First Anniversary. {Part One}

Finally getting around to re-capping our first wedding anniversary!

Let's first start Thursday after work, because let's be honest, the moment you walk out of work, you are officially on vacation! After work, I got a spray tan and Cameron had a work meeting, so we met up downtown and tried Octobachi for the first time, after hearing amazing things about it from Katie. Once we FINALLY found it, we walked inside and sat at the bar. It's super small and the large group of med students were too loud to sit next to. 

We ordered their tuna sushi nachos. Yes, they were as amazing and they look. So fresh and delicious. 

After we finished those, we ordered some edamame, a california roll, and a spicy tuna roll. 

Look at this crab meat!

I'm starving looking at those pictures and can't wait to go back. 

_______________

Now, on to our actual anniversary weekend. 

We left Charleston around lunch time and made the quick, 2 hour drive to Hilton Head. We stayed at the newly renovated Westin, thanks for my friend, Kelly Ann's, suggestion. We checked in and were told that we had been upgraded from a ocean view room to an ocean front room. Score! (Hint: If you're celebrating a special occasion, always let the management know! You'd be surprised what kind of upgrades you'll get!)

We got settled in and went for a walk to scope out the hotel. It was pretty overcast so there wasn't much pool or beach lounging to do. We found the outdoor bar, relaxed, and ordered some drinks. 

After a few drinks, we went back to the room to start getting ready for dinner. There was a knock at the door and some champagne and chocolate covered strawberries were delivered to us by the concierge! What a nice thought!

Before dinner, we stopped by a place called Ela's Grille, which was located in a cove on the water. I can't remember what kind of girly drink I ordered, but I do remember that it was really tasty. 

After drinks, we headed to Santa Fe Cafe, which we heard rave reviews about. It's a Mexican restaurant, but more upscale than your local Senor Tequila's. They were actually booked solid with reservations that night, but Kelly Anne, being the local girl that she is, had connections and got us in. They have a really nice outdoor seating area with a fireplace and live music, but unfortunately it was drizzling outside so we couldn't take advantage of it.

We ordered the guacamole to get us started. I ordered the Outrageous Chimichanga (Beef, chicken, black beans, cheese, sour cream, onions and tomatoes wrapped in a sun-dried tomato tortilla and fried to a pastry crust. Served over green & red chile sauce, topped with guacamole.), which was surprising because I had never ordered a chimichanga in my life. But I wanted to try something new, and I'm so glad I did. And Cameron ordered the Ribeye Burrito (Blackened ribeye, black beans, caramelized onions and cheddar jack cheese inside a flour tortilla), which was really good, too. Huge hunks of steak, which I likey. 

The Outrageous Chimichanga from Santa Fe's website

Needless to say, we were stuffed after our meal. But not quite ready to hit the hay just yet. I Googled "live music in Hilton Head" and stumbled across a jazz bar. Sure, why not? We thought. Let's go somewhere we normally wouldn't. We walked up to The Jazz Corner, thinking this would be a snooze, but we were way wrong. There was a red velvet rope blocking off the entrance so I immediately thought to myself that this was closed for a private party. The woman standing at the door told me there were exactly two spots left at the bar. We ordered some Irish coffees (how old are we again??) and listened to the 5-piece Jazz band. Come to find out, The Jazz Corner is continuously voted one of the Top 100 Jazz Venues in the World and we were there on the night that they were celebrating their 15th year! Everyone was so very friendly to us (I'm sure we stuck out like a sore thumb, being as the average age was probably 70). We met a nice gentleman that was sitting next to us, and even the owners stopped by to introduce themselves to us.  Since this was a night of celebrating their 15th anniversary, they put together a band of their favorite musicians, and they were all so awesome. Could not have had a better experience.

And that's a wrap of part one of our anniversary weekend! 

Kudos to you if you made it this far.