Jenny's Southern Comfort

Springtime in Charleston.............is the Best

Ahhhh, the first color of the spring (almost summer now) for these "toesies" is "Tangerine Sunrise". I don't really know if that is the name, but that is what I am calling it.  And I do not know what I would do without these Bettye Muller green canvas wedges.  I wear them almost everyday right now.   I love her shoes and they are really comfortable.

A quick detail shot of the office on a lovely Spring day.  Just knowing that fresh flowers and a suzani pillow are there waiting for me makes it much easier to go to work on such nice days.

Oh, the farmers market!  Buying local produce is such a springtime treat for us.  I know it is hard to see in this picture but the leaf of this Arugula is a size and shape that I have never seen in a grocery store.  It is beautiful and spicy too.  Our local farmers market is every Tuesday and goes through the whole summer.  Joe puts this Makoto ginger dressing on all his veggies.  He loves it so much he wanted me to tell everyone about his little secret.  It is a tasty dressing and healthy, too.

This is a Twenty 8 Twelve dress , Siena Miller's line, that I wore to Mother's Day brunch and to a Postcard Art Show at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art here in Charleston.  I will tell you more about the art show and show you the two small pieces I bought in coming weeks, but I just had to show this dress because it is the perfect dress for spring! It looks like a watercolor painting or maybe Monet painted this silk just for me. Regardless, I have been wearing it dressy and casual and best of all it is the perfect accessory to the hydrangeas growing in my yard.

 

This is the first year that our hydrangeas have looked amazing.  We dug a well about a year ago and the yard has been flourishing ever since.  They are blooming like crazy and it is the best!  They are the color of cotton candy and I really do want to eat them.  I think they will bloom all summer because they love this warm Southern climate.  This is also a nice way to save money not having to buy cut flowers for the house.  Hydrangeas really are one of my favorite things about spring.   

 

 Our hanging baskets are happy too!

I did not take this picture, but it would not be Springtime here without a sunset cruise in the boat, riding past the shrimp boats in Shem Creek.  It is unfortunate but the shrimpers have not been able to fish yet this season because we had a harsh winter and the season has been pushed back due to a harsh winter.  It is so hard to make a living shrimping, so we always buy local shrimp when we can.  Guess not until later this year. 

Lily's new swimsuit is ridiculous!  A friend of mine told me that she saw this size 4 girls  Marysia swimsuit on sale at a store downtown.  She is a local Charleston bathing suit designer and her designs are great.  She is making a name for herself. You can even find her swimsuits at Barneys. They are not all children,s suits. She is actually more well known for her adult bathing suits. So, I went the next day to check it out.  Isn't it so   And the accessories Lily selected to go with it are perfect.  Never leave home without your  "Dora the Explorer" headband.  She is much more "styley" than her Mommy on the beach. 

I subscribe to this "Aperture" magazine because it is a magazine about photography and I LOVE photography.  I went to Art Basel in Miami last year with some of my wonderful girlfriends, and the thing I was drawn to the most were the photographs.  I learned so much from that trip about modern art, up and coming artists, framing, etc.  My eyes were opened to a whole new world of art and it was so inspiring.  I thought I would tell you about this magazine now because this month's cover looks really pretty with the flowers I have in my kitchen at the moment!

 

This is a detail shot in Lily's room.  It just worked with this week's springtime theme.  Butterflies, a chick on a surf board and pink linen, what more can I say?  

So, we took the kids one Sunday to "Flush Fest" at the Charleston Tea Plantation.  It is the only tea plantation in the South. WOW, it was amazing!  They have this festival during the first flush of the tea leaves, and I have never seen a crop so manicured and green.  The kids had a blast.  Lily, Jay and our friends' little girl, also Lily, ran around in that hoola hoop for over an hour.  And how about that picture of Joe and the kids in the tea leaves?  The lighting was perfect! Everything was great until we almost got kicked out because Jay pulled off some of the tea leaves.  We didn't know that NO ONE was was supposed to go in the tea fields.  But I got that picture and it was worth it!  After two snow cones, a bag of cotton candy, a blow up slide, a jumpy castle and a few minutes on daddies' shoulders to see Grace Potter, the day was done and  the kiddies slept the whole way home. 

"LIMIES" - our favorite springtime drink.  We just made our first batch last week.  Here are the ingredients:  12 pack of Sprite Zero, two 12oz Limeades, fill the empty 12oz Limeade cans 2x's with Mountgay Rum.  Mix all three ingredients into a large pot and freeze overnight.  The best part of "Limies" is the chipped ice.  We use a rice spoon, that my parents gave us from Drayton Hall  plantation, to chip the frozen drink up and scoop it into a Tervis Tumbler.  These glasses are not the best looking glasses, but they are thermal so they keep the ice from melting immediately.  They get even better the closer to the bottom you get.  But you better watch out because they can sneak up on you.

"A little bird, he told me so
He said come on, get on the go
Open your eyes the sky is full of butterflies
The blossoms on the trees stir up the honeybees
Spring makes my fever right"

 "Spring Fever"
Elvis Presley

See ya'll next week.......Jenny

professional family images courtesy - Andrew Celbulka , non-professional - jenny, feet off dock image - www.corbisimages.com