Suchita_Vadlamani's Blog

Three Starbucks in a two block radius-- a pretty common sight, right?   Well, it's apparently become too much of a "good" thing.  In a sign of the times,  the company announced it will close 600 of its underperforming stores and lay off more than 12,000 employees!   While I feel for the employees who will be affected, I'm not too torn up over the news...never been a fan of $4/cup joe. Where do you get your lattes?

"Meet Dave" is the name of Eddie Murphy's new movie and here's the premise:  miniature aliens operate a spaceship that has a human form (Murphy), but encounter problems when the ship becomes smitten with a sexy  Earth woman.  Hmmmmm.....sounds sketchy.  In fact, I've been kinda disappointed with many of his recent comedies...of the Norbit, Daddy Day Care, Pluto Nash, Dr. Doolittle etc. variety.   Nothing can beat his old school humor from movies like "Trading Places", "Coming to America",  "Boomerang" and "Beverly Hills Cop"!  I've probably seen "Trading Places" close to 50 times!!  It just kills me.  Keeping my fingers crossed for "Meet Dave"...we'll see!

Are you an Eddie Murphy fan?  What's your favorite movie?

While all my girlfriends got dolled up to see sex and the city,  i  threw on jeans, a baseball hat and an old t-shirt  to check out a horror flick-- "the strangers"!  since i'd never seen a single episode of the  satc series, i have to admit, i just didn't feel the urgency to go to the movie. 

so, instead, i settled into my seat and braced myself for a few screams.  well, i ended up howling for pretty much the entire 80 minutes!  and i wasn't alone.  everyone in the theater was jumping out of their seats. we'd all scream at the top of our lungs, and then let out a few giggles....surprised at how silly we were being  :-)  my poor friend probably had a whole bunch of bruises on his arm, from my squeezing it!  when the lights finally went on, my heart was still pounding and it felt like i had run a marathon!  thanks to "the strangers" i had a few nightmares, too.  i love scary movies, but hate them at the same time.  what gives?

He found fame as the winner of American Idol 2008 and thanks to the show, he may have also found love!   David Cook and Season 2's Kimberly Caldwell are officially an item!  She co-hosts TV Guide's "Idol Tonight"..and it seems like she has a great personality!  Very funny, smart and vivacious.  Wishing them both the best!

Seriously.  All you do is sautee your veggies/meat of your choice/tofu in a pan, add the Curry Simple sauce from the packet, and you're done!  Atlanta entrepreneur, Mike Moran, took his 5 years of working at Surin restaurant, and ventured off on his own to create this SUPER YUMMY and totally authentic line of Thai cooking products.  He visited us on GDA a few days ago and made an appetizer, soup and an entree in 4 minutes.  Dinner is served!  The packaging incorporates NASA technology---and has a shelf life of 18 months---no refrigeration required!  So no matter when you decide to use it, it's unbelievably fresh and flavorful.  Restaurant quality!  Incidentally, my favorites are the Red Curry and Green Curry.        :-)
Check out currysimple.com 
or go to Whole Foods or Cook's Warehouse to find the sauces.  Mike is also a regular at the Piedmont Park's Green Market on Saturdays.    Enjoy....

For days, everyone in the building had been buzzing about supermodel Cindy Crawford coming on GDA.  The "Face of the 90's"..."Girl next door of your dreams"..and one of the most enduring beauty icons EVER.  Beyond her striking good looks, she was also INCREDIBLY down to Earth, sweet and personable...not to mention intelligent!  It's always nice when a celebrity exceeds your expectations  :-)

 

 

 

I've been pretty good about exercising regularly, but I must admit, I'm getting a little bored.  So, on the advice of a friend, I've decided to check out boxing classes!  WHOA.  Talk about an INTENSE work out!!  Within just a couple of minutes, I was completely out of breath and drenched in sweat.  I could barely make it through the hour!!  And boy, was I achey breaky the next morning.  I'll be sharing my experience in a segment coming up on Good Day in a few weeks.  Stay tuned.

Head over to the  Dogwood Festival this weekend at Lenox Square Mall and stop by the Girl Scouts Booth!  Due to the recent tornado, the group was left with THOUSANDS of extra boxes of cookies.  They were scheduled to participate in the Home Show at the Georgia World Congress Center, but because of the storm's extensive damage, the Home Show was cancelled.  They've still got 13,000 boxes to sell, and they're hoping you can help them  :-)  If you can't make it to the Dogwood Festival, drop by the Volunteer Service Center on Northwest Expressway before the end of April.

