hittin’ the road
Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you’re having a wonderful week, and I hope all of my friends in all of the affected Hurricane Irma areas are staying safe. Last week, I booked a hotel *just in case* we would need to evacuate, and we ended up making the call on Friday night. When the projections showed the eye of the storm going through Valdosta, that was our sign to leave. Our house has a ton of glass, and is surrounded by enormous trees. There’s no way to tell what will happen, and predictions are only predictions, but we decided to drive up to Atlanta just to play it safe. We’ll be hunkering down in the hotel -hoping for tropical storm winds, but not the 80-100mph that’s expected in V-town. They’re officially on Hurricane watch- and praying for all of our friends and family in the affected areas. I’m writing this post Sunday night, and I’ll definitely be keeping everyone updated (usually via IG stories) while conserving power since it may go out.
I thought I’d hop in and share some pics from our weekend in Atlanta so far. The past couple of days have felt like a surreal vacation. I feel lucky to be spending so much time with our little family, but also a bit nervous. As an Arizona girl who has never lived in hurricane-prone weather, this is definitely my first rodeo.
The drive up here was pretty long, but the girls were awesome (<— thank goodness for Moana on the iPad). When we finally got into town, we checked into the hotel. We were all ready to shake our legs out a little, so we did some walking with the dogs, went into an outdoor mall, and stopped at Farm Burger for dinner.
We shared the most ridiculous sweet potato hush puppies, and for my entree, I got the farm salad with Goddess dressing + a chicken patty on top.
We called it an early night, and Sunday morning we got Postmates for breakfast (Flying Biscuit!) before heading to the Children’s Museum downtown. The Children’s Museum here is incredible, and they had basically anything a young kid could want for creative play. There was an art studio, climbing structures, a ball crane contraption, a full-up play restaurant/diner, wall painting, kinetic sand tables,
magnetic fishing in water,
a tree house… it goes on and on. The girls had the best time playing, painting, climbing, listening to story time,
and singing along with a special performance.
Liv and I also got henna tattoos!
One of the girls was doing Liv’s, and I think the other girl could see the FOMO in my eyes, because she was like, “Do you want one, too?”
You know I do.
We had pizza lunch at Buckhead Pizza,
(my spicy chicken pizza on gf crust with feta instead of mozzarella. For dessert, we shared the chocolate brownie and cannoli for dessert.)
and then came home for nonexistent naptime at the hotel. (Is there a secret to getting a little one to nap at the hotel while the older one is still awake? Is that even possible?? Usually if P naps, it’s because one of us will take Liv on an adventure. If we’re all at the hotel together, it’s hopeless, until we get a suite.)
As a special treat for dinner, we met up with my friend Hayley, her husband, and two daughters at True Food.
It was so great to see her and catch up. We used to be neighbors last time we lived in Valdosta -and spent many days floating in the pool, chatting, and reading Us Weekly– and I’m so happy that they’re back in Georgia and we can see them again. Our girls had a blast playing together while the adults talked, and dinner at True Food was just as delicious as I remembered. I even stepped out of the box -I ALWAYS order the kale salad with salmon + a side of sweet potato hash- and tried out the poke bowl.
It came with a turmeric-soy-dressing that was tangy and a little spicy. I loved it.
Now we’re back at the hotel, taking it easy and ready to call it a night.
I hope you have a very happy and safe Monday!
I’ll see ya in the morning with a post about how I’m getting back in the fitness game + a new workout.
xoxo
Gina
*Friendly reminder: Fall Barre Bootcamp registration will start 1 week from today!
21 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Such a beautiful way to turn this situation around! I hope everyone in V-town is alright but you made a good call, always better safe! And it eases the mind too. Enjoy your little getaway, and hope you can go home soon 🙂
thank you so much!
Praying that you guys are safe and sound as the storm passes through!
I was wondering when I heard it was going to hit Georgia if it was going to affect you all.
I live in South Louisiana so unfortunately we have lots of experience with hurricanes but yes, always better safe than sorry! Enjoy your little getaway:)
Glad you guys are safe, hope it passes quickly.
Oh my gosh glad you left! How was the drive? Was it hard to get out of the area??? So glad you are safe!
the drive was so long, but i’m glad we did it <3
Hi Gina! Glad you are enjoying our city and making the most of the storm! Stay safe and dry today! Would love if you did a meet-up sometime you come to ATL 🙂
i would love to do a meetup! i’ll plan one for my next trip- it should be in december 🙂
Glad you’re safe! That storm sounds crazy. I can barely deal with monsoons.
same! this was totally new territory for me
I’m sorry that you guys had to leave. I hope that you stay safe.
What a pretty family you have. You are definitely blessed.
love
thank you so much. i’m glad that we decided to leave <3
Glad you guys are safe, hope your home is ok too!
ALL I want is poke… 2 minus 2.5 weeks…
soon!!
naptime at a hotel…. hahaha! I’m glad ya’ll are safe tho!
it actually worked one day! but i think it’s because both of the girls were so exhausted. we just turned the lights out, and put a movie on the iPad for liv. p crashed in like 5 minutes! it was probably a unicorn though haha
With two kids the same ages as Liv and P, I now swear by booking the most affordable, well-rated suite-style hotel rooms I can find. Fairfield Inn & Suites, Country Inn & Suites and of course Embassy Suites, have all worked out really well for us, and are sometimes the same price as standard hotel rooms.
that is a great idea. i’ll start checking into that more!
I survived my first hurricane, too! Next time I am evacuating by plane. What type of damage and flooding did you have in Valdosta? We have a lot of power outages and huge trees down in southeast FL. I am happy that I have power, and I have friends who are staying with me because they are without.
thankfully no major damage. a bunch of trees fell in the neighborhood, and limbs fell down and are in the yard, but i’m no glad no windows were broken and no flooding. we didn’t have power for 3 days, but thankfully it went back on in the middle of the night. i think half of the city/county still doesn’t have power.
so glad to hear you are doing well! and i totally agree. next time, i’m going to hop on a plane out. the traffic was horrible.