Work Style

Last week I was in Atlanta to speak at a work-related conference. I am always an avid tweeter (not with this blog's twitter account - my professional twitter account is @christyseason) during conferences, and I decided to mix it up and tweet out my daily outfit. Not sure anyone there really understood #ootd, but it was fun nonetheless.

I also randomly ran into Jana from Seashells and Southern Belles -- we're friends on Facebook, but have never met in person. I'm an avid follower of her blog and we have a love for nautical and Charleston in common. Well, she saw my check in at my hotel and messaged me that she was staying in the same hotel!

Before I could reply to her message, we ran into each other at the lobby bar. We had a great chat - me with about four glasses of wine - and hopefully I didn't talk her ear off. We talked about jobs and blogs and how we never seem to have time to blog anymore -- how do you ladies do it?

Anyways, it was great to finally meet her in person! She's so genuine and I hope she'll move to Charleston sometime in the future. :)

On a sad note, thoughts and prayers with victims of Bostom Marathon -- really unbelievable. Especially since we (Charleston crew) all just ran the Cooper River Bridge Run which is a huge 10k race down here in Charleston. I think it's like 40,000 people who run it.

And if you can't tell from all of these photos, I've finally made the leap to an iPhone and have joined instagram. You can follow me, username christypunch.



You will see a lot of this little guy in my instagram feed. :)

How's this for another random post that is randomly posted on a random date? Cheers!

Weekend Recap

It looks like the new trend in blogger-land is to recap your weekend activities... and so I am jumping on the bandwagon and following suit. Here goes...

Friday night was intended to be a wild ladies' night -- almost all of our guy friends were in Cancun this past weekend for my fiance's Bachelor party. So all of us ladies decided, "While the mens are away, the ladies will play!" and Friday was our designated night to do so.

We started the night off with dinner and drinks at the new Basil in Mt. Pleasant -- and unlike other Charleston area restaurants, eh hem, our expectations were met and exceeded!

{via}

Parking wasn't fun though because Basil doesn't really have their own parking lot (something they probably should have figured out maybe?) so you have to park in the limited parking along the street OR in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot about a block away - which is where I parked and it really wasn't a bad walk. Basil should work something out with Piggly Wiggly and offer valet parking - I think that would be awesome.

A few of us got there early and headed upstairs to the bar area that has a nice wrap around porch with couches, tables and flat screen tv's. This is going to be an awesome happy hour location come cooler weather. As soon as I sat down a waitress was out there to take my order and promptly brought me my glass of house Chardonnay - which was delish.

When most of us had arrived, I was sent down to let the hostesses know our party was there -- we had a reservation at 8pm, but we let them know about ten minutes prior we were there, just in case we'd have to wait. We actually expected to have to wait even with a reservation because they were packed! However, when I let the lady know we were all accounted for and ready when they were, she said, "Oh! Your table has been ready - come on down!" So I scurried back upstairs, grabbed the rest of the ladies, and we were quickly seated at a nice long table.

The food was delish! I have never had Thai, so I was pleasantly surprised. We started with bottles of wine (of course) and several apps -- we had a coconut soup that was pretty good... but it tasted like a warm pina colada to me, and I think you can only have a few spoonfuls, not a whole bowl. My description of a warm pina colada actually kept a few girls from trying it, lol. Oops.

We also had the stuffed shrimp which was SO good. It came with a sweet and sour sauce that was pretty good too.

And we ordered a few Fresh Basil Rolls -- which are wrapped in rice paper, which I noted made the rolls look like a certain male body part... but despite the appearance, lol, they were very good... but I avoided the house sauce that came with it because several girls were gulping down their water after tasting it, telling me to not go near it because it was so spicy.

I am not a spicy food connoisseur. I order mild salsa at Mexican restaurants (which, I don't even like Mexican food because most of it is spicy) because the salsa they put on your table is too spicy for me. I know... everyone says I'm crazy, but for some reason I just can't handle spicy food. So when I ordered my Pad Thai at Basil, I was pleasantly surprised that I could order it with no spice at all.

I didn't get a picture of it, but it was very, very good! I haven't had Pad Thai ever before and it tastes to me like pasta with peanut butter mixed in... lol... but it was good! And the portion size was great -- I ate half and was full with half to take home (that may or may not have gotten eaten late night later in the night).

So I definitely recommend Basil (in Mt. P!) if you get the chance to go - but a reservation is a must!

