Favorites from our pregnancy announcement beach shoot

Sharing my favorites from our beach shoot a few weeks ago! We wanted to have pictures taken while we were down at Edisto Beach, a beautiful and old-fashioned type of beach destination. It's a special place to Alex, as he grew up going there every summer with his grandparents, and it's become dear to me, too.

Friday, yay!

Friday is just the best day, isn't it? More than the fact that it's Friday, I'm happy August is here! Yes, I know we've still got some dog days of summer coming at us but the end of this cruel, cruel summer is near: I can't take many more 100+ degree days, y'all. I know Columbia is #FamouslyHot, but this is ridiculous!

ONE. 
In the spirit of continuing to make improvements to our home, we had our gutters replaced a few weeks ago on one side of our house, which happened to be the only place on our house that we had gutters, period. We decided to spring for LeafGuard, the kind you don't have to clean out, because we have a big scary tree over the gutter that drops all kinds of junk throughout the year and led to the previous gutter's demise. Well, when I got home the day they were installing the gutter, I was a little confused to see the sparkling new gutter...on the wrong side of the house. After a quick phone call, they told us they'd come and correct their mistake and they did within 2 days. Bonus for us? They left the mistaken gutter since it was already in place so we got Two for One gutters! I'll take that all day long! (Please excuse how excited I am over GUTTERS. I really am an adult.)

TWO.
I have baby tomatoes in my garden! This is crazy, guys - I've NEVER grown actual fruit or veggies all by myself! It will be a small harvest but it's a start. (And clearly I have something eating the leaves - better check into that.)

THREE. 
We enjoyed a few days at Edisto Beach, SC last weekend. Alex has been traveling SO MUCH for work this summer that it was nice to have a few days to relax with him and just let time slow down. We had some pics taken on the beach with the pups while we were there and I can't wait to share!!

FOUR.
THIS. Pumpkin and fall scents are back at B&BW. Enough said.

FIVE.
Big announcement coming tomorrow so check back! Eeeeeek!  :)

Happy weekending!

xo, 

KH

Linking up with

 April, Christina, Natasha and Darci! 

#GW2015

What do you think of when you hear "girls' weekend"? Probably a beach, beachy drinks, music, dancing, gossip, food and more food, and a lot of laughs. Add one breast pump, one pregnant lady, 6 girls, one bathroom, and approximately 36 pieces of luggage and you have my weekend!

Six of us spent the weekend on St. Pete beach in Florida, on the Gulf. I'm the only one who doesn't live in Florida anymore, so I made an extra long weekend of it and spent Thursday and Sunday nights with my bestie Lesley and her sweet family. Since I don't get to spend a lot of quality time with her kiddos, I really enjoyed getting to do "everyday" things with them like bath time and breakfast. Love those babies! 

We got down to St. Pete (and yes, we left the kids behind for #GW2015) Friday afternoon and hit the beach as soon as possible. Then we prettied up and did dinner before dancing our butts off to live music at a nearby beach bar! 

Since we went a little hard on Night One, we took it a little easier on Day Two and a lot easier Night Two. But that didn't stop the good times! Or the excessive use of the selfie stick (best thing EVER and a mandatory for a girls' weekend!). 

Such a fun weekend with these girls! Too bad girls' weekend only comes around once a year -- though there was talk of making this a biannual thing! 

xo

KH

Five on Friday

Ladies, I am in Sunny (or rainy...) Florida right now! I'm visiting my family for a few days in my hometown and it's so nice to be with them. I seriously cherish the time I get to spend with them, especially my grandparents - sometimes living a few states away is tough! In just going to soak up as much love and Vitamin D as I can this weekend! 

One. I'm here right now. Home.

Two. Back in my actual home, we've had some nice days lately and A and I have been able to play with the dogs in our yard. I even got a little sunburned last weekend! And then the next day it was cold and rainy again: go figure. 

Three. I've had a breakthrough in the kitchen: I will never boil eggs again! A friend told me about this trick and it's so easy, it will blow your mind. Place eggs directly on oven rack (put a cookie sheet on the rack below juuuuuust in case one breaks), turn oven in to 325 and set time for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, put the eggs into an ice bath and voila! Perfect hard boiled eggs without the guessing game! 

Four. I spent two days this week watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt until there was nothing left to watch. Another Netflix win!!

 

Five. I switched my closet from winter to spring (Penny helped, naturally). We're not out of the winter woods yet but I had to have something to wear in Florida! And it won't be long until South Carolina is scorching, y'all! 

Happy Friday! 

xo

KH

Linking up with

 April, Christina, Natasha and Darci! 

The best St. Pat's ever

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm doing a little Take Me Back Tuesday (is that a thing?). I'm taking it way back to 2007. Let me set the stage: I'd just graduated from undergrad at UF in December '06 and moved to Chicago in the middle of a blizzard in February like a crazy person.

Penny and I were living in the most adorable studio apartment in The Loop. I didn't have my car there - it was left behind at my mom's in Florida - and I walked or took the train everywhere. I was living the big city, professional life from the movies and even though I could basically only pay my rent and nothing else on my paid internship hourly rate, I loved everything about living there. I was only in Chi Town for a few months before returning to sunny Florida for grad school.

