Hola. After our fantastic brunch at Murphy's, Christian and I drove to Piedmont Park, Atlanta's large green, grassy wonderland located right near the downtown district, and we threw a baseball around for a while.
(Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Scenic, Expansive, Beautiful.)
(Because Christian and I are both lefties, and because he only had his roommate's right-handed catcher's mitt, I had the honor of wearing the most awkward possible glove imaginable on my right hand.)
From the park, we decided to take a detour on the way back home in order to see the Emory campus. Little did we know that it was the first day of New Student Orientation, so we were surrounded by the freshest of freshmen. We also stumbled upon some kind of welcome ceremony. Very surreal.
(360 degrees of Emory's central campus during Freshmen Orientation.)
(Emory's Band and New Student Greeting Committee.)
(Fresh meat for the college grinder.)
(Emory's museum. Christian poses with some cultural posters.)
After Emory, we returned home, showered and dressed for the BBQ, and awaited the arrival of Jennifer, the girl that is foolish enough to let Christian kiss her on the mouth on a regular basis. We then hopped into the car and drove to the liquor store in order to buy gifts for our various party hosts that evening. At the Atlanta liquor store, I found bottles of Macallan 12 Year Old Scotch for only 38 bucks. The stuff costs $55 back North, so I picked up a couple of bottles that will eventually be consumed back in NYC.
(Riding with Jen, Christian's main squeeze, in the backseat.)
We showed up at Christian's buddy Christian's house, and met a few folks who were all as hungry as we were. Good think there was an extensive feast being prepared on the grill by our host.
(The other Christian. This one really knew how to cook.)
(Grilled Fingerling Potatoes and Asian Turkey Burgers.)
(Flank Steak Salad, Ratatouille and Cantaloupe.)
We then realized that the party later that evening was a "White Party", so we drove home to change our clothes. It's a good thing that one of the Polo shirts I picked up at the Vegas Outlet was white, or else I would have been rocking the Hanes T-Shirt look. The host of the party was Christian's sister Erika's friend Brandon, along with his boyfriend Chad and another couple. It all went down at their massive Midtown Atlanta loft, and it was a blast. Not my usual crowd, but a welcome change of pace.
(White Party Partygoers.)
(There was a FULL bar at the White Party. Notice the guy on the left who is really, really busting out the moves.)
(Christian and his sister Erika.)
(More friendly Atlanta ladies. We were actually the only 4 straight people at this party besides Christian, Jen and Erika.)
(My new friend Wanda and I share a moment. We met at the BBQ and she showed up at Brandon's, so we had to celebrate the reunion.)
(Hanging with Brandon, one of our friendly hosts.)
(My only regret is that I only captured the last 15 seconds of this spectacle. Seriously, they did the entire song.)
The next morning, I woke up and packed the car with all my stuff, then headed out to Belly's General Store in order to surprise Christian and Jen with breakfast sandwiches as a way of showing my gratitude for their hospitality.
(What a great place to be on a Sunday Morning.)
(I don't know if I've ever been to a "General Store" in my life, but Belly's was a great place to start.)
(Hand in Hand, where we at our first Atlanta meal, was across the street from Belly, so I figured I'd take a pic.)
(What's better than your houseguest surprising you at 11am on a Sunday morning with a variety pack of breakfast sandwiches? It's actually a trick question.)
Now it is off to Nashville with Ryan and Kirk to visit my friends Julie Faires and Betsy Bagdonas. I'm not sure what our hostesses have planned, but once I figure it out, you'll be the first to know.
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