Thursday's [Quick] Thoughts.

-Saturday we had our first official Sandbar Sunday of 2016! Not quite warm enough to take those cover ups off, but sunny enough to need 30 SPF! This was Gus' second time on the boat, but first full day and he did great! Loving the pic below that my friend Caroline took. 

-Somehow I rallied Sunday night and stayed up way past my bedtime to see Will Hoge at the Pour House. This show was different than the other shows I've seen of his. This one was an all acoustic show! While I prefer to see him with his full band, this was a nice change. 

-This weekend we'll spend cleaning the house and getting the yard ready for our 4th annual Mother's Day brunch! 

-Also around the house, Cameron is determined to give our screened porch a face lift prior to Mother's Day. We've ordered new patio furniture, and he is in the process of re-screening and painting the porch. After that, he wants to put outdoor tile down over the concrete floor. He's got a lot of work to do!

-This post was pretty lame and short, but that's all I've got for now!

Tasty Tuesday - Loaded Peanut Butter Cookies

Tasty Tuesday is back! To be honest, I haven't been cooking that much other than my Hello Fresh and Home Chef meals. But I made these cookie's for Lane's second birthday, his mom's birthday, and for my Dad & Uncle Jay's birthday. That's how good they are! The edges are crispy and the insides are gooey and fluffy. Perfection!

Loaded Peanut Butter Cookies

Recipe and Photo by Sugar & Charm

1/2 cup soft, creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (room temp)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk chocolate chunks

1 cup dark chocolate chunks

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 1/2 cup Heath Bar chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter and both sugars on high, until smooth.

Add the egg, vanilla, salt and baking soda. Continue to beat on medium.

With the mixer speed on low, add in the flour and beat just until incorporated.

Fold in the chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips and Heath Bar chips.

Lay a large sheet of parchment paper on a cooking pan and scoop ice cream size cookie balls onto the sheet. You can use this cookie scooper, but it’s 2 scoops per cookie. That’s what makes them thick and gooey!

Bake for 7-10 minutes until the tops are just golden brown. Do NOT over bake them!!

*You may not think they are done when you pull them out of the oven, but as long as you allow them to set, they will be perfect!

Renovated Guest Bathroom.

Cameron and I are always looking around to see if there are any houses on the market that we love and unfortunately, there aren't any out there in the area that we want to be in. We debated on building, but decided to hold off on that for now, as we couldn't find any lots that we loved either. So plan C was to renovate more of our house since we plan to be there for another 4-5 years. The first stop was the bathroom. We originally got a bid from a contractor, but decided we could save a lot of money by doing most of the work ourselves. I'm very lucky to have a handy husband! The only person we had to hire was a plumber because we were adding an additional sink. 

Some photos that I used for inspiration...

The first picture stood out to me because the wall color was very similar to what was already in the bathroom, it had a glass front linen cabinet

The second picture I just loved the glass front linen cabinet that seems to have been re-purposed from a china cabinet or a similar type of furniture. 

Before
(see the real before here)

During

Cameron tearing out the old cabinets

Cabinets and old (huge) mirror gone)

Drywall removed for new plumbing and electrical to be installed. New tile and toilet installed. 

After

Sources:
Floor tile - Paletto Tile Distributors // Vanity - Wayfair// Faucets - Overstock // 
Mirrors - Target // Lighting - One Kings Lane // Runner - World Market //
Paint color - Sherwin Williams Sea Salt lightened by 25% // Cabinet - Nadeau

I still need to order art for the walls, decide if I want to hang anything on the window, and eventually change out the hardware on the vanity. 

I'm so happy with how it turned out though! Big shoutout to Cameron for installing all of the electrical, replacing the toilet, and laying the tile! And also dealing with my indecisiveness. 

On to the next project! 

Some Life Updates..

Well, hello! It's me, your long lost friend. I'm still alive. A lot has happened in the past 7+ months, so let's play a quick game of catch up. Actually, it's a pretty long post. Sorry about that. 

You may or may not know, but Cameron and I had to say goodbye unexpectedly to our sweet, sweet Brady back in July. Hence the super long blog break. It hit me like a tornado and I was in a serious funk for quite a while. The blog got put on the back burner as I had nothing to talk about and didn't want to come on here and be a Debbie downer. I will do a separate post on Brady later, mostly so I can remember that awful day (why?!? I don't know.). 

We had our annual Edisto trip in September. Had to expand to two houses with all of the cute little additions we've been adding. Always such a good time (what vacation isn't?) and we had a sprinkle for Baby Jack while we were there, as well. 

About three very quiet and hair-free months since we said goodbye to Brady, we said hello to a little nugget named Gus! He has brought laughter back into our everyday lives and we tell him about his big brother Brady all the time. I'll also do a separate post on Gus because, as you can imagine, there have been a lot of photos taken and a lot of memories made already in his 8 months. 

South Carolina's football team did not fair so well last season, but that didn't stop me from going to Columbia to cheer them on! Cameron was, of course, happy that Clemson made it to the national championship last year. I was (a little) happy that he was so happy about that...

In October, our family had something very scary happen. Cameron's oldest brother, David, suffered from a major stroke. He spent almost six weeks in the hospital and rehabilitation, and still continues rehab multiple times a week. From day one he made significant progress in a short amount of time, even the nurses and doctors were amazed. Every day we went to visit him we would see progress being made. A funny story that I'm sure we'll never forget - one day while Cameron and I were visiting David, we were asking him questions to help stimulate his memory. I asked him what my name was and he said "bad sandwich" but then immediately knew he was wrong and we all started laughing. My nieces love to call me that now. :) Every time I think back on those weeks that he was in the hospital, and even afterwards, I think about how amazing it was that the family and their friends all came together to support David and his family. I really think it made everyone closer as a result and taught us all to appreciate each other, and every moment spent together. 

