Weekend Roundup : FOJ 2k15

Happy Monday? 

I don't know about y'all, but for me, Mondays are always the worst. Throw in a three day weekend spent in the sun, and Monday just go a whole lot worse. Unfortunately, I'm in the midst of my Monday morning commute. (On the bus, have I told y'all that I am one of approximately 4 bus commuters in Charleston?), but I figure a dreadful time like this is the perfect time to share some snaps from our FOJ weekend. 

Let's start from the top. My BFF Lucy was down for the weekend from NYC, so I started of Friday with a much needed beach day. Frank joined me. 

He was totally loving how well the colors of my La Croix can complimented his skin tone.

Things were off the a great (read: windy) start. 

It was super overcast so I wasn't really concerning myself with sun protection. 

Idiocy is a sad symptom of Tanorexia Nervosa. 

Despite the comfortable temperature and bronzed skin you see above, things quickly out of control. Enter most epic cloud formation I have ever laid eyes upon. 

It should be noted that Lucy, Whitney and I were a part of the max exodus of sun-addicted girls you see in the photo above. Whitney and some of Lucy's other college friends had rented a house for the week just a few blocks back from the beach. We gathered our shit and promptly made a run for it. CougarFitter or not, it is damn hard to run with a beach chair on your back, a packed to the brim bag on your arm, and rain pouring down on your head. 

After airing out a bit, I headed home. C and I had some friends over for dinner. Made Jell-O shots (causal thing to do at our age, right?), and shot a few fireworks before heading to bed. 

Our Forth of July included this scene. 

See the beautiful dock out there? Sticking out into the harbor? That's where we spent our Fourth. Complete with BBQ, booze, and keg stands, it was a perfect day. 

Don't worry, we took a few (more respectable) photos too. 

There were some outtakes from the Hodges' attempt at taking a decent photo. 

I think this one (where we are fixing our hair together) is really the best. 

But this one is cute too. And worthy of being my new FB prof pic. 

After a day full of sunshine and booze, Lucy and I promptly ran away looking for more food. We found ourselves on the patio of Wild Wings when gnarly storm number 3 of the weekend rolled in. They lost power for a bit. I may or may not have panicked that my food would never come due to the lack of electricity. I'm obviously very concerned about the greater good of humanity.  We somehow made it home in time for showers, ice cream and more fireworks before hitting the hay. 

Sunday was a bit calmer. A boat ride with my hubby and my bestie was just what I needed. 

I hope everyone had a happy and safe FOJ weekend! 

xo, 

SVH

Weekend Roundup

Happy Monday, y'all. I don't know how last week managed to feel so long (considering I only worked three days), but here is to hoping this short week flies by.  In the meantime, here is a little roundup of my weekend. 

The College was closed Friday due to the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney taking place in our basketball arena. It was sort of a big deal that the Pres was making an appearance.  That coupled with the amount of people who would be fighting for a seat at this historic event, led the College to cancel all non-essential operations for the day. Smart thing, people waited in line for hours and were turned away by closing gates. The place sits 4,500 if that gives you any idea as to how huge of a turnout there was. 

President Obama delivered Reverend Pinckney's eulogy, and although I would have appreciated a little less of a political agenda in light of the tragedy, his rendition of Amazing Grace brought tears to my eyes.  You can view the entire eulogy here. 

I'll wrap this part of the weekend up by saying how unbelievably proud I am of this city. I have always taken great pride in being a Charlestonian, but now it is different, and I am not sure it will ever be the same. 

I'm on the hunt for a car decal of this Palmetto tree. 

I hear they are selling shirts for $10.00 at Palmetto Moon,  Go ahead and get yourself one. You know  you want to, and they say the proceeds are going to the Emanuel Hope Fund.

I have already managed to order myself one of these beauties.  Worship Artist April Knight blew me away with this little scripture doodle. I can't wait to have it in a frame in my living room. 

After hours and hours of funeral watching Friday, we celebrated C's sister's birthday.  The girls went to have a quick pedicure before heading out to the beach house for a little family-style birthday party. C did have to work Friday so he joined us afterwards. While waiting on his arrival, little Mads kept asking "Where is Colemy? I miss him.  Is Uncle Cooldude coming? I miss him." Needless to say, she was thrilled when he made his appearance. 

