FINALLY a quick update on Spunky (isn’t the first child always ignored and neglected?!).  [Well, Spikey was really the first!]

November 14th, 2011 – the last documented mention of Spunky on the blog ::GASP:: (Me and Lisa from her and Seth’s 36 Hours of Fun!!!) 

Yesterday – July 24th, 2012

Check out those ridiculously pale tree stumps AND THEN check out Spunky (holy overly-pregnant-and-swollen monster legs — yikes!).

Hopefully you can tell that Spunky has grown quite a bit and is looking more and more like a real palm tree!  We are very proud!  It was quite windy when this photo was taken, so Spunky was definitely one with Willow Smith — “I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth…”

Please, for the love of the [dry] earth, check out our HORRIBLE lawn.  We’ve had NO working sprinklers all year.  The HOA has been working on it (something about salt water in the well), but for now – we have very burnt “grass.”  Gross. This drives my poor husband to CRAZYtown on a daily basis!

Happy Dr. Appointment Day Hump Day – I’ll keep y’all posted!

xoxo

 p.s. I fulfilled my fish & chips craving last night at Pearlz downtown.  YUM!  We headed to Bakehouse for a decaf frappe afterwards and then sat at Waterfront Park by the pineapple fountain for a while.  A perfect pre-baby date night…love my hubby! ♥

Beach Count: 77  

Pool Count: 32 

High Temperature: 96° 

I AM NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER.

(I repeat)

I AM NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER!

I absolutely admit that I have a semi-fancy camera and have not a clue what to do with it (hello, automatic setting!).  Scott and I both tried our very best to document Baby T.’s completed nursery, just like I am going to try my very best at this moment to let these photos speak for themselves and stop yapping.  always a struggle.

ENJOY! 

Okay, you know I wouldn’t be able to just leave it at that!  I’m a natural born narrator – I can’t help myself!!!

Note to Self (YOURself included): Planning a nursery without knowing the baby’s gender DOES present some challenges.  We chose to start with the primary colors from the bedding and the rug that we love and roll with the rest.  Yellow, gray, and red quickly became our accent colors.  We love the blue wall color and think it screams “baby!” without necessarily screaming “baby BOY!”  It’s just a sweet color.  We didn’t really theme-it-out, but went with a few different ideas that tickled our fancies.  It’s the only room in the house that we’ve planned from paint to curtain pullback and it’s the most serene-feeling room in the house.  We’re really happy with how it came together!!!

C’mon with the NY and SC prints – love ‘em, right?!  They’re so meaningful to us.

We found all of the wall art on Etsy, except for the gorgeous and thoughtful quote art.  My great friend in NY made that for me – thanks, Jenn!!!

I LOVE the nursing/reading nook by the window.  It’s so cozy.  Didn’t my Mom do an awesome job recovering the glider???  NAILED IT.  It’s perfect – thanks, Mom!  ♥

DIY Projects: I added the yellow ribbon to the chalkboard and lampshades.  I also made the curtain pullbacks with the yellow ribbon (and other small and cheap hardware pieces).  I made the mobile and I added the hearts to our home cities (Albany and Charleston) onto the state maps.

I threw that clock in the cube organizer last minute (I had a book opened and standing in place of it originally).  We still CANNOT figure out the perfect spot for that thing, but it’ll live there for now.  or for at least the next 5 minutes.  What a pain that clock has been – location suggestions welcome!

We love that there is still a lot of room to grow (re: space within the furniture, closet, bins, and baskets) and wall space to adorn, if and when we so chose.  I picture some large canvas prints on either wall in the nursing/reading nook of some pregnancy photos and then Baby T.’s newborn photos.  I also imagine a growth chart on the wall in the corner by the cube organizer and closet door. Maybe a little kid-sized coat rack somewhere.  Some more decorations on the top of the bookcase.  Baby’s name somewhere, even?  A baby will soon be in that crib…THAT I am sure of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite parts of the room are the personalized ones…the glider, the DIY projects, the blocks, the books, and the state prints.  What’s your favorite part?  What am I missing/what did I forget?  Anything look completely impractical?  What’s your favorite part of YOUR baby’s nursery?  

Phew – another BIG project checked off of the list!!!  I hope you enjoyed the big reveal!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

p.s. 17 days or less was YESTERDAY’S count.  Now 16 is the number – EEK and YAY! 

Beach Count: 77  

Pool Count: 32 

High Temperature: 89° 

Okay, maybe I should’ve emptied out the crib for the full effect (but there will be better pictures once we put more pieces together).  I present to you – BABY T.’s CRIB!!!

