'Nuff Said

GO COCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!We are so proud of you here in your hometown!!!!! Way to go boys and Coach Tanner!!!!!!

Blog Award Time!!

Ashley and Annie have both been so sweet and deemed me with the Sugar Doll Award!!! Yay! I love blog awards!!! Thank the person who gave you the award, share ten things about yourself, pass this award onto ten bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fantastic and finally contact the bloggers to let them know you’ve picked them for an award.

Ten Things About Myself......

1. I started dating Raymond when I was 18...we married 5 years later!

2. I am very involved in the Junior League of Columbia. Volunteer work is one of the most important things to me. I think it is our obligation to give back to the community around us.

3. In high school, I lettered in....get this....VARSITY BOWLING. I was even Captain my senior year!! (It was not based on skill, that's for sure!!)

4. Spanish was my major when I went to college, initially. But then I realized that I did not want to teach, so I pushed it back to my minor.

5. The outdoors and I broke up a loooooooong time ago. I hate camping, I hate hiking, anything with bugs or woods you can forget it. I do make some rather painstaking exceptions though for the beach and the pool ; )

6. I do not enjoy talking on the phone. For those that know me, they call Raymond. No one ever calls my phone unless they want to leave a message! I'm a texting queen.....

7. I can bake some mean cupcakes. I do the fancy icing and everything. This is one of the few things I have perfected in the kitchen.

8. I am obsessed with smocked and monogrammed clothing for my child(ren). And yes, this will include my little boys if we are so blessed with them. And bows! (not for the boys!!) The bigger the better! I get grief about the prissy-ness of my little girl but until she can fight back, she will wear monogrammed bloomies, BIG (monogrammed, preferably) bows, and smocked dresses every day!

9. I am a hardcore Republican (sorry Aunt Callie!!!) but I love hardcore Democrats because they stand for something. Regardless of someone's views, I love it when they have convictions. Just stand for something people!! I can't stand blase Americans who don't vote and then complain about the state our our nation.

10. We joined our church this past weekend!! That was a very exciting move for us!! We could not be happier!!!

Now....to the ten bloggers I think are just dolls......

Life as a California Wife

A Dollop of My Life

Same Sweet Girl: Memoir of a Southern Belle
Sweet, Sassy and Oh So Classy

In a Yellow House

My Husband's Watching TV...

One Day at a Time

Pinot after Playdates

A Southern Accent

Newlyweds!

I know you all will enjoy their blogs as much as I do!!!!

Whip It...Whip It REAL good.....

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!!! Ours was very low key which is always nice....since the Bug is getting so big, and notices when we are not around, it is that much harder to leave her. For the first year of her life we were ALWAYS gone and on the go- with her or without her! But lately she has switched from being the best traveling baby, to a complete nightmare in her car seat!! I haven't figured out if it's because she is used to being reclined all the way in her infant seat, and she is now more upright (even though she is still somewhat reclining, so I am not sure why she's so fussy) so lately, when we travel, it's close (no more than an hour or so because that's when the thunderstorm erupts) or we just keep it close to home. SO...this weekend we did a lot of this.....The Bug has officially transformed into a WATER BUG this Summer! We did venture over to the lake on Saturday for my bestie/Bug's Aunt Erin's birthday and she was a ham splashing around in the lake!! She loves the baby pool and even more so all the "grown up kids" that come around and play with her!! I am so relieved because I could not have a child that did not like to play out in the sun/water!!
(It's not the actual country club pool, but it's the best I could find that wasn't a tropical resort!!)

And on Sunday we got to watch Aunt Jenny in her first Roller Derby match!! It was awesome and Jenny aka Turner Loose was a smashing hit!!! Her team did so great and even Georgia loved all the loud music and watching the girls skate around!!! I'm rushing out to get Whip It today so I can actually understand what was going on and beef up my terminology for the next match!!

And of course....we cheered these guys on through the games this weekend on to the FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!! GOOOOO GAMECOCKS!!!!!!!!!! We are so proud to have had TWO teams from SC make it to the final round- you boys make us proud!!!!!!

So you know where the hubs and I will be parked tonight at 7:30!!!!

Happy Monday!!!

love,

C

Dear Bravo, my husband hates you.......

Well, hate is a strong word. He adamantly blames you for enabling my reality tv addiction. BUT I, on the other hand, can BARELY contain myself that another series of the 'wives is coming out!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right, on August 5th we will have the doors opened to......... featuring all of these drama lovin', party crashin', diamond drippin', couture sportin', name droppin' bravolebrities!!!!!!!!!Mark your calendars!!!!!!!

hope you all have a fabulous Friday!!!

love,

Charlotte

**and yes, my reference to the party crashin' is to those lovely Salahi's that have been splashed all around the media for crashing the 2009 White House state dinner.....can't wait!!!**

Chickadee

This little chickadee is ready for the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's already primped to get out by the pool!!!!

