My favorite time of year....

It's getting to be a little cooler not so hot and humid (at night), pumpkin spice lattes are coming back, fair season will be starting soon and it's RESTAURANT WEEK in Charleston!

When I lived back up north, I always loved to take advantage of Restaurant Week in NYC because that was sometimes the only time I could afford to eat at some of those restaurants. Now that I am here in Charleston, I still love taking advantage of RW. It really just gives me an excuse to go out to eat at some of the best restaurants downtown and get an appetizer, entree, and dessert :p

Once it was announced, the girls and I decided that since we hadn't really gotten together in a while, we should do a girls' night. Sooo, last night we all met downtown at 82 Queen. It is one of S and I's favorite restos. He swears by the shrimp & grits and I just think they can't go wrong with anything on the menu. I had a blast catching up with the ladies and even made a new friend who I found out grew up probably 5 miles from me in CT, went to the same college (UConn), and yet I just met her yesterday in Charleston. Such a small world!

Our waiter was a terrible photographer.

Tonight, S and I are going out with another couple that we are friends with and our friend Krista is going to tag along at Lowcountry Bistro. Now before yall are like, "hey, isn't Lowcountry Bistro owned by the same peeps as 82 Queen? And, has pretty much the same menu?" Yes, that is true, however, I have never been to Lowcountry Bistro and I didn't exactly have all the say in where we are eating. Regardless, I am excited to check out a new place and get to see some of my bestest friends.

It has already been a crazy week and there is still so much more to do! I don't think I mentioned it, but my friend, Laura, from CT was in Atlanta over the weekend for Dragon*Con (yah, she's a bit nerdier than me) and she really wanted to get together. The best plan we could come up with was for her to FLY from Atlanta to Charleston on Tuesday morning and then fly back to Atlanta the next morning just to check her back again an hour later and fly from Atlanta to CT. She's a little nuts, but she informed me that she is moving to Santa Monica in November so I couldn't let an opportunity to hangout pass us by.

 

We had a lot of fun being touristy around downtown and we had an awesome lunch at Eli's Table and dinner at Blu on Folly Beach. Btw, I highly recommend BOTH places!! Eli's Table quickly became one of S and I's favorite brunch spots, but we had never gone for anything other. I figured if they had good brunch, they had to have good lunch and they did! By late afternoon, we were kind of tired of the heat and walking around downtown so we ventured back to our house on JI and got ready for dinner at the beach. Blu was a great choice, I never realized they had such an extensive dinner menu. I had the pan-seared diver scallops with sweet corn risotto, which was awesome; however, I wasn't impressed by their desserts. Wasn't a fan of the creme brulee or the cobbler :(

Have any of yall ever been to Charleston and if so, what was YOUR favorite restaurant???

Getting excited for next week!

This month has been so busy and I'm kind of looking to some downtime when S and I can hit the beach or do whatever we want, whenever we want. His grandparents are arriving tomorrow and will be staying at his place until Tuesday morning so it looks like that's not going to be happening until at least the first or second weekend of June. Luckily, he is handing over his bedroom to them and will be staying two miles down the road at my place with me on those nights. At least we'll get a little quiet time in.

We are both getting very excited for our trip to CT next week. I am especially excited for him to get to meet my dad and brother and to take him to NYC since he has never been before (he's actually never been north of Virginia! On the East Coast anyway..) We are also planning a night out at Foxwoods Resort & Casino and I reserved us this room at the Great Cedar Hotel:

Fancy!

He's been dying to go to the casino, so I am taking him! I am also going to take him to Mystic Seaport and we are going to check out the Groton Sub Base and possibly tour the USS Nautilus. On top of all that fun, we will get to have din with my cousin, Amanda, and her hubby, Joe; have some drinks with friends, and cookout with extended family on Sunday. Its going to be another whirlwind of a weekend, but hey, we can't all get 30+ days of leave every year ;)

The weekend after we get back from CT is my friend Gingham and Tim's wedding. I'm really looking forward to it and this is the ABS Allen Schwartz dress that I bought for the occasion -

I'm going to wear the same great Badgley Mischka shoes that I wore for the sub ball (they match perfectly!) and remember how I said that I am awesome at finding deals? Well....This dress was originally $335, marked down to $99 on 6pm.com. I had been eyeing it for a while and was about to buy it one day when I decided to wait just another day or so. The very next day, I went online and to my surprise, it had been marked down AGAIN to $66. They have free shipping and there was no sales tax so I got a $335 dress for $66, score! It's a gorgeous, light, flowy dress in person and very well made. I need to get it hemmed, but I'm not too worried about paying for that considering how much I originally spent, couldn't have found a better deal.

I had also been shopping for a set of pearls since they are of course, all the rage in the South and what could be classier than a pretty set of pearls. I had found this set a little while back on Macys.com, but it was on backorder and I wasn't able to get it in time for the Sub Ball so I ended up borrowing some from a friend. When I knew I had time, I decided to go for it and purchase them on sale for $39 (regular price - $120) and I got a 25% off 'friends & family' discount code, which made them only $29.25. They are beautiful and I'm so excited to finally own my very own. I'm not the biggest fan of the earring, however, the bracelet and necklace match the set of Honora pearl earrings that S bought me for my birthday :D

Soo that is my life for the next couple weeks! Does anyone else have anything fun planned in the near future?

Side note: I have been thinking about starting to do some restaurant reviews and reviews of other attractions in the Charleston Area. We have so many amazing places to eat and so many fun things to do and I would love to share!