Friday Foto, sad again

This has been a sad couple of weeks for us island folk. We are loosing a lot of our beloved landmarks, be it fast food or beauty. We all know this is happening, and there is nothing we can do really... but, I've decided to photograph as much of these landmarks that are leaving us as I can. One day I hope to make a collection of St. Simons (and surrounding areas) photographs in the way that I remember it.

Did you ever give someone directions on or off of the island? I bet it most always included something along the lines of, "You'll see the stables on you left...". Well, they are tearing that down too. Earlier this week I, uh, went in to the stables by means of hopping a couple of fences, to take photos before they started demolition. They have the entire thing gated off now. Who knows what it is going to be. Probably some sort of pretty grassy park covering up the expansion of parking lot for Sea Island. One thing I know though, you won't be able to ride Cherokee there for your birthday anymore. It's a real shame.

Then you got your folk out there that will say that it is great for the horses... they are moving to their new facility out towards the north end, they have better stalls, yadda, yadda, yadda.... plus, it's great real estate right there, and the stables always smelled. You know what I say to that? Horse shit (couldn't resist!).

Friday Foto

This week has been a sad one in the eyes of the local island food connoisseurs like myself. Two of my favorite restaurant locals closed this week. Sweet Mammas on Ocean Blvd. and, breaking my heart, the Del Taco.

Sweet Mammas has moved their big production kitchen to the store next to their Frederica Road location, and as I am sad to see them go, it's probably a smart move. It was a great place to get something to eat or drink after dining or a day at the beach.

Del Taco is a tragedy though. 28 years it has been there serving tacos and fries. A #4 for me please, Sweet Tea. The word on the street is that the landlord wanted too much to renew the lease, in hopes that he could kick them out to put something else their. I heard from a Manager that it's going to be a Starbucks. I like coffee, don't get me wrong, but a Starbucks will just solidify the yuppie persona that is associated with many Island dwellers. Plus, I've been to plenty of Starbucks, but never one that is as big as Del Taco. What the hell will they do with all that space? Just think, I would much rather sit on that back porch over watching the traffic, sipping a Double Chai Iced Latte listening to Macy Gray instead of chomping on a couple of soft-tacos (hear the sarcasm?), wouldn't you? Oh, and we can't forget Taco Tuesdays. Three Tacos for a dollar. The most I ever ate was 27 in HS... oh the days.

It's the end of an era I guess... I'll leave you with this lovely story told by the very last customer of Del Taco:

"So i got way way way too drunk wednesday night... woke up thursday with one of the WORST hangovers of my life. finally the sun came out so i went outside and sweated out some of the toxins for about 15 minutes.... i felt better... reese called... "where the EFF are you, you were supposed to take me to del taco at noon!!" (reese is car-less)... oh, sorry, i almost threw up on myself 4 times, i'll be right over... i pick up reese, we get to del taco as they're putting signs on the door "CLOSED"..... we beg the sign putter upper for food, as we notice the billboard that reads "thanks for the 28 great years, closing at 2:30".... the clock in my car reads 2:28... she instructs us to hit the drive through.....reese shouts all kinds of expletives at me, declaring his hate for me, because i've made him miss del taco by 10 minutes!..... we hit the drive through and the dude says "we're closed"...."BUT THE LADY UP FRONT SAID YOU'D SERVE US!!!" i whine into the magic voice box...."ok, what will you have?" euphorically we ask for hamburgers and burritos, OH MY... we pull around, pay the lady the money... "is it true this is going to become a starbucks?" i ask.... "we don't know what's going to happen here... is that the rumor?" she asks back... i shrug my shoulders and thank them all for letting us be the final customers... as they give us the food and close the window they all hug.... no more food was served that day, my friends.... Risi and I were the final customers at the legendary and institutional "DEL TACO"

Friday Foto(s)

I got up this morning at 5:45 with all intentions of getting a great Friday Foto for y'all. I had a tip that the moon was hanging perfectly over the marina at 6:30 in the morning. I get out there and the moon was too high in the sky for my taste. So, I came home empty handed. You'll have to settle on party pictures from the birthday bash we held last weekend. Have a GREAT weekend.

Yo Yo Yo

Yeah, can you believe it? I'm bloggin' and it's not the Friday Foto! Let's celebrate. I wish I had time to do this more often.

Tomorrow marks the year anniversary for me at my current job. I can't believe it has been a year since I started. It's crazy how much happens in a year once you are out of college. Last year this time we were in such different places in our lives. I feel like I have come so far in so many ways, and am actually very excited to see where life will take me in another year.

OK, enough of the sappy talk. So, you all know my wife is the cheerleading coach over at the local High School. Well, guess who is shooting the cheerleader's individual and team portraits? Me. Oh yeah, I'll be doing the other HS and a middle school too. I'm pumped, that's some good exposure and money as well.

I got to get out on the water this weekend. It's been several weeks since I have made it out on the boat or even to the beach. I got big plans for Saturday and Sunday.... sun, water, sand. Kelly starts school with the kids tomorrow. She has been back for a week, but the students go tomorrow. She has freshmen and juniors this year. She is really excited. I am happy for her. She is really happy, but stressed.

So, we're going to New York City! For mine and Kelly's birthday present my parents got us a roundtrip ticket to the city. We have relatives in the area, so we already have a place to stay too. I'm really pumped. Kelly has never been to NYC, not even more north than Virginia. We are going to go during the Christmas season sometime, when the whole city is decorated really pretty.

Aight, it's 11pm... I guess I'll get to bed.

Friday Foto

Maybe I should just change the name of this blog to "Friday Foto." I feel like that is all I really have time to do any more. I enjoy so much writing on here, but I have such a hard time finding the time to sit down and do it.

Today's Foto is from a ground-breaking event I shot this week. It's for a development going up in Brunswick called Liberty Harbor. It's going to be this very up scale community of condos and homes starting in the $600k range. It really should do wonders for the rest of the homeowners in Brunswick. They had a hot-air balloon there for publicity purposes, but no one was allowed in it. I really wanted in to. If you have never seen one in person, they are huge. Way bigger than I thought.

A couple of things going on the next week to come. This Saturday we are throwing a joint birthday bash for Kelly and our friend Jennifer who both just had birthdays. Sunday I'm going to see Talladega Nights. I have been wanting to see this movie even before it was conceptualized. Any movie that makes fun of NASCAR is a must-see in my book. Plus, you got Will Ferrell.

Next week my cousin from California is coming out for a visit. You avid readers of Island Profilin' might know him as "Steve from sunny San Diego". It's always a blast when he comes in to town.

Well, that's all I got for now. I will hopefully post some pics of the birthday bash on here, but I can't guarantee they will be as good as any of the Soirees. Man, I can't wait for soiree season!