April Update

This blog has quickly turned into a place where I show up once a month and recap what's been happening while I was away, and I kinda sorta like it that way. From now until the end of summer, I've packed my life full of vacations and activities, so I won't be around much except for the occassional vacation re-cap or life update. If you want to keep up with my daily happenings, you can always find me on Instagram (probably posting pictures of my food)!

April was a busy month, traveling and work-wise. I managed to work longer days so I could have the chance to enjoy my weekends again!

One of my best friends from college, Rachel, is graduating from medical school in a few weeks and moving to Richmond, so I planned a quick getaway to Charleston to see her before she leaves! I didn't quite think it through and picked the busiest weekend in Charleston to drive down (Cooper River Bridge Run weekend), but we had a great time despite the crowds! We ate fantasic meals: tacos at Zia Taqueria, brunch at Poogan's Porch and The Fat Hen, drinks at Leaf and The Gin Joint, and dinner at Blossom. We walked around the city, shopped, got manicures, and generally caught up on life. Rachel got engaged the weekend after I went to visit so now I have another reason to visit - to celebrate!

The next weekend, my parents and I went down to Litchfield for a little R&R. After busy season, I always like to get down to the ocean to recharge, and the weather was perfect for catching a little vitamin D.

I made it down to the beach both mornings to catch the sunrise, which was breathtaking (especially Sunday morning). Although I worked while I was there, I came back feeling more refreshed than when I left!

The next week and weekend were spent celebrating the grand re-opening of our favorite taproom The Community Tap, getting tacos with friends at Asada, and celebrating Easter with my family.

The following weekend was PACKED with activities, because our friend Sarah was back in town from Philly! Several other friends who live nearby (Charlotte, Atlanta, Chapel Hill) also made the drive to Greenville so everyone could reunite with Sarah while she was here!

There was a lot of eating, drinking, girl talk, and of course, selfies. We even checked out a new brewery, Swamp Rabbit Brewery, where we had some friendly competition while playing Scattergories and Apples to Apples. Girls' weekends are the best kind of weekends!

And as if I hadn't had enough trips to the coast in April, Mom and I headed back down to Charleston this past weekend to celebrate the engagement of one of Katie's lifelong friends, Meg. We drove down Friday and stayed with some old friends in their wonderful house on Johns Island, and then headed back after the party Saturday so I could pack for St. Simon's Island for a week for work! All these trips have been so quick, I'd like to stay in one place for longer than 2 days!

Can y'all believe it's already May? I'm so glad the first 4 months of the year are over (because of the long hours at work, obviously) and am ready to start the vacation train this summer! Trips in May and June include Portland, OR with my sister, NYC for Governors Ball Music Festival, and a week at the beach!

Life Update

I feel like I just fell off the face of the planet for a week or so!

Let's rewind back to last weekend first.

Ryan and I celebrated our Valentine's Day at home on Thursday night (I cooked dinner - recipe coming soon and we had these for dessert) but we went out on the town on Friday night. I have annual coupons to several of the nicer restaurants in Greenville because of my donations to United Way, and I thought Valentine's would be a perfect time to use one of them!

We went to Soby's, a restaurant that I love but haven't been to again since I've moved to Greenville. We had a fantastic dinner of bacon-wrapped tenderloin and potato crusted flounder and headed home with full bellies.

 

 Ryan surprised me with these gorgeous flowers Friday night when he came to pick me up for dinner! It was such a different arrangement, which he said he helped pick out! I was proud of him!

I had promised myself I was going to take most of Saturday off from work to catch up on some other things (laundry, packing for Charleston for work) and I'd work Sunday instead. They were calling for snow on Saturday (I never believe them when they say it's going to snow), but Ryan and I headed to Coffee Underground to enjoy one of my rare mornings off.

 

We made it back to apartment just in time for the "snow" to start falling. We didn't get as much at my apartment as other parts of Greenville did, but it was still fun to be curled up on the couch and watch the flurries out the window!

This was early on during the snowfall



I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing, doing laundry, and napping.

Sunday, I was off to Charleston for a week for work, but not before stopping at The Bohemian for brunch. Their bloody mary bar and jalapeno pimento cheese is pretty hard to resist.

And then, next thing ya know, I was in Charleston!

I hadn't been in Charleston since the Cooper River Bridge 10K, so I was excited to meet up with my bestie, Rachel, for dinner Sunday night. She chose Basil, the most fabulous Thai food I've ever had. Then I was tucked into my hotel for a long week ahead.

While this client was more than exhausting, we managed to hit up quite a few delicious eats while in Charleston. Every night we had such a hard time deciding because there are just too many restaurants to choose from!

The eating highlights of the week: sushi at O-Ku, seafood at Coast, tapas and people watching at Social Wine Bar, drinks at Proof Bar and Pavilion Rooftop Bar, and dinner at my all-time favorite restaurant Red Drum in Mt. Pleasant.

Homemade Sugar and Spice Donuts at Red Drum. Yeah, that happened.

I originally looked into booking the hotel for the weekend and having Ryan come down and join me, but after realizing the rooms were going to be $250/night, I decided we'd stick with our free original plan to go to the mountains for a belated Valentine's getaway.

We drove up late Friday night and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Unfortunately, we woke up to a rainy day on Saturday, but that gave us a perfect excuse to build a fire and not leave the couch all day. I had to work for several hours, but at least I had a change of scenery!

I've been promising Ryan I would make surf & turf for dinner for months now, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get in the kitchen and try a new recipe. We stopped at the Fresh Market for steaks and lobster before we left Greenville, and I can honestly say we devoured this meal. I'll post the recipe for this lobster mac and cheese this week also! Seriously so good.

We were graced with wonderful weather on Sunday, so we were happy to finally get out of the house! There's a waterfall nearby that I've been to several times but Ryan has never seen, so we hopped in the car for a quick "hike." The road leading to the waterfall is paved and there are even steps down to get the best view, but somehow I'm actually sore today. Can we say, "out of shape"??

 

 

That, my friends, is what I've been up to for the past 10 days. I hope to not pull another disappearing act!

And holy crap, it's almost MARCH! How the heck did that happen??!