Weekend Review

Any weekend that begins with puppies and ends up with steak is a good weekend to me, but I think that goes without saying.  We were lucky enough to have some adventures together this weekend, including lusting over a new car.  Here is what we were up to this weekend:

We began our new activity together as volunteers with the Charleston Animal Society by participating in Volunteer Orientation for Saturday morning.  We are still waiting for our next steps but are overly excited about getting to help animals find good homes.  I think this volunteering will really allow us to use our individual talents to help Charleston Animal Society and we can have some fun together while doing it.  It will also fend off my constant desires to have MORE animals in our house.

Following orientation we headed to the Ford dealership to check out the Ford Explorers they have on hand, a car that is on our "want but do not need" list. Naturally, we left without the car, but still lusting a bit over it. 

 Sunday afternoon saw a new attempt to grow some plants around this place! We will see how long this container garden flourishes in our yard.   I have big plans for fall vegetation on our porch, so here is my last ditch attempt at giving our townhouse some curb appeal for summer 2015.

...and now I will bring you to the portion of our weekend where I was left taking photos of our food.   As a wedding present we were very generously gifted a dinner at Halls Chophouse here in Charleston, which also lands itself on our Charleston Foodie Bucket list and earns me the ability to delightfully check this off!  We have nothing but glowing reviews of our food and service at Halls!  From the second we arrived to our exit, we were treated very special and made to have an amazing dining experience that we will never forget.  But most importantly...I bring you #photosofourfood

 Shrimp and Grits was my entree.  The husband got the bison with a side of Macaroni and Cheese!

 A chop salad to top all chop salads of my life!

 The dining staff gave us free champagne to celebrate our newlywed status.  Cheers to Halls!

 Complimentary, celebratory Peach Cobbler (with candle) to celebrate marital bliss!

 Dress is from Vestique/ Earrings are Stella and Dot (old) /

And at the end of the dinner and weekend, we all felt a little bit like this after that delicious and filling meal.  Cheers to the thoughtfulness of our dear friends!

Our Master Bedroom Redone!

Following our wedding, one of the most excited projects I wanted to work on was our master bedroom in our new (to us) rental townhouse.  The room is huge and our measly queen bed was just not quite giving us room to sleep comfortably, nor was it filling up the room nicely.  We also lacked the essentials like matching side tables and a dresser of any sort.   Living in Charleston, you'd be shocked at the lack of furniture stores to fit our needs!  Coming from North Carolina we were used to being surrounded by different stores.  After what felt like weeks of searching for an upholstered headboard that ALSO included wood (Rich's one request), we found the perfect set at Ashley Furniture.  We decided to get the side tables, which included a built in place to charge our phones and a tiny sliding table to place morning coffee.Check!  We also decided to get the King Bed and the Dresser and mirror to round out our bedroom update.

I've been drawn to the serenity and calm of an all white bedding set.  We used a ton of Pottery Barn gift cards to purchase a new sheet set, duvet, shams, and euro pillows to round out our look.  I used the pictures below as my inspiration, mostly because the photos made me want to dive right into these beds and never leave.

Publix Sea Food Bag Dinner Night

In an effort to eat new foods and meal plan for our weekly dinners together, Rich picked up the Publix Fresh Seafood Bag on our most recent grocery trip. Publix makes dinner so easy with this new deal.  They assemble the meal for you in a special bag that makes sure all the ingredients are fresh and flavorful.  You get to select the flavor you'd like to have it from this list of options:

Our Honeymoon

Thank you Royal Caribbean for providing us a dream honeymoon!  Following our first night stay at the O'Henry Hotel in Greensboro, we rose bright and early for a quick trip to the airport and a flight to Ft. Lauderdale where we would be catching our cruise on the Independence of the Seas!

Our room had a fantastic balcony and we spent most nights enjoying the Caribbean views all around us.  

Engagement Photos in Charleston

Some of my most favorite photos from Rich and I's relationship have come from our Engagement Shoot, completed by our amazing photographer Jenny Tenney.  Rich and I had dreamed of having our engagement photos shot down here in Charleston.  Charleston is the city where we met, fell in love, and now reside and holds a special place in our hearts.  Plus, it's CHARLESTON!  A photography dream, and thankfully Jenny felt the same and so happened to be headed this way for a family vacation.  Serendipity brings us to these photos!  It was a warm day for February 1st, but at the day drug on the temperature started to dip.    Thankfully, we were able to get some shots we will treasure forever!