The Eclipse Premiere!

I made a last minute decision today to purchase a ticket for the midnight showing of Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series (In case you live in a cave and didn't know that) with Amanda & Mary. I am definitely not a "Twihard" like my friend Amanda is (visit her blog, here!) but I do love the movies! I haven't read the books, so everything is brand new and exciting with each new film! I think one of the most exciting parts about tonight is that I can experience Amanda's crazy fanatic obsession first hand. I've never been able to experience this, because I've only recently been in Charleston and typically have just waited for the movies to come out at Blockbuster.

Speaking of obsessions... it reminds me of a convo Amanda, Kira, Mary and I had at Juanita Greenburg's Friday night! We've all got our weird obsessions that none of the others quite understand, but have realized that it's better to just let them be than joke and make fun of them. For Amanda it is Twilight, and her love for Edward Cullen & well, just vampires in general! Kira has a new obsession with silly bands (yes.. the little plastic animal shaped bracelets every 10 year old has stacked on their arm) as well as Zac Efron. (I must note here, the obsession started while he was in High School Musical and looked a lot younger than he does now! :) Mary's got a love for crazy color nail polishes (she wore lime green to match her green dress this weekend) while I love my Jessica's... that's the HairDo Jessica Simpson & Ken Paves hair extensions and lipgloss... I'm steady reapplying! Let's take a quick look at how amazing hair extensions are:

You can wear them in a side bun:

You can wear them just all down

In a side pony

Or half up!

I even decided to wear the straight ones for the cover of Spartanburg Magazine... haha!

LIPGLOSS ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE!

Anyways... getting back to what I really am supposed to be writing about... Eclipse!! We met at Starbucks across the street at 9pm to get a caffeine fix and scope out the scene. We set up our chairs on the 2nd row, woohoo! We strategically placed them so there was a nice "hole" with no ones head in the way, and just close enough to the first row so no one could squeeze their  chair in! Here we are! We were a lot more excited than we look I promise!

We had 2.5 hours to sit and wait, while texting with friends to keep up with the Carolina baseball score. Side note: WE WON!! NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! :) We noticed some lightening off to the side... I do NOT do lightening. It got closer... closer... right when the previews started BAM... downpour! We hightailed it to the cars to grab our umbrellas, already soaked but thought "this won't last long, we'll sit it out soaking wet and wait!"

It cleared up a few minutes later, but then started POURING again... this time worse with more lightening and rain. I finally decided at 12:30 I better just get a rain check and go home, I'd be exhausted at work today! So that I did... I went home looking like a wet rat, at 1 am, and not even seeing any of Eclipse. :( Hopefully I can make it to the showing tonight with Amanda... I'm dying to see it! So close... yet so far away!

Bug Off!

Down south we have the WORST problem with what we call "palmetto bugs"... which doesn't sound too bad! Actually, the proper term is "American Cockroach" - which sounds disgusting, and they are. Lately, I've been experiencing at least one of these pesky little  big guys in my apartment. You would think you only get these pests if you live in an old, nasty, dirty, cluttered space. I am VERY clean! and it's nice! How do they get in and what attracts them?! I have a lot of trees around me, and live by the water, so I feel that is one reason. But I really cannot stand them, they are disgusting, ugly, flying bugs that do no good for anyone! What is their purpose?! And how can I eliminate these nasty pests?! Suggestions? Does anyone else have these too? I'm so scared I'm going to see one when Brice isn't there to kill them for me. I typically run squealing to my room and close the door until he's successfully flushed them down the toilet! HELP!

Devon Baer Giveaway!

Kitchen Belleicious is currently giving away the Midnight Flower Necklace by Devon Baer!

You can visit Devon's Etsy store here. You can shop for tunics, belts, necklaces, earrings and handbags! Here are some of my favorite pieces from her Etsy store:

 Of course, everything in her store is so cute I wish I could have all of it!

GO GAMECOCKS!

This weekend was super exciting. South Carolina is in the college World Series and as if that wasn't exciting enough we have made it to the finals! First of all, the weekend got off to a great start Friday night. A group of us went to Moe's (not to be confused with what I call "welcome to Moe's!") to watch the Carolina vs. Clemsucks Clemson game. WE WON by the way... and I believe Clemson hadn't lost a game during the whole series yet. Oh, until US! Next thing you know we are dominating again, sending them back to the farm on Saturday! woohoo! I could not be happier! Unless I was actually IN Omaha right now.

Let's put up a second pic... just for the fun of it!