The day David came home from the hospital!

My best friend gave birth to her second son, Jack, in December. He is the sweetest little thing and his brother, Lane, loves being a big brother! 

Our good friends, Scott and Jane, got engaged! I also had the pleasure of going wedding dress shopping with her! 

In February we saw Garth Brooks and it was, as you can imagine, AMAZING! Three hours of non-stop singing my heart out. 

We celebrated my 32nd birthday in my most favorite way - good friends and yummy oysters! A few days later my nieces came over and spoiled me with a foot, hand, and back massage!

Our niece, Arden, turned one! 

FOUR of our supper club girls are pregnant and are all due in August! On the way are two boys and two girls. We have had such fun celebrating finding out their genders and can't wait to meet them all! 

We just recently celebrated our three year wedding anniversary! On our actual anniversary we ate dinner at Fat Hen and the following weekend we spent the afternoon riding bikes on Kiawah! Very low key, very perfect. 

I'll be back soon! 

Crisp Cucumber Salsa.

While at the gym yesterday, one of my workout buddies asked me and Ryan what a good dip would be to bring on the boat with her this weekend. She wanted something cold and something that could hold up well after a few hours. This cucumber dip that I originally tried because my friend Caroline brought it to supper club, popped in my head and I shared it with Cayce immediately. If you're also looking for a light, fresh, and tasty dip to bring to your next get together, this is the one! 

Crisp Cucumber Salsa

Recipe originally from Simple & Delicious magazine

Photo from Keeping It Together

2 cups cucumber - peeled, seeded, and finely chopped

1/2 cup tomato - seeded and finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped red onion

2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley

1 jalapeno - seeded and chopped

4 1/2 tsp minced cilantro

1 minced garlic clove

1/4 cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp lime juice

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp salt

Combine the first seven ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour the sour cream mixture over the cucumber mixture. Toss gently to coat. Serve with tortilla chips. 

Very Belated Home Updates.

This post is only, oh, 6 months belated. 

I had been wanting to repaint our living room for quite a while and what better time than Winter, when you're stuck inside bored out of your mind? The hardest part of the whole project was deciding on a paint color. Isn't that always the case?? I wanted a warm white color light enough to not look tan, but dark enough to contrast with the white trim and baseboards. After buying 6 or so samples, I wound up using the color in our master bathroom, but lightning it up quite a bit. Very happy with the results! But apologize that I still do not have a quality camera, thus have to rely on my Iphone. 

A little side by side comparison of the two colors. Bye bye beige!

Want to see something really funny? Check out this post where I showed the transition of the living room, starting from the day we closed on the house. 

Next up was to bring our master bedroom from college material to grown up material. Before, we had no headboard and mismatched end tables, both that we've had since college. Prettttty embarrassing. Now, I'm not nervous if anyone glances in our bedroom (unless I haven't picked up my pile of discarded clothes from when I can't decide what to wear). 

Originally I mentioned that I wanted a navy blue headboard, but I was too nervous to pull the trigger. Scared that it would be a little too bold and I would eventually get tired of it. I'm no interior designer, and a lot of times what I see in my head does not translate to real life. Ideally I'd like all white bedding, but I'm happy with what we have for now! The lamps are probably slightly too big for the end tables, but I don't care, I love them! And the end tables themselves are probably my favorite piece of the whole "makeover." It took me so long to find the right color, height, width, and style. Very happy with how it all came together! 

Headboard - Wayfair

Duvet cover - Pottery Barn (old)

End tables - Joss & Main

Lamps - Lamps Plus

Ring dish - Anthropologie (old)

Mirror - Lowe's (old)

Fly-By June.

Well, June sure did fly by! Work is a little crazy right now, which leaves little time for blogging. Here's what kept me busy otherwise. 

Cameron's parents bid on a private chef dinner at a private auction a couple of months ago and were kind enough to invite Cameron and I, as well as my parents, over to enjoy the experience and dinner! Chef Demal Mattson did such a great job showing us that a delicious meal does not have to be difficult.

The menu included a shortcut version of mini tomato pies (mini fillo shells, pimento cheese, and half of a grape tomato..that's it!), truffle mushroom tarts, summer melon salad, chateaubriand with a red wine reduction, roasted asparagus and potatoes, and chocolate caramel panna cotta. One of the best meals of my life! 

Hosted supper club at Cameron's parent's house on the river. Lots of fun!!

Celebrated June birthdays in my family - Sister's boyfriend, Sister, Husband, Mom, Grandad

Joined a group of bloggers at The Americano for cocktails and dinner. I ordered the Mexican Mule and the Yellowfin Tuna Tower. Both very tasty!

Celebrated Cameron's 31st birthday with burgers, bourbon, and cigars. 

Boss man treated the office to happy hour at Taco Boy. It's always fun to hang out with your co-workers outside of the office! 

Ended a long work day by checking out the Westbrook Brewery.

 

Finally went to 167 Raw to try out their lobster roll. Now I definitely see what all the talk is all about. It is AMAZING and I will definitely be back. (As a reference, this is a split portion.) And just a heads up, this puppy will run you $24. 

Still enjoying the boxed meal concepts! We have been going back and forth between Hello Fresh and Home Chef lately. To read a summary of the four different companies we tried, as well as get a discount on your first order, you can view my post here. 

On to July!