Home Sweet Home!

Hello from Charleston!

My good friend/mentor/high school swim coach, Ms. Byrne told me to blog more. When she tells me to do something, I listen! :) I do need to be reminded sometimes to keep up with this blog, because life tends to get in the way. It truly is therapeutic when I sit down and churn out a post.

Well here's the update on my life as of late. I moved back to Charleston 10 days ago in to my cute new house! I'm in love with my old, creaky historic house. I live in my portion of the house with my 5 lovely roommates. I already feel so at home...and of course I have some pictures for you!

Here was my roommate Caroline and my first dinner in our new home!

...and here's my room!

 my favorite part of my room is the exposed brickwork.

 this one didn't turn out great...but you get the picture!

The house still needs some work of course, but it has really come together! It is so home-y and comfortable. My roommates and I love to just lay around all day in each other's beds! ha. Lazy, I know, but the first week of classes was very busy. We were all exhausted!


It's going to be a busy, but such an exciting year. I have some amazing people surrounding me, a heavy course load and a booked calendar--which means this year is going to fly by.

Can't wait to have you along for the ride...

Hallelujah! The England Recap Post

Hello blog world!

Finally, I am making time to do this. I'm ashamed that I haven't for the past couple weeks. I had an amazing trip to England, so it was difficult to say the least to choose just a hand full of pictures. I put it off while I jumped full force back into my internship while traveling back and forth to Charleston to get my apartment ready with my lovely roommates. Friday was my last day working for the Open Land Trust after working there for three summers! I'm going to miss everyone so much! My boss, Ann is literally the best mentor and role model ever. I only hope that I can find such an amazing internship in Charleston next summer--but I'm very optimistic :)

Anyways, back to my trip to England!

Of course we were there to relax and visit family. But one of the biggest reasons we were there was to meet my gorgeous baby niece (my third!), Kitty Alexandra.

adorable.

Meeting this sweet, little girl made my whole trip.

The second big reason for our trip was for my oldest sister, Lisa's wedding to her fiancé, Andrew! It was a small civil ceremony of 80 guests in the historic library of Dulwich College, a very prestigious British boys prep school.

very Harry Potter-esque, right?

My sissy planned the whole wedding herself, which I thought was very impressive. It was a very intimate and elegant affair.

This is my favorite picture of the beautiful bride

 My two older nieces (Meghan and Jessica) along with Andrew's niece were Lisa's flower girls. I was absolutely obsessed with Lisa's choice of color palette, which included glistening champagne and ivory with a pop of royal blue. 

the bouquets were rustic, yet sophisticated.

Lisa looked absolutely stunning in her ivory, handmade tea-length gown. She and Andrew were beaming. It was a truly beautiful ceremony. I was honored when Lisa asked me to read a passage during the ceremony. Being the Communications major that I am, I was more than confident with my public speaking abilities. After making it half way through the passage I looked over at Lisa and Andrew and saw how happy they were, and got completely choked up! I was so embarrassed, but the emotion was very sincere, so I couldn't be too mortified. After I took my seat my nieces were honestly very confused to see me crying. They kept patting my back and saying it was ok..so cute!

Here's a quick shot of what the sisters of the bride wore!

And a shot of all three girls with the father of the bride

...and let's not forget this precious baby!

 After the bride and groom made their exit, we made our way to the reception which was down the street in a very British pub called The Crown and Greyhound. We used the reception hall upstairs, where we wined and dined on the ultimate British fare. Guests were served Pims cocktails garnished with lots of fresh fruit with hors d'oeuvres, including this extraordinary creation...

 a pork pie inscribed with the bride and groom's names! (the pub did this without telling them, ha!)

Then tea was served! It was a traditional "cream tea", which consists of English, hot tea served with golden scones, clotted cream and jam. Tea time is one of my absolute favorite things about England.  A forth meal during the day dedicated to sweets? I'll take it. 

This is actually a picture I took of another tea time during our trip, but it was too perfect for this post.

After tea had been served, as we nibbled on our scones, it was time for the toasts. Flutes of champagne were passed around while my dear dad paid tribute to his oldest. Anyone who knows him also knows how loud and outgoing he is! But when it comes to his daughters, I think he gets a little nervous :) Despite his nerves, he graciously led the reception in toasting to the newly weds.

