Eleven years ago, Meredith Bass was experiencing some pretty severe back pain and was relying on her chiropractor for relief.  A friend of hers recommended that she strengthen her core muscles to support her back and suggested she check out a Pilates studio down the street from her office.  Meredith took ONE class and she was hooked!  She ended up working out with three different trainers twice a week and saw amazing results in her body and significant pain relief in her back.  She did Pilates until she was seven months pregnant with her first son, and now two kids later, she is teaching.  Meredith’s experience had been mostly with Classical Pilates, but she received her reformer certification from Balanced Body University.  She absolutely LOVES teaching Pilates and watching clients transform their bodies through the use of their core. 

I’ve done Pilates mat classes in the past and thought they were okay, but for the past year or so I’ve really wanted to work out on a Pilates reformer.  People rave about the reformer, but the two gyms I belong to do not offer classes.  So, a friend of mine recommended Meredith to me.  I recently spent an hour in her home studio in the Highlands under her instruction on the reformer, and it was one of the best workouts I’ve EVER had!  I’m not at all exaggerating. 

Pictures of Meredith demonstrating some positions we worked on during our session are below.  Watch her gooooooooo! 

After my session, I was sore in places where I didn’t even realize I had muscles – which means that I haven’t been engaging these areas in my regular workouts.  Meredith was SO awesome, and now I’m addicted to the Pilates reformer! 

Meredith charges $55 per one hour session or you can purchase a pack of 10 classes with her for $500.  This is excellent pricing for one-on-one Pilates reformer workouts, y’all!  I highly recommend.  Swimsuit season is right around the corner, after all…

Contact Meredith Bass at meredithpbass@comcast.net. 

xx, L

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Kev + I celebrated our 3 year anniversary this week at one of our favorite restaurants in the Virginia-Highlands, La Tavola Trattoria. 

we did it! yay for 3 years!

We ate a LOT, but the Black Linguine was absolutely the biggest hit of all!  It was out-of-this-world spectacular!  No exaggeration.

Squid ink pasta, calamari, Calabrian chilies + Thai basil pesto.  Perfection.

We washed it down with a very complimentary bottle of Clos Teddi “Patrimonio” Vermentino.  I highly recommend this wine with any of La Tavola’s spicier dishes.  SO delightful!  (La Tavola has the best wine list.)

YOU HAVE TO TRY THESE!  I guarantee that you’ll them as much as we did! 

xx, L

La Tavola Trattoria
992 Virginia Avenue NE
Atlanta, GA  30306
678.879.5632
www.latavolatrattoria.com

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It’s not news that Richard Blais, our Atlanta Top Chef + Top Chef Masters celeb chef, opened a hot dog joint called HD1 (Haute Doggery), but what IS news (at least to me) is how enjoyable the HD1-experience was to someone who is honestly not that into the hot dog thang.

HD1 is situated next to Pura Vida and San Fran Coffee in between Ponce de Leon and North Ave. on North Highland.  I think it’s a brilliant location pulling from the Poncey-Highlands hipsters, the Virginia Highlands college kids, the Fernbank area families, and the Little Five and Candler Park folks.  Kev and I visited HD1 on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 p.m. and it was P.A.C.K.E.D.  Admittedly, I was shocked by how popular it seemed to be.

Location, Location, Location – right?  Right.

A glimpse at HD1′s elaborate hot dog menu…

We found two cozy seats set aside from the otherwise communal seating, and were greeted by a pleasantly laid-back waitress who took our drink orders and informed us about her favorite HD1 dogs.  We perused the menu for a bit, and I frequently looked up to see Kev’s eyes get wider and wider.  Everything we were reading sounded more and more decadent and delicious than the former!  Eventually, we settled on a few things.

We started with the HD Waffle Fries with maple-oy sauce.

They were different. 

I found the maple-oy sauce to be pretty overpowering, and wished that we would have just ordered the plain waffle fries and soaked them in good ol’ fashioned ketchup.  Now we know…

Next, we moved on to THESE.  Beef ‘n pork wieners served on toasted sweet Ghana rolls.

