Firefly Distillery

A few weekends ago Josh & I visited Firefly Distillery. They are well known for their sweet tea vodka! We did a taste testing and each got to try 6 of their beverages. Irvin HouseVineyards is also located at the same place, but we didn't do a wine tasting because the line was really long for that & we were getting hungry!!


The distillery is in the middle of NOWHERE on Wadmalaw Island. For any of my friends living in the Goose Creek/ North Charleston area, plan for a good solid hour to get to this location!

The grape vines! 

Josh & I doing our tasting! The popcorn was freshly popped & very delicious. :)

This is the closest you could get to seeing their actual distillery! They said it is so tiny they wouldn't be able to  fit people in the room! 

The animals were chasing each other around -- so cute! 

You got to keep the shot glasses from the tasting & we bought a bottle of Lemonade Vodka. It's the only product that they do not sell in stores. I am looking forward to making some frozen lemonade very soon! 

After leaving the distillery we headed downtown for dinner. We made a pit stop at Josh's favorite bar, Boone's. The bartender recommended that we try out Juanita Greenberg's Nacho Royale. We decided we would give it a try & I am glad we did. 

Our server suggested that we share a plate, but we wanted to try different things so we got two plates. It was SO much food. Next time we go we will definitely share a plate. Each meal is a big tortilla shell with whatever you want piled on top of it. It's super cheap & delicious! It is located on King Street, right across from Hall's Chophouse & Joe Pasta (another one of our favs). The picture below is of Josh's plate! He had steak, cheese and lots of veggies on his.

Bonus Picture: Jackson was trying to help me study for Organic Chem last night by sitting on my note cards. So sweet of him! :) 

Today is Josh's first day of shift work & he is starting on the night shift. He stayed up until about 7 am this morning so he could sleep all day today and be able to work all night. This will be the first night of me sleeping without Josh since we have been married. I'm not really looking forward to it at all, but it's only for four nights & then it's back to the day shift. 

The Missing Memory Card

A couple of months ago I lost my memory card and I thought that my dog Jackson was to blame. We recently moved and I found it sitting in the bottom of a basket. Yes, I did apologize to Jackson for calling him a bad dog! haha

 I was so excited because there were some pictures I really wanted from that memory card. There are some from an Army commissioning  ceremony we went to for our good friend, David Buckley.

 There were also a few from a visit to the  Angel Oak  Tree. It is the largest living organism on the east coast.

Josh and I with the new 2nd Lieutenant Buckley! 

 Josh with David & his dad Michael

Josh & David

For those of you who may not know, Josh is awaiting results from an officer program that he applied to this year. He will find out if he is selected in mid-October. We are <not very> patiently awaiting the results! Hopefully the next commissioning ceremony I attend will be Josh's!

Josh & I in front of the Angel Oak Tree. It is so huge!! 

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I thought it was so cool how the branches curved to one side like that. 

After visiting the tree we went downtown Charleston to meet up with Josh's parents since they were in town. As we entered onto King Street we saw a bunch of Citadel students marching in a parade to Marion Square.  We stopped to see what was going on and found out it was a Recognition Ceremony for the students. It's a right of passage and after this ceremony they will no longer be called "knobs". I snapped a couple of pictures  but I couldn't get too close since there were a lot of friends and family crowded around! 

Pictures of our new house will be coming soon! 

Brittany

Fourth of July

To celebrate the fourth of July we went to a luau at one of our favorite local bars, Wing's Neighborhood Grill. It's within walking distance from our house. The food is good & the beer is cheap!

I finally had the perfect event to wear this dress that my mother-in-law brought me from her vacation in Hawaii! 

The group (minus Stephanie, she was still working when this picture was taken). Sparrow and Jackson of course managed to be in the picture as well. 

They were giving away freebies all night. We managed to get some cups, coozies and Firefly Sweet Tea Lemonade chapstick! It smells so good I want to use it all the time. 

 

Wing's is hardly ever busy, but on the night of the luau the whole bar was packed. It's always great to see a small business do well for itself. They had live music, auctioned off some firefighters and had a bikini contest. It was a great time!! 

