Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

Something I'm trying to start doing this year is to discover Atlanta and to accept the culture this beautiful city has to offer. I'm so afraid that I'm going to have to leave this city when I graduate, so I want to get the most of it now.

That being said, I'm still only a college student with a part-time job. However, I've discovered the beautiful world of Groupon, Deal Chicken and Scoutmob. They all offer wonderful deals on events and food to help make them more affordable. Scoutmob is especially awesome because it offers advice on free coupons or free things happening around Atlanta. 

Last week while purusing my Scoutmob app, I found that there was Grand Opening on Wednesday from 7-10 pm at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams where they were giving away free ice cream! Considering it was 8 pm and Daniel & I had no other plans for the night, we decided to go check it out.


It was absolutely amazing. We waited for 2 hours in the cold for a cold treat but it was absolutely worth it.




First of all, the store is probably the cutest ice cream shop I've ever seen--the menu was handwritten in chalk, there were paper decorations hanging for the grand opening, and there were cute decorated tables to sit at. And the fact that it's in Westside Provisions makes me love it even more. It's such an up and coming area of Atlanta and I just fall in love with every place I go to over there.

But the atmosphere of the shop aside, we can't forget the main attraction--the ice cream!


I had Black Coffee and Queen City Cayenne in a waffle cone. The Black Coffee was made from beans roasted in Atlanta and had the beans roasted in cream instead of water so it was amazing tasting. The Queen City Cayenne is a milk chocolate based ice cream with cayenne flavors that kind of sneak up on you, which made it delicious. Oh, and we can't forget that the waffle cones were made in the store; Daniel's was actually still warm when he got it handed to him full of ice cream!

There is no doubt that this will become my go-to ice cream shop in the city. I'm so excited to have stumbled across this gem and hope to continue to expand my horizons in Atlanta before I graduate.



Providence, RI

Over the weekend I attended the annual Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I) Living-Learning Program Conference. 

The program guide and my nifty presenter name-badge.

I was one of a handful of lucky undergraduates who got to attend. As an undergrad I was also lucky enough to co-present a session on how to market a living learning community based on my experience helping recruit members to our program in the spring. It was an amazing experience.

The best compliment I got on the evaluation cards. I got a lot of love from them!

It was awesome getting called professional and well-spoken as an undergrad. The comment above isn't the only I got that was super positive about me. I just feel like bragging here a little because it's exceptionally cool that I got to present as an undergrad at this conference and that people loved it. We had people coming up to us the next day saying they loved us or that we were very helpful to them. There's a competition at the conference to be the best presentation because the best will be invited to speak at the National ACUHO-I conference in D.C. next summer. I think we are at least in the running which is amazing. And either way, we helped people with their own programs.

     View from my isle seat.                    New York and Boston signs. Take me to both!!


     Welcome to Rhode Island--the smallest place ever.

Traveling to Rhode Island was easy and fun. I like and dislike flying at the same time because I enjoy flying itself but I dislike not having control. We got a rental car at the airport and drove to the hotel. We passed a lot of signs saying New York and Boston. I got so excited because that meant they were close!

View from my bed of downtown Providence, RI.


Coffee delivered to my room each morning. It was delicious!

For the conference we stayed in the Omni Hotel in downtown Providence. It was an absolutely beautiful hotel. I slept like a rock both nights, despite the fact that I had to wake up before 8 am (way out of the norm for me). It was certainly an experience having a hotel room to myself for the first time. I realized it was the first time, in a very long time, that I had truly been alone. What an amazing realization!

Providence is beautiful. Look at these cute little New England stye houses!


The First Baptist Church.

Of course, while in Providence I had to tour the sites. I'd never been up so far North before so the New England-style was quite charming to me. I also got to visit the First Baptist Church in the United States (founded in 1638, built in 1775).

Sampler at Union Station Brewery. The beers were:

The nightlife consisted mostly of visiting local craft beer breweries. I had some interesting beer this weekend. My favorite brewery was Union Station because I had their sampler one night. They had this really tasty Starbucks Coffee brew. I also loved a cask-Maple Bacon Oktoberfest beer from them! Saturday night we also attended WaterFire which is an interesting experience. Basically they light a bunch of bonfires in the river. And just let them burn. It made a very pretty visual and made the city smell amazing with the smoke of 100 or so bonfires.

WaterFire in Providence.

My hotel was also attached to a mall so I did a good bit of shopping while there. I didn't even have to walk outside to get to it! There were stores like Madewell, J. Crew, Loft, Crate and Barrel, Papyrus, along with the classics like Macy's and JCPenney. I bought the most beautiful shoes ever at the DSW there. They are hand worn leather oxfords and even though I'm still in the process of breaking them in... I'm in love.

My beautiful Oxfords!

The plane ride home was an interesting one. Our plane got caught up in Tropical Storm Karen. I've never been so stressed or scared on a plane ride in my life. Lightening and rain and clouds... OH MY! Luckily we made it out safely. My boyfriend was tracking my flight and sent me this picture after we landed.

Scary red blob of storm. 

But to say I had a great time would be an understatement. I feel so blessed for getting the opportunity to go and present at the conference. I had such a great time getting to know more about the people I work with as a student assistant. It was an amazing weekend and I can't believe that it all happened in just a weekend.

-Kelly




City gal

Not knowing where I'm going to be living after graduation is slightly terrifying. I'm doing everything I can so that I don't have to move back in with my parents and it seems to be opening all these doors of where I will end up.

I'm definitely a city girl. I love having everything nearby, the tall buildings and things to do. Living in the heart of Atlanta has spoiled me. Everything is right where I want it to be and right in the distance I need it to be in.

One thing I've always wanted while living in the city is a bike. But I have had this specific, beautiful bike in my mind. I want one with fenders and a place to store things. I also want it to be sleek and a beautiful color. Then I discovered PUBLIC.


This is the epitome of bike beauty in my eyes. I mean look at this one in baby blue!

It's the perfect city bike. I'm in love.

I can only hope that once I graduate I live in a place that will allow me to own one of these beauties. 

A Venture into Blogging

I've wanted to have a blog for a little bit now--since this past summer to be exact. Over the summer I got into the world of blogging through Feedly (great RSS feeder app!) and realized it's a beautiful world indeed. I love reading about people's ideas of fashion, food, and life.

I'm creating this blog to help me voice my opinion and to keep a place that allows me to collect my thoughts about things I find interesting in my life or in the world. One of my friends told me I'm always plugged into everything. I want to be able to share my "plugged-inness" with y'all.

I can't wait to start this simply unique adventure.

-Kelly