Besides going to the beach and just hang in' out, what else do you do in Charleston? The list is rapidly growing every day, but the top priority is, well, eating and drinking. After a recommendation from some locals, we opted to check out The Wreck for dinner last night. (When I say we, I mean, Robert, Katie, Sam, Sam's friend Lee, and Ann...poor James missed out on this one.) It was very tasty. The Wreck is located just on Shem Creek, and you can see the Ravenel Bridge all lit up and the boats coming and going. http://www.wreckrc.com/ Unfortunately, I left my camera at the house, so no cool pictures of all of us enjoying the scenery, but I'm sure we'll be back. (Yes, they're on Restaurant.com...woohoo!!!)
Today we're going to check out the Westbrook Brewery. Their beer selection looks pretty good, and even better...growlers to go! http://westbrookbrewing.com/ I promise to take the camera this time!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Trader Joe's Welcomes Heidi
Haha! Well, that's not exactly how it went down, but I'd like to think so. If you've ever been to a Trader Joe's you understand my enthusiasm...if you've never been, put it on the list! (Otherwise, we will take you there when you come to visit regardless of your level of enthusiasm!)
Since we decided to take the opportunity and move to Charleston, we've been doing LOTS and LOTS of research. To the point, that today we went and picked up with AAA TourBook 2011 Edition. Among all of this searching, I thought, hum...wonder if I'd be lucky enough to score a Trader Joe's along with all of the other really great things about moving. I was cautiously optimistic to learn that Trader Joe's was coming to Mt. Pleasant, but I couldn't find a date. I could only hope that soon mean in a month. Lucky for me, I couldn't have timed it any better. Trader Joe's is opening July 29th, yes, that is Friday...the day I am scheduled to arrive in Mt. Pleasant. I think James and I will be visiting, and maybe dragging Sam along too!
Here's to many more great finds!
www.traderjoes.com
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wow...Really, It's Been That Long - Project Updates
I just realized that it's been well over a month since our last posting...holy cow! So much has happened and so little of it has made it here to the blog for everyone to read about. I guess I will just start at the beginning.
After sleeping on a really horrible bed for a few months, we resorted to the air mattress at the new place. I don't know if it was really more comfortable or if it was the thrill of having a home again, but we slept so well that night. And we needed a few good nights with the weekend plans. We did have quite the set-up using the laptop and the computer speakers as our entertainment center. A couple of boxes at the end of the air mattress proved to be just what we needed. (We intended to take a picture and show off our dorkiness, but somehow we got side-tracked. Shocking, I know.)
We officially packed and moved from IN on 04/13 and the closing on the house there took place on that Friday. It was a lot of stress during the week since the date was pushed back and caused a delay here in Houston. We ended up spending an extra weekend than planned in the apartment, but it was okay. We closed and got possession of our new home on Thursday 04/23 and the fun began!
After sleeping on a really horrible bed for a few months, we resorted to the air mattress at the new place. I don't know if it was really more comfortable or if it was the thrill of having a home again, but we slept so well that night. And we needed a few good nights with the weekend plans. We did have quite the set-up using the laptop and the computer speakers as our entertainment center. A couple of boxes at the end of the air mattress proved to be just what we needed. (We intended to take a picture and show off our dorkiness, but somehow we got side-tracked. Shocking, I know.) Saturday rolled around, and it was time to put down the epoxy coating on the garage floor. We wanted to be sure it had some time to dry before the movers arrived on Monday. It 
turned out great and has proven to be easier to sweep and clean up.
turned out great and has proven to be easier to sweep and clean up.The next item was to install our new light from IKEA in the butler pantry area. The light that was there didn't provide much other than casting some shadows. The light worked better than we could have imagined, and it was much cheaper than what we anticipated spending at Lowe's.
Two down and a laundry list to go. The next item was to seal the tile/stone on the backsplash and seal the tile in the foyer, hallway, laundry room, hall closets, and the half-bath. The sealer went on easier than expected, but by the 3rd coat, I was ready to quit. The blister on my hand from the garage was getting the best of me. Needless to say, we still have our bath, the kitchen floor, and the bathroom floors upstairs to finish. We really need to get on that!