Hurry up weekend!!!!!!!

Love,

C

Come OOOONNN Ali!!!

Keeping JUSTIN?!?!??!?!? What are you thinking?? Now granted, I know that Kasey was absolutely a complete nutjob who constantly sounded like he needed to hock a loogie, but at that point, I would have sent them both home. Mainly because Kasey was annoying and Justin is such a skeez. Notice how he kept saying how it was his turn to take home the Championship Belt and hold it in the air and that belt is Ali??? He is so obviously in this as a competition just to beat out other men and gain attention for his ridiculous Rated R wrastlin persona......give me a break....I'm starting to lose faith in her. I wonder how long she would have realistically kept him around if the news had not broken about him being such a two timing lying scumbag........

Meanwhile....this little slice of heaven is still my #1...........and I Chris as well....but part of me thinks that he says things sometimes because he thinks Ali wants to hear it...like him moving to San Fran and being a garbage collector?? I hope he's being genuine because I do really like him.....
FRANK THE TANK!!!!!!! He is surprisingly becoming a front runner for me!!! I liked how he quit the pity party for himself and stepped up his game towards the end!! I can't wait to see if it lasts!!

Well regardless of WHO she ends up with, I hope they have an easier name to say that Fedotowsky!!!! If I were here I'd go with the man with the last name with the fewest letters! Thank you ABC for allowing me to tune out all of my real life insanity and have a mental break every Monday evening.

Happy Belated Fathers Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to the BEST Daddy in the whole world!!!!!!! And to the man I am lucky enough to call my Father in Law!!!!

To all of the other wonderful Daddies....I hope all of your Queens, Princes and Princesses spoiled you rotten!!!!!!

An Angel Among Us

Chelsea Amber Tumbleston

01.10.86 - 06.20.07

3 years. 1095 days. 26280 hours. 1576800 minutes. I cannot believe how long you have been gone. It seems like just yesterday when I last saw you. But it seems like forever ago when we buried you. So much has happened, and yet, though we fear you have missed it all, I know you have been there the entire time. You know me, and know that I am never spooked by anything. I want you to know that the other day Georgia was playing with my phone, she dialed a number. A number that has not been dialed in quite some time. I looked down to quickly end the call. She dialed you. She dialed my long lost friend. I have never taken it out of my phone. And from time to time I used to dial it just to hear your voicemail. Of all the numbers in my phone, for her to dial that one is just too coincidental. You are not the first one in my contact list- you weren't even the last person I called. I know it was you. You don't have to remind me ever to think of you. I do it often. Thank you for being my guardian angel. You are so loved and so missed.

I Did Not Die

Mary E. Faye
Do not stand at my grave and forever weep.

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn’s rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and forever cry.

I am not there. I did not die.

Rest in Peace. Love you always.

Show Us Your Life: Proposal Story

Today over at Kelly's Korner is Show Us Your Life: Proposal Stories.....I wish I had more pictures of the night. My mom has us walking in the door right after it happened on video and it is PRICELESS. Our wedding slide show that was featured at our Rehearsal Dinner ended with that video clip, and if there had been one dry eye in the crowd at that moment, it would have been all over for them at that point.....
To preface the story, I had a feeling an engagement was eminent. We had been dating for 4 1/2 years and everyone (and by everyone I mean myself) was ready for it!!! Raymond did a superb job of making me think that it was no where in the future. I was 22, so I thought that he was just waiting until I had been out and working a little bit longer. We go to ALL of the Citadel football games in the fall (the hubs is obsessed with sports- I am obsessed with tailgating) so there was nothing out of the ordinary for us to pack up and head to Charleston for the weekend. Raymond had already asked my mom for permission and had already gone to visit his parents and let them in on the news. He went down early to pick up my brother, who was a knob (first year Cadet at The Citadel), so he did not have to wait around for my mom and I to roll into town. Little did I know, that this was all part of the mastermind plan that Raymond had created. I thought he was doing me a favor at the time by picking Davis us, but truly, this was orchestrated between he and my mom so he could ask for Davis'permission as well. My brother is truly one of my best friends and he felt it was important to have the most important man in my life (at that time) give him his blessing.
Upon arrival in Charleston that evening, we convened at his Aunt's house and told me we had to go to the family's beach house on Sullivan's Island to check on some things for his Dad. I was so mad. I was hungry, tired, and wanted to go to bed and did NOT want to traipse out to the beach house to check on fishing nets. NOT my idea of a fun Friday night. We got to the house and poor Raymond...I wouldn't get out of the car. I kept saying, just go hurry and do it and I'll just wait here. The mosquitoes were TERRIBLE that night! No way was I breaking a sweat for that! But alas, he knew his drama queen wife would propose as a problem in the grand scheme of things. He conned me into thinking he could not lift the nets by himself. I met him down on the deck and he was "bending over in the shrubs trying to get the net out of the bin" but really attempting to get on one knee and BAM he pulled out the box. The box that I had been waiting for my entire life. The box I had been counting down the minutes for from the moment I met him. It was so dark that I didn't actually see my ring until we went up on the porch and turned on the light. I cried at how beautiful it was. He created it all on his own (with the help of our amazing jeweler). I felt like the luckiest girl in the world at that moment. He designed something just for me. To wear forever.
He had champagne in the bushes (put there gratis of Mimzy and Big!!!) so the night was complete. We just sat and rocked and drank champagne with the sound of the ocean as our soundtrack. It could not have been more perfect. I was crying, he was crying, and we COULD NOT WAIT to get back to tell our parents (I didn't know that anyone knew at this point). The moment we walked into his grandparent's kitchen, they were all gathered around and Raymond announced there would be a new member of the Hamilton clan.....tears, champagne, and wine were flowing....it was, without a doubt, a memory that is forever ingrained in my mind. Station 9 and Sullivan's Island will always be magical to me. Thank you Raymond for being the perfect companion for me!



