Last 2 Days in Charleston

On Monday evening, we drove over to a development called I'on, which is a master-planned suburb designed in the style of the Charleston battery. In other words, lots of cute mansions.

Here, Mom and I are standing in front of someone's pretty front door.

As we were walking around I'on, the sun began to sink into the horizon, and what a sunset we had!

On our last day, we drove around the Citadel, a Charleston military college with a long history.

I loved the Scripture verse on the front of the chapel: "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Perfect for a college chapel!

One of the other highlights of my trip was getting to meet two wonderful Ethiopian kids who have been adopted by a South Carolinian couple. Read about it and see their adorableness here.

Brilliant Acting: It's Just Pretending!

Oh my goodness, this video cracks me up!

Downtown Charleston, Or "Chas-ton" as I like to call it.

We spent some time driving through downtown Charleston today, and then walking around "The Battery", which is the waterfront area. There were so many well-preserved historical buildings and homes dating back to the 1700s...architectural eye-candy everywhere! Charleston is one of the prettiest American cities I've seen. Love it!

My mom fell in love with the window boxes on the houses.

This colorful bunch of buildings is known as "Rainbow Row".

These are a few pics we took of each other down on the waterfront:

To close out this wonderful day, we had a fabulous dinner followed by a little tiramisu! Between the espresso in the tiramisu and the diet coke I had with dinner, I'm a little buzzed...it's 2:30am, and here I am blogging!

35 is a Perfect 10...

This is my dear friend, Anne. She's my bestie, and I love her! We share the same birth month and year, so I flew out to Charleston to celebrate our 35th birthdays together. I've been to Charleston once before and LOVED the city, so my mama came with me on this trip for a mother/daughter weekend, and we're having a blast!

On Saturday, we went to...

It is a beautiful island with a lovely resort called "The Sanctuary", where we had lunch and enjoyed the beach. It's lovely.

On our way back from Kiawah Island to Anne's place, we stopped by this local treasure. It's called Angel Oak. Can you even believe that this is one tree? If I were a kid and climbing a local protected treasure were allowed, that would've been the ultimate climbing tree!

More to come!

Family Pictures of some Friends

A few weeks ago, I met up with some old and dear friends at Houston's Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens to take their family photos. We met up in the morning before it was too hot, and thankfully, the skies were overcast, so they were perfect for picture taking!

I love how the family chose bright, bold colors that coordinated well with one another (and with the scenery)!

Is she not a gorgeous baby?

I've known this couple for years. She was my spiritual mentor throughout my high school years, and all three of us worked together during the year that I spent in Spain. Two years ago, she was also one of my bridesmaids! It means so much that our friendship has continued through the years.

And these are their adorable girls!

Kitchen Bulletin Board

When we moved into our house here in TX, we knew we would need to buy a new fridge. We opted for a stainless steel front because we're trendy like that. Only problem was that once it was in our kitchen, we realized it isn't magnetic! Bummer! We like to put pictures of our friends and family on our fridge.

Hmmm. What to do? We decided to hang a bulletin board in our kitchen, but I thought a plain bulletin board would be a little boring, so my sister came up with the idea of covering it with fabric. We found this really pretty fabric at Hobby Lobby ON SALE (!!!)

Saucy, I totally though of you and your love for Marie Antoinette when I chose the fabric! Here it is from a wider shot.

Only problem is...now I don't want to cover it up with photos! :)

Thirty-Five!

I turned 35 last week!  I had a wonderful birthday, too.  On my actual birthday day, my mom came over and we spent the day together. She took me out for lunch at an Indian restaurant, and she told me the story of the day I was born. My favorite part is always hearing her tell me that my Dad was so excited he ran up and down the hall at the hospital telling everyone that he had a baby girl!  I love that!

We also talked about what a blessing it is to have a good mother-daughter relationship. I'm so thankful for that and for her.  I love you, Mom!

