Charleston Maternity Photos

Now that I'm back from my blogging hiatus (here's my last post with all of our baby photos, if you missed it!), I figured I would go back and share all of the things that I skipped out on, not blogging regularly for the last few months of my pregnancy.  What better way to start than with our maternity photos!  Ashleigh from Following Seas Photography (who took our newborn photos and did a 3 year anniversary shoot with us a couple years ago), spent an afternoon around Charleston with us about a month and a half before Calvin was born.  Looking back on it, I have no idea how that belly kept growing for 6 more weeks after this - I look huge. 

One of the best pieces of advice I got from one of my friends in regard to photos while pregnant was to wear short or long sleeves.  I planned on wearing a sleeveless dress, and I'm so glad I didn't because I felt a little self-conscious of that specific weight gain - haha!  I absolutely loved this dress and felt so confident in it - totally necessary with thirty pounds of weight gain!  Here's a link to the dress I wore (they also have it in lilac here).  Old Navy was my go-to for maternity dresses when I was pregnant, and I got this one and this one, too.  One thing I will tell you is not to be afraid to order more than one size at a time.  Their dresses all fit differently (some have tags that say "fitted" on them, but that's not noted on the website, so you don't know until you get them).  Even though they don't carry the maternity line at their stores (except for a few items in the clearance section that are returns), you can return it there.  I hate the post office and returning online orders!  As for Mike, he wore a button down that he got when we went to the Masters the week prior. 

2019 at The Masters and DIY Round Up

Happy Masters weekend, friends!  Last July, I received one of the most amazing emails ever: I was selected for the random Masters ticket lottery.  If you haven't heard of it before, this is how tickets are distributed for the tournament; someone in your household can enter the free lottery in the spring, and in the summertime, you hear if you were accepted or not.  Well, we were selected for 4 Tuesday practice round tickets, and I've been looking forward to this week ever since.

We arrived before the 7am gate opening (even though every website will tell you 8am, you can actually get in an hour earlier to go to the gift shop, concessions, and practice range before access to the course opens at 8am).  We ate chicken biscuits, shopped for ourselves (and all of our families), and checked all of our purchases to pick up later.

As you can probably tell from my first few photos, it was a rainy morning, but we made the most of it and got great seats in Amen Corner to watch the couple of groups come through.  While Mike drank a couple beers, I had the famous Stand 12 punch (lemonade, blue powerade, and Sprite) along with plenty of sandwiches and peach ice cream sandwiches.

 Around 11am, we did get kicked out for a couple of hours as a line of thunderstorms was in the area, but at 12:45 when they let us back in, the sun came out and the rest of the afternoon was perfect!

I'm unsure if we will be back next year after our little dude is born, but we will definitely still be entering the lottery, just in case!

Whether or not you're headed to August this weekend, if you plan on celebrating this weekend, click on the photo below to visit my post and get in the spirit!

 

 

Here's to New Adventures: Baby Taylor Arriving in May!

If you follow me on social media, you may have seen our announcement a week or so ago, but it's true: Mike and I are expecting a little one in May!  I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant and absolutely so excited to meet our new little bestie this spring!

We didn't send Christmas cards this year and decided to wait and mail New Year's cards (Remember this post?  I wasn't as behind as I claimed, we were just planning ahead - haha!) after we told all of our families over our Christmas trip to New England.

We had actually planned all year to use a photo from last January's South Carolina snowstorm, but then this news trumped that a bit.  We still decided to use that photo on the back of our cards with some blank space to write notes to our friends and family who we weren't able to see over the holidays.

Nice job to those of you with a keen eye who messaged me after I shared my One Second Everyday video from 2018!  You may have seen quick snippets of a pregnancy test and Mike's reaction on our anniversary (yes, I found out the day before our 4th anniversary and keeping it a secret to tell him on our anniversary was the most difficult thing ever!), a few ultrasound photos, and excited family around the holidays in those seconds of video. 

There has been quite a bit of radio silence around these parts over the last couple of months, and while I've been feeling great, I've been pretty tired after work and haven't had a lot of ideas outside of this big news taking up most of my brain!  My real-life goal is to post once per week for the foreseeable future.  I feel like that's a number that I can actually stick to, and we'll take it from there!  If there's anything you'd like for me to share, please let me know!