Pre-dresser, obviously.  We LOVE it!

We walk into the nursery often, just because we miss it.  There’s a calm that comes over me in that room that I can’t even explain.  ♥  

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

20 DAYS TIL SUMMER!

Beach Count: 74   

Pool Count: 26 

High Temperature: 82° 

A LOT needs to get done in this house, pre-baby.  Less than 15 weeks to go….we need to get busy!  Here’s our current status on the House To-Do List…

HOUSE -

- Purchase and install blinds for our bedroom.  No more peeking, neighbs!

- Clean out every room, every drawer, every corner, nook, and cranny.  Every closet, every EVERYTHING (ohhh, does the kitchen need work!!!)

- Wash down all of the baseboards, doors, and railings (yawn)

- Wash all of the windows, inside and out

- Clean the grout in the kitchen – awesome job, Scooter!

- Purchase a rug non-slip pad

- Put up some new shelving in the garage → Mom’s on it!

- Organize garage/attic/closets (including the beer storage situation!)

- Cover cords in spare room

- Purchase a hook for the stroller

BABY’S ROOM -

- Steam baby’s rug (to get out the kinks) - thanks, Dad!

- Spackle baby’s room walls

- Sand baby’s room walls

- Paint baby’s room

- Purchase crib, dresser, lamp(s), glider, curtains, walls prints/art, closet organizers, and other decor

WISHLIST -

- Purchase a small island with 2 stools for our kitchen…Mom and Dad just gave us a butcher block-like table with shelves/no stools.  It’s in the kitchen right now – marinating

- Buy 2 new pillows for the couch (this has nothing to do with the baby, but I’ve been wanting these for a while!)

- Purchase and install screen door

- Purchase a new welcome mat and hanging baskets to fancy up the front door (what?  we’ll have lots of visitors!)

I’m sure I’m forgetting tons of things, but this is the list we’re working with so far. It’s time for us to start chipping away, Trottier!

Nursery Peek #2

This is like a double sneak peek – the dresser AND bedding pattern =)

What can I say?  I’m feeling generous tonight!

We spent a lot of time on finding the right dresser without breaking the bank.  I found this one at Home Decor Furniture and Floor Liquidators for $230 before tax.  The best part (according to Scott)?  It.was.already.put.together (minus putting on the drawer handles).  SCORE!

Our bedding pattern for Baby T. is Skip Hop Mod Dot.  They carry it at Target and many other places.

Happy Friday tomorrow, everyone!  I cannot wait for the weekend.  

What does everyone have planned?

p.s. Look at this huge 13-foot gator that was found (dead) less than an hour from here.  YIKES!

p.s.s. I passed my glucose test – wahoo!

Beach Count: 72   

Pool Count: 24

High Temperature: 88° =)

I think I’ve been holding out long enough, no?

Remember this picture of the 9-cube organizer?

Well that’s what it looked like against the brown wall.  THIS is what it looks like against the freshly painted walls in Valspar’s Nordic Blue (with some randomness on there, for now).

Much better, right?

But since you’ve already seen that piece of furniture (Target), I’ll give you even more of a sneak peek.  Check out the rug that I’m in LOVE with from Urban Outfitters…

Yay! (sorry the lighting isn’t great!)

So – gray and white chevron, baby blue, and primary colors will be the reoccurring color “theme” in Baby T.’s nursery.  Bold and not gender-specific (we think this blue says “baby” and not “boy”).

Interested in more details?  Stay tuned as I share more sneak peeks!

We are headed downtown to the Farmer’s Market this morning with two of our great friends.  Can’t wait!  

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!!

Beach Count: 72   

Pool Count: 23 

High Temperature: 78°

12 months is a long time.  As promised, with each year, those months feel shorter and quicker and, well, sneakier.  Here goes my first attempt at a year in review!  I suggest a beverage and  a snack break around June/July…it was a busy year!

Disclaimer: *Charm* wasn’t born until March of 2011, so (as you’ll see), January and February are pretty fuzzy.  This fact reminds me why I not only write this blog for YOU but as a documenting tool for ME.  =)  Also, I planned on highlighting each month with just ONE picture (“Highlights, Sarah, HIGHLIGHTS!”).  Fat chance…that lasted 1 month!

The Year 2011!

