it's been one of those days

where prayer and food are the only things you can rely on. i'm sleep deprived and i really miss brandon. a lot.

picture source.

Family Vacation Part Two

I'm sorry for delaying part two of my family vacation, but since yesterday was Father's Day I've been pretty busy hanging out with family and just resting up from the beach. To continue, however, on Wednesday we went to a wonderful local restaurant called, "Gullah Grub," which is authentic gullah/southern type food that literally melts in your mouth. To start you off they give you a little dish of corn bread to munch on and it's so sweet it definitely tastes more like pound cake than corn bread! I ordered the crab soup with an all organic salad and a sweet tea in a cute little jelly jar. This is probably my favorite restaurant to go to while I'm on vacation with my family. It's placed in a quirky old house that has so much charm. It smells exactly like my great grandma's house :) We then wandered around for a bit until we came to this wonderful fort that was covered in huge oak trees with spanish moss hanging from them. It was right on the beach too. I think the fort was built sometime between the 1700's and the 1800's, but needless to say, some parts of it were kinda creepy. Especially with a brewing storm near by.

Next on the list of our journey was this not so wonderful 'Plantation' called the "Frampton House," in Yemassee, SC. You know... on the outside it looked beautiful, but once you went in you'll never guess what it was. Just a crappy gift store. They restored the entire house, but only made it where the bottom two floors were a gift shop and the upstairs was some sort of office. Even the grounds weren't all that exciting. But, if you like that kind of stuff or just want to get a handful of brochures and chocolate candy... then by all means. I, however, don't think I'll be stopping there again anytime soon.

The last on my list of pictures is that wonderful house at the bottom. On Thursday my family and I went out to eat at this cute restaurant called, "Plums," and then we decided to tour around the old city to look at the houses. I've been to Beaufort, SC, a million times and never once had my family and I peaked around the old houses or took a walk under the hanging branches of the large Oak trees. Granted a few years ago we took a little carriage tour once, but I barely remember what it was like other than our horse was afraid of trash bags in the road. However, during our discovery I found this... gorgeous... house. For those of you who have read Pride and Prejudice, or seen the absolutely adoring movie with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, I instantly thought of Pemberly. Or what Jane Austen imagined it to be like. The Chatsworth House is probably the closest example of what she had in mind, and so therefore I came to the same conclusion when I saw that wonderful house up above. It is nicknamed "The Castle," and it's going for about 3 million dollars. I told Brandon that he needed to rack in the cash at Hollywood 20, haha. 

Friday was sadly our last day at the beach, and we went and ate at this wonderful breakfast joint called, "Blackstone's Cafe." Then we headed out over to Charleston so I could get my fill in Urban Outfitters. I swear that place never gets old to me. I never know what I want either. Every time I walk in I get SO dizzy from trying to look at everything. I usually walk in the dressing room about 2 or 3 times as well trying to find all that I want at a reasonable deal. Which... usually comes to about impossible considering they're so expensive >_< ahh... it's my treat once a year most definitely.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and please wish me luck! Today is my orientation for Greenville Tech, ahh!

Family Vacation Part One:

I definitely didn't have the heart to upload all of the pictures in one post, so I've decided to make this blog entry into two parts :) I just came home from Charleston about two hours ago, and boy let me tell you... I am the worst traveler. I absolutely loathe riding in the car. Especially if I'm not the one driving. However, our three hour journey went by fast so now I'm not feeling quite as bad as I usually do after I come home from a long trip. But anyways. In the first few pictures my parents and I went to this little italian restaurant called Panini's Cafe, and I ordered this amazing dish that was lobster and crab stuffed pasta. The cafe itself is extremely precious and to make it even more special it was originally a bank. The whole restaurant is architecturally beautiful and I definitely recommend stopping by if you're in the area and craving italian! We then set out on the town and inspected the local shops (that were closed, but still fun to peak in the windows) and took a walk on the quaint boardwalk. After that we headed over to this very eclectic ice cream parlor called 'Southern Sweets' and I got that wonderful milk shake at the bottom...

Hardee's and Sonic just don't do milkshakes like this place. I've never had such a wonderful treat before in all my life and not only that, but the little antique glass it came in really made it even more wonderful! As for the dinosaurs... don't ask. I just thought they were cute and I wanted to play and take a picture of them :3

The beach itself was amazing, but I wish we got to stay longer :/ I certainly don't believe I had my fill on it. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until next year I suppose. Another awesome thing that happened was that I found, literally, A MILLION sand dollars! You can hardly find any good shells on that beach, but, my parents and I got lucky and we just kept finding them. And even if they weren't conk shells or anything, I still found that to be pretty awesome. 

