A Peek at Life as a Natic

On Friday night we headed up to dinner at a new restaurant with Kevin, Ashley, and Spence.  It had been a while since we had hung out so it was great to grab some dinner and drinks.

Ash, Kev, and Spence came over and had a few beers before we headed out to a new restaurant at Vickery Village called Robinhood’s Tavern.  It had just opened up earlier that week and took over the place that the excellent Atkin’s Park was in.  I always like to try out the new places so I was quite excited.  Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.  The food was so incredibly average.  For a restaurant that was taking over Atkin’s Park (which had excellent food but a little pricey unless ordering a burger or a sandwich) it was a huge miss.  The menu was very small with nothing appetizing on it and the food was just so so.  It wasnt bad… it just wasn’t anything special.  I will never think to go there when thinking about getting dinner.  Mark my words – closed within the year.  No doubt about it.  If the previous place failed, you better come with a great menu, food, and drinks.

While the dinner was not memorable, the company was.  We had a great time just BSing and talking before heading to Haagen Dazs for some delicious ice cream.  I had a Belgian chocolate shake.. holy crap!  It was incredible!  A great recomendation from the server. 

We then headed to the house to chill out and wrap up the night.  Thanks for coming out guys.  It was fun!

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Alisha’s baby shower here

Last Saturday was the friends baby shower that Aubree and Andrea threw for her.  The ladies planned to come over for the shower while the guys headed out to tour the Atlanta Brewing Company. 

Andrea and Aubree came over to setup and get things ready for the shower and that was the perfect time for the guys to get the hell out of there.  Bobby, Hector, Mike, Spence, Brett, and I headed out to head to Atlanta Brewing Company which are the brewers of Red Brick beers, the beer for Mellow Mushroom, and the house beer for Jim and Nick’s BBQ.  This is the first time that ABC was open on a Saturday so the crowd was quite small compared to what I normally hear about the weekday tours.  The brewery was a lot cooler than I thought it would be.  It had a nice calm bar atmosphere up front with a TV (which had the college games on) and the bar with their beers on tap.  The brewery was connected to this bar area and was open to walk back into where there were plenty of other tables and stuff to sit at. 

The brewery tour there was probably the most informative of any of the breweries that I have been to although it was a little lengthy and drawn out.  They also seem to somewhat cater to home brewers a little as they had a $4K + homebrewing system setup in there on a stand and the employees certainly mentioned that they brew on it as well.  The beers were pretty good but seem to be the most mild of the other breweries in the state.  For some this may be more enjoyable but I do enjoy when breweries push the styles with their beers.  All in all they have great beers and a great atmosphere. 

On the way home from the brewery I was reminded how fragile my stomach is and reminded me that I need to be very worried about being there for the delivery.  Hector was pretty hammered and had to pee really badly so jokingly we told him to pee in a 24 oz cup that was empty and in the car from an earlier fast food stop…. well obviously he had to go!  He peed in this cup in the back seat of the van and was like oh shit… it is filling up.  we definitely didnt believe him but we were quickly corrected.  I pulled over to verify but he opened the lid and the sight of 23 ounces of pee and the smell of it hit me at ounce.  I threw the door opened, eyes watering and all, and gagged out the window nearly throwing up.  It had the best of me for sure.  I am just such a wuss

Alisha's Baby Shower Cake

Well… onto the ladies… yeah I have no clue what they did… so let the pictures tell the story LOL.  Click the link above above to check them out.  yeah…. so … now that i have gone through the pictures many had to be left out… most you could see almost straight up Alisha’s dress and others had the funniest of expressions on people’s faces so they had to be left off of the internet LOL. 

Spence and Envy

After the shower and the Atlanta Brewing Company everyone came back to the house to hang out for a little while.  We ordered pizza, had a few beers, and called it an early night.  Damn we are all getting old LOL!

Last Saturday was the huge Georgia / Florida game.  As you may already know, UGA has not been doing all that well this year and Florida is ranked number 1 in the country… the game showed just that. 

We headed to Ashley and Kevin’s house to meet up with some of our friends to watch the Georgia / Florida game and to hang out.  We met up with Ashley, Kevin, Spence, Paul, Rickii, Mike, Aubree, and Jamie to watch the game which turned out to be a total cluster   UGA got their ass handed to them again but at least this time it was expected.  We were not even ranked and Florida is ranked number 1 in the country… ugh.. this season is killing me

After watching the game, we hung out, had some beers and then headed out around 8:00 to grab some ice cream with Mike, Aubree, and Jamie at Cold Stone in Dawsonville.  It was an early night but we still had a great time hanging out on such a nice Saturday

Friday was much needed – as it always is!  It was Danielle’s birthday on Thursday so we went up to Alisha’s dad’s house to eat dinner and cut a cake for her birthday.  He had made some pulled pork for dinner and they had a red velvet cake for dessert.  We hung out for a while just spending some good ol’ family time.  Before long we headed out to head back to the house. 

