Two weekends ago, Scott and I unplugged from the world and had a Babymoon Staycation.  Ahhh – it was amazing!  We only have about 9 more weekends alone (fingers crossed) until this baby comes.  It was both worth it and necessary.

Here were the rules – NO PHONE, NO COMPUTER/IPAD, NO TV (except for one show/movie at night for sleeping’s sake), and NO CHEATING!

We took like 1 picture and a couple of sad lookin’ videos, so we don’t have much to show for it.  [What?!  We were staycationing!]  But, it really was the best!  I’ve since proposed that Scott and I do this once a month…seriously.

For real, it was freeing.  I absolutely recommend giving it a try!

This was our weekend…

FRIDAY

- Dinner downtown at Cypress!  This place has been on our list for a long, long time (our Charleston restaurant list is long and strong).  My brother gave us a gift certificate there for Christmas (ahem-in May-cough), so we were thrilled to finally get there.  It was gorgeous inside, we had an amazing waiter, and the food made us do that this-food-is-so-good-I’m-going-to-dance-a-little-in-my-chair thing.  We took a stroll to the upstairs bar afterwards.  We’ll definitely go back there for their happy hour menu!

Yes, I have sweeeet video skills!

- Rooftop at Market Pavilion Hotel Bar.  We’ve never been disappointed with the views, the breeze, or the cool atmosphere up there.  They have these awesome new heaters that I was obsessed with.  A couple more weeks and the plexiglass will be down for an even better view.  (You can’t really see anything in the following video but some dark coolness.  You’re welcome.)

SATURDAY

- A stroll around Freshfields Village in Kiawah Island and then some beach time at Beachwalker Park on Kiawah.

The 2nd video shows the pretty trees better  =)

- Home to freshen up and then downtown for dinner at Basil, one of our favorite Charleston restaurants.  YUM!

SUNDAY

- It was Mother’s Day – so we of course broke the rules to see my Mom!  Scott and my Dad cooked us breakfast.  Scott gave me a new Pandora charm and a sweet card.  I didn’t feel like it was my first Mother’s Day really – it felt more like my Mother’s Day half-birthday.  I need to earn that title!!!  Oh – and Scott got me a grande decaf mocha cookie crumble light Frappuccino.  Yum!  (It was my 4th of the week, due to the awesome Happy Hour deal!)

- We spent some time at the pool.

- We put together a gazillion baby items that were lined up in boxes by the front door.

- I don’t remember the rest.

Overall, we did nothing extravagant or over the top.  We just enjoyed our “alone time” and realized how important and EASY it truly is to unplug.  It was SO.RELAXING.

And guess what?  When we plugged back in, we realized that we didn’t miss much AND no one really missed us!

I love you, Scott Michael Trottier!  This weekend was one that I will hold onto for a very long time!

XOXO

Beach Count: 75   

Pool Count: 29 

High Temperature: 86° 

As most of you know, I had a miscarriage in August.

I know…I’m weird…I talk about it.

Although I don’t buy the whole “everything happens for a reason” bologna, I do believe that good can come out of even the worst of situations.  Although good may not be great, it’s better than bad.  You get me?  I knew that you would!

What’s the good, you ask?  Well, I consider helping others as good….I hope to do just that.

Since having a miscarriage is a seriously taboo topic (who knew?  trust me – I’ve found out that it is), I’ve had a hard time finding anyone with whom to relate. I’m a big blog follower and I found that there’s not much out there about women’s personal miscarriage experiences.  Seeing as miscarriages are incredibly common…this made me incredibly annoyed.  As we all know, not talking about particular taboo issues breeds shame.  like a weed.  and I am not having it.

[Here comes the good.]

My first blog just went live as a guest blogger on Babycenter.com [enter goosebumps - this is kind of a big deal for me!].  There will be 6 posts altogether over the next few weeks where I talk candidly about the devastating ins and outs of enduring a miscarriage…from finding out, to what it’s been like to go through, and finally to where we hope to go from here.

