Team America

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. I'm in pain today because of my Fourth of July - as in, too much sun and too much beverages...the kind that give you a headache the next day. :)

We spent the day playing Bocce and laying out on Sullivan's Island. Except for one random down pour at the end of the day (that made a lot of folks leave, so traffic was clear when we left..whoo hoo!), the weather was perfect.

Then we had a quick dinner at Kicken Chicken and headed to Waterfront Park under the bridge to watch the Patriot's Point fireworks.

Had to go in to work today (boo!), but I'm looking forward to the weekend and continuing with the Fourth of July festivities... which includes more beach time and a Redneck theme party... yes, my friends LOVE theme parties. :)

What did you do for the Fourth of July?

Cheers!

I'm baaaaack.... maybe.

Hello blog readers....

{crickets}

...yes, I know...is anyone still here reading this? Maybe...maybe not.

I've struggled the past year keeping this little blog updated. I have many excuses - work, life, motivation - but I won't bore you with them.

I have though.....for now....become inspired to try and regularly post again. I don't blame you if you are thinking to yourself right now, "Yeah right...you will post one or two times this week and then be gone again for six months." And hey...you could be right.

But I'm going to 'try' - try being the keyword. Why have I been inspired out of the blue to try?

Two weekends ago, I was invited to a Blate. Blate = bloggers + date.

Kate from one of my favorite blogs Nautical By Nature contacted me about a Charleston blogger brunch. She was in town helping her sister move here and wanted to meet some local bloggers. As a big fan of her blog, I said 'Yes!'.

So I was fortunate enough to meet and get to know Kate, Heather of Sweat Tea Monograms, and Kelly of Honor, Courage, Commitment. We had brunch at Acme Lowcountry Cantina on Isle of Palms.

L to R: Kelly, Me, Heather, Kate

These ladies were super sweet and so friendly, and I'm ashamed that it took someone from across the country to actually organize some of us to meet up. Charleston bloggesses, we need to make this more of a regular thing.

So these ladies inspired me to try and start up this blog again - so we will see how it goes. I didn't think that my life was really that interesting to share...but after this weekend...

Hmm...these are just from wine club...er....book club. A camera with a timer and lots of wine - an interesting (and hilarious) combination. Maybe I do have something to blog about after all...

:)

Cheers!

I'm a bad, no good blogger.

I've been gone for two months.

You see... real life just got in the way.

Here's a quick recap of said last two months....

Birthday celebrations...

Puppy lovin'

Friends!

New nephew Holden!

Clemson football - oh yeah, did you hear we won
Southern Living's best tailgating of the South??

Traveling....

...and more traveling...Viva Las Vegas!

Work travels.



And just enjoying the city that I live in as much as possible when I'm in town.
You would take a break from blogging too if you lived in
the city voted the best in the world by Conde Nast TWO years in a row! :)

 When will I post next? I don't know. Maybe soon. Maybe in two months.

Stay tuned....

Cheers!

Worldless Wednesday - St. Patty's Recap

My St. Patty's nails...photo taken 2 days after, so they're looking a little rough.

My February in Photos

Hosted Super Bowl party that included a Woofle Ball game behind
our house. Had to hold your beer in one hand and play w/ the other!

My adorable niece turned one earlier this month!



My sister did an awesome job with the owl themed party!

These cupcakes were the cutest!



LOVE this photo - this was after she demolished her cake.



Bradley and I celebrated Valentine's Day at Osteria la Bottiglia - a hole
in the wall Italian eatery off of King St. that we tried for the first time.
The atmosphere was so nice and the food was delicious. Highly recommend!

Spent a Saturday at Folly Gras - a day long celebration at Folly Beach. It included
a mini parade of over the top decorated golf carts and...well..this thing.

Lots dinners with friends - including one at the new Pawley's Front Porch
in Belle Hall shopping center off of Long Point. I used to eat/drink at the one in
Five Points in Columbia all the time when I lived there. Their burgers are so good.
I 'attempted' to be healthy this time by switching my burger to chicken - but I'm sure the
pasta salad side, fried green tomato, and boursin cheese didn't help matters. :)



And lots of weekends in town means lots of happy hours with friends
(and realizing I may be too old for all this drinking). Evidently this night black
and white stripes were the uniform.



And last but not least...lots of lazy Sundays and sleeping in.
Even our playful puppy was enjoying the lazy days.

Here's to a fun-filled March that's just as good (if not better) than February!

Weekend Outfit Planning Part 2

So...I thought my outfit plan for tonight was going to work, until I went for a run yesterday around 5:30pm and realized...um...it's not that warm out when the wind blows and there's no sun. So...not sure my outfit I wanted to wear will be warm enough.

But I still want to wear that pink scarf darnit...so...how about something comfy and basic...black sweater, black ugg-like boots (I have a knock off version), and the scarf??

Oyster Roast 2 by charlestongirlblog featuring silver jewelry

And remember this outfit I pinned on Pinterest that inspired me?

Well, I think I'm going to try something similar with grey and orange for our Super Bowl party on Sunday.

The only difference is I will probably wear a pair of grey flats that I have since I do not own (YET) these adorable grey TOMS ballet flats....which... the day after they launched I went by the store close to me that carries them to buy them...only to find out they won't get them in for weeks (what the what?). Boo. I considered buying them online - and paying overnight shipping so I could have them by Sunday. But then... I realized that they are already $75 and overnight shipping was almost $30... sigh. So no TOMS for me just yet...

