oh, atlanta

posted by ivy on Nov 12, 2012 in family

this past weekend jesse and i went to atlanta to visit some of his family and attend a citizen cope concert.  i received the tickets as part of my birthday present in september.  (:  he loves me.

it was a GREAT time.  atlanta was awesome.  i want to go back.  and luckily, it’s only 3.5 hours from us and we have family there to see.

we left thursday night three hours later than we had planned because of a broken fridge (which happened to be unbroken when we got home), and we went straight to jesse’s cousins’ place (william and becca) on the east side of atlanta.  agh!  they live in the coolest area ever.  very hippy.  i love it.  lots of young people.  very urban, very artsy.

friday they took us on a tour of the area and surrounding neighborhoods.  there were no chain restaurants, no malls, no chain stores (except urban outfitters, which was fitting– and appreciated), no chain anything.  as we rode around, jesse and i soaked up information on everything we passed.  i don’t know how or why, but william and becca know everything atlanta.  they know the history going back to day one, what will be and when, who lives where and who they’re married to, where to eat and what to order, etc.  it was nuts.  it really was all cool information, though.  we walked around for a bit and visited a few boutiques, which i loved doing, and then we went to one of their favorite pizza places and ate outside on the patio.

here are william and becca giving us our tour.

fact:  they live a few houses down from the pants-on-the-ground guy.

when we were done eating, we went back to their place to relax and hang out before the concert.  GAME TIME.  becca made glühwein and we played settlers of catan.  fun game!

william won.

CONCERT TIME!  william and becca live near one of atlanta’s MARTA rail stops, so we walked there and took it downtown, and from there we walked to the concert.  this is where i learned all about ted turner.  if you’re wondering whether or not he has solar panels for his home, the answer is: he does.

besides the raver and affectionate lesbian couple in front of us and the extremely drunk and embarrassingly loud girls behind us, the concert was so good!  it was.

here are a couple pictures taken before/during the concert:

   

click HERE to check out a short video.

two more of jesse’s cousins, joseph and jenn (william’s brother and sister-in-law), came over early saturday morning, and we all went out for breakfast at a place called home grown.  it was so yummy!  i snapped a couple pictures while we were waiting for our food to come.

 

and then before we left…

– ivy.jesse.joseph.jenn.becca.william –

(hey!  i just found this on becca’s facebook wall.  i think it’s by joseph.  but click HERE to check out more pictures of our breakfast time at home grown.)

later that afternoon, william and becca took us for a walk on part of atl’s beltline— “a system of rails, trails, and greenspace that will seamlessly connect 45 neighborhoods while also providing first and last mile transit connectivity for the entire metro atlanta.”  every city needs this.

again, these guys filled us with so much information as we were walking.  “see that brick building?  it…” (and i forgot the details) and “this is where the african american baseball league played.  this one guy hit the longest home run in history.  his ball landed on a train, and the train didn’t stop until it got to…” (somewhere.)  here are a couple pictures i took on our walk:

 
william works for trees atlanta.  his people planted those trees.
and you see that sign?  that’s what used to be there before the beltline was put in.
if you’re really curious about the beltline, read about it here.  it’s so cool!

we also went over to and grilled out at uncle bill and aunt debbie’s (william and joseph’s parents), and that’s where i got to meet maryjo (william and joseph’s sister) and her husband, ben.  (ben and maryjo are expecting their first baby in march!)  we all got to visit, eat together, and play settlers again.

   

william won again.

jesse and i didn’t get to stick around much on sunday, but we did get to go to church with william and becca in the morning.

 

we met some friendly people in their church, got to talk with their pastor, and of course, worship with everyone.  this was especially a treat for jesse as he works every sunday at our church, so this time he got to sit back, enjoy, and take everything in.

we had such a good time this whole weekend, and i’m thankful to have met and gotten to know more of jesse’s family.

oh, wait.  i almost forgot.  i was going to include this up with the pictures taken at bill and debbie’s, but this will do.  while we were there, bill pointed out to jesse a frame they had hanging on their wall of all the cousins’ weddings…

hahaha!  this makes me laugh and feel bad at the same time.  …but mostly laugh.
poor jesse… he waited a long time…
but i’m happy to fill in that space with him now!  we’ll be sending a picture soon!