And lastly for a Saturday, we installed our clearance light from Lowe's in the dining room. If you saw the earlier blogs, you saw the hidious light in the dining room. I actually don't know what it should have been called. The light from the store wasn't exactly what we picked out, but it was definitely in our price range and elimated the ugly thing that was there. Now with the 
table and china cabinent and dry sink in the dining room too, it looks much better. I will post more updates with the furnished room pictures as we finish unpacking the boxes.
table and china cabinent and dry sink in the dining room too, it looks much better. I will post more updates with the furnished room pictures as we finish unpacking the boxes. James has also done a tremendous amount of work outside. He's put down sod, planted a tree, built a garden, built a garden cart, and planted a few caladiums in the front. I'll have him put in his pictures and update of all of that.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Refrigerators, Ferries, Monuments, & Fresh Fish
After sleeping in and taking Exam 1 of Business Law & Ethics (which went much better than the last 2 quizzes about the same section), it was time to leave to girls in their new, big room and head out for our Saturday adventure. The first task was to visit our local (soon to be a couple of miles from the house) Lowe's and check out refrigerators. We found our future chill closet and scheduled it for delivery on April 18th. We had great customer service and plan on going back. I'm sure we'll have a few reasons.
Since we were in the Humble/Atascocita area, why not drive around a bit. We drove across Lake Houston on FM 1960. Once we were in Huffman, just across the lake we turned south and headed towards the ship channel and the bay. 
After driving on FM 2100 and catching US90 to I-10 and then to 146, Independance Highway, we didn't know what the adventure would bring. We weren't totally sure what we would see, but the map looked like we were at least heading in the right direction. Once we got on to Independence, we saw a sign that said, "Ferry in 2 miles." I had seen this on a "to-do list" but hadn't planned on seeing it today. We arrived just as a ferry was leaving, so we just turned the engine off and waited for our turn. Since we had no 
where to go, we watched the ocean going vessels and barges go up and down the ship channel. Directly across the channel from us was the San Jacinto Battleground and Monument. We managed to get a few pictures of it as well. We had to wait one 
more round of the ferry, and then it was our turn to board the Lynchburg Ferry. We estimated it had a capacity of 14 vehicles base on the count of our half. After exiting in the number 5 spot off of the ferry, we briefly drove past the battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Battlegrounds. The decision was unanimous; we'll wait for a visit from Dad and Catherine before we stop for a visit. This would be a perfect "vacation" activity for him!
The next big site on the drive was the Solvay Peroxigens Facility. It wasn't exactly on the agenda, but who's counting. I'm taking Grandma's advice of not having a schedule. At least now, I kind of know where the plant and the credit union are.
And we kept on driving. We could have stayed on FM 2100, but I didn't realize that until we drove back to Beltway 8 and on down to I-10. Oops! My new motto is I learn more about where we're going when we go the wrong
way or completley out of the way!
From there we moved on through LaPorte to Bayview, just across a large bridge from Kemah. While waiting on the ferry mid afternoon, we realized how humgry we were, and that started the search for something good for
lunch. We ended up at a place called Pier 8 where their motto is, "you buy it, we fry it!" This is where is goes from ordinary to impressive. This wasn't a restaurant where you went in and ordered some fried shrimp or cod or oysters. They had whole 
fish and fresh shrimp and seafood on ice, right there. We selected a 2.3 lb red snapper and told him to filet and fry it up. Of course, I couldn't pass up the shrimp either. We had 0.5 lb of the smaller guys. And why would you think to pass up the fries as part of the fish and chips? 
Well, we should have. We politely paid and found a picnic table on the front porch overlooking the bay. (The picture above is of our view.) There ended up being a slight miscommunication between James and the guy at the counter. They fried the entire fish!!! It was served to us on one of those elementary school lunch trays, and it was completely full. The plan was to take a picture before we started, but it didn't really go down like that. We realized halfway through that we just dug in. There are pictures of the aftermath. We have the skeleton; does that count?