Off to paradise this weekend!! See ya'll next week!!

Love,
C

I'm such a jerk.....

Meghan, Brent & Cohen's Story
So no sooner had I hit publish post had Meghan's post for the day come up on my reader....if you are not familiar with Cohen's story, you really need to grab some tissues and sit down and read what this precious family is going through. Meghan so faithfully documented her pregnancy for all of her readers and her positive outlook and excitement for her pregnancy and becoming a mama never wavered once throughout her 9 months....They knew before Cohen was born that there were going to be some difficulties. How in the world do you conceptualize something like that? Cohen is now just over a week old and is in a battle that no little angel should ever have to go through-
and here I am bitching about my week.
MY WEEK has been nothing short of a cake walk compared to what this family is going through.
We spent 11 long days in the NICU. 11. That's it. And I was a nervous and miserable wreck the entire time. The mamas that are able to channel all of their frustrations and hopelessness somewhere else and remain looking up simply amaze me. Meghan has remained upbeat and so selfless in her postings of Cohen's status. He is truly a waking miracle and already has proven to be strong and determined.
Suddenly my crappy work week fails to compare the uphill challenge this family is facing. I have my health, my family is healthy, and we are fine. I get to come home and snuggle with my healthy and happy baby girl. I cannot imagine the pain that these two parents are going through. I admire them so much and feel like such a jerk for complaining about my week. This little boy needs all the prayers he can get.

ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

This week has just been one of those weeks......you know the kind of day you have when you feel like all you have done is chase your tail???? Multiply that by 4 this week...and we still have one more to go! I leave the office with my head just trying to stay above water....and it's not even 4th quarter!!!!!!!!! This is exactly what I look like every day at work............ Alas, I have determined not to be discouraged, as in 24 short hours, I will check out and be delighted with the company of these two favorites..........

And this chick.............
+ this...........

this week is looking up already : )

Off to Charleston lovies!!! Hope you all have a fabulous week! Will be back next week once my camera, sanity and full nights of sleep return..........

love,

Charlotte

Show Us Your Life

Courtesy of Kelly, Today is Show Us Your Life: CHINA PATTERNS!!!!! I rarely jump in on this trend, but today I could not pass it up. Other than paper, there are few other things that I love to collect other than china!!! The best part of getting married was getting new stationary and then picking out my patterns. I picked the same pattern of silver that my mom had and I love the look of mixing that with my grandmothers so since I did not have to rely on receiving a lot of that for my wedding, I went balls to the wall when registering for china. I WAS that obnoxious girl that had 3 patterns...luckily for me my mama has been collecting Spode Christmas for like 40 years so I'll never have to buy a piece of that no matter how many plates I break!! I love a pretty table and my mama and my mother in law both spoil me to the bone when it comes to dining at their houses because they always outdo themselves each meal with their elaborate settings. That's a treat in itself to me!
For our fine china, I somewhat took Raymond into consideration and didn't get something too frufru.....I picked out the Simply Anna by Anna Weatherly and it's classic and not trendy so I had hoped when registering I would never get sick of it....so far so good!!!! I wanted to have some alternatives to the basics so I registered for the polka dots as well as the white and I received a nice variety of pieces, and it has made for beautiful decorations.

{courtesy}

I picked out two every day patterns, the first being Nantucket Basket Weave by Wedgwood. This is just a basic, plain white with a twist. I love the pattern around the edges.