1 – JANUARY

We were fresh off our snow-filled trip to NY, SO happy to be home in 70° weather.  We took a trip to the beach, took some trips downtown, and celebrated Scott’s 32nd birthday.  (Apparently, by ourselves according to the picture above!) Hmph – I’ll document this January a little more seriously  ;)

2 – FEBRUARY

We visited the South Carolina Aquarium for the first time.  I swiftly blogged about it in June.  #oops  #FAIL

We went to a fun Super Bowl party with great friends where I won an award for my garbage bread – yay!

We had an awesome visit from our awesome Scottish friends, Jeremy and Carrianne.  Martelle even came down from Charlotte for a bit to visit (you remember him, right?).  We all fawned over Baileigh-boo and had a fabulous time!  If only we lived a little closer!!!  xoxo

All of us, minus gorgeous Carrianne (if only pictures could take themselves!).  

Lastly, we went to Brewvival and had a ball.  We need to get on the tickets for this year, STAT!  Chucktown peeps, if you like beer and good food – do it, do it, DO IT!

3 – MARCH

We had our second beer tasting at the house, celebrated St. Patty’s Day at Westbrook, and pimped out our patio.

And shall I not forget, I published my very first post on *Charm of Charleston* where I introduced Spikey to the world!

Dead already?  I think so  =(

4 – APRIL

April was bizzzz-eeeeee!  

We had our first Bridge Run experience (sans the actual running part).  What a fun time downtown.  Can you say MIMOSAS?!

Pool weather, it was!

The Brewers stopped by for a quick 5-hour visit on their drive down to Florida (I think this was April and not February??).

I went to my first ever tennis match at the Family Circle Cup and learned that this is a quiet event (who knew?!).

Scott’s brother, Johnny, came down for his first visit.  Scott’s parents’ also came down for their first visit, overlapping Johnny’s by a few days.  Good times!!!

I went to my first Southern wedding…Buffie and Jay’s!

Scott’s parents left and mine came in on the very same day (zZzZzZ)!  We celebrated Easter at Boone Hall Plantation, commemorated the Royal Wedding, and my parents picked out their future house!

AND THEN, we slept  =)

5 – MAY

We checked out downtown Charleston’s Farmer’s Market for the first time, I drooled over the best.burger.ever from Coleman Public House, we soaked up some 90° days, I confessed my ridiculous issues with blinking, and I met the lovely and talented Christina behind Hungry Meets Healthy!

6 – JUNE

We bought the iPad 2 and went to NY for 23 days.  We saw all of our favorite friends and family, went to our friend Katrina’s wedding, and spent as much time as possible at Scott’s parents’ lake house.  The biggest event?  Mom and Dad said goodbye to living in the Northeast and MOVED TO CHARLESTON!

::How ya holdin’ up?  Snacky time?  Hang in, we’re halfway there!::

7 – JULY

Well, I blogged once a day during July (er, 31 blogs in 31 days) and loved-every-second-of-it!

Big things happened this month.  BIG!  Christina and Mike visited from NY for the 4th (!!!), Scott and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Charleston AND our 3rd wedding anniversary, we bid farewell to Spikey while welcoming Spunky into the family, Mom and Dad closed on their house, and we found out that we were pregnant.

8 – AUGUST

We celebrated Shark Week by watching a screening of Jaws on the lawn at the Aquarium – FUN!  We checked out the ginormously spectacular tree that is Angel Oak and fell in love with Kiawah Island.  Mom, Dad, and I went to the 8th Annual Wine Stomping Festival at Irvin House Vineyards.  I did some cleaning that resulted in this flashback, this one, and this one.  Luckily, we dodged a large bullet that was Hurricane Irene.  And on a Debbie Downer note, we found out the worst news possible – that we lost our baby.

9 – SEPTEMBER

EXCLUSIVE: Scott was busted for being his bad@$$ self and experienced the rare comfort of the back of a cop-mobile.  A-gain.  Did I forget to share that in September?  (Jokes, it’s our neighbor’s “ride.”  Yes, we’re cool enough to stage fake arrests.  What?!)

Y’all helped me decide that I am a Carolina Gamecocks fan, I poured my heart out on 9/11, and we had our 3rd beer tasting party,

10 – OCTOBER

We celebrated our house anniversary, I shared my you-can-barely-see-me magazine debut, I was invited to and attended Southern Living’s Taste of Charleston event at Boone Hall Plantation, I had a week-long birthday celebration, we went to Charlotte Oktoberfest (where Scott’s homebrew was on tap!), and visited Asheville, NC!!!

