a colorful night..

Friday night I killed two birds with one stone and visited Pints and Paints (http://www.pintsandpaints.com). Catch up with an old friend? check! Commence exploring Athens? check!
On their website, Pints and Paints describes its self as "an art bar where friends, families, teams, groups, and individuals can spend time together, enjoy drinks, and create their own mindless masterpieces.". Painting? Knowing me, I was going to get messy, but in true Gabi form, things got messy a little before schedule. I had a couple hours before it was time to go to Pints and Paints, so I decided it was the perfect time to try out a new soup recipe (my logic: beets were a main ingredient and my hands were going to get stained painting anyhow...) and use my brand new food processor (yes, i'm a kitchen nerd). I went to town prepping my ingredients and loading them into the Cuisinart, i started pulsing them all together, enjoying the fun color everything was turning and then BAM

my kitchen went from spotless to possible murder scene is .2 seconds. and this is just a small amount of the explosion; the carnage spanned from the fridge to the sink and everywhere in between. After getting over the shock and wiping beet mush from my eyes, i salvaged what i could, cleaned the beets off the walls, and finished the recipe. yes, it's delicious.
fast forward to pints and paints. I got there a few minutes before Shira and her boyfriend did so I awkwardly walked around and chose a stool and easel to park myself at for the next 3 hours. In front of me was a canvas with with the georgia theater scene sketched out on it, a few brushes, a plate full of paint, and most importantly, a smock! Shortly after Shira showed up, the painting started, and the artist in charge talked us through mixing our colors, the techniques we should use, and where and what to paint. Honestly, I was really hesitant to do this because of my extreme perfectionism, but pints and paints made it pretty fool proof.

my masterpiece
shira's version of the georgia theater

now this is called pints and paints for a reason. they sell beer, wine, and specialty drinks (Shira and her boyfriend split a blood orange mimosa, I believe?) Since I'm about two weeks from being 21, i didn't drink (why tempt fate?), but it's a fun concept! Overall, I'm hooked. This was a great way to forget the world and just be creative for a while. At $45 for a 3 hours session it was a little pricey (i think 15% of the proceeds went to help rebuild the ga theater though-yay!!), so I don't know how many times I'll be able to come back, but I will definitely go back again. With two other places with similar concepts opening in the Athens area, I predict this will be another trendy hit (much like cupcakes and self serve frozen yogurt), but I don't think I'll consider going anywhere else. I know at least one of the other places is a franchise, and I'd rather support local, independent businesses, plus Pints and Paints have lots of athens specific scenes (the ga theater, weaver d's, the arches, etc..) so not only do you come away with a unique canvas, but one that is unique to the athens area and culture. This was a great first "local experience" stay tuned for an athens bucket list :)