homegrown

Last weekend I had my first official visitor from the west coast. I was so excited for Kathy to come, not just because she's one of my closest friends and I love hanging out with her, but also because I wanted to show her more of my life here. It's hard to go from living in the same place, sharing your life around common people, places and things, to now being in separate places. I still somewhat know what my friends in SF are referring to, but since they've never been here, I imagine that my references are somewhat lost on them.

She flew in on Friday afternoon and my brother Brock and I picked her up from the airport. We drove around the city a little bit, checking out some of Atlanta's finest homes. We ate at an upscale southern food restaurant in Midtown called South City Kitchen. Kathy got fried chicken, of course, and while it probably the most authentic, it was really good. I don't know where to find the most authentic because I don't really like fried chicken. We got drinks at Sundial, at the top of the Westin Hotel. The view of the city was great. Saturday morning we had brunch at Ria's Bluebird, an eclectic little place in Grant Park. She had her first taste of biscuits and gravy, southern style. We drove to my parents' house and hung out with my family, grandparents, and my sister's friend Josh who was also visiting. July 4th is Brock's birthday, so we celebrated that. We also rode horses. That night we rode the golfcarts to the fireworks and ate a picnic of pizza from Partner's Pizza, a local joint. Sunday morning we had coffee and pastries at Alon's Bakery, my southern version of Boulange in SF. After church we went to Daddy D'z BBQ Joynt and it was really good. No frill, just the food. Brock joined us to check out the World of Coke and Morelli's Ice Cream. Then we checked out a few movies from the neighborhood store Movies Worth Seeing. She left early the next morning.

A short, but sweet visit. Not only did I love the time to hang out with Kathy, but I love that everything we did in Atlanta I hadn't done before. I'd never eaten at any of the restaurants and hadn't been to either the Sundial to look out over the city or to World of Coke, a major tourist attraction. I definitely expected all of the food to be good because they're pretty celebrated restaurants, but I guess it's always a risk you take that they may not be as good as people say. I thought each one lived up to its reputation, though.

I recently switched from using a corporate chain pharmacy to an independent pharmacy. It has made a huge difference. I really like that I've only ever waited 5 minutes for my prescription. I like that the owner of the pharmacy called me yesterday with an issue, then remembered my name when I came later that day to pick up my prescription and said hello, even though he wasn't the one waiting on me. It's nice to be known and to know.

Every restaurant or store that I took Kathy to were homegrown. None were part of a chain, and they were the only location that exists. I am finding more and more that this is one way to help me gain a greater appreciation for the place where I live. Atlanta, unlike SF, lends itself to a lot of strip malls and chain establishments, so the hunt for the one-of-a-kind places is fun.

I still don't think I'm in love with Atlanta, but definitely have a greater sense of pride for my roots. Who's coming to visit next?