why i DO declare! eating our way through charleston & running at the zoo

matt and i spent a fabulous long weekend in charleston last week. we try to take one trip alone together each year and we look forward to it very much.

we had a GREAT time.

here we are in front of our inn, it was so cute and quaint.

here we are outside before we went to the
courtyard for wine and cheese (nom nom nom)

over the weekend we ate at fig, blossom and s.n.o.b. (slightly north of broad) for our evening meals and had southern fare at jestine's and another local cafe (the name escapes me at the moment) - we seriously ate our way through charleston. it. was. awesome.

we stayed at the fulton lane inn, a very small and charming inn right in the heart of of it all. the location was perfect, just perfect (right on king street)! here's a link to their site, if you are going to charleston it's a neat place to stay. very private and very accommodating.

matt had a meeting on friday so i went out on a run down through the battery - it was an awesome run, for real - one of my best. i am sure it had something to do with it being so flat there. you know i love me some flat terrain. i took a few photos of my morning...

down by the water

i usually don't run on brick roads, but did here

friday afternoon we went down to the water to watch the practice for the air show. those dudes are CRAZY. i loved it. we once went to the show in chicago but i think it was super sunny and we had to leave before the blue angels came out due to an impending sunburn. so this was my first time seeing them and they really bah-lew my mind. i took one photo, they are super tiny though.

these guys have a license to fly like
bats out of H-E-double hockey sticks

we were walking back to prepare ourselves for dinner and went by the mill house hotel. this is where matt was staying the night we had the house fire. ah, memories.

mill house hotel

here i am at our hotel's wine and cheese hour. matt and i went there every night - good wine and yummy cheese. we are wine and cheese connoisseurs if you didn't know...

to me!

the cute hubby

can i say that we looked in about 10 different stores for a cool shirt for lottie sue. none of them were anywhere near cool but we finally found one that would work.

not this one

but oh yeah, i did find giant flip flops to fit my giant feet - finally!

just like cinderella

we also went on a carriage ride, the kind that gives you the history of the city. i know i may look like a dork in there but i go on them wherever i go - you learn so much and get to see all of the big stuff. so next time you travel somewhere just go on it, you'll be glad you did.

here we are waiting on our buggy to go out, i'm chatting with lottie sue

this was our GIANT horse, larry
(ashton kutcher told us he could pull 9 carriages
and not blink, he's that strong of a horse)

this is our guide, ashton kutcher - i mean COME ON, he's a dead ringer

here are a few shots i took on the way...

that afternoon we walked over to the aiken-rhett house for a tour. it's a preserved home in charleston, not restored - so everything there was old old old. it was cool - and this really tells you how much matt loves me...ha. i don't have many photos, they don't allow photography. poo.

a photo from the internet

here matt is outside wearing his headphones for the walking tour.

nerd alert

this is what he was looking at...

the back of the home

so after the tour that day we went back and got ready for dinner. here i am outside our hotel.

happy for happy hour

ooh, and here i am with wine and cheese - i'm about to gobble it all up. yummers!

pre-dinner fun

this photo is of the wall in the courtyard

now we move on to our dinner at s.n.o.b. - my favorite of the trip. and here is a photo of the best martini i've ever had - so smooth. i ordered it upon the recommendation of maureen - so thank you, maureen!

seriously, so smooth and delicious

we ate at s.n.o.b. years ago with the linkers - LOOK! we are babies here! i think matt and i were recently married.

i really like my hair here

here are a few other photos of the time we went to charleston with the linkers - good times!

jamie and john on the battery

a squinting me and mowmow

here we are playing games
(matt's thumb is bandaged up, he sliced it cooking a few days
prior at home in chicago and we had to run through a rain
storm to get to the hospital - he was pretty much blue when
we got there and i almost passed out when they stitched him up)

another cute photo of us, i know - it's too much

we really missed the kids but enjoyed out time together. bb and granddaddy sent a few photos of lottie sue (gramma and papaw had little rowdyman - said he was the perfect gentleman)...

she loves to mess around in the water, very
helpful with your gardening as well

now on to another topic, my running - whee! so far i have completed two races, the first almost killed me but the second one was way better. i am getting better as i go along and while i'm slow (like a turtle, not kidding) i will get faster as i drop weight and get in shape. i am quite proud of myself. i pretty much rock. i have a 5K this saturday and then a 4-miler next saturday (somewhat nervous about this one but it's supposed to be flat flat flat so i think i can do it).

oh yeah, and i know i posted about meeting the pink mom from biggest loser - the other day i saw that the pink daughter works out at my gym. i am two for two! i spoke to her for a minute and she was super nice, she said she has a few more weeks until they go back and she was working out like crazy (spinning is her fave). go pink daughter, hope ya win! ok, back to the zoo...

me, hilary, amy and megan before the run at the zoo
(we also saw lindsay but didn't get her photo, boo)

matt came down with the kiddos and got this great action shot of me

after the race we stayed and did the zoo with the kids. it was our family and the hussar clan. lottie sue was in a funk that morning and wanted to hog emery's car the whole time. to amy and chris, our apologies. but here are some photos!

amy and emery pick out the perfect animal for the carousel

this was the only shot i got of matt and lottie sue, that thing goes fast

lottie sue surveys the goats, who needs
a brushing the most she wonders

tail action

this is what rowdy thought of it all

more proof that lottie sue will talk to a wall or any person
(i rescued the college student, she told me lottie
was asking her questions about mopping (???))

and here i am with amy, my running buddy - whee!

oh yeah, look at me - i followed through with my monthly chair-photo-taking promise. i will NOT let you down!

early april 2010

early march 2010

i leave you with a few random photos of baby boy, he is 7 months old - GASP. for real, you say? real, i say.

what a big boy

alrighty, gotta go - i hear a lottie sue calling me. i leave you with this quote. i read it and liked it so i thought i would share...

