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I am not generally a winter person, but here’s to a white Christmas when I go home to Virginia in a few weeks. I imagine I will come to miss cool weather and snow after 3 years in subtropical Japan!

Had the cutest little Southern lunch at the Swan Coach House in Atlanta. The chicken florentine and tea sandwiches were delish, as were the mint juleps. It was definitely a “ladies who lunch” kind of place, floral wallpaper and all, and even had one table full of women in ridiculously large hats and heavy pearls.

The Marine and the Soldier I was with fit in just splendidly… Haha it was hilarious.

(at Atlanta History Center – Swan House)

The beautiful Swan House, where scenes from “Catching Fire” were filmed. This property was used as President Snow’s mansion, at the end of the Victory Tour of the districts. Gorgeous inside and out!

Chuck and I ended up turning a relatively quiet Thanksgiving weekend into an impromptu adventure in Atlanta, with our friends Janet and Terry. We started at the Atlanta History Center, where we toured the Swan House, the Smith Family Farm (I fed the chickens!), the American Civil War Exhibit, and the Centennial Olympic Games Museum.

Then, we toured the SweetWater Brewery (the boys’ vote), where I sampled six different beers and learned how it’s made (go me!) I also befriended an adorable mastiff puppy with a gimp, named Ellie.

We checked into our lovely room at the Ritz-Carlton (milso’s, take note: military rate is amazingly affordable!) and freshened up for dinner at South City Kitchen and a performance in Midtown by the Atlanta Symphony and Cirque du Soleil. We wrapped up the evening at the delightfully stereotypical Havana Club for some dancing. We even learned to salsa!

Sunday we hit up the World of Coca Cola, which was more of a brainwashing/marketing overload than a true museum experience. It was pretty neat, but I think all of us are happy to avoid Coke for a while…

We got home later on Sunday – exhausted, but happy. It’s nice to get a taste of city life when we can… I have missed it!

Happy #Thanksgiving from down in Georgia! We are #thankful for many things, to include each of you 🙂 Enjoy your feast today (and remember how #blessed we are to be able to do so!) (at Greystone Falls)