Hilton Head- 2012

 For the past three years we have been joining JP's family in Hilton Head. We have always had so much fun and were looking forward to the trip this year.  It was a little dramatic for a few of us - Matt and me- to arrive but we all got there and had a blast!

 On our first night out to dinner, we went to Crazy Crab- which we traditionally visit every year.  JP and I split a three course meal and enjoyed every bite!  While we were waiting for a table, we took advantage and had a photo shoot.

Me and my favorite brother-in-law Matt...

Me and I my other favorite brother-in-law Michael...

Of course, the best part of the beach is getting to spend so much time outside. I absolutely love being out by the ocean and spent as much time as I could out on the sand.  We three probably win the award for most time spent on the beach... and JP would have gotten the bronze medal.

If you've never been to Hilton Head, the tide is quite dramatic.  By late afternoon, the water would come in so much that we were pushed back towards the collection of  straw/bark stuff.  However, we did not let that deter us from spending time on the beach.  We had actually never been when this straw/bark stuff was present so we were a little surprised to see it.

Hanging out on the beach is fun but spending time in the ocean is even more fun.  Thankfully this year there were no jelly fish. Last year there were a ton of jelly fish and I got stung... and my poor leg had quite the reaction to it.  So, I would gladly trade jelly fish for this straw/bark stuff (can you tell I don't really know the name for it?).

The first part of the week, the waves were absolutely perfect for body surfing- likely due to the hurricane that was further south.  We did have one day where it rained.  However, we took advantage of the great waves produced and spent a lot of time in the ocean even though it was raining (note: no storm just rain).  I have never been waves so intense! 

 Some other fun memories on the beach include:

• Each day some of us would go on morning walks.  One of these mornings we saw a goldendoodle puppy! If you don't know, I really want one of these dogs.  I got super excited and enjoyed playing with the puppy.
  
• On one of our evening walk, we saw two dolphins.  We did not just see them once or twice.  They were jumping out of the water like crazy.  We must have seen them jump over 25 times.
  
• JP and I went on a bike ride one morning.  The tide was going back in but had left some puddles.  We were approaching an area where the tide was farther out than where we currently were so we had to cross over to get farther up the beach.  We crossed over these puddles which are typically always very shallow.  However, the puddle I decided to cross over was not!  Instead of being a few inches deep, this was about three feet deep.  I did not realize that until I was riding my bike and all of sudden realized that my bike was sinking.  It was a crazy feeling!  I got off my bike and was in water up to my waste.  I had to haul my bike out and then had to get back in the water to chase the water bottles that had floated out of the bike basket.  I'm sure the people watching this got quite a laugh.

We seemed to always eat out every other night enjoying the other meals at the house.  My favorite place we went was Roast Fish and Cornbread.  I got the popcorn shrimp (I know, such a grown up choice) and it was probably the best popcorn shrimp I have ever had. All there food was good, although JP would loudly point out that my Mom's fried green beans are better.

Note: If you look up their address on the internet make sure it is the right address.  One of the addresses we found was actually the home address of the owners.

 And yes, JP enjoyed the restaurant even though in this picture he does not appear to be happy.  No worries, he just gets tired of having is picture taken

 One thing we did this year that we had not done before was kayaking. We got to go to the intercoastal waterway to do this.  Everyone did single kayaks, but I swallowed my pride and got JP to do a double with me.  I knew if I had done a single I would have likely got worn out on our 2 hour journey.  I was quite glad that JP and I shared one especially during the second hour when I let him do most of the paddling.  It was fun to see a different part of Hilton Head.

JP's Mom had purchased some silly beach hats and glasses at Cracker Barrel. We took silly pictures on the beach with them.

 We had such a great time on this trip! And if you remember from an earlier post, Michael and Heather got engaged right before the trip.  We are looking forward to the official addition of Heather to the family this coming May!

A Wedding & More

JP and I traveled to Savannah the weekend of June 9th for the wedding of our friends, Andrew and Cam.

