Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 in 12 Photos

This is a new yearly segment I hope to do. Just one photo from each month and a small elaboration of that month's events. It's such a wonderful thing to reminisce on the year that has passed.


January: The first month of 2012 was not a very eventful one. I turned 17 on the 4th, and my mom took me out to dinner at 11th Street Dockside in Port Royal. The photo above was taken there. I absolutely adore the view from this restaurant, and the food is all amazing. 


February: February was a fun month. The choir performed in a choral competition up at Lander University. We ranked Superior and received an award for "Most Inspiring Performance." We toured the campus at Presbyterian College, where our director and accompanist went to college, and then we went to a youth performance of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," which was absolutely adorable. The photo above is one of the many statues displayed at PC.


March: March was a busy month. My AP English class had a big project to do on The Great Gatsby, so my friend Connie and I teamed up to bake and decorate a cake with the theme of our chapter. Our frosting skills can definitely use some work, but it was still a ton of fun. March was also the month of my friend Rhianna's 17th birthday, and we convinced our server to smash a mini pie into her nose when we sang "Happy Birthday." It was a fantastic time.


April: April was a month full of a bit of local adventuring and a bit of failed Pinterest projects. I'm not going to lie and say all of my projects came out phenomenal. My cake balls were misshapen and the frosting was unattractive. But it's okay to make mistakes. You learn from them and you grow. It's all about the process anyway (although a nice final product is wonderful also.) The above photo is of some flowers from a local flowershop called Buds and Blooms, where I plan to return to purchase some herbs to grow inside (another Pinterest project!)


May: Boy, oh boy, was May a busy month! Between AP Exams, Prom, and moving into a new house, I was very stimulated. I was able to take group shots of my choir and the French Honor Society, which was a great lot of fun. To be honest I can't really remember too many details, only that exams were difficult, and moving was a bit of a pain, and prom was magical.


June: June was an exciting month. Joe graduated this past year, and was really excited to get out. His father was still in the hospital from a really terrible car accident, but was improving quickly and now he is almost completely better. My grandparents moved down south all the way from Cody, Wyoming in their camper and spent about 2 months here in Beaufort to spend time with us. Just a lot of family matters going on in June.


July: My mom and brother and I went camping with my grandparents on Hunting Island for a couple days. It was really fun doing a clam bake, and Joe came out one day to meet them and just hang out. I really love being able to spend time with my family.


August: At the very beginning of August, I went with Joe and his family, Joe's friend Chad and his family, and Chad's girlfriend (and my best friend) Billie, up to Carowinds for 3 days. It was really fun, although I am deathly afraid of rollercoasters and only went on one of the baby ones once. Later that month, Joe's sister Jessica got married. Above is a photo of my outfit from that day. And of course, school started again, and my little brother Ethan turned 8 years old. He's getting way too big.


September: September was basically just a bunch of getting back into the swing of things with school. This photo was taken at Lady's Island Dockside on Lady's Island (where my mom works.) The view in my town, almost everywhere, is just so serene and lovely.


October: October finally started feeling like fall down here with all of the pumpkin patches and scarecrows. The leaves really don't turn down here in the fall, since we don't really get defined seasons. It was fun to celebrate Halloween this year because it marked the two year anniversary of Joe and I meeting for the first time. It's so hard to believe.


November: Now this was a month full of celebration. I was lucky enough to make it into All-State Choir, and the 16th was mine and Joe's 2 year anniversary. It was a beautiful date to a lovely restaurant and to see a sweet youth drama rendition of Annie. The end of the month was also very bittersweet; I performed the last winter performance I will ever perform with the choir. Senior year is already proving to be tearful!


December: Holiday cheer all around! As everyone else, I felt the pain upon hearing the news of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, but that event really made me realize how lucky I was. The choir performed many small performances caroling for local rotary and country clubs. I was able to attend my town's Light Up the Night Boat Parade and annual Christmas parade. My grandparents came in town for the holiday, and I was able to spend a lovely day yesterday with my loving boyfriend. My brother is safe, my family is safe, and I am safe. So much to be thankful for.

And now, I shall spend the rest of my New Year's Eve watching Dr. Who on Netflix and reflecting on this wonderful year.
Happy New Year, Lovelies!

~♥
Gabby

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Out and About


Joe and I had a date day downtown today. We made our usual stop at the Common Ground for some coffee (I got a frozen mocha despite the chilly weather here.) Then we looked around our favorite local  Vintage shop and it's second location, Simply Southern. I love the multiple sets of china that they have, and aspire to own at least one nice set of fine china.



