Today marks the 20-year anniversary of the day that Chad and I first met.

We were introduced by Brian, a mutual friend. Chad had gone to architecture school with Brian in Florida, and then I sat across from Brian when I worked at Chong Partners Architecture in San Francisco. When Chad moved to San Francisco, he initially stayed with Brian and Brian’s wife, Stella, before finding an apartment, and Brian spent the next year and a half telling me, “I should introduce you to Chad. He’s single, and he’s a good cook!” Chad was invited to some happy hour events during that time, but we were never able to connect.

Fast forward to January 2006. My friend Janna, who also worked with me, pulled Brian aside and said, “We need to finally introduce Chad and Juli.” They organized a Chong happy hour on a Friday, and Brian invited Chad to attend. Before the event, Janna told me, “I think I’ve met Chad before, and I’m pretty sure he’s short and blond.” I’m tall for a woman, but I figured, what the heck, I’ll at least meet the guy.

We had around 15 or 20 Chong employees come to the happy hour. I thought only Brian and Janna knew that this was a set-up to make introductions, but it turns out that EVERYONE was in on it. We were all seated around this huge community table at a local restaurant. Chad arrived late, and when he walked in, I noticed that 1) he was not short and 2) he was not blond. I thought he was very cute! Raul was sitting next to me at the time, and he excused himself to go to the restroom and told Chad to take his seat. Honestly, I don’t think Raul even needed to go to the restroom, he just wanted Chad to sit next to me.

Of course, Chad and I hit it off right away. We had our first date a couple of weeks later, and we got engaged in October of that year with a wedding the following June.

We’re celebrating our 20 years of knowing each other with dinner at home. Honestly, Chad’s cooking is far superior to most restaurants, so I’m perfectly happy with tonight’s menu of chicken cutlets, roasted baby potatoes, and arugula salad.

Stay tuned for a post on February 4th, the anniversary of our first date.

Today is the U.S. federal holiday in observance of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. King was born January 15, 1929. He was a civil rights activist and a Baptist minister, and he was a leader of the civil rights movement until his assassination on April 4, 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, which primarily affected African Americans.

Atlanta has been a key player in the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. Following the civil war and emancipation, newly freed, former slaves flocked to Atlanta to establish themselves as free workers and business owners. Downtown Atlanta and adjacent Auburn Avenue became centers of entrepreneurial success, and Auburn Avenue became the richest black business district in the United States.

Of course, there was a lot of resistance from white people, particularly less educated and poorer white men, who viewed the success of black Americans as a barrier to their own success. This led to a series of laws designed to limit the rights of black Americans and keep them in virtual servitude, even though they were legally free.

There’s a lot of history tied up in Atlanta that is related to race. Segregation, education or lack thereof, the 1906 race riots, the manner of urban development and politics which kept black and white citizens in separate neighborhoods. I’ll make a post about that sometime, because it’s really quite fascinating.

But for today, I want to remember Martin Luther King, Jr. He was the voice of decency and an advocate for change in a divided nation. We know him for his “I have a dream” speech. We know him because he died young in 1968. But it’s so interesting to me that he is still revered in this country. He wasn’t a president. He wasn’t even a politician. But his principles of nonviolence and civic action continue to influence people today, particularly in the demonstrations during this current administration. I just learned that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and he accepted it “with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind” and saying that “what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up.” This resonates particularly strongly today.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park and Preservation District is just a 10-minute walk from my house, and I walk through this neighborhood on my way home from work which feels like a monumental privilege as an American. It is the only national park located in an urban area, and it is right in the middle of Atlanta. The district includes the house where he was born, Ebenezer Baptist Church where he and his daddy and his granddad preached, and the Center for Nonviolent Social Change Inc which was created by Coretta Scott King after her husband’s death.

I’ll make another post in the future with more details about this district. But for today, here are some photos in honor of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday and legacy as an American figure.

Chad and I got married in June 2007. Over the next few months, we started saving money for a down payment for a house, and we started to look at real estate. We were living in Emeryville, across the bay from San Francisco, and we quickly realized that most real estate was out of range for us. At the time, we were looking at paying $500,000 for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco, or we could pay the same amount for a fixer-upper in a run-down neighborhood in Oakland.

We quickly decided that it was time to move out of the Bay Area, and we tentatively decided on Atlanta. Chad had lived in Atlanta for 9 years before moving to San Francisco in 2004, but I had never been there. 

In July 2008, a year after our wedding, my Abbott family reunion was held in North Georgia and Tennessee. Chad and I took advantage of that reunion to fly to Georgia early and spend a week in Atlanta so I could get to see the city. Honestly, I had moved around enough since the age of 17 that I knew I could settle in and feel at home anywhere, but it was nice to get a preview of Atlanta before making the commitment to move. And so the decision was made.

One day that fall, Chad and I were walking to the BART train to go to work, and he said, “I’ve been thinking. Since we’re going to quit our jobs, pack up our things and move across the country, what if we take part of our down payment money and travel in Europe for a while? Is that a crazy idea?” I paused for about a nanosecond and said, “That’s an excellent idea!”

We left the Bay area in mid-March 2009, and we spent the next seven months traveling throughout Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. During that sabbatical, I kept a travel blog where I chronicled our journey, and my love of blogging was born. It was a great way to bring family and friends along on our adventures, and it became a journal and photo album that I have re-read over the years.

Since then, I have continued the travel blog for other international trips to France and Italy and, most recently, Antarctica and Buenos Aires. We’ve taken trips to other places during the last several years, but I’ve learned that it’s difficult to keep up with a blog if a trip is only one, two or three weeks, because there’s not a lot of “down” time. Some of those other trips that we’ve taken together but not posted on the blog include Jamaica, Panama (twice), Italy in 2018, and Madrid. I’ve also traveled for work without Chad to Bangalore India, Johannesburg South Africa, Sardinia Italy, and Grand Cayman, and he’s traveled to Bogota Colombia a few times without me. In hindsight, I wish I had documented all of those trips on the blog, but those experiences are on Facebook instead. Maybe some day I’ll pull together the info for those adventures and put it all on the blog.

After our sabbatical in Europe, we arrived in Atlanta in October 2009, so we’ve now been here 16 years. I’ve realized that I haven’t chronicled any domestic experiences on the blog, so 2026 will be focused on My Atlanta. I’m going to treat it as if we are visitors in our own city and make blog posts with fresh eyes. 

Some day, we will retire and move to Italy, and I want to create a journal and photo album so I can look back on our life here. I’ve also realized that, when I write a blog post, I slow down and really think about what I’m seeing and experiencing, and I take the time to process the experience in a different way. I want to do this for Atlanta.

I want to chronicle my experiences throughout the year, from the simple things like my commute to work which passes through historic neighborhoods to special events like local festivals and the World Cup. I want to document the places that are meaningful to me such as our beautiful Inman Park neighborhood, the Atlanta Beltline, and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I’m sure we’ll have many amazing meals, and there will be photos of food, of course. 

Ultimately, I am blessed in life and am extremely happy in Atlanta. It’s been a great home for 16 years, and I want to get it all on paper, so to speak. I’m very much looking forward to this project throughout the year. Stay tuned for more blog posts, and I hope you enjoy the ride.