There's a big restaurant boom happening in downtown Atlanta.  A bunch of new spots are either already here or coming soon, so be on the lookout!

Spice Market ( NYC)

Maxim Prime

Craft   (NYC)  From Chef Tom Colicchio---you can see him on Bravo's Top Chef

BLT Steak ( NYC)

Legal Seafoods (Boston)

Il Mulino ( NYC)

Tokyo 2020

These are just a few of them....another sign of the growth and downtown development...

Well, it's about a third of the way into 08, so I thought I'd take stock of how I'm doing with my New Year's resolutions....
Keeping in touch
I've taken some big steps to reconnect and stay in touch with extended family and friends in far away places.  It's been so much fun catching up and reminiscing!
Decluttering
I'm a self-admitted pack-rat, so getting organized is always a challenge for me...but I'm definitely trying!   Just today, I put together a big bag of clothes/shoes/books to be dropped off at a donation center.
Becoming more Veggie and more "Green"
I've scaled back on the meat-eating quite a bit .  Feeling pretty good about that   :-)  Participated in "Earth hour" this weekend, so that was cool and I'm keeping an eye on my water consumption and increasing my recyling.  Yeah!
Finances
Nope.  No progress...REALLY need to work on this one.
Sleep
Still MAJORLY and PERPETUALLY sleep-deprived.  UGH.
Fitness
Procrastinating on the Pilates, but I'm going to do a boxing special coming up in May.  I've heard that's a really good and really tough work out!
Computer Skills
Technology continues to baffle me.
Ovbiously, I've got some work to do the rest of  the year!!

American Idol season 5 finalist, Ace Young, stopped by this morning to hang out with the GDA gang!  Keep an eye out for his new album--out in June---and his guest appearance on Bones in May. Yeah, he's talented and handsome,  but it was his big ol' heart that struck me as his most admirable quality  :-)   He loves working with kids---Idol Boot camp---and was recently named a celebrity ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  A real down-to -Earth, sweet, sincere guy!

Fox and NBC Universal have teamed up to create hulu.com....it's a website offering a HUGE selection of  your favorite tv shows, movies and video clips!  You can watch last week's funny skit from SNL or revisit cool epsiodes from "Welcome Bak Kotter"...they've got everything from what's current to all the old school stuff!

 

hulu.com

check it out!!

Guess I must officially be a true Southerner because I can't STAND the cold! Just thinking back on all those brutal winters filled with blizzards and subzero temperatures in the midwest makes me shiver! BRRRRRRRR. I guess over the years, I've gradually lost whatever little tolerance I had for that kind of weather. So, when I woke up this morning and saw it was in the 20's, well, I just knew I couldn't leave the house without the proper "protection". I pulled out the old thermal underwear and I've got to tell you, I am one toasty, happy camper :-)

Valentine's Day is one of those unique holidays that elicits different emotions from different people...it brings out the die-hard romantics AND the die hard cynics...  Which camp do you fall in?  Or are you somewhere in between?
Do you think Valentine's Day is a commercially-concocted contrived excuse to spend money on overpriced flowers, frivolous heart-shaped boxes of candy, teddy bears, and expensive dinners?  Do you feel like you're being forced to go through these rituals to prove you care about someone?  You've heard of the "Anti-Valentine's Day" parties?  The annual Bitter Ball thrown by a local radio station...and sold out every year....
Or...are you one of those people who looks forward to this day for love and romance all year long. Is it a time to go the extra mile to show that someone special just how much you care? Are you happy to embrace the full range of romantic gestures...from the cards to the sentimental gifts, etc?.  Does the lovely mood of the day just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
OR...are you kinda in the middle....you begrudgingly get on board simply to make your significant other happy...while secretly thinking the whole holiday is not all it's cracked up to be?
Curious to see what people really think....

I really love sharing my "finds" with folks through my blog... and I recently discovered "Simply Smart" milk at the grocery store  ( I happened to be at Publix...but I'm sure you can find this product at other stores as well).  What  makes this milk so special is that it's SKIM, but tastes like 2%!  And it's loaded with extra nutrients and protein!  So, I came in from the bitter cold this afternoon and made a steaming cup of choclately hot cocoa using my new milk.  It was so rich and creamy...boy, did it hit the spot!  BRRRRRRRRRR.