Be still my heart... these two. 

Little miss was worn flat out by the time the festivities were over... I call this face "Its my (mama's) party and I can cry if I want to."

Saturday brought an early morning breakfast date, a trip to the shop for C's truck which had been operating without AC for the last couple of weeks, and lastly a very windy and wet afternoon boat ride. We failed to notice that there was a storm with 26mph winds on the horizon when we left the marina, but we survived! We enjoyed dinner and drinks with friends and headed home.  Sunday was a fishing day for C and a laundry day for me #housewifeproblems. And, now here we are at Monday again. 

Only 4 days until the big holiday weekend! Hurry up, little Friday! 

xo, 

SVH 

Weekend Roundup: Part Two

Welcome back for Part Two of my weekend in DC! 

Sunday morning, Paige and I woke up and anxiously got ready for the big day ahead of us. 

Y'all should know that at this point I was freaking out. I was so afraid that Marla was going to call us to give us the exciting news. So I turned off my phone. I wouldn't be able to keep the secret had I answered, and I wouldn't have been able to resist answering if my phone had been on. 

So with my phone off, we headed over to Marla and Josh's apartment building where the surprise would be taking place. 

Car selfie. Obvi. 

We were reunited with Alex once we arrived and at this point the nerves were really setting in. We knew that by this time, the question had been popped and our girl was engaged and then it was just a waiting game. We nervously took photos to pass the time...

As the couple's arrival inched closer, Marla's mom instructed the three of us that she wanted us front and center when they came through the door. You see, not to toot our own horns or anything, but second only to getting engaged, we all knew the surprise of seeing us there was going to send Marla over the top. And Marla's sweet mama wanted to witness the full effect.

We arranged ourselves near the door and  prepared to scream Mazel Tov at the top of our lungs as soon as Marla was in our sight. (Side note: Marla and Josh are a match made in Jewish heaven and we have all been anticipating the moment when we could yell Mazel Tov for her basically since the day we met her...or maybe the day she was born?) 

I think we did a pretty good job?

I'm not sure you can tell from the video just how much she is crying, but it's a lot. She's also saying over and over again, "you're here?". It was the sweetest. 

We then proceeded to take more photos. And cry some more. And smile a lot. 

The gang all together. With rings on our fingers. 

Get a good look at the rock why don't ya. 

Sadly we couldn't hang out forever because we had a dumb flight to catch (and Shake Shack to eat for the third time before said flight). 

Sad to be leaving Shake Shack behind... 

From Shake Shack here, we headed to the airport to experience our second three-hour delay of the weekend.  Curse you, U.S. Air. And there you have, the most magical weekend! Hope you enjoyed.

xo, 

SVH

Weekend Roundup

PART ONE of June 19 - 21, 2015. 

Disclaimer: Although I won't get to the very best part of the weekend until part two, I have to make the announcement now. A friend who is so near and dear to my heart that I could pass out just thinking about how much I love her, got engaged this weekend to the sweetest man ever.

 Congratulations and best wishes to Marla and Josh! 

Now onto the roundup:

Y'all, I had the BEST weekend. I mean truly the best. You know one of those weekends when you're with your girlfriends  (those ones you love the most but barely get to see), and it just seems like all is right in the world? Yeah, this weekend was one of those. 

Let's start from the top. 

About 3 weeks ago, I received an early morning email from my friend Marla's boyfriend, Josh. The email was entitled, "Can you keep a secret?". (Are you getting goosebumps yet?!) Josh, being the sweet and thoughtful man that he is, was notifying Marla's best friends of his intentions to ask her to marry him while at the same time asking us to be there to surprise her in the hours following the popping of the question. Let's just say Paige and I had our flights booked within the next 3 hours. There was never any question in our minds as to if this trip was going to happen.  

So, Friday afternoon Paige drove down to Charleston for a flight to our nation's Capitol. Much to our dismay, we were forced to suffer through a three-hour delay in the very under-construction Charleston Airport. Needless to say, drinks were consumed in the meantime and our announcement for boarding included a chant that went something along the lines of "chug, chug, chug". 

Our crew from the airport bar in Charleston. 

Everyone pictured was waiting on the same delayed flight as we were, 

so why not make friends!

