Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Dog Days

K and I have been talking about getting a puppy at the beginning of next year.  Alfie will be the best big brother ever!















We've been debating over breeds!  I don't want another small dog.  Alfie is a low rider, you see.  He's short and thick (I like to think it's all muscle)... He's 30 lbs!   I don't want a lap dog but I'm aware that the size of our home is not sufficient for a large animal.
K talks about a shih tzu:














Cute, but not my style.

My dream dog is a wheaton terrior:














Holy moly, how cool is he!

But I think we're in agreement in our love for our state dog, the boykin:












We know a breeder and hopefully there will be a litter sometime within the next 6 months...
I can't wait to have another little chunk running around the house!

Does anyone have any advice on breeds?

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

It's okay...

You know the column in Glamour, "It's okay if.."  Well, here is my version!

It's okay to:
  • go to the grocery store 3 times in one day.
  • buy balloons just to suck the helium out.
  • wish they made the baby girl dress in your size.
  • listen to your favorite Christmas album in August. (Hanson Snowed In!)
  • think if Brad Pitt met you he'd definitely leave Angelina.
  • switch to Corona Lite for a "healthy night".
  • be somewhat disturbed by Suri Cruise.
Well, That's all I've got for right now!
Please tell me what's on your list!!

They grow up so fast these days!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Weekend Weight Gain

This weekend I made:









Chex Puppy Chow
Crock Pot Mac-n-Cheese
(for a cookout) and ate WAY too much of it!!!


We also had dinner over at James Island's finest hidden gem, Mondo's Delite!











I worked as a hostess at Mondo's one summer, and gained about 10 lbs.  But it wasn't my fault!  They make fresh foccacia daily.  I highly reccomend this place, if you can find it.. ;)

Also went to see The Help at my favorite theatre:












K wouldn't go see it with me, so I took my girl Chels.
All in all, weekend success.

What did YOU do??

Friday, August 26, 2011

Dark and Stormy

With all of the buzz on Irene I can't help but think about Katrina, and how New Orleans is still rebuilding after such devastation.  It has me really feeling blessed and lucky, and thinking of how important it is that we give back to those less fortunate, ESPECIALLY in our own community!
It just so happens that it's philanthropy week here in the Lowcountry, which I find funny...  Every week is philanthropy week, in my eyes.  However I think that it's awesome to see such wonderful charities getting a little recognition for their hard work.  Click on the banner above and vote for the cause you'd like to see win the awarded money.  My choice:  Lowcountry Orphan Relief.
This is effortless and important!  Who gets your vote?
Stay safe y'all.


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Feelin' Good!

Today I feel good!
It's my Friday and I'm excited about tomorrow.
We are planning to sleep in, get a good lunch, and then head down to Folly to check out the waves!
My dad and brother are both big surfers and Hurricane season has always meant a chance of swell. 

Yes, I love the boat.  But I'm a beach girl to the core!

Also, just got this in the mail and looks pretty fun!


















K and I have already been to Westbrook for a tour/tasting and it was pretty cool... Wasn't too eager to go back but for free, I think I just might!

Any Cougars out there interested?

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Humpty Dumpty

Well, I fell down the stairs at work yesterday and twisted both ankles. So I'm stuck on the couch with my feet elevated and just thinking about how clumsy I am.  I'm hoping to be back up tomorrow!
Before I felt the effects of my tumble yesterday, I went down to the library for my investment club meeting.  I arrived a bit early and so I went upstairs to look around the non-fiction section.  Have I mentioned before my love of the library??  In highschool it was probably my number 1 hang out.  They have these little raffles at the Young Adult desk and I swear I won them once a month.
Anyway, I picked up this:

















It's a pretty fun read, mainly for the pictures, and an AWESOME sangria recipe.  White wine and grand marnier? I'll take two.
There is also a section on Halloween.  I plan my Halloween costumes way in advance.  My company has a HUGE Halloween party and this year I will be:
















I will make the costume myself of course (I never buy the party store costumes!)

Also, K and I are going to go out as a couple as.....
Dave and Cody!
If anyone knows who I'm talking about please tell me!?? I'm trying to get an idea if people will understand our costume!

So, Do you like going to the library?
& Am I the only one who plans Halloween costumes so soon?


