DISCOVER GEORGIA: Atlanta Botanical Garden

Can you believe it took me a whole 15 years of living in the Atlanta area to visit the Atlanta Botanical Garden? I finally went over Memorial Day weekend with Coco, and we had a pretty good time exploring the grounds. I think we chose the perfect time to go - a little after opening time, which is 9:00am. I wanted to get there early for 2 reasons: 1) I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I detest the summer heat, and it's cooler outside in the mornings; 2) the Atlanta Jazz festival was happening the same weekend, and I wanted to get there before crowds and traffic. The jazz festival takes place in Piedmont Park (another place I haven't visited - I know!!!!), which is right next to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

DISCOVER GEORGIA: Rock Garden

Have you ever made plans with friends to visit a restaurant, city, gallery, or whatever and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited? Well, I'd been wanting to visit the Rock Garden in Calhoun, GA for the past few years. Every year, I'd bring up the idea with my girls and the response would be, "Sure, but let's go here or there first." Year in, year out. That is, until this year, when I decided to just go ahead by myself - well, with Coco in tow. While prepping for our tiny cabin stay, I figured that since we had time on our hands, we would make a stop to see the Rock Garden on the way to the cabin. 

Luxury Tiny Cabin Getaway - Postcard Cabins

Does anyone remember the Tiny House craze from a few years ago? If you watched HGTV or went on social media, chances are you'd find a show or post of someone buying or renting a tiny home. I thought they looked really cute and wanted to book a weekend in one, but never got around to it... until recently.

Fun Times at CAMP Stores: Miraculous Ladybug Meet and Greet

Hi there!

I hope y'all have been having a sweet March so far. Over the weekend, we had the pleasure of going to CAMP - The Store with the Magic Door - in Atlanta. We were invited to the Ladybug Character Meet & Greet at CAMP, which included printed photos and frames which the kids could decorate however they wanted, some games, a dance party and Miraculous toys to play with. 

Solo Staycation at The Starling Hotel, Atlanta

My life as a single mom who's the primary physical parent is VERY busy. Unlike other co-parenting situations that are 50:50, my daughter's father lives in a different state. This means that she gets to see him just a few times a year. Even though I have a great support system in my parents, sister and cousin, I prefer to take solo or "me time," only when Coco is with her father (when he comes to visit, or she goes to visit him. For her birthday this year, he came into town for the weekend, and I seized the opportunity to get some well-deserved time alone. 

DISCOVER GEORGIA: Pettit Creek Farms Pumpkin Fest

It's been a while since I put up a Discover Georgia post. These posts are to showcase some of the different places and/or events in Georgia, and to show you that Georgia is more than just Atlanta. In this post I'm sharing a few photos from our trip to Pettit Creek Farms.

Clever Girl Finance Book Event in Atlanta

I have been part of the Clever Girl Finance program for a few years now. Clever Girl Finance is a platform that aims to teach women how to be financially savvy and build personal wealth. Earlier this year, I was asked to be one of the Clever Girl Finance mentors - to be honest, I was quite surprised because, to be honest, I don't have a lot of money. At all. My savings account goes up and down and up and down, and sometimes, it seems like I'm living paycheck to paycheck. But the truth of the matter is, I have gained a lot of knowledge from Clever Girl Finance and have made strides in my finances over the years. Sometimes I slip up and make silly mistakes, but I always bounce back based on what I have learned and put into practice. This whole time, through my Clever Girl Finance journey, I had never met the founder, Bola Sokunbi until August 2019!!!

Clever Girl Finance is coming to Atlanta!!!

Let's celebrate the launch of the new book, Clever Girl Finance: Ditch Debt, Save Money & Build Real Wealth!

Join Bola Sokunbi and her expert friends for a conversation on her new book and panel discussions on pursuing debt freedom, saving money and building real wealth! Plus we'll be discussing career and business too! Get your tickets now as space is limited.

DISCOVER GEORGIA: Cobb County International Festival

I love traveling. I enjoy attending events. I remember having so many events to attend when I lived in Nigeria - my peak blogging days. I had hoped to replicate the same thing here in Atlanta, but several factors come into play: I live a little bit far away from where a lot of events I'd like to go to are; there are a lot of weekday events and erm I have a full-time job (and a child); and sometimes I'm just plain old lazy. Occasionally, an event will cross my radar that fits well into my life, and the event I'm sharing today is the first annual Cobb County International Festival! Since this is an event in Georgia, I'm adding it to my Discover Georgia series, where I share different tourist attractions in the state of Georgia!.

DISCOVER GEORGIA: Helen Hot Air Balloon Festival

It's been a very long time since I put up a Discover Georgia post. This is my travel series that highlights different places and events in Georgia, as there is so much more to do than just visit Atlanta. In this post, I'm sharing a few photos from the annual Helen Hot Air Balloon Festival, which is held the weekend after Memorial Day. It's a three-day event that starts with the only long-distance hot air balloon race where different teams race from Helen to the Atlantic ocean. Fun fact: I've blogged about Helen in a different Discover Georgia post.

