Summer Lovin’

Are you loving summertime as much as me??  There is just something about coming out a cold long winter that makes you appreciate the warmth of the sun’s rays on your skin just a little more!  I thought I’d take a minute to share just a few things that I am really loving about summer…

Hanging out on the front porch. 

I just want to be outside any opportunity I can get.  And normally if you’re in the shade it’s fairly comfortable.  If not you can just wait for the early morning with your cup of coffee or late night with a glass wine!

Delicious Tomatoes

There’s just something about a fresh tomato that is quintessential Summer! Cherry, Roma, Beefsteak, Heirloom – I love them all!

Fresh Flowers from the Market

At our farmer’s market they have amazing flower bouquets for $10.00 – but only when the market is in session.

All the wonderful things growing in the yard

   

We have multiple hydrangeas in our yard that I love cutting them and bringing blooms inside.  I have mint in our flower garden that I love to make Mojitos with!  We are also enjoying our basil (with our tomatoes!)

 

What are you enjoying this Summer?

 

I R L

Do you speak in acronyms?  BTW – LOL – BRB – BFF – TTFN.  Well maybe everyone doesn’t say “ta ta for now” like I do.  But when I saw this tweet last week from a new furniture store in Southend, High Cotton Home Co…

Calling all #CLT home and lifestyle bloggers! It's time to meet IRL! Join us on June 15: http://ow.ly/567NH #clthomemeetup

…I decided I needed to check this out.  How cool to finally meet some Charlotte peeps I n    R eal L ife!  So I headed over to High Cotton. This is a new furniture store for Rodney Hines, but it’s not his first rodeo.  Rodney has been in the furniture industry for years.  I remember going to his first shop years ago when I worked for a design firm. He has always had a passion for providing beautiful things at beautiful prices!  (that means a super deal, people!)  Rodney has another shop in Southend as well, The Furniture Connector. 

I’m so excited about this event I can’t decide what to talk about first the great people or the great furnishings?!?!  Well let’s meet Rodney:

Here we are hanging out by some beautiful fabrics.  Rodney is SUPER sweet guy – makes you feel so welcomed!  He was the perfect host!

I got to meet some fellow tweeters.  Above is Todd aka GreenMarketGuy (on the left) and Andy @ Tack Charlotte Upholstery (blue t-shirt).  I didn’t get an opportunity to meet the lovely ladies on their right.

Here you see Rodney again with Rachel @iftheshoefits and Nicole with Yelp

You may recognize these peeps…  Yep that’s Ms Emily Clark  of Emily A Clark Designs. Sweet as a glass of Southern sweet tea! Emily has blown up in the blog world (for good reason!) and has so many great ideas! 

And the GW of thrifting – Mr Goodwill Hunting aka Rashon.  Don’t you love his “i ♥ thirfting” T'!  It’s a revolution.  You must check it out!!  RIGHT HERE!  And there’s going to be a BIG event on July 9th – that’s going to be WORLDWIDE – all thanks to Mr G-Dub!  Oh and you can get your own snazzy T right here.

We were also hanging with Ms Kim of Super Chyc – a super sweet chicky that loves to blog about thirfting, fashion, and much more!

Rodney had a little door prize action going on as well.  Melissa was the lucky winner of a gorgeous silver tray.  Nice, right!  Speaking of gorgeous…  let’s take a little time to look around this store!

             

AHH-mazing, right!  You must go over and really check this place out!  Rodney is stocking Vanguard Furniture (made in Hickory NC – yay for local!!) found pieces from flea markets, awesome accessories, uber cool lighting and the list goes on!

And to top off a super-fabulous evening we didn’t leave empty handed!  Yes that’s right – swag people!  Some goodies from Vanguard and a BEE-utiful pillow…

        

So cool, right!  It’s perfect in the living room.  Thanks again Rodney!!

High Cotton Home Co. is right across the street from Atherton Mill on South Blvd.  So make a afternoon of it…  Hop into High Cotton and take a nice long stroll around – there’s lots to look at!  Then walk over to Bead Me by Linda Minor for some handmade jewelry and then end the evening with a nice bottle of wine from The Vin Master.  So fun exploring new spots!

There were other Charlotte tweeters / bloggers I didn’t get photos of (maybe cause they were hiding from the camera!) or I didn’t get an opportunity to meet…  @havencharlotte @caitlinkaestner @vanguardfurn @moondoonie  @goodwillsp

I had so much fun and was so happy to meet some fellow Charlotte bloggers and tweeters.  I would love to meet some more!  There’s talk that this won’t be the last #clthomemeetup – bring it on!

