Mother Daughter Day-te

Yesterday my Mom and I spent the day walking around Charleston since she came down for the weekend! We had a blast checking out everything that Charleston had to offer and even felt like we knew our way around since it was neither of our first time there!

We got to Charleston and went to the open market by the Daughters of Confederacy Museum. After we worked up an appetite, we went to Amen Street for lunch! It came highly recommended after my parents ate there last time they were in town!

In an area chock-full (or perhaps, Chuck-full) of history, this place didn't seem to disappoint with it's own historical story. It even filled up with Gamecock fans getting ready for the game as we left!

We shopped our tails off looking for interview and business clothes for me--it was a lot harder than we thought! Other highlights included:

St. Phillip's Church 

My goal was to get the best Charleston gate shot too!

Strolling toward the water and waterfront park

We certainly had a great day and returned to Columbia full-bellied and happy campers! My wonderful visitor is here until Monday which I'm sure will come too soon as family visits ALWAYS do!

Don't you just love a quick, rather spontaneous, day trip? I sure do!

xxKatie

"In the Still of the Night..."

"In the Still of the Night" is one of my favorite songs from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack AND the way that I traveled to Auburn, AL last night!

After work, I had the bright idea of going to Auburn since my sister said that it was a "ghost town" for the long weekend. I remember those weekends when no one was around as being among the most lonely, so I got in my car and drove the 5 hours to Auburn, Alabama! 

We have done all kinds of fun touristy things today!

Happy September y'all! Enjoy your long weekend!

xxKatie

My Next Roadtrip: Clemson, SC

While I will be bringing all the Gamecock pride that I can handle, I'm heading off to Cleeeeempson, SC this weekend! 

I'll be heading to the backwoods to go visit this wonderful Clemson Tiger (there are a few that I like...wouldjabelieveit?) for the weekend! Kate came to visit me for the Carolina/Clemson game (we all know how that turned out...) and we had a great time! We'll be a house divided, but I'm really looking forward to my next roadtrip! Y'all know how I love a good roadtrip and with that, roadtrip playlist! 

I've never been to Clemson, so I'm looking forward to it! I know I have some fabulous, preppy Tigers out there, so what are some of the must-do's while there? Any tips or suggestions?

I have a big ol' CLEMSON written in my planner, and I even added a little tiger paw right next to it--in orange too! Again, wouldjabelieveit?I do have to say, GO GAMECOCKS, but I'm pumped to be headed on my next trip!

xxKatie

Oh the Places You'll Go

I'm not talking about the famous Dr. Seuss book, but rather one of my new favorite Lilly prints!!

Where's your patch?

The Maryland patch features black-eyed Susans, our state flower, and crabs! I'd like to think too, that the blue and yellow is a little homage to Navy too!

The South Carolina patch has the yellow Jessamine, our state flower, a pig for barbeque, a Clemson Tiger paw (eww--but pretty cool for Tigers at the same time!), and the Great Carolina Wren, which I'm going to think of as a Gamecock! ;)

Where's your state on here? Do you love the special symbols and meanings?

xxKatie

Weekly Gratitude

1. I am thankful for the outpouring of love that I got on the day of my birthday. My family is the bomb and my friends--y'all know who you are--made my 21st the best birthday I've had!

2. I am thankful for sweet people who constantly think about me and my well-being. Whether that's my parents, God-parents, older fabulous Manhattan mentor, or close friends, knowing that you all have my back is the biggest gift.

3. I am thankful for Great American Cookies--never underestimate the power of a GOOD snickerdoodle, or 5. 

4. I am thankful for a trip to Raleigh that I just finally planned officially last night!! Can't wait for that weekend in February!!

5. I am thankful for my new major. Economics is very hard, but I did my first homework assignment successfully and I have a new-found confidence in that class! Intermediate Microeconomic Theory, GAME ON!

6. I am thankful for the closet organization that I did on Sunday. I'll be posting pictures of the way it turned out, and I am so happy!! I even used a Pinterest idea in part of it!! Where's that "Done It" button on Pinterest now?

7. I am thankful for the direction that this semester seems to be going in. It makes me happy to feel like this since it's only the second week of the semester!

8. I am thankful for Twitter. Sometimes I wonder where all my random thoughts/annoyances/etc. went before Twitter existed. So thanks to everyone who reads them and doesn't get too sick of me!

