Let’s Get This Party Started

Good morning and happy Saturday! I can already tell this is going to be a wonderful weekend filled with a few late nights, lots of dancing, laughter, and wonderful food. Bo’s sister, Meg, and her best friend Amelia are staying with us this week to celebrate Meg’s 21st birthday! They spent the past few days visiting museums, shopping, and enjoying the city while Bo and I worked. But, as you can tell from last night’s blog post, we get to really start the celebration!

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Last night, we kicked of the celebration with a late dinner at the Hurricane Club followed by dancing at a small dive bar near our apartment.

The Hurricane Club was the perfect restaurant to bring out of town guests as the vibe was very young, the decor is beautiful, and the food and drinks are delicious! Bo and I enjoyed Friday Date Night at the Hurricane Club a few months ago and therefore new it would be perfect! Our reservation weren’t until 11:15 but we entertained ourselves in the bar area, enjoying their signature drinks and people watching.

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Meg’s red pepper drink, which came in a hallowed out red pepper, was a spicy but delicious balance to Amelia’s fruity drink in a coconut. Since I’m gearing up for the National Half Marathon next weekend, I took last night easy and tried to stick with simple drinks. I enjoyed one liquor drink at Hurricane Club, a ginger beer, cucumber, lemon, and Pims drink. It was delicious and very refreshing.

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Once again, the Hurricane Club’s delicious Pan-Asian food impressed each of us!

We started with their appetizer sampler, which was filled with their top appetizers ranging from shrimp spring rolls to ceviche.

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The shrimp spring rolls were the hit of the table, stuffed to the gills with fresh shrimp and herbs.

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Since we were celebrating, and had 5 people, we decided to split one of their huge “to share” drinks was served in a watermelon. However, the drink did not taste like watermelon, much to my surprise and delight. Instead, it was a fresh, fruit infused Kettle One cocktail with five straws for sharing. I enjoyed a few sips, but chose to stick with water during dinner. However, all the fun we had with this drink explains why I have no pictures of our actual main courses.

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We did however, enjoy the meal family style, and shared everything. The top dishes were the lobster and peanut chicken.

Of course, before we left the restaurant, there was an obligatory photo session!

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The next few hours, three to be exact, were spent entertaining a bar full of people with our singing and dancing ability. Needless to say, spending time with college kids makes you lose your inhibitions and let loose. It felt so great to just have some fun with these gals last night!

IMG_0562 IMG_0543IMG_0529 IMG_0557   IMG_0552Luckily, my 4am bedtime came complete with Zensah sleeves to ease my screaming legs, a bottle of water, and an ibuprofen. Surprisingly, I’m alive and awake right now, ready to enjoy a quick workout session and my first Equinox stretching session before spending some girl time with Meg and Amelia this afternoon shopping and enjoying a manicure.

Question: What did you do to celebrate your 21st birthday?

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A Day of Brunch and Primping!

Winter Ball day is finally here and we’ve spent all day prepping, primping, and toasting in perfect fashion!

I enjoyed the sunshine for thirty minutes while walking to meet Theodora and some of her good friends for brunch.

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Today’s brunch spot was Park Avenue Tavern, compliments of Brunch Critic. IMG_0759Brunch Critic is a new website which is New York’s only brunch only resource. Here’s a quick description from their website:

“After being frustrated by the lack of information easily available on the web to find that perfect brunch venue, we decided to create BrunchCritic.com. There are plenty of food related websites, blogs and directories available to New Yorkers, but none that truly identify details about brunch. We realized that we were not alone in wanting quick, accessible and specific information on Brunching in New York, and there was a demand not being met.”

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While the menu we were offered today was quite small versus Park Avenue Tavern’s regular brunch menu, the food and cocktails left me wanting to try more. I was pleasantly surprised with their chef salad and their Bloody Mary. As I told Theodora and the rest of our group, if a restaurant can cook a plain chicken breast well that says a lot.

IMG_0763  IMG_0760 IMG_0761I definitely want to come back to Park Avenue Tavern for dinner or happy hour to check out their downstairs booths with private taps!

