Right now, I’ve got a Strongbow and my MacBook Pro. Sunday is turning out just fine.

The Atlanta Craft Mafia show is going strong in Oakhurst (or was when I left), and the food there for visitors is nigh-fantastic. As of this writing, you’ve got about three hours to go and browse. Lots of great stuff (not just the hand-made books by Re: Paper, though they’re totally rad, remember) so get thee to the Craft Mafia show and ogle.

I’m turning my Sunday into a real day (instead of the zombie-like half-day it normally becomes when I zone out around the house) by visiting some of my favorite Atlanta spots for the day. Here are today’s, in chronological order.

This morning I discovered Oakhurst, which I had no idea existed and qualifies as a New ThingTM for me — the first of my favorite things about Atlanta. It seems like a great little neighborhood to have around if you live in one of the cute houses in the area, but until somebody tells me that Steinbeck’s or the cantina over there are Tres Awesome, I may not remember to make the trip back out there. (So speak up, you.)

(Side note to Decatur: The plural of “employee” is “employees” not “employee’s,” as your employees-only parking area seems to say.)

Since finding Oakhurst, I’ve visited Criminal Records, which is still large and in effect, and spent there far more money than I should’ve, but that’s unavoidable when I go a month or more without picking up my comics. I wish I’d had this stuff to read at the airport last week when I flew to and from Columbus (by way of Philly and Charlotte). Anyway, Criminal Records is the second of my favorite things about Atlanta today.

Now I’m sitting in Hand in Hand, enjoying the free WiFi, and listening to folks go nuts over football (foreign or domestic, I’m not sure) while I drink a Strongbow from the tap, thank you very much. (The folks are cheering so often that I figure it must be American football, since things don’t happen very often in soccer. Still, I’ll pretend that it’s Rest of the World football, ’cause that and the decor help me pretend I’m in the UK, even though today I’m appreciating Atlanta. Late Note: Yeah, it looks like a World Cup game. Woot!) Hand in Hand is the third of my favorite places in Atlanta today. (Late Note the Second: The rocket salad and blue cheese chips at Hand in Hand are not what I think of when I think either “small plate” or “salad;” instead, they are huge. I must look like an idiot sat here with all this food in front of me, alone at this table. Fortunately, I know what to do to make myself feel better: Eat.)

On the way over here, I’ve had a remarkable number of lovely driving encounters with thoughtful, alert and polite drivers. Lots of hand-waving and friendly nods going on through open windows. It’s the little things, you know? Anyway, kudos to everybody who’s been nice on the road, on a Sunday no less. Y’all are my fourth favorite thing about Atlanta today. (Let’s hope I haven’t jinxed it and end up driving out into a bunch of fuckwits, now.)

Tonight, after we pack up the Craft Mafia schtuff, we’re thinking about maybe hitting the Brick Store in Decatur for humungous pretzels and Scapa whiskey. This, of course, assuming there is even one damn place to put the car in all of Decatur. (My experience suggests “no.”)

Anyway, if you read all of that, I hope you at least did it sitting somewhere nice and Atlantesque, rather than just pawing at your Powerbook while sitting on your tuckus at home.