As we hopped onto 400 I asked Alisha if that is where Kevin and Ashley’s new house was and she said yes.  I decided to pull a u-turn to swing by real quick.  We got the tour of the house and hung out for a while.  We had not seen them in about a month so it was great to do so.  The new house is beautiful.  Congrats guys!  We got to see Kevin, Ash, Stan, Kristen, Grant, and Spence.  It had been forever so it was good to catch up.

We ended up leaving not too long after as we had a big day Saturday and we were exhausted.

On saturday we had a full change of plans.  We were really looking forward to going to ENC CPA’s annual oktoberfest at the office but the rain forced a cancelation of this event.  In addition we were hoping to make it out to Stone Mountain to go to the annual Chili Cook-off they were holding.  The rain kept us away from this as well

We decided that with such a waste of a day, why not have people over at the house for some dinner, drinks, and football – okay I decided on the football part LOL.  Kara and Lin came over early and we spent some time watching some football and talking before heading out to Target to grab some stuff to brew beer with and for some party food and then to Home Depot to take a peek at a rug for the playroom.  We then grabbed lunch at Atlanta Bread and headed to the house to get ready.

We had Mike, Aubree, Kara, Lin, Spencer, and Bobby over and had a great night.   I ordered some pizza, we drank some beer, and watched a lot of football  The UGA game was on late and was a very stressful one – that seems to be the damn trend lately.  A win is a win, but I swear I stress out more during those games than I do at work LOL.

Everyone had a good time and we spent the night with good people.  That is all that matters.  Thanks to all that came!

Last Friday we headed over to Alisha’s parents house to eat dinner and have dessert for Tiffany’s birthday.  We chilled out there for a while before heading over to Cinco’s to celebrate Ashley’s birthday.  We met up at Cincos with about 25 other people to enjoy the night.  They had a DJ and all of our friends which led to a great time.

Happy birthday Tiff and Ash!

Friday night was a big night for everyone.  We celebrated Spence’s birthday by enjoying some dinner and then headed downtown to celebrate Grant’s upcoming wedding.

Spencer had originally wanted to go to a new bar in the Cumming area but unfortunately they did not get their liquor license in time to be open for the weekend.  Because of this, Spence decided to move the party to Taco Mac – you wont hear me complain!  Alisha was a little less thrilled but came out to spend time with good friends.  We had a nice sized group of almost 20 and had a great time just BS’ing and eating / drinking.  We didnt have the best service (okay maybe the worst ever) but we made the best of it!

After dinner, the guys headed downtown to spend time in Buckhead, the Highlands, and then back to Buckhead.  We started out in a bar that turned out to be the visiting football team’s bar of choice.  We had to get the HELL out of there!  We headed out to the highlands and had a few drinks at a few bars there before heading over towards East Andrews in Buckhead.  They still wanted a cover charge even though they were closing in about 30 minutes, so we decided to head out of there.  On the way home we grabbed food at IHOP before making it to the house.  It was a long night of fun and we made it back to the house at about 2:30 or so.

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Matt and Laura’s Big Day at pictures.neilnatic.com or here

Saturday morning we woke up, got ready and headed out to Roswell for Matt and Laura’s big day!!!!

Matt and Laura got married in Roswell at Founder’s Hall on Saturday afternoon.  It was a gorgeous wedding with their friends and family there to celebrate!  A few of our friends were in the wedding party and many others in attendance.  It was a great wedding.  We are so happy for them and wish them a lifetime of happiness together.

NO - She was not really drinking them LOL

Congrats guys!!!

note:  unfortunately we did not get to take many pictures.  We allowed family to be closest to them for their big day and were further away from most of the action.  If they post pics from their photographers I will edit this post and link back to them.

Saturday was the Dunwoody Beerfest which we all had tickets to but unfortunately the rain was sure to put a slight damper on it.  Alisha went out with Aubree earlier in the morning while I waited for Bobby and Spence to come over to our house to head to the drinking festivities.  They got here at about 12:30 or so and then we headed out towards Alpharetta to go to the homebrew store for supplies for tomorrow’s brew for Dan.  After picking up the ingredients, we headed over to Amber’s apartment to meet up with her and Jason. 

