Good Reads

I absolutely love to read and have been trying to fit in more of it since the new year started. Sometimes it can be hard to fit in the time to do reading for fun in college, but I always enjoy it and never regret the time I spend reading.

I thought I'd share some of the good books I've read lately.....

Family Affair - Debbie Macomber
This book was a super short read. I think it was less than 100 pages, and I finished it in less than a day. I really liked it though - sometimes it's nice to read a short book. I love all of Debbie Macomber's books because they are all romance novels. She especially writes good Christmas books!

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Buried in Buttercream - G.A. McKevett

This was a mystery novel, and I really, really like mysteries. I admit that I chose it based on the title because you know how much I love to bake. It actually had nothing to do with baking, but it did revolve around a wedding (hence the buttercream on a wedding cake), so I still really enjoyed because I'm also a sucker for anything wedding related. It was a good murder mystery story, and I was shocked by the ending.

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Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella

This book was such a fun read. It's about a girl who meets up with an old boyfriend, and they decide out of the blue to elope in Greece. Her sister and his best friend set out to try to stop their marriage since they think it's a big mistake. The book was funny and filled with a lot of twists. I would definitely recommend it!

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Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella

Sophie Kinsella is obviously one of my new favorite authors. I love her Shopaholic series (although I haven't read all of them yet!). I think her writing is fun, and her style is chick lit, which I'm a fan of. The concept behind this book reminded me a lot of the movie The Vow. Lexi wakes up in the hospital after a car accident only to find out that her last memory is from three years ago. She wakes up as a completely different person - she's rich, skinny, and tan; she has a high profile job; and she's married. And she can't remember anything about how she got there. The story follows Lexi while she tries to piece her life back together again. I really enjoyed reading this one. I think this might be my favorite Sophie Kinsella book that I've read, and one of the best books I've read in a long time!

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Next on my list of books to read is The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan. Is that right up my alley or what? :) I've read one of Jenny's other books called Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe and it was super good. I'm so excited to read one about chocolate AND Paris - two of my absolute favorite things in the world! The book releases on February 4th (at least, I think - I keep seeing online reviews of it, which is confusing me since Amazon says it hasn't released yet.....), and I need to find a way to get it ASAP!

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I hope you all had a fabulous week. I'm so happy it's almost the weekend!

Charleston {Part 2}

I'm finishing up with my final post on my awesome weekend spent in Charleston.

On Sunday morning we slept in and went to eat breakfast at Another Broken Egg. I had eaten there in Destin a few years ago and was thrilled to see that they have a Charleston location.

I got the Belgian waffle with strawberries on top - delicious!

Then we set out to see more of Charleston. It was nice to have a day with no where to be and just a city to explore, especially when the city is as pretty as Charleston.

Rainbow row!

Pineapple fountain!

We stopped at a cupcake bakery called Cupcake Down South for lunch since we had a late breakfast. It was such a cute place.

I got the Black & White cupcake - it was good!

We also stopped by a French bakery called the Macaroon Boutique, and I picked up a few macarons to go.

We went walking around some more down by the water - it was such a gorgeous day. The temperature was in the upper 50s, so I didn't want to spend any time inside. I was wearing jeans and a light sweater all day and I was comfortable. Pure bliss!

We stopped by another little bakery called Bake House to get some baked goods to eat for breakfast the next morning. I was a little disappointed with the muffin I got, but I loved the homemade salted caramel marshmallow I picked up too.

When we were walking around and exploring, we just happened to stumble upon the College of Charleston. We walked around, and oh my gosh - the campus is absolutely beautiful. I couldn't believe it. The buildings were quaint, and the different departments were in colorful buildings with wrap around porches. I couldn't help but wish that UC was set up the same way ;)

I have kind of a funny story about our dinner that night. We went to a seafood restaurant called Hyman's, and Danielle and I both ordered a $10 shrimp and hush puppy appetizer. We didn't realize that we got free hush puppies at our table anyway. So they ended up bringing us 8 hush puppies to snack on, and then we each got 4 additional hush puppies with our meal. But we only got 6 shrimp each. For a $10 appetizer, we were a little disappointed. The shrimp were good, but we both sat there cracking up the whole time because we left the restaurant still hungry - ha!

We ended up eating a second dinner at Firehouse Subs :)

That night we met back up with my parents and went on a ghost tour of the old city jail. It was actually really interesting and creepy!

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Charleston and make the long drive back home.

It was such a fun weekend, and now that I'm back home reality is hitting hard, and I don't like it :) I'm just so thankful I was able to get away for a nice, relaxing trip!

Charleston {Part 1}

Today I'm continuing to write about my amazing weekend (if you missed my first post on Clemson, you can see that here).

We got up early Saturday morning to make the drive to Charleston and the coast of South Carolina since it was still about a four hour drive. I found another Rita's on the way that we of course had to stop at..... ;)

Since we were going to be so close to the beach, we stopped Saturday afternoon at Folly Beach, which is about an extra 20 minute drive past Charleston. I couldn't bear the thought of being so close to the coast and not seeing the beach - ha!

Our first stop in Folly Beach was lunch. And of course we had to go to a seafood restaurant!

I'm pretty sure there's nothing quite like seeing the beach in January. Although it was a little cold, I was still able to wear flip flops while walking on the beach!

I loved how the sun was glittering off the water. Gorgeous!

We put our feet in the water. It was absolutely freezing, but we did it!

My feet in the sand. In January. Doesn't get much better than that.

After a little walk on the beach, we drove back to Charleston, checked in at our hotel, and set off to explore. The street fronts are so pretty.

I took this picture inside a cute little bakery called Delish. I got a Lavender Chocolate Chip cookie was SO good. I'm never tasted lavender before, it was surprisingly a really good and unique flavor.

We stumbled into this absolutely gorgeous hotel too. I love the fact that you can walk around Charleston and always find something pretty tucked away.

We also spent the afternoon wandering through the City Market and doing some shopping along Kings Street.

I was so excited to find out that Charleston has a Bubba Gump's, which is one of my absolute favorite vacation restaurants.

I'm a creature of habit and always get the Shrimp Shack Mac & Cheese, but it is just the best.

That was my fun filled day at Folly Beach and Charleston. I'll finish up writing about the rest of the trip soon. Hope you all are having a fabulous week!