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| Photo credit: lakelandlocal via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA |
It is no surprise that the election from Tuesday November 8th caught a lot of people off guard, myself included. While today's post isn't technically a response to the election results, it kind of is.
I had Tuesday November 8th off; the people I babysit for decided to use their oldest son as a babysitter rather than me.
Ok. Whatever.
So, instead I started prepping some December blog posts. Then, as the election polls were being reviewed, I worked on completing my Hawaii hotel bookings. I wasn't worried. I mean I had full confidence that the American people would vote against prejudice and hate.
I have never been more wrong in my entire life. Clearly I live in a bubble.
While I'm not sure as of yet what to expect from Trump as president or even how I will handle (or help friends and family handle) whatever misfortunes he throws at us (hopefully none, but it's not looking good), as a way of coping, Justin and I, at the kindness of my boss, who offered us free tickets, decided to take a date night and attend the Ingrid Michaelson concert in Atlanta at the Tabernacle Theatre.
First, we stopped in at Leon's in downtown Decatur and had a fantastic meal.
Address 131 E Ponce de Leon Ave, Decatur, GA 30030Hours: Mon: 5 pm – 1 amTues – Thurs: 11:30 am – 1 amFri – Sat: 11:30 am – 2 amSun: 11:30 am – 1 am(Kitchen closes one hour prior)
For our entree we ordered the grilled springer mountain chicken, toasted barley, miso, roasted local squash, pearl onion, kale, and cherry-mustard jus. Honestly, when I read that list on the menu, I had no idea what to expect, but yum! :) It was so, so delicious!
And because the restaurant offered it (and I had been wanting to try it), we also ordered beef poutine made up of brasstown beef (whatever that is), peppercorn gravy, cheese curds, frites, and a sunny side up farm egg. I had never tried real poutine before (and still haven't since we haven't been to Canada); however, this version was amazing! Far better than our experiment from July!
And because I can't resist delicious ice cream, our next stop was Butter and Cream.
Address: 416 Church St, Decatur, GA 30030Hours: Sunday – Thursday: 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.Friday and Saturday: 12 p.m. to 11 p.m.
My favorite flavor of ice cream there is butterscotch (plain), but they didn't have it. Instead we got the butterscotch brownie which was equally as good! We got it in a waffle cone, taking it on the go, so that we wouldn't miss our MARTA train.
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| No judgement! We had to eat a bit before I took the picture! ;) |
Address: 152 Luckie St NW, Atlanta, GA 30303
A few things to know about the Tabernacle and what is allowed:
• No outside food or drinks.
• No weapons of any kind.
• No cameras, GoPros, OR selfie sticks.
• No bags.
• Taking pictures with your phone is OK unless they tell you otherwise (probably based on celebrity and event).
For security, they split us into two lines – men and women. Then used a metal detector wand to determine if we were bringing anything forbidden into the theater. Seurity checked our IDs and gave us a wristband before we entered the theatre (just for those interested in drinking) as well as offereing an upgrade for VIP seating at a cost of $25 more (on top of whatever you paid for your tickets. Preferably you would have bought the cheap seats for this.) VIP seating had access to a full bar, side seating for the theatre, and "rooftop access" (whatever that is).
Overall, Justin and I found that this concert arena that would have cost us $35 for seats or $29 for general admission was a great place to spend our evening. Ingrid Michaelson provided a safe space for us to get past the election results in a somewhat neutral location. (Though it can be argued how neutral the location actually was since Michaelson definitely shared her position on the election results.)
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| Our seats were second row balcony! |
The opener was a band called AJR, a group of brothers who named their band after the first letter of their first names. Quirky, cute, unimaginative. Needless to say, I was unimpressed with the band. They were loud and seemed to be more interested in entertaining than actually singing. Whatever.
Finally, Ingrid Michaelson came on stage, nearly half an hour after AJR had retreated. She sang a bit, talked about the election, interacted with her audience, then entertained a bit more all while throwing a few songs into the mix and really making the whole concert experience fun. If you ever have the chance and know at least one song sung by her, I'd recommend going. She definitely makes her concerts more about experiences and entertainment than purely music.
Just as the concert was coming to an end, Michaelson informed the audience to give her a minute and she would be back for the encore. And just like that, a few minutes letter, she came back bigger and better than ever (and perhaps louder?) with her closer "Girls Chase Boys Chase Girls". It was fantastic and the audience was enthralled! Everyone (well, except me!) was singing along and a few were up out of their seats dancing.
At 10:30 pm, the concert had officially concluded and we were let out onto the fire exit steps where we got a beautiful view of the Skyview Atlanta Ferris Wheel. I don't think our night could have ended on a more pleasant note (aside from the one hour drive we had to make to return home).
Do I dare ask your feelings on the election? Were you as shocked and surprised as me … or was this something you were expecting? (Do I want to know?)
How do you get through difficult times? Would a night out on the town have distracted you and helped you disassociate yourself from your feelings? Or would it have led to more stress and anxiety?
Have you ever received free tickets to a concert performance, theatre production, or something else? What would a date night for you look like?