9. I am thankful that spring time is right around the corner! I am so ready for shorts weather!!

10. I am thankful for long drives (or more typically, the 5 mile drive to/from campus to my house) that I can sing at the top of my lungs. Fellow drivers, I'm not offended if you laugh, I probably would too!

xxKatie

My Next Roadtrip/Vacay: Cape Cod, MA

It's BOOKED ladies and gents! I'm off to Cape Cod for the beginning of August! I'm visiting a friend who's interning for the farm team baseball leagues! Summer Catch anyone?

I can't wait to head up to New England for a few days!

It is going to be so much fun to head out there! I've never been to Cape Cod before so it'll be great! cRc will be a local by then and more than able to give me a tour! 

I hope I see a lot of these...

Even more of these...

And a ton of this SPECIFIC shade of red. Anyone out there can name it? (PS, are we loving that belt? Yep, gave it to Daddyo as a Christmas giftaroo!)

Just last year I was in the planing stages of THIS roadtrip which turned out to be a huge, massive raving success! To Aly and Aldy expect an anniversary shoutout y'all! I expect nothing less from this roadtrip as well!!

Can anyone name the color I'm thinking of? It's a destination themed color...that's a big hint!!

xxKatie

Cooler Painting

Back home at last! We returned home from the beach around noon yesterday after a very successful weekend! A big custom with these fraternity weekends is to paint coolers themed around the weekend or event (formals, initiation, for your littles if you're in a sorority) so that you can bring your drinks, snacks and food easily with you! They are EXTREMELY difficult to paint. Whoever made this custom of painting acrylic paint on plastic was insane. Thanks to modern technology and the aid of several girlfriends who have done this in the past, my process was relatively easy. It started out looking like this:

Standard Igloo $18.88 cooler from WalMart

Then progressed:

And again:

And again:

And again: (it's like a butterfly)

This was the finalized top!! I was SO PROUD! Shane and I often call ourselves "Team Maryland" so when I started painting my cooler I knew I was gonna take the Maryland to an extreme! What's more Maryland-y than Old Bay Seasoning??

This was my madras front. I was most proud of this side. I'd never seen anything like this cooler so I was really excited to be very different from the norms!

This was one of my small sides! For this side, paint pens were key!

This was the back, it was a MapQuest inspired map to where we were heading! 

So now that I have one cooler under my belt, I'm tempted to make a list of things I wish I knew. Anyone have any tips to add? What you painted coolers for?

xxKatie

My Next Roadtrip/Vacay: Myrtle Beach, SC

Yesterday we actually left for a big beach weekend trip with a big group of friends! I have been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time and will be attending with a huge group for a fraternity beach weekend! I painted my cooler during some of the (very little) free time I had and I think it came out pretty well. I'll be sure to post pictures upon our return home! I am looking forward to a few relaxing days on the beach, in the sun and just doing nothing before exams kick into high gear. I've had SO MUCH WORK recently (as I'm sure ALL of my college girls will agree with...this pre-exam lead up is the worst!) and this little mini vacation is perfect timing!

This little road trip/weekend will be so much fun I can't wait! Anyone have any suggestions for places we MUST visit in Myrtle? Let me know for sure and I'll be sure to let the group know!!

xxKatie

Carolina Cup Week: The Results!

Well, I am beyond exhausted from Cup, but man-oh-man was it fun!! We got up at 6am (YIKES!) and left around 8:15 to head to Camden and the race fields. We found our big ol' tent a little while later and set up shop shortly after that. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day:

We hit up the Vineyard Vines tent pretty much as soon as we got there! Honk if you love patchwork!!

Me and my FAB date, Dan

Sara, Michael, Derek (my best dressed choice of the entire event!) and me!

More of the brothers

Two of my favorite people in the entire world!

Most of the Beta Theta Pi brothers from USC!

We were busy bees all day long! I will be sleeping in as long as I can on Sunday!

xxKatie

My Next Roadtrip/Vacay: Amelia Island, FL

In the top most tippy-tip-tip of Florida is baby little Amelia Island. It looks like it could be a coast of some Caribbean island, but instead is right in our home country! It has been called one of Florida's best island vacations so you know it's gotta be good!! It just looks beautiful and I'd love to go visit:

My dad is a big lighthouse collector, so I always look for vacation destinations with a special lighthouse! Like father like daughter!

