weekend in houston

Hello hello!

Excuse my absence- we were having a blast in Houston and trying to regroup from such a fun time. We did a lot of things in just three days and it was awesome!

Friday afternoon Tyler and I drove to Charleston to hop on a plane to Houston. We had a short flight and arrived in Houston just in time for dinner! Tyler's brother Cameron and his wife Lissy picked us up and then we headed to their apartment for some grub. They cooked delicious lamb burgers with pitas, a fabulous salad, and couscous. I need cooking lessons from them! Oh, and wine of course! After dinner we walked a few blocks to a bar to meet up with a few of their friends. We met them last year at their wedding in Rhode Island so it was nice to hang out with complete strangers. Funny enough, their couple friends were flying to Charleston for Labor Day weekend.

Saturday I met up with Whitney from The Observant Turtle who lives in Houston and is from SC! This is the second time we have gotten together and of courseee food was involved! We had a fabulous brunch at Tiny Boxwoods and I had THE BEST watermelon lemonade I've ever ever ever had. Seriously, I couldn't get enough. And my granola, yogurt, and fruit was super too, but y'all the watermelon lemonade!! I want some right now!! We had a great catch-up as always and of course ended with a "see you soon" because hopefully I will get to see her later this month!

When I got back to meet the fam, they were geared up and ready to go sample BBQ. Keep in mind, i'd just eaten breakfast an hour prior!

We started at Virgie's BBQ and had brisket, sausage, ribs, baked beans, and potato salad. Oh and Big Red..... Texas friends- what is that stuff and do you like it!!? I felt like it was carbonated kool-aid and kind of hated it, but loved it at the same time!

Texas BBQ = beef not pork

It was obviously delicious.

Second stop was Gatlins BBQ but they weren't taking orders thanks to a catering order. After standing in line half an hour, we left and tried to go to an ice house that served BBQ, but they were closed! Finally we landed at one more place to get in a second sampling of BBQ. I was so full I totally missed the name of the restaurant!

Hello fried okra!

Tyler and Cameron went to the gun store for the afternoon while Lis and I went to the pool. I was like a blimp after all of the food I'd eaten! Then of course we showered and got ready for the CLEMSON GAME!!!

The four of us and a friend hopped in the car to get a table to watch the Clemson/Georgia game at Black Finn Grille where the Clemson alumni gather to watch the games. We had on all of our orange and got a great table and lots of beer! I had shrimp tacos which were decent, but it was OK since I was consuming plenty of beer (OK probably too much). We had so much fun screaming and yelling and ooh-ing and ahh-ing. We even met a couple originally from SC who went to Clemson who is friends with one of my friends and knows exactly where I grew up. It's such a small world people! After pulling out a great WIN we went home!

Sunday we woke up (with raging headaches- me at least), had breakfast (do you sense a food pattern here), and drove to George Bush Park to shoot skeet. Friends, let me warn you. Never ever shoot a gun while hungover. My head was pounding and every time I shot I could feel little blood vessels popping! I had beginners luck... We'll not beginners because been shooting a gun since I was very young, but I hit the clay the first shot I took. I think Ty was amazed. I, honestly, was quite amazed and then I was ready to go... Impatient much?

Trying to make things colorful.

A monogrammed gun case. NOW I have seen it all......

Of course, we had to grab some food (duh) after shooting up an appetite and Cam and Lis suggested Vietanamese food. I was super skeptical because usually my post-beer food is greasy, buttttt while in Houston you must eat like Texans! We drove through China town (this city is crazy) and had sweet and sour chicken at Que Huong. Thank goodness for Foursquare or I'd never remember the names of these places. I must say, it wasn't as crazy as I had anticipated!

Sweet and sour chicken- tomatoes, green onions, pineapple, onions + rice

And no trip to Texas is complete without boot shopping. Tyler is now a new proud owner of a new pair of Justin boots thanks to Cavendar's! I opted out of boots since I already have a pair and I don't wear them often, but it was so much fun trying on all kinds of crazy cowboy boots! We were so tired when we got back from our outing that Ty and I took a nap while Cam and Lis went to the pool. Before dinner, we all went downstairs to the gym to run off a few of the millions of calories we'd consumed over the weekend!

To wrap up our foodie weekend, we had tex-mex for dinner on Sunday night. I had delicious chicken tacos at Ninfa's and we all indulged on queso and mojitos and beer for the guys. I was seriously stuffed!! It was fun to experience all kinds of foods this weekend... obviously. After watching The Great Gatsby (which I wasn't really a fan of by the way........), we crashed!

Monday we had breakfast at home (because that's important) and sadly packed to head back to SC. Before we left, though, we made a trip to Tyler and Cameron's friend's fire house. I felt like I was on a set from Chicago Fire! I'd never been in a fire house before. As I sat in the driver's seat of the firetruck, the siren went off and I FREAKED out... I just knew I'd hit some wrong button, but, no.... the guys were called out to an assault! I asked a million questions and jumped on the pole because we couldn't slide down it since they'd closed it off due to the heat.... Oh Texas...

So as you can tell, I think we had a phenomenal time and I am so glad we were able to visit Cam and Lis! We hadn't gotten to spend too much time alone with them since we are usually in PA for a holiday, so it was great doing our own thing! I'm so blessed to have a great brother and sister-in-law! In a few weeks they'll move back to Lis's home state of Rhode Island, so I'm hoping a New England trip will be in our future!

