Tweet Atlanta Raw-Fu Meet-Up

Meet Bunny and Basil.

They're a smart, funny, lovable couple, who kindly presented us a place to stay while we were in Atlanta for another tweet-meet. We met Bunny online through Twitter as @darnlucky and she has an awesome video blog where she started a raw food journey and later created a website community where she challenged people to join her in Bunny Berry's Raw-Fu 100day raw food challenge. She has such a fun personality and I felt as though I knew her already. We liked Basil immediately. He's a down to earth and easygoing sort of guy. Basil's sister trustingly offered Basil and Bunny a place to house their online friends! Quite a leap of faith, I thought!

I picked up BlaqBerry and AlienImplant Friday morning and we drove the 10+ hour drive down to Atlanta from D.C., car packed with durian, papayas, dried mulberries from Natural Zing, and kale chips from my dehydrator. 

After a long, but fun ride(filled with half finished stories, laughs, good music, twittering with @RawTN,  and pretty scenery) we finally arrived waaay after dark at the Berry Big Mansion. They quickly settled us into our beds, which was tough to do because we were all so excited to get together again! Joanna (@RawTN from Tennessee) beat us there by a few minutes. Blaqberry and hubs got the big kid playplace with the Berry Big TV screen. RawTN and I got the kids rooms upstairs and had an adjoining bathroom. We giggled like schoolgirls as we took a few pics to send to her lonely hubs! 

In the morning, we were all hungry and started nibbling on raw yummy foods, making smoothies, veggies-n-dip platters, and fruit plates, as we all chatted and laughed in the kitchen area. 

We watched the newest Angela Sto

kes video that was made just for Bunny's Raw-Fu site.  We listened to Penni (@rubyvroom) and Paula (@sassybunny) describe their luxury hotel(the "W"). Joanna and I watched Blaqberry talk with her hands again! It was really fun hearing all the different conversations going on between the 8 of us, and sometimes it got a little noisy... except right when Blaqberry was talking about maca... then it got very quiet and all ears were tuned in on her voice! 

We shared more stories and recipes. We took lots of pictures. We discussed how black was the most sexy color to wear. We talked about how to position the camera from up above to get the most flattering picture. Before we split up for the day we gathered in the back yard for a photo shoot, continuing on with the traditional Raw-Fu poses.

While some were resting and others were hitting Atlanta's most famous shops, Basil gave up watching the game in exchange for showing several twitter chicks a good time!

Basil took us to Buford Highway Farmer's Market where we filled our carts with more raw goodies. Joanna and I sampled really weird fruits. Basil and I found some nori sheets for making some fresh sushi later. While Blaqberry helped me pick out the best durian, Basil took off with my cell phone to tell Sunshine (@sunshinerawtism) how to get to the house. 

When we got to the house Sunshine was waiting for us with some dreamy creamy fresh raw almond milk! We all raced over to R. Thomas's for a raw food meet-up and met several more people there. We had web-streaming video set up and some of us briefly sat down at the head of the table to babble on about raw food and to offer encouragement to any raw food newbies out there on Raw-Fu. Penni took videos. Some of the raw foods were amazing but a few dishes I tried were so spicy that I couldn't really taste the food. I'm a simple foods girl at heart, I guess. At the end, the restaurant was kind enough to allow us to share Blaqberry's durian with everyone. She has now become famous for her expertise in durian selection!

After dinner, the twitter tribe (the original 8) took off to do some "clubbing". (I don't know if that's the right word for it, but it sounded cool to me, anyway.) We went to the W Hotel in downtown Atlanta. First we sat at a table outside on the patio. We found a table with a lush tray of wheatgrass. It looked so good until we realized it was plastic. Then a hostess stopped by our table and explained that in order to reserve this patio spot we needed to fork over several hundred dollars! GASP!!! We all guffawed and giggled, took a few more pictures, and then left the wheatgrass behind! For a while we sat around in a dark hallway on some seats laughing and talking. Then we explored a dance club upstairs. We hung out in the lounge and "people watched" for a little while before saying good bye to Penni and Paula who had an early flight out in the morning. 

I asked the security guard to take a couple of group pictures.

The place was very sparkly-glittery-shiny-interesting, 

so, like good tourists, we took lots of pictures.

At the end of another late night and we shared the last of R. Thomas raw apple pie before getting to sleep. In the morning we all headed off in different directions. We stopped along the way for a durian feast at a truck stop, the weather was warm and sunny. The drive was fun and full of more half finished stories, raw food treats and cool music. We got back so late that I agreed to stay overnight at their house. They tucked me in with a comfy matress, cozy blankets and a cute pillow case. I slept like a baby. 

Sadly, my fun-filled weekend had to end.  Before I left though, I was gifted with a special Blaqberry smoothie made just me. With the skull and crossbones bandana, I should have been afraid to try it, but who could say no to a cute smile like this???

As I wrote this from my notes and looked at my pictures, I noticed that I could almost taste the Durian again... maybe it's time for another road trip?