11 – NOVEMBER

Scott received his ribbon for coming in first place for his saison in the Savannah Homebrew Contest, we experienced a gorgeous sunset on Sullivan’s, checked out Middleton Place (whoops, still need to blog about this!), and had a 36-hour Knupp marathon IN CHARLESTON.  We also hosted Thanksgiving for the 2nd time – this year with my parents, brother (for his first Chucktown visit), and brother in-law.  =)

 12 - DECEMBER

Scott and I went on our first annual trip (oh yes, it’ll be an annual thang) to Brookgreen Gardens for Nights of a Thousand Candles.  Ahhh – romance. ♥

My first guest blogger, the hilarious Brooke at Veggie Table, shared her great honeymoon in Charleston with us (yay – thanks again!!!)

ANDDDDD…I basically slacked for the rest of December!

And there was my year is a very large and wordy nutshell ← typical ME!

Seriously though, 2011 year was filled with MANY ups and some pretty down-in-the-dumps downs.  I blogged through it all and am very grateful for the opportunity to share my life with YOU.  Thanks for the memories 2011, but 2012 is going to be MY YEAR!!!

Happy New Year, loves! ♥

p.s. If you actually read through this entire post, we are officially best friends forever.  

Beach Count: 64  

High Temperature: 60°  

IS…

[drumroll please]

a  N-E-W  M-I-C-R-O-W-A-VE!!!  [cue ridiculously pathetic clapping]

Oh no, that wasn’t it.

But we had to drop 200ish big ones on one anyway, because the old heater-upper’s circuit board (yes, seriously…I said “circuit board”) decided to poop out when a light bulb died.  Awesome.

Exciting, huh?

It’s an after-Christmas-project.

For the record, we’ve been microwave-less for almost 2 weeks now and life has been just fine.  All I’ve missed it for was melting butter (for Scott’s special popcorn, of course), reheating brown rice, and double-checking the time (what? the oven clock could all of a sudden be wrong – weirder things have happened!).

Maybe we should’ve bought a TV to put above the oven instead?

Oh well [cough, bah humbug, cough]!

I have dreams of new bras, socks, and underwear to round out my Christmas dreams.  

How about you?!

p.s. Don’t you love homeownership?

Beach Count: 64  

High Temperature: 74° 

I missed our house anniversary.  By like a month.  Oops.  (Do I ever not miss an important inanimate object’s anniversary/birthday?  Ugh!)

To refresh your memory…

We started casually (yeah right!) searching for a house around July 27th of last year.  We bid on and *won* our house within days and then closed on this bad boy on August 30th.  We moved in Labor Day weekend on September 3rd (after our NY lives arrived on a large tractor trailer!).  For more details, click here to visit the old blog.

Aw, Scott is such a good sport!!!

Since then, we haven’t done a whole lotta huge changes to the place.  Trust me, we have some biggish plans.  Biggish in relation to dolla dolla bills more than in style or structure.  Here’s the breakdown…

What We’ve Done

• Painted both downstairs bathrooms (our master twice due to poor judgment and my eh–we-don’t-need-to-test-out-a-sample-first smarts) – 1 purple (what? we live in colorful and charming Charleston!) and one khaki (after the eye-numbing yellow mistake!).
• Painted the upstairs hallway.
• Had our carpets cleaned twice.
• Painted the front door and shutters.
• Tricked out our screened-in patio to where it feels like another room and not a patio
• Planted Spikey, then Spunky!

Yikes – notsomuch

What We’d Like to Do (If I were a fluent Pinterest-er I would show you some ideas, but just like Twitter – mama needs a lesson!)

• Our biggest dream project…hardwood floors on the first floor!
• Purchase a rolling, rectangular island to put by the big kitchen window (but roll out into the middle for big cooking/baking/beer making operations).  2 stools that fit under would be an amazing addition.  Those of you who know Scott know that lots of ganging up measuring and convincing have taken a toll on him and he has officially been worn down.  Welcome to the island bandwagon dear.  =)
• Put hardware on the cabinets in the kitchen and the bathrooms…I think.
• Granite countertops would be nice, but what we’ve got really doesn’t bother us much.  A backsplash below the cabinets would be awesome, though!
• Have the family room painted.  OR just befriend someone with a taller-than-ours ladder to get down all of the accumulating dust balls up there.  That would do it for me.  Those buggers drive me nutty.
• Buy a long table console or bench for the entrance area.
• Freshen up some paint.
• Find a new bookcase for the downstairs main area…haven’t really liked the the one we have now since day 1…oops.  I’ll fall in deep love with its replacement before purchasing [insert Scott giving me "the look"].
• Get something awesome to put on the wall above our bed.
• Lose the Hollywood/police interrogation light fixtures in the bathrooms – the ballet class mirrors, too!
• Put up more shelving in the garage to maximize our storage situation (it is quite a situation!).
• Put up horizontal blinds in our bedroom (because our curtains are quite see through and that is no good!).

