I have been to a lot of Festivals in Decatur but this was my first Book Festival. It was packed! There were books galore! There were books for everyone, young and old and everyone in between. Oh and you won’t believe who was there.
That is right, Spidy was there. There were food trucks and of course The King of Pops, and balloon animals and hats.
I wanted to get this posted so you could make it tomorrow.
Let me know what you think! Have a great time.
Sky View
Piedmont Park
Turner Field
Stone Mountain
Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Atlanta
Zoo Atlanta
Eduardo’s Mexican Grill is off of LaVista Road behind the Red Lobster in Tucker. (Near Northlake Mall)
Cheese dip good, not a huge fan of the salsa. I am not sure if it was an off day or if I just don’t care for it. I have been here before and I don’t remember the salsa not being good but hey I will go back and let you know. Now, onto fajitas, 
Plenty of onions and green peppers, the chicken is well seasoned, but you know and can see, the chicken has been grilled and then cut, so, a little dry. It would have been really good it had a great flavor base. It is a cute family business that I will enjoy going back to try some other things. 
I wonder if family businesses or chains for that matter want to listen to criticism or input, what do you think?
It is always fun to save a few dollars here and there. Here a a few tips. Grocery tips in Atlanta; Kroger has manager’s specials on meat, they either have it in the same section, or they have a special section.
This is a pound of low fat hamburger, usually $5.99, so I saved $2.00. I know you think that’s not much but it really adds up. Because then I saw my favorite potato chips, Utz Potato chips, with like an Old Bay seasoning on them, delicious! 
They were 50% off! Oh, and get a Kroger card, yes they track your purchases but you can save so much, and you get points to save ten cents per gallon off of Shell gasoline.
Then at Publix (this is in Atlanta, where Publix has competition) they will be having huge BOGO sales this weekend for labor day. You don’t have to buy two of the item, you can buy one and get it for half price. I live in a very small house and don’t have a lot of extra room.
Then at Mercado del Pueblo, you can’t beat their prices on their produce, well unless you go to Buford Highway Farmer’s Market.
Let me know if you have some money saving tips! Love to learn more….
This is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Atlanta. They have four locations, Tucker, Lilburn, Lawrenceville and Suwanee. I have never tried their fajitas because everything else on their menu is so good, until this week….
They didn’t disappoint me with their fajitas either. The chicken was tender and well seasoned and this chicken was cut before it was grilled, leaving it super juicy. The cheese dip was great also.
It has the jalepenos chopped and on the side so you can dump them in or not. These fajitas are very good. I would rank them in my top three.
I have always gone to the Tucker restaurant but this one was their Lawrenceville Taqueria. Service was outstanding and the food is excellent. Have you been there? Let me know what you think.
An excellent new player has come to Atlanta, for pizza wars Varuni Napoli! 
Skip the appetizers, we tried the Cuoppo which was 3 Arancini (rice balls) and the Panzeroni (lightly fried potato croquettes). The rice balls were the better of the two, but don’t waste your time and calories with those, when the main star is about to come along.
The main star = the pizza, The Porreca Piccante! 
This pizza is so delicious, you cannot eat it fast enough. It is spicy and charred and so great. I can’t wait to go back to try all of them. We had some wine, but the beer looked great too!
The desserts look awesome too, but we were too full to try them, maybe next time.
Let me know your experiences in the Atlanta pizza world, or a recipe for a homemade pizza.
Great idea for a Staycation, the Arts Festival at Piedmont Park. It is FREE and the park is beautiful! Young and old can find something to do in the park, at the festival.
People were playing softball and kickball and down past the festival, there was a rugby match going on.
You can see those blowup slides in the background, how fun is that?
They had a lot of food trucks with great smells. 
I ordered a jalepeno corn dog, but I got a regular corn dog, I suffered through it though. (they refunded my money, woo hoo!) There were a lot of talented people selling their art. 
Piedmont Park is a beautiful Park!Lots of wildlife in the water.
The views of Midtown are spectacular.
This was a great day, hope you did something fun too. Let me know if you did.
After the last Quest fail, I had to get back out there and try again. So, my neighbor, Will, told me about this pretty new mexican restaurant, La Hacienda, so, we went there today. Whew, it was very good! Attentive waiters, great decor, zippy service good overall experience. I do apologize for not taking more photos because the exterior is really tasteful and cute.
Obviously, I ordered the fajitas, and this was a plateful with everything cooked (not just a garnish) The guacamole was great! Beans and rice very good. Chicken was really good. They have so many great looking entrees on their menu, I will happily return for more.
Will got steak on skewers, it looked great. I am not sure why I didn’t try it.
It was a very good experience and I will be back! If you have been let me know your thoughts.
Today the weather was perfect and the traffic wasn’t too bad. So I drove down, went to a kiosk and purchased tickets, it is so incredibly easy. Oh and you can get tickets for as little as $10.00. Staycationwise, you could bring in your own food and water and not spend that much for a fun day for your family.This was this adorable guy’s first baseball game. He was so cute.We were up at Sky Field. (I had never been)
Look at these big ole coke bottle adirondack chairs. That is a full grown Dodgers fan sitting there. Pretty funny, huh?
Then down to the outfield for a Holeman & Finch burger. Yahoo.
My photo doesn’t do it justice. It is so good and Kevin Gillespie was right behind me in line. He is chef/owner Gunshow, he was on Top Chef. Just from watching Top Chef he was a fan favorite and a really nice guy.
I think a Braves game is one of the most perfect staycation idea, even if the Braves lose. (Which they did)
Mi Cocina is a Mexican restaurant in Midtown Atlanta, part of a chain out of Dallas. It started out on a bad note and didn’t improve much from there. I was seated outside and chips were brought out immediately. The salsa was very good, the chips were fresh but I do not think they were homemade. (Their website states everything is handcrafted and made fresh daily.)
So, then I sat and sat and sat and tried to get anyone’s attention. What made me so sad is how attentive the waiters were to all of the other people dining with them. The head waiter came over and asked if I had been helped, “no,” what would you like to order? Cheese dip and fajitas and water. Cheese dip came out right away.
Now see that lovely chip that came in the dip, it was stale. The cheese dip tasted like Velveeta, not that there is anything wrong with that but I think I just ordered the wrong queso. The fajitas arrived about ten minutes later.
The beans were good and so was the rice. The peppers were not cooked, this did not come out sizzling the chicken was bland and cold. There were some good cooked potatoes on top of the chicken. It was like they threw some spices on before they brought it out. The two tortillas they gave me were not fresh. It was just not good. The good waitress asked me how thing were and I said okay. Finally my waiter came and asked me. I said the peppers were not cooked, he said, yes they are just a garnish….So I told him about my quest for the best – fajitas, and of all that I have tried so far, these were the worst and explained why. He was super nice and offered to get the general manager. So I waited, 5 minutes, no one, so I left.
On a good note, the parking was free because they were repairing the ticket taker!
Let me know if you have had a better experience here.
Staycation Atlanta 