The view from my apartment. LOVE.

Penny and I have been through it all together! Ah, to be 22 again (and for Penny to be 2 again)

Just a few weeks after moving to Chicago was St. Patrick's Day. Everyone at work kept saying how amazing St. Pat's in Chicago was. I heard stories of a green river, green beer, green everything as far as one could see. I was pretty excited, and even more so that my mom and her friend Tom were coming to visit that weekend to see what the fuss was all about. 

Mom and I got into the festivities

amid the masses

Up to that point, every single St. Pat's of my life had been spent in Florida where it was warm enough to swim. We lucked out that March 17 fell on a Saturday that year but didn't get so lucky with the weather: snow. It actually wasn't all that cold (relatively speaking) and only snowed for a little bit but it was still a shock to this Floridian girl's system. 

The dying in progress

We got up early that morning and hit Michigan Ave with about a hundred thousand other people and headed for the river. I couldn't wrap my mind around how they were going to dye the Chicago River green but wanted to see them do it. The secret? Leprechauns in boats. Naturally. (Ok, maybe not leprechauns - who am I to assume?)

Me, Mom and Tom

Chicagoans get into St. Pat's like no one else I've ever seen. It wasn't difficult to find a green beer at 9am to accompany my coffee. There was actually an Irish pub on the street level of my apartment building and another just down the street, so that was convenient. I actually wasn't much of a beer drinker at the time so it was more about the people watching for me. And the people did not disappoint.

There were girls dressed up in tiny skirts and and homemade shirts that read "Erin Go Braless" among other more, er, scandalous things. How they weren't freezing their you-know-whats off, I'm not sure. There were men who'd been drinking all day a-la bachelor party style, ogling the minimally-dressed girls. Then there were a lot of people like us just trying not to step in the questionable puddle on the street (is that beer or...?) and get to the front of the next beer line. The closest thing I've seen to this city-wide party is a Saturday night on Bourbon Street in NOLA.

Anyway, suffice it to say: it was a ton of fun. I haven't had a St. Pat's that entertaining since, and I'd love to go back to Chicago for another round! (Would make a super fun girl's weekend or Bachelorette party!) In the meantime, I'll continue to wear my green every March 17 and reminisce about my days in the Windy City.

xo
KH

Five on Friday: National Lampoon's Texas Adventure

A few days after Christmas, the hubs and I trekked to Texas with my entire family on my Mom's side.  Our family business in Florida purchased a ranch there a few years ago; we have beef cattle on it, but also host hunters who come for paid deer hunts. I'd never been to the property before - which is about an hour and a half into the middle of nowhere from Abilene - so I was excited to see our investment and spend time with the family (20 people staying in 2 houses on the ranch).

Let me begin by saying that this trip was planned to celebrate my Papa's 85th birthday, and that we did do. However, there were a lot of things that made this family vacay memorable...thus why I've dubbed it "National Lampoon's Texas Vacation."

One. The numbers:

4: number of generations
20: number of family members

85: oldest

7: youngest 

8: number of toilets (thankfully) 

3: nights we planned to stay

5: nights we actually stayed 

1: number of winter storms that came through while we were there 

8+: honestly I lost count, but at least 8 deer were killed

16: number of coyotes killed

Two. When you've got four generations under one roof, what's a better way to pass the time than cards and pool? Seeing my 85-year-old Papa play with his great-grandchildren was a great memory.

Three. Shooting predators (ahem, coyotes) from a helicopter. Yep. You read that correctly. I didn't do any shooting other than with my camera, but the ride and views were ahhh-mazing.

Four. I like big bucks and I cannot lie. The deer on our property are HUGE. I'm not a hunter myself but I love to watch these guys in their element. Though plenty of family members left with trophies, if you catch my drift.

Five. Nothing like a good, old-fashioned winter storm - named Frona, which I swear should have been a character in Frozen - to mess up your plans! We were supposed to fly home on the 31st and ring in the new year in Florida. But we ended up getting stuck in TX until the 2nd. And during those two extra times, a few critical things happened: we ran out of bottled water. Then we ran out of well water. No showers for a day until the well could replenish itself. (Twenty people with no showers trapped in a house...dangerous). Then we ran out of vodka (help!!). The closest grocery store was 40 MILES away and we couldn't get there because the roads were so bad. Luckily, the resident taxidermist (doesn't everyone have one of those??) brought us the essentials - bottled water, eggs, bread and vodka - when we stopped by. Gotta love that Texas hospitality!

It's truly amazing that no one killed anyone, we didn't run out of food, the kids never got super bored and we all managed to generally have a good time despite being stuck inside for a few days! We finally got home late on the 2nd (to Florida) and drove back home to South Carolina on the 4th. Even with the delays and bad weather, it was a family trip I'll treasure forever. I know time with my grandparents is fleeting, and to have four generations all together for six days? Priceless.

xo
KH

Linking up with

 April, Christina, Natasha and Darci!