A view of the Atlanta Boat Show in 2006

I spent a lot of time on boats as a kid. Kids in Michigan do that kind of thing.

As a result, I also spent a lot of time at boat shows, debating the pleasures of floating against the pleasures of speed and ogling the boats that seemed to dwarf our house.

Reading about the 48th Atlanta Boat Show in “Atlanta Boat Show goes green, extreme” opening at the Georgia World Congress Center today, it sounds exactly the same — tons and tons of boats.

Well, and cooler gadgets. And more nods to the parents towing their children behind them.

You know what we didn’t have at the boat show when I was a kid?

Extreme anything:

Extreme Rail Jam is new this year, bringing in several championship wakeboarders, including Andrew Adkison, to perform the sport’s daring feats over a 30,000-gallon pool. 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Jan. 13-14; 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Jan. 15-16; noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Jan. 17. Andrew Adkison performs at 1 p.m. Jan. 16 and 2 p.m. Jan. …

Continue reading Atlanta Boat Show — now with wakeboarders! — opens »

Shoppers flooded Ambient + Studio in Atlanta for the Indie Craft Experience Holiday Sale Spectacular on Nov. 21, 2009. AJC/Jamie Gumbrecht

Let’s think for a second about the experience of holiday shopping — the exhausting, stressful, maddening lengths we go to land a good deal or satisfy a list of friends and family who will (surely?) love us no matter what we give them.

Some people will never bat an eye at a line out the door or a pile-up of parents atop an electronic hamster. The thrill of a good deal is enough to keep them happy. (I’m looking at you, Rana.) But I don’t think I’m alone when I say I have no patience for shopping around, even for an awesome deal, if it makes me a cranky mess who can’t get the lyrics to “Jingle Bell Rock” out of her head. This is supposed to be a fun time of year!

How do I combat this? When I’m back in Michigan, I shop with my sisters and mom, who is particularly quick with the jokes and unfailing in her devotion to the gods of the Good Deal. …

Continue reading How do you have fun while holiday shopping? »

It’s quite a year for indie book stores in Little Five Points. Charis Books and More recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, and A Cappella Books, its neighbor across Moreland, turns 20 on Dec. 1.

Frank Reiss inside A Cappella Books in 2005. AJC file photo

A Cappella will celebrate with an ongoing 20 percent-off sale on used books, and two days of author events on Dec. 5-6 at Opal Gallery.

What kind of events? Two days of superstar local authors gushing about a book and author that influenced them. It’s not the usual reading or cocktail gathering, but it is the perfect way for the store to celebrate.

“If there’s something that’s defined us, what we’ve been about for 20 years, it’s been people who just really, really love books and get unreasonably passionate about it,” owner Frank Reiss said.

The lineup is tremendously fun, with names that readers of many ages and interests will recognize: Laurel Snyder, Hollis Gillespie, Jack Wilkinson and Jessica Handler are all on the …

Continue reading A Cappella Books’ 20th anniversary hopefully won’t be last »

Pretty! Yellow Daisy Festival Shoppers checked out a tent at the 2007 festival. AJC file photo

Pretty and simple though it sounds, the Yellow Daisy Festival is a huge event. Pretty, indeed, but not simple. Some 200,000 people will come to Stone Mountain Park to see and buy the wares of more than 500 crafters from around the United States. This is the 41st year for the show, and admission is free, so it draws shoppers from far away, too.

There’s some good news to add: for the first time, festival organizers made a program that lists artists’ names and booth numbers, plus space to take notes.

Here’s what else you should know before you go! As always,  tips and ideas from experienced Yellow Daisy Festival-goers and questions from newbies are welcome in the comments section!

Prepare a shopping list: First, the arts and crafts categories — accessories, artist’s prints, artwork, clothing, clay functional (like ceramics and pottery) and clay nonfunctional (decorative pieces), dolls, …

Continue reading Know before you go: Yellow Daisy Festival, September 10-13 »

Yeah, you had this one pegged.

But just in case you weren’t sure, this week’s Access Point photo game was outside Junkman’s Daughter in Little Five Points. Tim was the first commenter to identify what it, just 15 minutes after it was posted. Nice! Check back at 4 p.m. Wednesday next week for another round.

Access Point 3: Junkman's Daughter in Little Five Points. AJC/Jamie Gumbrecht

First, a little retail lore: Junkman’s Daughter has been in Atlanta’s Little Five Points neighborhood since 1982, when Pam Majors, the daughter of a junkman, opened up a little space for bell bottoms, knick-knacks and such. Its following grew, and so did its space. In 1994, it upgraded into an old grocery store, some 10,000-some square foot space on Moreland Avenue. (It has a sibling, too: Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother, in Athens.) The exterior was decorated in a kind galactic-sky-spaceship theme.

Watson Atkinson painted the mural. AJC/Jamie Gumbrecht

Enter Watson Atkinson, a tattoo artist who came …

Continue reading Access Points 3: Mural outside Junkman’s Daughter »

A tax-free holiday line in 2003. Doesn't mean you have can't have fun. AJC file photo.

I have seen those lines, those crowds, those frantic grabbers of computers and kids shoes. Surely I’m not the only one exhausted and a little scared at the thought of shopping during Georgia’s tax-free holiday July 30 through August 2.

But if you absolutely must — Maybe you love it? The tax-free price is too enticing? You proooooommmmmmiiiisssed! a certain someone? — at least try to have some fun.

Here are some events going on around Atlanta area shopping centers during the tax-free weekend: movies to see, music to hear, good to give. Some are kid-perfect, some are better for adults who need to escape the clutches of back-to-school shoppers. (Plenty of malls have giveaways and special discounts going during the tax-free holidays, but this list generally shares fun thing to do, not fun things to buy. If you’re all about the take home and the good deals, check out Rana Cash’s Atlanta Bargain …

Continue reading Enjoy the crowds: fun tax-free shopping days events »