Mother's Day in Charleston, SC.

Our JetBlue points came through for us again when we were able to book a long weekend in Charleston for Mother's Day. I am a firm believer in experiences over things (although, I do like a new thing now and then...) and this was the perfect way to celebrate my first Mother's Day. Neither of us had spent any significant time in Charleston and the South felt like it was calling our names. As soon as we landed on Friday evening we drove straight to Lewis Barbecue and had hands down the best brisket of our lives. We also really enjoyed the idyllic yet laid back atmosphere and would highly recommend popping in here for a hearty meal! We woke up the next day to a bit of rain, but made our way out to find some coffee and breakfast at Black Tap. I had heard great things, and now have them to thank for introducing me to the deliciousness that is a lavender latte. We spent the majority of the day walking the streets and admiring all of the beautiful homes in the historic district. We had Hazel facing outward in the Ergo carrier and she was quite popular amongst all the sweet southern folk! I mean, I think she's the cutest baby around but we've never had so many people stop to fawn over her. For lunch we were lucky enough to get a table at the famed restaurant Husk, and enjoyed a cocktail on their porch while we waited for our table. While the food was quite good, we both felt it had been over-hyped and ended up having even better meals during the course of our trip. After a long day of exploring, we ended it with Jeni's Ice Cream and a pizza from Monza to take back to the hotel with us.

We woke up early on Mother's Day (thanks, Hazel!) and headed out to Hominy Grill to meet my friend Sarah and her husband Cam. It was so lovely to catch up with them and to talk all things baby since they're expecting their first any day now! After our brunch, we drove out to Sullivan's Island and detoured through the beautiful Mount Pleasant neighborhood to do some casual house-ogling. Once out on Sullivan's Island, we took a walk on the beach and popped into The Obstinate Daughter for a snack and a cocktail - highly recommend! Later on, we headed back into Charleston and finished the day with an amazing dinner at The Ordinary - a restaurant we'd go back to again and again.

We had a few hours to kill on Monday before our flight so we picked up breakfast at The Daily and took a quick drive to Angel Oak, a 400 year old tree! On our way back through town, we stopped for a walk along the water and had a delicious lunch at Xiao Bao Biscuit. By now you're probably thinking about how much food we ate during this trip, and it's seriously true. Charleston is such a foodie destination and we enjoyed every minute of it! See below for some of our trip...

8 months of Hazel.

I know I say this every month, but time is flying and there is no turning back! Every day it feels like we're fast approaching the one year mark, and I don't like it one bit! It's so surreal to think back on this time last year when I was in the throws of pregnancy and things were really start to ramp up with our preparation. Now we're here enjoying our sweet girl and soaking in all of the goodness of her babyhood.

Development/Milestones: This month she started scooting backwards and is definitely on the brink of crawling. We took her to Charleston to celebrate my first Mother's Day weekend which marked her third time flying. She's a bit more active so the whole experience is much more hands-on, but overall she was just as easy going as usual. She also started making new sounds while babbling including "bababa" and "yayaya". It also sounds like she says "hiya" sometimes, too!

Eating: She eats a combination of breast milk, formula, and baby food throughout the day. In terms of her preferences with food, she started out liking fruit (aka the sweeter options) but has since really started enjoying the savory flavors. I had to laugh when I fed her a combination of turkey, cranberries, and whole grains - basically Thanksgiving meal in a jar!

Sleeping: She's had a little bit of a regression this month (as expected per Google) and will wake up a few times if she's lost her pacifier. Aaron, being the kind man that he is, always jumps out of bed to get it for her so I can keep sleeping. Thankfully, she's not getting up to nurse and is just in need of the paci to help her fall back asleep.

Likes and Demeanor: She is still just such a sweet and content little babe! She gets incredibly quiet and observant on walks and is the chattiest around Aaron and I. She loves touching peoples faces and grabbing every single thing within her reach. It's so much fun seeing her explore the world around her.

3rd Annual Girl's Weekend!

Christine and I met when I started at ONA just over four years ago, and our co-worker turned non-work friendship has been one of the best things to come out of my job. We instantly bonded over our love of Instagram, flowers, and New York City, and have maintained our friendship even from afar. The year of our weekly coffee dates, we upped the ante in our friendship and went on a weekend trip to Buck's County, Pennsylvania. After that trip, we decided to make our spring getaways an annual event. We went to Portland, Maine last May, and this year headed to Philadelphia!

When we started planning, we knew the primary goal of the weekend was to SEE ALL THE FLOWERS. Little did we know, Philadelphia is known as the "Garden Capital of America." Cue the overwhelming excitement! Of course, like every other east coast girl in her 20's, we had high hopes of a photo-worthy brunch at Terrain, Anthropologie's garden shop and cafe. Needless to say, NONE OF IT DISAPPOINTED! Terrain was everything. Longwood Gardens was heaven on earth. Our stay at the Sofitel was comfortable and convenient. We had a wonderful dinner at Cinder, and both thoroughly enjoyed the raspberry sour beer and pizza. We got to spend plenty of time catching up about all the things (Marriage! Babies! Moving! Jobs!) and it was such a fun weekend exploring and laughing together. I'm already looking forward to see where we end up next year! To read Christine's take on it, you can see her blog post here.