Our Hotel
When JP and I were trying to find a place to stay in Savannah, we found that to stay in the core of Savannah was going to cost more than we wanted to spend. But, we wanted to stay where we could walk to everything.  The whole time I had been looking on hotels.com I kept seeing the Thunderbird Inn that was priced less than other hotels.  However, I kept ignoring it because it looked sketch.  Well, I finally went on Southern Living's website to see if they had any bed and breakfast suggestions or affordable hotels. To my surprise, they had a whole spread on the Thunderbird Inn.  We figured if it was good enough for Southern Living then it must be good enough for us.

If you are looking for a no frills, relatively clean place to stay then this place fits the bill.  It is rather small but is within walking distance to everything.

The Wedding
Cam and Andrew had a beautiful wedding, and I felt like it could have been in a movie.  The location was the Ford Plantation- yes that is one of Henry Ford's former homes.  The ceremony was held in the front of the house.  The trees made for a gorgeous back drop!

Note: I stole this picture from facebook.

Once the ceremony was complete, we all walked through the house to the back of the house where we were greeted by not only a beautiful setting but waiters serving all kinds of food, including JP- and our pastor's- favorite- candied bacon.  Plus, there was the most elaborate open bar I had ever seen at a wedding.

 Note: Thank you for the picture I took from your facebook Corey!

The house was on the water!

Once the bride and groom arrived to the reception, we all headed towards a tent where we were served a wonderful dinner... and of course yummy cake!

JP and I had a blast enjoying the food, company, and dancing the night away.  Thank you Andrew & Cam for including us in your special day!

Savannah
The day after the wedding JP and I spent time exploring Savannah with our friends JK, Corey & Nateka who had all come for the wedding too.  After a day of exploring Savannah, we even made it over to Tybee Island for a morning.

Note: Again, thanks for the pic Corey!

Beaufort, South Carolina
Once we left Savannah, JP and I had decided to turn our trip into a mini vacation.  JP had found a booked two nights for us in a bed and breakfast in Beaufort.  We had never been to Beaufort and had never stayed in a bed and breakfast so this was a new experience for us.  And it turned out to be a great experience.  If you ever need a place to stay, we highly recommend The North Street Inn. The owners of the B&B were incredibly kind, our room and bathroom were very clean (and I am picky so I don't always say this!), and the breakfasts were quite tasty!  Breakfast was extra interesting because there was a German couple staying at the B&B too so we got to have interesting conversations over our yummy waffles.

After spending an afternoon exploring Beaufort- and eating at the best Thai place- we decided to spend our full day at Hunting Island.  This is a state park, so there is no development on the beach.  It was really cool to look down the beach and see trees- not condos.

Unfortunately it rained on our full day at the beach.  We spent a lot of time huddled up under an umbrella trying to stay dry.  Thankfully toward the end of the day the rain disappeared and it turned out to be a gorgeous late afternoon on the beach.  Since we did not get  a full sun day in on our full day, we decided to spend more time at the beach than originally planned on the day we left- which happened to be sunny.  As a result we got back to Birmingham quite late, but it was worth it!

It was fun to explore a new town and are glad we decided to check out Beaufort!

Congratulations Michael and Heather!

My brother-in-law Michael proposed to his girlfriend Heather and of course she said yes! I am so excited for them!

House To-Do List: Second Quarter

House Update: June 2012

June was quite a busy travel month- more on that later- so we were not super productive on the house.  However, we were able to check one big thing off the list.

If you remember, in January I purchased a dresser for our bedroom.  I wanted to get the matching chest to go with it, but it was not in stock.  I was told it would be a 6-9 month wait.  I decided it was worth the wait since it was what i really wanted.  I was prepared to receive the chest at some point between July and October.

To my surprise, I received a call in early June that the chest had arrived! I was so excited to complete the set and have somewhere for JP to put his clothes! He was still using plastic drawers from college that he kept in the closet. These were falling apart and were difficult to open and clothes.

I did purchase some paint samples during the month of June.  I hope to decide on the paint colors soon and do some painting during the month of July.  Picking out paint colors is hard!  We also purchased the stain needed to stain our front door.  Hopefully we can tackle that too!