After dinner, several of the girls went home (lame!), two headed off downtown (we should have followed),  and the remaining five of us tried to rally for a girls' night out. And then there were five....

We just couldn't get motivated to go downtown and two girls actually said they'd probably go home if we went downtown... so we decided to pick a place in Mt. P to just have a beer, let our food settle and then decide on the best place to go out. For some reason we picked Hatchell's Tapas bar in Towne Center. Ugg..why did we pick there? The whole place smelled like a bathroom...for real. It was so gross. And there were three people working there: two girls on their phones texting, standing around, and one guy bartender who was awful.... I ordered a beer, handed him a $10 and watched as he held onto my money and had conversations with patrons instead of giving me my change. Finally got my change. We quickly finished our beers and were trying to get the heck out of there because the smell was so bad, so one of my friends asks the bartender to close her tab. We then proceed to watch the bartender fix other people's drinks, talk, etc. while we just sit there staring at him... he finally heard us saying, "Uh... any day now please?" and finally came over with her tab. Geez! Needless to say we won't be going back there any time soon.

One of the girls then left us to go to the Windjammer to meet up with some other folks to see a concert (she didn't get to bed until 3am, we should have followed)... And then there were four.

We. must. move. on. We tried to rally...we really tried...

The last fun night we had in Mt. P. started with a quick stop at Art's Bar for shots...so we decided to try and recreate that momentum by going to Art's on Coleman Blvd. Art's is fun and random. It's either dead or it's packed. It was pretty dead when were were there, but the live band (forget the name) was really good. We had a few beers, took that shot, sat outside and talked... and next thing we know it's almost 1am. For some reason we just couldn't get motivated to go anywhere else -- so we all agreed that while we tried to make a valiant effort, wild girls' night just wasn't in the cards for us. So we all agreed to call it a night.

Can't remember what it was - something cherry lifesaver maybe?

Fell in love with my friend's Michael Kors purse and wanted to steal it - it matches my outfit! I want it!!

We did take some fun pictures at Art's though...including our own makeshift photo booth. Turn your camera timer on, balance on top of Bud Light bottle placed on top of the bar, lean back and pose. Ha!

The rest of the weekend was pretty lazy....Saturday was quality beach time on Sullivan's Island, followed by a matinee viewing of The Help -- it was great! Totally met expectations, did the book justice, and would definitely see it again!

{via}

After the movie we went to Los Arcos for dinner where I had my mild salsa and a chicken quesadilla, the only Mexican menu item I will eat. Since my fiance and his friends were living it up in Cancun and posting pictures to Facebook, we decided to post one of our own... hey, if he's partying with Mexican girls, I can party with Mexican boys, right? Lol... these waiters were good sports.

To go box says, "She misses you Bradley". Friend posted to Facebook and tagged my fiance. :)

After dinner I was excited to head home, put on my PJ's, and snuggle up on the couch with my Willow dog. Sunday was a day of cleaning out closets, trying to get organized and cleaning -- trying to get ready for all of the company coming in town next weekend.

This week is officially the last week I will be a 20-something... ahhh!! My 30th birthday is Sunday. This coming weekend brings family and friends in town for an Alice in Wonderland themed girls' shower for me (YAY!) and then my big birthday bash at Local's in Mt. Pleasant Saturday night -- if you're a 'Local', consider yourself invited. The theme is "Saying Goodbye to the Roaring 20's" and we're all dressing up as Flappers and Gangsters. :) I can't wait!

I hope you all had wonderful weekends as well... time for me to get back to work. I will try to be better about commenting on your posts today... Cheers!

Charleston Blogger Meet Up Recap

Last night was interesting...in a good way.

I showed up to Social Wine Bar downtown (yes, I took a cab...I was that girl) all by my lonesome, not really knowing anyone except through their blogs.

I'll admit, I felt like I was a really creepy person as I gushed and exclaimed, "I love your blog" or "you look just like your blog picture" or "oh my gosh, remember when you posted that? ha ha ha... that was sooo funny!" or "How's so and so?" referring to someone written in their blog.

The best awkward moment of the night was when I walked up to Hungry Meets Healthy blogger Christina and said, "Well I guess I'm your hero now!" She looked at me like I had just spoken Russian... "I'm sorry..what?", she said. I then explained to her I was referring to her comment on my blog from yesterday's post that if I took a cab to the meet up, I would be her hero. "Oh!" she said, probably vaguely remembering... I think her look of pity was warranted, lol.

