welcome to elaney!

Those of you that know us well (and particularly our co-workers) know that we love a good sandwich.  It’s one of the many things that we got from emum, and we really took this one and ran with it (wish some of the other emum virtues had been so adamantly adopted).  We will spare you the details of our love affair with the turkey sandwich (we can’t complain about people talking about their eating habits on facebook and then do the same thing here), but just trust us: we love a sandwich for lunch.  That’s why we were delighted to discover this list of 14 best sandwiches in Atlanta (btw, DailyCandy is great again.  We just rejoined and love their redesign – much smarter.  Even stole the post title).  #1 is Victory Sandwich Bar in Inman Park…which we’ve been dying to try.  Plus, the list includes one of our other random favorite finds:  Papi’s (a hole in the wall cuban restaurant in Midtown).  Bun appetit!

We love a well done commercial.  Between our ad agency past and a renewed love from Mad Men, we think we can appreciate the art form in this platform for business (we were so inspired by Dove’s epic “True Colors” commercial that we decided to try to work for the creating agency, Ogilvy & Mather).  This P&G spot was recently recognized at the Cannes festival for advertising.  And we think you’ve probably learned enough about emum to know that it made us tear up.

As is the meal!  We’ve been wanting to try STG Trattoria since it opened, despite its opening to mixed reviews.  The AJC gave it 2 out of 5 stars, and we’d heard so-so anecdotal responses as well.  So why did we want to try it?  Few of the obvious reasons:  Italian is our favorite, we love trying the new spot in town, it’s in our neighborhood, yada yada.  However, we really wanted to try it because it was opened by the owner of Bocado.  And while we don’t love Bocado (the menu is just weird), we do like that it’s a fun place to have a midrange night out (it’s not Fourth & Swift but it’s not Zoe’s).  And if there is any category of restaurant that Atlanta is missing out on, it’s the nice / midrange spot.

So perhaps it’s because our expectation was low, but we really liked it.  We sat outside, but the inside is really charming too (the entryway doubles as a wine cellar).  We had two apps:  the beet salad and the pork meatballs…both yummy.  And then the pork sausage pizza.  We don’t have the most discerning palate when it comes to pizza napoletana, as we’ve never really met a slice we didn’t like, but we thought this iteration was satisfying as well.

All and all, a good Thursday night restaurant.

We’ve been checking out pretty much anything in that new shopping center beside the St. Regis.  Dry Bar, Headed to STG Trattoria tonight, even the new B. Braithwaite (this version of the chic baby store actually didn’t make us feel as claustrophobic as the last – it’s a bit more spacious).

And, of course, we’ve been dying to try Flywheel!  Not only because we love trendy spots and not only because we love to spin, but also because Flywheel has stolen all of the best spin teachers from LA Fitness (where we slum it typically work out).

So did Flywheel knock us off our feet?  Was it out of this world?  (Sorry, for the bad pun…and the post title).  Honestly, yes.  Sigh.  When are we going to learn to listen to Say Yes to the Dress and not try on things out of our budget??  The space is what you’d imagine: the really clean, industrial look we often see with boutique work out spots.  The bikes are awesome, and the teachers are legit.  They even have a big board on the wall where you can race the other members of the class (great for those of us with a healthy competitive spirit).  The cost is $25 a ride or $400 a month.  So it’s not going to be the everyday work out for this girl, but it’s definitely worth a spin!

We used to have a fun, really quirky time with Reader Isa back in the day.  There was a lot of singing in cars and dressing up in costume.  There was a lot of giggling doing our homework together and a lot of decorating stuff with paint pens.  None of that sounds that different from your typical perky 16 year olds perhaps; and truthfully, it’s a bit challenging to articulate in a blog post what growing up with Reader Isa was really like.

Reader Isa is different than other people, and her influence has had a tremendous impact on me.  She’s taught me so much about being comfortable in my own skin, being creative, and mostly, what abundant faith really looks like.  I am forever grateful for her, but that’s enough sweet talk for now.

SO!  Yesterday, we did a total throwback to our giggly, high school selves and were extras on a TV show set.  As in, we applied, took a day off of work / got a babysitter (respectively), and arrived promptly at our stated “call time.”  It. Was. A. Blast.  Why?

1)  It’s so interesting.  You know all that stuff they say about craft services and director’s yelling at people and filming the same thing over and over…it’s true!  And it was so cool to see it in person.

2)  You meet some characters.  People that are “career” extras are an interesting bunch.  And Reader Isa talked to every single one of them.

3)  The days really are long.  We had about a 14 hour day yesterday, and they don’t play around.  You are expected to be somewhere at a certain time with your makeup done, your hair curled, and specific attire on (along with 3 other options of what to wear).

4)  They film things over and over and over.  It’s no lie.  They film scenes 12 times and then move the camera and film them again another 12 times.  Then move the camera again, etc.

And finally 5)  It was just fun to hang out and be random with Reader Isa all day!  We totally recommend being an extra one day, but definitely do it with a friend.  Because you definitely spend most of your time just sitting there.

It’s been a long time since we’ve written about our favorite guilty pleasure, and we’d say this season of The Bachelorette is okay.  There’s too much stuff about kids, too much stuff about Charlotte, and too much swapping of hot tub scenes for playground scenes (although we were pretty entertained by Emily’s one sassy friend in the “friend interview” scene.  Kinda made us think Emily was cooler).  So far, we like some Arie and think Chris is a little immature (yikes! sorry to bring up the age thing) but quite a looker.  And we like John the new darkhorse!  However, it’s not the winners that keep it interesting.  It’s the oddballs.

The rose for our favorite show quote goes to: 

“You know who we haven’t talked about is Alejandro.” – Chris Harrison to Emily

And the rose for our favorite commentary quote:

“Everyone I know needs to watch Ryan on the Bachelorette before deciding to go to UGA.”  - ekcolley, on Ryan from Augusta

We’d love to hear some of yours!