What’s Up Wednesday (Charleston Girl’s Trip Recap AND Early Sales!)

Happy Wednesday!  It’s time for everybody to join up today with Shay and me and let us know WHAT’S UP this fine Wednesday!

Let’s get right to it!

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WHAT WE ARE EATING

I can’t stop eating the turkey bolognese from Trader Joe’s.  I know I need to stop, but I cannot.  #iamunabletostop You find it in a square box in the frozen food section next to the frozen pastas and the frozen gnocchi. (And FYI, the OUR PLACE Perfect Pan is still on sale HERE.)

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, y’all.  But listen, if you live by a Trader Joe’s, run out today and grab both of these.  They taste 100% homemade and are incredibly fresh and delicious!

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WHAT I’M LOVING

Y’all have been loving all of the Santa Alerts I’ve been doing, and I have some more great ones today!

The Barefoot Dreams throws are ON SALE!  And they make EXCELLENT gifts!  As y’all know, the Nordstrom throws remain my favorite, and they are ON SALE too!

LADIES!  I shared this EltaMD sunscreen on Facebook over the weekend, and I couldn’t believe the incredible feedback I received from y’all.  It seems that y’all needed to be telling ME to.  #yalldroppedtheball  Well, instead of being mad at you (haha!), I’m just going to be happy that I am now using it myself.  It arrived Monday afternoon, so I’ve only used it 1 day, but I have to say that I already get what the hype is all about.

Click HERE if you want to get to the Facebook post to see what everybody else had to say about it.  It seems that not just my dermatologist recommends it, but everybody’s dermatologist does.

Here are just some of the comments:

The best sunscreen by far! I’ve had multiple dermatologist tell me that’s what I have to use. I use the tinted one on my face everyday. Zinc oxide is very important to have in a sunscreen especially on the face. – Summer V.

I use it everyday and have for about 3 years now! Love it! Will never use anything else. Makeup goes on great over it! – Liz B.

I just starting using the Elta Glow and really like it too. Mix just a tiny bit of the Drunk Elephant drops you told me about and it works great! – Jill M.

Yes! I’ve used it for probably 10 years, my husband uses it too. I love the tinted and sport versions also! – Brooklyn D.

Best facial sunscreen, hands down! I’ve been using it for years and I absolutely love it. I actually use the tinted version, which is magic on my skin – almost has like a blurring effect and leaves me with a lovely dewy look. Amazing. – Laura L.

sunscreen   /  tinted moisturizer

 

 

I’ve owned this 360 Spinning Beauty Organizer for several years now, and now I don’t know how I ever lived without it.  The shelves are adjustable, so you can situate them to your liking, and it holds SO MANY PRODUCTS!  I spin it every day, and the products I need are at my fingertips and so easily accessible.  FOR SURE get it for yourself, but it would also make a great gift for your teen daughter, for your sister, or even for your mom!

This Marcuja lip duo is ON SALE!  And it would make an EXCELLENT gift/stocking stuffer.  The whole site is on sale actually!  30% OFF EVERYTHING, but some items are 50% OFF!  Click HERE to see for yourself!

The Colleen Rothschild Quench and Shine Restorative Mask has been sold out for awhile now.  I LOVE the mask and was starting to freak out that it wasn’t available.  I really started to stress when my CR contact told me it was going to be awhile before they were going to be able to make it again.  WELL.  Thank heavens I stumbled upon this Biolage HydraSource conditioning balm.  Y’ALL.  It’s AMAZING.  My hair is so soft, so shiny, and so manageable!!!  I love this product.

This Kenra blow dry spray has been a favorite product of mine for at least 3-4 years now.  In fact, it’s a MUST HAVE for me.  I spray it on my wet hair before blow drying.  First of all, it smells fantastic.  I’d seriously buy it for the smell alone, but it’s also a heat protectant.  It reduces dry time and it manages fly aways.  I don’t really even know what it does or how it does it, but I love it and highly recommend it.  This would make a great stocking stuffer.

This is an awesome product and will make a great stocking stuffer for pretty much anybody on your list!  If you’ve never heard of Poo-pourri before, you spray it in the toilet BEFORE you go to the bathroom and it helps to eliminate odors.  People will get a laugh out of this on Christmas morning, but it also  seriously does what it says its going to do.

These colorful enamel bracelets are nice enough to have wrapped up under the tree, but they are inexpensive enough that they could also be a really great stocking stuffer!