Autumn is Here

Hey you,

How are ya? I hope you had a nice weekend. I was going to continue my cruise vacation posts today, but last weekend, we went to a local pumpkin patch at Berry Farms, and the photos were too nice (in my opinion) that I could not wait to share them! Fall or Autumn is my second favorite season (after Spring). I enjoy seeing the leaves change color - the yellows, oranges, browns and reds of fall are so beautiful to behold. And it also helps that Sweater Weather, and Fall fashion, happens to be my favorite to see. Knee-length and thigh-high boots paired with dresses or jeans, oversize and chunky sweaters over leggings, and layering with crisp leather jackets... LOVE!

Discover Georgia - Wild Safari

Hi there!

I have another Discover Georgia post for you today - this is my travel series, highlighting different destinations and tourist attractions within Georgia (because Atlanta is NOT Georgia, only a city). We visited Wild Safari in Pine Mountain, Georgia. It's basically a park that offers the safari experience - most of the animals are free to roam the park grounds - and you can either drive through in your car, or hop on one of their buses, and quite a few of the animals will walk up to you looking for treats! To be honest, when people talk about traveling to Kenya to go on a safari tour, I'm one of the least interested. It could be due to my fear of animals... I guess they're nice to see? Anyways, since I know I'm not going to visit a real safari, I jumped at the chance to go on this mini one right in our backyard. It was a fun experience, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

I'll let you enjoy the photos now.

Maternity Style - Baby Shower Dress

A baby shower is one of the highlights of being pregnant. Everyone comes together to celebrate your upcoming bundle of joy, and gives you lots of presents and advice on parenthood. Baby showers can be done in a bunch of different ways - just women, or coed along with the men. Some have baby shower themes - all you need to do is check out Bella Naija for some really creative and pretty baby showers they have featured. A big part of this event is figuring out what to wear to your baby shower.

Brunch at Henry's Louisiana

WARNING: If you are hungry, go and get something to eat BEFORE reading this post. If you don't, you can't blame me for whatever happens to your tummy :)

One of the things I planned for this year was to have a quarterly brunch outing with my sister and cousins. At this point in our lives, everyone's busy with families, growing families, careers and more, so it can get difficult to really catch up with one another. It's not as if we don't see or even chat regularly on Whatsapp. But I also wanted for us to be able to get away from the husbands and children and just be girls (or women). It's nice to "escape" for an hour or two, innit?

For this outing, we stayed close to home and went to Henry's Louisiana Grill.

Japanese Hibachi Dinner at Shogun

Two weeks ago, Uncle Cakes turned 70, and to celebrate, the family decided to head to Shogun Restaurant. It is a Japanese restaurant not too far from home, and they have different offerings from sushi to hibachi grill food. Cakes had never been to a Hibachi restaurant before, so I thought it would be a nice treat for him.

FUN FACT: My sister and her hubby got engaged one night after having dinner there. I think.

One Year Update!

Can you believe that today, March 7th, makes it one whole year since I left Nigeria and moved back to Hamrika?!?!?! Like where did the time go?!?!??! Okay, I won't lie. Time has felt very draggy at different times, but mehn, just like that one year has passed! I contemplated putting up a video to talk about the past year, but I'm opting to write things down instead. I think I'll share the year in Highlights, Lowlights, and Medium-lights :p

Ringling Brothers Circus

The first time I went to a circus was when I was about 7 years old. I can't actually remember what age I was but I was pretty young. I vividly remember one of the acts coming out looking like a lion, but it turned out to be two people. I asked my mum and she said it was a Russian circus that toured at the time, and we attended the showing in Port Harcourt. Just FYI, Port Harcourt used to be a very bubbling town with lots of cool and artsy events. If it wasn't for the security situation, I know PH would have been as good as, if not better than Lagos.

Brunch at The Public House

Brunches in Atlanta seem to the be THE THING to do on weekends. Titi, who I went to brunch with, has a list of some of her favorite brunch spots in Atlanta. I haven't been a big bruncher, but what I do like about going is the perfect combination of breakfast and lunch items. That and the boozy cocktails, which to be honest are perfect at any time of day(minus mimosas, which I don't like at all). Anyways, this time around I met up with another friend, who blogs here.

DISCOVER GEORGIA - Ponce City Market

HEWU! I can't believe I didn't put up any posts last week! As in, the days were just going by and I didn't touch my laptop once! Ndo. Pele. Ma binu. Forgive me por favor and per favore! I promise I'm not becoming a lazy blogger. *hides face*

Okay, so y'all know I like to travel (see all my travel posts here), and part of traveling is exploring your own neighborhood and surrounding areas. There are lots of things and places to see in the Metro Atlanta area, and whenever I can, I like to go a-looking and exploring like Dora.

Snowy Day Photo Walk

If you follow me on Instagram and Snapchat (@Berrydakara), then you know that it snowed in Atlanta this weekend. Having lived in Boston for a long time, it always tickles me the way Atlantans react to snow. Just a few inches of snow causes a state of emergency, a frenzy everywhere, and basically everything shuts down. It's understandable because they're not used to snow, as it comes maybe once a year. Plus the biggest issue is black ice! When the snow starts to melt, if the temperature is below freezing, it turns into a layer of ice on the roads that can cause accidents. My brother actually got into a fender bender on Saturday night on a bridge over a major highway, but we thank God he got home safely.