Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Sore legs, good food and the power of words

How is your week going?  Since I left you on Saturday, I've had a pretty fun and exciting few days that reminded me why I moved to Atlanta.  I love that I get to do really diverse and cool things all in the same city.

I went to yoga on Saturday morning and did my long run of the weekend on Saturday as well, which was 8 miles.  I was feeling realllly sore from my leg workout on Friday, yoga in the morning, and just all the activity.  I ran in Vinings and it was really hilly, and at the end of the run I just needed to lay on the floor for a bit.  That took me back to my old days of just starting to do long runs and it kind of felt good to be back laying on the floor after a long run, as weird as that may be.

One thing that probably didn't help my run was going out for lunch to a little French cafe and eating quiche and french onion soup.  Not the best prerun meal, but it was deeeeee-licious.


Saturday night I tried Pho for the first time.  It's a Vietnamese soup that people all rave about so I went out for dinner on Buford Highway, which is a road in Atlanta full of all international shops and restaurants.  I've heard there is a lot of really good food there, but I started with Pho because I was sick of just nodding along when people talked about how good it was.


Turns out it is quite similar to a lot of the soups/foods I tried throughout Asia, but it was still really delicious, really filling, and warmed me up on a chilly evening.  My eats all throughout Saturday were perfect for a chilly day and worth every calorie.  In addition to good food, my weekend had a lot of really cool highlights that make me happy inside to be able to somewhere that gives me access to all of these different things.

I saw a new-to-me artist perform on Saturday night in a pretty much all new-to-me genre of music.  I love seeing live music and seeing artists perform what they are good at, so I staked out a place in the front to really just be able to watch the musicians perform.  I have never in my life seen a "DJ set" where a DJ essentially just performs for the crowd and it was really interesting to see.  Such a new, fun experience!



I shook my legs out a bit on Sunday joining the Movers & Pacers for 3-miles, which is something that I always really enjoy.  I don't get the opportunity join them for their group runs all that often, but since I switched up my routine this weekend and did my shorter run on Sunday I was able to meet them.  I always meet new, fun people who make me laugh and remind me why I started running in the first place.


Afterwards, I was able to attend another really amazing event in Atlanta called Soul Food Cypher.  It is a community - open to everyone - and (from their website) "believe in the power of speech to transform the lives of individuals and their communities.  We are an organization that looks to transform the negative perception of rap through our cypher events, membership programs, and community outreach."  I have heard a lot about the cyphers through a friend and thought it sounded so cool.  As a writer, and someone passionate about words and utilizing words to express oneself -- whether it be written, poetry, music, etc. I think that this group is so intriguing and exciting.  I was really glad I finally got the chance to check it out in person and I definitely want to attend again.  I also encourage you to check out their mission and their website.  It's a really unique and impressive group.  They celebrated their 3 year anniversary on Sunday, which was neat to see.



I truly love seeing people do the things that they are passionate about and it makes me happy to be around people who are expressing themselves.  I clearly am a strong believer in utilizing whatever forum you feel comfortable in to express yourself, the power of words, and the incredibly connections and deep ties you can form with people by choosing to share those words.  I think that's one of the reasons that I think the cyphers are so cool and interesting, even though it is an art form that I don't have a ton of exposure to myself.  Who knows?  Maybe if I keep going I will work up the courage to try and participate sometime :)

The final really cool Atlanta-y thing that I wanted to share about this week is that on Monday night I attended a Girl Scout cookie and beer pairing event.   Yes, that is correct cookies and beer.  It was amazing!  

It was hosted at one of my favorite places in Atlanta, the Krog Street Market, and we had 4 different varieties of Girl Scout cookies that were each paired with a different beer.  Some were paired with complementary flavors - like the Peanut Butter Sandwich (Do-Se-Do's for the new school kids) with an Abita Strawberry beer (PB&J!)  And some were paired with similar flavor pallets like the Savannah Smile lemon cookie with a lemony beer.  I was so excited for this event and as soon as I saw it advertised online, I knew I had to get tickets and go.  As a Gold Award Girl Scout, there was no way I was missing this and was really grateful my schedule allowed it to be possible to be there!



I hope that you've all been having a great week and that you are lucky enough to have had both beer and cookies involved in your week as well!!

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