From left to right – The Whiz: cheese sauce + shoestring frites (my fav.)/ Eastbound and Down: Carolina pulled pork, sweet mustard slaw + mop sauce (Kev’s fav.)/ Plain Jane: HD mustard, ketchup, sweet relish + onion.

Kev and I both agreed that the hot dogs were delicious and definitely creative, but the sweet Ghana rolls were really what made the major difference for us!  Y-U-M!

check out those buns!

Other hot dogs that we thought sounded great:

- Chow-down: chow-chow + brown mustard.

- Freemont St.: garlic cream cheese + red onion-tomato salad.

- Kenturkey: turkey sausage, tomato-pimento marmalade, mornay, bacon + parmesan.

See the full HD1 menu HERE!

Although we’d stuffed ourselves with hot dogs, we HAD to try the Caramel Popcorn Vanilla Soft Serve at the end of our meal. 

It was out-of-this-world good! 

We had such a fun time at HD1.  The food was an interesting change up to an otherwise potentially boring Sunday lunch.  While I might not want to eat hot dogs every weekend (Kev disagrees with me on that point), I would absolutely bring out-of-towners and first-timers to HD1 to show it off.  And, next time I’m definitely trying the Kenturkey.

So, about that wedding diet…  

xx, L

HD1
664 Highland Avenue NE
Atlanta, GA  30306
404.815.1127
www.hd1restaurant.com

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Thanks so much to everyone who joined us last night at Pura Vida to celebrate the Q+DD 2 Year Blog-iversary!  We had so much fun with y’all!

And, we seriously heart Pura Vida.  It was our favorite Q+DD happy hour yet!!

We’d like to extend a very special thanks to Hector + Leslie Santiago for embracing all the Q+DD excitement and allowing us to invade their incredible restaurant for the evening!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Q+DD + the Santiagos

An excellent time was had by all.

Slick + Greg…

…and lots of our amazing friends + readers!  Thank you all so much for your support!

Another big THANK YOU to Pura Vida bartender extraordinaire, Paul Calvert, who did a phenomenal job taking care of our thirsty Q+DD happy hour-ers!  You rock, Paul.  We loved the shout out on the cocktail menu, too!  The best.

Finally…DID YOU GET ONE OR WHAT?!

the Q+DD has koozie FEVER!

They’re the hottest summer fashion accessory for your beverages.  Just look:

Drinks just don’t get sexier than that… 

Thanks again for celebrating with us last night + toasting to many more Q+DD-filled years to come! 

xx, L

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Genki Noodles + Sushi has a reason to celebrate almost every night of the week!

All three Genki Noodles + Sushi locations (Buckhead, Sandy Springs + Virginia Highland) are adding a new weekly event to their ranks: Sake Sundays.  On Sundays, they are offering $1 sushi nigiri, $3 rolls, $3 Genki draft beer, $3.50 sake bombs + $5 cold sake.  Sundays are meant to be social at Genki, all without breaking the bank.  The Buckhead location will also feature live music every Sunday evening starting at 6:00 p.m.

In addition to Sake Sundays, all three Genki locations host Wine Wednesdays, offering half price bottles of wine starting at $12 and Genki Hour every Monday through Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. with $3 apps, sushi rolls, wine + beer.  The Virginia Highland location has also introduced Tokyo Tuesdays featuring $1 sushi nigiri, $3 rolls, $3 Genki draft beer, $3.50 sake bombs + $5 cold sake.  Every Thursday is Ladies Night at The Prado in Sandy Springs with half of all appetizers for the ladies + live music at 6:00 p.m.  For those that crave a late night sushi fix, the Buckhead and Virginia Highland locations offer a late night menu and a live DJ every Friday.

That’s enough to make your head spin…

Sounds like it’s a constant party at Genki! 

xx, L

Genki Noodles + Sushi Locations:

Buckhead
3186 Roswell Road NW
Atlanta, GA  30305
404.844.8319

Sandy Springs – The Prado
5590 Roswell Road NE
Sandy Springs, GA  30342
404.843.8319

Virginia Highland
1040 N. Highland Ave.
Atlanta, GA  30306
404.853.3315

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