Yes, I was that person last night... Yet, all of these girls were super nice to me (tolerating me?) AND one lovely blogger even offered me a ride home (to my complete shame, but gratefulness) so I wouldn't have to cab it back also.

Saying it was nice to meet everyone is a vast understatement -- I really did enjoy it. It was definitely surreal meeting in person the bloggers I've followed for some time now, but it was very cool to discover that they are all down to earth, real people and that I have a lot in common with some of them.

I like that Kim, from Keller Kreative, and I discovered that we have several mutual friends in common and could discuss mutual friend drama as if WE had been friends for years. I also was tickled (and Bradley, my fiance will be so excited) to hear that she knew about my boyfriend's crazy annual birthday party...Punchfest. Lol. And I may have told her more than once to a) write a DIY book and b) monetize the sh*t out of her blog... well...she needs to!

Me and Kim. Me=sweating w/ shiny forehead and bleh hair.

I also asked Chastity of Look, Linger, Love when her book was being published? I would buy it! And sorry again for mentioning something to someone about something... you know what I'm talking about. {rolling eyes at myself} Sometimes I should just not try to be helpful, lol.

I'm not going to hide the fact that yes, Amanda, I loved squealing with you about True Blood and our shared love for book 4 and Eric Northman. And I'm not embarrassed that I asked you about Game of Thrones...and even after this nerdy exchange, you STILL offered me a ride home. Thank you! And you totally scored bonus points with me in the car when you basically said, "I didn't just throw this outfit on...I had to plan it! This took time." Lol...to which I said, "Me toooo!".

And I may or may not have suggested SEVERAL times to Christina to name drop her blog being the Best of Charleston so we could get better (or free?) service from Social Wine Bar.... more on THAT later.

And I may or may not have yelled at Megan, "SIT DOWN!" as she was trying to politely excuse herself from dinner to leave...just so I could get this picture. But I got to tell her in person what an amazing job she's doing on decorating her house. Hopefully I didn't scare her too much when I demanded asked her to sit down. Look how cute the picture is... that might make it better. :)

I was flattered when after I asked Mary Loyal about how newlywed life was going, she promptly replied, "It's great! But I can't wait for you to have your wedding and to experience it all!" There is something so genuine about her. Love her...and I knew I would because I love her blog.

I also got to meet and chat with other bloggers whose blogs I follow (or will start following asap)... including Ashton, Natalie (who upon meeting her I gushed, "OMG, I just started following you today!"...wow I'm sooo lame), Ashley, Caycee, Madison, Kelley and Whitney.

Noted several times throughout night by several of us that there are a lot of BLONDE bloggers in Charleston.

It was a fun night of socializing, wine, and dinner...and when the remaining 8 of us left after dinner, I may or may not have hugged each and every girl.

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WARNING: The rest of this post is about Social Wine Bar....and it's not pretty. Ye be warned!

Social Wine Bar... it was my suggestion as the 'perfect location' when Kim first brought up the idea of a meet up. I used to frequent it last year for happy hours and I loved their happy hour appetizers and wine selection -- so it just seemed the right place.

Disclaimer: Most of the other girls are way nicer than me and have decided to not even mention the Social experience in their posts...but I was already somewhat annoyed with Social for another reason, so last night's experience has fueled my fire...and if you read my blog, I'm not necessarily a keep-my-opinion-to-myself kind of girl.

Background: My sister can't attend my official Bachelorette in Vegas (the whole just had a baby thing), so we're going to do a girls' dinner and going out in Charleston one night in October. After I suggested Social to Kim for the meet up, my older sister emailed me and asked me where we should do the Charleston Bach dinner that has a private space in Charleston... so... I suggested Social.

Mistake. My sister emailed last week and was basically told that to rent the private loft area, we would have to pay $150. My sister let them know there would be almost 20 of us, drinking and eating dinner -- could they just waive the fee in return for us eating dinner, drinks, etc. The email she got back was..well... I didn't appreciate the tone...and she was basically told that if they waived the fee, our group would have to spend at least $500. Wha??? How is that even remotely close to $150...and she was also told late October is their 'busy season'. Since when is October tourist season for Charleston?

So I did what I always do when I'm mad at lackluster customer service, I tweeted about it. To which Social responded, "There must be a misunderstanding. Please call us." To which I responded, "No thanks, taking my Bach dinner to a place like JPaulz that offers spaces for free."

