Charleston in August!

The Highlight of August is by far my trip to Charleston SC to see my Bestie Ashley! I was finally able to make a trip out there for a week instead of a few days like before back in November. Every minute of this trip was unforgettable! I am not even going to go into detail about the first half of the month because, well it was not nearly as exciting and I cannot even begin to try to remember what I did at the beginning of the month so there ya have it!

The Trip started Thursday August 16th, woke up at 3am to get catch a flight that left at 6am out of DIA~ Yes I am alone on the train lol

I had a layover in Houston TX (only 30 minutes, same plane, same seat, no complaints)~Arriving in Charleston at 1:20pm, the flight ending with a kid sitting next to me who threw up during our decent-lovely! Gladly made it without throwing up myself and still cheerful as nothing was bringing me down this day! it was a 2 hour time difference so I jumped ahead but at least I got there so I had most of the day left. I was in for a TREAT! little did I know my bestie was going to take me to a fast food place called Cookout which has great shakes so I got the strawberry cheesecake one plus she set me up with giving me one of her very own massages (which was INCREDIBLE by the way), new hair cut and highlights by the FANTASTIC Jamie-lynn, ending with a nice dinner introducing me to some of her church family and friends. Exhausted, I passed out that night and had the best sleep in a long time not waking up until 11 the next morning. Its been a long long time since I woke up feeling that refreshed! Being the sweetheart that Ashley is, she even showed up while I was getting ready for the day with my Chai from Starbucks :o) She knows me all too well! <3 her!

 The start to my new Highlights!! Thanks Jamie-Lynn for my amazing haircut and highlight!

That night at dinner meeting Ashley's church family and friends

What better way to bring back the good ol days then heading out and getting some shopping in....at Victoria's Secret! new bra and panties was definitely on my list of items so we splurged a bit. On our way out the door, we caught a bit of a rain shower but still headed to find a little clutch purse so I didn't have to carry around my day to day handbag. Success! we both found a cute clutch~ on sale!!! cant be besties without matching right?!...Whoa Humidity! after the rain shower you really felt it, but despite all the crazy warnings from folks back in Colorado on how I am crazy for coming out to Charleston in August cause of the heat and humidity...ummm I loved every minute of it! Ashley wanted to please my taste buds by taking us to an Italian restaurant for dinner that was recommended called Genneros which turned out not be that good, but we still enjoyed ourselves nonetheless! Afterwards we met up with some of her friends to experience what Contra Dancing was all about...hard to explain but its a mixture of swing,line dancing, and polka. Luckily I had a good teacher (Brad) who could lead me through some of these dances!CRAZY! but lots of fun actually. It was something different to experience and I can now say I have done it! What better way to end a night like this than with Waffle House!! yes, I had a waffle and Chocolate milk and yes, it was delicious! Best food choice when you want to crash and go to sleep afterward :o) and that is just what I did!

 Ready for the day!

Ending it with Waffle House!

For the second night in a row, I slept till 11 again and woke up feeling refreshed~ wow this is insane! I'm loving it! My plan was to see the beach today! Got the Starbucks delivery once again when Ashley got home from working, I must make note that the vanilla bean scones from starbucks out here in Charleston are way more soft and scrumptious then the ones I get in Denver plus my bestie delivers so this is truly where its at :o) Now, if we only had an Abercrombie store to walk by to enhance the experience haaaa (inside joke)...back on track now, we only got to spend an hour on the beach but that hour did the trick for sure, the ocean was warm, the scenery was fantastic with all the beach houses and sail boats, the warm sun and sea breeze on my skin, and my camera in hand! what more could I ask for! we just set up our beach chairs and walked along the shore line taking pictures and chatting. How I have missed our girl time!

Sullivan's Island station 13!

 Saying hi to my babe all the way from the East Coast!

That evening I got see an important aspect of Ashley's life~Church. She took to me to experience Seacoast Church where many of her friends, brother and sister in Law met up. It was by FAR not what I was expecting, in a good way. It is a rather large church more geared to this generation. The entire service seemed as If I was in a concert with the live Christian band playing which was rather very good plus I got to enjoy an amazing smoothie from one of their Cafe Stands :o) The Pastor had a great sense of humor and was able to speak to the audience as if he was having a conversation verses preaching and I felt a great since of community there. Im extremely happy that Ashley has found herself a place she can get great comfort in being a part of.

A group of us met up after Church at this restaurant called Bambu~ this is the place I was going to try Sushi, no excuses! when it comes to trying new foods I tend to have many excuses not to do it lol. At any rate, I got myself some Moscato (my favorite wine) before attending to such a crazy task at hand. We ordered a Crunch Roll that had Tempura Shrimp, Tempura flakes, spicy mayo,  and avocado. I took off the avocado since I am not a fan. Then we ordered the Pad Thai, another dish I have never tried. For Dessert it was a cheesecake egg-roll. Experience=Fantastic!!

