The Weekend: Carowinds and Lilly

Good Morning!

Yesterday I spent so much time on my review of Dead Wake by Erik Larson that I never had the chance to do a weekend update.

Friday night we stopped by our new favorite (and close) Mexican restaurant, El Jalapeno for some fajitas and one (very strong) margarita.

On Saturday morning, we had to wake up at 5:15 to head up to my daughter's school to catch buses to her chorus competition at Carowinds.

Luckily they were singing at 10:15 so we were able to spend the rest of the day on rides.

We got to ride the new Fury 325 that just opened last month.

 It drops 325 at an 81 degree angle and reaches speeds of 95 mph. It was pretty cool but my favorite was the Nighthawk. You sit down and then they lower you onto your back so for parts of the ride you are face down over water, etc. Check this video (not mine-found on youtube) out (skip to 2:37 to see the ride actually start):

 The park was super crowded because of the chorus and band competitions but we managed to ride 6 roller coasters before heading home around 7 pm.

My husband and me:)

The bus ride back was uneventful until we pulled into the school parking lot. Before the bus had even opened its doors, I felt a stabbing pain in my leg where my bag had been sitting (for the entire duration of the bus trip which makes this even weirder) and there was a wasp or hornet on my leg! My husband quickly brushed it off my leg and I started scratching back and forth at the red mark on my leg (because I had just learned that you're supposed to scratch at my son's field trip earlier in the week to Bee City!! ).

I have never been stung in my life so part of me was waiting to go into shock or something. My leg kept throbbing so we walked to the car and I was able to see the stinger still in my leg so I scratched some more and finally got it out. When I got home, I iced it and took advil. It is now three days later and it itches more than anything around the sting site. It also has a small rash around it today, which is apparently normal from everything I have read (hopefully...right?!).

Sunday we were back up at 6:30 to get ready to head to Starbucks and then Target for the Lilly sale. I took my daughter and her friend and we arrived around 7:05 am. There were about 20 people ahead of us and not long after about triple that behind us.

 Target was nice and brought people coffee.

The doors opened right at 8 and people quickly filed in. I was only after a scarf or two so I immediately headed to those and was lucky to grab the two I wanted. At that point, there were only two other people there including a guy who was taking a bunch of them. That really annoyed me because I'm sure they ended up on ebay.

Then I headed over to the women's section which wasn't crazy yet so I grabbed a pair of pineapple sandals in an 8 hoping those were what Meg wore because I knew she was wanting a pair and was waaaay back in line at her Target. Five seconds later the section looked like this:

I then found my daughter and her friend. They had gone to the girls section and my daughter managed to get a pair of pants, shorts and a dress in her size.

Meg texted me back and size 8 was her size (yay!!) so I ended up buying those and these two scarves:

I guess I would say my experience wasn't as bad as other people's but I expected it to be crazy so made sure I got there early. I overheard some people say they had items grabbed out of their hands but I didn't witness any awful behavior. 

If you weren't able to get anything, google "Lilly for Target giveaway" because I have seen several popping up!!

How was your weekend? Did you get anything Lilly? Are you so over hearing about Lilly or wondering what the fuss is all about? :)

Have a great week, y'all!

Book Review: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

About a month ago, I received a copy for my review of Dead Awake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson courtesy of Blogging for Books

I was really excited to read this book because I have read a couple of Larson's other books and they were excellent. Dead Awake certainly does not disappoint.  If you are not familiar with the Lusitania, it was a British luxury ocean liner that was sunk by a German submarine (U-boat) during World War I. Despite being a history major, I really didn't know a whole lot about the Lusitania beyond my brief description above. 

Dead Awake follows the lives of passengers and crew immediately before, during and after their trip aboard the Lusitania (if they survived). It also follows President Wilson and the U-boat commander who ordered the strike on the Lusitania.