These chunky gold hoops are awesome.  They are just a standard gold hoop, but chunkier, so they are easily seen.  They are from Pavoi, my favorite jewelry brand on Amazon.  I have soooooooooo many of Pavoi’s pieces, and they would all make excellent gifts.  Like my favorite pave huggies (they are seriously gorgeous and look real) and  my bevel set necklace (so pretty and so classic).  If you remember, I gave my favorite pave huggies as my FAVORITE THINGS gift one year.

I got soooooooooooooo many questions about my sunglasses I was wearing on instastories on Monday.  I was laughing so hard because I’ve been wearing these sunglasses for years!  AND they are from Amazon AND they are under $15!

And check this out!  You can get the 2 pack of sunglasses for ONLY $19.99!  I have both colors and love them both.

And just FYI, there are already TONS of early BLACK FRIDAY DEALS on AMAZON!  Click HERE and shop by category.

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WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO

A couple of weekends ago I headed to Charleston, South Carolina with some of my dearest girlfriends.

Our flight didn’t take off until a little after 10:00 on Saturday morning, so I didn’t finish packing until right before we left.  Here’s a pic of my travel day outfit about 30 minutes before getting picked up!  It was the perfect travel day outfit.  I’m wearing a small in the sweater and a petite medium in the leggings.  The SPANX leggings run small, so no matter if you are ordering a petite or the regular, I recommend sizing up (I’m a small in Zella leggings).  I’ve owned regular length SPANX leggings for years, but they were always several inches too long, so I finally jumped on the SPANX site to order the petites. I’m so glad I did!  I bought them at full price AND paid for expedited shipping a couple of weeks ago, but y’all should jump at this deal now that they are on sale!  (UPDATE: I found out last night after posting on Facebook that Nordstrom carries petites now too AND is price matching!  Click HERE for the petites at Nordstrom.)

tunic swing sweater / camo bag strap / must have earrings / SPANX faux leather leggings in PETITE / dolce vita sneakers

We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we  dropped by our hotel quickly to change.  (We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel in the Historic District and walked everywhere.)  Shay and Erika had shirts made for us with Bingo boards on the back.  We threw them on and headed out to explore some local pubs and cross some squares off or our Bingo cards.  It was so much fun and a great way to start exploring the city. The quality of the picture below is terrible, but I think it shows that we were already cutting loose and having a great time!  You can find my camo jacket HERE, and it’s 40% OFF!

Saturday night we ate at Hank’s Seafood Restaurant and OH MY WORD it was delicious.  I loved everything I ate, but I have two words for you right now:  HUSH PUPPIES.  The hush puppies were what hush puppy dreams are made of.  Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and SO FREAKING GOOD.  One of the girls got a fried seafood platter for dinner, which included hush puppies, and then we ended up ordering a round for the table basically for dessert.  I recommend doing the same.  Or just order a plate piled high for your dinner entree.  We ordered lots of grilled entrees that were all amazing, and 1 friend had the fried chicken while another had the filet.  I’m telling you, everybody loved their meals.  I also loved the oyster shooters and had probably one of the best oysters of my life.

I grabbed this pic off of their instagram account (@hanksseafood) because HUSH PUPPIES.  They look unassuming, BUT THEY’RE NOT.  This is me, telling you to.  They’re a MUST HAVE, y’all.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit, and we started the day with a brunch food tour!  Either Shay or Erika booked it through  Savor the Flavors of Charleston Food Walking Tour and it did not disappoint.  (They planned the whole trip and it’s sooooo much fun to just show up and be told where to go!  THANK YOU, Shay and Erika!)  First up on the stop, the best grits I have ever had AND WILL EVER HAVE in my entire life.  The name or this spot was Another Broken Egg Cafe.  Go there, order the grits, and then send me a thank you note.

The Bloody Mary was extra, but worth it.

The second stop on our food tour was at a local spice shop called The Spice and Tea Exchange. This is Nancy, our adorable tour guide.  We all liked the offerings at the spice shop so much that we went back after the tour was over and almost everybody bought a couple of rubs to take home.  The third stop had a delicious fried green tomato topped with pimento cheese and red rice and sausage.  The 4th stop had some skillet cornbread and a pulled brisket sandwich.  Everything was good, but the grits were the highlight for everybody.

We had to grab a shot with Nancy at the end.

After the food tour, we had a day of shopping and just really good girl time.

You’ve seen everything before with the exception of the puffer jacket .  AND THIS PUFFER IS AWESOME.  I literally grabbed it in store the day before the trip, and I’m so glad I did.  First of all, THIS JACKET IS $25!!!!  I mean, what a deal!  It’s a relaxed and somewhat boxy fit, but I really liked it.  I’m wearing a small with plenty of room, so I would definitely say it runs on the large side.  As you can see, it’s on the shorter side, so it might not work on you ladies with long torsos.  I really liked the overall fit on me (I’m 5’4″).

sweater / puffer jacket / sunglasses / chunky huggie earrings /  jagged hem slim jeans

Charleston really knows how to do window boxes.