This looks like a fusion of Key West, Charleston and a little bit of Bermuda with the fun colors! What a great combo to have in a vacation destination!

Amelia Island has lots of history to it too!

During early March they have a garden show which I'm sure is TDF! It sounds like such a fun destination!! Has anyone ever been here?

xxKatie

My Next Roadtrip/Vacay: Washington, DC

(So technically it's not my "next" roadtrip, since we already went on it but, I'll bend the rules this one time!!)

Last week all the girls decided to go to DC and be super tourist-y. My mom, sister and I couldn't remember the last time that we did something like that, but we ended up having a blast! We headed to Union Station to eat lunch in the America restaurant after looking around the whole place. Grace and I decided to be REALLY touristy with Barack and Michelle:

(Politically incorrect? maybe.)

We then started our way on over to the Museum of Natural History. We looked through all the exhibits and really had an awesome time. 

Rexy? Night at the Museum...anyone? Well it was so cool. The dinosaur exhibit was one of the best.

Dear future fiancee...

The Hope diamond (sorry these few photos stink...BBerry)

For anyone that hasn't made a trip to the Natural History museum, Harry Winston and the Smithsonian together held a competition for the new setting for the hope diamond and "Embracing Hope" (the pictured setting) was the winner of the year-long competition! It's pretty tough to get a good picture of the Hope diamond itself because the light changes often and it's on a rotating pedestal...surrounded by hmm 4 guards? Wild!

After finishing up a Natural History, we headed on over to the National Gallery to see some of the paintings (quickly since our meter ran out at 4!) and I got to see this (for the second time):

The Degas ballerinas were so delicate and pretty! I loved seeing them on display. We were practically by ourselves so we weren't rushed or anything!

We had a great girls day in DC and I can't wait to go back once it's not so awfully cold!

xxKatie

Christmas Recap

The fam and I had quite the Christmas! First, Christmas Eve rolled around. We went to 6:00 mass (which was packed more than I've ever seen in Church).

My sis and I got pretty dressed up (excuse my no shoes...) and I wore a ruffle top from J. Crew and a shirred metallic skirt from H&M--they're having FAB sales so hop over there ASAP. I wore tall black heels (the ones I've worn for birthdays) that have trendy little zips on them. After Church we went to dinner with some family friends (and a future Gamecock!!) that lasted until almost 11, so we were all pretty tuckered out from it being Christmas Eve and all!

On Christmas morning, we got up around 9 and everything was unwapped by 9:30! All of us were extremely excited with our gifts! Here were some highlights:

Monster Mile NASCAR Tickets for Daddy!

+

Nook and matching Lilly case for Momma

My sister and I got some great stuff too! I got sunglasses (Tortoise shell Wayfarers and Costas!), a Patagonia fleece, the cutest retro bathing suit from VS, Lilly (of course...), pajamas, a VV shift and tote and long sleeve t-shirt and croakies, and lots of other stuff! I was so thankful for all of it and can't wait to add it to my existing wardrobe! 

After the unwrapping process, we headed North to New York for (what we thought would be) three or four days. We went straight to the family Christmas party at my mom's oldest sister's house (there are 7 sisters and 1 brother...) and met everyone there. It was a blast to see everyone, all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and all the relatives. We crashed at another sister's house after hearing all about the snowpocalypse that was about to hit the entire east coast. 

We woke up and heard that Long Island could be getting up to 16 inches of snow and decided to high-tail it back South to MD. My dad and sister left early early early on Sunday and my mom and I stayed until about 11am and then left. What normally takes between 3.5-5 hours took us almost 7 hours driving through snow and icy and slush (dear NJ, please start salting your roads.). It was scary and very nerve-wracking, so I'm glad we're finally home!!

I hope everyone had wonderful Christmases this year and are looking forward to the New Year!! Just a few days left!

xxKatie

My Next Roadtrip/Vacay: Starr's Mill, GA

Anyone recognize this little place?

How about that view? Maybe from a Rom Com in Alabama?

Some people visit the city that One Tree Hill was filmed in, some people go to the place in Maryland where Runaway Bride ran away, but I want to find Deep South Glass! I LOVE Sweet Home Alabama and this part of the movie. When Melanie sees Jake and puts 2 and 2 together and realizes he's a glassblower because that's how he fell in love with her, I swoon! 

Wouldn't this be a fun mini-road trip? It's only 207 miles! (Only...jeeze!)

xxKatie