Living a tasteful life

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Life Lately | June: Summer Travels

I mentioned the other day that my absence on the blog has been due to traveling, along with various other commitments and events. It's been a little busier around here than normal, but all in good fun. I actually just returned from an amazing trip to New Orleans, which I plan to share in the near future. I can't believe how fast this summer is flying by! Here's a recap of what the month of June looked like. 
It's nice to have friends who have summer birthdays, especially since mine is in November, when a day on the water is not usually an option. My childhood best friend celebrated her birthday with a dock party in Beaufort, and I was more than happy to help celebrate. A day on the water with friends, is a day well spent!
One of my best girlfriends came in town from New York, so we all got together for a fun girls night out. We started the evening off with dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Edmund's Oast
We pretty much ordered half of the menu. Everything was delicious! The ricotta toast and pickled shrimp are a must!
I also discovered a new rose called Jolie-Laide, which is now a new favorite of mine. How pretty is the watercolor label?
The next day we went to Sullivan's Island and enjoyed some time on the beach, followed by a stop at Home Team BBQ for nachos and game changers. If you haven't experienced either of these, I highly recommend them both. 
I made a second trip to Las Vegas for our annual work conference, where I had a lengthy five night/six day stay at the Paris Hotel. In case you're wondering, six days is more than enough time in sin city. 
The trip was mostly work, however I did find time to see Jennifer Lopez in action! I wish the photos had turned out better. The show was really great. The girl has still got it!
We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Gordon Ramsay Burgr. I went with the Euro Burger, consisting of truffle aioli, goat cheese, arugula and oven roasted tomatoes...yum! You can't go wrong with goat cheese, #amiright!?

One of the other highlights of the trip was having dinner at Lotus of Siam. This little hidden gem is tucked away in a deserted strip mall and serves some incredible Thai food. It has been written about by Saveur, Serious Eats, Travel Channel and more. We ordered so much food, but with a group as large as ours, it was gone before I was able to snap photos. 
Seeing as how this was a company conference, of course there were team building activities involved. And seeing as how we are a cookware company, food had to be incorporated. I must admit, this activity was actually a lot of fun. We were split into 18 teams of 6 and given a envelope with one menu item listed on a sheet of paper. Half of the team had to work together to build a food truck with the cardboard and supplies given to us and the other half had to come up with a recipe for what was in our envelope, using only the ingredients provided. Our team made a edamame and bell pepper salad with goat cheese and avocado dressing. It was surprisingly really good. 
Once the truck was built and our dish was prepared, we had to serve our "customers." Everyone took turns checking out each other's trucks and sampling the food. Lucky Seven was the name of our truck...we were lacking in the creative department compared to others. 
 Here are few of the other food trucks.
One of my favorite parts about the trip was going to see "O," a show paying tribute to the beauty of theater and inspired by water, with everything from world-class acrobats to synchronized swimmers. I had never been to a Cirque Du Soleil show before and was blown away by the shear talent. It truly was amazing. If I ever have the opportunity to see it again, I most certainly will. Unfortunately no photos were allowed.
There was no rest for the weary after Vegas. I made it back to Charleston at midnight on a Friday and was on the road again bright and early the next morning to a birthday party. This sweet little baby turned 1 and I was so happy to be there for it!
Every Tuesday in the month of June a free concert called Party in the Park is held at Mt. Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park. It's a nice way to wind down after a long day at work. I'm happy that we were able to go to at least one of the concerts this year. We set up a blanket in the park with a picnic spread and enjoyed songs by David Nail, Drake White and Tucker Beathead. 


Because I didn't get to spend actual Father's Day with my dad, I made the trip back home to visit him the following weekend, which also happened to coincide with the Watermelon Festival — a festival my dad looks forward to every year. A few bites of  greasy fair food and a little dancing in the streets to the local band, and we called it a night. As you can see I have this dress on repeat. 
This story may sound strange to some, but there were tons of tomatoes planted in fields not too far away from our home in Charleston. We were given permission to pick them before they were sprayed with poison, which happens after they have been harvested to go to market.  So, we set out on a rather warm adventure into the tomato fields. A few hours later, we had enough tomatoes to make a lifetime of pies. I decided that wasn't the most figure friendly option, so instead I made tons of fresh marinara/pasta sauce. It was so simple and easy to make. I froze several bags of it and can't wait to use in a tasty pasta dish. The recipe will be coming to the blog soon!


And it was a solid end to the month when my Coastal Carolina Chanticleers took home the title of 2016 National Champions in college baseball! So proud of our team!
Monster was pretty excited as well!





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6 comments

  1. can we please share closets!?!? we might have to start swapping, haha!

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    1. I would love that! If only you were closer. Think of the money we could save. lol

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  2. You didn't tell me about J-LO!!!

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    1. Can't believe I forgot to tell you that! Best part of the trip! I will sing you some of her songs and show you a few dance moves I learned when I see you tomorrow. :)

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  3. Sounds like you're having an amazing summer! That food truck game looks like a ton of fun, whoever came up with the idea is super creative!

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    1. It's been fun and a busy one, that's for sure! I thought the food truck team building was such a great idea as well. We actually outsourced a company that specializes in team building and they came up with this option.

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