I
officially am back. These past few months with the end of the school year, grad
courses finishing up, new grad classes, visits from friends, and travel have
made it so that I’ve had less time than I’d like to work on blog posts. While
it is great to have stuff going on as it makes things more fun and helps time
to pass, I am overly excited to attempt to get back into a routine. I’ve hated
that most weeks only four posts have gone live and that I haven’t had the time
to fully devote myself to Prep In Your Step. Now that I am not having to juggle
teaching, grad school, and blogging I suspect that you’ll be seeing lots of
exciting content around here. Plus, I even have an extra set of hands helping
me out with some things over the summer. Think videos, new posts ideas, and
more consistent updates throughout my social media platforms too. I’ll be sure
to introduce more of her later but I am so excited to have another person to
bounce ideas around with. Enough logistics thought, I have lots to share with y’all
from the past week.
If
you read last week’s Step Into My Week post you’re probably already aware that
one of my best friends from college was in town visiting for the week. Nell
arrived on Sunday and stayed with me at my apartment until I left for
California early Thursday morning. I completely used this an excuse to eat my
way through Greenville and she was certainly not complaining.
Monday
before my grad classes for this summer session began we went to a delicious
crepe place, Tandem, out by Furman. Admittedly, I hadn’t been in a while and
was equally as eager as Nell. They have a great outdoor area where we enjoyed
our crepes before I left for class. After class I discovered that I had quite a
bit of reading to do (90 pages before the next class the following day) which
gave us the perfect excuse to sit by the pool. For dinner that night we decided
to walk from my apartment to a restaurant in downtown Greenville called Happy
& Hale. They have really great salads and frose that we got before walking
back. The night we finished watching Parent Trap (which we had started Sunday)
and went to bed.
Tuesday
morning, I got up to finish my reading and work on some blog emails before we
went to lunch at Cantina 76. If I had to choose a favorite Mexican restaurant
Cantina would definitely be it. Then it was off to another day of class before
coming back to get ready to go with Sophia to a Sip & See of wedding
dresses at the White Magnolia, a bridal boutique in Greenville. After that we
went to Up On The Roof where we split some sort of nachos. I got my usual
lettuce wraps and am already trying to figure out how soon would be too soon to
go and get them again. After dinner we came back to my apartment and watched
Father of the Bride. Nell had seen that the whole movie is watchable on youtube
(here is the link) which was pretty impressive.
Wednesday
morning, I went and got a manicure and pedicure with Sophia. I NEVER get my
nails done so it was a fun treat before heading out of town for a long weekend.
Nell and I met for lunch at Zoe’s before I went to class. That night I had to
pack but we were sure to squeeze in a dinner at one of Greenville’s newer
spots, Jianna. We had a table on their balcony that overlooks downtown. The
meal was delicious and afterwards we got ice cream from Spill the Beans before
walking around Fall’s Park. I packed up one we got back and prepared for a VERY
early departure the next morning.
Thursday
it was off to California for my brother’s law school graduation from Stanford.
I hadn’t seen him since Christmas so I was excited to see him and finally meet
his fiancé. Despite them dating for about a year and a half I’ve never been out
to visit him at Stanford and when they have come to Fairhope I’ve been in
Greenville. I had to leave my apartment around 4 in the morning to head to the
airport which made for a long day especially with the time change. I arrived in
California around 10 in the morning and waited for my parent’s flight to get
in. We rented a car to have while we were out there and were able to get some
lunch before heading to our hotel. I took a nice nap that afternoon before
going to my brother’s house and getting a “grand” tour before going out to
dinner as a family. That night we went to a pizza place not too far from
campus.
Friday
I got my first taste of Stanford’s campus after eating breakfast at the hotel
and working on a paper for grad school. We picked up my brother and met his fiancé
on campus before walking around. The architecture and campus felt a lot different
than Furman’s especially since there are so many specific areas for graduate
students. We walked through the chapel on campus where my brother will be
getting married and I also got a good look at the Bell Tower. I’m certainly not
an architect but I think Furman’s is prettier. We got lunch at a restaurant in
downtown Los Altos before popping into a few shops there. We dropped Shannon
(my brother’s fiancé) off at her house before hanging out at the hotel before heading
back to her house for dinner. Her parents had invited us over for dinner that
evening since the parents had never met and it was a fun evening. A number of
her family members were there to celebrate their engagement and Gil’s
graduation which made for a festive graduation-eve.
