Mother's Day + Landscape Updates.

Oh, hello. Is there anyone still out there reading? I've been slack lately, but honestly, it's been kind of nice to step away from the blog for about a month. I was thinking about giving the blog up completely, but just this morning decided against it. I probably won't be posting as frequently as I used to, but hey, something is better than nothing, right? Right. On to Mother's Day...

This was our third year in a row hosting a Mother's Day brunch at our house (2014 / 2013). We love hosting get-togethers at our house. It lights a fire under our you-know-what to get projects done and we get to hang out with people we love! A winning combination. 

I decided to go a little fancier this year and broke out our special china. I used cloth napkins and our gold silverware, which were both given to us as wedding presents. Peonies were ridiculously inexpensive (3 stems for $4!) at Harris Teeter over the weekend so I scattered them around the house. All beverages and glassware were set up on the bar, which I failed to snap a photo of. 

On the menu:

Fresh Fruit

Rosemary and Pecan Encrusted Bacon

French Toast Casserole

Shrimp and Grits Pie

Mimosas

Bloody Mary's

Cucumber + Mint Infused Water

Coffee

I'm definitely framing this pic.

Everyone left around 4:30pm and I immediately changed into my comfy clothes. Exhausted doesn't even begin to describe it after a weekend of non-stop activity. I poured myself another mimosa, plopped on the couch, painted my nails, caught up on my tv, and didn't move until bed time. 


Going back to house projects, this year prior to our brunch we focused on our landscaping. Cameron is pretty obsessed with our yard (there could be much worse things for him to be obsessed with!), even to the point where he looks up #yardwork on Instagram. He's going to kill me for saying that, but I think it's cute. 

The first thing we did was rake all of the old pinestraw out of the beds. In the backyard (first picture below), we installed gardenias, hydrangeas, geraniums, and impatiens. The two tall skinny trees (crepe myrtles) were already there. 

Up front we installed boxwoods, "purple pixie" loropetalum, white lantana, and plumbago. It will look really awesome once they start to grow!

Now I'm banning any kind of yard work for atleast a month. You hear that, Cameron??

Busy Weekend!

I don't know how I stayed awake until 11pm last night, given the weekend I had. It was just non-stop.

Friday night I had an event for work, which Fat Hen catered. Their food is not only amazing but their staff works extra hard to make sure the event (and clean up!) goes smoothly.  Highly recommend.

Saturday was DOGTOBERFEST! Got there bright and early at 9am to start setting up, left at  6pm. While it was a long day on my feet, the turn out was AWESOME! Special thanks to Emily (and Bennett), Caroline (and Birdie), Elizabeth (and Annabelle) and Jessica (and Hudson), who came out to the event!

Right after Dogtoberfest, Cameron and I drove to Summerville to eat dinner at my parents house. They treated us to some yummy steaks, asparagus, baked sweet potatoes and everything bread. After dinner we sat out on the back porch, watched the rest of the Wisconsin / Michigan State game, and Cameron and my dad smoked cigars that Cameron bought on our cruise.

It was COLD!

 

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day and Cameron was determined to get some yard work done. We layed new pine straw, mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, and cleaned out the fire pit! May not sound that tough, but I am sore today! Made some AMAZING chicken enchilada soup that will be on tomorrow's Tasty Tuesday post!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!



Back Breaking Weekend

This weekend was all about yard work. Back in February, my Uncle Jay was kind enough to provide us with the hook up on plants. I'm talking Cameron's bed of his truck was full, the trailer behind his truck was full, the back seat of his truck was full, I held a plant in my lap, and Uncle Jay filled his SUV with plants, too. They sat and sat in our back yard until the weather got warmer and we could actually plant them all. Last weekend Cameron borrowed a tiller and tilled every area that plants were going to go. This weekend was all about putting those babies in the ground.

I never knew how much hard work went in to landscaping! Both yesterday morning and this morning, it hurt to walk. I honestly considered calling in to work today, but then realized all I do at work is sit in front of a computer so I decided to suck it up.

These pictures really do not do the yard justice. Some of the plants are hard to see, too, because they're so small right now.



BEFORE - The day he closed on the house.

  

AFTER (also after the sprinkler, which is why the house looks two-toned)



BEFORE - back of the house




AFTER - Hi Brady.



#1 on "The List" is officially crossed out!

AH-mazing Weather + a CSN Giveaway!

Can I just start by saying how AWESOME it feels outside lately?!? Loving it.

Last night a group of us wanted to eat some good Mexican + sit outside. The perfect place? Taco Boy downtown. Everyone in Charleston loves some Taco Boy! The girls sat on one end and talked about girly things and the guys sat on the other end talking about football...and more football. I took a really cute picture of the girls, but of course forgot to bring my cord to work again! Grr. After sharing 4 appetizer trios, a baja fish taco to myself, and a few Blue Moon's, we relocated to Midtown. After a few beers there, the married couples went home and Cameron, Katie, Henry and I went and had some extra dirty martini's at Oku. Every bar we attempted to go to before Oku was extremely packed. Oku was basically empty (which was strange) and the leather couches in the front of the restaurant looked so inviting, it won the vote of our next stop. Hot dogs from a street vendor followed the dirty martini's on our walk back to the car and they were enjoyed romantically on the tailgate of Cameron's truck. :)

This morning we rolled out of bed at about 8:30 and headed to Cameron's new house for a day of tackling the yard. The house had not been lived in or taken care of for quite some time so you can imagine what it looked like. There's a 6 or 7ft light pole in the front yard that was completely covered with vines. I didn't even know it was there until I saw a picture of the house from back in 2004 when it was on the market. We actually got most of the front yard completed by time I had to leave at 11:30 to go get ready for work. Cameron's parents were there and my mom came by to help, too! I stopped back by on the way to work because I forgot to give Cameron his credit card back and to my surprise, my mom was mowing the back yard in her flip flops. Crazy lady.  I'm sure we'll all be back there tomorrow!

Now, I'm sitting at work. Wedding at 6pm. The groom is actually catering it himself! He's a chef at a nearby restaurant so he figured no one could do it better than himself! It's a small wedding and it's scheduled to be over reasonably early, which I am very happy about. 

On to the giveaway!

As I was catching up on the blogs I follow, I randomly came across a new blog, Fairy Tales Are True. Sadie is a super cute wife who's husband is a baseball coach. Her father was also a MLB player for 12 years. From the US, they moved to Switzerland shortly after their wedding. Her blog is about their travels and things she loves, including her love of turquoise, just like myself! Another great thing about her? She's giving away a $35 CSN gift certificate! I can think of a few things I could use that for...

Harbor House Chelsea Oblong Pillow - $29.99

Reston Lloyd Calypso Basics 5 Quart Colander - $23.99

Kalorik 1500 Watt Cordless Electric Kettle - $21.95