Another Week(end) Recap

Another Monday, friends!  This time last week, we were in Tierra Verde, eating doughnuts and enjoying the beach.  How things change in a week, and it was a busy one! 

From the Gulf Coast last Monday, we headed to Orlando for my organization's biannual network meeting.  There were representatives from over 150 chapters there, and I learned a lot.  We definitely always go for "work hard, play hard," and I'll be giving my liver a week or so to recover.

My team (above) and my date (below)

And the best part was definitely that the conference was only 10 minutes away from Walt Disney World.  We got a great discount on "twilight" tickets, and Mike and I spent evenings at Magic Kingdom and Epcot.  MK was all dressed up for Christmas (and filming their ABC Christmas special) and it was the last weekend for Epcot's Food and Wine festival.  We rode all the rides, took photos in front of the #purplewall, and ate/drank at 15 of the countries at Epcot. 

I'd like to think that this week I'll finally relax, but my chapter's biggest fundraiser of the year is this Friday, so it'll be another few days of go, go, go!  Have a great week!

Week(end) Recap

Last week, I was in Atlanta for an awesome event for work, so I thought this morning I'd recap not just my weekend but also that adventure last week!

On Wednesday, we drove out to Atlanta so that I could act as a mentor coach in a girls' golf event at East Lake Golf Club, the golf course where the PGA TOUR Championship takes place each year.  The course was stunning, and the girls I played with were fantastic golfers and even better people.

Mike was nice enough to drive all the way out there with me, and we made the most of our little retreat.  We (re)checked another ballpark off our bucket list: Sun Trust Park.  Last time we were in Atlanta, for our first anniversary, we watched a game at Turner Field, but now with the new stadium, we had to add it back to the bucket list.  The new park is a bit further out from the middle of the city, but it's really nice, and there's a ton of good food.  I especially loved the Monument Garden area with tons of Braves' history.  The game was delayed an hour or so because of pouring rain (hence us looking like wet rats in the photos below - haha), but they ended up playing and beating the Giants in 11 innings!

On Thursday, before heading back to Charleston, we checked out the CNN Center and did a backstage tour.  It was good but not as good as the NBC 30 Rock tour in NYC we've done before.  We also stopped at World of Coke and ate a bunch of delicious food over the two days we were there.  If you're ever in Atlanta, I highly suggest Condesa Coffee, Octane Coffee, H&F Burger, and Taqueria del Sol.  

What's nice about a mid-week trip is that when I got back to work on Friday, I only had a one-day week.  The day went by quickly, playing catch up, and by the time I knew it, it was happy hour.  We went to one of our favorites, Burwell's before rooftop bar hopping around East Bay Street.

Saturday we spent the day golfing, and I'm excited to say that I checked the first thing off my summer bucket list!  I shot a 68; the first time ever under par for me.

Sunday started at the Celadon Warehouse sale.  On the last Sunday of each month, Celadon opens their warehouse for an awesome flea market.  They have free beer, food trucks, and local artisans there.  The prices were so good that I bought a blanket ladder (I know I didn't make it like I said I would, but I couldn't pass it up for $30!) and an antique sewing table (photos once we have a spot for it, soon!).  I also did a bunch of yard work, cooked some delicious tacos in the crock pot (recipe here), and finally started the recent season of House of Cards.  So far so good!

Linking up with Biana for Weekending!

Five on Friday: My Heart Is So Happy

This Friday is such a good one.  It has been the best week, and the weather is going to be perfect this weekend!  What are y'all up?  Here's my week:

1 ||| Halloween - My favorite holiday!  I hosted a Halloween party for my girls at work, like I do every year (I even wore the same costume as two years ago - whoops! Sidenote: apparently kids don't read Waldo books anymore, about half of them had no idea who I was...disappointing.).  Then, for real Halloween, Mike and I hung out on our porch, played cribbage, listened to Halloween Pandora, and passed out candy.  Since we didn't dress up last year, we decided to give it a run this year and came up with the BEST last-minute costume.  Can anyone guess it?  Here's your clue.  Any questions?

David Pumpkins! ...and the skeleton who's PART OF IT!

2 ||| CUBS - Even people who live under rocks probably know about this by now: the Cubs WON THE WORLD SERIES.  It had been 108 years, and they did it in probably the best Game 7 of a World Series ever.  Of course, it was the most stressful Game 7 ever, and boy, did Cleveland hang in there.  As I've said before, I've been a Cubs fan my whole life.  Mike is one now, too, and we've totally rocked Cubs gear all the way in San Fran!  You know I'll be ordering some World Series Champions gear tonight!

my shirt ||| Mike's (similar)

3 ||| Influenster & VIB - It's been forever since I reviewed anything from Influenster, but I was pretty excited to receive the Real Techniques VoxBox with the "Your Picks" brush set, a makeup sponge, and this setting brush.  While the sponge and setter have been around for a while, the brush set is pretty new.  It's a combination of all the favorite brushes voted on by fans.  As silly as it sounds, I love the weight of these brushes.  They are a little on the heavier side, and I feel like that really helps me control where my makeup is going.  While I have yet to try the setting brush (don't wear a lot of setting powder), I do like the sponge for both makeup blending and covering blemishes.  It's versatile and my makeup stays on evenly.  It'll be even more fun with some goodies from next weekend's VIB sale shopping (I have my eye on this and this).  I'll live vicariously through all the VIB Rouge members this weekend!

