Oh the things you can buy on the internet!!

iPod/iPhone accessory review - Belkin TuneBase FM with ClearScan

While the new iPhone has pretty decent speakers, they just don't do the job when it comes to listening to your iPizzle in the car. Hence my purchase of the Belkin TuneBase FM with ClearScan. I picked it up at Target for about $90 (but luckily had some gift cards).

Upon first impression, I really like this little device. First of all, I like that it stands up straight and doesn't have any messy cords to deal with. Nice, neat package. Secondly, it auto-scans FM frequencies to find a station that will work well. Yes, there's still a bit of static here and there -- which is to be expected, especially in larger cities -- but overall it's a nice addition to my suite of iPizzle accessories. Definitely a must have if you want to listen to your iPod/iPhone in the car.

30 is knocking

The big 3-0 is in May, so hubs and I are heading out to Wine Country and San Fran with a few friends to celebrate!  Bring on the wine and relaxation, PLEASE!

We are staying at the Fairmont Mission Inn & Spa in Sonoma:

I would love to hear winery recs, restaurant recs, or any other good info you have regarding some good times in No. Cal.   We did get a reservation at The French Laundry on my birthday, and for that I am insanely excited :)

Rosa Mexicano

Headed over to Rosa Mexicano in Atlantic Station this past Friday night. I love Mexican so I was excited to try a new place. Rosa goes for the upscale Mexican vibe. The decor is nice - nothing special. We ordered a pitcher of sangria as well as some tableside guac (a must have). I will say the size of the sangria pitcher was quite generous, which was a welcome suprise. The tableside guac is probably their most popular item and for good reason. It was fresh, had nice pieces of avocado and was made well. We asked for medium spiciness but I really didn't detect any heat at all. There were two salsas served on the side-- a green salsa that had lots of heat (yummy) as well as a red salsa that was way too smoky.

The service was attentive for the most part, except towards the end when we were trying to get our check. More on that later. For dinner, I ordered the appetizer sized rolled chicken tacos to share with my sister in law. They were pretty basic -- came with a queso fresco as well as some crema and some nice green salsa. Mason got the Chamorro, which was a pork shank that was touted as "crispy and marinated". The flavor was just ok -- there was really no "crisp" on the outside, but it was very tender. Julie, my sister in law, had the pork tacos. They came with some nice pickled onions, but overall, they were very meh.

We had to feed a meter before we went into the restaurant, so hubs set a reminder on his phone to go back out and feed it before it expired. He ran over to where our car was parked to find a meter maid just waiting to write him a ticket with one minute left on the meter. UGH. He pumped some more change into the meter, bought us another 15 minutes, and headed back to the restaurant. That's one thing to note -- change does not buy you a lot of time in Atlantic Station. We probably would have stayed longer, but with only 15 minutes left on the meter, we were ready to head out. It was difficult to find our server, but we finally got our check and headed out. With all the other choices for Mexican in Atlanta, I'd probably try a few more places before going back to Rosa Mexicano.