Please check out the first post and follow our journey.  Maybe this opportunity will turn into something non-guestlike.  A girl can dream!!!  

Thank you for all of your positivity and support.  I love my blog family!

p.s. The brother in-law comes in 3 days; the brother in 5!  Check out our forecast =)

p.s.s. Congrats to one of my best friends, Kristen, on her new baby girl Caroline Emily!!!!!!  ♥

Beach Count: 64  

High Temperature: 79° 

So – my super gorgeous friend, Christina, asked me and her super gorgeous friend, Amanda, to join her in having a photo taken for Charleston City Paper‘s yearly bar guide, Swig.  Charleston.loves.this.girl.  LOVES!

The shoot (oh, how model-y!) was at the W XYZ Bar at Aloft Hotel in North Charleston.  It was quite humorous and awkward (yuh mean – have this drink, but don’t really drink it?), but amusing for sure.

Well, Swig came out as an insert in the City Paper yesterday.  I didn’t know until I was already home from work, so I looked it up online.

And this is what I saw.

whant

               whant

                             whaahhhhh

Haha.

No, for reals, that’s totally me.

You mix a short, curvy, dark & curly-haired broad in with 2 blonde bombshells and you get a lonely ant in the background.  A lonely thirsty, thirsty ant.

When I told my Dad about my unfortunate debut, he said, “well, you’re always a star in our eyes!”  Aww – thanks, Dad!  What’d the husband say when he saw the pic?  ”Oh look – you’re an extra!”  Supportive babe.  Really, thanks!

Today, I saw the picture on Christina’s Facebook that’s in the actual City Paper (I still haven’t gotten my hands on one).  And now, I feel a little redeemed.   [At least I'm not alone at the bar in this one.]

Well from palm trees to homeownership to baby making to blogging – Charleston has definitely brought out the “why not” in me!  I always cherish the opportunity to have new and different experiences – so thanks for inviting me, Christina!

CHARLESTON – This time I may be just sneaking into your background.  But before you know it, I’ll be all up in your grill!!!

p.s. I promise I’m not looking for pity comments about my stature or hair color. I realize that I am one blessed b-to-the-itch.

Beach Count: 61  

High Temperature: 78°

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!)

Random Charleston facts of the week that make me smile.  Like I need more bragging rights?!

1. What is the Number 1 New Restaurant in America in 2011, named by Bon Appétit Magazine (September Edition)?  Husk Restaurant in downtown Charleston!  Heck no has this been the first public praise bestowed upon this 10-month old restaurant.  Check out the 36 press links on Husk’s website!  Have we gotten our butts there yet?  Well…no.  We almost went there for our anniversary, but their fresh food-to-table menu changes on the daily and we weren’t overly excited about that night’s choices.  We will make a point to get there before 2011 is over!

source

2. Hootie and the Blowfish were in town last weekend as part of their Homegrown Tour Concert Series.  Darius Rucker is a Charleston native and is not shy about his love for hometown.  Recent evidence from his Facebook page…

I hear that his family is still rooted here in Charleston.  A friend of mine saw his family out at a restaurant a few months ago.  When she said “hi,” she said he was extremely nice and down to earth.  The lead guitarist has adopted Charleston as his hometown, as well!

During the 2-night concert series at the Family Circle Cup on Daniel Island (where I saw my very first tennis match), the band encouraged folks to bring school supplies to donate to Charleston County Schools.  This is reportedly at least the 5th year of fundraising.  What a great message!  Scott and I hope to be a part of this next year!  (More on the concert here.)

3. The one and only Taylor Swift was reportedly in Charleston the past 2 days.  No no – not for a concert, but for a little R&R.  Yup – that’s right!

source

Isn’t she gorgeous?!

