HEARTC♡RE: Birthday

Birthday Litivities:22 🎂🎉💝

Atlanta Thursday, October 06, 2016

Yesterday was my 22nd Birthday!! I really really felt the love!! From private messages to my Facebook wall, I felt so thankful that everyone took the time to wish me happy birthday. So for that, thank you! Especially my boyfriend for making me feel special from halfway across the world for both the little details and the gifts (that I had trouble being patient for) 💝.

I think the birthday email is officially tradition.

I had two celebrations, one with my girl friends and the other with my family.

The girls and I went out on Saturday the 1st. Last month I was like "what should I do for my birthday??" Then a couple weeks passed and honestly it wasn't until the day before that I actually remembered I had to plan something 😅.

I decided that I wanted to try an ice cream shop in the Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, so based my restaurant choice walking distance from the shop. I decided to go for the "Southern food with a Louisiana inspired flair" restaurant down the street called Serpas.

We had a good experience (though the waitress was a little dry) and walking in I immediately loved the style. It had a very cosmopolitan air to it and because it was formerly a warehouse the ceilings were high and it was beautiful. The menu has a lengthy wine list, but I went for a simple cocktail. The menu wasn't as my style as I had imagined, even though I had looked it up before. I tried to go for something involving shrimp and gumbo but they were out of gumbo (what? I know) so I went for the jumbo scallops. It was supposed to come with soba noodles which I was excited for, but it came with mashed potatoes instead. Two of the girls got the empanadas which I think were pretty good, another got the cheese plate, and we had beignets as dessert. I do think my dish could have been better, and for my first time having beignets they weren't as to die for as Kim Kardashian made them out to be.
After trading my heels for sandals, we walked towards Queen of Cream. Yesenia and I were walking in front, with Yuri and Virginia behind, and we saw this huge rat cross right in front of us. I have goosebumps right now, but I was like 😱. We had our (made from scratch) ice cream, sat outside and enjoyed a cool night before heading home. Thanks girls! I wasn't expecting gifts and they were all so perfect.

Yesterday, on my actual birthday, I had class until around 6pm, came home, showered and got ready for dinner with my family (sorry I tend to abuse commas, never learned how to use them). We went to Pappadeaux, a New Orleans style seafood restaurant. My mom has worked there for the last decade +, and we had never been there. We seriously bring it up like every six months like "should we go now?" haha. But seriously, we had an amazing experience and I absolutely loved it! The appetizers were so delicious and I tried fried alligator for the first time (🐊💯), and I could swim in the shrimp and crawfish fondeaux. I chose a pasta that came with grilled shrimp, crawfish, and one of my favorites: andouille sausage. I was a little skeptical because it was marinara sauce based and I am more of a white sauce agal. Luckily, it was creamy and oh so delicious and the perfect amount of shredded parmesan. Really, everything that I tasted (everyone's dishes lol) was so yummy. I got this brownie dessert, and let me tell you that it was offf the chain. I was so happy yesterday and had an amazing time with my family.

It was funny that both birthday restaurants were Louisiana/Cajun. Thinking about it, that may be one of my favorite cuisines

THANKSSSS again everyone!

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Atlanta Botanical Garden 🌾

Atlanta Monday, September 12, 2016

It was my mom's birthday right towards the end of August. I thought it would be a good idea to have a sort of mom's day out as celebration. I decided to include a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens since we had talked about going for the longest. I made sure to go over the plans with my mom the night before and she was like finally!! Since, again, she's been trying to go for forever.

We decided to go early in the morning to avoid both the crowd and the sun. The gardens are adjacent to Piedmont Park so it was quite an easy find. We found our parking, put our caps on and made our way to the ticket booth.

photo is as we were leaving

As a gift, and because it was a good deal 😜, I got my parents the year membership. Because it is close to fall, maybe the plants were not all in full bloom and it would be nice to return in Spring or Summer, or even just to enjoy a day out with the flowers and plants.

The garden is separated into quite a few sections, we first entered through the more woodland side, that was. . .. well woodland/forest-y. You could say it was more natural and unattended bit still maintained. Lucky for us, there has been blown glass art installations throughout the garden. As you can see in the promotion picture above, it is by artist Chihuly. The woodland area was fun, but a little bare. I blame the fall season.

At one part though there was one absolutely beautiful installation! The woman is there year round, and only the glass is temporary. We really enjoyed reading about the projects.

We then moved on to the edible garden where they plant and grow fruits and veggies.

After that came the Orchid Center. WOW. I absolutely loved it. My mom is a big fan of orchids and we've always had them at home, and do you ever notice how your parents taste will rub off on you? Anyways, it was absolutely amazing. Orchid is a flower family and there are so many kinds! The center was also full of Spanish Moss which is absolutely one of my favorite plants since I was little. I will try out my green thumb, bring the Spanish Moss to Muscat and force it to grow there. Maybe in Salalah during monsoon season.... if that's even close to the appropriate season. OMG what if it became an invasive species and I am become solely responsible for Oman's ecological demise. . . . . anywho. . . look at these beauties.

After the Orchid center we entered glasshouse exhibits that showcased plants and flowers from both tropical, desert, and high elevation climates. When I entered the first house which was the high elevation, I was blown away! Just how accurate the feeling was and the tropical sounds that accompanied it.