After we were completely full, we visited three other fresh seafood markets. James wanted to see what they had available. Needless to say, there were crawfish, shrimp, salmon, red snapper, shark, squid, scallops, lobster, and many, many more. Had we not just come from eating nearly 3 lbs of shrimp and fish, we probably would have brought home too many pounds of fish/seafood. James has officially found his new place to buy fresh seafood!
Taking the advice of many others, we did venture across the bridge to see Kemah Boardwalk. This place was crazy with people. We saw those just driving around (like us) and others hoping to score a relatively close parking ticket. We just drove around to get an idea of what was there, and then we headed home. We had covered a lot of ground and were ready to relax. The big accomplishment of the day was adding to the rapicly growing list of places and things to see. There won't be a dull moment.
Since we were in the Humble/Atascocita area, why not drive around a bit. We drove across Lake Houston on FM 1960. Once we were in Huffman, just across the lake we turned south and headed towards the ship channel and the bay. 
After driving on FM 2100 and catching US90 to I-10 and then to 146, Independance Highway, we didn't know what the adventure would bring. We weren't totally sure what we would see, but the map looked like we were at least heading in the right direction. Once we got on to Independence, we saw a sign that said, "Ferry in 2 miles." I had seen this on a "to-do list" but hadn't planned on seeing it today. We arrived just as a ferry was leaving, so we just turned the engine off and waited for our turn. Since we had no 
where to go, we watched the ocean going vessels and barges go up and down the ship channel. Directly across the channel from us was the San Jacinto Battleground and Monument. We managed to get a few pictures of it as well. We had to wait one 
more round of the ferry, and then it was our turn to board the Lynchburg Ferry. We estimated it had a capacity of 14 vehicles base on the count of our half. After exiting in the number 5 spot off of the ferry, we briefly drove past the battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Battlegrounds. The decision was unanimous; we'll wait for a visit from Dad and Catherine before we stop for a visit. This would be a perfect "vacation" activity for him! The next big site on the drive was the Solvay Peroxigens Facility. It wasn't exactly on the agenda, but who's counting. I'm taking Grandma's advice of not having a schedule. At least now, I kind of know where the plant and the credit union are.
And we kept on driving. We could have stayed on FM 2100, but I didn't realize that until we drove back to Beltway 8 and on down to I-10. Oops! My new motto is I learn more about where we're going when we go the wrong
way or completley out of the way! From there we moved on through LaPorte to Bayview, just across a large bridge from Kemah. While waiting on the ferry mid afternoon, we realized how humgry we were, and that started the search for something good for
lunch. We ended up at a place called Pier 8 where their motto is, "you buy it, we fry it!" This is where is goes from ordinary to impressive. This wasn't a restaurant where you went in and ordered some fried shrimp or cod or oysters. They had whole 
fish and fresh shrimp and seafood on ice, right there. We selected a 2.3 lb red snapper and told him to filet and fry it up. Of course, I couldn't pass up the shrimp either. We had 0.5 lb of the smaller guys. And why would you think to pass up the fries as part of the fish and chips? 
Well, we should have. We politely paid and found a picnic table on the front porch overlooking the bay. (The picture above is of our view.) There ended up being a slight miscommunication between James and the guy at the counter. They fried the entire fish!!! It was served to us on one of those elementary school lunch trays, and it was completely full. The plan was to take a picture before we started, but it didn't really go down like that. We realized halfway through that we just dug in. There are pictures of the aftermath. We have the skeleton; does that count?After we were completely full, we visited three other fresh seafood markets. James wanted to see what they had available. Needless to say, there were crawfish, shrimp, salmon, red snapper, shark, squid, scallops, lobster, and many, many more. Had we not just come from eating nearly 3 lbs of shrimp and fish, we probably would have brought home too many pounds of fish/seafood. James has officially found his new place to buy fresh seafood!
Taking the advice of many others, we did venture across the bridge to see Kemah Boardwalk. This place was crazy with people. We saw those just driving around (like us) and others hoping to score a relatively close parking ticket. We just drove around to get an idea of what was there, and then we headed home. We had covered a lot of ground and were ready to relax. The big accomplishment of the day was adding to the rapicly growing list of places and things to see. There won't be a dull moment.
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