I’m checking in today feeling a bit scrambled, but that’s usually how it goes after a weekend away, right? As you know if you popped by the blog on Friday, I spent this past weekend in Atlanta celebrating my friend Kaitlyn’s birthday with Laurel and Leah and it was wonderful!
(That’s actually the ONLY picture we have of the four of us from the weekend. Blogger fail.)
Longtime PBF blog readers may remember Kaitlyn as my friend from college whose wedding may have been the most fun wedding I’ve ever attended. Her rehearsal dinner was an epic costume party on Halloween and Ryan and I dressed up as Sheldon and Amy (Shamy!) from The Big Bang Theory. I want to relive that night!
Kaitlyn’s husband was the mastermind behind our weekend away and surprised Kaitlyn by flying the three of us in to celebrate her 31st birthday. I’m not going to lie, I kind of felt like it was a present to me since I got to spend time with three of my closest girlfriends. So awesome!
When I sat down to type up this blog post, I realized I did a pretty poor job capturing our weekend shenanigans (this tends to happen when I get together with my friends and completely forget about snapping pictures) but I’ll do my best to recap some highlights from our celebratory girls’ weekend using the small number of photos I have at my disposal.
Atlanta Weekend Highlights
- Antico Pizza
This pizza was out of this world AMAZING. So many of you sent me messages back via Instagram stories when I shared a picture of the margherita pizza we ordered for dinner after we arrived in Atlanta on Friday night and there is a reason this pizza receives such fantastic reviews. We inhaled our pizza on Friday and actually ended up ordering pizza from Antico to bring back home with us again on Saturday night after we spent all day out and about and couldn’t get it out of our minds. We planned to go out to dinner on Saturday but after grabbing appetizers and drinks around 7 p.m. and exploring all day, picking up a pizza to eat in our pajamas at Kaitlyn’s house sounded perfect. (Oooh life in your 30s!)
- Exploring Ponce City Market
Ponce City Market, a large multi-use indoor/outdoor shopping plaza was so much fun to check out on Saturday. We had a great time popping into the various shops (I fell in love with Sugarboo & Co.) and grabbed lunch at the Central Food Hall which was a definite highlight for me! The food hall featured an eclectic mix of mostly local restaurants in vibrant but casual environment and offered everything from fresh smoothies and juices to seafood, burgers and kimchee. Since I can never turn down fresh seafood, I opted for a fantastic Crab Louie salad from W.H. Stiles Fish Camp and ate every last bite.
- Sweet Treats from King of Pops
King of Pops has a huge following in the Charlotte area and I had no idea the popsicles were available outside of Charlotte. (Apparently they originated in Atlanta!) I couldn’t resist grabbing a sea salt chocolate popsicle to enjoy while we browsed around Ponce City Market and loved the cold and creamy treat.
- White Claw Hard Seltzer
Kaitlyn and her husband are huge fans of this hard seltzer and I owe them a big thank you for bringing White Claw into my life. As someone who looooves sparkling water (La Croix is my BFF), this drink is right up my alley. It tasted fantastic (I could barely taste the alcohol and it wasn’t overly sweet) and it was surprisingly refreshing! You better believe White Claw will find its way into my grocery cart in the future.
- Poutine from The Luminary
During Happy Hour on Saturday, we popped into The Luminary for drinks and appetizers. I loved the atmosphere and décor of the restaurant and we enjoyed sharing some small plates before dinner. The highlight for me was the poutine (fries, black pepper gravy, cheese curds and a deliciously tender slow braised short rib) and I definitely ate my fair share! (Though we loved the food we had at The Luminary, I unfortunately cannot say the same for the service which left a lot to be desired. Not a big deal but worth mentioning since I wouldn’t necessarily consider this place a “must try” if you’re in Atlanta.)
- Walking The BeltLine
If you ever want to people watch (and pet a zillion dogs) when you are in Atlanta, make your way to The BeltLine! We had a lot of fun walking The Beltline on Saturday and I loved the energy that surrounded us as we made our way from Ponce City Market to Krog Street Market. (We stopped by Ladybird along the way and it was hoppin’!) Everyone from fitness enthusiasts and tourists to artists and musicians seemed to be taking advantage of the gorgeous Atlanta weather and walking, biking or performing along The BeltLine. We only had time to see a small portion of The BeltLine and I’d love to come back and explore more of the trails along the loop that will eventually surround the entire city.
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Aw what a sweet husband bringing you girls out to celebrate. Thats seriously the best birthday gift idea! Glad you had fun with your girlfriends, I’m sure it was much needed. And that PIZZA!!! I wish my job was to test and create pizzas around the country 😉
Ha! That would be a dreammmm!
Looks like an awesome weekend! Your group of friends seems so fun to hangout with. I’ve never hard of spike sparkling water, haha it does not sound good but I guess I’ll trust you on that one..
So nice of your friend’s husband to plan this weekend! I’ve only been to Atlanta once for a business trip (conference), so needless to say I didn’t see much of the city. I didn’t know about the Beltline trails and that pizza looks delicious.