By this time it was absolutely pouring and we were a little worried about how Beerfest was going to turn out for us.  When we got there it was still raining with no sign at all of it letting up at all but we were all convinced that we were going to make the best of it.  Once we got there we met up with Ash, Kev, Matt, and Laura and had a great time enjoying the day (in the rain) and drinking some beer.  The rain let up about an hour into the Beerfest and it actually began to be a nice day.  It was overcast which was nice and really helped to keep the heat away.  After a few hours Jason and Amber found the trivia tent and had a blast with it.  Jason played in two trivia games and Amber played in one as well.  All three times they won pretty easily.  It was a great time!  We spent most of our time laughing and just enjoying being with friends regardless of the weather.

After Beerfest Bobby and I met up with Alisha and Aubree and some friends to hang out for the rest of the evening.  They spent the day over at Krystle and Phil’s house so Bobby and I met them over there to hang out for the evening.  We had some dinner, watched the end of the Braves game, and played Partini until around midnight or so.  As expected ( ) they guys beat the girls in Partini.  It was a great time!  I wish we could have stayed a little while longer as we had a blast, but we were just exausted. 

Saturday turned out to be a great day.  The rain did not put a damper on things at all and we got to spend time with a number of our friends. 

Oh! and just 7 more days until our CRUISE!

On Saturday we chilled around the house until later when we met up with Mike and Aubree for dinner and a quick shopping outing.  Afterwards we headed home to meet Bobby and then headed out to Cinco’s to listen to music and chill with Ash, Kevin, Spence, Matt, and Laura.  We stayed there until about 11:00 and then headed towards the house.  Bobby and I still wanted to go out and Alisha did not want to join so we dropped her off at the house and headed back out to Taco Mac.  We had a great time chilling with our waiters and waitresses there as we had a few beers.

Saturday was a fun day!

On Friday afternoon Bobby, Spence, Jason, and I headed up to Taco Mac for a little bit and then met up with Alisha when she got home.  We decided to head up to the new Cuban restaurant over by my parents called Bongos.  I was pretty excited about it as I had not been a  good Cuban restaurant in a LONG time (ever since From Havana 2 U closed ).  When we got there I was a little shocked that it was more of a Moe-ish type restaurant in which you go to the front and order, they make the food, and bring it out to you.  It was actually pretty good but not what I was hoping that it would be.  Give it a shot if you are ever around.  Not the best but certainly not the worst at all!

Afterwards we headed to Carvel and then back to the house to get some much needed sleep.  It was a chill Friday night but was great to hang out with Spence and Bobby again.

This week we had a lot going on which was really nice and definitely helps the work week go by that much faster.  On Monday I met Alisha, Andrea, Ryan and the boys for lunch at Fridays.  It was great to see them again!  Later in the evening Alisha and I watched they typical tv shows – House, John and Kate Plus 8, and Midgets (aka – Little People Big World).

Tuesday we went up to Kevin and Ashley’s house to do dinner and hang out with them Spencer, and Jason.  Kevin was expecting some new furniture and thought he would need help as well but unfortunately they did not come when planned and they had to push it back to Wednesday.  We had a great time eating dinner, hanging out, and have a beer or so.

On Wednesday I had some free time and figured I would give Kev a quick hand with the chairs before heading up to Bingo with Edwin, Geni, Joe, and Carol.  Wednesdays are the best!

Thursday I met up with Spence and Jason Lucas for some after work drinks.  We met up at taco mac and upped my passport while we chilled out and had a great time. 

Then came the weekend!  I wish every week was so full of things to do.  Felt like the week just flew by.

On Friday night we drove over to Brett and Theresa’s house out in acworth GA (about an hour out) to celebrate his birthday with many of our friends.  It was a fun night!  He definitely had a houseful!!

About halfway into the night and a few beers, Ryan Barlock decided to talk smack about his running speed that he maintains from high school.  Since we all wanted a laugh we talked him and Kevin into racing up the street to see who was faster.  Kevin beat him by a decent distance which we all laughed about in good fun.  Shortly after Ryan started to feel worse and worse until he eventually puked over the deck several times.  Somehow I managed to leave in just enough time so that I did not add to it.  I ran away gagging and coughing ready to throw up myself.  GROSS!

We had a great time eating some food and drinking some beers and then headed home.  It was great to see them again as we dont get to very often.

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!