Birthday Weekend

My twenty-second birthday was about a month ago and it turned out to be a wonderful long weekend of celebration.  It started Friday at the Buckhead Pub Crawl.  This particular pub crawl was in anticipation of the SEC/ACC football kick-off weekend.  We paid $15 for access to seven bars and a mixed drink at each.  I had never been out in Buckhead before and this was an awesome way to get a taste of most the bars in the area.

The next day I arrived back in Athens for lunch at one of my favorite spots, Last Resort.  I had crab cakes with a side salad drenched in their divine vidalia bacon dressing.  Of course, a trip downtown would not be complete without a stop at King of Pops.  Today I choose to with a new choice and had the coconut lemongrass, which did not disappoint.

We had people over to watch the first University of Georgia game of the season.  We may have just been tailgating at home, but we had a spread fit for kings: pimento cheese and curry chicken salad from Marti's at Midday, a Chick-Fil-A nugget tray, pizza dip, Mom's corn and pea salsa, and a heavenly red velvet cake.

One of my favorite gifts from my parents was my Mary Blair inspired Lesportsac weekender.  I have always loved Mary Blair's whimsical art and illustrations and this bag is the perfect tribute to her work.

We had a delicious seafood lunch at Marker 7.  If you haven't been yet, you must go.  You will feel as though you have been transported to the seaside by their Beach Boys heavy soundtrack and brightly colored decor.  The evening's activities included going to the new movie theatre to see "The Spectacular Now."  The movie was recently filmed in Athens, so we were very excited to see our home on the silver screen.  The movie was incredible.  I don't remember the last time one film caused me to feel so many different emotions.  People who have seen James Pondsolt's film, "Smashed," are familiar with his beautiful use of raw emotion, seen many times throughout "The Spectacular Now."  As a lover of young adult literature, I am now hoping to read Tim Tharp's novel which the movie is based on.

After the movie, we went downtown to Five Bar for dinner.  We started our meal with their delicious baked avocado, topped with baby shrimp and tempura flakes.  For my entree, I had the stuffed shrimp.  These shrimp come stuffed with crabmeat and wrapped in bacon.  They are served with a fresh greens salad topped with fruit, goat cheese and basalmic vinaigrette and their ever-changing risotto, tonight's being parmesan and eggplant.  Five is currently running a special on Sundays and serving their burger for $5.  This burger is topped with a mayo-based spread of tomatoes, onions, and bacon and served with french fries and their very own Five Sauce, a sort of wasabi honey mustard that I could happily eat on everything.

We came home to one of my favorite cakes in the world--Cecilia Villaveces' key lime cake.  My family has been ordering cakes from her bakery for years and they never disappoint.

Monday began leisurely by enjoying the "Arrested Development" marathon on IFC and a late sushi lunch at Sakura.  After lunch, we were craving something sweet so we went downtown to Always Baked.  Their homemade cookies come in a variety of Georgia themed flavors like Gregg Almond and, my personal favorite, the On My Mind.  Today we had ice cream sandwiches, two on my minds surrounding two scoops of cinnamon ice cream .  This is seriously the perfect sweet treat.

Upon the return to school, we began a celebration the Milledgeville way--with margaritas at El Tequila. I woke up on Tuesday (my actual birthday) to find a package from a package which contained what has quickly become my favorite item to wear around the house--Freudian Slippers!  They are the perfect mate to my "Freudian Sips" mug and I can't get over how thin my legs look in them.  If only I was the type of person who wears slippers outside of the house.

Celebration on Tuesday continued in usual Milledgeville fashion, with brunch at the Local Yolkal, dinner at Amici and karaoke at Buffington's.  Taylor Swift karaoke on your 22nd birthday may be one of the biggest cliches ever, but if just felt right.  My little sister even got to come and play for the night!

I don't know about you, but I actually am 22

Sprinkles Cupcakes and Ice Cream

One reason we were excited to travel to California was to be reunited with one of our all time favorite sweet treats, Sprinkles cupcakes.  Candance Nelson opened the first Sprinkles on Santa Monica Boulevard after having visited Magnolia Bakery on a trip to New York. Since their opening in 2005, Sprinkles has opened twelve locations nationwide, they have a Sprinklesmobile designed by "Pimp My Ride's" West Coast Customs, a line of mixes sold at Williams-Sonoma, an iPhone app, a cupcake ATM, and most recently two shops selling Sprinkles own ice cream counterpart.  Sprinkles' list of ever changing flavors is highly drool inducing, but we each have our favorites we keep coming back to (Dad/Lemon, Mom/Coconut, Morgan/Cinnamon Sugar, and me/Black and White).  Luckily we were able to try several flavors, my new favorites being Pumpkin and Triple Cinnamon.  We were also able to try Sprinkles Ice Cream for the first time and it was equally as delicious.  The decided favorite was the Sprinkles Sundae, a scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two cupcake halves.  Have no fear, Georgia friends, Sprinkles will soon be opening a location (with cupcakes and ice cream) in Lenox Square Mall.

Cupcake ATM

Sprinkles Sundae

Red Velvet Waffle Cone of Butter Pecan

Special cupcakes for the birth of the Royal Baby!

Mae's Bakery and XK Macarons

Recently the Free People store in White Provisions held an event at which they served XK Macarons.  Though I could not attend the event, I gushed over all of their pictures on Instagram and quickly started following XK Macaron's own profile.  I became mesmerized by the pastel treats and other goods sold at Mae's Bakery (who I found through XK's Instagram).  Mae's just recently started carrying XK Macarons, a company started by Xana Kidd earlier this year.
The macarons have a rapidly growing following in the Atlanta area, and for good reason.  Last Saturday, we stopped into Mae's Bakery to sample some of their offerings and they were delicious.  I had the Earl Grey Lavender macaron and chocolate cupcake with buttercream icing.  Another of my favorites was the Almond Joy cupcake which has an almond crust at the bottom of the cake.  Located just down the street from Lenox Mall, Mae's Bakery is in a wonderful location.  I know if I lived in the area I would stop in often to enjoy some of their beautiful sweets and a cup of tea.

You too can follow Mae's Bakery at @maesbakeryatl and XK Macarons at @xkmacarons

I was so pleased with how well my manicure matched my treats