Life is so interesing and full of surprises if you are open to them. Take this picture for instance. This is what I saw when I walked into the lobby of the Hotel Elyton in Birmingham for a teambuilding conference at work.
Turns out this was the old Colonial Bank in Birmingham building remodeled as a hotel. I worked at Colonial's headquarters in Montgomery for 19 years. I had a team in this Birmingham building for years, and I visited it 100s of times. It brought back a lot of memories that I thought I lost after my big seizure in 2011. Some good memories of lots of good people. So sad that the bank went under after the real estate market crash in 2008/2009. By the way, I think we may be headed for another crash - not as big as 2008/2009, but it is coming.
They also had lots of fun Christmas decorations to take pictures by.....
Back to work, when we went out to dinner, I told the server to have the bartender surprize me with something not on the drink list and very creative. Then I had to guess what it was... and I guessed correctly!
Here is Alex with her Red Velvet coffee. 
Turns out our restaurant moved so we were off again. This restaurant is called Hot Box and they are in an old Airstream. They serve Asian Fusion food which I can only describe as Asia meets New Mexico in Alabama.
We had the Lemongrass fried chicken (outstanding Asian flavored fried chicken), Korean Barbeque Eggrolls (our favorite), and the Green Chili Burger (fabulous). Yum, Yum. Even cooler is that they are located in the front yard of the Good People Brewery. We had to go in!
My oldest daughter and her husband off to a Christmas Character party. Don't they look great? I am sure her hair stylist spent a few hours getting that hair up there! She has sooooo much hair.
I looked at it and had a feelig of deja vu. Then I got off the elevator to go to my room, and I got that feeling again.
This past weekend, our daughter told us she was going to go ice skating in downtown Prattville. The temps were high 60s and we knew there was no ice skating rinks.... turns out the city commissioned a fake ice skating rink with some kind of fake ice. It wasn't as good as the real thing but it was super fun for our grandson, Patton.
It was a Fruit Loop Martini and it was very good!
A few more surprizes....
The week before, my daughters met me in Birmingham and we got lost looking for our restaurant. We walked by the coolest looking place (three times) and decided to go in. It was called Cookie Dough Magic. Basically like Baskin and Robbins but with edible cookie dough.
We ordered a drink, of course. The girls go very yummy fruit flavored sours, and I had coffee oatmeal stout. We couldn't finish our drinks (too early), but we ate all the food!
Since I have lots of drinks in my post, I am linking up to the T-day gang at Elizabeth's blog. I get extra cookies this week since I have lots of fun drinks - especially if you count all the drinks in those vats at the brewery! LOL! Happy T-day my friends.
Oh, and I forgot that we had surprise visitors this week! Cindy Loo Who and the Grinch.
Hugz, Nancy
That is an amazing UP-DO! Really UP.
ReplyDeletebest… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Enjoyed your post-lots of fun things happening too and I agree Loved the hair do for the costume party Happy T wishes hugs Kathy
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post, you have been having a lot of fun and that's good. Love the photos of your beautiful family. And yes, you've had plenty of wonderful drinks - Prost! . Happy T day, stay well and safe, hugs, Valerie
ReplyDeleteYou must have lots of cookies to go with all those drinks. Otherwise you might end up stumbling along the sidewalk, which would not be good-smile. This is a very fun and festive post Nancy. Hopefully if we do crash financially, it will not be as bad as 2008-2009. But I have noticed my stock accounts have dropped a bit lately-oh no! And I love seeing the photos of Cindy Loo and the Grinch. They look fantastic. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and enjoy those cookies too. Hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteOh what fun times!! And oh boy, with all the drinks and treats I'd have to be at least walking to get some of that off:):) Love the Grinch and Cindy costumes- well done!
ReplyDeleteHappy T day!
A very nice post and time spent with your daughters. Have a great day today.
ReplyDeleteWe have one of those fake ice rinks here. We used to have a real one in one of the malls, but the mall closed years ago. The Hot Box menu sounds like something I'd enjoy. Yummy! I love the costumes and imagine the party was fun. Happy T Tuesday
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed looking and reading about the interesting buildings and your beautiful daughters, as well as to see the delicious drinks you had🍹
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful time ❤️
Oh my goodness, what fabulous places you went to, it all looks amazing, and that ice rink looks just like the real thing. Love the costumes too, I wonder if her hair stood up all night lol. Happy International T Day! Elle/EOTC xx
ReplyDeleteQuite the foodie adventure. Wow! Your daughter and her husband look great in those costumes. Her coiffure is amazing! Happy T Day!
ReplyDeleteI keep getting error messages when I try to leave a comment. Some days blogger and I are at odds.
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing your daughter and grandson on ice, even if it was fake. And seeing the girls join you for cookie dough drinks and sours sounded nice, but I was most happy to read you had a stout, which is the only beer I ever drink.
Loved reading about your adventures together and your older daughter's Christmas party "date" with the grinch. Great do, too. Thanks for sharing your time together and all those wonderful drinks you shared with us, too for T this Tuesday, dear Nancy.
This looks like a lot of fun - and quite some drinks. The martini ooks yummy. I never got the idea to ask the bartender to surprise me with a drink that is not on the menu! I should try that the next time.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of your daughter and the Grinch! That is so awesome. If there was a contest, they had to win! LOL I never knew there was such a thing as fake ice to skate on. A wonderful post, Nancy; thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHappy t Day.
A fabulous post Nancy, lots of super photographs, it looks like everyone had a wonderful time.
ReplyDeletePauline - Crafting with Cotnob
x
What a fun post Nancy. When I saw the Xmas tree it reminded me of our DIL’s tree. I love all the photos of your girls and you go to the best restaurants and pubs lol. Love the Xmas dress up. Great photos. We have a fake ice ring in one of our towns although I’ve never been to it. I always wonder how they keep the ice cold in 40+ heat. Keep enjoying life dear friend. Hugs
ReplyDeleteHow amazing that the bank in Birmingham had been turned into a hotel and that you recognized it! Your memory is doing its job. Good news.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see your daughters and to hear that you had such a great time together.
I am a silly European but I had no idea that cookie dough was a drink. (I thought it was something to do with the process of baking cookies) Then I saw the sign 'Edible cookie dough' and my confusion was complete! The photograph looks like the girls are serving ice cream.
I like the fancy-dress costumes your daughter and son-in-law are wearing. The hair-do is indeed amazing.
Happy T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca
OMG lots of yummy food and drink ♥
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to get such memories back (and how scary to loose them in the first place!)
ReplyDeleteAnd WOW, so many beautiful and fun people!
Cheers (if late).
A wonderful post Nancy! Your daughters are very glamorous! Great costumes, and food and drink sounds good. Glad you got some good memories back too.
ReplyDeleteAlison