Atlanta, GA - SPORTS

Atlanta Hawks V. Orlando Magic

4th of July 2008, celebration at Turner Field: Atlanta Braves V. Houston Astros

Atlanta Thrashers...

Atlanta Falcons...

Atlanta, GA - FESTIVALS

St. Patrick’s Day Festival

The St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Atlanta is the PARADE when we Celebrate Georgia’s rich Irish heritage with the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade! The parade begins at Peachtree/Ralph McGill at 12 noon and moves through Underground Atlanta (Pryor Street) where the celebration continues!

The St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Atlanta encompasses various celebrations of Irish heritage and culture. Live Irish entertainment is always performed showcased throughout the day along with an Irish Breakfast, family activities, vendors and of course, green everywhere. So you can start your day with a nice Irish Breakfast and then join the Parade on Peachtree Street.

Historically Atlanta is strongly associated with the Irish. The thriving city of
Atlanta had many well established Irish businessmen, tradesmen and farmers at a time when some cities still restricted immigration and settlement of the Irish.

At one time all five of Atlanta's City Councilmen were Irish. Atlanta's fire department attracted a large number of Irish.

The Irish have always been an integral part of Atlanta. The Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta was founded in 1858 to help the newest wave of immigrating Irish. An Irish priest, Father O'Reilly, was instrumental in saving five churches and other parts of Atlanta from General Sherman's armies during the Civil War. A huge number of the Southern defenders were Irish, as were a great percentage of the Northern troops.

Margaret Mitchell, famed author of “Gone With The Wind”, wrote about her Atlanta Irish ancestors. Her Great Aunts, the Fitzgeralds, lived in Clayton County at a place called Rural Home which became Tara in the novel. Anywhere you look, the Irish have been in Atlanta, playing an important role.

The phenomenal success of River Dance has renewed interest in all things Irish. There has been a surge in Irish Dance schools and competitions. Irish movies and Irish music groups are everywhere!

In addition to Atlanta “natives”, migration from the traditional northern Irish cities has brought thousands of Irish and their descendants to booming Atlanta.
These newer residents are accustomed to St. Patrick’s Day festivities and are faithful supporters.

* Almost 40% of Georgians claim Irish heritage.

* More than 1,000,000 Metro Atlanta residents claim Irish descent.

* Atlanta ranks as the 7th largest “Irish City” in North America.

If you want to participate in the 2010 Atlanta St. Patrick's Festival,


you must fill out an application.

Click here to fill out an on line application for the 2010 Parade:

Atlanta, GA - FESTIVALS

The Dogwood Festival

As if Atlanta were not beautiful enough(as you can see throughout this Blog), every April the Dogwoods begin to bloom... and bloom and bloom! To celebrate this and the ever-changing wonder of Springtime in this Southern town,
the city hosts the Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival. The Atlanta Dogwood Festival officially kicks off the spring season, and for many, it's the first chance to enjoy the outdoors as winter finally draws to a welcomed... close.

The first Dogwood Festival took place in 1936 under the guise of making Atlanta internationally known for its beauty during the blooming of the native dogwood trees, in abundance, thanks to the garden clubs and citizens interested in beautification of the city. Pageants, parades, a carnival, college choruses, opera and symphony performances served as ample entertainment for the event!

Despite the event's growing popularity over the years, the festival was discontinued in 1941, obviously due to World War II. The dogwoods continued to bloom, of course, and it wasn't long before the festival was once more, a springtime reality. In 1964, the Women's Chamber of Commerce initiated renewed interest in the Atlanta Dogwood Festival as part of the "Stay and See Georgia" promotion and eventually produced their first festival in 1968, which featured a formal ball on top of Stone Mountain. Since then, the Atlanta Dogwood Festival has become one of the largest civic celebrations in the Southeast!