To be continued :)

Happy Memorial day/Monday!

So I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial day weekend! I had a wonderful time hanging out with family and friends and here is an overview of what I did! Friday was my 'chill' day for the most part and I hung out with my family. Saturday I went to take pictures with one of my good friends, Emily, and her bff Nettie at her house down in good ol' Pauline SC. I'm planning on opening a vintage store soon on etsy so definitely look out for that. In my last entry I mentioned that I seriously needed to take a thrifting trip... and it still stands! I really need to go! My mom mentioned something about one the other day in Greenville that she hadn't been to before so hopefully, maybe, POSSIBLY soon I'll be able to go! 

Yesterday boyfriend and I decided to be active and we went walking/running around his neighborhood. Boy are we pathetic. I don't know how long we lasted, but it wasn't very long. When we came back I collapsed in front of his fan in his room and I think we literally stayed there for a good hour. (Baby we really need to get into shape :P) it was still a super fun day. We made some pizzas and then watched the swedish version of The girl with the dragon tattoo. It was really creepy but I kind of liked it. Personally, I'm super excited for David Finch's take on it. That trailer... oh my gosh. I can't even describe to you how amazing I find it to look. Plus the fact that it looks so sketchy... I mean, to have that great of sound and it looks like it was taken with a video recorder?? Wow. I mean. Wow. December, please come faster!! (Maybe)

Today I hung out with my family in the mountains. We decided to take a trip up to Hendersonville, NC, but my parents wanted to stop in Landrum, SC for lunch. We went to this little restaurant called 'The Hare and Hound' and even though the food was tastey, it was super hot. They only had about five fans going... but don't let that discourage you. I've been there tons of times before and that was the first time that it felt like that. We went to this little antique store while we were there and looked around but it was quite pricy. After that we headed onto Hendersonville where I found that little guy in my last picture. Talk about love at first sight! I decided to name him Bart and he's such a cute companion (yes I am aware that I'm really childish... but come on! HE HAS NO MOUTH!) :D I also found a really good/old copy of Alice in Wonderland that I forgot to take a picture of. Have I ever really expressed how much I love old books? :P 

Before we left we took a trip to this little candy/icecream shop called 'Kilwin's' and I couldn't resist buying two white chocolate covered oreos. :3 Gosh do you remember when they actually sold chocolate covered oreos at the store? Those were possibly my favorite cookies in the world and now they never sell them anymore. But oh well. Once again I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and for you sims3 fans out there... generations is coming out tomorrow! I know what I'll be doinnngggggg ;D

taking shaky new steps.

So... obviously a lot has been going on this week. I recently graduated from Byrnes Highschool on May 24th, 2011 and needless to say it was a complete whirlwind. That day was stressful from the start, actually. I had to wake up at 7:30 for a miserable graduation practice, boyfriend went with me around 2 to get my hair done (of which didn't last long at all later that night), we went and ate around 4:30, came back and got my cap and gown, and then I was sitting in my place in the gym around 7:00. All of the faces that I had grown up with surrounded me and at that moment I didn't feel sad. I didn't feel regretful. I was content with where I was at. I honestly didn't even realize that I probably would never see most of those faces ever again. I probably will forget most of them, remember some of them, and keep in touch with a few of them. It never even hit me until the other day, too.

Growing up really sucks in a way.

On a lighter note, I loved my cake. It was perfect. The flags were perfect, the tiny blue frosting was perfect, and the cake platter was perfect. It made me extremely happy, but even more so that my mom let me use her wedding china to eat it off of. :)

I've spent the last few days with Brandon (boyfriend) and they have been wonderful. Yesterday we spent a three hour car ride with his mother to Clemson and to do some things for his job. Though it was fun, we all were seriously tired by the time we got home. Later that night we came back to my house right before a huge storm hit. It was probably a good thing we left when we did because as soon as we got inside it literally threw down. He's been helping me set up my lap top. It's a good thing he's my tech support because I sure don't know how to do most of what he can do. Especially since he is a total Mac geek ;) I love my silly boyfriend a lot. <3

I think I might play sims for a while or rest. I really need a day of rest although I know we're going to be doing something today. I always end up having to do something. Meh. Tomorrow I'm taking pictures with Emily and her friend from school for my Vintage store that I'll be opening up soon. I really need to get back into thrifting... especially now that I can drive. Hm.