T T F N!

Food Truckin’

I don’t know about in your area but the Food Trucks are in high demand around the Charlotte area.  If you haven’t experienced this whole mobile eatery phenomena, let me break it down for ya!  It’s a restaurant on wheels. Yeah, it’s that simple.  There are lots of different trucks in the Charlotte area.  There’s a wing truck, a pizza truck, a cupcake truck, a local / organic truck and the list goes on!!

There’s even a weekly gathering of all the trucks in Uptown.

So far we’ve only been to Chowdown once and the food was GONE! That was the first week of the event and I couldn’t make it till later in the evening.  I think they’ve done better planning as well and prepared for the multitudes to get their eat on.  SO…  I’ve been on a mission to find the trucks at other times!  Cause you know I like to try new things!

So first truck we found = Harvest Moon Grill

They had two options that day we found them on Camden & Park. 

Option 1:  Cucumber Tomato & Bacon Sandwich with a bulgur salad

Option 2:  Barbeque Pulled Pork with green salad and peach vinegarette

I went with option A.  That sandwich was STUPENDOUS!  The bread was grilled and nice and crunchy.  I do believe there *may* have been some butter on there!  The proportions of cucumber, bacon and tomato were perfect.  A good sandwich is all about proportions.  I believe in sandwich artists and the good man in the Harvest Moon Cart is an ARE-TEAST!

We headed back to the same spot on a Friday and The Roaming Fork was parked and serving up some tasty treats!  They had multiple options – I don’t know if I even remember them all.  I do know there was:

Option 1:  Blackened Fish Tacos with chips

Options 2:  Pulled BBQ Pork with mixed greens in Balsamic Vinaigrette

And this time I went with the BBQ pork.  It actually came as a sandwich but I was trying to watch my carb intake.  You didn’t need the bun.  Really I think it might be better without the bun – you could really appreciate the nice flavor of the rub on the pork.  There were little nuggets of goodness in there – the charred edges where you could tell the grill had left it’s mark! 

I look forward to getting back Uptown for Chowdown Uptown soon!  There’s Philly steaks to try, cupcakes to partake in, and pizza to munch on!

Have you had any foodtruck treats?  Wanna plan a meeting @ the next Chowdown??

Dinner Club - June

We have started a dinner club with our good friends Tracie & Roland.  Tracie and I have been friends since our Peace College days.  So ever since they moved to Charlotte, we have enjoyed any time we have been able to spend together!

The four of us love food!  Roland worked in the restaurant industry for years so we often like to reminisce about the days of restaurant working.  Last night we brought up the whole “serving table recurring dream.”  If you haven’t served tables before you may not know what this is about… but it’s similar to the “can’t seem to make it class” dream.  It's pretty funny how the restaurant industry makes a mark on your life!  Ok sorry for the sidetrack!  Back to subject at hand…  

Last month was our initial Dinner Club meeting, where we came up with the idea of a monthly “Dinner Date.”  We went to Bask on Seaboard, which as the bad blogger that I am, I never blogged about.  But I am going to try and do a better job! 

So this month The Fig Tree was on tap!

Our table was on the porch – it was a perfect evening to sit outside.  Roland loves appetizers and he was hungry, so the ordering began…

Bison Carpaccio – with heart of palm, arugula and parmesan

The bison was so good.  It literally melted on your tongue

Crab Pagoda – crab meat with avocado salsa layered between house made potato chips

Loved the presentation.  But I felt like there was a little something missing on this dish.  It needed some more salt and maybe a little more acid (lemon juice) maybe?? 

Cheese Platter (which I unfortunately don’t remember which ones were on the plate.  Oops!)

Loved the mixture of cheeses with assorted fruit, honeycomb, and different crackers.  Also thought it was a cool touch that a fig leaf was on the bottom of the plate. Get it – fig leaf – Fig Tree Restaurant.  HA!

Cold smoked duck breast with arugula and peaches.

A special for the evening.  This was so good!  The duck was tender and flavorful and the peaches were a perfect compliment. 

Next up Soup & Salad course:

Caesar & Spinach

Corn & Stilton Cheese Soup – surprising yummy – I thought it would be too strong with the Stilton, but it was really smooth and rich.

Entrees:

   

Tracie & Roland had the 2 entrée's above. 

Grilled Provimi Veal Chop and Jumbo Shrimp over Smashed Fingerling Potatoes with Cremini Mushrooms, Capers and Sherry Garlic Butter Sauce with Asparagus

This was an amazing piece of meat.  The meat was extremely tender and flavorful.  I would go back today and get this!  DELISH!

