Bachelorettin' in Charleston

I've missed you, blog world! I've been driving all over the South (four states, to be exact) on a whirlwind trip to Charleston for my friend's bachelorette party, and I finally got back Monday afternoon. Exhausting, but so much fun. It was my first time in Charleston so it was fun to explore a new city, hang out with my favorite friends and go out dancing. But let's rewind about 1,300 + miles.

Wednesday afternoon my friend Rachel and I packed up the car (full of suitcases, snacks, a penis pinata—the usual) and drove four hours to Nashville, where we spent the night with bachelorette Lexi, her fiance Jamie and their fur babies, George (also known as the Great White Fluff) and Jennifer (Princess Shark). We woke up early Thursday morning to snow flurries and worried phone calls from moms, but the snow pretty much stopped falling by the time we left Nashville, and we had good travel weather and road conditions for the whole drive. The whole 10 hour drive. We seemed to be stuck in the Bermuda Triangle on the trip to Charleston—the GPS told us we had four hours left, and then two hours later we still had four hours left, or at least that's how it seemed. We also stopped a lot and went through a tiny mountain town with tiny mountain roads that I had to navigate very slowly. But we finally made it to our pink rental house in Folly Beach (about 15 minutes from downtown Charleston) just in time to unpack, reunite with our friend Stephanie who made it three hours sooner than us, and get back in the car, half of us going to the grocery store and the other half heading to the airport to pick up our fifth, Willow. I was very happy to find that our house was nice, clean and had sheets (it didn't have towels, but I brought some and had secretly been afraid it wouldn't have sheets) because I booked it over the Internet. (I highly recommend HomeAway Vacation Rentals, btw.)

Our house in Folly Beach.

Living room.

Sitting room area that opened out onto a big screened-in porch.

Outdoor area. It was too cold to go out there.

One of the three bedrooms. There was also a loft.

On the first day we walked to the beach, explored a little bit of Folly Beach (lots of it was closed for the off-season) and then drove into Charleston for delicious sushi and shopping on King Street.

There were fried oysters in that sushi!

A sake toast to Lexi, Jamie and puppies!

Rachel and Willow on King Street.

That night we played some card games in the house and walked to downtown Folly Beach for dinner at the Crab Shack. Rachel's steamed shrimp knocked my socks off. I think it's the best shrimp I've ever had, but maybe that's because I don't live on the coast anymore. I got oysters, of course. They were better than the ones we had in Savannah, but not very flavorful.Willow scored big with her oysters and found what we believe to be a little pearl.

My pearl-less oysters.

On day two we headed toward the market area in Charleston and had lunch and Bloody Marys at a rooftop bar there. I'm not sure what it was called, but the fried green tomato wraps with goat cheese were so good. Please ignore what appears to be my massive tangle of hair. Willow looks cute, though!

Stephanie with the bride-to-be

We walked around the market a bit to pass the time before our carriage tour of the city, and sampled Hyman's hushpuppies that some waitresses were handing out on the street. My kind of city, for sure.

Street puppies.

Carriage ride mule.

Rachel and Willow on the Charleston tour.

This girl was really good and had cool hair.

After the tour we stopped in a few more stores and then headed back to the house to get ready for that night. In the picture below, Willow is trying to bump up Lexi's hair. It didn't end up working because you can see the Hollywood Bump It through thin hair, but it looked really good on Willow. For some reason I don' t have a picture of it. Based on my scientific research, the Hollywood Bump It looks good on one out of four people, myself not being one of them.

Before the taxi came we did a small lingerie shower with lots of joke gifts like silver underwear, edible body paint pens and the like.

We went out for dinner at Coast and then walked a little ways to Trio, where we stayed all night dancing. There were two rival bachelorette parties there, but they were lame,as they did not have a pink wenis sticking out of their purses.

The next morning we got up, cleaned the house and hit the road! Where's your favorite place to road trip it? Have you ever been to Charleston?