In 1987, the WCC Board of Directors elected to incorporate the festival, allowing for broader community involvement and support. This also marked the beginning of hiring a professional staff to shift operations from a total volunteer staff and provide continuity. Every minute detail has remained in place since then, but just exactly when the dogwoods choose to bloom is often anyone's guess… a guess that is often far off the mark! Mother nature, unfortunately, has never become a member of the board!

But everyone loves a party…blooming dogwoods or not…and the great food and music bring out a wonderful mix of people…even DOGS that participate in the Disc Dog Southern Nationals are allowed…but patrons must abide by all leash-related Atlanta City Ordinances! In the past, everyone was allowed to bring their dog, but it is important to note once again, that ONLY dogs participating in the competitions are allowed. So, talented dogs only…WOOF!

Known as an "arts, music and environmental happening", this Atlanta tradition continues to please locals and visitors alike, who enjoy the opportunity to be outdoors and welcome spring in Piedmont Park. The Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival will once again be held in Piedmont Park.

The festival has something for everyone: 2 stages of music, 250 artists in the artist market, an artist demonstration station, a youth art competition & exhibition, Kid's Village, canine disc dog contest, rock climbing wall, Midtown Tour of Homes presented by ReMax of Georgia, and lots and lots of delicious food!

Bring the entire family to this one and everybody will thank you…there's definitely something for everyone! The "Artist Market" is rated one of the top art shows in the country by Sunshine Artist magazine; it features paintings, sculpture, photography, and handcrafted jewelry and accessories. The youngsters will have a blast in the Kid's Village, designed just for them…plenty of storytelling, puppets and live performances! The Disc Dog US Southern Nationals pits classes of dogs against one another in various competitions for both amateurs and professionals. (Information Source: TripMaster).

Atlanta, GA - COMMUNITY: The Looks Of Many Houses..... THE LUXURIES ONES!!!

With this set of pictures I just want to share a "little" of the beauty of many houses in Atlanta and surround area of the big Metro Atlanta. As I usually say, "some folks" up here really live in some sort of Palace, because these houses are not not just beautiful on the outside, they're also beautiful and pretty on the inside as well. Some of these houses are priced on the hank of $3 and $3,5 millions of dollars. Sure, some of them are not that expensive (specially with the economy down as it is).

I decided first to post some sample of the Atlanta Luxury Homes, but you have to understand that these are the houses for the millionaires, such as football, NBA and Baseball players that lives in Atlanta. I heard that the well known singer Elton John has his private little palace around here as well.

As I said, these are the top list kind house. However, we do have some humble and smaller houses, even right by the Downtown area. I will show it latter.

A Look On Metro Atlanta Map

The Big Metro Atlanta, GA - USA.

A Trip Through Chattahoochee River Park

In one quite and beautiful afternoon of November's Day (2008) I decided to walk by the Chattahoochee River Park, the one located by Powers Ferry Rd and Interstate North Pkwy in Marietta, GA on the north side of I-285. The result are all these wonderful pictures captured with the lenses of my Nikon D40 (not that good, but not the bad as well... lol.. Yeah, I love my camera... So what??!! lol), with the colors of a beautiful 2008 Autumn.

That was my first time walking on the trails of this paradise, and I could see hundreds of people running or walking on their daily exercise(ugly & pretty). So, on that time, I was not just clicking my camera, but also spying the place in order to make it my personal place for running and walking, 'cause you know that the "kilos" hunts us badly when the "4.0" age comes along, so we have to find ourselves a good reason to do some exercise and to get in shape. Well, what I hate the most is the fact that we the Males, don't get weight in distributed form, I mean, in the whole body. It seems that our T-shirt is a special made kind t-shirt with a "watermelon" on it, I mean just the belly pops up... It really pisses me off, because I run 6 miles every day and the ugly belly doesn't seems to move at all. What do I do? (keep on going, right? lol)

Any ways, I took these nicest photos, and I found myself a good place with a good reason to exercise every day, because I don't live so far from the Park. At least I have two faithful companion: My wife and our little Dog.

If you want to see the whole album click here, and if you copy any of these photos from my blog, remember the credits.