So there are surprisingly few sweater-setted pearl-studded girls in Charleston. But there are an abundance of gorgeous old historic homes with fantastic details, huge porches, and lovely stairways. Not to mention adorable shutters, planter boxes, and heaps of colonial charm. M and I have fallen in love with the houses here.
Today has been nothing but go, go, go. M is currently crashed out in our hotel room bed next to me snoring like a piglet.
We landed around 9 a.m. EST, got picked up by Cooper, an old Ranger buddy of M’s, who drove directly to the Isle of Palms where the bride’s family had rented a beach front home. My first look at a true South Carolina abode stunned me silly. The view, the romantic air, everything shouted “Gone with the Wind.” Only my most favorite book of all time, of course. I told M if I exclaimed, “Oh my God, how adorable!” one more time, to slap me. He refrained.
Straight out the back of the beautiful house was the beach. Cooper wasted no time and brought his kite board out immediately. He is an adrenaline-junkie and really into extreme sports. Kite-boarding looks pretty fun (and dangerous), but probably not for someone as unathletic as me. M said he was only going to watch and as soon as I went back into the house, ripped off his shirt and got into the harness. Tsk tsk.
Dudley and Megan, the happy couple about to get married tomorrow evening(!), hosted a really mellow barbeque at the house. Everyone relaxed and ate, walked around and ate, chatted and played in the pool out back and strolled down to the beach. And ate some more. It was wonderful.
Finally, M and I made it to our hotel downtown Charleston. I love Charleston. It is quaint, historic, full of really amazing-looking antique shops, and surrounded by those awesome houses I keep talking about. And full of really nice people who give you directions and food recommendations at the drop of a hat.
I got vanilla pecan fudge, a bag of candied pecans, and a milk chocolate s’more for M from a sweets shoppe where all of their goods come from Savannah, Georgia I believe. I promptly fell in love with the name Savannah. So far, I have decided to name my future kids Savannah and Rhett (after Rhett Butler of course). M is less than pleased. My brother Chip wants me to name a child Derpina le Reeves, but that’s another story. (Hi Chip!)
Moving on. We stopped in at Petticoats, a restaurant M wanted to try, but the food turned out less than wow. It was just meh. The black bean soup wasn’t hot enough, the fried pickles were greasy, the iced water tasted a little soapy, and my Carolina cornmeal dusted flounder special was flaccid and tasteless. Service was wonderful and attentive however, and the interior was super cute – a house turned into restaurant type deal. I think we ate in what would have been the living room. All through dinner, M looked moon-blinked with exhaustion. I was running purely on a five-mini-donut sugar high. 
It’s time for bed.
We have lots of sight-seeing planned for tomorrow as well as the wedding in the evening. Be back soon! I love the South!
xoxo,
Jenn