So Social emails my sister and says "Hey we saw some tweets about this and wanted to explain...", which they really shouldn't have, because they basically explained that they told her the pricing because they are trying to keep Social 'upscale' and didn't want a crazy Bachelorette party at their restaurant. So essentially they were trying to price her out because she said Bachelorette party...but after seeing my tweet and seeing I'm a local and not a crazy Bach party from out of town, they were trying to make amends.

So I emailed the guy back expressing my disappointment, etc. and basically left the ball in his court saying, "Let me know what Social can do for us."

I never heard back.

This was last Friday. So I decided to confront the manager when we did our blogger meet up at Social and just say (sweetly of course), "Hey, I sent you an email - never heard back... what's up?"

Flash forward to this week -- I assumed that Social would, of course, treat a group of local bloggers better than they treated my sister and myself. And when Kim told me Social was giving us their loft private space (waived the $150 fee), I was curious to see what it looked like and see if this whole Social thing was really worth the fight.

However, now I can safely say after our experience last night, no fight is necessary.

First... the 'Loft'. I'm not sure you can even call it a 'Loft'. It's about the size of a master bathroom...a modest master bathroom. With couches and tables added on the outside, we were all somewhat crowded in the space -- and there wasn't many of us. I can't even picture 20 girls eating a sit down meal up there.

And the icing on the cake...it was steaming up there! We were taking turns standing in front of the air vent. In between conversations, we would mention, "Wow, it's really hot up here!" or to my relief, "I'm sweating down my back!" to which I replied, "Oh thank God, I'm not the only one...I'm dying!". So much for curling my hair! This explains my appearance in the picture earlier in the post...drab hair and shiny forehead! I look even especially awful in the picture on Kim's post..yikes! I hope that's not how you ladies remember me!

While I appreciate Social giving us their 'upscale' 'Loft' for free (sidenote: they took Kim's card # and told her if we didn't show up, the $150 would be charged to her card..rude), I was somewhat surprised they didn't offer any special discounts or free apps for us to sample. If you're a small business in a town known for restaurants and tourism, and you have almost 20 popular bloggers meeting at your restaurant (including the Best Local Blog of Charleston - name dropping!), you think they would capitalize on that fact and wine and dine these ladies so that they all write glowing blog posts about your business, the food, the service...so when a tourist searches "best happy hour in Charleston" or some other equivalent, they find these blog posts and then come to your restaurant... but no, we were corralled in the 'Loft' and somewhat ignored.

It just amazes me how businesses still don't get the power of Social Media..but that's a post for another day.

So after about an hour or so, 8 of us decided to stay and eat dinner. We asked about a table for 8 (glancing down at an almost empty dining area) and were told the wait would be an hour (again we glance down at several empty tables). "Um...OK." So we all decide to venture somewhere else downtown with less of a wait and thus started to close out our tabs...

...and all of a sudden, while we were obviously about to take our business elsewhere, a table magically appears and they can sit us for dinner! So we all decide, "Ok, we're here, let's stay."

Dinner was good - the pizza's (which we all had) at Social are good, I'll give them that. But it took quite some time to get them...not to mention that it took forever to get a glass of wine...which is very important to me, more so than the pizza. :)

After dinner, a few people had some issues on their bills - after another long wait, it was fixed to a too little, too late apology from management. We grabbed our to-go boxes and our purses and all headed home.

I admittedly feel guilty for suggesting Social for this meet up and then the experience being less than worthy...and I feel slightly guilty for this scathing review of Social which I know the other girls are too nice to post...but because of my other experience with them, I can't keep quiet. Guess I'll be calling JPaulz after all to schedule my Bach dinner/drinks/shower....

Despite the experience of the location, it didn't damper the event and the fact that we all had a great time getting to know one another. I'm hoping we can make this a regular occurrence (someone else pick the location next time!) and continue to network, build a blogger community in the area, and be great friends (in real life, not just on the internet! Ha!). :)

And if you've made it this far in reading this post...then I crown you "Best Local Blog Reader of Charleston Blogs"... feel free to name drop that as needed, but unfortunately it probably won't get you anything! :)

Have a great weekend... I'll be trying out Basil in Mt. P tonight and then going where the night takes me... Cheers!

Charleston Bloggess Meet Up at Social tonight...

I'm excited about tonight...and I'm a little nervous too, lol.

What if I can't think of anything to say? What if nobody likes me? What if...what if...what if..

And most importantly...