After that, we had an early dinner at Panini's. I ordered the Almond Crusted Calamari, which comes with a spicy aioli sauce, and Joe ordered their lobster bisque and Shrimp and Crab BLT (don't knock it 'til you try it, it's actually really great!")
After dinner we walked around the streets a bit more and went into one of the antique bookstores, then headed over to the new frozen yogurt shop called Yoyo's. It's really fresh and modern inside, and the yogurt is quite delicious. You get to build your own "fro yo" and you pay just $0.49 an ounce for your creation. And they have a cute little feature; a "Phoyo" booth where you get your picture taken and shared on their Facebook page! I think that's a great and fun way to draw in business.

At the end of our date, we walked along the marsh banks and took some photos of the sunset and the sky. I can never get enough of how unique and stunningly beautiful my hometown is. I know that if I ever move away for some reason, I will always come back and visit. Beaufort is just so stunning.


Hope you all had a lovely day as well.

~♥
Gabby

Friday, December 14, 2012

Holiday Happenings in my Town

So once again, I have had to postpone most of my postings until the weekend because of a lack of internet during the week. But here is a post of the fun things that have been happening this week!

My town has a yearly tradition on December. One weekend, there are three consecutive days of Holiday fun. 

Friday evening is Night on the Town, where they close down the main street downtown and open all of the shops for special deals; they also have a tree-lighting ceremony with a HUGE tree. [I have unfortunately never been able to attend Night on the Town. :( ]

Saturday Evening is the Light Up The Night Boat Parade, where a lot of the local boat owners decorate their boats up for Christmas and drive them along the waterfront in the river as a part of a contest. [This year was the first time that I have gone... here are a couple photos, even though they all came out blurry.]

The Sunset on Saturday Evening before the Light Up the Night Boat Parade at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park

The only good photo that I was able to get from the boat parade was not taken with my $799 camera, but my phone. How sad...

And finally, on Sunday, the local businesses and schools put together an afternoon parade to advertise and build community. I was able to attend this also and take a few photos.

Local Marine Corps Band 

This is one of the cutest things I've ever seen! These horses pull carriages around the historical district of Beaufort on guided tours ♥

One of the local dance companies, Studio B.



My school's Drama department advertising their upcoming production, "How I Became A Pirate."

Flag Twirler in front of my school's marching band






Santa Clause and the Mrs. ride atop a firetruck every year in our parade!


After the parade on Sunday, we went and picked out our Christmas tree from one of the local farms called Family Tree.

For some reason this was the clearest of the three shots I took of this exact thing.



I LOVE the whole rustic, circus sideshow look to these signs!!!


We decided to go local because... well, it's cheaper, the trees are better, and in this economy, the local businesses need the support the most anyway!

Our tree, all decked out ☻

I ♥ Bokeh!


~♥ 
Gabby


Product Review: Pink Zebra Scented Soy Wax Sprinkles


I recently ordered a sample of scented wax from a company called Pink Zebra (which reminds me reminiscently of Scentsy.) The company is dedicated to giving back to the community by donating money to support single moms with every qualifying party. The parties are basically where you get a bunch of friends together to try out their products (think Pampered Chef, BeautiControl, or Scentsy.) I think this is such a great cause, and it touches close to my heart because my mom was a single mom, and she works in the restaurant business where the flow of money is not always constant and reliable. I think it's great that a business like this is paying particular attention to this portion of the population that does not always receive the help that it needs.

They sent me a small packet of their "Sprinkles," which are like little candy-button sized dots of their soy wax. The scent that I received was Oatmeal Raisin Cookie- and boy did it smell JUST like its namesake! 



I put the sprinkles into my Scentsy warmer to melt them down, and though the sample size wasn't very big, the smell was quite strong! My brother thought I was baking cookies, and unfortunately I wasn't. 



The company doesn't just sell the scented waxes; Pink Zebra also has reed diffusers, candles, lotions, soaps, and more! And they have a really nice variety of scents as well, a lot of home-y scents from Spiced Vanilla to Citrus scents and Seasonal scents. This is a fantastic company, and I will definitely be keeping my eye on it and be on the lookout for deals and specials!

Have any of you tried their products? Do any of you sell their products as a consultant?

~♥
Gabby

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Product Review: Folgers Gourmet Selections Vanilla Biscotti Coffee

I was recently sent a sample of Folgers coffee from their new gourmet selections line. The flavor I received was Vanilla Biscotti, and it was so good! My mom came home from work, she immediately commented on how amazing the coffee smelled. The vanilla flavor was there but only barely, not at all overpowering. This is most definitely a product that I would purchase in the future. The only thing that I didn't like was that the coffee grounds were lose inside the packaging. Most samples come in little coffee filter pouches to make it more convenient. But the product itself was really great!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Sneak Peek: Hunting Island in the Winter

Here is a couple photos from my trip to the beach today. The water was too cold to swim in, but it was nearly devoid of people, so it was a great opportunity to take some beautiful photos of Hunting Island. I will post more photos later this week.

~<3
Gabby