Our pals Elizabeth & Julia at Southern Color have crafted the cutest Christmas decorations. Hand painted wooden signs in festive colors shouting “Peace” and “Noel”, chevron-stripe pattern signs with clever quotes, picture-frame ornaments, and event bow ties for your dog in collegiate themes.
All items are on sale at the Smyrna First United Methodist Church this Wednesday, Nov. 13, through Saturday, Nov. 16. A percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Children’s Ministry.
Photo Ornaments
The Southern Color ladies also have a fabulous etsy store featuring burlap door hangers to root for your school or to welcome a new baby! To see all their holiday items for sale, click here to check out their Facebook page. Prices range from $6 – $45. We love these signs and can’t wait to pick up ours!
While you’re at it, Like Southern Color on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
It’s the question on every Atlanta baseball fan’s mind today: why are the Atlanta Braves moving from Turner Field out to the suburbs of Cobb County? Like most things in this world, it comes down to politics and money. In a statement issued by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on Monday morning:
“We have been working very hard with the Braves for a long time, and at the end of the day, there was simply no way the team was going to stay in downtown Atlanta without city taxpayers spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make that happen.
It is my understanding that our neighbor, Cobb County, made a strong offer of of $450M in public support to the Braves and we are simply unwilling to match that with taxpayer dollars. Given the needs facing our city and the impact of Turner Field stadium on surrounding neighborhoods, that was something I, and many others were unwilling to do.”
Obviously there are tons of questions about what happened to deplete relations between The Braves franchise and it’s hometown, but the biggest question is how do Cobb County residents feel now that they’re on the hook for the new stadium? That $450 million cost tacked on to a county whose public school system has a budget deficit of $62 million in 2012. For anyone who regularly commutes on I-75 or I-285 to work ITP…good luck. In 2017, your commute is going to be hell on earth during baseball season.
Is it too late to call foul on this whole deal?
Here’s the latest update on the tolls coming down on Georgia 400. Tolls are scheduled to stop collecting on Friday, Nov. 22, “after rush hour” — which means after midnight in Atlanta…just kidding. Also, there will be a race held on part of GA 400 to celebrate the end of the tolls on Saturday, Nov. 17. What a great idea that is to close a major interstate for the road race! And won’t it be fun to pay a toll while running for 4 miles? That was meant to be sarcasm, y’all.
From the e-mail sent to Peach Pass holders:
The State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) has announced that the Georgia 400 tolls will officially end Friday, November 22, weather permitting. Toll collection is scheduled to end after rush hour to lessen the impact on the GA 400 commute.
In July 2012, Governor Deal announced that the state would pay off its bond debt and end tolls on GA 400 by December 2013. Southeastern Site Development, Inc., of Newnan, has been contracted for the construction component of the project and will be managed through the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
“The ending of GA 400′s tolls fulfills a promise made to commuters,” said SRTA Executive Director Christopher Tomlinson. “Enough tolls have been collected to pay for the original construction of the road and the new connector ramps to I-85, plus other needed projects in the GA 400 corridor. This road has had a tremendous economic impact on the city of Atlanta, the Buckhead business district, north Fulton County and other communities along the highway.”
“We thought it wise to conclude toll collections on a Friday evening so that motorists will have the entire weekend to become acclimated to the new traffic pattern,” GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden noted. “Still, we urge commuters the following Monday morning to be particularly cautious while driving through the plaza area.”
The demolition project will be completed in the fall of 2014.
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
Slow Down and Stay Alert – The Toll Plaza is now an active construction zone, with a 45 mph speed limit. For the safety of motorists and construction workers, please use caution when driving through the Toll Plaza as the GA 400 Tollway Demolition Project continues.
Keep Your Peach Pass – Your Peach Pass account stays active, and is only charged when you use it. So even though the GA 400 tolls are ending, be sure to keep your Peach Pass for use when you need to bypass traffic using the existing I-85 Express Lanes, or the planned I-75 Express Lanes south of Atlanta (coming in 2016); and I-75/575 Express Lanes in the Northwest Corridor (coming in 2018). However, if you do decide to close your account, your full balance, including any automatic replenishments, will be refunded.
GA 400 Road Race on Nov. 17 – The Georgia State Games will conduct a four-mile road race celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of the GA 400 Extension and the ending of tolls on the roadway on November 22. The race will begin at 8:30 am at Glenridge Drive running straight down GA 400 through the Toll Plaza and finishing at Phipps Plaza on Lenox Road. Runners and walkers will pay their 50-cent toll as they pass through the toll lanes, with the proceeds donated to benefit Strong4Life. Pre-registration is required. Click here more information or to register for the race.
Editor’s Note we will not be participating in the GA 400 Road Race because it’s the UGA vs. Kentucky game in Athens. For everyone else leaving Atlanta to go to Athens on the morning of Nov. 17, we suggest not taking 285 since it’ll be a mess with drivers not realizing they can’t go south on 400.
Matt Foster with a group of his students in Cedartown, Ga.
Congratulations to Matt Foster! He was elected to the Cedartown City Commission this week. We’re so proud of our fellow Georgia Bulldog and UGA at Oxford alumni for his amazing accomplishment. Foster was named to one of three available spots — along with Jordan Hubbard and Larry Odom — joining current commissioners Gary Martin and Dale Tuck.
So what does the newest Cedartown City Commissioner have in store for his fair city? Pretty Southern caught up with Georgia’s newest local politician to find out his next steps.
“The first thing on my list is to meet with current commissioners and the city manager to see where we stand financially,” Foster explained. “I’d like to see if there are things where we’re spending money but not getting a great ROI that can be cut or phased out, while also attracting more outside business to bring in more jobs and also widen the tax base…basically working with my fellow commissioners to make sure where we spend money, we’re getting the taxpayers the biggest bang for their buck.”
We’ll be sure to provide updates as Foster settles into his new role as City Commissioner of Cedartown!
We’re trying something new, y’all. A dear friend and reader has offered to share her stories of dating in Atlanta. These will be anonymous, and names have been changed to protect the integrity of these Southern singles. We hope you enjoy reading the escapades of “Lindsay Spartacus”.
Story #1: The Facebook stalking mom
I went on a few dates with this boy, we’ll call him Brett. Somewhere along the line, my name was mentioned and somehow his mother remembered. So Brett was getting ready to go out of the country on vacation in Europe for a few weeks, and that coming weekend, I had a wedding to attend. He told me his parents would coincidentally be attending as well (the Atlanta Jewish community is tight). I never had a run in with the parents, and even if I did I wouldn’t have known it. The following week, Brett returns from his Euro trip and takes his mom to lunch. I get a call afterwards from Brett that his mother was asking if the Lindsay girl had a last name similar to Sporting. He replied “you mean Spartacus” and immediately she said yes! Dumbfounded, he asked her how she knew that. Mom apparently saw some photos on Facebook of me from the wedding, said I looked like a pretty girl, and also knew a bit about my work history.
What do you think, reader? Did this mama achieve Facebook stalking status?