What am I going to wear!?!? Ahh!

I'm hoping I can leave work a little early so I can get home and change, etc. and try to get to Social by 6pm. It's going to be cutting it close...

And is it silly that I might just take a cab so I don't have to worry about parking (and/or how many glasses of wine I consume)??

Looking forward to meeting everyone...see you there! :)

Charleston Blogger Meet Up This Week!!

So excited to finally meet all of the lovely ladies who pen the blogs I read almost daily! I hope to see everyone there! :)

Friday Fancies: Mexican Rainbow + Charleston Blogger Meet Up

Hooray... it's FINALLY Friday! Whoop whoop! Has this week crept by to anyone else? Geez....so happy it's Friday and time for Happy Hour with friends! We are going to try out the new Taco Mamacita's Mexican restaurant on Sullivan's Island that took the place of our beloved Off The Hook bar. I've heard they have a Skinny Margarita that's pretty good that my new healthy self might try....

Planning on rocking my black ruffle romper from Forever21 - I know people either love or hate rompers, and while I tried to hate them, the four year old in me caved and I love rompers now -- despite that going to the bathroom is a little trickier. :)

I plan to accessorize with color! Not my exact accessories, but since it's Friday Fancies I'm allowed to 'splurge'...the versions I'll be wearing are much more affordable - like the nude strappy heels I'll be wearing look very similar to the ones below, but are more casual and WAY cheaper. :)

Taco Mamacita Happy Hour by CharlestonGirlBlog featuring beading bracelets

Another Charleston blogger Kim, of Keller Creative (her blog and DIY projects are awesome!), contacted me about possibly doing a Charleston blogger meet up. I follow so many Charleston bloggers that of course I thought this was a most excellent idea -- I'd love to meet all of y'all in person.

Visit her blog to read her post from today about the possible meet up and options for dates - comment and let her know what works for you. We were emailing and thinking that this could become a regular event for all of us...she even made an adorable graphic.


If you're a Charleston blogger who follows other Charleston bloggers -- spread the word!

Happy Friday! Everyone have a fabulous weekend!

Weekend Recap...why not?

I'm loving reading about everyone's Memorial Day weekends... so I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

Here's my (very detailed) weekend recap:

Some of the girls out at Suede Supper Club in Mt. P

Friday night: Girls' dinner at Bambu, then out at Suede in Mt. Pleasant. I've only been to Suede twice, but I think I might already be over it. I hate that too because the space and the setup is pretty cool. I think a lot of it had to do with who was there -- lots of weird guys who had no qualms dancing creepily close to you and your friends even though the dance floor is pretty much empty...and drunk guys who gyrate dance (by themselves) all over the dancefloor, hitting one of your girlfriends, and spilling his beer all over said girlfriend's shoe. And yes, I somehow convinced his friend to buy my girlfriend a drink...even though it wasn't her drink that spilled, lol.

Janelle De Ment

Saturday: Took a two hour ballet class from Janelle De Ment, who used to dance for the Charleston Ballet Theater, but now dances with the Orlando City Ballet, at DanceFX downtown. It was an awesome class because she also teaches Yoga and had us spend the first 30 min. doing Yoga poses to warm up before starting barre. She also related yoga positions to ballet positions throughout the class - it was very interesting and a crazy workout at the same time.

Saturday night: Group of us went out bar hopping downtown - which we haven't done in a long time. Started off at the new Molly Darcy's. I really liked it there - plenty of space, plus an outside area. They had two guys with guitars singing funny Irish songs - I said, "Cool! It's like dueling pianos, but with guitars!" All of my friends stared at me and then laughed AT me... not with me. Oh well.

Next we headed to Market Street Saloon. WHHHHHHHHHYYYYY??? I'm pretty sure one of the guys in the group threw this one out and he somehow got all 10 or so of us up there in the bar without paying a cover (thank God!). For those of you not familiar with downtown Charleston bars, Market Street Saloon is a Coyote Ugly bar wannabe - i.e. girls in scantily dressed outfits dancing and singing on the bar. Bartenders are all girls - so yeah, try being a girl who needs a drink in that bar... and they tip themselves. One of my girlfriends demanded her quarter back from one of the bartenders who kept it. And they constantly pull the drunkest girls up on the bar to dance. This is a popular activity for bachelorette parties. Men - dirty, gross ones usually - sit right up against the bar and yeah... they can see up your dresses ladies. Eww.