Scott and I are am a HUGE fan (if you don’t have her latest album, you need to get it…STAT!) and was so excited to hear this news!  Miss Swift was spotted looking like her typical red-carpet-ready self while shopping at Copper Penny on King Street downtown.  Later, she went to Water’s Edge restaurant on Shem Creek in Mt. Pleasant.  I’VE BEEN THERE FOR DINNER.  Okay appetizers on the patio, but STILL!  She had the salmon.  I think I like salmon again. Haha.

Water’s Edge pic with Mom and Jen

4. There’s a big spread in Southern Living magazine featuring local chefs – Robert Stehling of Hominy Grill (remember our recent visit?), Mike Lata of FIG, and Sean Brock of McCrady’s and Husk.  I hear nothing but GREAT THINGS about FIG…another place we need to get to!  It’s a “Chef Showdown – Lowcountry Style.”  Check out this article!  (I suggest having a napkin handy for your impending drool.)

I LOVE WHERE I LIVE!!!

p.s. Labor Day visitors – are you making a list of must-see/eat/experience in Charleston yet?

p.s.s. I’m unplugging for a little bit.  See you next week!

Beach Count: 57

Pool Count: 18

High Temperature: 88º

This year was the first time that I actually paid any attention to the buzz that surrounds Shark Week.  It never really caught my eye or sounded of any interest to me in the past.  But since we now live by the ocean and frequent floating in it, I figured I’d better educate myself.

Bad. idea.

I watched bits and pieces of a few shows.  Frightening!  My favorite was the episode narrated by Craig Ferguson, the self-proclaimed 3rd best late night TV show host.  Haha.  He lightened up the shark-y mood!  Otherwise, the rest of the programming scared me speechless (yes, this is hard to do!).

After getting a little worked up due to some unnecessary learning, we went to Sullivan’s Island.  Long story short(ish) → A father was yelling at his son not to go too deep into the water because of sharks.  Yes, he was yelling “sharks” at the beach (which is kinda like yelling “bomb” on a plane to me, but who am I?).  The father continues to explain to his son that a bartender from NY at Taco Mamacita said that Sullivan’s Island has had the most shark sightings of all of the local beaches.  (We know that bartender – Hi Jackie!)  I went to lay on my towel at this point while my fish of a husband stayed in the water much longer.  When Scott finally joined me back on the beach, he tells me that the guy fishing right near the young boy (note: right where we were swimming) just caught a 2 foot shark.  Really?  REALLY?  I don’t care if he was only 2 feet…it was 2 feet too long.  Yeah, I was done with swimming that day.

Do you think that sharks have some sort of meeting prior to Shark Week to make sure their teeth are all on the same page?  If so, I think it goes a little somethin’ like this…

Oy – I have an active imagination, huh.

Moving on!

The best part of Shark Week was going to the South Carolina Aquarium in downtown Charleston for a viewing of Jaws on the lawn.  First of all, this event was free (minus a few dollars for parking).  All were encouraged to bring chairs/blankets, but no coolers.  Luckily, food and drink were for sale.  $3 beers, $2 sodas, $1 waters; $2 hot dogs, $1 popcorn, and cheap nachos, too.  Seriously – the prices were generous!  They were giving away sunglasses, I ♥ Shark pins (I couldn’t get my hands on one!), providing shark facts, and walking around with shark teeth.  It was very cute.  Oh, and we got free Shark Week koozies.  Score!

Truth be told, I had never seen all of Jaws before.  I’m glad I finally have!

We had a great time!  Especially when the blow-up screen slowly collapsed a few times.  It made the movie that much more dramatic…the lightening going on in the far distance added to the drama!

Ahh, Shark Week.  It was fun while it lasted, no?  Anyone get really sucked in?!

p.s. I must face the facts – I’m back to work this week.  Hmph.  One last beach hurrah of the “summer” tomorrow, if the weather cooperates.

p.s.s. Did you know that each year there are only 3 reported shark injuries in the U.S. versus the startling and just-plain-weird 60,000 reported toilet injuries?  Yeah – chew on that!

Beach Count: 56

Pool Count: 18

High Temperature: 95°