Keep in mind, this is our 5-7 year house.  We need not go crazy.

If we never get any of the above list checked off, we’d still be happy here.  It’s our first house that is definitely our home!

As long as Scott’s by my side and we get the privilege of living in the city that we love (Charleston!!!) - that is truly all I need!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, HOUSE!!!

Beach Count: 61  

Pool Count: 18 ← It’s unfortunately time to retire this stat until the Spring…our pool is closed for the season!

High Temperature: 71° (woah – this was a shock to the system, but beautiful!)

Mom and Dad are IN!  Ummmm, how happy do they look?!?!?!?!

A little sassy even!

Their truck was supposed to come on Wednesday.  However, due to a little office-in-NY mixup, it came yesterday.  God bless the 4 men (2 of which moved US into OUR home almost a year ago!) who moved 7,000 something pounds up and down stairs in 97° heat.  What a crazy hard job!  A shout out to Eduardo (he prefers to be called “Homie,” but I just can’t) and his crew – you were the best! (FYI: Homie is SO not reading this.)

Things were too messy hectic at the house yesterday for Mom and Dad to sleep there, but tonight might be the night!  Mom is an ninja at unpacking.  And Dad? He’s good at hiding.  Haha – just kidding, Dad (kinda).  The place looks GREAT and the new furniture looks AWESOME, thanks to Mom’s cut-out-$1 store wrapping paper-in-the-same-size-as-the-furniture-to-figure-out-how-it’ll-look-while-at-the-closing technique.  See…

You should’ve seen their realtor/our friend’s reaction to that trickery!  We are crazy creative!  (Yes – creative, too!)

That’s right, $herdog and John at Young House Love, why didn’t you think of that?!  Haha.

CONGRATULATIONS on your new digs, Mom and Dad!  Welcome to the neighborhood!!!

p.s. I’m brewing up the idea of a “Mom and Dad’s Corner” of the blog.  They’re newbies in the South, too, and they lived in the North much longer than we did!  Name ideas for their “corner?!”

p.s.s. I loved my friend Sean’s post on Facebook today (we went to the same high school in NY, but he now lives in Chucktown) – “Everyone up north is complaining about the crazy heat wave. Funny I call it June through August.”

Beach Count: 52

Pool Count: 14

High Temperature: 97°

It’s not what you think.  I did not snap the picture below.  I’m going to promise you right now that if I ever see an alligator with my own eyes, I will NOT be looking for my camera to have documented proof.  H-E double hockey sticks to the N-O.  Double pinkie swear.  However, a neighbor of ours who is much dumber braver than I did take the picture below…IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD! We (thankfully) do not live near this or any pond, but neighbors very close by do.

This picture and bit of information was shared on our HOA’s website.  The picture was taken on 3/14/11.  I’m not really sure what to say about this.  To be honest, I’m a little flustered.  I have known that these bad boys were around in the South, Charleston included, but I didn’t think that they’d be our neighbor. Same goes for those scary snakes (you all remember Scott’s copperhead encounter, don’t you?).  Craziness!

I figure that ignorance is bliss knowledge is power, right?  So I decided that first things’s first – it’s time this 28 years old woman understand the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.  (I must’ve had a cold that day in Kindergarten.)  So where do I go for this information?  Well where else does a girl look for important information but on YouTube, of course!  I found this gem below.  Not only is it informative, but it made me dance a little.

Who knew you’d actually learn something from this blog, right?  (Anybody else just listen to it while searching on other websites?)  Well at least now I’m more aware that these things are for real.  I’m not sure how that makes my life better, but I’m sure there’s a silver lining to this realization.  While I’m figuring that out, I’ll look both ways before leaving my house.

Disclaimer: I am sure that all of my neighbors are extremely smart and nice and productive and caring and awesome.

p.s. Please follow me on Google Friend Connect – learn how by looking on the right side of the page.

p.s.s. Please ‘like’ Charm of Charleston on Facebook!  Y’all are awesome!

Beach Count: 35

High Temperature: 74° (and gorgeous!)