Disclaimer: Ok, ok... I have to admit that only 3 or 4 years ago my best friend and I used to frequent this bar and we were some of those girls that would dance on the bar. However, in our defense, this was when the bar had first opened and it was filled more with locals and not as...er... WT as it is now.  And long before they started charging expensive covers and high drink prices...lame!

Some of us girls in Market St. - you can see Bachelorette behind us, lol.

Moving on... luckily we all wanted to get the hell out of there after one beer...so we made our way to a new bar on the East Bay strip called Mac's Place Pub & Grub. We actually liked this place a lot - maybe we're getting older?? It had plenty of space and the typical bar games - darts, Golden Tee, Buck Hunter, etc. We stood around and drank some beers and played some games... it's a decent 'chill' bar for sure.

Me trying to be cool in Mac's while relaxing
on one of their many black leather couches.

Next up... Brick. Whenever we go out downtown, chances are you'll find us in Brick. I'm not sure why this is the place we ALWAYS go when we go downtown... I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan -- and mostly because it's always packed and it's about the size of a hallway. I've never been a fan of bars where you're constantly being bumped or shoved as people make their way to the bathrooms in the back or back out of the bar at the front. So it's constant traffic in a bunch of packed in sardine people. Not to mention there's one bar with two bartenders - so getting a beer takes for-ev-er. It has a nice dart area in the back that's fun if you can get it...but other than that, I'm not a big fan. We had a beer or two at Brick and then headed home to rest up for Sunday...

Sunday: Last week there was a continuous debate between our entire group of friends through multiple message threads on Facebook.... Sullivan's Island or Folly Beach for Sunday's beach day. Most of us wanted to go to Sullivan's because it's such an easier drive (90% of us live in Mt. Pleasant..and I live almost on Sullivan's Island!), traffic isn't as bad, parking isn't nearly as bad, and did I mention it was closer? The Folly Beach proponents made the case that yes it's a pain in the rear to drive out to Folly, etc. BUT you can drink alcohol pretty much freely out there without concern of tickets.

We typically go to Sullivan's when we do beach days - well the drinking situation on Sullivan's...is... you can't drink any alcohol, or even have it, on Sullivan's Island beaches or you get a ticket with a hefty fine. We've actually talked to a cop before and from what we've been told, as long as you've disguised it (i.e. it's in a sealed cup that looks like something else, etc.) then the cops will leave you alone because you haven't given them cause. We also always worry about cops checking in the coolers too, but we have also heard that as long as you don't give them a reason to look, they won't - i.e. they can't just walk up to your cooler and look inside for no reason. So...we've always been fine on Sullivan's.

However, the Folly Beach proponents finally swayed us Sullivan's fans with the following arguments: a) we will have almost 20+ people in our group - meaning obvious pulling of beers out of coolers to poor in hidden cups b) it's a huge 'beach' holiday so the cops will be out in droves, and c) one of our friends just saw new signs posted all over Sullivan's Island that said, "No Alcohol. Minimum $1000 fine". This previously was $500... yikes!

So Folly Beach it was! We had to wake up early and get out there early to beat traffic and get good parking. We were making our way onto the island around 10 AM-ish I think... parking wasn't too bad, but traffic was already backing up. We sat in it for a good 30 min. Some of our friends who came out later sat in it for almost 2 hours!

The day consisted of consuming adult beverages, bocce ball games, cornhole games, bathroom trips to the ocean, and frying in the sun. Despite my numerous reapplications of suntan lotion and going up in SPF each time - I still managed to leave the beach a shade of red I like to call lobster.

Photo taken by my friend as my
fiance and I walked down her dock.

Sunday Night: My fiance and I picked up Willow from doggie daycare and took him home to sleep. Then a bunch of us Mt. P locals met at Kickin' Chicken for some dinner. Then my fiance, my best friend Jtay and I went to one of my other good friends' (and bridesmaid!) house on Isle of Palms. Her family's house is right on the Inter Coastal Waterway and they have a sweet dock setup. So we watched the sun set, drank another beer or two, chatted about bridesmaid dresses (my poor fiance) and then called it a night and headed home and went straight to bed. We had some friends who rallied and went out Sunday night... I really have no idea how they accomplished that. I really must be getting old!

Monday: After a marathon day on Sunday, Monday was much more domesticated and relaxed. My fiance and I took Willow to the dog park for about an hour - so many dogs there for him to play with, it was awesome! Then we took him home, bathed him and put him down for a nap (lol), then we headed out for lunch.

