Hush Puppies, Staw Hats, & Magnolias

The weekend started out with a dairy-fueled binge at Cook-Out (adios, dairy-free lifestyle!), which almost could have been the highlight of the whole weekend, if we didn't frequent our local establishment quite so often. Ahem. After our pulled pork and oreo milkshake coma wore off, it was off to Charleston. (We may have eaten at a Cook-Out there, too. What can I say... we're addicts.)

Our first stop was the house where part of The Notebook was filmed (I wasn't a fan of the movie - anyone else out there? Anyone? - so it wasn't ringing any bells for me), but which is now crammed chock-full of antiques like elephant feet footstools, Tiffany chandeliers, and "we're not allowed to tell you who painted that for insurance reasons" paintings. The gardens were lovely.

French Huguenot church

We also walked through Battery Park, down Rainbow Row, through a bunch of historic graveyards. It happened to be the weekend of the Spoleto Festival so we got to savor gyro sandwiches for lunch on Saturday.

We made our way to the Charleston Farmer's Market, where we promptly dropped an absurd amount of money on straw hats (we rationalized it by reminding ourselves that we currently live on a beach, and are moving to the Middle East, so it's an investment, right?).

But those straw hats saved us when we took the ferry to Ft. Sumter. Don't we look like responsible consumers of sunshine here?

I'm going to miss these spur-of-the-moment road trips in a few months. Did you know that Bahrain is just four times the size of DC?

... Did I mention we're moving to Bahrain?

Lately

Updates:
1. Giving this dairy-free business another month, then I'm calling it quits. I haven't seen a noticeable difference with my skin yet, unfortunately. I think I'll try going gluten-free next, but I'll admit that I'm much more reluctant to take that plunge. Dairy-free was almost too easy - there are dairy substitutes for everything, and I do mean e v e r y t h i n g. I bought coconut flour in preparation, though. I choose to believe that coconut can make anything taste better.
2. We turned in our billet list and should hear back soon. I have to stop myself from day dreaming about living in Spain, or Italy, or Hawaii, because that's how you wind up in Mississippi, if you know what I mean :)
3. I took a gardening class last month, and I'm itching to get some garden urns and plant lots of flowers. Unfortunately, not having a porch or balcony kind of precludes that. I think when we move I'm going to have to hold out for some outdoor space. At least a window box.

I have a few projects I want to try this summer when the weather (finally) gets nice, and W and I have a few trips planned before we move. Can't wait to find out where we're headed!