Grilled Filet Mignon topped with Stilton Cheese and Mushroom Duxelles over Fingerling Potatoes and Wilted Arugula with Veal Demi-Glace and Asparagus (minus the Stilton)

The filet was cooked perfectly.  They had a really nice hard sear on the steak and the demi glace added a nice sweetness to the saltiness of the seasoning of the filet.

   

Joe and I went with:

Sautéed George's Bank Sea Scallops over House Made Saffron Fettuccine with Fava Beans, Roasted Red Bell Peppers and Preserved Lemon in Basil-Mascarpone Sauce

Pasta was perfectly cooked. Creamy rich goodness.  Scallops perfectly seasoned and seared!

Pork Porterhouse with Barbequed Fingerling Potatoes with Stewed Okra with pan jus.

This was one of the specials of the night.  Unfortunately the pork was over-cooked (to well-done).  I didn’t love the bbq flavored potatoes either.  Wouldn’t get this one again.

And then came the sugar!!

 

White Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding     Chocolate Molten Cake

And somehow I don’t have the pictures of the Beignets.  They were light and fluffy and sweet.  They came with Cinnamon Crème Anglaise that was SERIOUS.  It was so tasty I thought a spoonful of it my coffee would be perfect.  And it was!

We had such a good time.  The meal was slowly paced.  Lots of time for chatting and catching up.  Our monthly dinner dates have been our only time with Tracie & Roland so we’ve got lots to catch up on!

July’s Dinner Club is planned and I look forward to telling y’all the details!  Any suggestions? 

There are so many yummy spots in our Queen City.  And there are places on our list that we’ve never been to.  Barrington’s for instance.  How have I lived in Charlotte for over 13 years and haven’t been to Barrington’s??  Ridiculous!  We will fix this problem!

Sharing the dirt…

I don’t know if this is happening in your area but around these parts we are seeing more and more community gardens.  I love the idea of this.  Sharing the earth with your fellow neighbors – it’s good stuff, right!   It also is a lovely thing because we have so many big trees in our yard that we don’t get enough sun to produce the produce.  Did you read that right? Ok good. 

Our neighborhood has just recently opened a Community Garden.  Joe and I were super excited to get a plot!  So when I went to investigate – I found out all the plots were spoken for already!  Sad day.  But not for long.  I received a phone call from one of the people involved with the garden and she said there was a little different opportunity available.

The garden is right across from the Elementary school and the children have plots that they work on.  But when school is out for the summer the children won’t be there to work the land and if left all summer it will just be full of weeds! Dun dun de dah! (to the tune of the “day saving super hero song”.)  In step Joe and Katy to the rescue!  Well maybe it’s not the quite that dramatic but hey we’re going to love on the land and hopefully enjoy some fruit from our labor.

So our little plot of land looked like this when we started. 

We had a good bit of weeding to do…  but after a good bit of back breaking work we had a beautiful plot to plant our tomatoes in.  They provide compost, mulch and water all for a VERY small fee each year.  It’s a really good bargain

And after a couple of weeks here’s how they are looking today:

The other really cool part about a Community Garden is you can check out all the other plots and see how they’re doing…

     

We even have a little sitting area – how cute is that!!

So…  do you have a garden in your neighborhood or in the backyard?  What are you growing?  Any good tips for an un-experienced green thumb?

Client Project

I have a client that is wanting to update their family room.  They recently purchased a new sofa, loveseat and ottoman / coffee table.  Here’s where we are starting:

They were completely open to color scheme and we have a fairly neutral palate to start from.  I always like to give my clients options, normally three different directions they can take.  Each plan is “good design” but one color scheme may speak more than the next.  The plan is to paint the walls and add color through accessories, artworks and drapes.  On the fireplace wall, we are removing the brass fireplace screen and working on the mantle.  We’ll be adding drapes to the windows.  This will add visual height to the room along with softness!  So on to the design presentation!

Here are the three options I presented:

Option A:

Option B:

 

 

Option C:

So…  do you have a favorite??

 

They chose option C!  She loved the pop of red and I think it will be perfect!  The deep chocolate brown window treatments will add a bit of drama that the space can definitely handle!

 

Hopefully we’ll have some “After” pictures soon to share as well!  Have you been working on any plans for a future project?

 

Oh, and by the way I use Polyvore for making my design boards – it’s a great site.  If you haven’t checked it out yet – do so!!