braves game

I know I said I was going to do wedding weekend pics, then mom's surprise party pics, but I forgot that I hadn't posted Braves game pics, sooo without further ado.. 

About 2 weeks ago, a few of us went to Atlanta for a Braves game. Murray and I actually split it as late birthday gifts to each other. We were going to go on a weekend, but he works every other weekend, and it just so happened that every weekend he didn't have to work, the Braves played away. He has Thursdays off, so we found a Wednesday night game that worked. My sissy and my friend Brooke came along as well! Brooke is a teacher, so she was able to take a spontaneous trip in the middle of the week. How convenient! 

I got us a cheap hotel room right next to the stadium, the Comfort Inn. It was only a 3 star, but I'd recommend it if you're just going to a Braves game! We just walked there and back so we didn't have to deal with paying to park or driving after some dranks. They also had a hot breakfast with WAFFLES! I'll take a non-updated (see wallpaper border below) without a mini fridge for waffles and bacon any day! 

We all met up in the room and had some cocktails before walking to the game. And by cocktails, I mean forties. Not only do we not have professional sports in Alabama, we also don't have forties. Anytime there is a reason to go to Georgia, we grab a few. By we, I mean everyone I know. 

It was a glorious day! The game was at 6pm. 

I'm not the biggest baseball fan, but I am HUGE fan of drinking outside. 

Mine and Murray's seats were up on the suite level.

Aw wee! 

I took one of these panorama shots, but the sun made it look like an atomic explosion was going on. 

23, my lucky number!  

The Braves have 2 new players, the Upton brothers, who play in the outfield. I saw this hilarious meme a while ago: 

So I got a pic of them haha!

The Chickfila cow watched over the crowd. 

The crowd games are hilarious. The did something similar at the Birmingham Barons game,  but of course I liked this one more because it involved Home Depot TOOLS! hahaha

A hammer, a paintbrush, and a drill! 

Binky and Brooke were in different seats, so Binky facetimed me to see if they could come up to where we were. I tried to get her to get Brooke in the frame, but instead I got this gem of a shot. 

Aww

Bink and Brooke ended up getting up to our seats. 

So of course we had to get some group shots!

The stadium lights make for lovely photo lighting. not. The Braves played the Mets and won! Woo! 

Funny story: We were leaving the stadium, and it looked like Binky was limping. She broke her leg/ankle last year and it still swells up if she stands for a while, so I asked her if it was feeling ok. She said yes, and I said are you sure? and she said yes, gah, it's fine.. And then Brooke fell down the stairs! hahaha Of course I wouldn't have laughed had she been hurt, but she wasn't, thank goodness. It was just funny that I was asking about binky's hurt leg when Brooke fell and scraped up hers! It was also probably funny to all of us because we had sipped on several adult beverages during the game..

We went to the Bullpen after the game, which is a restaurant between the stadium and our hotel, and got just what the doctor ordered for a scraped up leg: a bucket of beer! 

The next day, we arose, got some breakfast (bacon and waffles!), and then we on a little field trip to the Coke Museum! 

I went to the old Coke Museum when I was in 6th grade, but I hadn't been to the new one yet. I made the kids pose under the sign to document our adventure. 

We all know I love Diet Coke.. 

and Coke memorabilia..

First you go into a room for a little presentation, then another room for a short film, then they let you into the actual museum. There was a bottling room. 

A History of Coca Cola area, with the logo. EEE! 

These interactive things let you draw the logo before revealing how close you were to the actual one. A bit annoying since the width of the "paintbrush" on the screen was wider than the logo's letter width. I'm sure I am the only one who was annoyed.. Binky chose to write BUTT on the screen. hahaha

Bottle evolution over the years.

Old Coke machines, get in my house!

You too, signs!

I constantly battled the photobomber. 

Several products they make besides Coca Cola. 

Remember some of these?! 

There was a part where you went into a room, and the surrounding walls played a video of the "secret formula" for coke. Then it tells you it's going to show you the secret formula.. What they don't reveal until the end is that it's locked in this giant vault, and that's as far as you can see. haha! 

One of my favorite parts of the museum when I was younger was the Tasting Room. 

You can taste the products that are offered in different countries. You can see they had them divided up into continents. 

The worst drink on the planet, and I have never forgotten since I tasted it in 6th grade, is 

BEVERLY.

WOOF! When I went in 6th grade with my class, we all tried it and were disgusted. When I went back a couple years later with my family, I made Binky try it and she immediately vommed in the bathroom. It's that bad yall. We recalled that incident when we arrived in here, so we decided everyone had to try it first before hitting up the other beverages. No one threw up, but it was quite terrible. 

I see that it says Italy on the label, but when I studied abroad there, I don't ever remember seeing it.. Maybe because I was too busy tasting wine to worry about sampling coke products. 

There was a big area in the back solely for the classics! Of course I had a few Diet Cokes, along with cherry diet, and capped everything off with a Coca Cola Classic. Yummm.

They also had these cool fountain machines that are popping up in restaurants nowadays where there are over 400 flavor options. 

Double fisting Brooke! 

There was a 4D movie in the museum as well, and it was free with admission! (the aquarium across the street charges extra for these things)

Sweet glasses. 

There were three ORIGINAL Norman Rockwell paintings in there featuring Cokes. 

Uhhhhh, new product inspiration!! There were tons of other pieces of art, but obviously this caught my eye. 

On the way out, they gave us a complimentary bottled Coke! 

How schweet! 

As if gallons of soft drinks weren't enough, we headed to the Varsity to continue with the healthiness..

It's ok though, Brooke and I went to IKEA and walked off all those chili dogs. You KNOW I can't go to Atlanta without going to Ikea. This was my shortest trip ever! Less than 3 hours! Woo! 

Before we headed back to Birmingham, we stopped at Trader Joe's to get some wine.. 

To be fair, I was stocking up for mom's surprise party, however I would've gotten a case for myself either way! They have "two buck chuck" which is actually called Charles Shaw wine. It's really good, and use to only be $2 (now it's around $3). The whole case is only $36, which is SO WORTH IT. Lucky for me, there was some leftover from the party!

I had so much fun on this little overnight trip! Brooke and I are planning on doing it again as a day trip once we run out of wine..