If you liked that hard seltzer, I also recommend trying SpikedSeltzer!
Looks like you had a fabulous time! Can we talk about Sugarboo & Co for a second?! They have one at Disney Springs in Orlando! I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets a little giddy when I talk about it! So much cute stuff! Happy Valentine’s Day!
LOL That’s the most pathetic poutine I’ve ever seen! I almost feel sorry for it. Where’s the gravy…and the cheese!? Nice to hear you had a great weekend though. The pizza looks quite tasty!
Ha! I clearly need to have more poutine in my life! The gravy on this one all kind of sunk to the bottom but it was really tasty. Do you ever make your own?? I’d love to give it a shot!
Yes I make my own. I’m Canadian so it’s like a sin against nature or something if I don’t. The key is to use fresh cheese curds (I recommend from a local farmers market) and a ridiculous amount of gravy. Make sure to pour your on hot so it all melts properly. I’d love to hear how it turns out if you give it a go. Good luck!
What a fun weekend! You are so blessed to have such wonderful girlfriends in your life that you have stayed in touch with for so long. Also, I love that sparkling grapefruit seltzer drink thing! My boyfriend got a free sample of it at a restaurant not that long ago and stopped at the store on his way home to pick some up for me because he knew I would love it. It’s super refreshing and doesn’t even taste alcoholic. I think it will be the perfect drink out on the beach this summer.
There is nothing better than getting together with your girls, I’m long overdue! I’ve been meaning to try the seltzer. Thanks for the reminder. Happy Valentine’s day!
It was so good! Hope you like it, too!
Your friend must live in my neighborhood as these are all my favorite spots as well! I was at Luminary for the poutine last Friday night 🙂 Glad you had a great time in Atlanta… the city has been making such a turnaround. Krog Street Market is a little over a year old and Ponce City Market just opened as well. There’s always new places popping up around the Beltline and it’s an exciting place to be. Glad you enjoyed the weekend in the A!!
Girls weekends are the best! I’ve been sampling some of the hard seltzers out there and I really like them! Smirnoff actually makes one that’s pretty tasty.
This post brought back so many memories!! My husband and I lived in Atlanta for a couple years while he was in grad school. We’ve since moved back north to the cold weather and miss ATL terribly. Atlanta is such a cool city and continues to get better and better with the development of those markets and the Beltline. Glad you had a fun weekend!
We had so much fun! I’d love to go back soon!!
What happened with Laurel’s blog? I was really enjoying it and then it seemed like she just stopped all of a sudden.
So glad you had this nice weekend getaway! My brother lives in Atlanta, so I’ll be sure to mention the pizza spot to him to make sure he’s been there. Oh and as far as a crab louis salad — I had never had one until I moved to California, and they are all over. SO GOOD! 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day, Julie!
This looks like so much fun – a weekend with girlfriends is sometimes the best thing you could ever ask for!
Atlanta is a fun place! We used to go pretty frequently growing up since it’s so close to Nashville! I need a girls weekend soon, something about quality girl time is just good for the soul!
Ah, girlfriend, you need to try NAUTI seltzer. It’s even better than White Claw! I like the lemon lime. 😉 https://www.nautiseltzer.com
I’ve never been to Atlanta but it looks like a lot of fun! I haven’t had a girls weekend in ages! I love that you all make all it a priority a to get together. Where can you buy the hard seltzer? I live in NC and I havent seen it beofre.
The Harris Teeter and Publix near me sells it!
Looks like you all had a great time and that ice cream bar looks delicious!
Kaitlyn’s husband sounds so thoughtful – what a perfect birthday gift! It sounds like it was good timing for you too to be able to spend the weekend with some good friends after everything you’ve been going though.
The hard seltzer sounds delicious too – but dangerous if you can’t taste the alcohol in it.
Hope you had a fantastic time!
All the food looks seriously good and so does everything you ddi whilst you were there. x
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I always love your travel recaps! One of my closest friends in the world lives in Atlanta, so it’s fun to see this city through your eyes! Looks like a great weekend. Thanks for the tip about the service at that restaurant – I’m one of those people who’s overly nice to waitstaff, to the point where I have put up with some truly over the top bad service because I didn’t want to make the waitstaff feel bad, but the older I get, the more I realize that it’s okay to have some minimal standards. It was very hard to let myself feel this way, but the thing that finally kicked it into high gear: my very kind, very low-key, super polite husband was literally screamed at (full volume) by a waitress. It was so shocking, I think it woke me up!
What a fun girls weekend! Looks like the perfect mix of food, friends and adventures@
Woah–I didnt know that spiked seltzer existed!! Atlanta sounds like such a great city–I need to visit it! Ever been to the aquarium?
Yes!! Ryan and I actually went scuba diving with the whale sharks there years ago. It was amazing!
Neat!! I have been wanting to go there to see the whale shark!
Hey Julie! I actually live on the Beltline right by Ladybird and everything you did was exactly what I would have recommended!! What a great weekend! So glad you enjoyed yourself! 🙂
Kaitlyn’s husband sounds pretty amazing!
He’s one heck of a guy! 🙂