And I'm going to miss their precious pooch and Sarge's cousin, Popcorn!

Thanks for reading my novel. Hope you don't think we are complete fatties! I promise I'm running and eating healthy this week!

friday five + fancies

Happy Friday!! WE MADE IT!
This week was one of those that just drug on... Lately I've had commitments with either after-work events or Junior League but this week was mainly just exercising after work (I need it).

{one}

Tonight Ty and I are hopping on a plane to Houston, TX to visit my brother and sister-in-law. We are so excited to experience Texas for the first time! At the end of September, they are moving back to Rhode Island where my SIL is from, so this will be a great last hoorah for them! We haven't seen them since our wedding in March and are looking forward to a fun weekend.

{two}

We'll be pulling for Clemson Saturday night when they take on the Georgia Dawgs, since Cameron and Tyler are Clemson alums! Hopefully we can round up a few other Clemson fans in the bar! Last night we watched THE Carolina game (and I mean South Carolina Gamecocks) with our new friends and neighbors. We are thrilled to have a new couple 5 houses down from us in our neighborhood! A good time was had by all.... Except for that whole lightening thing... Come on, mother nature... don't you know its football season?

{three}

Here's my outfit for Labor Day weekend! My last bit of white, Clemson orange, and cowboy boots in honor of Houston. Sadly, my boots were left at my parents house, but I can at least pretend! Linking up with my favorite, {av} for Friday's Fancies!

tank // shorts // boots // sunglasses 

{four}

I've really gotten into this "giving to others" thing! Yesterday I paid for the lady behind me's lunch at Chickfila. I had never done it before and had butterflies because I was a little nervous (no idea why) and excited. It made my Thursday much better! Her meal was cheaper than mine (OK only by a few cents!!). 

{five}

White after Labor Day..... What are your thoughts? I've always been an Easter --> Labor Day white kind of girl and I don't think that will be changing, even though I live on the coast. What are your thoughts? No judgement, though, to those of you who wear it year-round or throughout September! I just retire mine and call it fall!

What are you up to this Labor Day weekend?

Thanksgiving in South Carolina (Overdue Post)

I just had to take last week off from blogging. I'm back now, though!

 

Here is my recap of my week at home over Thanksgiving! Lots of pictures to share.

 

Wofford v. South Carolina game

 

I raced from the airport to Williams Brice at 11:30 when I walked (ran) off the plane to tailgate! I may have had a few mimosas in the airport. I was also in such a hurry that I dropped my phone and shattered the screen, but I had too much adrenaline and excitement to see my friends to really care... Though Wofford lost, we put up a good fight!

 

 

 

 It was the military appreciation game

 

 

Came home to birthday flowers from Tyler

 

 

Went to a really good friend from home + Wofford's wedding!

 

 

Isn't Cally beautiful!? We are getting married in the same church so I was excited to see a wedding in the church and see friends!!

 

 

Cake tasted in my own house! My birthday cake on the right is the cake we are having!

 

 

Stared at this view of my back yard for hours....

 

 

Hung out with this diva!

 

 

Had 2 rounds of Thanksgiving food with my family

 

 

 Frierson cousins at my uncle's farm house

 

 

Cotton photo shoot

 

 

Fly-in at the Rasts, a really good family friend's property! It was SO fun!! Lots of planes!

 

 

Also lots of old cars. These two are my uncle's newest additions. I LOVE the blue truck!

 

 

 

Played basketball at my high school and beat the varsity girls team -- see the scoreboard!!

 

 

Then we had to come home and miss the South Carolina / Clemson game. We got to watch the 2nd half in Indy.

 

In between, I registered for china, got the guys' tuxes, and worked on lots of wedding plans. See why I was so tired last week and needed a blog break!!!!??

 

Happy Monday!

 

Ta ta,

 

 

Friday Fancies: GO WOFFORD!

Happy Friday! And Happy Friday Fancies! I love linking up with {av} on Fridays (And I love there is a chance she and I may meet her next weekend while I am in Providence!)

 

Even though Wofford has a bye this weekend (hello recruitment weekend, GO ZTA!!), I had to put together an outfit for this week's Friday Fancies theme!

Wofford by perrowck featuring a mustard dress

This is your typical Wofford gameday outfit. We wear dresses (and mostly flats) to our games! You can truly see from the pictures below we have a very distinct look for games!

 

This mustard dress from Modcloth is absolutely perfect for a Terrier football game.

 

Since it is getting chiller by the day (well, at least here in Illinois), you must take a cardigan with you in case it gets cold! Wofford students are really spoiled that there is an outlet mall just down the road from the school, so I stocked up on cardigans like these from J Crew

Another Wofford staple you will find are Tory Burch ballerina flats. Every girl and her mother has a pair. OR you can see girls sports cowboy boots like  these. Always a good choice.

 

Another good choice is a  black Longchamp to throw your tailgating goodies (read: booze) in to tailgate! We always had an awesome tailgating spot and SO much food (and mimosas). GOSH I MISS IT.

 

Last but not least, you need some cheap jewelry to throw on!

 

 

 1st Homecoming

 

 

Wofford @ Clemson

 

Senior Year

 

 

Junior Year

 

 

Sophomore Year

 

 

Babies Freshman Year!

 

Guess I'll be cheering as Clemson takes on Florida State this weekend instead of my Terriers!

 

Ta ta,