#38 - Take 100 Pure Barre classes. (13/101)

Lift. Tone. Burn. This is Pure Barre's motto and the words I've heard over the past 10 months while taking their classes. It is a 55 minute full-body workout class concentrating on the areas women struggle with most: hips, thighs, seat, abdominals and arms. I love their classes and they are worth the expensive price for me because I can feel and see the results. After you take 100 classes, they dress you in a boa or tutu, give you a free pair of sticky socks that say "100 club" and have you sign the "100 club" barre in the studio. I felt successful finally accomplishing 100 classes and will continue taking classes with my new sticky socks!

#25 - Take a dance class. (12/101)

Last Friday my friend Katie invited me to a beginners hip hop dance class that she was attending. I was SO excited as it was on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days and because I was excited to relive the glory days of my fun hip hop classes in high school. We showed up to the Dance 411 Studio a few minutes before the class began, so we had a chance to check out the studio. We joined the class and after the warm up started learning an awesome hip hop dance. It was fun to see the make up of the class, the group consisted of about 25 people, between the ages of seven and mid-thirties, with a very eclectic mix of attire. Our teacher was 17 and an awesome dancer, it was really fun to watch him dance. We danced to the song Atm Jam (Kaytranada Remix) by Azealia Banks ft. Pharrell and had a lot of fun! I can't wait to go back and maybe even try out a different dance style next time.

#88 - Try at least ten new restaurants in Atlanta. (11/101)

I love trying out new restaurants and enjoy exploring a city through it's cuisine. I have eaten at lots of new restaurants since moving to Atlanta and have been keeping a list of others that I want to try. Almost all of the ones below were on my list to try, I'm excited to share my impressions with you: 

Nuevo Laredo Cantina. 
I had heard about this restaurant from a few people and ended up going with coworkers one day for our intern's goodbye lunch. This restaurant is authentic and delicious, there's always a wait and the food is good. It has been voted "Best of Atlanta" by Atlanta magazine since 1992. I tend to measure a Mexican restaurant by how good their queso is...it passed the test and their tomatillo sauce was delicious as well!

Pizza Antico.
This pizza is amazing. On the westside, it's a little place where the wood ovens are all around you and they pretty much only make pizza and calzones. We went with a big group after going to Monday Night Brewing and all split pizzas. I split a verdura pizza (pictured right) that had broccoli, mushrooms, tomato sauce and garlic...it was delicious.

YEAH! Burger. 
I had passed this Atlanta burger place many times but had never been inside. I got to build my own burger, my favorite. I ordered a grass-fed beef burger on a whole wheat bun with ketchup, mustard, lettuce, caramelized onions, jalapeños and avocado. I also highly recommend the truffle parmesan fries!

Bartaco. 
I love tacos, especially fish tacos, and good margaritas. I found both at bartaco. We all got margaritas and beers while we waited for our table, the house margarita was delicious. We had a group of eight friends, the guys shared trays and I ordered guacamole, a baja fish taco, a mahi mahi taco and a side of the black bean salad.


Craft Izakaya. 
I went for my birthday to this small plate Japanese cuisine restaurant. It is attached to Krog Street Market, a really fun market to hang out at off of the BeltLine. We started with the grilled parmesan edamame and a spicy tuna avocado ball (pictured left) that came with seaweed tempura chips, both awesome and absolutely recommended. They make a delicious spicy tuna roll as well.

Penang. 
One of my favorite traditions with my boss is exploring ethnic food on Atlanta's Buford Highway. We will pick a type of cuisine and go find a restaurant for lunch. My boss had given me the choice between Malaysian and Vietnamese, I chose Malaysian and we ended up at Penang. They have great lunch specials, definitely order some roti to start. 

Superica. 
We went to Superica for my friend's going away party before she moved to New York City. This Tex-Mex restaurant is attached to Krog Street Market and is always super busy. After waiting for a bit, we got seated, ordered margaritas, queso, salsa and chips. I could have eaten the queso and different types of salsa for my main dish, they were delicious! I ordered ceviche verde de pescado for my main dish and it was great. As part of our meal, Superica gives us black beans and rice so after my ceviche, queso, salsa, black beans and rice, I was a happy camper!

Gato. 
This is a delicious breakfast and brunch place in the cute Candler Park neighborhood. Gato in Spanish means cat and it is the perfect name as all the decorations inside are of cats. We sat at the bar, diner style, watched them cook our food which consisted of sweet potato pancakes, biscuits, huevos rancheros and more. Great restuarant and fun to explore the Candler Park neighborhood as well!

Juliannas's Coffee and Crepes. 
I was exploring with my friend one day when she said "I really want a crepe". We proceeded to Google crepes nearby and found this awesome place in the Atlanta Inman Park neighborhood. We ordered "The Almighty" crepe which consisted of nutella, strawberries and bananas. NOM. Can't wait to go back and try more.

Genki. 
I was craving sushi so my friend and I walked to the Genki in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood one night. We started with edamame and then I got a spicy tuna roll and a spicy hawaiian role. It was good, not amazing, but a solid sushi place to add to my list.

This is definitely not the end to my Atlanta restaurant exploring adventures, I'm excited to keep exploring!