Top 15 of 2015

15 of my favorite moments from 2015.

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{1}

2015 kicked off with my sister-in-law's wedding,
and all of the parties and prep related.

It was a beautiful day out at Boone Hall!

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{2}

This picture makes me smile.  It seems that girls nights are fewer and far-er (?) between with every year that passes.  I treasure the nights we all get together "just because".  Also to note, this was the night my friend Cyd announced her pregnancy...due any day now!!

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This memory makes me happy because it was a random day off from work, around a time when my job was particularly dragging me down.  It felt great to walk around and just be by myself for a morning.

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Folly Staycation!  We had such a fun 48 hours on the beach while our air conditioning was being replaced.

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{5}

Here's an awesome capture from our white water rafting trip in Asheville.  

Family fun at it's finest!

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{6}
I had a whirlwind weekend in Philly visiting my friend who is doing her residency in Center City.  This was at Spruce Street Harbor's Biergarten.

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A snap from the Citizen Cope/Counting Crows show at Family Circle Cup.  This was right around the time when I began interviewing for my current job.  In my mind it symbolizes the end of my time at Lexus.

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A beautiful Fall day on Bray's Island for the Nielson Family Reunion.

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{9}

I chose this picture because it was the first time I've received any real perk from blogging.  O-ku invited me to lunch in exchange for a post about it.  This was such a fun surprise and I'm happy that, after nearly 5 years of Hominy Girl, someone other than my dad reads here.

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{10}

Wild Blue Ropes.  SO much fun!  

This was a special adventure for our one year anniversary.

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{11}

And this is a delicious buffalo chicken wrap at O'brions.  I special order this every time we go and it is so good, I crave it. So, I'll say it's discovery was a top 2015 moment for me. :)

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{12}

Hallo-wine Party!
 Better known as Wines-giving this year due to the whole "time flies" thing.

This party was a lot of fun and I thought my little sign was cute, so here:

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{13}

St. Barths

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{14}

CofC Alumni Holiday Party, the perfect festive night on the town.

 

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{15}

I have to wrap up 2015 with a photo of my little boo.  This boy makes every single day in our household more fun and full of love.  He's walking on sunshine all the time and brings so much light into our lives.

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This is just a glimpse of the joy that 2015 brought to us.
We can't wait to see what 2016 has in store!
Happy New Year!

Our Christmas Weekend

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Christmas falling on a Friday this year.

In theory it sounded perfect, but I'm sort of thinking it took away some of the "special feeling".

When it's mid-week, it really shakes up the monotony.

This year it simply felt like a really festive weekend.

A great weekend, that's for sure!

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After work on Friday (I am vowing never to work Christmas Eve again after this year), we headed over to my in-laws for their Christmas Eve party.

We exchanged gifts and had a wonderful night celebrating together.

 

This year I cheated with Christmas baking and used store bought sugar cookie dough and topped it with fresh rosemary.

And considering the effort, I'd say these cookies turned out fantastic.

(Thanks to April for the idea.)

I prepared sausage strata, K's family recipe, for our breakfast Christmas morning.

And I do want to say that for some reason cinnamon rolls taste a lot better baked in a cast iron skillet!

 

K and I exchanged gifts and enjoyed a cozy morning before heading over to my parents for the day.

I used this recipe for Country Living Three Cheese baked macaroni for my contribution to dinner. I think it turned out really well.

We were feeling very, um, festive after enjoying several glasses of my grandfather's famous "ambrosia punch".  This is really the only family photo I have from the day, dancing to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

This was before dinner, after a hearty meal and a walk with the dogs around the block all was calm and bright again.

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Oh, did I mention the weather here? My car said 82 on Christmas.

It sure is a beautiful summer we're having here in Charleston!

On Saturday we took Alfie to the beach.

It was super crowded, people were swimming!

Along with the heat, we've had a lot of fog here lately.

This picture is not in black and white.

Thank you to the really nice Australian man who stopped and asked if we wanted a family photo:

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Yesterday we debated whether or not to head out for a few exchanges, but ultimately chose to have an easy going Sunday instead.  We took Alfie down to the Barrel so that we could enjoy a beer or two while he played. 

 

It (surprisingly) wasn't very crowded there, but he still enjoyed taking in the scene:

Pizza from Paisano's rounded out our weekend,

I read somewhere that pizza is the most popular food in the days after Christmas.

So there you have it!

Our Christmas weekend.

How was yours?

St Barths, Part II

Picking up where I left off, here is the Part II recap of our vacation to St. Barths!