I’m so thankful for this group of girls.  We’ve been friends since some of us were pregnant with our first babies (so almost 14 years ago!), and we’ve made it a priority to invest in our friendships over the years.  We’ve been through so many happy times together, but we’ve also been through some really hard stuff like divorce, kids with health issues, job insecurity, and the loss of a dear friend. These friendships are marked with countless laughs, but even more prayers.

Listen, I could go just down the road with these girls and have a blast, but it’s always such fun to actually get away and explore a new city together.  A big thanks to all the hubbies for holding down all the forts and handling the 22 kids at home!  (And a shout out to our friend Jeni who had to miss this year because of knee surgery.  WE MISSED YOU, JENI!)

After shopping, we did some more exploring.  And Charleston was showing off.

We had a couple of hours before dinner, and we all wanted to sit down, so we headed to a rooftop bar for a bit.

Sunday night dinner was at Poogan’s Porch.  It was so charming!

We lucked out with beautiful weather, so our group dined alone on the patio.  Everything was delicious, but the highlights follow:  the pimento cheese fritters with bacon jam, the cornmeal fried pickled okra, the mac & cheese, and the diner burger.  Comfort food at it’s best!  After dinner we headed to a late night ghost tour, and while we had fun, I don’t think we would recommend it.

Monday Morning we headed to lunch at 5Church.

The space is STUNNING.  Such a cool vibe.

The food was simple and yummy.  My friend Meagan was willing to split with me, and I always love a sampler platter of sorts.  I got the chicken sandwich and she got the burger.  Both were delish.

More shopping, more walking around the beautiful city, more much needed girl time.

We snuck into another little dive for some oyster shooters.  The oysters were delicious, but the shots tasted like straight up grass.  3/3 do not recommend.

Monday night we got dressed up a bit for a night on the town and I of course had to take the obligatory #bathroomselfie.  (You can get a better look at this outfit a little bit later in the post.)

dress / similar jacket (but in suede) / chunky gold hoop earrings /  heart necklace / black opaque tights / boots no longer available

We started out our night with drinks at Cammelias (a champagne lounge) at Hotel Bennett. It was beautiful and such a fun little stop.

And then we headed to a nice steak dinner at Halls Chophouse. The atmosphere at the Chophouse was fantastic and the people were so friendly.  We met one of the Halls and he was so welcoming.  He even sent over a round of shots at the end of the night!

The whole menu looked fantastic, but my recommendations follow:  get the filet, get the Brussels Sprouts, get the creamed corn.  The sides are served family style and were all incredible.

And just like that, another girl’s trip was over.  Before throwing everything back in my suitcase, I grabbed some pics of some of my packing favorites because I think they should be some of your packing favorites too.  Yes, I pack a mini fan.  And yes, I fit the following into the packing cubes below:  2 pairs of jeans, a pair of leather leggings, 5 sweaters, 2 sweatshirts, a nightshirt, a leather jacket, a dress, tights, undies, bras, and socks.  And yes, we were only there for 3 days, but the packing cubes zip down so tightly that they allowed me to bring extra choices!  A girl has to have options, ya know?

mini fan / packing cubes / jewelry travel case

 

This jewelry travel case is fantastic.  I love everything about it because there are lots of compartments for earrings and bracelets, but it’s the necklace storage that makes it my favorite traveling jewelry case I’ve ever had.  You snap the necklaces into place, and then you pull them through the elastic bands, so they stay nice and neat without getting tangled!  It stores so much jewelry, and I love that it matches my over the door toiletry case too.  If you have a traveler on your list, consider these items for gifts!  AND BOTH CASES ARE ON SALE RIGHT NOW!

Time for a #airportselfie, y’all.  This mock neck sweatshirt is a new favorite for me and it is ON SALE too.  I ordered several things from Aerie a couple of weeks ago, and I LOVE everything I ordered.  I’ll show you the other pieces on my Black Friday post, but if you haven’t shopped at Aerie, you need to look around!  I’m wearing a medium here and it’s super oversized, but I love the fit.

mock neck sweatshirt / disposable masks / jagged hem slim jeans

I was so grateful to have a bit of time away with my girls, but I was also so happy to come home to my people!

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WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT

This popped up in my facebook memories.  Oh, my heart. Two babies.

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WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT

THANKSGIVING BREAK!  SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY! EATING ALL THE THANKSGIVING SIDES!

I was also excited for and so proud of these guys when they were inducted into NJHS last week.