And finally, cake was served! The cake was made by one of Andrew's closest friends and it was handcrafted with such exquisite detail! It was light, delicious and perfect for this summer wedding.

Keeping with British tradition, Andrew and Lisa cut the cake with her grandfather's sword. I love this tradition--taking notes for my future wedding :)

 The wedding was such a beautiful event--full of so much love. It was also a great reason for our family to all come together, which isn't easy when you live on different continents!

So cheers to Andrew and Lisa!

Until next post...

Home Sweet Home

I know I know, it's been forever. 

After 16 days in England, 24 hours of traveling, reuniting with Hunter and my friends while being completely jet-lagged, and not to mention starting back work during Waterfestival (a huge summer festival in my town), AND having to prepare for moving back to Charleston-- I am going a little bit crazy to say the least. 

Crazy good though. It's a very exciting time of the year.

I'm sorry I have been so terribly neglectful. I promise I have so many wonderful pictures and experiences to share from my trip to the UK but they will have to wait a few more days...trust me it'll be good :)

Over the Pond

Hello hello!

This will have to be a quick post letting you all know that I am officially on my way to the United Kingdom! I'm so overwhelmed with excitement.

We are going to attend my oldest sister's wedding and to meet my baby niece! On top of that, I get to see all my family members from my mother's side as well as my middle sister and her children. It shall be quite the family reunion!

I'll try to post a few updates while I'm "over the pond", but you can definitely look forward to a elaborate British wedding post when I return.

Hope you all have a chance to take a little getaway of your own...

...and The Wedding!

I'm on a roll tonight! While I'm at this whole blog thing, I decided to tell you all about Ben and Jill's beautiful wedding!

Despite my car (R.I.P. Ford Escort) breaking down on i-16 and eventually meeting its death, and two-hour hiatus in McDonalds with all my luggage, I finally met up with Hunter and his parents who took me the rest of the way to Hunter's hometown right outside of Atlanta.

The wedding was on a gorgeous, lush farm in the country side. I hope Jill got a picture by one of the rustic fences in her cascading, white dress! What a perfect background for a classic, Southern wedding.

Sadly, it rained during the ceremony, which was supposed to be outside under a ivy-covered arbor, but they had a rain plan! The wedding was quickly moved inside to the finished barn where the reception also took place.

 I know Jill and Ben were sad to see it rain, but I can say that the joining together of these two love birds (of 10 years, I might add!) was truly a sight to see. 

They had an evening ceremony followed by a dessert reception (my get-fit plan was put on hold this weekend!) The color palette was black, white with an accent color of light pink, and was found in even the smallest details of the wedding decor! Jill and her family hand-made everything from the invitations to the delectable, bite-size desserts.

note: the wedding favors included a personalized CD of Ben and Jill's favorite love songs and a book of matches that held the sparklers that we lit for their departure!

 yum!

One of my favorite parts of the wedding design, was the cake. Jill's oldest sister, Ana made and decorated the cake and it was incredible. The cake was delicious, and every rose was frosted to perfection.

 (missing the top tier in this picture!)

The couple had their first dance to Frank Sinatra before the dance floor was opened to guests!

And I just couldn't resist snapping a quick picture of the adorable flower girl! 

Hunter and I after a little dancing (my heels were killing me.)

As the night began to wind down, the groom threw the garter and the bride threw the ceremonial bouquet (you all know what catching the bouquet is supposed to mean...)

 drum roll please...

...I caught the bouquet!

 I walked over to Hunter with a smirk on my face and he said "Don't even think about it!" The funny thing was, the reason was happy was because I knew it would be perfect for the blog!

The wedding was a night to remember, and I know the bride and groom were beaming as they rode away into the night in their getaway Rolls Royce. 

Congratulations Ben and Jill!

Scallops, Scallops and More Scallops!

FINALLY a blog post! I am laying on the couch at Hunter's house after a long day out on the water.

