sometimes, always, never: dinner // cleaning // happy fall

For whatever reason weekends have been feeling long lately - in the best way possible. They've been crowded but cozy, busy but restful, and so happy.

On Friday Phil and I went to Empire State South (bucket list #21) and I am not exaggerating when I say it might be my new favorite restaurant in Atlanta.

Aside from the amazing view, atmosphere and food, they also have a bocce court. Yes. A bocce court. It's surrounded by adirondack chairs, which leads to the perfect feeling of intimacy and community among the table-waiting crowd. And quite possibly my favorite part was that they call their apps Snackies.

Was this place made for me?

If you're in Atlanta and haven't been, I highly recommend it. If you're not in Atlanta and haven't been, I highly recommend booking a flight.

On Saturday, Katie and I deep cleaned our house. From floor scrubbing to porch sweeping - and everything in between - we wouldn't stop until the place was shining. We joked that we were a perfect and equally-anal cleaning pair, as we simultaneously chased single leaves around the front and side porches - just making sure every.last.one was gone.

When we finished we opened up our windows to the beautiful fall day and breathed in the scent of fresh air and Lysol and let that feeling of control wash over us. It was blissful, is what I'm saying. :)

Saturday afternoon, I got to spend one baby second with Duke as he was catching a flight home to Indy. I tried to convince him to let me get in his suitcase so I could spend the weekend with my parents, too. But he didn't think that would work.

Saturday night, I worked at a benefit for Ian's Friends Foundation, which raises money for pediatric brain tumor research. Although I was sad to miss some Halloween party opps, it was an amazing benefit, especially when Ian - the little boy who has a tumor - got on stage to thank everyone. Halloween loving would have been nice, but this kind of loving wasn't bad, either.