later she comes back and says that my card says that I have used it for the day (6 max per day) although I had not been to Taco Mac.  I ask her to try again and to see if she can fix it.  She comes back and says she got it to work… and looks at me to order… I ask once again… can I have my list.  She goes back to print it and I finally get my beer.  Like 2 minutes later, she puts our checks on the table.. WTF?!!?  No one asked for our checks at all.  So i just left it there untouched.  She kept coming back to collect it but I never even moved it.  Then to top it off I order another beer.  She says yeah of course, and then when she brings the beer, brings an updated check… WTF?!  I was amazed.. never seen anything like it!

It was great to hang out with the Sasso’s again and to see everyone for golf, dinner, and drinks.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures from dinner at the Daly’s  at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.

On Friday evening we went over to Ash and Kev’s house to have a few beers, chill on the porch, and hang out with some friends.  Ash, Kevin, Mike, Aubree, Matt, Laura, Spence, Alisha, and I were all meeting over there around 7:30ish.  Ash was unable to cook as she has to relax so she asked Alisha to give her a hand.  She made some marinades and toasted some coconut for the dinner and we headed over to the Daly’s.  Alisha had planned a Cajun shrimp and toasted coconut / chili lime chicken with a side of grilled corn on the cob.  For dessert, Ashley had some pumpkin cookies and Alisha made her vegan brownies to add to the mix.  On the way over, we stopped at Jax to pick up some tasty beers.  I grabbed an Imperial stout and a great Dogfish Head Pumpkin Brown Ale for Ash to try (It was DELICIOUS!!!!).

Once we got there, we threw the corn on the grill and Alisha got started in the kitchen.  The guys just chilled out back and talked and drank until we were ready to put the meat on the grill.  After the ladies were done prepping everything they brought it outside to be grilled.  The guys took over and shortly after, dinner was served. 

Alisha, you did an EXCELLENT job.  Honestly, that was one of the best meals I have had in a while.  Every part of it was great!

On Friday night, me and Alisha went out with her parents to grab some dinner at a local Italian restaurant.  It was DELICIOUS!

We left around 7:00 or so and headed to Casa Nuevo on highway 9 for some excellent Italian food.  Me and Alisha had heard so much about this place, but have never been able to make it out there to try it out.  We soon found out that it was a great as we had heard it was. 

The restaurant is much smaller than we had thought but has a very nice feel to it.  We sat down and ordered our appetizers which were an order of calamari and crab stuffed mushrooms.  As usual, Alisha was in heaven with her calamari.  For our entrees, Alisha ordered a cheese ravioli in vodka sauce and i ordered the Chicken Parmesan.  They were both delicious.  Actually the chicken parmesan was the best I have ever had!  Alisha’s parents ordered the lobster stufed ravioli and the veal parmesan.  They seemed to be equally as delicious as our plates were.

Then came dessert!!!  Alisha got some spimoni and I got….. a flourless chocolate cake!  It was DELICIOUS!!!  Almost as good as the one from Capital Grille, but it was just missing the expresso topping that they use.  That is my favorite dessert ever!  MMMMM I want some now!!!

We had a great time and really enjoyed the food.  Thanks to Alisha’s parents for taking us out … and to Geni too

While we don’t have many pictures, we do want to take a second out to say thanks to one of our close friends. 

 Thanks again!!