In Florida, today was the first day of scallop season! I didn't know how big of a deal this was. The day before we had been out on the water fishing, and we saw one or two boats the whole day. Today, on the other hand, every resident of this tiny, fishing town seemed to be out there with us! We anchored our boat, put on our snorkel gear and jumped in.

I didn't even know what a scallop looked like (FYI, it looks just like the Shell gas symbol). They really are amazing creatures, they swim by opening and closing their shell and they are surprisingly fast and feisty!  We had so much fun, and we collected five gallons of scallops. We brought them home, cleaned out the scallop meat and had ourselves a seafood feast! It felt (and tasted!) really good to catch, prepare and eat the scallops, and believe me they were absolutely delicious.

Here are a few pictures from our day!

first scallop of the day!

my favorite, ha!

Oh, and while I'm at it...

As I was blogging, I was also listening to my newest downloads.

Current obsessions?

this...

this (Bon Iver's new album)...

definitely this...

and absolutely cannot forget this.

Love, love, love these albums. Soundtrack to my summer, hands down.

Cricket, Cricket

Hello darling readers,

I know it has been over a week since I've posted. I'm quite ashamed as usual. I tend to get caught up in working and then just laze around or hang out with friends and family. Honestly, most of the time my laptop is off in its case. I have an iPhone which almost eliminates the need for a computer on a regular basis. I can look at everything on my phone! But that is no excuse. 

I have lots of great pictures from Ben and Jill's wedding weekend, and I can't wait to share a few with you all! That will be my next post.. Maybe with a few pictures from Hunter's graduation and our trip to Florida! 

I'm pretty ashamed that I have yet to upload those pictures!! Next Thursday I'm going back to Florida for my final visit of the summer before Hunter moves much closer to me (4 hours closer to be exact!)

I feel like the summer is absolutely zooming by. In two weeks, I'm off to England for sixteen days. We are making the trek across the pond for my oldest sister's wedding, to meet my sweet baby niece (her name is Kitty Alexandra, how cute!) and to visit with both my mother's and father's sides of the family. It is going to be quite the family reunion.

And I'm sure I'll be able to make a little time for some London shopping :)

Pictures will be up soon!

Can't Wait for the Weekend!

It is super late (almost 2 AM to be exact) but I had to share this quick thought.

I would like to fast-forward through the next two days of work, and get to the weekend.

Reason 1: Get to see my honey.
Reason 2: Get to read my magazines in the car on the trip to ATL.
Reason 3: Get to attend a wedding, which I can say is probably one of my favorite things to do.

Hunter's best friend from high school is getting MARRIED. I'm beyond excited for our lovely friends, Ben and Jill. I met Ben and Jill over this past Christmas, and we all clicked instantly! They are one of those couples who you can tell are just meant for each other. And I cannot wait to go to their wedding.  This will also be the first time I've been to Hunter's hometown (Hunter's parents moved away from Georgia after Hunter's freshman year at university).

I will be sure to charge up my camera, because this is going to be quite the summer weekend!

Pictures and detailed description of the wedding to come (as long as Jill approves!)

Getting Fit!

Hello lovely readers,

I am waiting for blogging to just click into my daily schedule, but it just hasn't happened yet. I can't wait to be one of those bloggers who has updates at least once, sometimes twice a day! Once I get going, I love it and it seems effortless to write for hours!

Though I have quite a to-do list of blog posts that I plan on getting to, I wanted to blog today on my summer work-out/healthy eating plan. My boyfriend and I were chatting last night, and I was whining about how bad I have been about blogging regularly. We were talking a lot about how we want to push each other to eat healthily and work out, especially when we both move back to Charleston. So he suggested that I blog about my plans to become a health-nut!

As any one who has finished their first year of college or first year on your own, you more than likely share my struggle of eating healthy and exercising regularly. While I was in high school, I swam competitively in the fall, went straight into playing basketball throughout the winter months and then my senior year I went straight into soccer season. I worked out every day, and could essentially eat whatever I wanted. I have never been skinny, but I've always been athletic and fairly tall (5'7''). On top of that, my family has never been big on junk food. We occasionally have ice cream, or a bag of tortilla chips in the pantry. We usually have a bar of British chocolate laying around, but only after a trip back to England.