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WHAT I’M WORKING ON

I’m a busy little elf, working behind the scenes to get my posts ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday!  Y’all. My Black Friday post is sooooooooooooo good and super comprehensive.  My only question now is when to publish it?  Do I wait until Friday morning, or do I go ahead and post it Thursday afternoon?  I’ve published it on Thursdays in the past, and y’all have seemed to like it that way.  Sound off in the comments if you have a preference!

I’m also working with Shay on what 5 Days of Fabulous is going to look like this year.  It’s going to be a little different, but we are both SO EXCITED!  I just know y’all are going to be excited too!

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WHAT I’M LISTENING TO

I’m REALLY enjoying listening to the Bestie Breakdown (you can listen HERE through Anchor)!  Have y’all listened yet?  Erika and Shay’s podcasts get me thru mundane tasks like cleaning my closet and organizing the laundry.  I have so much fun listening to my friends, and it feels like I’m just hanging out with them while I clean.  It’s also fun because my name pops up on occasion!  Last week’s was all about hosting parties.  It’s a fun one!  This week’s episode is all about friendship.  It’s a repeat episode because it’s their most popular one.  It’s definitely worth a listen!

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WHAT I’M WATCHING

I’ve been watching Friends on Nick at Nite, and over the last couple of weeks there’s been a handful of episodes I’ve watched that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before!  WILD!

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WHAT I’M WEARING

I’ve taken some shots over the last couple of weeks of outfits I’ve worn or outfits I’ve planned.  I’m doing a photo dump here!

This is the outfit I showed that I wore our last night in Charleston!  The dress is bright and colorful, and this leather jacket is a staple I bought a couple of years ago.  I’m wearing a small in the dress.  You see I’m wearing it here with heels, but on the trip I wore it with opaque tights and black suede boots.

dress / similar jacket (but in suede) / chunky gold hoop earrings /  heart necklace / caged heels no longer available

Here’s a look at the dress without the jacket.

dress / similar jacket (but in suede) / chunky gold hoop earrings /  heart necklace / caged heels no longer available

SALE ALERT!

This colorblock sweater is ON SALE!  It doesn’t have great reviews, but I happen to love it.  It’s a super relaxed fit, so it’s very forgiving, and I happen to enjoy that.  I’m wearing a small and there’s still plenty of room, so I would definitely suggest sizing down.  It’s also available in a blush and grey combo.

Probably no surprise here, but I’m wearing the jagged hem slim jeans again.

colorblock sweater / chunky gold hoops / heart necklace /  jagged hem slim jeans  / chelsea boots

Here it is with my striped tote and camo bag strap.

colorblock sweater / chunky gold hoops / heart necklace /  jagged hem slim jeans  / chelsea boots

This long striped cardigan caught my eye from across the store, so I grabbed it without hesitation.  It comes in several solids, but I fell in love with this striped version.  It’s a rib knit, and it’s super warm and cozy.  The solid colors feel very chic to me, so you might want to go that route! For size reference, I’m wearing a small.

white tee / long striped cardigan / chunky gold hoops / heart necklace /  jagged hem slim jeans  / chelsea boots

SALE ALERT!

This crewneck sweater seems like it’s going to be nothing special when it’s on the hanger, but I actually really loved it once I put it on because it is soooooooooooo soft!  I like the fit too, and it’s already ON SALE.  I’m wearing the small.  It comes in 6 colors including a really soft and pretty blush.

crewneck sweater / chunky gold hoops / heart necklace /  jagged hem slim jeans  / chelsea boots

And again, with the  striped tote and camo bag strap.

crewneck sweater /  chunky gold hoops / heart necklace / jagged hem slim jeans  / chelsea boots

SALE ALERT!

You’ve seen this sweater before, and it’s on limited time sale right now which makes it ONLY $31.20!  I’m totally smitten with this color combo and it’s so incredibly soft!  It runs large, so I would suggest sizing down.  I’m in a small.

striped crewneck sweater / chunky gold hoops / heart necklace /  jagged hem slim jeans  / chelsea boots

SALE ALERT!

This shearling coat is on sale too! And MY WORD IS IT WARM.  It’s quite a bit warmer and bulkier than I thought it was going to be….but if you are in need of a seriously warm coat, this one fits the bill.

mock neck sweater / chunky gold hoops / heart necklace / jagged hem slim jeans / camo sneakers

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WHEW!  That’s all for today, ya’ll!  That was a doozie of a post, so thanks for sticking around to the end.

Now don’t forget to let us know what you’ve been up to.  Link up here!

Here you go:

Filed Under: Fashion 15 Comments