Pumpkins: picking 'em and carving 'em

One of the fun things we did with John's parents while they were in town was go to them pumpkin patch! I love a good pumpkin patch and this one was pretty good. The best part was the corn maze! And no, we didn't get lost in the corn maze like these people.... link

Me and John on the tractor

Has anyone tried a grape Nehi? I guess it's a Southern thing. But it was delicious!

Here's an aerial shot of the corn maze we explored.

Getting ourselves lost in the maze

At this pumpkin patch, you could pick your own pumpkin right off the vine.

Of course John picked a pumpkin that was bigger than his head.

The pumpkins we bought have been gracing our front porch for the last week along with our beautiful mums. But today they went under the knife as we carved them into jack-o-lanterns! I am notorious for being horrible at carving pumpkins, but this year I exceeded my own expectations and managed to not screw my pumpkin up!

Our bad boys lit up in front of the fireplace

Ready for the trick or treaters on the front porch! Mine's on the top step, John's is the huge one in the middle.

Hursts visit Charleston

Last week my in-laws came to Charleston for the first time! They stayed with us from Wednesday through Monday and we had such a good time showing them around and spending quality time with family again.

In case you didn't know, I love my in-laws. Some people sigh and groan when they have to spend time with their in-laws. But I have known John's fabulous parents since I was 16. I grew up with them and they are definitely my second parents. So I couldn't be happier to take a few days off work and vacation in my own town with them.

John and his parents on our front porch. Love these people!

We did lots of fun stuff while they were in Charleston. But mostly what we did was eat some great food! We ate at Fleet Landing, 82 Queen and Slightly North of Broad to name a few. Here were some of the highlights...

You're just not a Hurst unless you love boiled peanuts :) Grady and Ruth were excited they are served as an appetizer at Hominy Grill.

John and his parents loved the oysters at Fleet Landing. I enjoyed the waterfront view...and my chicken.

We also did a lot of sight seeing around town. Unfortunately, it was too cold to spend time at the beach. But we did take them to the Folly Beach Pier and watched some fishermen catch a stingray!

Jackets are now the required beachwear.

We also did quite a bit of shopping on beautiful King Street.

On Sunday, Ruth and I went on the Preservation Society's Fall Tour of Homes and Gardens. We toured seven private houses, two churches and one private garden South of Broad (ritzy area). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the houses, but let me tell you, they were beautiful. Here's some of the other things we saw...

Me and my new Rolls-Royce. Yeah, right.

One of the beautiful houses we toured

So many cute courtyards and private gardens hidden behind gates and brick walls.

This is a great shot Ruth took of the Charleston Harbor from Waterfront Park downtown.

John and his parents. So happy you guys came to visit! Miss you already!

Our friend Bear

Last weekend my coworker Kristin asked me to watch her sweet old golden retriever, Bear, while she went out of town for the weekend. Bear often comes to the office, so I knew how wonderful he was. So I agreed and took Bear home with me last Friday, beginning my first three days with a dog.

Bear, my friend for the weekend

I had dogs growing up, but I never really took care of them myself if you know what I mean. Unlike my sister who is a crazy all-animal-lover, caring for animals does not really come naturally to me. It takes me a while to warm up to and actually fall in love with a dog. But John and I have been talking about getting a dog in the near future, so I figured this weekend with Bear would be a good trial run for me.

Bear could not have been a better guinea pig. He's an older dog, so not too rambunctious, and is as laid-bak as can be. John had to work all weekend, so

Bear and I had a lot of time to spend together.

We ran errands together (Bear is a great shopping partner), we went on walks around the neighborhood and we just laid around in the living room watching chick flicks.

"Chick flicks? I love a good rom-com!"

Bear was just as disappointed as me in Reese Witherspoon's performance in "How Do You Know." I think he fell asleep.

When John got off work Saturday, we took Bear to the dog park! I was nervous that I was going to have to pick up his poop...but luckily he didn't have to go while we were there.

Me and my new buddy

John loved Bear right away (again, those animal people) and enjoyed playing with him all weekend.

On Sunday, Bear went home with his mama...and I can't say I was completely sad to see him go. It was nice having company this weekend, but he also shed all over my floor and slobbered in my car. (Come on Bear! That middle console is leather!) Overall, I learned there are both ups and downs to having a dog. And for now, I'm okay with having neither.

Hip Hop for the Cure

This weekend I ran in my first Race for the Cure in Charleston. I wasn't just running though, I was also dancing! In a hip hop FLASH MOB that is!

Backing up a little, some of you know I take weekly hip hop fitness classes at Peace Love Hip Hop. I love learning a new dance every week and even though I'm no professional dancer by any means, it's such a great and energizing work out!