4 ||| Vote - THIS TUESDAY!  This election is so important, not just for the presidency but also those down ballot races for control of Congress.  I don't talk politics at all typically on this blog, but this election is different: progress is on the ballot.  You can find your polling place by clicking here.

5 ||| The Mac Off - My favorite event of the year is this weekend, and I am so excited to be partnering with them and to judge on the Critic's Choice panel.  This year, not only has it been expanded to two year, but they're even going to have a test kitchen - I cannot wait to sample the cheese and beer pairings!  You'll definitely find me snapchatting (megatronnn27) about this one all day tomorrow with their new snapchat filter!  If you're in the Charleston area, you should definitely add this to your weekend plans!  You can purchase tickets by clicking here.

Linking up for Oh hey, Friday, Five on Friday, High Five for Friday, and two doses of Friday Favorites

Full of Weekending

Truth be told, I meant to write this post last night (Monday) but proceeded to fall asleep on the couch, watching Mad Men at 10pm - whoops.  We spent Labor Day at The Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, walking 18 holes of golf.  It was the most beautiful day, but walking and carrying a bag, it is quite a workout at that course!  So, my weekend recap is a bit delayed... well, very delayed since it was a long weekend.

It actually turned into a four-day weekend for us with Hermine in town on Friday.  Luckily, my best friend Amanda who flew in to spend the weekend with us, got here on Thursday so she didn't have to deal with all that rain and wind.  We celebrated her arrival with manis, sushi at O-Ku, and drinks at The Cocktail Club.  If you are ever in Charleston, TCC has this amazing sweet and salty bacon fat popcorn that you HAVE to try!

After we shopped for all the hurricane essentials on Thursday (i.e. Pringles, Swedish Fish Oreos, bacon, and ice cream), we spent Friday lounging around the house - she made the most delicious French toast (recipe coming soon!) and we played a lot of Rummikub.  Fortunately, the storm was kind of a bust - nothing compared to the microburst earlier this year or the flooding last fall, so that was a relief.

Saturday was spent walking around all of our favorite downtown places: biscuits at HLB, coffee at Kudu (full list of favorite Charleston coffee shops also coming soon!), the Farmer's Market, King Street and City Market shopping, the Pineapple Fountain, and Rainbow Row.  After miles of walking, we definitely deserved a lazy afternoon at the pool, and I was so excited to start Amy Schumer's new book.  I'm not too far in yet, but it is amazing so far!

Amanda left on Sunday morning and that night, we hosted a fantasy football draft party.  I'm still trying to think of a good name for this year's team (here were my gems last year) because I really want to win our league trophy - I made it myself ;)

Like I mentioned at the top of this post, yesterday we headed out to Kiawah Island for my organization's annual volunteer appreciation tournament.  Ever since the tropical storm came through earlier in the weekend, the weather has been fantastic - sunny, low humidity, and barely 80 degrees.  Can we have this weather all year long??

That's it!  I'm linking up with Biana for Weekending today - I love long weekends because they mean shortened weeks PLUS my girl Macy will be here on Thursday for a fun-filled Charleston girls weekend - cannot wait to finally meet her IRL!

Weekend Recap

Raise your hand if you're as excited for Thanksgiving as me?!  This weekend was amazing, but I couldn't help and look forward to one of my favorite holidays coming up in three days.  Luckily, I had a lot to keep me busy...

Friday was my biggest event of the year at work.  We hosted our Golf and Gala out at Kiawah, and it was the perfect 70 degree sunny day!  Both portions of the event were fantastic, there was delicious Lowcountry food, and we raised a lot of money for our kids!

In return for working at the event, my organization paid for Mike and me to spend the weekend at The Sanctuary Hotel out on Kiawah.  It was amazing, just like last year.  I even had a chance to finally meet Chesson at an awesome new wine bar on Kiawah; you're given a card and can dispense any of 48 types of wine by the glass at self-serve machines!

On the way home yesterday, we took my parents and a family friend to our favorite place, the Charleston Tea Plantation!  They loved the tours and we finished our last little bit of Christmas shopping with all of the makings of a Charleston tea basket for Mike's grandma!

Our afternoon was spent shopping for Thanksgiving dishes, watching my Panthers go 10-0 (!!!), and finally spending way too much money at Sephora thanks to winning Pamela's giveaway.  Don't worry, I plan on sharing the love with y'all after Thanksgiving weekend - more info soon ;)

I Tried To "Five on Friday"

I have five-ish for you today...

1 // Shelby and I caught up for happy hour on Monday at Graze.  Y'all, if you haven't been there yet, you need to try it.  I'd had their mac and cheese last fall at the Mac and Cheese Fest, but hadn't tried anything else.  We sampled tacos, homemade chips, deviled eggs (Shelby, not me - haha), and fried cheese curds.  Top it off with delicious white sangria, and I was a happy lady.

2 // On Tuesday night, Mike and I had a tennis double date with Erika and her husband.  Tennis is such an awesome workout and 3 hours/4 sets later, we were exhausted!

3 // Kickball is back in full swing.  You are probably so sick of me talking about it, but come on, it's awesome!  We're 1-1, but having way more fun than any other team.

4 // Another awesome week at work with my girls!  They're heading back to school in a couple of weeks, so we had a golf night.  Well, it rained so it turned into a Pandora/girl talk/gimp night and was awesome.

5 // Yeah, I don't have a #5, I'm just excited for the weekend!  Night out with some of my favorite fellow bloggers, Hootie and the Blowfish concert, parasailing, and golfing - yeah!  Get to me to 3:00 to get this weekend started, please :)  Hope y'all have a great one!