Charleston Birthday Celebration

Everyone knows that you're supposed to drag out your birthday celebrations as long as possible...especially when you're birthday is smack-dab in the middle of your Dads and brothers. So I extended my celebrations to 2 weeks after the actual day and went with 3 of my very best friends to one of my favorite cities, Charleston, SC.
Mari (friends since we were 7) and Megan (friends since we were 12) and I all piled in Mari's car with our chai lattes and hit the road to Charleston Saturday afternoon. Highway 17 is one of my favorite stretches of road down the NC/SC coast with all of the trees covered in moss and glimpses of the ocean from the road. We met Tiffany (friends since Clemson) on Daniel Island and headed to our hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown. When I go to Charleston I typically have to stay a little outside of the downtown area so we were excited to be able to stay on Calhoun St. and be able to walk every where from our hotel. The Courtyard was beautiful and staff incredible hospitable. We threw our stuff in our room and headed out to do a little shopping before dark, After walking the complete opposite direction on King St than intended for a good half mile we wandered our way to the market area and went in a few shops before having a pre-dinner snack dessert at Kaminsky's. If you haven't been to Kaminsky's, I highly recommend it! What could be better than homemade desserts and specialty dessert coffees and cocktails!? I'll tell you...nothing! 

Since we were all on a sugar high, the cold weather didn't bother us any more as we walked back to our hotel to freshen up for dinner. Many men would question how 4 girls could manage to get ready in 1 bathroom within 1 hour but friends who have been friends forever make it look like an art. 1 girl sits in front of the full length mirror while another stands above her while another girl sits on the bathroom counter and the 4th beside her. All the while hair dryer cords and straightener cords stretch between them and lipstick and hairspray passed down the line.

We made dinner reservations at Fleet Landing on the water. After a couple John Daily's and their famous Shrimp & Grits we wandered down to Griffins for a drink and then to Mac's and sat at Mac's until Mari and Megan were nodding off at the table. We bundled up, linked arms, and strolled down empty King St. back to the Courtyard.
Oh the difference a few years and full time jobs makes. We used to be able to go out every weekend and bounce right back, but now after just a couple drinks and staying out until 1:30am we were silent grumpy women the next day. We only got out of bed because we knew the housekeeping staff would hunt us down by 11am. We packed up the car and went to Poogan's Porch for brunch. I have always heard great things about Poogan's Porch and was excited to finally go there. It is in a cute historic home on Queen St. and the food was simply delectable.
After dropping Tiffany at her car on Daniel Island, we headed north on Hwy 17 back to Wilmington. It was a quick 24 hour birthday celebration and mixing friends from various stages of life can sometimes create drama, but it can also create lots of fun when they all get a long! Lucky me, my best friends from high school got along fabulously with my closest friend from college! I loved being able to celebrate with my best girls all together!