"this is the true joy in life...the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap..."

-george bernard shaw

until next time!

our little bucket head, cupcakes, jaydiohead & i've been hearing, but I haven’t been listening

Here is Lottie Sue this afternoon. Whatever floats your boat, I say.

bucket head

These photos are of Lottie Sue on Sunday afternoon, she's really into cooking right now. She often copies Matt when he's in the kitchen making dinner. She'll get her kitchen on if Daddy is creating a meal, too cute.

the most delicious meal you'll never eat

And this is a photo I took of Lottie Sue giving me a big hug. Love her.

lottie sue is a lover, not a fighter

Here are a few Lottie Sue-isms for you:

• She has three babies that she plays with all day, she wants to take all three of them with her if we go anywhere.
  
• On Sunday night she kept telling me "I your little girl" over and over again - it made me cry it was so sweet. Side note: my pregnancy hormones make me cry at just about anything. Like I bawled at the end of The Amazing Race (???), and I really didn't care who won. I was just so happy for them I couldn't contain myself. I also cried the other day when Matt barely mentioned Lottie Sue getting married one day. Waterworks. It's funny.
  
• She loves to eat blackberries and raspberries, I think she might turn into a berry.
• She loves her pajama set that has the Disney princesses on them. She will tell the shirt "HIIIII" and then count the princesses over and over again.
  
• Lottie Sue had a bona fide #1 in the potty last week (see photo below - and yes, we took a photo) with a #2 yesterday.
  
• Lottie Sue loves to hug people, she is a very sweet little girl.
• Lottie Sue does not have a shy bone in her body. She is very social.
  
• She loves to wear Mommy's doos (shoes).
• Lottie LOVES to dance around, her favorite song is the theme song to The Family Guy. She goes nutz every time.
• She loves to fake sneeze, she thinks it's hilarious.
  

Last week Carrie hosted another Cupcake Extravaganza (and has a post up as well), a splendid time. She made dinner for us girls (this was one of the dishes and it has my name all over it - I even made it last night and I never cook: Giada's Pasta Ponza recipe) in addition to prepping everything for the fun. I stole some photos from Carrie and Kenley's crackbook pages.

here i am with patterson, kenley and amanda
with our creative juices flowing

carrie taking a picture of me about to take a picture

nomnomnomnomnomnom

megan about to chomp down

wonder woman herself with part of the cob

see? do they look real or WHAT?

Next we made monkey cupcakes. These guys were super cute.

gimme a kissee

i named him "burt"

the whole family of monkeys

Next up was a batch of lion cupcakes, these were my favorite and were so much fun to create. I really enjoyed doing the detail work on these babies.

roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (my lion is at 4 o'clock)

Here is a shot of the cupcakes together, all I can say is AWESOME. I LOVE decorating cupcakes!

voila

megan, amanda and p-dub post decorating

megan and amanda now with kenley

OK, here is a TMI shot for you. It is Lottie Sue's first real #1 in the potty. It is weird to think about how excited Matt and I got over this. Matt was in there with her and he starts yelling for me, I run in there and it's confirmed then I run after the camera. To take a photo of urine. Help me.

lottie sue is getting to be a big girl (wah)

Some news you can use:

• There are two albums out that are available for download and are free to you. One is from Coldplay (oh Chris Martin, you can do no wrong) and the other is from Jaydiohead - yes, that is JayZ and Radiohead. And yes, it is awesome. Enjoy.
• Here is a list of everything Tracey Jordan said this season on 30 Rock. I love that show and he especially cracks me up. Two of my favorites: “Pete, how am I going to live? I only have three hundred million dollars" and "I've been hearing, but I haven’t been listening."
  
• The trailer for the Sherlock Holmes move is up. I'm a big fan of Robert Downey, Jr. and love just about anything he's in. Check it out here.
• I am going to watch the Fox show "Glee" this evening. I've heard great things about it.
• Please please please set your DVRs for "So You Think You Can Dance" - it premieres this Thursday night. It. Is. Awesome. Even if you think it's not your thing, you will love it. This is one of the pieces from two years ago, it's titled "Hummingbird and Flower" or something like that. I think it is gorgeous.
  

PS - I just stole these photos from Jamie's crackbook page. They took the girls golfing last week and had a few photos. They were too cute not to share.

john with a very happy evy and campbell

campbell, jamie and evy - campbell and evy cracked me up on this one

Alrighty, check you later...