Oh, Hello Daniel Island

Last night I was invited by my friend Kristina to attend a networking event for "The Wedding Isle" .

As you can probably imagine, it's basically a group of Charleston bridal vendors (flowers, photogs, bloggers, hairstylists, event planners, day-of-coordinators, etc.)
It was a nice event, held at the new Sermets which I'd yet to visit.  I absolutely love the funky vibe of Sermets and all of the artwork that he's created and filled his restaurants with.  Unfortunately the menu has never really hit a home run with me, but it's still a fun place to keep on my list. 
At the event we took a tour of Daniel Island, to visit some of the wedding venues around town.  This tour made me realize all the more how much Daniel Island has changed.  I'm talking drastic people!
K used to hunt on Daniel Island.  This boy points out trees to me when we go over there.  "Oh, the memories by that tree!"
When I was at Nativity, it was natural that once I graduated 8th grade I would go to Bishop England.  And then Bishop England decided to up and move from Calhoun Street(where the new CofC library is) to D.I.
At this point in time Daniel Island was like Awendaw in my frame of mind and I was happily able to go to public school for highschool, to avoid a 45 minute bus ride twice daily.  Go Trojans!!

The homes on the water on Daniel Island are magical... Otherwise I feel it seems clustered.  

The "downtown area" is cute, but it's always so empty feeling...

Anybody alive out there??

Regardless it's such a beautiful place...

Ok Charleston people:
Where in Charleston would you live in your dream world?
My answer: 

At the end of Sol Legare Road, down by the landing, with lots of marsh land all around me.

I'll have my cake, And eat it too.

I must admit I've never gotten that cliche.  If I have cake, by golly I'm going to eat it.  Why is that special?  That's what you do with cake?  Maybe something like "I'll have my cake, and ICE CREAM TOO"...
Now that's over the top!
Ok, next. 
The other night I decided I wanted Carrot Cake!  While I rarely choose a "light" version of a dessert (oxymoron), I did find this recipe in my Gracious Goodness Cookbook:

Yes, super blurry recipe but I just can't type it all right now.  This version cuts the calories in half ( a little more than half actually!) and is just as tasty.  

Also, currently reading:

It's got a lot of social commentary on the money/status hungry living in New York City.  I'm breezing right through it.
Happy Tuesday everyone!
What do you have going on?
I'm off to Kick Chick to catch up with a former colleague!

Weekend Report

The gorgeous cooler weather arrived Saturday morning!  We're sleeping with the windows open and finding any excuse to be outside.
Saturday night we ate at Fulton Five. This restaurant is very small, cozy and warm.We started each with a martini, and the bruscetta. I ordered the pasta special (with a glass of white wine) and K the lamb(red).  We rounded out the meal with french press coffee and baileys.
The windows were all open in the restaurant and it felt perfect.

Sunday was another perfect day.
We took a drive with the windows down over to the Old Village and had a picnic at Pitt Street Bridge.
I bought a new picnic basket (I'm building quite a collection) from Goodwill last week (along with a vintage Gucci crossbody bag!!) and it's the perfect size for two.  We grabbed Publix subs and some sodas and set up a blanket.

Sometimes I feel possessive of Charleston (which is crazy, I know).   It seems the number of transplants and non-natives are growing by the dozen these days!  You wouldn't believe the growth I've seen just in my lifetime  My family has lived in Charleston for more than 5 generations and it's the only place we could ever call home.   That being said, it's weekends like this past one that make me realize why people flock here to relocate.  Charleston is perfect and I'm blessed to belong here.

Thanks for coming Fall, we've missed you!