I started working for CCI back in March. Since I don't work out of the main office and instead work from home, Mike has yet to meet any of my coworkers and vice-versa. On Saturday, CCI Atlanta was having it's annual summer picnic. My boss thought it was time Mike met the CCI crew, and flew us out there for the festivities. Shelby had her first ever sleepover with Nana and Big Mike, while Mike and I had a "grown-up" trip to Atlanta. We landed in Atlanta on Friday night and headed toward Kennesaw where we were staying. I thought we could find a restaurant near Lennox Square mall, so we stopped there and decided to eat at Dantanna's.
The place was super crowded and there were tons of people there to watch the Braves be slaughtered by the Tigers, so we opted to sit at the bar and avoid the wait. Shortly after sitting down. Two men sat down to my left, one wearing a Yankee's cap. I glanced over and thought to myself, "Humm, he looks a lot like Russell Simmons." So I checked him out again, and I thought, "He REALLY looks like Russell Simmons." At that point I lean over and whisper to Mike' "I think that's Russell Simmons, umm, you know, the hip hop mogul ..." Mike laughs, turns to catch a peek and agrees with me. Our suspicions were confirmed when the bartender walked up and said "Hey Russ, how's it going," and handed him his usual drink. Then the chef came out to greet him. And just about every member of the staff proceed to stop by, say hello, high five, etc.
The coolest part of our Russell Simmons sighting was that for the next hour and a half, he sat and chatted with us ... we talked baseball. We talked real estate. We chatted about Tucson. And we discussed work. When we finished our yummy meal of crab legs and the best looking steak I've ever seen, we bid our new friends farewell and the craziest thing happened ... Russell Simmons asked us for our phone number. Yep, the hip hop mogul added my cell phone number into his high-tech PDA phone thingy. He said we should meet up at the baseball game Saturday night. They (Russell and his best-friend David) were going to the game to, though they had box seats and we were in right field. But what did I say? Umm, sure!?
But then after getting our number, does he call us? Nope. Was I disappointed? A little? Was I REALLY surprised? No. But we do have a pretty cool story to tell, even without a baseball adventure to add to it.
Dantanna's with a little Russell Simmons on the side