We decided to try out a new place in Mt. Pleasant that we haven't eaten at before - Papa Zuzus on Coleman Blvd. It's a small greek restaurant. We both had gyro's and they were super delish! My fiance thinks it might be his new fave place to eat in Mt. Pleasant. He loves Greek food.

Then we were super domesticated and went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and REGISTERED! Whoo hoo... it was overwhelming and fun at the same time. Thank God for the girl there that helped us out - she was a wedding registry expert on crack. And thank God for an older sister and Mom on speed dial... "Mom, do we want non stick or sterling silver? Or both...or what? or dishwasher safe...or...or.. ahhh!" "What pattern crystal do I need again?" "Thread count wha????"

We also picked out our china pattern - we weren't in agreement at first, but I was surprised to hear my fiance say "How about that one? It's festive - I like it!" as he pointed to.... a Kate Spade pattern??? Whaaat??? :) Good fiance! I had seen the pattern but didn't point it out to him because I was sure he wouldn't like it and think it was too girlie...but he liked it because it reminded him of the holidays - which is probably the only time we'll ever use our china... so Kate Spade Belle Boulevard it is! We also registered for some Spode Christmas china serving pieces so we can pull it out around the holidays to compliment the Kate Spade pattern.

Kate Spade Belle Boulevard China Pattern

Spode China Pattern

We've heard nightmares about registering with Target, so we're not going there - but we're going to do Amazon.com and Macy's instead. Has anyone registered with Amazon before? What did you think?

Then it was dinner, 48 hour Mysteries and Dateline on ID, and then bed. :)

Lol... quite the three day weekend, and I'm already counting down the days to this weekend for more beach time.

So..... how is your week going?

Save the Dates are sent!

Since 90% of people now have stainless steel fridges, we decided to forgo the typical magnet Save the Dates and instead decided to do a fun postcard.

And to make it fun, we decided to paint the Folly Beach Boat -- a boat that washed inland during Hurricane Hugo. It's on the main road that heads to Folly Beach in Charleston. Many years ago somebody randomly painted it -- and it soon became a tradition. People paint it for a number of reasons - happy birthday messages, congrats messages, save the dates, etc.

Here's a snippet from the Folly Beach website about the boat:

Everyone who comes to Folly Beach for the first time asks about "the boat". It is a very curious thing.

In September of 1989, Hurricane Hugo washed this boat ashore. It still sits today right where Hugo left it.

No one ever claimed the boat – so a year or so after Hugo, someone had the smart idea of painting a message on it. And ever since, layer upon layer of paint has been applied. Many very artistic! For birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, "I love you’s", "marry me" and just about every other message you can imagine. The Folly Beach Boat has become a landmark here on Folly and will probably be here for years to come.

In the early summer of 2005, the paint became so thick it just fell off in huge chunks. But that didn't stop them....they just kept on painting.

So on a chilly morning back in January, on my fiance's birthday to be exact, we headed out to the boat with paint brushes and cans of paint and spent the morning painting the boat... it was a lot of fun and it turned out great!

And yes...that would be a Michael Jackson song quote on the back of the postcard -- my fiance is a HUGE Michael Jackson fan...seriously, lol...and so it's appropriate, trust me.

Finally all 200+ (yes...you read that right) Save the Dates are in the mail! Whoo hoo!


Up next... how I asked my bridesmaids... stay tuned. :)

Is this a sign?

Saturday's weather:

Are you kidding me?? Urrgg..

Please pray that my future family gets safely to Charleston from Greenville on Saturday morning, and please pray that the downtown bridal boutiques will not be flooded!

I got over it...

...the Cooper River Bridge that is. I ran the annual Cooper River Bridge Run on Saturday in Charleston - it's a very popular 6.2 mile race from Mt. Pleasant, over the bridge and into downtown Charleston. There's 40,000 runners...it's crazy!

My best friend and I decided last Fall that we were going to actually run the whole thing this year. We have walked it in the past, but we wanted to finally be runners. After running the bridge about once or twice a week since we set this lofty goal, we were ready Saturday and we did it! We only walked for half of the incline up the bridge {which is about the same speed we could run it} and about a block downtown.

Our time was about 1 hour and 16 minutes -- which to any serious runner probably doesn't sound that great, but we were so proud of ourselves because we aren't runners and we ran the race! :) The winner {always a Kenyan} ran it in 28 minutes...can you even imagine?!?!

