Karla and Jay

Last weekend, my cousin Karla was in town. We got to grab dinner with her and her in-laws on Friday. It was really nice to visit! We went to Noisy Oyster downtown for some casual seafood.

We left them to do a ghost tour and Brad and I went for a few drinks at Vendue. This is a great little inn downtown with an amazing rooftop bar. You can't tell from this picture but you have sweeping views of downtown and a bit of the harbor. Very nice. Although hot, it was breezy so we weren't too miserable.

Jay was in Edisto with his family so we went over there all dat Saturday. Here Jay is getting his nephew, Ran, to open cans for him. Nice! : )

Evolution of the Left Tackle

I have been reading a lot of fluff lately but I did just finish this book and must recommend it to any football fan. This is the story of Michael Oher, a recent first-round draft pick in the NFL out of Ole Miss, who was taken in by a wealthy Memphis family after having no education, upbringing or football training to speak of.

While I found the portion of the book about Michael Oher and his adoptive parents to be a bit much - he is the best athlete to walk the face of the Earth and the Touhys are the quintessential Good Samaritans - his story is indeed remarkable. I was more interested in the actual evolution of the position he plays, left tackle. The left tackle position used to be just another lineman but is now (in most cases) the highest paid athlete in the NFL as he protects the next highest-paid player - the quarterback. Most of this came about due to the advent of the passing game by Bill Walsh and nasty linebackers like Lawrence Taylor. Can you imagine one coach and one athlete changing the scope of football? Enthralling!


They are filming this movie now, starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. I am sure it will be even more grandiose than the book so I doubt I will see it but I do recommend picking this up for a football history lesson and the power of mentors and those that believe in you!

Visitors

This past weekend, Brad's sister and her boyfriend came to visit. We had a blast!!!

While I worked on Friday (boo), they played golf at the Ocean Course. Here are the siblings - don't you love the matching outfits? - at the 18th pin.

Friday night, we had dinner out at the Ocean Course at the Atlantic Room. It was amazing and we were treated wonderfully!

Not sure why this is so small. We stayed out at Kiawah in a three bedroom villa to avoid having to drive back into Charleston late. That was really nice!

What is going on with these pictures? Oh well, this one is funny. I walked down the beach to see if I could find any fun seashells and had a rather embarassing moment. I leaned over to pick up a shell and saw something fly down the beach out of the corner of my eye. Well, it was the hook off of my swimsuit and I flashed the whole beach!! It was high tide so it was very crowded. Nice huh? I held it together until I could get back to the crew and Brad took this hook off of one of the chairs and fixed me right up. He's my MacGuyver. : )

I didn't think anyone had noticed until some people started hooting and hollering. I guess it could have been worse - they could have booed. Ha!

This is my favorite picture. On Saturday night, we went back to Bowen's Island for some local, dive cuisine. Here is a shot of us on the dock at sunset. I think the person that volunteered to take this was really short!

Afterwards, we went to Folly to search for this local character that Adi met back in March while in town for a bachelor party. We found him at the Sand Dollar Social Club - a fine establishment with $1 Bud cans. I don't have those pictures but will have to get them - they are fabulous!

Fonduely Yours

Last weekend, Brad and I officially celebrated our 2 year anniversary. It is July 4th technically but being at the lake with a bunch of hooligans is not exactly romantic! : )

So, we ventured to Folly.
He doesn't look too happy with my self-portrait idea. Ha.
Then, we went to Fonduely Yours in Mt P for dinner. It was yummy and such a fun experience! This is the early stage of our cheese appetizer - beer being heated before the cheese and spices were added. We had bread, apples (?), broccoli and carrots to dip into that.

Then we had salads before the meat portion of the meal. They brought us mahi, shrimp, pork, chicken, teriyaki sirloin and veggies with various batters and dips.


Although we were stuffed, we still had dessert to go! We choose the white chocolate amaretto and had pretzels, fruit and marshmallows to dip into it.

Brad thinking we were at a photo shoot! Silly...

All in all, a very enjoyable experience. But be warned, it did take three hours! Thank goodness we had a coupon for all of that plus a bottle of wine so it didn't break the bank.

San Francisco leftovers

Here are a couple of pictures I found that I did not include from our Cali trip...

The entire group with Dr. Shingler!

Megan with her four best friends - our dinner hosts!

For those of you that watch Lost, I thought this was really weird. This guy was helping direct traffic at graduation and was wearing a Dharma patch on his jacket. The Fillmore is a Georgia Theatre-like venue in San Francisco that hosted tons of big name acts back in the 70s. And, no, that is not where graduation was hosted. Anyway, I looked it up on Lostpedia and the only connection I could come up with is that Geronimo Jackson once played there. But, I love the show and could not resist a photo!

