Travel humor...

In my last job, I did a bit of travel. If you have done any traveling by air, you can probably appreciate the humor in this video. Enjoy!

Holidays..

Wow... Are the holidays already over?? I can't believe that Christmas has already come and gone and that we are almost a week past that.

As you can imagine, Christmas with 2 kids plus a wife who is 8 months pregnant can provide quite a busy schedule. We put a little more effort into Christmas this year because Micah is to the age where he is starting to understand and enjoy it. I put more Christmas lights on the house this year than any other year. I also followed it up by going the day after Christmas to buy about 8 more strands of lights for half price. Looking forward to the lights next year!! :)

We also spent a lot of time (as usual) with our families for Christmas. It was good to get together, eat, and enjoy our families. The kids always enjoy time with family.

To follow up a really great time at Christmas, I went camping with Micah, Jeremy, and Logan. We went camping for real -- no campsite..we went to the forest. Made our own campsite. It was a lot of fun and I think Micah will have lots of good memories from that trip. I really can't wait for the next opportunity to take him.

Ikea again..

Judy and I were able to take a trip this past weekend to the new Ikea store in Orlando. As most of you know, we are huge fans of Ikea. I must say that the Ikea Orlando store is much better than the Ikea Atlanta store. I don't recommend anyone bother going to the Atlanta store. They just don't have it together. [reference Ikea Atlanta post]

We went with Josh and were supposed to meet David and Avonn there. If you've ever shopped in an Ikea, you'll understand that we just weren't able to meet up with them. But, nonetheless, it was nice to take Josh on his first trip and we were also grateful to spend time with LB. She lives in Orlando and met us there to walk around and catch up.

Seven hours later, we had procured a few items including a new dining table and chairs for the kitchen, a new bed frame and such for the guest room, and some other items. Yeah, I said seven hours. We arrived before 10:00 AM and got in the car to leave after 5:00 PM. (Hmmm... Judy seemed fine to wander around Ikea for 7 hours, but she is "too pregnant" to put the Christmas lights on the house?? Yeah, right!) ...wait.... just in case you can't see my obvious sarcasm, I'm only kidding. Judy "tested" a lot of the chairs and stuff. hehe..

Josh was able to get a few things for his house, too. I think we all left Ikea with a things still on our lists. That's the draw of Ikea, I suppose. Judy and I are planning another "mini run" soon.

Root Beer

While I was in Milwaukee, WI back in 2005, I asked one of my business contacts about root beer. Downtown Milwaukee is full of micro-breweries and I was sure to find a good one! The recommendation came for Sprecher's Root Beer. I found that it was available in the hotel restaurant where I was staying. I can't remember how many I drank, but I'm sure it was enough for a belly ache! Sprecher's has to be one of the best I have ever had. You can also order some on their website (click link above) and they will ship it to you. If you are a fan of good root beer, this stuff gets a strong recommendation from me!

Destination Ikea

Judy and I have a favorite store for furniture and housewares. It is Ikea. Ikea is a swedish store that carries a huge selection of furniture, housewares, and more. It is really amazing. The store is about the size of a two story mall. A good bit of their furniture reflects more of a contemporary design, while they also carry some traditional items. The real catch here is that almost everything they have is very well priced. A lot of the furniture and such that you buy comes in flat-packs. This is the innovation that made Ikea popular (and more affordable). That's right, you have to do some minor assembly on many of the items. Now, let's not get confused here...This isn't exactly heirloom worthy material, but instead offers the ability for young people (or old) to furnish more of their homes with less resources. Overall, it is really a good way to do business. It certainly isn't the end-all for furniture or housewares, just a great place to start. One more catch... there aren't any local to Jacksonville. There is talk of one opening in Orlando soon. The closest for now is Atlanta, GA. If you think that seems too far, we used to drive 2 hours North of Richmond, VA to go.

Truett's Grill \ Chick-fil-a

This past Saturday I experienced one of the best treats I have had in a long time. While in Atlanta, driving on I-75, a friend and I discovered Truett's Grill. For those of you less infatuated than I am, S. Truett Cathy is the founder of Chick-fil-a. After seeing the sign on the highway, we immediately went to the internet to find the story behind this restaurant. (See back-story here) Not everyone was excited about the possibility of eating at a glorified Chick-fil-a (I won't mention any names). But, to be perfectly honest, David and I weren't asking for any opinions on where to eat dinner. We had already decided.

We arrived, and to our surprise, it looked to be a diner style sit-down restaurant. It was decorated with many items S. Truett Cathy had owned and enjoyed (car, motorcycle, bike, train, etc). As we were seated, I looked the menu over carefully. In addition to the standard Chick-fil-a menu (I made sure everything was there), they also offered hamburgers, chicken fried steak with gravy, field peas, salads, and many other delicious southern-style meals.

I ordered the Hot Brown. This was chunks of chicken served in a thick white-sauce with melted cheese, bacon, and toast. All I can really say is WOW. It was really something. I also had a side of field peas that didn't disappoint.

While we were talking to the waitress about the place, we told her this was our first visit and how excited we were to learn about it. She quickly delivered deserts for everyone at the table, free of charge! All the way around, this was one of the most exciting dining experiences I've had. I am glad to have this opportunity. There are only 2 or 3 of these Truett's Grills, all in the Atlanta area. If ever there or driving through, you must stop and see for yourself.