So some people dress in costumes for the run, and my best friend and I always dress up for theme parties and races...so of course we dressed up for this one. We decided to be the white swan and the black swan in honor of the movie Black Swan. I was the Black Swan -- I even superglued black feathers and rhinestones on the sides of my sunglasses. :) We got lots of compliments on our costumes while we ran and that was encouraging to keep us motivated to run.

We had on feather boas around our waist during the race,
and you can barely see my feathered cuffs on my wrists.

So..I'm a ballet dancer...trying to be a runner...and because of that, I run on my toes. And yes, it looks silly. But a few of my runner friends have said that it's actually better to run on your toes because it's less stress on your knees and joints. I even got fitted for running shoes that are made for 'toe runners'.

Well, I have high arches from ballet and I run pretty high on my toes, so I guess it's really noticeable... I didn't realize how much until Saturday...during the race like six different people pointed out while running next to me: "Look! That girl runs on her toes!"

Granted I guess that the fact I was dressed as a ballet dancer, tutu and all, probably made it more of a "Wow that girl is dressed like a ballet dancer AND she runs on her toes" for most people...lol...so I'll give them that.

However, there was this one group of girls, probably in their mid-20's, high ponytails, short shorts, etc....running behind us at one point and one of the girls really loudly said {in high pitched valley girl voice}, "Oh my god! Look at that girl's feet...that is so weird..she's running on her toes! Look at that! That is so weird!!" I turned around, running backwards mind you, and pointed to my ears and said right to this girl, "Um...honey, I don't have earphones on, I can hear everything you're saying." She just kind of looked at me stunned, then her and her posse picked up their pace and passed us and kept going. Lol...some people never cease to amaze me.

After the race we headed to Red's Ice House to reward ourselves for being healthy by drinking beer and eating delicious, greasy seafood! Yum!

So how was your weekend?? Do you look 'special' when you run? :)

Celebrating love with food...

My fiance and I celebrated our Valentine's Day a little early on Saturday night - he took me to an Italian (my fave!) dinner at a restaurant in Mt. Pleasant called Bacco... it was pretty good. We sipped on wine and stuffed ourselves with yummy pasta.

Valentine's Day by CharlestonGirlBlog

After dinner we headed downtown to Kaminsky's - a dessert cafe that offers a selection of amazing cakes, pies, cookies... even in the off season, there was still a long line out the door to get in.

I ordered a slice of the Heath Bar cake and my fiance ordered a slice of the triple chocolate cake. So yummy... and paired with caramel lattes. If you ever visit Charleston, Kaminsky's is a must do.

Happy Valentine's Day... how did you or how will you be celebrating?

Nutcracker Sweet

Tonight my fiance and I are going to see the Charleston Ballet Theatre's Nutcracker. This will be the first time I see CBT perform it. I actually take ballet classes from CBT and my teacher is a company member, so I will get to see her perform and some of my younger classmates as well.

Source: Charleston Ballet Theatre
I've seen many versions of the Nutcracker across the South, and so far my favorite is Columbia City Ballet's. I took classes there while I lived in Columbia, so of course I had to go see my classmates perform and William Starrett (CCB Artistic Director) probably would have had our heads if we hadn't gone to see the performance.

The reason I loved Columbia City Ballet's version is because my favorite scene (the snow scene) was beautifully done - from the glittery snow (not soap suds like Atlanta Ballet uses), the stage scenery, the lighting and the choreography was perfect.

Source: Columbia City Ballet
I'm excited to see CBT's version and see how it compares to all of the Nutcrackers I've seen before. The interesting thing about CBT's version is they use a company member for Clara - she happens to be very petite and young looking, so they always use her for Clara. So I'm expecting more advanced dancing from Clara in this version which I think I will like.

We're sitting front row, center left of the second level. I like to sit up higher so I can see the dancers' feet.

I usually dress up more for the Nutcracker, but I'm going more casual tonight. We're stopping by a happy hour before with my fiance's co-workers, so I didn't want to be too dressed up.

I'm going to try out a pair of brown booties instead of knee high boots to see what it looks like - but I might just stick with my tried and true knee high brown boots. We'll see. For jewelry I might try some pearls and see what that looks like.

Are you going to see the Nutcracker in your hometown this year?

Nutcracker Sweet by CharlestonGirlBlog featuring cable knit cardigans

P.S. That navy wrap cardigan is on Rue La La today for only like $30 or something.