Sweet Southern Style

From the chilly Midwest, to the warm and sunny south – greetings from Charleston, South Carolina!

The Arnold Palmers down here are fahbulous dahling. ;)

Ben and I have spent the past day and half wandering around, and getting to know gorgeous downtown Charleston. From the beautiful, blooming flowers…

To the majestic, southern-style homes…

this place is simply oozing with charm!

From our time spent wandering Tradd, Queen, King, Market, and East Bay Streets, peeking in secret gardens and ally ways, and taking in all the sights, we’ve decided that if New Orleans is the boisterous younger brother of the south, then Charleston is its sophisticated, older sister. We just love it here.

One thing I didn’t realize about the city is that it’s home to the College of Charleston, which is located smack dab in the middle of all the historic sites.

Can you even imagine what it must be like to go to school here? I must say, it’s been a trip seeing all the students streaming down the street with their backpacks on, as us tourists check out their town.

Some highlights so far include breakfast atEast Bay Meeting House on Monday morning. Ben and I strolled past this little cafe/wine bar on our first night here and vowed to come back for breakfast. It’s so cute!

A thick, iced vanilla decaf latte (best ever – probably because it was made with 2% milk) and homemade granola yogurt parfait was perfect to power me through the day.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous (60s and 70s) and while I wanted to sit out on the patio to people watch while we sipped, sadly I lost a game of rock, paper, scissors, and we viewed from the inside at a cozy, corner table. Kind of felt like I was in France!

The Meeting House is just blocks away from the waterfront, so afterwards we spent the afternoon strolling past lush gardens and gorgeous homes that look like they jumped out of the pages of a magazine.

Strolling hand in hand with my handsome fellow.

It’s hard to believe that this is the last trip we’ll take together before our baby boy arrives! (BTW we are totally buying him a bow tie down here, and perhaps a seersucker blazer as well. Southern fashion is seriously my favorite. Such a trip!)

The food scene in Charleston is a big reason why we chose to come down here, and one of our favorite meals so far has been lunch at Poogan’s Porch (HUSK tonight!)

Poogan’s Porch is located on the lovely Queen Street, and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s located in a restored Victorian Mansion, and named after the neighborhood pooch, Poogan, who used to porch hop in the area. (RIP Poogan circa 1979.)

The 2-story outdoor dining patio is supplemented by a sophisticated, yet charming, indoor dining area where Ben and I were seated. I feel I’m in a movie everywhere I go here. It’s just all. so. Southern. I love it!

Ben and I were feeling crazy, so we started off with, wait for it, Fried Alligator with Honey-Jalapeno Dip. This was the best alligator I have ever had – probably because it was local, and fresh! Sorry to be gross, but the gator I’ve eaten before has been sinewy and just not that great. This practically melted in our mouths. Must. Try.

For our main dish, Ben and I split a couple of sandwiches. A Fried Green Tomato BLT with smokey bacon and tangy chevre for her (delish),

and the Duck Confit Sandwich with Pimento Cheese for him. This was absolutely incredible. The best duck confit we’ve ever tried, and so jazzed to finally try pimento cheese, which we’ve been seeing everywhere here. My sandwich was good, but this was GREAT.

Can’t forget the complimentary, warm buttermilk biscuits with whipped honey butter on the side. Heaven.

I tell you what – we have yet to go hungry in Charleston! :)

With that, I hope your week is going well! More from Charleston soon, plus keep up with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. See y’all!