Day 3: Sunday 11/29/15

On Sunday we were up very early again and enjoyed a breakfast of bananas that the owner of our cottage left for us.  They were straight from the yard and tasted a little more sweet than the bananas here.

After breakfast we made our way over to the windward side of the island to Le Sereno, the hotel where we had a couples massage scheduled.  We arrived early and enjoyed lounging on the beach beds at the hotel.

This was where we had our massage, before they set up the second bed.
The breeze off the lagoon was perfection as was the massage.

After the massage,
 we took advantage of the outdoor shower and the relaxation area.

From there we went back to the beach to enjoy the water sports offered at the hotel.

This was not exactly what I had in mind when I asked K to get a picture of me SUPing.  Good for a laugh, though.

Just down the beach (Grande Cul-de-Sac) we grabbed lunch at O'Corail, which ended up being one of our favorite stops of the trip.  For reference, the white buildings in the top left of this photo are the spa treatment rooms at Le Sereno, so it's a short walk.  This burger hit.the.spot.

After resting at the cottage for a while we went into Gustavia for a late dinner.  

On our walk we saw a church with a choir performance.  The hymns were in French and it was such a beautiful scene to stumble upon.

 

Dinner was at L'isola.  This restaurant is one of the highest rated on the island but was a disappointment for us.  First was the fact that we were seated at a table that was so close to our neighbor that it was as if we were dining together.  This is a surefire way to kill my husband's vibe.

Also, the waiter was extremely pushy. While sipping on my cocktail he came over no less than 3 times to ask us if we were ready to order.  Huge pet peeve, especially in nicer places.

Anyway, the meal was just fine but my drink was really fun, flowers and fruit sticking out of it.

No other photos because it was incredibly dim inside, lit only by candlelight:

We ended our night sitting on the back deck of our cottage enjoying the stars and the breeze off the ocean.

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Day 4: Monday 11/30/15

We had a snorkeling trip scheduled at 9:00 Monday morning.

We left on our own private excursion out of Gustavia Harbor and headed to the Nature Preserve off the Coast.  These photos below were taken with a disposable waterproof camera and all of the colors are muted, but I still think we got a few good shots.

 

This picture is disappointing because in person this stingray was HUGE and extremely vivid.

 

 After snorkeling we spent the rest of the day in St. Jean, my favorite area of St. Barths.  We both agree that when we visit again we will stay in this area, preferably in one of the little villas you can see behind K in this pic :)  Everything is very walkable there and it's smack in the middle of the island.

We spent the afternoon lounging on the beach and having a light lunch from a to-go spot close by.  Lots of gorgeous pics from our afternoon:

Later on, on our way to dinner, we noticed some Christmas Decorations:

We ate at Eddy's, which was really really good.
It was a very laid back restaurant with a courtyard setting and Caribbean cuisine.
We started with the cod fritters which I loved, they reminded me of hushpuppies.
Our dinners:

And then home to Vitet after a fun filled and exhausting day!

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That closes out Days 3 and 4,  I'll post my next, and last, recap soon!

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I'm signing off for the next week or so...

Until then, 

Je vous souhaite de joyeuses fêtes!

Our Weekend

Hey hey!  I hope y'all enjoyed the last weekend before Christmas!

As I mentioned, Friday was my man's birthday.

We went out for dinner at the new "Maybank Public House" on James Island.

We have been looking forward to going here because we've enjoyed Coleman Public House before and James Island has limited options.

It was good!  Reasonable prices.  Truffle mac and cheese app was the star of the show for me.

I feel like we look like we are on a first date in  this photo:

 

I really like their menu, good variety and value.

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On Saturday I was up early to drop cards at the post office, finish up shopping and hopefully avoid the crowds at the mall and downtown. 

Outfit of the day: Can you tell I love plaid?  

Also Hooray for being able to wear a coat this December in Charleston!

 

I couldn't resist stopping by Zales to have my rings cleaned and also do a little window shopping.This ring was really pretty.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's a turquoise stone with faceted clear quartz over the top, which gives it a really unique look.  It's set with a border of blue topaz.

I have been wanting a turquoise ring (December birthstone) but it's hard to find options that aren't dream catcher-ish.

Love downtown at Christmas: That night we grilled out at my sister-in-laws.

Alfie was reunited with his girlfriend Penny.

 

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Yesterday I did some present wrapping and then went to a drop-in to meet a family friend's little 3 month old, Caroline.  She was the sweetest angel!

From there we hit the grocery store for our weekly haul,

 as well as supplies for Christmas breakfast and a few treats I'm planning to make tonight.

Annnnd that's a wrap on our weekend,

How was yours?