Fun Times with Friends

I found the cord, so get ready for some photos!

In the couple of weeks before we left Atlanta, I "lived it up" by having some good times with friends.  (Darryl might or might not have called me a "social butterfly" during this time.)

First, I had dinner at On the Border with my friend Sabrina.  She used to be the guidance counselor at my school and really has a soft heart for kids, especially the "hard to love" ones. :-)  Somehow, On the Border became "the" place where we would always meet, so it seemed fitting that we meet there again.

One day, Amelia and I went with my cousin Vicky (Amelia calls her "BeeBee") to the Georgia Aquarium.  It was a fun visit and not crowded at all!

(I like how there is only one tiny fish in that photo.)

Then one night, I met my friend Casi at The Cheesecake Factory.  Casi and I have been friends since high school.  However, we found that even though we both lived in the Atlanta area, we were able to see each other only a few times a year.  We think we saw each other more in the past when we lived in separate states, so we're hopeful we might see each other more in the future now that we are in separate states again!

Another night, I met my friend Tim and two of my former colleagues, Pam and Lisa, at Flip.  We had a delicious meal (my burger had pimiento cheese on it, y'all), complete with yummy milkshakes.  'Twas a fun time!

One day for lunch, my friend Blayne and I decided, spontaneously, to go to The Varsity for lunch.  I had to have one last chili dog with rings (and an F.O., or Frosted Orange).

That evening, I met Tim and Max for dinner at Shorty's.  (A. That's why I had just one chili dog instead of two.  B. Tim and Max were impressed, and perhaps horrified, that I could put away The Varsity AND Shorty's in the same day.)  Tim, as I've mentioned before, was a colleague who became one of my close friends, and I've gotten to know Max over the past few years and consider him a good friend as well!  I will miss them!

(Don't we all look angelic in that beam of light?)

And for my Last Big Atlanta Hoorah, I went to dinner and then Les Mis at the Fox with my friend Blayne, her daughter, and her daughter's boyfriend.  (I was Blayne's date, ha!)  Blayne and I first bonded over scrapbooking (don't mock or judge, scrapbook haters), but we have become very good friends over the past year.  I will miss our weekly excursions to scrapbook, have lunch, or both!  And I stupidly forgot to take a photo of the two of us, but I do have this:

(Also, at Les Mis, I ran into my former principal and a former student!)

So that is how I lived it up before I left.  Good times, awesome friends...and I can't wait to see them again!