Carolina Cup Week: The Horses

So its no surprise when you ask someone, "Did you even see a horse?" referring to Carolina Cup. Folks everywhere are partaking in the day's festivities...it is after all known as the largest tailgate in the Southeast!  Britton's of Columbia made a shirt this year poking fun at all of the horse jokes:

Isn't that a fun shirt?!

The race is a traditional steeplechase race held at the Springdale Race Course in Camden, SC. Camden is a well-known horse training district for the Eastern seaboard and more specifically the Southeast. The National Steeplechase Museum is even there. The description says that it includes:

Exhibits on the history of American steeplechase racing, a trophy room, trophies and memorabilia, jockey silks and a library with old books and references. Films and tours of race track. A gift shop is on site. Springdale is home to the nationally renowned steeplechase races, the Carolina Cup each spring and the Colonial Cup each fall. Race track owner, the late Marion duPont Scott, endowed and donated the course to the state of South Carolina.

In the official 2011 media guide, it specifically classifies a steeplechase horse as: All steeplechase horses are Thoroughbreds – a specific breed whose bloodlines trace back hundreds of years to the same three stallions — the DarleyArabian, the Godolphin and the ByerleyTurk.  The pedigree of each horse mustbe proven with official JockeyClub registration papers.  Horses maybegin their careers when they are three years old, butmoststartlater than that, as horses are notfullymature and developed until theyreach the age of five.

Now I don't know very much about horses, but all of this makes me think of Seabiscuit AND the Preakness Stakes in Maryland! Last year's winner was Spy in the Sky:

Check out Spy during this action shot:

I'm quite a fan of his competitor's ensemble!!

Who knows though, maybe we won't even see a horse! Did you see them when you were at Carolina Cup? Be sure to keep submitting your Cup photos to letsbepreppy@gmail.com OR the facebook fan page HERE!

xxKatie

Carolina Cup Week: The Bowtie

Carolina Cup is synonymous with bright colors, muddy fields, a running joke of "Did you even see a horse?" and bowties. The quintessential clothing item for a boy at Cup is quite frankly a bowtie. Now, there are many a rule for proper bowtie wearing. They all stem from Bowtie Extraordinaire Lucky Levinson. He pretty much wrote the book on how to tie a bowtie. His YouTube video has more hits than any other Southern how-to!

Over the weekend, real life friend of mine, Michael and I went shopping for his Cup outfit. We popped over to Britton's of Columbia who was holding a trunk show with High Cotton Ties from Charlotte, NC where Michael is native of himself! We chatted with all their workers (major thanks to Lachlan, Perry and Lucky!) and browsed all their selection. Michael finally decided on a fraternity color pink-and-blue seersucker and check combo tie:

How great of a tie is this? He's president of Beta Theta Pi and what an all around great tie! These reversible choices from High Cotton Ties can be worn 3 different ways too!

We picked out a pair of seersucker pants and decided on a white button down for his cup outfit! The workers of Britton's were such good sports too:

Judy brought these bowtie cookies with her!! How GREAT?!

What are your Cup dates wearing? Have any great bowties--post them on the LBP facebook page to enter them for my Carolina Cup selection!!

xxKatie

State Bowties

Any local in Columbia has seen a Palmetto bowtie. It's navy (or garnet and black) with the palmetto/crescent all over it:

Ben Silver of Charleston

Just on Sunday though, I saw another flag bowtie for the OTHER state that has a special place in my heart. Good ole' Mary-land. Our flag is far more geometric than SC's, and if you aren't familiar with it, it looks like this:

I was lucky enough to stumble upon a friend's photo and her dad was wearing a Maryland flag bowtie. Naturally I popped onto google to do some investigating and found that a local herbadashery in Annapolis sells them!

Johnson's is a famous menswear store in Annapolis and has the best sign out front chronicling the change of military uniforms over the years. It is so cute and has little painted wooden figures in the different styles. They've been in Annapolis since 1926 and began as the Naval Academy's uniform suppliers. They still provide uniforms however specialize in civilian attire now. 

I love the idea of state bowties and all the pride that goes along with them!! So cute!

xxKatie 

Sidewalk Sale

Today I'm headed down to the Devine Street Sidewalk sale! It's supposed to be an unbelievably nice day today...think 63 degrees! I am so excited to see what some of my favorite stores have to offer! I know I'll be hitting up all of these guys:

Pink Sorbet (how cute is there website drawing?!)

Britton's of Columbia

Half Moon Outfitters

Just the Thing!

LaRoque

Van Jean Boutique

I can't wait to see what these stores have to offer! Check out the facebook invite and head down there too!

xxKatie

Best T-Shirt

I'm a big fan of any t-shirt that steps up t-shirt game. I like pocket t's, super soft t's, and pretty much any t-shirt that wasn't a free giveaway or part of high school or part of a sports team. There was a time and a place for those, and they can stay where they belong. Take old (but highly loved t's) and make an awesome t-shirt quilt like this one (any Theta alums out there...):

I recently picked up an awesome t-shirt (the amount of times I've mistyped "t-shirt" with an expletive is ridiculous) from a great store here in Columbia called Britton's of Columbia:

This is the back! how great is it? Palmetto + Whales...it doesn't get much better than that until you see the front:

It's a pocket t-shirt!

I love this t-shirt like I said, because it really steps up the game for most t-shirts! Got any especially cool ones? Anyone got a cool personalized one like Vineyard Vines did for Britton's??

xxKatie