The night did not end there, now it was time to go out on the town. Trying to decide on a bar everyone agreed on was a task at first. The original plan was to start at The Cocktail Club however the wait to get in there was a bit steep so we went to a bar close by for a few minutes and had myself a woodchuck until we decided to leave and change our shoes since our feet were hurting already and walk Ashley's sister in law to her car. Little did we know, standing on the street corner to meet back up with everyone led to a bachelor party inviting us to go with them to The Cocktail Club, free drinks. Hmmm, can we really pass this up? The poor guy who asked was sooo desperate to have better company then his bachelor party boys he was just begging for us to go up and have a drink. Couldn't help but feel bad, the guy was sober and all his buddies were all over the place lol. So, we ended up at the original bar we were going to start with anyway, one drink later and Ashley's fake proposal joined with at least one person meeting up with us from the group, Brad...the night ended with fun conversations and hilarious observations! Pizza you say? thats right, Ashley and Brad were craving pizza after the bar so there we went. I refreshed myself with some water as they munched on their goodies before we dropped Brad off and headed home!

Brad happened to find a wig in the parking garage...and couldn't resist lol

The plan was to have Brunch the next Day before heading to Charlotte, little road trip as I have never been to Charlotte and we had some fun activities planned :o) Brad joined us for Brunch at Shem Creek, beautiful view on the patio where we sat...until it down poured of course! We left much later than we wanted to since Charlotte was 3 1/2 hours away, but needless to say we did make through the downpour and crazy traffic passing a rather large cow on a trailer behind a pick up and some sour patch kid fun on the dash of Ashley's car. After arriving at the place we were staying at, we chatted a bit with the family we were staying with then headed out downtown to experience some night life in Charlotte...on a Sunday lol. We ate dinner at this restaurant called Mez, had some pasta and dessert which was delicious! worth the $ for sure! We got the scoop from our server that the place to be on Sunday night in Charlotte was Prohibition. We wanted to try the bar across the way called Whiskey River but seemed as though it was closed so we walked our way over to Prohibition, the long route I might add which we soon realized and though the bar was not that busy we made conversation and had a couple drinks with the bartenders. So, it was a pretty chill night out!

 Little Lizard says Hello!!

During the Downpour on our way to the car, couldn't pass up the boat pic!

 The BIG Moo Moo!

Sour Patch Kids!!!

So this night after getting back from Downtown Charlotte, I did not sleep as well as I had been. Only because it was someone Else's house and we had to get up early to enjoy our next set of activities in Charlotte! First order of business, Starbucks! then we headed on our way to the US National Whitewater Training Center. What is this place you ask? Well, if you like to have an opportunity to test your athletic skills this place is it! filled with tight rope obstacle courses, zip lining, whitewater rafting, kayaking, paddle boarding etc. There was no way to get everything in but we managed the tight rope obstacle courses and the zip lining! This kind of stuff is sooo much fun!! We owned the place we were so good!! lol

 Haa! I look like a ballerina!

 Gooo Ashley!! look at her own that rope!!

 First Zip Line=Awesome!

Right after doing the Mega-Zip

With all that fun, we had to call it quits so we could head back to Charleston. Far less traffic this time around! Definitely needed a shower and to freshen up when we got back so I could meet more of Ashley's girlfriends for dessert downtown, yumm! I had the apple pie and OMG! Explosion of Amazing-ness and pure bliss in my mouth :o) Pretty sure Ashley got the Cobbler that everyone was raving about however, I am also pretty sure my apple pie topped that when she tried it. I must also say,the girls in Ashley's group were a pleasure to meet and I am glad to have gotten the chance to get to know them a bit. 

So, there it was...Monday night and to be the last night out on the town. After dessert with the girls, Ashley and I decided to go to this bar called Squeeze because she wanted to try one of their "special" martinis. This bar is literally 11'-8" wide hence the name "Squeeze" and considered the tightest bar Charleston. OK, so the drinks were definitely special, but not personally to my liking. After sharing one drink, we went next door to The Brick. We were going to have a drink there, but decided against it and instead went to Mad River which we had been to before when I visited Charleston Last year and thought we would check it out and have one drink before returning to the dessert place again to try a martini there. We didn't end up leaving Mad River, actually we ended up staying until the bar closed...due to an older dude at the end of the bar who decided to keep buying the entire bar a round of drinks all night. Obviously that one drink we intended on, turned into several. 

NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN!!! I barely even made it out of the car once we got home before throwing up and the next day...my last full day in Charleston... we were hung over, BAD! Our intentions this day was to go hang out on the beach, chill, and enjoy ourselves. We did get up and get out of the house to find my mom a gift and I did at least need to hit the beach one last time otherwise I would hate myself! So, we struggled through it....This is why when I am out on the weekends in Denver, I drink very conservatively, I am not a big fan of feeling like crud the next day so avoiding it is the best path in my opinion. This incident, just confirms that I shall never touch this much alcohol again paid for or not by some random stranger!

 There it is....Charleston, Can I please have that Yacht? lol

 Love this place!!!

Words can not describe how I feel about this place. The Southern Hospitality is just unbelievable! for instance Ashley and I were driving down the street on our way to the beach and some car stalled in the middle of the road...6 people went out of their way to help this lady push her car out of the road into a parking lot near by. There is such a great sense of community here. All my worries back home...gone, there was no stress to be had. Everyone I met were incredibly nice and welcomed me in with no judgements. I could wake up every day in this place and feel at peace. There will be a day, sooner rather than later that I can finally say I found my home, in Charleston SC! 

Thank you to my best friend Ashley for one of the most memorable weeks of my LIFE! I love you dearly and miss you everyday! 

I do have to add, way off subject but getting back to Denver however dreadful and hard it was to come back... It was soo good to spend this past weekend with my babe, Cliffy Cakes!