Starbizzle

Currently Watching: Bones season 3*

Completely Appropriate Quote: "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino." - from You've Got Mail

How do you all feel about the new Starbucks logo?

I don't think I like it. Too minimalist. I like a little classicness and old-timey character. (however, I do like the more recent one over the 1987 one...so does this mean I just don't like change? Or that the more recent one is really classier?) Also, I think it's interesting that they are taking the name out and relying just on the picture now (Hello, logo recognition**).

On a brighter note, the Starbucks on Hilton Head is about the coolest thing around. It used to be a bank, and they kept the old vault and have it open with tables in it. So snazzy.

* the grandparents have all sorts of spiffy new technology - even since the last time I was here - which lets me watch Netflix both upstairs (on Apple TV) and downstairs (on the Wii). Um, blowing my mind right now, PJ & MK.

** I just googled that. I was going to call that 'brand recognition' but I guess that's not right. What can I say? I study literature, not marketing...

[image via here]

Chaaaleston

Y’all, I have been the laziest today. After Hope and Allie left at lunchtime, I collapsed into full-on spring-break-at-the-grandparents mode. (aka watching tv and reading, that is all. Although we did ride bikes and walk on the beach and spy a gator earlier today, so I really did already do stuff, I promise.) Because of this, my brain is not cooperating with me, but I promised to tell you about Charleston so I am going to try and do just that.

Here’s the thing about Charleston: it is old Southern charm and hospitality through and through. It’s not just one postcard-perfect street that gives way to a typical grimy downtown, nor just a modern town masquerading as antebellum. No, it is street after palmetto-lined street of genteel two-story, balconied Charleston houses and wrought iron and ivy. It’s parks and porch swings on the waterfront, and spires and cemeteries lining King Street. It’s shopping on King Street and sweet grass baskets for sale at the market. And really, it’s enough to just be there, soaking it in, meandering through the grid of streets and pointing out which houses we wished were ours.

We drove just over two hours to get there (and may or may not have made a last minute U-turn midway to stop at this place:

                                                                               ...I mean, wouldn’t you?)

And here’s what we did once we were there:

- Wandered through the old market, trying to resist buying pashminas

- Had fancy sandwiches at a place called Caviar & Bananas, right next to C of C (which, by the way, would probably be the school I would transfer to if I was ever going to transfer. Just because then I could live here.) Anyway, my sandwich was barbecue duck (seriously), cheddar cheese, jalepeños, roasted shallots, some sort of sauce, and all sorts of goodness:

- Shopped on King Street (they just put in a Forever 21, we had to go. And Allie got these nifty zebra shoes.) and revived with some Starbs

- Explored the St. Philips graveyard. It’s split into two parts on either side of the street – only people born in Charleston were allowed to be buried on the side the church is on. There’s a legend of one man being exhumed from his grave and moved across the street because he wasn’t born in Charleston. (PJ told us this story at dinner the night before.)

- Walked to the waterfront, almost got blown away by the wind out on the pier, spied Fort Sumter across the water

- Searched out Rainbow Row. (...but I already showed you that.) One of the houses was for sale, though, just saying.

- Stopped by the Citadel on our way out of the city (Hope’s dad went there so we had to get a token picture for him, of course.)

…And that’s all. We weren’t even there for as long as we had planned (we even made it back to Hilton Head for MK’s dinner. Yesss.) but it was charming and perfect nonetheless.

Oh Charleston. I love you because you are genuine and beautiful. If you were a person, I would probably want to be you. Or at least have a crush on you.


[All photo cred - or at least camera cred - goes to Allie MacDonald. For real, I feel so spoiled to have all these beautiful pictures now to share with y'all. I think I'm just going to have to get her to follow me around and document my life on a regular basis...]

Future Home?

Rainbow Row, Charleston

Photos by Miss Allie MacDonald

(This is just a teaser. A long day of driving, wind-blown walking and being 

all around touristy can really take it out of you...therefore, more deets tomorrow!)

Little Known Fact

Quote Love: "I'm not a human being, I'm a human doing."

This is one of the main reasons to come to Hilton Head:

She crab soup and a blackened shrimp po'boy from Kenny B's, a hole-in-the-wall-ish kind of place, with murals of Mardi Gras painted on one wall and either New Orleans or UGA propaganda decking out the others. It's the best. And it's our tradition.

If you ever come to Hilton Head with me, I'll take you there for lunch. And then we'll have dinner at the house with Mama Kaye and Papa Joe and chat long after the chocolate pie is done, discussing things like where will you be 10 years from now? (How would you answer that?)

Tomorrow we're taking a day trip to Chaaaaleston. I'll keep you posted.

A Little More Altitude, A Little Less Attitude

Day 1 in Hilton Head: Bikes, beach, 1902 steam cannon remnants (ruins? remains? we don't know.), and Wii Canoeing.

Now it's hot tub time :]

[photo cred for pictures 4, 5, 6, and 7 goes to ALLIE. And credit for all of the pics goes to Allie's awesome camera.]

Spring Break Spring Break Spring Break!!

Currently Listening To: Parachute by Ingrid Michaelson, coming from Abby's room... 

Quote Love: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[spring break on Hilton Head last year...Britt and Kathleen, I wish y'all were coming back, too!]

I spent today randomly accompanying my friend Brecklyn to Harrisonburg because she had to switch out cars with her dad, and it was great because I got to go to Chili's with Breck, her dad and her grandma. I'm all for hanging out with friends' families, especially their grandmas.

And speaking of, I'm rolling out in the morning and bringing two of my friends to meet MY grandma! ...and grandpa. (Or PJ & MK, as we tend to refer to them. Which stands for Papa Joe and Mama Kaye, of course.) I'm looking forward to roadtripping all day to the soundtrack of my iPod Lorenzo, driving on out of Virginia and North Carolina and into the marshes and palm trees of the Lowcountry until we finally reach Hilton Head. I'm looking forward to being able to walk barefoot on the beach, eat blackened shrimp po'boys at Kenny B's, read read read, twirl in the hammock chair, ride bikes through Port Royal plantation, watch trashy TV, go to the J. Crew factory store, and have long, classy dinners of grilled tuna steaks and chocolate pie (maybe out on the porch?). And have Hope and Allie (and eventually my sister) there to enjoy it all with!

Mmmkay. We're about to head to Krogs to buy some ice cream so that we can use up the rest of the milk in the fridge in some milkshakes (ingenious, huh?). But I am going to leave you with this Avett Brothers song, simply because it is flipping awesome (the lyrics, the animation in this video, the music, all of it):

Little Things

Y'all, I just came across this happy little tumblr which calls itself a list of all the simple things we should appreciate.

And for real, I'm sitting at the kitchen table, completely alone in my house, having just finished a quesadilla and some peas (I'm leaving for spring break in like 40 hours. This means we are scraping the bottom of the food supply here.) and smiling like a crazy person as I read each of them. This is making me too happy. I had about a bajillion too many faves to share them all with you, but here's a sampling:

Which are your faves?