God Bless the USA

These are all out of order but it is almost my bedtime so this will have to suffice. Happy 4th!

Brad and Mike being silly and pointing at the fireworks. Love the do-rags, boys!

Mike and Blake.

We try to take SLOW with us on the boat so he doesn't get bored at the house. Megan is giving him a fist-pound here.

The lake is SO much higher this year, thanks to all the rain. It is only a foot or two low now.

The girls. The boys are playing bocce in the background at Atomic Island. (We named it that because it had a rusty hydrogen tank on it!)

Our little sandbar - Atomic Island. It was like being at the beach at the lake. Nice!!!

Fireworks!

I took better pictures of these this year than last.

Some of the crew on the boat. Fewer people than years past but that didn't slow us down any!

Brad's boat on the left (the other two are Dozier's). See how much higher the water is than last year???

Brad and I enjoying the breeze on the boat!

Adi with Brad's waterproof radio. Nice!

Good Food

The next weekend, Brad came to Charleston. We went to dinner on Friday at Wild Olive. I had been with the girls before but wanted him to try it out. I highly recommend it!!


On Saturday, we went to the beach and took it easy because on Sunday we went to Walterboro to have lunch with my (pseudo) Uncle Joe. He was a friend of Dad's in college and started QDMA, my first employer out of college. Joe and his wife, Donna, hosted Brad and me along with Donna's daughter and her husband and some neighbors. We had an amazing lunch - venison tenderloin, chicken, bacon-wrapped dove, corn casserole and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.



Of course I forgot to take pictures while inside the house but here is one I found online. : )


They added on to this old house. It is really neat and cozy!



And, yes, he had a welcome fire going for us in the firepot. Despite the 100 degree heat!! Thanks for the hospitality and good eats!

Father's Day

Finally, new pictures! I went home for Father's Day to spend some time with the family. Here is Shadow in her bathtub. Too funny!

Daddy and I picked some blueberries for a dessert Mom made. Yummy! Several of the dogs LOVE blueberries. Loki is rooting for some on the ground.
Brad came over and we enjoyed beer butt chicken for dinner. Delish!

On Sunday, we went to visit the new Rigsby baby, James Harold Rigsby IV. Little Hal is tiny!!

I was working in the upstate of SC that week so I go to spend Sunday night in Augusta too. We went to see The Hangover. A riot!!


On the way back through on Wednesday, I got to go to my first Scorpions game. Brad is on a team with all his boys and plays catcher. It was not pretty but I will say they were minus several players. They are 2-1 since then!

Friends

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! I am posting pictures tonight - promise!

I wanted to share with you a couple of links to writing or art from my family/friends that I have wanted to point out for a while now.

First up, my brother, Levi, just graduated with his Master's in Environmental History from UGA. While he decides what to do about getting a PhD, he is out in New Mexico at Cottonwood Gulch starting an organic farm. Trying, I'm sure! However, his writing is phenomenal and very enjoyable. Check it out at Landship Foods. Best of luck, bro!

One of my oldest friends, Jessica, makes her own jewelry. I really love the things she does with cork. Here is her Etsy site.

Another friend, Heather, is a wonderful photographer. She, also, is a very talented writer. Her blog can be found to the right (Pneuma) and her photography at Etsy.

Enjoy!

July 4th Preview

Since I am so far behind on pictures and the last two weeks, I am going to post some recipes of things I made for this weekend in hopes you have time to make them yourself!

BUFFALO CHICKEN WING DIP
1 package softened cream cheese
2 cups cooked chunked boneless skinless chicken breast
Chunky bleu cheese dressing (or ranch, if you prefer)
Frank's hot wing sauce (or whatever kind you like)
1 package shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Spread cream cheese in bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Mix hot wing sauce with the chicken and pour on top of the cream cheese, spread the chunky bleu cheese dressing over chicken mixture and top with Monterey Jack cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly.

OYSTER CRACKERS
24 oz oyster crackers
1 c vegetable oil
1 package dry ranch powder
2 tsp dill weed
1 tsp lemon pepper
garlic powder to taste

Mix all ingredients together and allow oil and seasonings to soak into crackers.
CAVEAT EMPTOR - Addictive!!!

PINK STUFF
16 oz small curd cottage cheese
12 oz Cool Whip
6 oz any flavor Jell-O (I use strawberry - hence the pink!)
1 large can of crushed pineapples (drained)
1 can of mandarin orange pieces (drained)
1 c chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients together and chill thoroughly before serving.

CORN CASSEROLE
3 pints fresh creamed corn (I used the canned stuff but not sure how that will turn out)
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 lb butter
1 large or 2 small chopped jalapeno peppers (deseeded)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and cook at 350 until bubbly.

Enjoy and have a glorious 4th!!!