Willow on Canvas

My latest Bottles & Brushes artwork - not my best work, but it was a hard one to do...

Bottles N' Brushes

I'm obsessed with Bottles N' Brushes - a fun place in Mt. Pleasant (they have a location in Summerville too) where they provide all of the painting supplies and walk you step by step through a painting. All you need to bring is your own wine and snacks. This is such a fun 'break' to do during the week...

I really enjoy it.. tonight we painted crabs! We started with a canvas covered in newspaper clippings then painted the crabs on top.

Here, there and everywhere...

So I promised an update on my whereabouts the past two weeks - it was marathon traveling and vacation. My fiance and I put quite the number of miles on his truck in the process...here's where we've been...

Birmingham, AL (7 hour drive from Charleston) - my hometown to my parents' house, house I grew up in, for Thanksgiving. Joining us was my family and my aunt and uncle and my cousins. I was so excited that Bradley, my fiance, went home with me for Thanksgiving this year. He was a little bummed to be missing his mom's Thanksgiving for the first time, so we tried to make it as special for him as possible. My mom even asked him to carve mini-pumpkins for her table centerpieces...which he and my Dad preceded to do...with power tools. Men.

All the cousins - my sister is due in February! Her pregnancy is going by so fast!

Mom's holiday china, crystal and silver

Clemson, SC (4.5 hr drive from Birmingham) - every other year I leave home from Thanksgiving early (much to my mom's chagrin) to trek up to Clemson for the big rival game, Clemson vs. Univ. of South Carolina. That's me and my best friend, Jtay (her nickname).

In hindsight, I think we should have stayed in Birmingham - but I say that only because it was REALLY cold and because the game was so pitiful, i.e. Clemson played awful and USC whooped up on us. If we had not gone, it probably would have been the reverse. Oh well...we did have fun tailgating all day and hanging out with friends.

Disney World, FL (9 hr drive from Clemson) - Bright and early Sunday morning, Bradley and I woke up and hopped in the truck again for the longest trek of our journey so far down to Disney World. We met his entire family there and spent the next four days immersed in all things Disney. I hadn't been since college and Bradley hadn't been since he was 6 yrs. old - so it was fun seeing how much Disney has changed. It's amazing how easy it is to get wrapped up in the Disney spirit.

Bradley and I doing the Walt Disney and Mickey pose, mimicking the statue behind us

It was wonderful. The weather was perfect (low 80's beginning of week, high 60's end of week, sunny) and we squeezed in about everything imaginable that we wanted to do. Bradley's older sister is like a Disney pro and had our trip all planned out - we had meal plans already set up, meal reservations, etc.

We visited Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Studios (formerly MGM) and Animal Kingdom.

Our favorite part of the entire trip was the night we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. They close down the Magic Kingdom and only let in people who have tickets to this Christmas celebration. The entire park is decorated already with all things Christmas - but they go a step further with this celebration. It included access to all of the rides, but they had a Christmas parade, the most amazing fireworks show I've ever seen and they handed out unlimited free hot chocolate and sugar cookies the entire night (7pm to midnight). Plus...they made it snow on the main street!

Random things Bradley and I observed from our Disney trip:
1) Everyone moves in Disney at what we've coined "The Disney Pace". Even though we ate pretty unhealthy the entire time we were there, I'm pretty sure we maintained our weight or even lost weight. Everyone is speed walking everywhere...and you walk from the time you wake up (7am!) to the time you collapse exhausted onto your hotel bed (midnight-ish).

2)Disney is amazing at how they make everything seem like magic - from processes to 'herding' the crowds to setting up and dismantling parades in seconds - they are truly amazing at what they do. It's brilliant. So many companies could learn a lot about process improvement from Disney. We heard they offer 'behind the scenes' tours of the underground workings of Disney...but we both agreed that we would never want to do that. Why spoil the magic for yourself?

3) If you can go to Disney World with a five year old...do it. Five years old is the dream age for a child to go to Disney World. One of Bradley's nieces is five and it was so fun watching her at the parks - every character was real to her and her face was always lighting up. It was just as fun experiencing it through her eyes as it was to be there ourselves.

4) You become low maintenance - when you're waking up at 6:15 am to make your Princess Breakfast in the castle reservation, and not getting back to your hotel until midnight that night... you learn to not worry so much about your appearance... which if you know me, can be a challenge. I showered at night, woke up in the mornings and usually wore my hair all pulled up, little makeup, and always...always... sneakers, no matter what the outfit. I actually had cute outfits planned for each day...but you soon realize that it's t-shirts, jeans or shorts, and sneakers - comfort is key.

