Monday, August 30, 2010

Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion

Are you watching this?? D-R-A-M-A! Lovin' it.

I love Andy Cohen - he so agrees that Danielle is crazy. Did you know he's the owner and creator of Bravo? My sister just told me that recently - I had no idea.




And Danielle Staub has a song? She sings a duet with rumored girlfriend (what?!) Lori Michaels who wrote the song... omg, what a train wreck!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Happy Saturday!

It's pool time...



Disclaimer: Not my legs!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Vintage Family Photos

My cousin posted some amazing old photos on Facebook of my paternal grandparents at their lake cottage in what looks like the late 60's to early 70's and even 80's. My parents (when they were in their early 20's) were in a lot of the photos too.

I love looking at old family photos before my time. I don't watch Mad Men (yet! Season 1 is waiting for me in my Netflix queue), but doesn't this photo look like it's straight out of the series - well, when they are on 'vacation' anyways? That's my grandfather on the left lounging in the chair with the awesome socks.

And the clothes! My grandmother was so beautiful - this dress may be over the top, but I love it! The colors! I would love a dress in that pattern.

And here's another - my grandmother is on the left... check out that dress. And how cute is her turquoise basket purse? And my mom is on the right in the pink. Why didn't they save their clothes so I could be wearing them now? Maybe I should save all of my clothes for my granddaughter to wear when she's my age.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Perfect date movie for me and my BF

Like most couples, my BF and I love to go to the movies. We usually take a while to figure out which movie to see - generally agreeing on the comedies. He loves scary movies - I'm terrified of them. I love the dramas, dance movies and romances - and like most men, he would fall asleep.

However... I think I may have just found the perfect date movie for us. Check out the trailer below for 'Black Swan' - featuring Natalie Portman (one of my fave actresses - love her) and Mila Kunis. Two ballerinas competing for the same role in Swan Lake (one of my fave ballets).

The twist? It's a dark horror movie as well - it looks freaky, but my BF will love it. So now I can have my pretty ballet (well..pretty at first I'm sure) and he can have his scary parts.

Movie comes out Dec. 1st.

"Come Back Song" starring Darius Rucker...co-starring Charleston

Check out this video to get a glimpse of the city I now call home...pretty cool that Darius featured Charleston (his hometown) in his video and named his latest album, "Charleston, SC 1966".

Virtual fist bump to another Charleston girl blogger Megan at Fried Green Pickles for sharing the video on her blog.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Is it Friday Yet?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

My Birthday Weekend in Photos













Friday, August 20, 2010

EAT

Italian dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Charleston, Capriccio - White wine and pasta...delicious! This Anthro dress of mine was perfect - comfortable and forgiving for my pasta filled belly.

Not sure I can duplicate the Pray and the Love sections - but I've got the Eat part covered for sure. :)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Babies are here!!







Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A Charleston Birthday

Saturday is my birthday and I'm celebrating with a boat cruise around the Charleston harbor, followed by a delicious meal at the Boat House at Beach Inlet, and ending with drinks and {attempts at} shagging to beach music at dive bar Buddy Roe's. Happy Birthday to Me!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Palm Tree & Lilly Tuesday

Bottles & Brushes last night was super fun. They have all the little easels, paints, water cups, etc. all set up at each 'station', so all you have to do is show up, throw on an apron, and pay attention.

The 'teacher' stands at the front and paints with you - instructing you on which colors to use, how to mix the colors, and where to paint what. So you paint and sip on the wine you brought.

Here is the teacher's painting - a.k.a. what it was supposed to look like:

And here is my painting, not an exact replica, but I like it nonetheless. It's very much my style and will look great in my beach-themed condo! :) What do you think? Check out my tervis tumbler Clemson wine glass on the left!

So tonight will be Christy Birthday Week celebration #2 - sushi and wine with the girls at Bambu, followed by Eat Pray Love the movie. I can't wait! I'll let you know how it is.

And I bought myself some birthday presents today...

...and I shouldn't even mention this in order not to jinx myself... because we all know I have had horrible luck with Lilly Pulitzer and sales. :(

So..... who participated in the Lilly sale this morning? What a nightmare! Evidently Lilly was not prepared for the onslaught their Web site would get with this sale - their servers were overloaded and no one could make orders or even get the sale to load at times. I was in the mess and it was maddening! A quick glance at the Lilly Pulitzer Facebook page and the wall posts will give you an idea of just how frustrating it was for everyone.