On Saturday evening, Brian cooked a delicious lasagna dinner for my family and a few friends. I felt very loved and very celebrated!  When Sam came over to my house for the party he was wearing a t-shirt my sister made that said, "I love Tia".  How's that for an awesome nephew!

After dinner, we went outside for a little while to play bocce ball. It was a lot of fun--even Sam thought so!

Finally, we had Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake, and I blew out all my candles!  I feel very blessed with my first 35 years, and I hope this year will be a good one, too--I hope it is the year I'll become a mother.  Every day is a gift from God, and I'm thankful for the gift of life!

Another eHarmony Success Story!

No, not us, silly! .... I'm talking about our friends, Clive and Amy!

Isn't her wedding dress gorgeous?!  Clive and Amy got married in this quaint Spanish-style courtyard:

I couldn't get enough of the "California" painted on the side of the building.  Perfect for an outdoor So Cal wedding!  The most memorable part of the wedding for me was when the bride and groom sang a duet together of Stevie Wonder's "A Ribbon in the Sky for our Love". It was beautiful and moving and such beautiful, poetic lyrics!

Clive and Amy, we wish you a lifetime of happiness!  May God bless your marriage and your life together!

Seeing Friends in California

Of course, one of the real treats of our So Cal vacation was getting to reconnect with some dear friends. Two of my closest friends that I made while living in LA were these two ladies, both named Jennifer.  :)  Jenn (on the left) is an awesome friend who just collected a masters degree in counseling on her way to completing a doctorate!  I'm very proud of her dedication to achieving her goals. Jen Disney (on the right) is my amazing and talented photographer friend. We are a couple of goofy gals when we get together. It's like our inner children come out to play. I think we connect because we both have artistic spirits. Check out her amazing wedding photography website here.

We were also able to meet up with our adorable friends Dave and Liz. Tell me they aren't precious:

We met in a small group through our church, and just hit it off from the get go!  Liz is also an actress, and it has been fun supporting each other as we share a similar life path.

I am always amazed by friendships that are able to pick up right where they left off. That is what I have in my friendship with Liz. It was so great to sit across the table from them and have really great fellowship over a two hour lunch after not having seen each other for the past five months.

We had a few other meet-ups with friends while we were in town, but these are the only ones for which I have photos. It was really great to see everyone! 

"...a sweet friendship refreshes the soul." ~Proverbs 27:9

Reunited and it Feels so Goo-ood!

I didn't really intend to be posting so sparsely in recent days. My only real excuse is that life got in the way, and to be honest, that's a good thing. I worry a little bit about myself sometimes that I spend so time on the internet that I might be missing out on "real life".

Well, lately, there has been so much real life going on!  In late July, Brian and I took a trip out to California for a friend's wedding. We thought that as long as we were going to be back in LA, we might as well make it a vacation!  It was so nice being back in a temperate climate.

As soon as we pulled away from the airport in our rental car, we drove straight to the beach!  We splashed and body surfed at Laguna Beach, and the next day we rented boogie boards and played in the water at Sunset Beach (I love that beach!).

Normally, I would be judging myself for looking a little heavier than I'd like to be in the above photo, but not tonight!  Brian and I just got home from seeing the wonderful movie Julie and Julia. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Meryl Streep is flawless as Julia Child. The food in the movie was awesome and it looked so delicious that my mouth is watering just thinking about it!  What I loved about the portrayal of Julia Child in the film is that she was a statuesque woman who absolutely loved food!  While I am no culinary genius, I do appreciate good food.  I have also found that as lovely as a slender figure looks on a woman, I find a full-figured, statuesque woman to be a lovelier physical ideal.  So to heck with self-loathing!  Today, I am embracing my build and loving myself as I am.

In the spirit of the love of delicious food, we made a stop at the Crystal Cove Shake Shack, an Orange County roadside institution, known for its incredible milkshakes. I ordered a shake locals call the "monkey flip": a vanilla shake with chocolate, peanut butter, dates and banana. All I can say is, "Yum."

The beach bum in the car with me ain't too shabby either!

More on our vacation to come soon!