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini... or not.

JP and I have at least two beach trips planned this summer, and I will likely have two more with other people.  Last year I did not buy a new swimsuit, so this year I decided I wanted a new one.  I have found that J. Crew is my favorite place to buy swimsuits.  I try to buy early in the spring because a lot of times the sizes go fast.  So, earlier this spring I waited for a sale and bought this swimsuit...

The last swimsuit I bought was solid so I was excited to get a print.

Unfortunately the J. Crew in Birmingham does not have swimsuits.  I know some people may be hesitant to purchase a swimsuit online, however, J. Crew has free shipping on swimsuits and allows you to return any swimsuit to the store.  So, if you have a J. Crew near by, there is no trouble with returns. 

Considering there is a J. Crew 1 mile from our house, this is a great option for me!  When I ordered this swimsuit, I actually ordered two others because I wasn't sure which fit I would like best.  This one won out and I easily returned the others.

House Update: May 2012

Although we did not cross a ton of stuff our To-Do List during the month of May, we were definitely more productive than April, when we crossed nothing off of the list!

Pillows

I had ordered these euro shams back in January when I ordered our bedding.  However, I did not have any euro pillows to put them on.  I really did not want to spend a lot of money on these pillows but the more I looked the more I realized that the $10 pillows were not going to be the quality I looked for.  I even ordered 3 $10 pillows from Sears.com because the reviews stated they seemed better than other $10 euro pillows.  However, although they weren't bad pillows they were not as firm as I would have liked.  I determined maybe $20 could get me the firmness I wanted.  I decided to stop looking online and actually went to Macy's.  Lucky me, they were have a buy one get one free deal on euro pillows.  I was able to get $50 euro pillows for $25 a piece.  Slightly more than I wanted to spend but I didn't have to worry about ordering them and they were exactly what I was looking for.  Now I can actually use the shams that have been sitting in their plastic wrapping since January.

Bag Storage

I always have saved our plastic grocery bags as we tend to find uses for them frequently.  We had been just throwing them under the sink.  This was an incredibly unorganized system.  There would be bags all over the place!  I know some people will put all their bags in one bag but for some reason that method did not work for us.  I purchased this bag holder and it immediately made me feel more organized.

Shower Knobs
When we moved in, for some reason one of the knobs in the master shower was missing.  So, we had to use this to turn the hot water on.
 

We finally have it fixed! It took us so long because Lowes and Home Depot did not carry the part we needed so JP had to go to a small local hardware store.  And, considering he was out of town so much from January-April he never got a chance to go.  So, he finally had a chance to go and it is fixed!  The guest bath had a similar issue, and it is fixed now too.

Kitchen Cleaning

Now this wasn't on our list, but I've struggled the whole time we've had our house to figure out the best way to clean our granite counter tops.  It seems as if everyone prefers granite and when you watch shows like House Hunters, people seem to shun any kitchen that does not have granite.  However, in my opinion, granite is not low maintenance! Any time you just wipe something up you are going to leave a huge streak.  Also there seems to be all kinds of rules about what you can and cannot use on granite.

I originally bought these granite wipes which worked but they were more for shining and less for cleaning- and they did not sanitize.

I finally did some research and decided to try just using soap and water.  Using a rag and Dawn, I scrubbed the counter tops.  They felt so much cleaner!  However, when doing that there are still streaks.  So, I read that Windex Multisurface Antibacterial was ok to use on granite. Note: Some websites say yes, some say no.  The company states that is ok to use so I will trust them.  So after using soap and water I am able to get rid of the streaks and ensure sanitizing by using the Windex.

Now that I have determined a way to clean the counter tops maybe I will like them more!

 Kitchen Reorganization

 Again, this wasn't on our list but... Originally I had placed the toaster oven on the right side of the stove.  I moved it to the left side, and I feel like the counter seems a lot less cluttered and that there is a lot more workspace.  Note: I suppose one day I should do a blog post about why we have a pig in our kitchen... although he is not supposed to be upside down.