AREN'T YOU GLAD I DIDN'T SAY APPLE?

Missin' these babes like crazy as I write this. Fair warning.

Oh, Charleston, you were so, so good to us. If I was lounging on that sand right now, instead of getting a little too nostalgic while sitting in my room in Auburn, listening to the rain, this post might not turn out quite so sappy as I'm already predicting.

Anywho, is it fair to assume that you're wondering what we did with the rest of our week? Alright, well, if you really must know, let's start out with the shopping. We dented reasonable little holes in our wallets, all worth it of course because you know, it's vacation and money grows on palm trees and all. Hitting up both King Street and the local marketplace, it was just inevitable. It is truly amazing the sheer amount of beautifully handcrafted goods sold in that city, though. What's a starving artist (more like general broke college student) herself to do when she just wants to support all the artists??

Next, let's talk about some food. Seafood, y'all: World famous Hyman's Seafood, where there's a famous person's namesake left at every table and there's hushpuppies and there's absolutely no fat chance that you're leaving there not completely stuffed.

I had the honor of dining in the same spot as Raven Simon. That's so Raven!

The second best part about Hyman's is their motto: 

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our ATTITUDES."

Take that to heart and it will do us all some good.

We spent late Thursday afternoon on Sullivan's Island. I have two words to describe the island: idyllic; still. Check it out (and take me back):

Friday consisted of more strategically planned spontaneity, in the form of sweating through tourist activities that were so worth it: we covered basically the entire city of Charleston on foot, starting at the Chick-fil-a over by the College of Charleston campus, to East Bay street, to Rainbow Row, to the busy and breezy Battery, and then back home to central downtown. It was a beautiful, hot day, which called for visiting the ice cream truck playing Christmas music, shade stalking, and a casual, park bench, album cover worthy photoshoot.

 

And then there are just the connections. The people! We met so many cool people last week. Here's to you, Auburn boys and our War Eagle moment, and you, South Carolinian who I swing danced to rap music with at the Japanese steakhouse's bar, and you, Becca's "dimple friend," because you share the same facial characteristics as my best friend even though you're not the same race and that's awesome, and your friend, too, whose favorite color is neon pink and who got it right when he said the three of us demand attention. Cheers to you, dude who had the guts to hit on three girls as they're stuffing their faces with pizza bigger than said faces, and to Bob. And then we can't forget the Australian who cleared up the kangaroo stereotype and who liked my hair, nor the mustached brunch waiter who challenged us to eating food contests, which is something you just don't know you're getting yourself into. 

Needless to say it was hard to see Charleston go in the rearview as we drove away, but as with anything the three of us do together, the road trip home was quite the adventure in itself. We stopped all along the way to "see all the sights" - which turned out to be a town that's really into Pringles, a preserved log cabin, a mirror lake, and a state park whose name I can't pronounce but when I try sounds a little something like "Sasquatch." I even tried to climb a tree until I hit my face and my glasses fell off.

Back in Mount Pleasant, we soaked up a last little bit of quality summertime together. There's truly nothing like a good ol' bonfire, country roads, matching unicorn keychains, jam sessions, music videos, an attempted all-nighter, and jokes told over the phone by a four-year-old to fill your soul. I hope Maysen won't mind if I share one of her best with you all:

"Knock knock" 

"Who's there?"

"Knock knock!"

"...Who's there?"

"Orange!"

"Orange who?"

"Aren't you glad I didn't say apple?!"

All you've got to do is laugh. And love it, every second of it. I sure did. I'm also sure you all are real sick of hearing about it. But I love that place, and those good people. When I tried to leave on Tuesday afternoon, I discovered a flat tire. But you know what? Becca and I went right up the road to see Tony, who patched it up, let me keep the nail as a "souvenir," and sent me on my way with a "God bless ya," and a free tire job.

This last little bit of summer has been most especially good to me. I think this might be the first middle of August that I'm not quite ready to welcome in fall, and all the things and responsibilities that come with it. Even with the promise of all of fall's flavors, crispness, and rich colors, the summer sun has just been so favorably nice lately. Partly because of the schedule full of new adventures and time with quality people, partly because of my head being in the clouds, partly because of living in the moment and soaking it all up. It's in this carefree time that I've found peace about things. I've found gratitude. I've found that happiness can be in the unknown, in transit, in just being where you are. I suppose you don't really have to be constantly moving to find that, which is what I'm trying to grasp now, but right now I don't ever want to settle.

Becca put up a quote the other day, "When you go what you leave is a work of art." Finding comfort in that right now as I'm still dealing with leaving. I'm still dealing with Post-Spain-Depression-Disorder. But also, I've found that when you leave, you just gain somewhere and someone to come back to. So there's all my feelings, world; I'm inspired but sad that it's over in such a flash! Here we go, fall.