Getting together with brilliant friend, Tami at Running With Tweezers, is always an adventure. Yesterday was certainly no exception.

What started out as a simple lunch followed by a blogger’s day at the Georgia Aquarium for the new Planet Shark exhibit, turned into what could have been worthy of reality television.

First, lunch. We decided to meet up at Social, a darling little bistro in downtown Atlanta. We walk in and there is no one to greet us. Tami and I wait around for a few minutes and decide to take a table upstairs. We choose a corner nook so our food photography will not bother the other diners. Finally, our waitress comes to the table, totally flustered and telling us that someone called in sick and she was the only one there. Now, I feel for this girl, but this is not exactly setting the tone for a relaxing meal. I tell her we have tons of time and not to worry. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake. She seems relieved by this piece of news and scampers off.

I decide on the lamb pappardelle and Tami sets her sights on the duck confit salad. We relax and discuss Tami’s recent trip to Asheville’s Grove Park Inn and the gingerbread competition. If any of you have seen this on the Food Network, you will know it is a big deal. A great big deal. And Tami was there to capture it all. She regaled me with tales of dinners with famous chefs and the incredible hospitality of the folks at the renowned Grove Park Inn. Oh, what a charmed life my famous blogging friend leads.

After some time, we realize our food has yet to arrive and we are ravenous. I mean, starving. I pop into the powder room and when I return our food is on the table. It’s amazing we didn’t ravage the plates before taking photos. But we realized that with no photos, there is no blog post. And the food was fantastic. My pasta dish is like tucking into a warm, Italian hug…it is comforting and hearty on this cold day in Atlanta. Tami’s duck confit is perfect. The best I have ever tasted. The date bread pudding we select for dessert is one of the yummiest things I have ever eaten. And our dear frazzled waitress comped the dessert and wine because of the delay. So go and have a little date at Social. It is adorable and the food is fantastic.

Tummies full, we set out for the Aquarium. We leave Tami’s car in the parking lot and drive together in my vehicle. Arriving at the Aquarium, we head off to the Planet Shark Exhibit. It is plenty scary. The first thing you see when you walk up are the open jaws of a Great White Shark. You can get your picture taken with it! We passed – too many nightmares of Jaws…..spooky! The exhibit itself is dimly lit and a bit reminiscent of a haunted house, which makes perfect sense since more than our share of the population is afraid of sharks (fun fact – scientific name for fear of sharks is galeophobia or selachophobia). But did you know that in the USA you are over 200 times more likely to be killed by a deer than a shark? I thought that was pretty impressive. So kids, moral of the story here is, stay out of the forests and the oceans and you are good to go.

The exhibit guides you through all sorts of interesting sights. We saw (up close) the jaws of at least 10 different sharks, a frozen mako shark next to a frozen tuna, the cages that shark divers inhabit underwater and a really chilling hallway of nothing but newspaper clippings showing shark attacks. One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was the chain link shark-proof gloves they allow you to try on. I’m not sure how anyone would swim with these things on their hands, but I guess if you are in the steel cage, you would probably be just fine. Not that I’m off to the open waters to try it out or anything.

One of the coolest things we saw at the exhibit might have been set up inadvertently…or not. There is a room where you can watch films of the great white sharks, but what really caught our eye were the doors across from the screen. These two doors have round windows in the middle of each door and with the screen’s reflection, it looks like the sharks are behind these porthole-type windows. It freaked both Tami and me out, but I bet any 13 year old boy would love it! It was really effective and thrilling.

Tami and I took a walk around the Aquarium to see a few of the other animals before we left. We especially loved the playful otters and the toothy gators.

Before we set out for the car, we got a chance to visit with Liz and Leslie, the lovely ladies of Creaxion, who were our hosts for the day. It’s always great to meet new people and it was so nice of them to put together this Blogger’s Day at the Aquarium. Thank you for the wonderful day, Liz and Leslie!

Back at the parking lot, we return to Tami’s car being booted. Oh dear. And she had definitely paid for her parking. This is a case of total piracy. If you have ever had this happen to you, you know that these terrible people will boot anyone and then demand $50 in ransom money to release your car. We both agree that when the boot pirate arrives, we will take his photograph for our records. Well, he arrives, I take his picture and then he wigs out and leaves. Without unbooting the car. Things are not exactly looking rosy and I feel terrible because I was the one photographing this Blackbeard of the Parking Lots. We call the police. We call the parking pirates again. No one shows up. Finally, one of the nicest officers of the APD arrives and tells us since this is a civil matter he really cannot help us. But then he sees the panic on our faces and calls the Parking Pirates himself. Blackbeard reappears and the boot is whooshed off Tami’s car in a millisecond. We are relieved but still angry. I suggest an adult beverage, my treat. Tami suggests Spoon and their delectable martinis. Off we go.

After parking in Spoon’s free(!) parking lot, we settle in at their cozy little bar with our new friend and bartender, Aaron. Over a lychee martini (for me) and a green tea martini (for Tami), we share booting stories. Seems like everyone has one and none of them are good. But you know what is good? Wonderful girlfriends and icy martinis.

Wrap up – go have a little date at Social and take the family to the Georgia Aquarium to see the deliciously scary Planet Shark. Follow up with martinis at Spoon. Rinse. Repeat.

Again, special thanks to Liz and Leslie at Creaxion for the cool invite. It was a day to remember.

xoxo, Patti