5) Do NOT mess with parents and their strollers. Goodness gracious I almost died several times dodging parents wielding these speedy weapons in front of them. And I don't remember stroller parking lots from the last time I went to Disney...but man oh man are they everywhere in the parks now. Guess when I go back and have kids I'll be more empathetic to the stroller thing.

6) There are a LOT of people riding motorized scooters in Disney parks who should definitely NOT be riding scooters. I don't know what you have to prove to get a scooter, but I was really taken aback by the amount of people riding motorized scooters through the parks (and in the stores, and in the ride lines, etc.). Now I'm not heartless...if they have an ailment or are elderly, I get it... but we saw several folks that looked our age, healthy (well, smoking cigarettes, but..healthy enough) and average weight riding around on a scooter. Really? Are people just that lazy? They'd have their three year old sitting on the front with them, riding along. Well that's teaching them healthy lessons at an early age. :-/ In our hotel parking lot, we actually watched one lady (cigarette dangling from mouth) ride her scooter to her car, back it up to the trunk, get off the scooter, lift it, put it in the trunk, then walk around to the driver side and get in the car to drive. Maybe I'm cynical...but seriously? That was probably my only complaint the whole trip about Disney - I hope it becomes an issue where Disney will put a wrangle on scooters.

7) Why did we not intern, co-op, or just work over a summer at Disney World when we were in college? Bradley's older sister was a dancer growing up as well, and we were both talking about how awesome it would have been to spend a semester working at Disney as a dancer, performer, character, etc. I have close friends who did the Disney semesters while we were in school and they still rave about it today. Opportunity lost - I'm pretty sure they don't hire nearly 30 yr. olds. If you're in school now and you love Disney... do it!

8) Fanny packs...while hilarious and very 80's in theory, these were indispensable during our entire trip! Bradley's mom bought all of us one and I really didn't think I would use it - but I did. It was a life saver. People may laugh and point and your friends may post "Is that a fanny pack I see?" on your pictures after you post them to Facebook...but I don't care, it was crucial! :)

9) Visit Disney in the off-season. We hardly ever waited for rides, transportation, etc., which allowed us to squeeze in more fun stuff. I could not ever imagine being there when it's packed and hot...no way will I ever go other than off season months! And we loved that the parks were covered in Christmas decorations.

10) Your hotel doesn't matter - not exactly anyways. We stayed at Disney's All Start Movies resort. It was way cheaper than the large resorts that are actually 'in' Disney World... way cheaper. It was still a Disney themed resort and we had Disney 'towel' characters each day from our cleaning ladies like you get on cruises. But the room wasn't much to write home about - two small double beds, a 1990's style 20 inch TV with limited channels, and a small bathroom. But the only time we were ever in our hotel was the six or so hours we were there to sleep. That was it. So we both agreed that next time unless we're miraculously wealthier, we'll keep the same hotel or something similar - hotel isn't an important factor of your Disney experience.

11) Return from a long Disney vacation on a weekend...with days left. We drove back to Charleston on a Friday (6.5 hour drive). I can't even explain what a relief it was to have Saturday and Sunday to unpack, do laundry, and just relax!

We're going back for our one year wedding anniversary. We already decided. :)

So I did spend most of Saturday and Sunday doing nothing but a staycation from our vacation...but we did plan one thing that we knew we would probably be tired for, but we didn't want to miss... Charleston's Reindeer Run 5k!

Jtay and I dressed up as Christmas trees. Before I left for my marathon vacation, we went to the dollar store and purchased all of this random stuff and created for ourselves some pretty creative and fun costumes. The lights on our costume blinked! And yes, we ran the entire race in these...lol. We even won the group costume contest...coming in second place! :) I saw our photo on the local paper's website, and we've had several people tell us we were on the local news... ha ha.

Bradley was Santa's gift to women...and he got a few laughs as well. And yes...sadly..his costume was my idea for him, lol. He wasn't even planning on dressing up. His gift tag says "To: Women, From: Santa".

So phew...are you tired of reading yet? That's about it in a nutshell... even though this post is so long it doesn't seem anything like a nutshell. Hopefully I'll be better about keeping the blog updated in the upcoming weeks since I won't be riding in a car or running around theme parks. :)

Note: These photos are not high res - so ignore the 'made for web' quality. :)

P.S. Please come back tomorrow and visit my blog - I'm hosting my very first giveaway and the prize is pretty awesome, so you don't want to miss out! Yay!

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.

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??