OMG Snow!

Yesterday Nurse A and I got up early to run some errands all over North Mississippi. We had to pick up my car in a town a couple hours away. (I left it at a friend's house when I rode down with her for Christmas.) Then we stopped at the mall on the way back (fun fact: Oxford doesn't have a mall) for some party supplies for an upcoming bachelorette bash, and lingerie for said bachelorette's shower. We were in a rush to get home before 2 p.m. when the snow that was predicted for our area was rumored to begin falling and we made it home pretty much on the dot. The snowfall didn't start right at 2 p.m., but fall it did. All night long.

This morning we woke up to an estimated eight-to-10 inches of snow--right in our front yard! I've never seen anything like it in Mississippi. Normally we have to travel to, say, Highlands to see this kind of snowfall.

We took a walk and watched bulldozers try to clear the roads. It didn't seem to be working very well.

Sawyer felt very sophisticated because he had already experienced snow, unlike many Mississippi pups.

For reference, this is the "snow" we usually get in North Mississippi. At home on the coast, even this little dusting only happens once every few years and lasts for a couple hours.

So after a failed sledding attempt and a cup of coffee, I've got some work to do before playing in the snow again. Gloves would be nice. Happy Monday, everyone! Stay warm!

Top 10 of 2010

Happy New Year! I've loved reading everyone's 2010 recaps and have finally written one of my own. The past 12 months have been some of the most challenging-yet-happy that I can remember. Nurse A and I made some hard decisions both professionally and personally, discovered some new hobbies, experienced true loss together and experienced true happiness. Quite a roller coaster, I'd say. But without further ado, here are my top 10 moments from 2010 in no particular order (except the first one!)

Getting married, of course! Need I say more?

August 14, 2010

                                                            
Honeymoonin' in Savannah, Georgia - These were seriously some of the best days ever. Just my new husband, me, oysters, daiquiris and lots of ghosts. If you get a chance definitely go to Savannah and eat at the Planter's Tavern under the Old Pink House.

Sweaty Savannah night complete with smudged camera lens.

Introducing Sawyer

At the end of June we welcomed a slightly orange member into our little family: Sawyer! 

Sawyer, almost eight months old, Christmas 2010

Cooking up a storm 

My resignation from my Memphis job in October led to Nurse A and I eating in a lot. And guess what? We realized we're pretty good at cooking for the most part. We love the Williams-Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook, and can't wait to continue our cooking adventures in 2011. We have some big goals that I'll share on this blog later!

Adventures in breadmaking

Wedding festivities

Despite some stressful moments, I loved all of the excitement that surrounded our wedding. We had our first shower in the spring, followed by another in Gulf Shores with my family and a lingerie shower and NOLA bachelorette party in July. We also did a mini spa day the morning of the rehearsal, a bridal luncheon and of course our wonderful rehearsal dinner, all of which were great fun.

Showers, lingerie and NOLA, oh my!

Family vacation!

This year, for the first time since 2005, I was finally able to go on our family's annual beach vacation! In past years I've had to work or intern during the week-long trip. Even though there was oil on the beach we still had two lovely pools and a bay, so all was good. My sister Ash hosted a family shower for us, and in the middle of the week Nurse A and I road tripped to St. George Island, Florida for Nikki (the Fashionable Wife) and Charlie's beach wedding!

Luckily, there was no oil on this beach

Hit the ground running

We started running seriously at the end of 2010. Before the week-long fest of food and lounging in NC that ends Sunday morning, I was up to four miles, a is a huge accomplishment for me. (Andrew has run 6.2 before.) I can't wait to do a couple 10ks and start half-marathon training in the new year!

I know you've seen it before, but this is the only race picture I have of us because it's the only one I've ever done. Hopefully 2010 will bring new runs.

Simple fun

Moving back in together in May was a shining moment in our year. After the wedding we enjoyed a lot of simple things, like having some of our best friends stay with us in the extra room, planting a garden that deer later ate, walking Sawyer around our lovely neighborhood and picking pears from our tree!