So I joined my dance class' Race for the Cure team and our instructor also organized a flash mob for us to do before the race. The five minute routine consisted of several songs and jump-in points for those who take the hip hop classes. We practiced the routine in class several weeks leading up to the race and practiced at home with the help of some You Tube choreography videos. We kept the flash mob a secret and the day of the race we surprised everyone by preforming it in the middle of the crowd before the race!

Me and some of my friends from class before the flash mob and race. Our whole group wore these t-shirts we ordered and some pretty awesome black and pink knee socks.

About an hour before the race, a pretty big crowd of people had gathered around the main stage....right where the flash mob happened! There was probably about 100 of us that did the dance and it was awesome!

Are you ready for it?! Here's the video:

Even though our dancing space was pretty tight, the flash mob went off without a hitch. And what an adrenaline rush! I couldn't stop smiling the whole time! So so so much fun! Something I'm happy I can now say I did :)

Afterward my friend Molly and I ran in the 5K together and both did great! I ran the whole time, sprinted across the finish line and clocked in at 29.23.

Me and Molly after the race.

What a great dance, great run and all for a great cause!

Lowcountry Oyster Roast

Last year in Birmingham we learned all about the Southern tradition of crawfish boils. By the end of the year, I'm pretty sure we attended about 5 crawfish boils and John (I don't eat seafood) was crawdadded out.

In the Lowcountry, it's goodbye cradads, hello oysters! Lowcountry oyster roasts are pretty legendary, and we experienced our first one this week!

For Pharmacy Appreciation Month (yay October!), MUSC hosted an oyster roast for the pharmacists, alumni, sponsors, students, etc. Even though I'm not a pharmacist, I appreciated the free dinner and drinks!

The event was held at a restaurant right on the water of Shem Creek - a main inlet that connects to the Charleston Harbor.

Beautiful Charleston sunset!

With the beautiful sunset and a cool breeze coming off the water, the scenery was almost as good as the dinner! We even saw several dolphins swimming through the creek out to sea and enjoyed watching the yachts sail through.

John embraced the oyster eating like a true Charlestonian. These oysters were steamed and John said he actually prefers them raw! (Yuck!) Again, I don't eat seafood, so I didn't partake. Maybe I'll try them fried one day.

That's a bunch of oysters! Apparently the table with the hole in the middle is key here.

Beautiful weather, great scenery and a wonderful evening appreciating my pharmacist :)

Bevo Bonfire VICTORY Party

Last week John and I were really bummed that we weren’t going to be going to the OU/TX game in Dallas again this year. It is definitely my favorite Sooner football tradition and I miss getting to partake in it at the Cotton Bowl with other Sooner fans. Since Charleston is incredibly far from Dallas and plane flights are expensive, John had the great idea of throwing a victory party at our house on Saturday night instead.

So last week we invited all John’s co-residents over for a Bevo Bonfire on Saturday night. Several people asked us what we were going to do if we lost…those silly doubters. We didn’t have that problem because, of course, we won 55-17! John and I were jumping and cheering so loud during the game, I’m sure they heard us all the way from the Lowcountry.

Before I get into the awesomeness that was the Bevo Bonfire. Here’s a short montage of what I love about OU/TX from the five years we did get to go!

1. The student lottery for seats. My freshman year (and our first OU/TX game) we got tickets on the 4^th row! In the following years we learned how to sell those good seats, buy crappy seats and still make a profit to fund the weekend! Sooner entrepreneurship at its best.

Our first OU/TX game in 2005...on the 4th row of the stadium!

Second year in the nosebleeds. Still fun!

2. The crazy atmosphere of the West End on Friday night. One year we saw a Texas fan fall out of a tree…then get arrested.

West End with friends on the night before the game my junior year

3. Riding the DART train. To get to the Cotton Bowl, the DART is the fastest and easiest way. You park on the outskirts of town somewhere and ride the rail, now directly to the stadium. Oh the amount of people on those trains wearing crimson and burnt orange.

Where's that train?

4. The crazy fandom in the Cotton Bowl.

Crimson and burnt orange split 50/50

Sooners!

5. Fair food! Need I say more?

John loves him a turkey leg. My favorites are corny dogs and salt water taffy!

6. Family. We took my mom and my sister to their first OU/TX game. Now my mom is hooked and continues to go every year! I also have some cousins in Dallas who we usually get to visit when we’re in town for the game.

Though we weren’t there this year, the Bevo Bonfire turned out great! We fired up the grill in the backyard and had a nice little buffet of sides and appetizers. We had some Arkansas fans in the group (Woo pig!) so we watched the Arkansas game while we ate.

We roasted marshmallows, made s’mores and enjoyed sitting and talking around the fire in the backyard.

And we played cornhole by torchlight, which actually makes the game very challenging!

It wasn't the same as being there, but we had a great time celebrating our win with friends! Thanks for helping us celebrate everyone!