One of my favorite things about Larson's writing is that he always manages to sneak in some funny lines when tackling such serious subjects. When discussing how a German codebook was obtained by Russians after they found a dead German holding the book, Larson writes about the German: "...it was probably the codebook that killed him: it was large and heavy, 15 inches by 12 inches by 6 inches, and contained 34,304 three-letter groups used to encode messages." (Page 78)

The imagery in the book is really amazing. I could picture being in New York when the Lusitania left the dock. I could imagine the children jumping rope on deck, what it was like in the staterooms and what everyday life aboard was like.  I could imagine the passengers watching the torpedo heading toward the ship and the panic that ensued afterward as people tried to save their children and themselves.

That is the thing about Larson's book: you know what is going to happen but that doesn't make it any less shocking. His "characters" are all real people and through a stunning amount of research, he brings them to life so you find yourself rooting for them to be safe in the end.

 I enjoyed this book and would certainly recommend it, especially to those interested in history!

If you're interested in buying Dead Wake by Erik Larson, you can purchase it here

or at a retailer near you :)

 

 As noted above, I received this book for my review courtesy of Blogging For Books. All opinions are my own.

Bee City in Cottageville, SC

Yesterday my son's class took a trip out to Bee City in Cottageville, SC.

Bee City is a honeybee farm, petting zoo and nature center.

It was cold for April (55) and a little rainy but that didn't stop us from having lots of fun checking out and feeding all the animals.

For $1-3 you can pick up different foods for the monkeys, birds or large animals (llamas, horses, cows, etc.).

 They have a cool aviary where you can go feed the birds. My son loves doing this, having done it at the Miami Zoo a couple of times. I don't mind being in there but I am not a fan of the birds flying all around my head. Feels like I'm in a Hitchcock movie!

 Aaahh, the llamas.

First they spit a little bit on my son and then spit food all over the other kid I was watching. I did what any good chaperone would do: laughed until I cried (the food was all over his face, y'all)...and then helped him clean-up with the wipes I brought along. 

All in all, it was a fun time and we will definitely go back since my husband didn't get to go.

Have you ever been to Bee City?!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

 

Weekending: Botany Bay

Good Morning:)

I am so excited to share a bunch of pictures from our trip yesterday to Botany Bay on Edisto Island, just outside of Charleston. Botany Bay is a preserve and you are not allowed to take any shells from the beach ($475 fine, if you do) so there were millions of shells. It was unreal. People have lined up big ones they've found along tree trunks and hung them on tree branches. It was a lot of fun for the whole fam to walk around and look at everything.

 The road to Botany Bay

Have you ever been to a beach like this? Where? I want to go!

Linking up for Monday Madness, Weekending 

and Weekend Recap!

 

The Weekend: Savannah

Happy Monday!!

Yesterday was, obviously, Easter but it was also the last day of Spring Break here.

My kids spent a week in Florida with my mom so we met her in Savannah on Saturday to hang out for a couple of hours before heading back to Charleston.

 Heading over the Talmadge Bridge into downtown Savannah

 Next time I need to go check out the front of this. Just striking to see a house attached to a big building like that.

Johnson Square

The old Savannah Cotton Exchange. I believe it's now a restaurant. I lived in Savannah for two years but there are so many things to see and do, that this is one I missed!

 We picked up some macarons from Marche de Macarons for my mom as a thank you gift for having the kids. I should have gotten myself a box...she said they were really good.

Tonight is the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

 I lived in Durham twice and my mom worked at Duke so I will definitely be cheering for Coach K and the Blue Devils tonight. I can't say I'll be upset though if Wisconsin wins. Their last championship win was in 1941...so it'd be cool to see them take home the trophy. And I love their fight song... my high school had/has the same one so I've always had some love for the Badgers.

If you're not down with some basketball, episode 4 of Charleston's own Southern Charm is on tonight at 10 pm ET on Bravo.

Image via realitytea 

If you don't watch, above is Cameran (she was on the 1st Real World: San Diego), Shep and Craig. I'm dying for the episode where Shep and Craig go hang with the local ice hockey team, the SC Stingrays. 

If you aren't interested in the drama, watch for the pretty shots of Charleston and restaurant ideas. Last week they were at Fuel, which has been on my list of places to go since we moved here. 

Image via Fuel Facebook page

Doesn't that outside area look so cute?!

One of these days!!

Can't wait to read about your weekend!

Linking up for Monday Madness, Weekending and Weekend Recap!