Puttin' on the G.R.I.T.S.: $100 Ebates Giveaway!

We are constantly using Ebates to save money on the little things and now you have a little more incentive to sign up. Head over and check out this post and find out how to be entered in a giveaway.

Puttin' on the G.R.I.T.S.: $100 Giveaway!

III Forks - Jacksonville, FL

We aren't normally fans of chain restaurants but we wanted to get a good steak dinner on Saturday night without driving very far. Luckily for us, Nic knew of a great place right around the corner that she'd been to a few times.

Tapestry Park, a new mixed use development near the corner of Butler Blvd and Southside in Jacksonville, has all the right ingredients to be a home run. There are condos, apartments, retail shops and even a hotel all within a stone's throw from one another. It's no wonder that this location attracted a venue like III Forks to be one of the anchors.

Apothica Giftcard Giveaway

Head on over to the blog of the better half of this blog to sign up for a great giveaway from Apothica!
Puttin' on the G.R.I.T.S.: Apothica Giftcard Giveaway

Driftwood Beach - Jekyll Island, Georgia

Either my third or fourth quarter at Auburn, I had a class called Engineering Geology. This was part of my required curriculum for engineering but is probably long gone due to restructuring of my program. Regardless, it was a fun class that enabled me to learn a whole lot about rocks and minerals and erosion and earthquakes and soils and ground water and...you get the idea.

This class was taught by a really cool guy by the name of David T. King, Jr. I really liked Dr. King. He was the type of professor that made you laugh without trying and like all good instructors, loved what he did. There are tons of stories my classmates and I could share about this guy ranging from the hand written and illustrated text we were required to buy to the inflatable dinosaurs in his office but they'd have nothing to do with this blog post.

Daddy Dz BBQ Joynt- Atlanta, Ga

We were heading out of town after spending New Years Eve in Atlanta and I had one thing on my mind: black eyed peas and collards.  When I was a little girl, I remember watching my mom shove a spoonful of black eyed peas into my siblings mouth on New Year's Day...I have always loved them so I never put up much of a fight.  I'm sure we all have similar stories.  Either you love them or you hate them but you have to eat them on January 1st. 

We were heading toward the interstate when we passed this little "eclectic" building and immediately turned to each other and said "what was that!?"  Todd turned the car around and when we pulled up and saw the "unique" exterior decor of Daddy Dz BBQ Joynt we both knew it was our kind of place.  I frequently see these types of places when I'm out driving around for work.  You know the type, you can smell the bbq from a mile away and you're sure it's probably some of the best food ever created but wouldn't dare set foot in the place because the people who eat there have been going for the past 30 years and you're sure they smoke the new people alive outback.  No? Just me? Okay then.

To put it simply, the food was delicious.  The sweet tea was made to perfection.  The pork was some of the most tender I've ever had and the black eyed peas? Better than my gramma's. (Please don't tell her I said that.)  

It was pretty quiet when we were there other than a few other people in the dining room and a big screen TV playing a bowl game.  There was a stage set up in another room which we assumed (with hints from all of the autographed pictures on the walls) was for visiting blues bands.  

As if we needed any other indication that Daddy Dz was darn good, it seemed to be a law enforcement favorite, too!

Their slogan "We ain't pretty, but we're good!" couldn't be more fitting.

Daddy Dz BBQ Joynt

264 Memorial Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30312 (404) 222-0206

Southern Living Idea House: Senoia, Ga

This post is a little picture heavy...my apologies.  With the suggestion of a shop keeper in Serenbe, we headed over to Senoia, Georgia to visit the Southern Living Idea House before it closed up.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.  I couldn't put down my camera so choosing which pictures to share with y'all was tough!

Serenbe

I have dogeared countless pages in my Southern Living magazine collection. A few months ago, Southern Living did a feature on a 900-acre sustainable community just outside of Atlanta called Serenbe. We did a little research but did what we commonly do and just loaded up the car one day and headed north. Pecan trees and a rustic barn greet you as you enter Serenbe.


We immediately pulled up to The Farmhouse, located at The Inn at Serenbe, and made it just in time to catch "Fried Chicken Sunday". With their welcoming wrap-around porch and cozy decor, we felt like we were walking into a family member's house. We even looked at each other while we were walking up and said, "Are we sure we're allowed to just walk into someone's house?"