The Last Day in Charleston and the Surprise Waiting at Home

Bestie and I stayed in Charleston as long as we could (Thursday - Monday night) trying to soak up the charm and eat as much good food as possible.  With all the walking we did everyday to see the sights we thought we could indulge on the food.

Breakfast at Another Broken Egg near the Market

Can you say FLUFFY pancakes??!!

 

 

A carriage ride through the historic area of town

Learning our history - Think this counts at Professional Development Hours??

Testing out a microbrewery - guess which one is mine......

Lunch at 82 Queen - Thanks Lewis Dean Morris for the recommendation

Now don't think all we did was eat.  We did eat, but we also learned a lot of history, shopped, enjoyed the sights and sounds of Charleston, visited a wonderful friend and took time out of our busy lives for each other. Times spent with my Bestie are some of the best times of my life.  Who wouldn't want to spend lots of time with their best friend?  My Bestie just also has other hidden talents he shares with me AND he pays when we go out so it is the best of all worlds!

When we got home, there were exciting things in the mail.

Brooke and I are competing in the World Elite Pageant in February and our sashes had arrived!  We will compete in our divisions and also compete as a Mother/Daughter team.  We are pretty excited.  Our crowns had arrived earlier and now we are excited to begin promoting the pageant and our platforms.

But that wasn't the only surprise.

My Holiday 50 Challenge medal also arrived!  This challenge, sponsored by Dirt in Your Skirt, encouraged runners to cover 50 miles between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.  I only have 10 more miles to go but the medals arrived early so we could share them with our families during the holiday season.  The 'medal' itself is actually wooden and smells divine.

Now it is back to the 'real world' and finishing up shopping and getting everything ready for both kids to be home (for a visit) and to enjoy being a full nest again during the holidays.  Bestie and I have already promised each other we will carve out time to be 'Kelly and Bestie' and not just 'Mom and Dad'.  Loving life no matter how full or empty the nest is right now - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

City of the Big Sweet Grass Basket - Charleston, SC

Have I mentioned before that I love Monsanto?  Breakfast for the spouses started, continued and ended with mimosas.  How can anyone not love a company that has this kind of hospitality?? Monsanto also gave all the spouses $50 coupons to shop at selected shops after breakfast.  I actually ended up with 2 coupons because I was tweeting for Monsanto during the meeting!  Jewelry here I come!

The most important things we learned about during the spouse's program were the Recognition Programs offered by Monsanto .  These programs have provided schools and community organizations with millions of dollars in grants - most focused on STEM areas.  All you need is a farmer to recommend your organization/school for the money.  Check out the website for more information.

All this information made us hungry, so shortly after shopping we were treated to lunch.  Notice I had soup and salad so I could enjoy dessert!  The square dessert was the best but I had to fight Bestie to have any once he discovered it was filled with chocolate and caramel goodness.

Sunday was ours to spend as we saw fit and we saw a LOT!

We walked around more of the town.

We found a club just perfect for Michelle Luebbering!

Walked along cobbled streets I had definitely avoided on my run.

Checked out the gorgeous mansions along the river/bay area.

Visited our favorite park looking for a wedding to crash (last time we were in Charleston and went by the park we were invited to stay for a wedding and even ended up blowing bubbles for the new couple as they rushed off to the reception - which were invited to as well!)

Shopped our way down King Street as part of Second Sunday

Listened to some great music in another part of the city and visited the Farmer's Market which has been rated as one of the top 10 in the nation by Conde Nast Traveler.

Had drinks on the rooftop (and then dinner at Ansons) with a great friend - Laura Smith, Mrs. U.S. United and her husband, Daniel

Notice Santa photobombing us in the background?? Classic.

In short, we lived life to the fullest.  Life hasn't ended just because we are done being 'full-time' parents.  It continues to get better and better as we celebrate the successes of our adult children and continue to redefine our relationship as we grow to love each other more and more.  Get out there and enjoy your day, your night, your life with the person/people you love the most!  Carpe diem, my precious sugar pie!

Monsanto takes us to Charleston, SC

As much as people may complain about Monsanto , I quite enjoy this agricultural company.  First of all, they employ Bestie and help pay the bills around here.  Second, they take Bestie (and his favorite companion - ME!) on trips periodically.  These trips are a working vacation so don't think they are squandering money (they are actually very fiscally, environmentally and educationally responsible).  Monsanto believes in a balance between work and family and includes spouses as much as possible in order to increase employee satisfaction and productivity.

Anyway, Bestie and I headed out to Charleston from different locations.  Bestie has been in St. Louis all week at Monsanto HQ for a meeting and I had been at home, but our flights met up in Atlanta.  Well, actually that was the plan.  Delta Airlines did their best to make me late.  Engine trouble in Little Rock led to arriving late in Atlanta.  With only 3 minutes to make my flight in Atlanta I was a running fool through the airport, but I made the connection and flew into Bestie's arms  - then we sat on the airplane for 2 hours because of, you guessed it, engine trouble! Gotta love Delta and their old aircraft.  No worries, we played with a new app (see pic) and did a lot of reading!  At least we were together so we could catch up on the week and hold hands like newlyweds.  Notice Bestie's facial expressions below.  He is besotted with me and I with him.

Arriving LATE in Charleston we were starved, but most restaurants were closed by this time and we were NOT going to Waffle House.  The Concierge at the Charleston Place Hotel (thanks Leah!) call The Leaf and they agreed to stay open and feed us.  This was some great food and just set the stage for the rest of the weekend filled with GREAT Southern cooking.

The Charleston Place Hotel was wonderful and beautifully decorated for Christmas.  What a treat!

The next morning, Bestie had to spend time working registration, so I got out and saw some of the sights in Charleston on a quick run.  Again, the concierge was extremely helpful and provided me with a map for a quick run that passed several beautiful spots and provided a relatively flat course.  The weather was perfect and the sights glorious!

For those who don't already know, Charleston (Fort Sumter) was where the War of Northern Aggression started, so there are tons of cannons and balls (he he) all over.

Bestie had a break to take me to lunch so we went to SNOBS (Slightly North Of Broad).  This was a recommendation from our bartender at The Leaf and the food turned out to be wonderful.  

The great thing about Charleston, SC is that it is such a walkable city and that is just what we did after lunch.  I said it was because we could use the exercise but it was really because Bestie looked so good I wanted to show him off to this town and let them know I get to take him home with me!

For those of you who don't know Bestie, he thinks about four things, in no particular order - sex, bikes, Razorbacks, and boats.  Walking along the river/bay area was the perfect afternoon for him as long as we also noticed bikes, talked about Razorbacks and then had sex when we got back to the hotel.  Yeah, my life is so terrible.......(smile).

More of our adventures in the next blog post.  Life with an empty nest just keeps getting better and better!