Brittany 

Moving

Josh and I have been looking for a rental home for the past couple of months. We had to put in notice at our current apartment with hopes that we would be able to find a new home that would fit our needs. The reason for the move is that we just wanted more space!! We also were looking for something privately owned rather than an apartment community.

After a couple of weeks of going back and forth with the property management company, we have all come to an agreement. Josh and I will be moving into our new town home on July 20th! We are very excited. I took a picture of the outside. I will share pictures of the inside once Josh and I are settled in.

None of this would have been possible without the help of our great agent, Jason Bowen. He works with Carolina One. If any of my friends living in Charleston need help searching for a rental or home to buy, I highly recommend him!


Brittany

Army Wives Set

A popular TV show on Lifetime, Army Wives, is filmed here in Charleston. A few months ago I went and searched for the filming locations on the old Naval Base. I was able to find most of the major buildings used on the show! I took tons of pictures but my wonderful dog, Jackson, decided he would eat my memory card. 

My mom came to town this week and was interested in seeing the locations, so we headed out to Riverfront Park and I took some more pictures to share with you guys! 

General Holden & Claudia Joy's house. All of the flowers and grass were fake. I wish we could have seen inside but it was all boarded up. 

 This is the front door of General Clark & Jackie's house. There were two men working on completely renovating the inside of this house and they let us go inside. The woodwork was so beautiful inside and of course it was HUGE!

This house is no longer being used for Army Wives and so they are turning it into a restaurant and catering service for the SC Strong Program. The men that let us into the house were part of this program that rehabilitates criminals and addicts. The homes that house the participants of SC Strong are right beside this one. The men go to these houses to work and rebuild a life for themselves. These men were such gentlemen and very sweet. It just goes to show that it is never too late to turn your life around. 

My phone lens was fogging up a bit from all the heat, but this is the beautiful Clark house. I had to go across the street to get the whole house in the picture!

 Frank & Denise Sherwood's home. This home is a bit more typical for military housing.

The building used for the hospital. I went and looked inside the front door and it had been completely stripped down and looked very ragged. It made me question if this is where they actually film the scenes that take place inside of the hospital.

The Administrative Building. The building is so beautiful. It was the only one that still looked glamorous on the inside. Fancy chandeliers and beautiful staircases were just a couple of it's wonderful features. I have a feeling this building is used for something else when they are not filming, because there were a lot of people there and the inside seemed to be just like it was in the show.

Joan & Roland Burton's home. Their grass was real, but the random patch of sunflowers were very fake.

We had to travel away from Riverfront Park & the Old Naval Base to find the building used for the Hump Bar. It is a very small cafe and is only used for the outside shots. The inside scenes are filmed elsewhere. There was a for sale sign on this building, which confirmed what the two men had told us earlier. Army Wives will most likely not be returning to Charleston for filming. I wonder what this means for the show. It could mean the end, or it could mean they all get re-stationed. I guess we will just have to wait and see! 

Brittany 

Welcome

I got the idea of starting a blog from a friend of mine, Katie Fowler. I hope to share some of the things we do around Charleston so that our family can see what's going on in our lives! Not much has happened today, as I am trying to heal from a severe sunburn I got a few days ago. We are in the process of trying to find a new house to rent because this apartment seems to get smaller and smaller every day. We would love to be able to finally use all the wonderful gifts we received at our wedding.

 I do have some pictures from my grandfather's graduation that I never shared. He graduated from Martin Community College in May. Since we were both in college at the same time, every semester we had friendly competition to see who could get the most A's! I have to admit, he gave me a run for my money sometimes. :)  We are all very proud of him. Here are a few pictures of the family on his big day! 

The lighting was terrible and my camera is a little old, so this is the only decent picture I have from inside. 

              My grandma was just as excited as he was!

                         
                       
 My granddad and his two sons. My dad, Alvin, and my uncle, Eddie. 

My grandparents with cousin, Phoebe, and my sister, Alissa. 

Last but not least, Josh and I with the new grad! Congratulations Granddad!