i gathered a list of my favorite concerts from 2011. i hope to also put up a list of my favorite albums later in the week.

archers of loaf & band of horses – sun, jul 24th – the earl
broken social scene – thu, feb 10th – the buckhead theatre
casiokids & strfkr – wed, mar 23rd – drunken unicorn
godspeed you! black emperor – tue, mar 22nd – 40 watt
kurt vile – sun, aug 7th – the earl
m83 – mon, oct 31st – the masquerade
the pains of being pure at heart & twin shadow – tue, apr 5th – the earl
sebadoh playing bakesale – mon, mar 28th – the earl
tUnE-yArDs – tue, oct 4th – the basement
zola jesus – tue, oct 25th – the earl

-ryan

-here is my favorite concert list from last year.

this year’s annual sterritt family chinese food pilgrimage took us to golden budda on clairmont road in decatur. the entryway featured this huge showcase filled with fake plastic chinese food entrees. they were each labeled with those awesome old plastic labels that my papa used to label everything with. they were pretty amazing in a really gross way!

the food ended up being decent. it’s uncle adam’s go-to place for chinese. it’s now our go-to place for viewing awesome fake plastic food.

– ryan & gub

golden budda

1905 clairmont rd
decatur, ga 30033
404-633-5252

we recently re-visited the hickory pig when we traveled up to north georgia for our christmas tree. we first tried it out for ryan’s birthday ‘week of bbq’ when it was voted atlanta’s #1 bbq. gub got take-out then, which we enjoyed at the drive-in, so this was the first time ryan had actually been inside the tiny establishment. phil treated us very well and insisted we try most of the goodies on the daily menu. he kept bringing out more food for us after we had received our order. everything was great, but the ribs were especially awesome.

this is the kind of no-frills, hole in the wall, real southern place we really love!

– ryan & gub

hickory pig

3605 thompson bridge rd
gainesville, ga 30506
770-503-5235

i like when buildings reflect the sky, it’s almost like they aren’t even there. here’s a previous photo i posted that’s fairly similar.

– ryan

congratulations uncle addie on finishing your phd!!!

– ryan, gub & clementine

we went in search of the sterritt family christmas tree a few weeks ago and ended up here: kinsey family farms in gainesville, ga. the drive wasn’t too far… about an hour outside of atlanta. we drank hot cocoa, made s’mores by a warm fire, visited a goat that tried to eat clem’s hat and then rode a tractor out to the far away trees. to say the least, we had a blast! it was great to share the experience with clementine (even though she slept through a large part of it) and start some fun holiday traditions for our family.

we found kinsey family farms on the ga christmas tree growers website. it lists all of the different farms you can visit in georgia that grow their own trees.

– ryan & gub

kinsey family farms

7170 jot-em down road
gainesville, ga 30506
770-887-6028

they just painted a huge mural under the bridge near arizona ave and dekalb ave in kirkwood that is awesome! we wish they would have done a similar mural under the rocky ford rd bridge, ours is not nearly as fun.

– ryan & gub

UPDATE: this mural is actually part of living walls and is by atlanta artist hense. here is a previous post with another hense mural.

don’t miss the first ever battle of the beards this saturday at the highland inn ballroom! there will be food trucks, live music, local artist vendors, a full bar and lots & lots of facial hair. how can you go wrong?

– ryan

the indie craft experience holiday shopping spectacular was fantastic as usual! we nearly finished our holiday shopping, so i would consider that a full success. and in case you missed it, don’t worry, ICE is also hosting a pop-up shop inside criminal records from december 1st through the 24th! they will have a ton of amazing handmade goods for sale.

i filmed some time lapse footage of the two-day event with my friend chase. below you can see the work-in-progress and also find more videos here. i plan on editing the footage together, but i thought it looked great and wanted to share! if you have high-speed internet, be sure to watch the clips in HD.

– ryan

east lake farmers market offers a cooperative csa program you can join to help support your local farmers. they also sell extra csa shares at their saturday market for only $15, which is a super deal! we picked up an extra share last weekend that had basil, rosemary, greens, kale, egg plant, bell peppers, various hot peppers, radishes and more. it was a great assortment for the money!

we also bought some fresh local eggs at the market. it’s interesting how different the sizes and colors of local eggs are from the ones you get at a grocery store. ours were shades of green and brown, a little smaller and had more texture then you are used to.

we’ve had lots of fun coming up with meals incorporating our fresh, tasty ingredients!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
may – october