Saturday was a GREAT day, simply because Brice came back home from Rosemary Beach! It's crazy how much you can miss someone when they are only gone for a couple of days! It just feels like a lifetime when you know you can't see them. We go days at a time and it's not that big of a deal, but when I know I can't just drive over and see him it makes it worse! However, I know he had a great time! Hopefully I'll be able to go next year. This year I don't have any vacation time with my job. We tried our hardest to go out Saturday night, but I think we were both tired and couldn't keep up with my crazy friends... pictured here:

Sunday was a great beach day! We went out to Sullivan's at our usual spot, Station 30. It was SO windy though, so we didn't stay the entire day like we typically do. Last time I went out there I rescued a starfish on the beach! It was such a good feeling knowing a saved a little life, big or small it just made me feel good! So we went for another walk this time to see if I could find anymore.  No such luck at rescuing any little creatures this time, but I did find a sand dollar! (He was not alive though) I saved him and brought him back here, I'm going to bleach him white and find somewhere fun to keep him!

Sunday night we decided to go to one of our favorite spots and have some cocktails. Brice and I met at Red's and even introduced our parents to each other there too! Red's is on Shem Creek and it is beautiful! We love to sit on the top porch and watch all of the boats (and point out which ones we will definitely have one day!) and dolphins... I love dolphins!

Had to get a pic in front of the beautiful sunset!

Body Pump Officially Kicked My Booty...

Last night I agreed to attend my first body pump class with my friend Jenny. She is super athletic and takes these classes pretty regularly. I was a little hesitant at first but agreed to go because I knew I had lost all muscle tone since I moved to Charleston in March. (I've only been doing cardio when I can because my work schedule is so random) She explained to me that I would be ok because I can control the amount of weight to use. I thought to myself "Perfect! I'll use the smallest amount possible!" When we got to class and started setting up our weights, of course, she proceeded to choose our spots right front and center... grrr! Now everyone is going to be looking at me trying to do a squat! Thankfully, she told the instructor before class that it was my first time, so at least he didn't think I was completely weight/rhythm/coordination challenged! And after class, he told me I did a great job for my first time! Go me!

For those of you that are not very familiar with body pump, let me explain. It is an hour long class of strength training that works every muscle in your body. And believe it or not, you're getting a great cardio workout at the same time. The instructor plays music and for each track, you work one muscle group. So really, thats about 4-5 minutes on each! OWW! At first, it was a piece of cake... but once I got towards the second half of the class my legs were shaking. I really enjoyed the class though, it gave me such a sense of accomplishment and made me feel so much better about myself. I've made it my goal to start going twice a week, and doing cardio the other days. You can burn about 600 calories and see results pretty fast if you keep it up.

I think it really took a toll on me though, I overslept 35 minutes this morning! I NEVER do that!! I think I might put my alarm across the room tonight so I have to physically get out of bed and walk over to it... which might take a while in the morning since the 2nd day is usually the worst! Yikes!

SEMI-ANNUAL SALE!!

It's the Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual Sale!!

I get so excited twice a year when this sale comes around...  they have the BEST deals! I just had to show my cute Havaiana flip flops that I got yesterday at the sale, for $12.99! The original price was about $25! Half off? yes please! These flip flops will never top my beloved Rainbows but they come pretty darn close! I chose the gold/tan metallic. I'm pretty sure I chose these because I read in People Style that Jennifer Aniston wears them :) ha!

My Experimental Little Self

Recently I've been experimenting with food. I've gotten pretty bored doing the same ole breakfast routine of fruit, cereal/oatmeal, coffee... then a sandwich & fruit for lunch. Yesterday morning I tried a new little concoction and thought I'd share because now I find myself thinking about how yummy it's going to be in the morning!

This is what my oatmeal bowl includes:
• 1 pkg Quaker Oats fiber maple & brown sugar oatmeal (currently on SALE at Publix)
• 1 banana, sliced
• a handful of blueberries
• a dash of cinnamon
• one spoonful of peanut butter (what I like to call, Gods gift to the world)

I made it pretty for everyone before I devoured it:

This is simply nothing less than heaven in your mouth... this is what it looks like (not as pretty) after you mix it all up!
 

