Monday, March 31, 2014

Scenes from the weekend

My older sister and her husband came to visit this weekend and celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary. Friday night we finally tried a restaurant called Neo in Bluffton. Neo is a farm to table restaurant in which 90% of the food they serve was grown within 90 miles.

The happy couple, they've been together for 11 years, and married for 4.


Their drink menu was one of my favorites. They had so many fun names and varieties.


Here we have one of their custom libations. This one tasted like licorice, but sadly I've forgotten the name.


I ordered the Spring Flowers and boy was it a good decision. I'll be recreating this one in the future weeks.


They also had a huge selection of draft beer. I've never acquired the taste for it, but from what I've heard they had several good ones on tap. 


They had a delicious Blue Crab + Corn Chowder Soup. It was so good, I couldn't share. They also had a barbecue nacho appetizer that was to die for. 




These were the Angry Tuna Lettuce Wraps. I didn't try them myself, but judging that she cleaned  the plate I'm betting they were pretty good.


I ordered the BBQ free range salad and it did not disappoint. I'm not really a fan of corn on my salad, but everything else about it was perfect. It's drizzled with a BBQ vinaigrette, I'm dying to find a similar dressing. 


The other dishes ordered were flatbread pizza, shrimp and lobster succotash, and BBQ spareribs. All in all the food was really great.


The rest of the weekend was filled with shopping, relaxation, and food. We headed to a spa in Lady's Island and were pampered with hour long massages.


Sunday afternoon, after our guests left we had a wild hair to work on the yard a bit. I've always been a fan of gardens and had already started mine a few weeks back. We headed to Home Depot to pick up a few things so we could get to work. I've also tested some of the pins I've found on Pinterest and am pleased to say that they really work.

1. Growing celery (or romaine) from what you buy in the store. This one has been soaking on our porch for about 2 weeks in water. I decided it was big enough to plant along with it's two friends.



2. Homemade week killer from vinegar, Dawn, and salt. I pinned a recipe for half a gallon but didn't have a spray bottle that big. I took my tiny little laundry spray bottle and poured some white vinegar, a dash of Dawn, and some salt into it. This worked in 2 days on dandelion weeds, but didn't do much for other ones. 



After working in the yard and on the garden, I've gotten an itch to clean the house top to bottom. Good thing I have a week off from school to accomplish all that needs to be done! I'm thinking of posting a tour of our home when I'm done. What do you think?

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Kate Spade Giveaway

I don't often post on Saturdays, but trust me you're going to love that I did. I am hosting a giveaway to celebrate my sweet and wonderful followers! Remember those lovely gold mini bow earrings I posted way back here?


Well I have a pair of rose gold mini bows just calling your name! Aren't they fabulous?



Friday, March 28, 2014

Five on Friday

One
I would love for these earrings to pop up in my jewelry box. They would be such a statement for summer! I haven't been able to find the actual source yet, so if you know please tell me!

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Two
Now that the semester is over, I'll be purchasing these chambray capris this weekend! I saw them in the store last week and fell in love. Sadly they didn't have my size, but I have high hopes that I'll find a pair this weekend. They're even more fabulous in person and are perfect for rotations!
J.Crew Chambray 

Three
This pin is absolutely genius. It takes a bland bookshelf and turns it into something absolutely stunning. The polka dots are the perfect touch and not too overpowering.

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Four
These heels from a boutique in downtown Savannah named Fabrik. If I weren't in desperate need of a good pair of rotations flats, these beauties would be mine.


Five
I'll definitely be using this for our Easter Egg dyeing. How vibrant are these colors?

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Don't forget to follow along to keep up with all the fun!



A special thanks to NatashaDarciChristina and April for hosting fabulous Five on Fridays! Also linking up with Lauren Elizabeth for Friday Favorites.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Sperry Takes Over

I'm not sure we've formally met, but what better day than my birthday? You did get me a gift right? I guess I can forgive you this time, but next year I'd love a nice squeaky toy that I can promptly tear up.  I'm Sperry and I'm a mini poodle. My mom was sweet enough to throw a mini celebration just for me this morning, new Target party hats included (regardless of how much I hate them). She means well. 


Naturally I shook the silly hat off, morning pictures aren't my thing.


I thought it was pretty funny, but mom thought otherwise.


Oh look, she put the party hat on again. At least this time she let me open my pressies!


Which one to tear apart first? Decisions, decisions...



I'm off to play with my gifts! Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to check out Target's new Oh Joy! party gear  for your next birthday party! While you're out, maybe pop into the pet shop and grab a little something for your fur friend.

School's Out ForEVER

Yesterday was my last final exam I will ever take. WOW. The last 15 months have been a blur. We've taken over 80 tests, flipped through 25050 slides, and completed 102 class hours. Hallelujah, praise the Lord for getting us all through! I couldn't be more excited to be starting rotations in 11 days! Remember the challenge I issued myself in January: wardrobe remix for 10 weeks? Well I'm happy to say that I was almost perfect! I did break down and buy a pair of pants and a top from J.Crew last week, but it was with a gift card so I haven't decided if it really counts against me. To celebrate so many wonderful things, a few of my favorite classmates and I headed to lunch together yesterday.