Super Bowl Chic by charlestongirlblog featuring leopard print flats

What are your weekend plans? What are you doing for the Super Bowl?

What I'm Loving Tuesday

....that I took a Blast 900 class during lunch today and made it through the entire class without having to stop!! I kept my speeds up the entire time and felt so strong. I am so proud of myself! Whoo hoo! The difference? I ate a large apple about an hour before class. It's crazy that it made such a difference..just an apple.

...this Lilly dress. L.O.V.E. This dress WILL be mine..it will...someday.

...girls' night out this past Friday night downtown. Dinner at Basil. Yum. Followed by some bar hopping around King St that somehow ended at Trio (not a fan, but when already buzzzzzzzzed, it's ok).

How do strippers spin on a stripper pole AND look sexy?
I could barely hold on and every time I spinned around I would
spin right to the floor, lol. And look at the pain on my face!? :) "Arggg!"

...Willow's 'spa day' at PetCo. He came home smelling oh so clean, feeling like a new puppy and sporting an adorable Valentine's Day bandanna.

...our upcoming girls' dinner at Bambu in Mt. P this Thursday...i.e. sushi and wine! And Thursday nights at Bambu is ladies night - food specials and $3 glasses of wine ALL night... whoo hoo!

...some recent Pins on my Fashion Inspiration board on Pinterest. This first look has inspired me to pair grey and coral/orange with jeans and flats for our Super Bowl party this Sunday - cute, casual, comfortable.

Source: polyvore.com via Christy on Pinterest

I'm also excited leopard print is in...I want some leopard flats so bad. I love this leopard top paired with pink.

Source: Uploaded by user via Christy on Pinterest

And speaking of pink, I just got these pink Rockstar Jeggings from Old Navy in the mail (my go-to jeggings are from Old Navy - affordable and they work for me)... I love them. Yes, a little 80's, but I think they will be so cute in the Spring...hell...it feels like Spring, so I'm sure I could rock them now. But here's my dilemna....what do I wear them with?? Navy? Grey? White? Help!

Hope you're having a good week so far! Cheers!

Christmas party with the girls...

Last night one of my girlfriends hosted a Christmas party for all of us girls (didn't take any pictures...boo). Everyone brought food and wine and it was a great time catching up on gossip and sharing stories about my wedding. We even did a mini gift exchange.

I got a big wine glass that says "It's wine-thirty" on it and a bottle of Chardonnay...yes I stole this gift from someone who opened it because it had my name written all over it! The gift I brought to exchange was an adorable sequined clutch I found at Target and two sparkly, holiday-like nail polishes. I almost stole my own gift, but thought that might be tacky. :)

Anyways, I was assigned to bring desserts and since I now have a nice big kitchen, I got Suzie Homemaker inspired and spent most of Monday night cooking up different Christmas treats. Most I found off of Pinterest and while they all didn't end up looking like the photos from Pinterest, they tasted delicious...so I still considered them a success.

Santa Hat Brownies
What they should have looked like - I used whip cream and it melted funny by time I got to party, didn't look this good...but still tasted good! I didn't get a picture of mine.

Source: ericasweettooth.com via Christy on Pinterest

Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes
These were my favorite of the desserts I made - sooo good. I used the icing recipe from this site below, but for the cupcakes, I just used a chocolate cake mix from Pilsbury.

Source: momsshoppingengine.com via Christy on Pinterest

My version - pepermint icing topped with crushed candy canes and red sprinkles!

Santa Hat Pretzels
I didn't really follow a recipe with these, so that's probably why mine looked nothing like the Pinterest photo, lol. I just slathered melted white chocolate on the pretzel and topped with red sprinkles and half of a mini marshmallow. But these tasted Ahhmazing...everyone loved these.

Source: freefunchristmas.com via Christy on Pinterest

My version - not quite as pretty... might need to make a Pinterest "Nailed it!" photo.

Chocolate Covered Peanuts
This recipe calls for a crock pot and is super easy...I got this recipe from my sister-in-law who got it from this website. You literally put all the ingredients in your crock pot and let sit for 2 hours or so, then scoop out little clumps and place on wax paper, then stick in the fridge. Yummy!

{Recipe Via}

My version!

I also experimented with my outfit for fun - I bought this gorgeous top from Forever21 about a month ago -- this picture below doesn't do it justice. It's really sparkly along the neckline with gold and bronze sequins. I paired it with my black Old Navy jeggings (yes..jeggings..don't hate!) and an old pair of leopard heels that I have (not the ones in photo below, but close). I added brown beaded bracelets and gold earrings and carried my leopard hobo bag (not the $3000 one in the photo below..but you get the idea). It actually looked pretty good in my opinion - got lots of compliments from the girls... granted, that was probably after a few glasses of wine, but that's ok. :) I love that this outfit looks done up and expensive, but it's all low cost pieces...

Christmas Party with Friends by charlestongirlblog featuring stiletto high heels

With all the wedding preparation, we weren't really getting to enjoy the holidays as much...so I'm excited to have more free time and will be sad once Christmas is over. The husband (ahh, still feels weird to say) and I will be doing dinner and James Island Park Festival of Lights tonight. So excited!