Today is my day off so for lunch I decided to use up the rest of my orzo pasta I had left over from the last pasta dish I made. I looked in my fridge and found a couple things to mix in with it. It was wondeful, yet again! SUCCESS! yay :)

•1 bag baby spinach
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tomato, diced
• 2 heaping spoonfuls of Bertolli spaghetti sauce
•as much goat cheese as you would like

I sauteed the garlic in the bottom of a pot with some olive oil, then added my spinach leaves and tossed. Cover, and let cook down (they wilt pretty quick). Add in your tomato, spaghetti sauce, pasta, salt, pepper and goat cheese... mmm! (Note: if you don't like goat cheese, I think chunks of fresh mozzarella would be delish! I just happen to have an obsession over goat cheese)

Tonight my friend Jenny and I are going to Body Pump... I've never been to a Body Pump class before so I'm a little scared I won't be able to handle it. I'm a weakling these days! She said it's a lot of fun though and you can control your weight, so as long as I can use some tiny weights and just get a little toned I'm all for it. I'll let y'all know how it goes! Maybe it will become a new part of my life, along with getting up 20-30 min early to run! I need some encouragement so I'm probably going to put up this picture of Carrie Underwood as my desktop wall paper again. Carrie and her amazingly perfect legs hung on mine and my old roomie Chelsea's fridge for quite a while. She didn't really stop us from snacking but she forced us to the gym each day! Hopefully it will work again!

What's in my fridge?!

Tonight for dinner I decided I wanted pasta... but I wanted to be healthy at the same time. Not that past isn't healthy, it is! I just did not want a huge carb overload with creamy sauce. (Even though that would be heaven). I found some orzo pasta in my pantry, so I decided to look around and see what I thought would be good in it! This is what all I came up with:

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• zest & juice of 1 lemon
•olive oil (as much as needed)
•2-3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
•1/2 tomato
• a few slices roasted eggplant
•fresh grated Parmesan

I cut the eggplant into slices, seasoned with salt & a little drizzle of olive oil and baked them in the oven at about 400º until they started turning slightly brown on top.  While that was cooking, I boiled my orzo pasta and prepared the rest of my ingredients. Right before the orzo was done, I put some olive oil in the bottom of a small skillet and added my minced garlic. After that cooked down a bit I drained my pasta and poured this over it, then added the basil, tomato, lemon zest, lemon juice, a little more olive oil and I cut up a few pieces of the roasted eggplant. Season with as much salt & pepper as desired. Then, top with as much fresh Parmesan as you want! (I like a lot!)

 Mmmm... I need to think of a name for this!

Ahhh my mess!!

I will have to say that if I make this again I believe I will leave out the eggplant, and use portabello mushrooms instead, and maybe some chicken to add a little protein, along with more basil!  Although the eggplant was good, I prefer my eggplant as fritters (FRIED) as opposed to roasted. The rest of the dish was heavenly! I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow :)

My friend Amanda recently introduced me to a new blog, Peanut Butter Fingers. She recently posted about flour less peanut butter cookies. PEANUT BUTTER?! Yes please! (I'm a peanut butter freak). The best part is it's only 3 ingredients, and they're ready in 10 minutes!

•1 cup peanut butter
•1 cup sugar
•1 egg
Bake at 350º for 10 minutes

 mmmmmm....

ooey gooey peanut buttery goodness... aka heaven in my mouth! (Please excuse my chipped nail)

So easy! So I made these tonight as well... ummm AMAZING. They are so peanut buttery! I already ate one, will probably eat another in a minute, and I'm taking the rest to Brice tomorrow because he's so sweet and loves peanut butter too! :)

I also saw where she wrote about these chocolate calcium supplements. Every girls needs extra calcium, and this comes in the form of chocolate which is WAY more easy to remember to take than a pill! I went to the store tonight and picked these up, and they are delicious! They come in milk chocolate and dark chocolate. I've formed a conclusion that all vitamins should come in the form of chocolate :)

New Obsessions!

I've posted before how I get random obsessions... this weekend, I replaced 2 of my past obsessions with new ones! My hair has been doing awful lately, I couldn't get an appointment to get a hair cut immediately, so of course I freaked out. "My hair is so ugly! It's going to look horrible forever!" Being blonde, my hair gets very dry, accompanied with the humidity down here in Charleston = UGLY hair for me! I'm trying to grow it out, I just don't feel all that great with shorter hair. I am very envious of anyone that has long, thick, blonde hair! (Please pass some on to me!) Anyways... I ventured to Ulta on Saturday, and decided I was going to try a new shampoo & conditioner. I have heard in the past that your hair can actually get immune to hair products if you use them too long. I've had the same Paul Mitchell moisture shampoo since I moved here in March, so... I was probably immune. I decided on the Artec Kiwi Color reflector Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner. OMG! My hair is back to feeling soft and healthy again!! It's a miracle! Not to mention this stuff smells AMAZING... I really think it's the best smelling shampoo I've ever used!! GO BUY THIS NOW!

