I’ve always been a fan of a great at-home bar. I strongly believe it’s a must-learn life skill to mix up classic cocktails, and as an avid host, it’s important to provide an array...
Looking back on Easter as a child, I remember how excited I was to dig through my Easter basket. Full of chocolate bunnies, malt ball Easter eggs, Peeps, golden coins, and my favorite Cadbury...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
Don’t get me wrong, happy hour with the girls is one of my favorite things to do each week, and bringing a bottle of wine is always appreciated when we’re stopping by each other’s houses. Alcohol, whether we’ll admit it or not, is a cornerstone for so many of our social activities, especially being in our late twenties and early thirties. This realization recently had me thinking how difficult it makes it for those trying to cut back, avoid the hangovers or maybe even connect on a deeper level. It can feel like there’s not much to do with your friends without having a drink in-hand.
But for all of the time in between the parties, the wine nights and the happy hours, there’s a lot of life. And these moments can offer quality time with your besties that is healthier, more stimulating and ultimately fulfilling. In the past year, I personally have really taken a step back from going out all of the time, and now look so much more forward to catching up with my friends doing activities we love. That includes hiking, cooking, having an at-home spa night (I’m a product junkie) and volunteering together.
So instead of groaning about there being no things to do without drinking, get creative. Ask yourself, when was the last time you spent time volunteering together? Painting together? Cooking together? Check out my list of ideas for things to do with your girlfriends without drinking below, and tell me what you love to do with your ladies. Cheers, Kat
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All of my friends know that I’m a beauty product buff. I am absolutely obsessed with finding new great green skincare and beauty products. So at the top of my list of things to do without drinking (and even on a night where they’re all out drinking without me…) is an at-home spa night.
Get it on the calendar, and get your besties together to indulge in some self love. Leave your phones at home (or in the other room) and set the mood with relaxing music, crystals charged, the diffuser turned on, nontoxic candles lit and don only you comfiest clothes.
My favorite things to do: apply a detoxifying face mask, whip the Clarisonic out and exfoliate, hydrate from the inside out by drinking coconut water or aloe water, give your body a one-over with a dry brush, moisturize all over with coconut oil, apply a hair mask, and give yourself (or your friend) a solid mani and/or pedi (here’s our favorite nontoxic nail polish brand).
I’ve recently found such fulfillment in volunteering. I think the key is finding something you really, really enjoy doing personally and figure out a way to give back. I’ve recently become more and more interested in gardening (even if it’s just a potted plant and indoor herbs for right now). So I was thrilled to find The Nashville Food Project, a local nonprofit that invited volunteers into their community gardens to help grow and harvest vegetables to feed the hungry around town, as well as help out in their prep kitchens.
If you can sync up your interests, bring a friend or two along with you next time you visit your favorite charity or nonprofit. It will be an incredibly refreshing chance to unplug, accomplish good acts together, and help each other live a fuller life.
A game night at home can help take the pressure off a weekend night out on the town. And no, I’m not talking about drinking games. So many of the greatest tabletop games can be enjoyed with a few snacks and some laughs.
When planning the night, poll the crowd and bring out the tried-and-true favorites, and consider having a new game to keep things interesting.
My personal favorites include Balderdash (seriously so fun and better the more creative you get), Monopoly (because it’s a classic…I’m always the one that wants to play for 3 hours until she starts losing), Scrabble (always a family favorite), Settlers of Catan, Sorry and The Game of Life.
Get together and flex your creative muscles; you’ll be surprised at how relaxed, recharged and rejuvenated you’ll feel after! Whether that’s by doing a craft together, painting, drawing, coloring, making jewelry, knitting, crocheting, mixing essential oil blends or repurposing furniture, you can reap the benefits of meditative and inspiring work…you may even solve some world problems while doing so.
Gathering together to cook a great meal doesn’t always require alcohol! If you’re afraid of being tempted, I’d suggest picking up a healthy cookbook to encourage health-minded dining (why botch the light meal with one too many glasses of wine?!).
The Yoga Kitchen and Nutrition Stripped are my go-to’s when I’m in the mood to stay in and cook with my girlfriends. Both books make it easy and fun to bring together nourishing ingredients, without getting too out there.
Connecting with nature is so good for your mind, body and soul, and if you can do it with a girlfriend in tow, it’s even better. I cherish the time I spend on walks or hikes with my friends; it’s the perfect time to catch up, give advice and laugh about last weekend’s shenanigans.
Not to mention, the endorphins, fresh air and vitamin D will have you feeling like a rockstar. It’ll help you choose positivity (and get your daily steps in!). And no matter rain or shine, my favorite parks around town include Percy Warner and Radnor Lake.
I love the idea of harnessing your goals and dreams with a strong mood board. They’re visually stimulating, inspiring and just all around beautiful on the wall.
Invite your BFF over and hash out your color palettes, pull together your favorite art prints, and fan through stacks of magazines to piece together your board.
Happy Friday! We’re ending the week on a high note with a great roundup of easy travel packing tips that will help even the over-packers reading this. Plus we’re hosting a fun giveaway that we’ve been itching to announce with our friends at Mark & Graham. See that gorgeous white luggage in the photos?! The monogramed carry-on suitcase can be yours; keep reading!