I was confident that I would not be one of those people who let themselves go at college.

I wouldn't go as far as saying I "let myself go" but I definitely got to a point where I stopped feeling healthy. I went to class, gave tours at the College, went out with friends, and studied. First-year students are required to have a meal plan, so my meals were eaten either at Einstein's Bagels (no one told me bagels are SO high in calories), Hungry Cougar (which had deli sandwiches, greasy pizza, the occasional hot-meal and a not-so-impressive salad bar), or our campus cafeteria. Our campus cafeteria is all-you-can-eat and that is where I think I, along with many of my other friends, went wrong. The salad bar is there, but it is so hard to resist all the carbs, desserts, and greasy treats that were just steps away. And fountain drink machines everywhere! It's honestly gross talking about it all.

I am painting a pretty appalling picture, but that is what my options were for meals every day for nine months. Now don't get me wrong, I still worked out. I did Zumba classes, joined an intramural volleyball and basketball team, and second semester I did yoga four times a week, and felt great! But you can't just exercise, and I've realized that.

Next year, I might have a small meal plan, but most of my eating will be done in my kitchen! I can already see the improvement.

So HERE are some of the healthy habits I am determined to make part of my every-day life:

• WATER, WATER, WATER! I'm trying to drink 2 or 3 Nalgene bottles full a day.
• Yoga, zumba, pilates. I have enrolled at Dancing Dog Yoga, and I can't get enough! There are so many fun classes that make you sweat! I'm trying make to four classes per week.
• Run/jog twice a week--this is going to be a challenge for me, because running just isn't my thing. But I'm trying!
• When I'm back in Charleston I want to make an effort to walk down to Waterfront park at least twice a week. (If you know Charleston at all, you know walking and biking becomes a major part of your life!)
• Avoid processed foods, high-sugar items, and high-fructose corn syrup as much as possible. (I know this is a tough one, because if you look at the nutritional facts, you will find that almost everything packaged has high-fructose corn syrup in it. This stuff is bad news...
• Fresh fruits and veggies (especially for snacking!)--I'm a big TV snacker. If I'm watching TV, I want to be munching on something. The other night I had celery sticks with peanut butter, and last night I had a few Wheat Thins and cheese, so much better than chips, cookies or ice cream!
• Cut out soda and tea (This one kills me, I am a true Southern girl and I love my sweet tea, but if it is done right, it has so much sugar brewed into it.)
• Smaller portions
• Healthy eating at restaurants--one of my favorite places to eat out is at Mexican restaurants, I honestly can't get enough. Tortilla chips, salsa, queso, quesadillas, I'm drooling even thinking about it, but one meal can be at least a day's worth of calories, ugh.
• MOST IMPORTANT: Don't try and keep up with your boyfriend's eating habits. I always try, until I realize my honey could probably eat 3500 calories per day and not gain a pound.

That's all for now, hope you all enjoyed reading today's post, and I hope this will inspire you to improve your lifestyle as well!

And if you have any more tips, recipes or advice for me on this topic, please leave comments!

I've Been Bad...

I have been a very bad blogger as of recent! I do a lot of reading blog posts and not enough writing blog posts. I have major respect for bloggers, because it is tough work! I  have so much I want to say, but life tends to get in the way. Today for example,

I woke up early, went to my yoga class, got a bagel with my lovely friend Caroline and felt amazing. I was planning on blogging, uploading pictures and finally tackling the massive mess that is my bedroom. Instead I laid down for what I thought would be a 15-minute snooze, and woke up 3 hours later. My day was spent and I felt awful! Now I'm attempting to catch up on all the stuff I wanted to do. 

I thought since it was summer break I would have much more free time, but time still flies by every single day! Can't be helped, I suppose. 

But fear not, wonderful blog followers (16 now!), I have recognized my problem and am going to try to make blogging about of my every day routine.

Forgive me? 

More to come later...

Sweet Summer

There truly is nothing like summer days spent out on the water enjoying the beautiful Low Country (or in this case Gulf Coast) weather! My family never were 'river people', but I have been lucky enough to have friends (and a boyfriend!) who love nothing more but to spend any free day out on the water, and I can't say I mind.