Garden sprouts!

Endings and new beginnings

Andrew finished his master's degree this year, and I left my job after nearly a year and a half, which alternates between being challenging and rewarding. It was a much-needed move, however, and I'm hoping 2011 will be evidence of this.

Master A

The new year will definitely hold some big changes for us. I'm hoping for a job and maybe another puppy or two! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Happy 2011

Holiday Greetings

Happy holidays from Highlands, North Carolina!

After a great week at home with my family, Nurse A and I packed up the pupster and all our homemade gifts (we got an adorable ornament, cookies and home-brewed winter lager from my brother and his fiance; venison from my sister and her husband; fish from my grandpa; and tons of the pottery my stepfather makes) and drove to his family's lakehouse in Alabama Christmas night. We finally arrived in Highlands yesterday, after a treacherous (to me) drive up the mountain. It snowed all night last night and is beautiful today!

Sawyer loves snow and can't be bothered with posing.

We have a warm house

and beer

Really, what else could you need? Wishing you all warm and safe holidays! Better holiday recap to come.

P.S.--A certain labrahound got caught in a (sticky) mousetrap his first night in the Highlands house, definitely one of my top five favorite Sawyer moments so far. The sticky stuff came off his paw easily with hand soap, though.

The Dogs of Christmas

It's officially Christmastime! With less than a week left, I've packed up and headed home to the coast, hence the blogging hiatus. So far we've eaten some delicious food (think French toast, homemade chicken tortilla soup and curried chicken), braved the crowds for some last minute Christmas shopping (even though I'm just giving free Shutterfly cards this year because of my lack of funds) and had a beer or two with my cousins and aunt downtown. We've also had lots of sweets and a couple morning runs, one on which we saw a girl in a pink coat standing in the woods--quite creepy. Fun times though. Oh, and we also have five dogs packed into our house. Chaotic? Yes. Extremely entertaining? Hellz yes. (Except when Sawyer gets up at 7 a.m. and wakes all the other dogs.) I don't have my card reader with me right now, but here are a few photos I have on hand of our the four-legged members of our family. Please keep in mind that I am sharing a twin bed with three of them.

It's baby Sawyer's first time visiting his grandmother. So far he has enjoyed chicken broth and the sauteed ground beef on his food, courtesy of my madre.

Izzy, my brother's fiance's adorable Boston terrier. Sawyer and Izzy are bff.



My brothr's dog Rosco Bosco the gentle giant.



Joli, the Fun Police. If anyone has a toy, she takes it and rips it up. If anyone is playing, she jumps in and tries to start a fight. We just pick her up because she's a small-yet-rotund rat terrier. She was a birthday gift to me when I was 17, but I think it's safe to say she is my mom's dog now even though she always sleeps with me and we love each other.

Coco (on the left) with Joli. I don't have a picture of just Coco because she's so sweet and always behaving and I apparently just photograph bad dogs. Also, no one in our family is quite sure if she spells her name Coco or Cocoa. Because it's her choice, obviously. Coco is Joli's bff even though Joli is kind of mean to her.

So that's what I've been up to! It's nice to be home. Nurse A is still up in North Mississippi working, so we won't get to see him until Christmas Eve. Then we'll pack up the car and Sawyer, Andrew and I will head off to North Carolina to spend the week after Christmas with his family in Highlands, NC. Safe travels everyone, and happy holidays!

Rolling in the Dough

I am not, in fact, rolling in the dough. Which is why I started rolling (errr, kneading) my own dough--bread dough, to be exact. It changed my life. That is all.

I used this recipe and threw in a couple tablespoons of herbs. I can't wait to (re) try whole wheat with honey! (I realized my first rock-hard, whole wheat loaf was a failure when I gave a slice to Sawyer and it took him like 10 minutes to chew it.)

Sawyer really likes flour.