I almost gave up... but that stuffed shells dress I so badly wanted was one of the sale items. So I kept fighting the errors and the "service unavailable" and "your cart is now empty" until I somehow, miraculously managed to purchase three things I wanted -- one of them in a different pattern than I originally wanted, and the other in a size too large.

But... I got the stuffed shells dress! It's the one in the size too large, but I figure I can easily have it altered, right?

The other two dresses I managed to snag...


Now...I'm not holding my breath and I'm not even assuming that I definitely will get these items - even though I've gotten my confirmation email. There is no telling with the mess that was this sale that I for sure will get my items. Besides, I will be less crushed if I get the 'item not available' email or more joyous when the package actually shows up on my doorstep if I just pretend that I dreamed this whole sale and purchase thing.

And work today has been a typical "everyone is getting on my nerves and I can't get anything done" day... I'm just staring at the clock, willing it to be time for me to leave. I've waved the white flag of surrender to actually being productive today.

And it's still raining.

Must think positive... after all, it IS my birthday week. Sigh.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Miscellaneous Monday

It's another rainy day in Charleston and I'm trying to stay focused at work with little success. It seems like everyone in the office is on their phone, on speakerphone, etc. and I cannot focus at all - it's like a hundred different voices swarming around me. I want to stand up on my chair above all the cubes and yell "BEEEEEE QUIEEEEETTTTTT!!!".

It's Monday.

So last week I finished listening to the audiobook of The Carrie Diaries. I'm a big Sex & The City fan, so I was really excited about this prequel that follows Carrie's senior year in high school.

It was... ok.

To the book's credit, it is targeted towards a preteen/teen audience, so I think if you're in high school, you can relate to the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. The greatest conflicts in the book are whether or not to have sex with a guy, girlfriends stealing boyfriends, and getting into college. Yawn. So for someone who is way past her high school days and actually wasn't a fan of high school when I was there - I didn't like being reminded of how much high school can stink.

And I think listening to the audiobook for this one was a bad idea as well - the narrator of the book was obviously trying to sound very 'Carrie' like, which was cool at first, but then just became really annoying. Ok, we get it.. you're trying to sound like SJP.

And finally, I didn't like the way Candace Bushnell created Carrie's high school persona - it didn't feel like Carrie to me, I had a hard time connecting this Carrie Diaries character to the Carrie in the show and movies that we've all gotten to know and love. So that bothered me as well.

The biggest redeeming quality of the book, however, is the very, very, very end. The very last sentence. That's really the only part I really liked.

Now I'm listening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so far it's captured my interest - it's pretty good so far, but I have to pay attention - it's filled with a ton of characters with foreign names.

I've started using one of my new Lily journals I got in the Rue La La Lily sale to track what I eat each day. I don't eat bad, but I have crazy portion control issues - so I'm hoping by tracking what I eat, I'll be able to manage my appetite better. I've also started loosely tracking weight watchers points to see if I'm staying within the daily points level I should be maintaining.


I almost hate to write in this thing...it's so darn pretty and cute. I feel like I'm ruining it.

Speaking of food...I grabbed a turkey sub from Subway today and lo and behold SunChips has a new flavor! Monterrey Jack and Sundried Tomato. It was actually very good and contained a lot of fiber. The taste reminded me of the Pizza Chips from the 90's - anyone else eat those? :)

And just in case you want to mark your calendars...my birthday is this Saturday. And in true Leo fashion, I'm celebrating all week. Tonight my best girlfriend and I are going to a place called Bottles & Brushes in Mt. Pleasant. You bring a bottle of wine and you get to paint a picture... this is the picture we're painting tonight - perfect for my beach themed condo.

So, how is your Monday going?? Is it as (un)eventful as mine??

Rainy Sunday

It rained all day today in Charleston - a rare occurrence. And it didn't just rain, it poured. I love lazy Sundays inside with the sound of rain outside...it was perfect.

One of my neighbors, a white egret, must have needed a shower - he sat out in the downpour, just chilling on a little branch.


Also mommy duck is still keeping her post on the nest... here are a few more pictures of her and a few of her friends. P.S. I did make a sign... :)