2018: One Second Everyday

At the start of 2018, I watched my friend, Macy's "1 Second Everyday" video.  Seriously, how cool of a concept is that?!  It's only a small moment of your day, but it's so much more fun to look back on than photos alone.  Somehow, I actually kept a resolution last year and recorded every. single. day.

It's certainly been a wild one for us, and we can't wait for all that's in store in 2019!!

Anniversary Reflections: Year Four

Today marks four years since Mike and I said "I do."

Seriously, this one's been a good one.  I don't know how to describe it besides to say that everything seems to have just perfectly fallen into place.  We have our home-life balance (where I do the laundry and you do all the dishes - haha), weeknights of kickball, dinners cooked together, weekend adventures, and cuddles with our cats.  We don't have a ton of traditions, but we have made sure to keep our photo one going again this year!

As with our first 3 years, we had plenty of amazing trips together.  It started with Mike surprising me with a trip to DC for my birthday, and it continued when I returned the favor for his birthday in Dallas.  Besides that, we have traveled to five of the seven weddings we're attending this year and drank a lot of beer along the way.

But to be honest, the trip I will remember the most was our rainy weekend in the Smoky Mountains.  We climbed 6,500 feet up Mount LeConte in the pouring rain, and I can remember after climbing the 8.8 miles up the mountain, Mike telling me how proud he was of me.  It was quite an adventure, and I can't wait to go hiking again soon.

Happy four years, Mike.  Thank you for always pushing me to be better, encouraging me in everything I do, and always being there to sing a song with my name in the lyrics!

An Afternoon at Wild Dunes

As many of y'all know, golf has always been my passion.  To be honest, it's what gave Mike and I the opportunity to move down to Charleston to continue my career in a place where I can play golf all 12 months of the year.  Blogging has brought a lot of fun opportunities into my life, and getting to play new courses is definitely one of them.  Wild Dunes Resort on Isle of Palms, one of Charleston's barrier islands, has beautiful accommodations, award-winning dining, and tons of outdoor activities including tennis, bike riding, paddle boarding, kayaking, and, of course, golf.  The resort offers two courses: the Harbor Course and the Links Course. 

Last weekend, Mike and I played the Links Course on a beautifully sunny (and hot!) day.  The Links Course hosts the practice facilities for both courses at the resort, including an irons-only driving range and practice green.

My look: hat (similar) ||| sunglasses ||| polo ||| skirt ||| golf shoes ||| socks 

I was impressed with the variety of views and different scenery on each hole.  Being in the Lowcountry, you expect the salt marshes, turtles, birds, and palmettos we saw on the front nine, but making the turn onto the tenth hole, there was a surprising elevation changes that created beautiful views of the island from all angles. 

The course is located on the northeast tip of Isle of Palms, so the seventeenth and eighteenth holes have amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean.

After we finished golf, we headed upstairs, through the clubhouse, into Huey's Southern Eats for a late lunch.  Named after an infamous goose on the island, Huey's cooks up delicious Southern staples and has a full bar.  Of course, we started with a couple of beers (they have a great local selection) and an order of hushpuppies.  Mike ordered a Huey's burger, and I tried the Huey's chopped salad with local fruit and a delicious Firefly Moonshine dressing.  Did I mention that they also have a full dessert menu?  After the couple next to us ordered the peanut butter pie, I obviously had to try it.  Not much of a peanut butter + chocolate fan, Mike finished his meal with a chocolate milkshake.  We were very happy with all of our food selections, and even if you're not golfing but find yourself at Wild Dunes, Huey's is definitely worth a stop!

Last summer, Mike and I played the other Wild Dunes course, the Harbor Course, and if you're a local, this is the place to be.  Wild Dunes offers a new “Friends of the Harbor” program to residents of Charleston, Dorchester, and Berkeley counties.  Friends of the Harbor is a VIP pass that offers golfers 18-hole rounds for just $44 each, all year long.  The annual membership is only $30 and also includes monthly offers and 50% off every fifth round!  The Harbor Course is definitely a challenging design with narrow fairways and water coming into play on almost every hole.  The back nine is even situated right along the Intracoastal Waterway.  Head over to my Instagram page to enter to win a free Friends of the Harbor membership!

I received goods and services in exchange for advertising. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Wild Dunes for sponsoring Borrowed Heaven!