Starland Cafe is a quaint little restaurant settled just off of Bull Street. It was almost impossible deciding which panini to choose, but the salad part was easy. The kitchen sink salad is an absolute must! I finally chose the Rosemary ham. I'm positive I made the right decision.

Side Kitchen + Rosemary ham

Side Kitchen + Greek Asparagus

I'm a terrible blogger and forgot which one this was. I do remember it was good.

"Cuban" like special of the day + Tomato Thai
After lunch we headed downtown to shop around Broughton for a little while. Then it was off to relax at home. It felt so good not waking up to an alarm this morning, even if it was before 8am. On today's to-do list is wash my hair (which I'm pretty ecstatic about), celebrate Sperry's birthday, and head home to watch my little sister's softball game. I can't wait to see how my hair turns out!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Perm Before and After

As promised, here are some pictures from my perm yesterday.

Just after sitting in the chair. I was a tad bit nervous.


Looking slightly granny-like. All set for the chemicals to be applied! 


About 1 hour after.  We're twins! (Sort of)






So far I'm pretty excited about my decision. I'm a little worried that my curl is relaxing a little to quickly, as some of my hairs are straight with a little curl on the end. I'm hoping this is just from my stylist combing it out before trimming it. I was advised not to wash it for 72 hours because my hair is so fine. I'll be honest about the smell, it's not great. It's not the worst, but I was hoping that it wouldn't smell quite so strong so long after. I'll be concealing as best I can with leaving conditioner and a small amount of curling product for my last two finals. Today is our geriatrics final, please pray for our class. This one is going to be a doozy. 

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Wavin' Goodbye

to stick straight hair! Today is the day I spend a couple of hours in a stylist's chair to transform my fine, straight hair to something a little more beach appropriate (after taking my last Clinical Medicine final EVER). I spent a few weeks researching salons in my area to find someone I felt comfortable to handle my precious "doll hairs." Remember how I told you I used to be blonde? Well since I embraced my natural color, I haven't had any chemical processing done. She'll be working with "virgin hair" and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a tad bit nervous about the whole process. Yes, I know it's just hair and it will grow back, but it took a pretty long time for it to get this long. Here are the pics I gave my stylist as idea of what I want. I pinned a few more on my Pinterest here.

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Be sure to check back tomorrow for some day 1 pics of my hair!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Five on Friday Birthday Edition

Since it's the end of my birthday week, I wanted to share a few favorites from this week. Let' get down to it!

One
Butter London nail lacquers | I have always loved these little bottles, but I never could stomach the $15 price tags. Lucky for me Ulta had their 21 days of Beauty Steals, and these beauties were $7.50 each yesterday. That's a tad bit better than Essie!

Keen || Trout Pout || Molly Cuddled || Slapper

Two
Stella & Dot | My lovely sister-in-law gave me this gorgeous necklace. I've never purchased anything from them, but I can definitely see myself doing so in the future. I can't wait to pair this beauty with some of my spring favorites.

There's something I love about pretty packaging.

Three
Maison de Macarons | I know that they aren't Laduree, but they are the next best thing. I love a good macaron, and I'm so glad I found a place in Savannah to get my fix. My favorites are the Key Lime, Meyer's Lemon, and Chocolate.



Four
Frozen | I thought it was such a cute movie when it came out in theaters. I wasn't so sure about all the singing, but a few days later I couldn't get the songs out of my head. I finally convinced my husband to watch it this week, his reaction? "How many songs are in this thing?" I think he secretly enjoyed some of it though, I mean he couldn't get the songs out of his head either.

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Five
My friends and family | I can't even begin to tell you how blessed I am. Seriously, I'm am so thankful for my friends, family, and classmates that have practically become family. It's not easy spending approximately 379 days with the same, small group of people under such enormous stress. I mean we get tired of each other at some point. I am so happy to be starting rotations soon, but I will miss my friends in class. Here's to a new journey!



Don't forget to follow along to keep up with all the fun!



A special thanks to NatashaDarciChristina and April for hosting fabulous Five on Fridays! Also linking up with Lauren Elizabeth, and Lauren for their Friday Favorites.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Spring is here!

The best part about my birthday? It's almost always the first day of Spring! Oh and to make my day even better, it's our last day of classes! Hallelujah!  This year, I decided to nix the cake and grab a nice big box of macarons, best decision ever.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Sushi by the Seashore

My husband tends to say that I am very picky about where I eat. I like to think that I like to eat good food. Don't get me wrong, I'll try most anything once. Once I've found a favorite though, it's hard to convince me to change that up. Previously, I had the most amazing sushi restaurant in Augusta, GA. The owner knew my grandparents for thirty years, but sadly they closed leaving me without a go-to sushi restaurant.  Once I moved to the Lowcountry, Jared and I tried various Japanese & Sushi restaurants before finally unearthing this gem: Hana Sushi & Fusion. It is tucked in a shopping and restaurant center just before the bridge to Hilton Head Island. 


Crunch Deluxe

Aloha 


H.H.I.
Next time you land in the Bluffton area, stop by this little spot and try some out.
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