Saturday
was the day of the Law School graduation so we went back to campus relatively
early to reserve our seats. Not unsurprising to me considering Stanford
students are overachievers and it makes sense that their families would be too
but boy did some people get there early to snag their seats. Shannon joined us
for the ceremony which lasted much longer than I would have anticipated. The
student speaker from the law school did a spectacular job (it probably helped
that he is also a standup comedian) and there was a reception with champagne to
follow. We left pretty soon after the graduation and got a meal at a sandwich
place nearby. We all went back to the hotel to hang out before going to one of
Shannon and Gil’s favorite restaurants on the Palo Alto hills for an early
dinner. I believe it was called Parkside Grille but it was a cute restaurant
tucked behind some very large trees. I ordered some sort of Asian Flank Steak
with veggies and rice and I can confidently say it was the most delicious meal
on the table despite all of them being tasty. We called it a night relatively
early since we had plans to head into San Francisco the next morning.
Sunday
morning, we picked up Gil and Shannon, grabbed Starbucks, and left for the
city. Since this was my first trip to California I was excited to have the
chance to have a bit of time outside of Palo Alto to get a better feel for the
area. I’m not sure San Francisco is a place I would need to go to and stay for
a while to get a feel since I was able to get a good feel for it during our day
trip (although I know there are lots of gems we didn’t see). We started by going
to a great overlook of the Marina district after driving by Shannon’s old house
in San Francisco and looking at houses in the neighboring areas. Then it was
off to what I would consider the main event of the day, seeing the Golden Gate
Bridge. We drove across the bridge and then up a surrounding mountain/hill (not
sure what locals call it) to a really great viewing spot. The weather ended up
clearing off nicely after we were on our way down but we were able to get some
great shots and enjoy the view even with a little bit of fog. After finding
parking in the Marina District we put our name on a list at The Dorian and
walked into some shops until it was time to eat. Neither Shannon nor Gil had
been to The Dorian but had heard great things. The inside of the restaurant was
beautiful and our meal was really good as well. After that we drove by the
Pacific before seeing the Mrs. Doubtfire house and the painted ladies
(naturally that was my request). We headed back towards Palo Alto to drop Gil
and Shannon off before heading back to our hotel to pack up for another early
flight the next morning.
While
I had a great trip I am definitely glad to be back in Greenville for a bit
without any big plans. Since I only have class in the afternoons this session I
am looking forward to drinking coffee in pajamas while working on things in the
coming weeks.
Lately:
Reading: The Breakdown
& Outliers
My
graduate class for this summer session started on Monday and we have already
finished the first of our three books for the course. I had to laugh when I
looked at the syllabus because one of the books was one that I had wanted to
read anyway. My friends would tell you that this isn’t the slightest bit
surprising. Outliers was really interesting but is definitely one of those
books that is more though provoking than entertaining.
On
the flip side, I finally finished TheBreakdown. The last 100 pages were really interesting but before that the
book was a bit repetitive and slow. It took me a lot longer to get through this
book than most of the others in this genre but I was pleased with the outcome.
I have a stack of books on my book shelf that I am eager to get going with so
hopefully I’ll have more suggestions in this part of SIMW posts the remainder
of the summer.
Loving: Instagram Stories
I
have not stayed up to date with Instagram and Instagram stories as I’d like but
recently have been loving posting to Instagram stories. I suspect that as the
summer continues you will see more of me over there.
Wearing: Madewell Tote
With
class starting back up and traveling to California, my Madewell Tote has been
my trusty companion for just about every occasion. At one point I had both the larger
and smaller size totes and really only use the larger one. If you’re looking to
invest in a good, high quality leather tote Madewell is the way to go.
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