We finally arrived at approximately 12:15am, and we were greeted by our sweet friends... and Shake Shack. (On a side note, I might need to write an entire post about Shake Shack, including-but not limited to-how difficult it is to pronounce Shake Shack.) 

Patiently(?) waiting on Claire and Courtney to come retrieve us.

Hours of girl talk led to bed, which led to hours of drinking and tourist-ing on Saturday. A bottomless brunch at Agora (bottomless in every sense of the word - food and beverages) was followed closely by romping around the monuments. 

Courtney, Paige and I before the food arrived.

Brunch appetizers...

After our boozey tour of the monuments, we freshened up and headed out to dinner at Farmers, Fishers, Bakers - during a torrential down pour.  There were tornado warnings. 

But we still looked cute!

We took a better picture once we dried off a bit.

Tune in tomorrow for Part Two of this epic weekend adventure! 

xo, 

SVH

Weekend Roundup

As I mentioned last week, I spent Friday with coworkers at a work retreat. Without bragging on my alma mater too much, check out the view from said retreat. 

Dixie Plantation 

We wrapped Friday up with a little date night. My very favorite, Basil, followed by C's very favorite, Cupcake. Actually, I'm lying. Cupcake isn't C's very favorite, but anything sweet will do for him. Major sweet tooth happening with that boy. He bought SIX cupcakes. All for himself. Obviously I'm on a very strict diet and didn't have any, but something tells me that you should give the salted caramel chocolate a try next time you're in town. 

Saturday ended with a delicious meal at Swig & Swine.  This town is definitely swarming in good bbq, but this stuff is top notch. Plus they  have pickled vegetables. I LOVE picked anything. 

The rest of the weekend was spent with family. C's aunt and uncle are here from Boston and they rented the most adorable tin roof house on Sullivan's Island. I caught this shot of some crazy ass kite boarders on the way out to the beach Saturday. 

                           

Sullivan's Kite Boarders

Sunday was a doozy. We woke up to a sweet puppy dog who looked like this: 

Botany in route to the vet Sunday morning. 

If you can't tell, her right ear was so swollen that it was seriously droopy. See how perky and cute her left ear is? Well, turns out she was suffering from an ear hematoma. Which meant surgery. Not quite my idea of a Sunday Funday. 

She went into surgery around noon and got picked up around 5:00pm. Sweet girl was so sad.  

Lucky for her, she had a very sweet lady come to check on her. 

Mads was so concerned about Botany as C was changing her bandages. 

The rest of the evening was spent staring at this dog.  Listening to her breathe snore. Y'all, let me tell you, every time something scary happens to one of our dogs (read: fur children) I can't help but imagine how I will be with real children. I was crying when they brought her out to us at the vet.  I  just can't stand to see my sweet girl in pain. Needless to say, for my emotional well being, it will be a while before I can bring another human into this world.  

That's a wrap on our weekend.  Back to the grind today. Looking forward to an uneventful and peaceful week spent with family at the beach.

xo, 

SVH

Weekend Roundup

So if you made it through to the end of my lengthy Five on Friday post last week, you're going to read this roundup and think I'm a big ole liar. Promise I'm not. Short story is that I suffered from a severe case of FOMO and ended up 60 miles off shore on Saturday.

Let's start from the beginning. While walking to my car Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from a sister (well my only sister) in distress. She was sitting on the patio at California Dreaming in need of a drinking partner. Because California Dreaming easily has the cheapest drinks in town (and I love my sister) I headed right over to get my drink on while we waited on C to bring the boat in. A few hours (and drinks) later I was bullied into committing to this fishing trip. I swear it had nothing to do with the drinks. 

4:00am sure did come early, but the sunrise was beyond. See for yourself.

I almost forgot to mention that Frank made the trip down 

from Columbia for the weekend. #Frankgoesfishing 

It was a super slow day on the water, but Sissy did get her birthday fish! 

Please forgive me for the shitty quality of my iPhone photos. 

After 12 hours at sea, I could barely keep my eyes open for a bite of supper. I swayed myself through a quick shower and promptly went to bed with a head full of wet hair at 8:00pm. 

The nice thing about going to bed before the sun goes down is you get a head start on the next day. Up before the birds on Sunday, I had a full day of shopping ahead.  Among some other great finds, were these: 

Found at TJ Maxx. They will be perfect for Al Pal's wedding in August!

