52 Weeks of Dresses -- Week 19

Otherwise titled: the Laurel and Shula's

It's been a busy dress week so far!

On Wednesday, I had the good fortune of touring another downtown redevelopment project, and I loved it!  Seriously people.  You all know how I feel about living within the city limits.  If this guy can pull off his vision, it might get me to do just that.  Do you understand how astounding that is?

I'm not sure you do.  But regardless, I'll carry on with the adventure.

Anyway, the project is two buildings, one on each side of Wash Ave.  The one on the north side is going to be a museum, hotel, and apartments, and everything is really coming together.  They are supposed to be opening in less than a month!  On the south side, there's going to be a luxury movie theater, restaurants, and ... wait for it ... parking!  Safe and secure parking (or so they say).  But I parked my car there, and still had all tires and windows, so that's a good sign!

Me outside what will be a restaurant.  Sorry it's fuzzy - light was bad,

and it was cold so I was having trouble standing still!

Then we got to see the most amazing apartment ever.  It's near Wash Ave. and is basically a three story loft, although the top two floors are really only half-floors.  But because of that, the ceilings on the first floor are super high, and two walls are lined with double arched windows all the way from one end to the other.  There is a long bench that runs the length of one side under the windows, and under the bench are books, books, books!  The kitchen is right in the middle, which to me seems like the best place for a kitchen, since that's where all the action is anyway.

The second floor is an office, from which you can look down onto the entire first floor below you (although this loft is actually on the top three floors of the building).  And the top floor is a sitting/guest room.  And from there, you can go out onto the rooftop deck where they have an enormous garden with tons of produce - kale, Swiss chard, carrots, strawberries, etc. - and bees to pollinate everything!  And since bees make honey, I got a commemorative jar of honey to take home with me.

We left the apartment and ventured to Shula's 347 Grill, which is a nationwide establishment, although there are only a dozen or so locations.  Between the five of us we had three bottles of wine and a variety of appetizers.  The BBQ shrimp were particularly good, although I'm realizing now that I didn't try the chocolate mousse cake for dessert, and that's a little disappointing.