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After brunch we headed downtown for an afternoon of primping. I felt like we were back in college, getting ready for a sorority formal this afternoon. We were able to get our hair and makeup done on a budget by choosing a local NYC chain for the updos and blowouts and then going to Sephora for our makeup.

If you call ahead to make a reservation and then spend $50, Sephora’s beauty stylists will do your makeup for a special event. Each stylist took over an hour on each of us, while sharing us tricks and tips along the way. The best part about it is that you can spend $50 on a gift card versus having to buy product.

 IMG_0767 IMG_0768IMG_0769IMG_0772 I’m ready to dance the night away at the Winter Ball! Don’t stay up as I think it’s going to be a late one! 😉

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You Really Should Enjoy Downtown Savannah…

Sometimes the world works in crazy ways.

We arrived at the airport yesterday, exactly one hour before our flight, only to find out that it had just been cancelled. While most of the Midwest and Northeast flights yesterday were cancelled due to weather reasons, ours was cancelled due to mechanical issues. However, these weather issues meant that there was no way they could rebook us on another flight yesterday.

Before he left the ticket counter, the kind ticket agent gave him a tip, "You really should enjoy downtown Savannah. It’s quite lovely this time of year."

Bo, my mom, and I each quickly embraced the idea of enjoying the sunshine and 70 degree weather for one more day!

Taxi and food vouchers in hand to use Tuesday morning, we decided to embrace the extra day and spend it enjoying downtown Savannah.  Luckily, my mom didn’t have any plans yesterday so she was able to enjoy the day with us.

IMG_0496 IMG_0498 IMG_0497 Our first stop was Soho South Cafe, one of our favorite lunch spots in downtown. A funky, hip art boutique and restaurant, their menu is extensive and always delicious. This is one of those restaurants where anything you order arrives just as your taste buds imagine.

IMG_0506 Soho South Cafe Savannah We each tried something different than normal, but also decided that we were in the mood for their famous sandwiches. They make their chicken and tuna salad in house as well as their pork. Armed with this knowledge, my mom and I decided to order the Waldorf style tuna salad sandwich and the chicken salad sandwich, sharing each of them.

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We weren’t able to finish either of these sandwiches due to their enormous size, but they were out of this world! The toppings (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and sprouts) were piled high and both salads included apples, grapes, and the perfect level of seasoning!

Bo ordered their Cuban sandwich as it came highly recommended and is always one of his favorites.  As Cuban sandwich lovers know, this is often a risky sandwich to order at restaurants. It is either delicious, and spot on, or it is underwhelming served with one slice of cheese and a slice of ham.

As you can tell from the below picture, this Cuban was a gooey mess of ham and cheese.

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If you’re ever in Savannah, I highly recommend stopping by Soho South Cafe for a wonderful lunch break. They feature indoor and outdoor seating, a full beer and wine menu, a large assortment of sandwich and salad options, as well as some out of this world desserts!

After our lunch, we spent the afternoon walking around the historic downtown area and City Market.

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IMG_0525 IMG_0523 Garibaldi Seafood RestaurantA final vacation day wouldn’t be complete without a dessert stop, now would it? 🙂 Luckily, we came across a new to us cupcake shop. Mabel Francis Potter’s Cupcake Emporium has been in Savannah for 5 years, serving creative cupcakes and cookie cupcakes to locals and visitors alike. outside of Mabel Francis Potter's Cupcake EmporiumMabel Francis Potter's Cupcake Emporium

Unfortunately, a busier than normal holiday Monday caught them off guard yesterday. Therefore, they only had two flavors when we arrived- cotton candy or coconut.  The owner warned that the cotton candy is a child favorite due to it’s extreme sweetness. We tried the coconut, thinking it was a safer choice.IMG_0509IMG_0510Coconut Cupcake with Coconut Buttercream IcingThe coconut cupcake with coconut butter cream icing did not disappoint! The cake was very moist, one of my requirements for a good cupcake. The icing was a traditional butter cream with only a slight hint of coconut extract topped with fresh coconut.  While I was disappointed in their selection, the cupcake was perfect and my mom said she would definitely order cupcakes there in the future.

 

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