On my way out of the hair section I passed the nail polishes... oh no. I spotted the bright Malibu Barbie circa 1992 NEON PINK! ahhh how tan would this make me look?! VERY. I had to purchase. Oh, not to mention the color is called "Flip Flop Fantasy" HOW CUTE! And... I'm officially in love :)

On Friday, my mom and grandma came to Charleston to deliver my new desk, lamp & chair for my bedroom! YAY I no longer have to sit on the couch with my computer, which leaves me with a hurting back. My parents have spent the past few weeks refurbishing an old coffee table into a desk for me! My dad sanded it, restained it, put table legs on it and it is now a desk! He is so talented! My mom found this cute bamboo chair at an antique store, my dad stripped the paint off, and they painted it an aqua to match my room. She covered the cushion in brown and then embroidered this super cute palm tree on it in aqua. THEN she bought a lamp and covered the shade in aqua with my monogram in brown... ahh I love my new little working space! I'm going home next weekend to get a picture I painted of a conch shell to go above it... it will be perfect! :0)

My new summer goal!

I remember back in high school and college how I would always read a ton of books each summer, at LEAST 10. Something happened after though and I have really slacked off ever since 2006 when I graduated. I've decided that this summer I am getting back into reading, especially since I have a date with the beach every Wednesday :) So, new goal is: I am going to read 10 books this summer! So far, I've read one... it took me, well, about 3 months! I started reading it the week I moved to Charleston. I have got to get it together and do better! Brice tells me that reading will broaden my vocabulary! First of all a) is he trying to tell me something? and b) He doesn't read?! So he doesn't have room to talk! So far I have read "The House on Tradd Street" by Karen White, and I started the sequel "The Girl on Legare Street" yesterday! They both take place in Charleston. The main character has the 6th sense to see/sense ghosts. It's so interesting but at the same time, I'm not gonna lie... I get scared at night reading it and have to put it down! haha! I would highly recommend this book to anyone though. I just love any book that takes place in Charleston!

Does anyone have any good suggestions for my 3rd-10th book?

Bloggers Block?!

Sorry I've been somewhat MIA lately... I've had a serious case of bloggers block, and nothing too eventful to write about! :( Until.... THIS WEEK! So far, this week has been great! We ended the weekend/began a new week with a day on Sullivan's Island. I don't think there is possibly anything better than a day of relaxing on the beach!

I was already looking forward to Monday, because I knew I'd FINALLY get to see Jaime's cute baby bump! Brice and I had a nice dinner at Five Loaves Cafe downtown with Jaime, Erik, Sarah & Hunter! I love it when we can all get together, because it doesn't happen as often as it used to!

Tuesday night we had a City Paper party at the Riverdogs game to celebrate our being DONE with Spoleto! YAY! I can finally have my normal schedule back, not that it is really all that normal... but at least I know I won't be working late hours anymore. This was my first Riverdogs game believe it or not. Bill Murray lives in Charleston and owns the Riverdogs, they are a minor league team that feeds into the Yankees (BOO!) As if being a minor league team for the Yankees wasn't enough to make me pull against them, they also were playing one of the Atlanta Braves minor league teams, the Rome Braves. So of course, Brice and I had to root for them! Unfortunately they lost :( Oh well... maybe next time! We had a great time though, especially since we had a suite with free food & beer! It really made me miss going to a Braves game in Atlanta though. Brice took me last summer and we had an absolute blast! I wish we were closer so we could go more often! Not sure we will make it this year!

The view outside of our suite was gorgeous!

Today I was my day off so I had a nice beach day with my friend Vicki who is here for the summer. On my way there I decided to make a pit stop to Target to grab some more of my Senseo coffee pods. What happens when I go to Target? I peruse through the clothing/shoe section! I was a little disappointed in their selection, I typically enjoy bright colors in the summer and most of theirs were dull/dark. I did however find this super cute smocked romper that was on sale for $18! I love it so much I want to go get another one in a different color! FYI.. {It looks so much better in person, and with a tan!}

When I got home this afternoon I had another nice little surprise... my Cid Pear stationary!! I won the Kitchen Bellecious giveaway, and chatted Tuesday with a nice lady from the company about which stationary I would like. I chose the Island Shell, and I absolutely LOVE it! First of all... let me just say that when I opened the box it was filled with peanuts, which I hate, but these peanuts were pink! Which made me smile :) 

Then I picked up a smaller package that was wrapped in pink tissue paper, and they had thrown in this cute set of small note cards and regualar note cards designed by Tina Givens. They are all so precious and for different occasions!

Then I pulled out THIS... aka... cutest wrapping in the world! 

and this nice handwritten note was attached, how nice of them!

and here is my stationary! I love it... they even had my return address printed on the envelopes.

Hopefully the rest of my week will be as wonderful as the first half! I have a feeling it will be, hope everyone has a great week too!