But my FAVORITE part of the set is the sugar bowl!! I have my creamer and bowl sitting on my counter since Raymond and I are big coffee drinkers, and it makes fixing my coffee in the morning a little bit better....this beats Starbucks!!

{courtesy}

Since Raymond was such a good sport in the entire process of registering, I did pick out the Spode Woodland in honor of him. We registered for a variety of plates that have ducks, quail, pheasants, turkeys, and even some Boykins on them! They are slightly rustic but still have a bit of glam to them. I pair them with olive green monogrammed napkins and tablecloths and it's the perfect set!

{courtesy}

As if I did not have enough.........last year I was in one of my all time favorite stores, Non(e) Such, ltd. and saw these beauties.....I had so much credit left after our wedding that I treated us to a setting of 6 of these....I'm hoping to get the other 6 this year!!!

{courtesy}

so there you have it....my obnoxious display of china.....I can't wait to keep reading and see what you other lovies picked out for yours!!!!

Off to have my eardrums busted!!!!! Can't wait to report back how awful, I mean awesome, the concert was!!!

Happy Weekend!!

love,

Charlotte

You know I love this man when.........

Almost 2 years ago I married the man of my dreams and I could not be happier. He loves and gives so unselfishly that I decided this year for Father's Day I was going to go above and beyond for him......... After searching high and low and racking my brain, I did some googling and to my ASTONISHMENT, his favorite band of all time is playing within 200 miles of us - someone upstairs has got to have played a part in this! The band has just recently begun touring again after a hiatus so it's just bizarre that I stumbled upon this when I did.
So tomorrow night I am taking him to see these kids...............

Raymond is an avid indie punk fan....I'm guessing that's what you would call it.....of all the bands that he rocks out to, these are one of my favorites. The look on his face when I told him we were going is going to be worth ALL of the crowd surfing, screaming, head banging, freak show watching that will commence tomorrow night........oh.boy.

Have I earned the Best Wife Award yet????????

I still have a few other surprises up my sleeve for next weekend but we will be in Charleston so I am SUPER excited to spoil my husband rotten this weekend since it will be just the 3 of us.....I see some golf for him at the Club, the Bug and I camped out by the pool while we wait on him, and some yummy steaks in our Future for the weekend!!!!

Happy early Father's Day Killa!!!!!!!!!!

Sketti Night!!!!!!!!!!

Few words could have prepped my abs for how hard I laughed during this experience.....I can definitely say I got a better workout laughing than I could have if I did 1000 crunches. Especially when Mean Mama tried to take the plate away and a hissy fit ensued.......oh gotta love those hissy fits.......... I was slightly optimistic that we would remain sort of clean....she didn't want to get too messy on her birthday with the cake so I had my fingers crossed she felt the same about red sauce!!!

starting to get the hang of it.......
look mama!!! I ate most of it!!!!

gotta get eeeeeeeeeeevery last bit............

of course we gotta share some with Tellie!!!

attempt #1 at taking the plate from her......my bad G!!!!!

so of course I let her have her way.........poor Raymond, I am creating a M-O-N-S-T-E-R

so much for staying clean!!!!

Sending lots of Sketti kisses your way!!!!!

Love,

One Messy Mama

Guess who's a PE?!?!?!?!?!?!?

So I have to take a minute and brag about my husband...Raymond Hamilton, PE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A few months ago you will remember this post here about Raymond's big test that he had to take to become a PE.....hence, the staycation!! After 3 months of excruciating agony, the results are IN and Raymond can now officially call himself a Professional Engineer. He doesn't boast or brag on himself nearly enough, so I am using the blogworld to do a little boasting in his honor. For ALL of those people that have reached this level, I am truly humbled by your intelligence! I mock the Engineer brain at times because it is so vastly different from how mine works, but anyone who is capable of even attempting the PE is a winner in my book......so whip out the bubbly because Mama has a lot to celebrate!!!!! As the cherry on top two of Raymond's friends Uncle Z and Uncle T also passed and Uncle C passed the E.I.T!!!! GREAT day for SC Engineers!!! I feel much better already about the roads I am driving on!!
Congrats boys!! Your womenfolk are proud of you!!! Love you all!

Love,
Charlotte

A Comeback and it includes CAKE!!

So a year has passed and we have MADE IT!!!!!! I cannnot believe that this time last year I was visiting my baby bug in the NICU and barely keeping it together. My how we have come a looooong way!!! We celebrated this past weekend with friends and family and this little one loved every second of the attention. I tried to do a crown but the hat just stayed better with the elastic on it!!! And OF COURSE there's a big pink bow under there!! It didn't last long either.......

The day was a "smashing" success and we are so grateful to true friends and family who love us dearly. The love for Georgia in the room that day was overwhelming. We would not have made it this first year without all of you!!!!

love,

Charlotte