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Tailgating Part 1

I went to College of Charleston, which I don't regret for one moment, however there were not many (a.k.a any) tailgating opportunities. This is probably the one complaint I have about the College but at the same time, I loved that it was not a school centered around football. I loved that CofC wasn't a ghost-town on non-gameday weekends. And that I didn't have to hear team chanting in every bar/restaurant that I went to (I like to hear myself think!). I love that it's the oldest college in the state!

That being said, I'm a southern lady and I like to entertain, in a major way! What's more fun than a party at my house? A party at my car of course!

(Fun story: All through college, on Halloween, my friend Anna and I would dec my car out in Halloween stuff. I'm talking spiderwebs, streamers, witches, ghosts, you name it. Anyway we made my SUV the "Haunted Car" and we would ride through campus at the mid-day class change blasting "The Monster Mash". I like to be silly, can you tell?)



Anyway, back to my point. Let's tailgate!

I love going to football games (or baseball) and tailgating before we go to the game!

Here are my tailgate essentials:



We're still ironing out the dates we'll head to Columbia, So I'll save more details (and my menu) for Part 2!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Here we go!


Last night we cooked some chicken on the grill and K made my favorite marinade:


+
That's buffayaki y'all.

My friend Brittany and I fell in love with Buffayaki at Gene's. (Has anyone heard that Wocka Flocka song? Well, we changed it to say Buffayaka Flocka. It's amazing how many laughs we still get out of singing our little buffayaki song. Wow, Am I really rambling about this right now?)

Before the meal we had sesame crackers with Tomato basil cheddar.

I bought a bottle of my favorite wine:


I really am more of a beer girl, but I love this! New Zealand wine country is one of my top dream vacations, I would definitely make a stop by this vineyard.

This is sort of an awkward post.

No, no, I'll show you awkward:


Dang! You'd think she'd just say "I don't want to do any meet and greets" and spare these poor people!


Anyway, Here we go!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Collage Work, Episode 1

I would consider myself a creative girl, I'd actually consider it to be one of my biggest strengths. One of my favorite creative mediums is collage. It's a therapeutic, simple way to release my feelings and thoughts, and then I'm left with something to hang on my wall! I have probably 5 or 6 collages around my house and office, and I love the artistic flair it brings to my decor scheme.
I created this one below with K as my inspiration.

It's poster-sized. I seal it with modge podge and done!
Happy Friday!!!!! !! !

What are your means of creative expression?

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

No one gets left on the bench!

I know that I mentioned before that I run the annual United Way Campaign at my company, and I know I mentioned it's my favorite part of my job!

This year I've decided to run the campaign with a football theme and it's been a lot of fun. Check out the bulletin board I created:




Oh, and you know I'll be making these chocolate covered strawberries come September 3rd!



Thursday thank goodness!

Pet Peeves

    Some things irk me! I don't write these comments with an angry tone, more humor and confusion.



  • I can't stand the plastic paper protectors, you know the ones meant to "protect" your documents. I feel like it's a true testament to how wasteful we are, and narcisistic to boot!


  • Also, I can't stand the sun protector shields people put up in their cars to "keep them cool". Park in the shade yo! This is just silly!


  • I don't like restaraunts where the food is named ridiculous, embarrassing names. Ooey Gooey Chicken Fooey? Can I just have the chicken sandwhich please? kthanks


  • I do not like the Kia radio commercials in Charleston. Are you SURE there's no factory connection Rob????


That's all I can think of right now.



What gets under your skin?



Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Bag Lady

I've never been very touchy regarding people looking through my purse, I've got nothing to hide! Strangers, no. But family and friends, dig on in! My bag is your bag. I feel like Whitney Houston.


You've seen this purse!

Advil. Shades. Manicure kit. Business Card holder. Keys. Notebook. MAC gloss. Wallet.

Kind of boring, actually. Like I said, I've got nothing to hide. And I am NOT a fan of a junky purse. I shudder seeing people rifle through receipts and crumbs from months back. What's this all about?


Monday, August 15, 2011

Out with the new, In with the old!

When my dad was young he and his family would go searching for old bottles around Charleston. Before there was an organized waste system, people would throw out bottles in the crawl space under their houses. My dada would ask if he and the kids could look around.

What's resulted is an abundance of old bottles in my family. Thousands of them, probably worth thousands each!


You'll find shelves of these at any home in my family.
They are priceless to us.

Happy Monday.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Independent Living

Dryer is broken.
Check engine light is on.
Outlet in bathroom- dead.
Ah, the joys of independence.

