I Got Broads in Atlanta 🍑




On Saturday, August 6th, 2016 I hopped on a flight to Atlanta, Georgia for Joomi's birthday weekend. All of which was a surprise of course!

~ The Surprise ~

So Paul and I had decided to surprise Joomi at her favorite brunch spot in Atlanta - Let Petit Marche and GIRLLLL, this was the most difficult surprise that I have ever pulled off. I feel like nothing went as planned! 

The original plan was that I would already be seated in the restaurant, preferably in a little nook for the added suspense and ultimate surprise. However, I wasn't aware of the blueprint of the cafe and it was pretty much an open floor. To make it even more difficult, you had to order before being seated! That meant I would already have food by the time Joomi arrived. 

Now let's rewind a little bit before I got to the cafe. 

So I actually arrived in Atlanta around 8:45AM. Paul graciously picked me up and dropped me off at the cafe - 9:30AM. Now, from the cafe to Joomi's was another half hour which meant an hour there and back. So the assumed meeting time was 10:30AM. In order to kill time, I walked around a bit (to be honest there was nothing around so I walked up and down the same streets like a crazy person for 5 minutes looking for something to kill time) but ended up just going to a coffee shop across the street. What did I do? Ordered a croissant and played Pokemon Go lol!

By the time I checked my notifications I realized Paul had messaged me 20 minutes ago saying he had arrived at Joomi's but she still wasn't ready. I then started to panic because I knew that as soon as he met up with Joomi, all communication with him would cease. So basically, it was a shot in the dark as to when I should head to the cafe. 

Fastforward to when I got to the cafe.

The line was pretty much to the door by the time I got there. Desperate, I explained the situation to a staff member manning the door and asked if it would be possible to sit before ordering. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to but she reassured me that the line was moving at a good pace and that I should be seated by the time they got here. 

Wrong.

I had moved maybe only halfway through by the time Paul messaged me that they had arrived and I saw them through the window. Panicking, I quickly messaged him back trying to divert them: "take a wrong turn!", "say you forgot something in the car!", "BLOCK HER VIEW", "IDK" - those were pretty much all that I could manage to spew. I kept my head low and hid behind the other flow of customers. By the time I had reached the register, Joomi had reached the door which, in fact, lined up with the register! Slightly cursing myself for wearing something noticeably an outfit of mine that was on Instagram, I quickly explained the situation to the cashier. Luckily, she was on board and she snapped into some sort of Mission Impossible mode. 

"The girl with the blue hair and the red lipstick? Okay. I see them." 

She told the staff member at the door to stop the line there - keeping Joomi and Paul out. 

"Okay, so I'll hold off your ticket until they get here and I'll send them to your table. For now, just sit over there and keep your head down."

I will forever be thankful to that woman. She was a saint. 

For the next 10-15 minutes I was shaking and panicking because I did NOT fly 1,000 miles for the surprise to be ruined like this! I had gotten my food and was trying to make me seem as non-christina as I could. This consisted of: flipping my hair to the opposite parting, trying to eat with my left-hand (I was unsuccessful), and keeping my body turned at an awkward angle towards the wall and away from the door. The things I do for this girl. 

I had set up my camera to hopefully capture the moment of surprise but, of course, two staff members had stood in the way! I wasn't able to adjust the camera without the surprise being revealed too quickly and of course, I forgot to save the snapchat video. It was blurry anyway, I guess. 

I got her to tear up though, so that's good. Sorry she hit you, Paul. You the realest. 

~ Little Five Points ~
This place was pretty much an area that describes Joomi. She showed me a couple thrift stores as well as a dope record store called "Criminal Records." There was also a ton of cool graffiti and street art. She insisted on this photo.

~ Jeni's Ice Cream ~

The ice cream was pretty good but I'm still mad that she scooped my cone the way she did. She literally put the top scoop off to the side! That's setting me up for a failed ice cream experience, dude!

~ The Belt Line ~

I was told this is like Georgia's version of New York's Highline. It was pretty dope, to be honest. It was a long walk but there was a ton of cool artwork along the way! 

~ The Pencil Building ~

Us pointing to the Pencil Building because, as Joomi quotes, "it looks like a pencil." Shocking.

~ King of Pops ~

I had a peach pop and it was the BOMMBBBB. 

~ The Roof ~

This girl literally got me CLOSER to the sun when it was already 100 degrees out. She crazy. It was fun though, we played mini golf (before I almost passed out from the heat) and a few fair games. I won you that seahorse, Joomi. I better see that in New York. #realbae

~ Joomi's House ~

For some reason I was so nervous meeting her parents. They're the sweetest people and I can't thank them enough for letting me stay there and showing me so much love and hospitality! Real talk her mom said I look prettier in person compared to my photos and I have never been more surprised. Girl, you lyin.

DAY TWO

~ Cafe Intermezzo ~

Another favorite brunch place of Joomi's. It was sooo good and the interior was that of a palace! 

~ Goat Farm ~

She really took me to a goat farm. 

~ High Museum of Art ~

I usually stroll through museums pretty quickly but I quite enjoyed this one. It was a great mix of historical and modern art. I posted some photos of my favorite pieces. 
Notice our "She thought the art was pretty but I thought she was prettier" pictures. Let me just say, she copied me, she just got to post it first! 

~ Fat Matt's Rib Shack ~

LEGIT THE BEST RIBS I'VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE.

~ Georgia Aquarium ~

The #1 Aquarium in the U.S and I totally understand why. It was HUGE. They had the cool underwater walkway and I have never felt so amazed in an aquarium. 

Fun fact: we stood at the beluga whale tank for like half an hour trying to take a sonar radar picture with the whales like Bailey from Finding Dory. We didn't get it. 

Also, yes we did get matching stuffed beluga whales. Come at us.

~ Centennial Olympic Park ~

Georgia held the 1996 Olympics and I got the chance to take a stroll through the very park while the 2016 Olympics were going on. 

~ Sky View ~

Note: Joomi is afraid of heights. 

It was really cool being able to see the engraved rings on the floor of the park! 


Overall, I want to say a huge thank you to Paul and Joomi's parents for helping me plan this trip. It was months in the making. 

Everyone was so kind and generous, it was more than I deserved.

I truly hope you had a wonderful birthday, Joomi. I would have loved to stay for your actual birthday but I figured I could take your weekend and Paul + your family could have you for the actual day. 

I know it was spontaneous (to you) and it didn't give you much time to properly plan and make lists like you love doing but I really wanted to surprise you! Now I know that you hate surprises...so this will be the last time! 

I'll definitely try to come to Georgia again and I'll notify you so you can plan out the trip. We didn't get any fried chicken this time so it's a definite the next time I fly down! 

You're one of my best friends and I hope this showed you how much I love you. As I said before, I would spontaneously fly over 1,000 miles all over again if it would make you happy. 

Sorry for surprising you, sorry for making you mad, sorry for making you cry, sorry for lying to you in saying that I couldn't come visit. 

I know I'll suffer for this when we're reunited in New York so it's all good, right? 

Hope you enjoyed the blog post! 

See you in a couple weeks, love💞

xx 
Tina

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1 comments

  1. I love you so much, thank you for planning this for me. I had such a great time with you, bae <3

    ReplyDelete

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