I have spent today (and will spend all day tomorrow) back home in Florida with Hunter for a few days. We drove back from Memphis, which I wouldn't recommend. It's a 12 hour car ride. By the end, Hunter and I had talked about every possible topic, played every car game imaginable, and sang everything from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen to the Space Jam theme song. 

So believe me when I say, after all of the graduation madness, I was ready for some Florida relaxation. Hunter's family moved to a very small fishing town on the Gulf Coast of Florida a year after he graduated from high school. So when I say we relax when we are here. I mean we relax. We fish, go to the pool, eat great, fresh food, take afternoon naps, read and watch movies. Sometimes we even venture out to go get an ice cream cone or try out one of the eclectic restaurants around these parts. My summer/winter trip to visit with his family are always one of the greatest highlights of my vacation. 

So far, we have watched Black Snake Moan, which I was reluctant about at first. I have to say it was a fantastic movie with one of my favorite actors, Samuel L. Jackson. Definitely shocking at times, but I have to say Mr. Jackson was quite the blues musician in the film. 

I also started reading a novel that was recommended to me by Hunter's mom. It's called Saving Henry.

I've only read a chapter and I'm already hooked. I'm not going to say anything about it yet, because I'll post about it when I'm done reading it (hopefully, if you know me at all, you know I have trouble ever completely finishing the books I read--I'm working on it).

Well anyways, it's another early morning of fishing tomorrow, so this will have to be all for now. 

Pictures from Hunter's Graduation and our time in Panacea to come soon!

Gone to Memphis!

Hello from Memphis, TN!

I'm sorry I've been so neglectful to the blog the past few days!

I'm in Memphis for Hunter's graduation from college! It's a pretty crazy thing to think about. It's been a wonderful weekend, surrounded by his family members and friends. It's been a weekend full of love and a lot of laughs. I'm sure I'll have a few pictures from the weekend to show you in one of my next posts.

Sorry this is so short, I'll be sure to post later tonight or tomorrow!

Look out for these blog posts in the very near future:

• Graduation Weekend Recap 
• Charleston Wedding Magazine Spring 2011 Post! (as soon as I have some time to sit down and read it--I need about 2 hours to really enjoy reading it)
• What I'm Loving Right Now
• Recipe Checklist
• Music Review Post 
• and Summer Bucket List!

♥

2010-2011 Recap!

So every time I sit still for 10 minutes and think about the blog, I think of a million things that I want to post about. For this post I was torn between a little nostalgia from the past year (an incredible one at that!) and doing a post about things I'm obsessed with right now.

So here it is, a few snapshots and highlights from last summer and my first year at university (Disclaimer: I might have gone a tad overboard, but what can I say? It was a fabulous year!)

Went on the Europe Trip of a lifetime (pictured in Cologne, Germany)

Julie and I like to think that the older ladies on either side of us were best friends too.

Just to be clear, we actually did this trip two summers ago, but it was just too memorable to leave out.

OK so here's a quick run down: We flew in to Amsterdam, embarked on a Rhine River boat cruise and visited the beautiful cities of Cologne, Heidelberg, The Black Forest and Mannheim, Germany. We then took a train to Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. After our time there, we took another train to Paris, where we spent our last few days together before I left to visit family in England. It was a surreal experience.

I graduated from high school

And reunited with my honey (after 5 months apart! minus one-day visit)

Went to New York City (Wish I had met Bethenny Frankel...my idol!)

I started college in Charleston

Lived with some lovely ladies 

Met some unforgettable people (and future housemates!)

And one gal and I have been through it all (Guess who...)

16 years later and at college together!

And of course Hunter and I reunited a couple more times...

AND finally I had the experience of a lifetime working at Charleston Fashion Week!

(the Spring Bridal Show was absolutely breathtaking.)

So there you have it. That was my year summed up in 11 pictures. Looking back, there were definitely some rough, and very transitional times, but now they all seem so insignificant compared to the life-changing experiences that I had with the people I love. 

Sorry to get so sappy, but it's true! What an amazing support system I have been blessed with.

Until next time...