But it's my Friiiiiday so it's all good!
In other news, we will be heading to the bowling alley Saturday night for some good, clean fun!
I had my 23rd Birthday Party at the bowling alley and they wouldn't turn on the cosmic lights for me. Lame. But I'm looking forward to showing off my (lack of) skills.

Fun Family Fact:
My Uncle John built this exact replica of the Hunley using scrap metal!

It's basically like a traveling museum exhibit. So cool!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Humpity Hump

The weekend is calling to me.

I've got a few things planned. I'm off on Friday so we're planning to hit the beach with some Publix subs, fresh fruit, and a six pack of beer. Preferably this beer:


This is New Belgium's fall seasonal, hot off the shelf. The label shows people dancing around a bonfire, and I just want a s'more. I get a little too excited when I see a New Belgium seasonal arrive, but this one did not disappoint!
I'm going to make tomato pie for dinner Friday night.



Does anyone have any tomato pie recipe recommendations?

Also, The past Saturday K and I were walking down King Street and this little group of boys just stopped and gave me a bouquet of palmetto roses.




I've always wanted to carry these in my wedding. My mom and I even started making them a while back, but it is time consuming and it's hard to tie them off without using a rubberband, which looks kind of tacky. The roses from Saturday are tied with rubberbands, but to get 15 for free I'm not complaining!

Happy Hump Day!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Flower Girl!

A few things that don't cost much, but are fun treats for yourself: nail polish, stationery, fresh flowers.



I've got a lot of flower action happening at my house right now. K saw a sale on gladiolas and so we are living the tropical dream.



Flowers are a cheap treat!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Charleston is smaller than you think!

My dad grew up on Sullivan's Island. (They were the first house to have a color tv on the island!!)
My mom grew up in Augusta until 6th grade, and then moved to Riverland Terrace on James Island. My parents met at the Windjammer on IOP in the early 80's.

My family's first house was in Avondale, in West Ashley. My dad used to have "Guys Night" at Gene's every Tuesday for shuffleboard and beer. I was always so fascinated with this mystery place with such a cool name. Fast forward to me, out of college and the bulk of the downtown bar scene, Gene's became (and still is) my favorite bar.




One night, many moons ago, I strolled into Gene's for "one last beer" after watching a friend's band play at the Tin Roof. I sat myself down at the bar next to a handsome man. I ordered my standard Miller Lite and turned and asked this man " What kind of beer are you drinking?"... The rest is history.
But it really is! Family history I mean! Soon after meeting K I mentioned my last name. He recognized the name because... His dad worked for my grandfather's civil engineering company "Sigma Engineering" when he got out of college!
Soon after I met his parents I was flipping through his mom's yearbooks, and whoa! There's my dad, my uncles! Little LeaMond boys!
It's made our relationship that much more interesting, such small degrees of separation between our families.
Charleston's a big place, but the connections make it feel small.

Any strange coincidences in your relationships??
Any favorite Charleston bars?

TGIF.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Humpity Hump

Oh my goodness! Cute little plants to wear as accessories?? Oh no they didn't!
I want:

Brooch

Earrings
P.S. I stole this from Daily Candy Atlanta. I'm not feeling original today.
The week's half over! Hip Hip Hooray.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Internal Clock



On My Mind


Every morning I'll have Good Morning America on as I'm getting ready for work. As it cuts to the scene of all the tourists lined up outside in NY, just waving and holding Hi Mom! signs, I get so jealous! I want to have 'stand and wave' as an agenda item on my schedule. I need a vacation dang it!


Instead, my day looks a bit more like the clock above. These are the things that rotate on my mind, tick tock.


What are you thinking about?

Monday, August 1, 2011

Amen to that!

I'm having a rough morning and would like to rewind back to Friday night.
I posted about my Fleet Landing plans last week and wanted to follow up with that.
Sometimes I forget that my hometown is also a huge tourist attraction and I'm blown away by the number of people lined up outside of restaurants. That being said, I was in no mood to wait an hour to get a table and we decided to head elsewhere. K suggested 'Amen Street'. I had never been before and I can now say I'm glad we went! The best part of the meal was the fried calamari app (bacon corn succotash!) and also the decor.
Check out these oyster chandeliers.

I also really liked the historical memorabilia on the walls, things like old newspaper clippings and black and white photos of old Charleston.
We tried an IPA by a new local brewery.

Holy City Brewing. Very good!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, now I've got to get to work...