And this perfect dress for the Rehearsal Dinner. 

After all of this shopping for her wedding festivities, I was SO excited to come home to this in the mail! 

It is literally SO perfect and SO Alex. My little Florida Girl. 

Rounded out the day with a bike ride around the neighborhood (you can't beat Charleston's views) and Chinese delivery.  Sounds like a pretty perfect Sunday to me.  Hope y'all had a great weekend too! 

xo, 

SVH

Weekend Recap

It's Monday again.

Blurg.

Here's what we were up to this weekend:

-Friday-

C and I both got off work a little early, just in time to beat some 5o'clock traffic on the way out of Charleston. We teamed up with daddy for another quick trip to Florida.

Grandaddy is out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation facility where he will undergo lots and lots of therapy. Hopefully they will have that left leg working again in no time. :)

So great to see him OUT of the hospital, looking better, and chatting it up with his 90+ year-old buddies.

I don't know about you, but I just think old people are the cutest.

Especially my Grandaddy. 

-Saturday-

After visiting with the  old man we loaded up and headed home for Charleston.

Daddy raced as fast as he could to get us home in time for a 40th Anniversary concert at the Windjammer.

An awesome 90's band Jupiter Coyote was playing there, and luckily we made it home in just the nick of time. I am so glad we did, it was a really fun concert; although, I was definitely the youngest person there.

-Sunday-

Coleman's daddy's birthday!

We cleaned up the house (and the yard with help from my pops) just in time to have Coleman's parents over for supper! We were lucky enough to have his mom prepare literally everything except for the meat C threw on the grill. It was a delicious meal, and I was so happy to be able to host them in our home that they have almost completely furnished for us :)

On a side note, our engagement announcement made its way into Sunday's Post and Courier!

You can find it here!

Back to the daily grind. Hope y'all had a great weekend!

xo,

Shans

Weekend Recap

This weekend flew by.

Friday Coleman and I hosted a mini dinner party complete with a yummy pot roast.

_____________________________________________

Saturday morning my dad, my sister and I piled in the car together (what a joy :/)

around 8am for a quick trip down to Florida.

 As I told you last week, my grandfather is in the hospital

fighting to get back to normal after breaking his hip.

Broke our hearts to see Ganddaddy like that.
I haven't seen him in the hospital

for any extended period of time since
I was little girl and he was diagnosed with Diabetes.

Please contine to pray for smooth recovery so that he may be discharged to begin rehab.

_______________________________________________

Sunday...I laid.

I laid around and did a little laundry.

Then the sun set and I laid around, watched the Kardashians, addressed save the dates and drank wine.

Truly was a glorious evening.

____________________________________________

Monday.
 Not really the weekend anymore, but it sure felt like it!

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the first practice round of the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.  This new job definitely comes with some perks!

Not the best quality, but none the less, some pictures from the firm's suite overlooking the 18th hole.

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

xo,

Shans

weekend recap

Coleman and I started the weekend off with a great dinner with my family at the original Charleston Duke's Barbecue. In the last year or so the legend behind Duke's has become a little blurred.

This City Paper story will help clear up the confusion on who is who among the Dukes.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/

We grubbed on some of the best hash in the state with my mom, dad, sister, aunt, and sweet grandfather. It is always so great to see him -- and Coleman and I both agreed that he seemed to be feeling great! Such a sigh of relief to get that feeling.

After dinner I met up with some girlfriends at one of our most favorite spots, Taco Boy. You really can't go wrong with the house margarita there -- it is on point.

Finally, Lucy's plane landed in Charleston and her sweet mama delivered her to us downtown. We walked over to Midtown and enjoyed some really loud band for a few hours.

Saturday Coleman and I had lunch at another one of my favorite spots, Groucho's Deli (they offer the best microwaved sandwiches around) before heading to a matinee showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

All I have to say is WOW, it was an excellent movie full of suspense.

I am usually not much of a movie crier, but that Batman gets me every time.

I won't give anything away but you people have got to go see it.

Sunday involved lots of vacuuming, laundry, and a trip to the grocery store and.. my favorite Target, and now it is Monday. sigh.

Hope this week is a good one!

xo,

Shans