I’m an over-packer. There’s no ifs-ands-or-buts about it. And when a work trip or vacation has me packing a small carry-on suitcase—or large suitcase, I always find myself packing and stuffing the thing until its overweight. But recently I’ve been studying up and working on a few key, easy travel packing tips that help me maximize that coveted space.
The most game-changing of all the travel packing tips I’ve picked up being the use of dry cleaning bags to eliminate wrinkles caused from folding clothes and them shuffling around in transit. Plastic is our friend with packing, people.
So as I’m literally gearing up to hit the road again today—see you soon, Ponte Vedra!—I’ll be implementing these seven easy travel packing tips I’ve outlined below.
On a side note, I am utterly obsessed with the look of this gorgeous white carry-on suitcase, and can’t wait to put it to use on my trip. Thanks to Mark & Graham, one of our lucky readers can win it and begin implementing our tips asap!
Simply enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter widget below, and stay tuned for a great transitional flying outfit post on Monday! Truly, MKR
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Tip #1: Avoid letting your hat get squished by stuffing a shirt in the inside of it, then fold and layer clothes around the brim so the brim stays peaking out.
Tip #2: Save space in your suitcase by stuffing your shoes with electronic cords, socks, jewelry, etc. Otherwise, that’s wasted space inside those shoes!
Tip #3: Pack travel size everything when it comes to beauty and personal care products…samples are great for these situations! And buy a pill case so that you can leave your pill bottles at home too; they take up too much room and this way you can pack only the amount you need.
Tip #5: Put all of your lingerie and undergarments in your delicates laundry bag. Then, as you wear an item, you can put it in the to-be-washed bag, and just throw it in the laundry when you get home.
Tip #6: Layer appropriately. Think of it like a cake; first layer should be rollable items that won’t get wrinkled like jeans, leggings, t-shirts, pajamas. Next, layer the folded items on top.
Tip #7: Between your layers as we mentioned in tip #6, lay down plastic bags or dry cleaning bags between folded layers of clothes. Since friction causes wrinkling, plastic reduces friction. If possible, pack all of your hanger items in individual plastic bags…they’ll arrive perfect and ready-to-wear!
Photography, Rustic White for Waiting on Martha | This post is in collaboration with Mark & Graham, a brand we love and adore. All opinions are 100% our own.
As you read yesterday, we recently set out on a pretty epic road trip throughout South Carolina, eating and drinking our way through a handful of the state’s must-see cities. And as we were driving from Greenville to Hilton Head and then onto Sea Island for The Southern C Summit, Columbia was a no-brainer for a pitstop. It was my first time in town, though Kat had been during college for a game or two to visit friends. It didn’t take me long to see that this was one FUN town on a college game day. The plethora of local breweries, great spots to catch some good grub, and the overall setup of the town really built the scene for a perfect weekend in the south. And as someone who didn’t have college football at their school, I can appreciate that more than you know!
We really lucked out with our itinerary on this part of the trip and our time in Columbia; the AFWF team powwow’ed with the state of South Carolina for must-eat, must-drink stops for us to get a feel for the place, setting us off in the fanciest Lexus SUV to roll us around in style. And after we were done in Columbia, we had our eyes set on a quick stop in Beaufort and finally settling in Hilton Head for the night.
The first on our list for the day was Rise Bakeshop, which was named Columbia’s Best New Restaurant last year by the readers of Free Times. Owned by Chef Sarah Simmons (who also owns CITY GRIT and Birds & Bubbles in Manhattan), the place boasts a big menu of southern staples at a fast-casual frequency. It’s the perfect place for a great biscuit, drool-worthy breakfast or lunch sandwiches and top quality salad bowls… basically everything they serve (minus the cheese) is prepared in-house using only the best ingredients. It was totally right up our alley; the team piled up on sweet and savory treats for later, only after talking to the lovely Chef Sarah and hearing her story. This talented lady really knows her stuff; she’s been recognized as one of the most creative people in business, a new and notable chef, and one of America’s best new cooks, and many more accolades by Food & Wine, Zagat and Fast Company magazine just to name a few. Her drive and passion for the industry was contagious, too; she told us about her big plans to continue paving the way in Columbia for top-scale dining. We definitely plan to keep an ear out for her next endeavor…with Columbia only three hours away from Atlanta, it would be a great excuse to come check out a new restaurant of hers and have a little weekend getaway.
After our stop at Rise, we piled back in the car to make our way to 2Fat2Fly where friends/owners Ramone Dickerson and Cory Simmons have in all seriousness, changed the game with their absolutely, ridiculously awesome stuffed chicken wings. That’s right; you read that correctly…stuffed chicken wings. The name may be my favorite part about the biz too with a play on the stuffed chicken that are too fat to fly! We arrived hungry, because we didn’t want to waste this chance at this when-in-Rome experience here in Columbia. And a side note, the guys were sweet to let us come in; they were actually closed for dining because it was Super Bowl Sunday and the team was busy in the back preparing catering orders all day long. But the boys showed us the utmost southern hospitality as they brought out some of their finest stuffed wings for us to enjoy (with the place to ourselves!). And man, the lineup was creative, innovative and irresistible: mac & cheese, chicken & waffles dunked in maple syrup, jambalaya rice & sausage, collard greens & rice and lastly, jalapeno, bacon & cheese. Insane, right?! They were some of the best wings we’ve ever ate…I mean just mind blowing how they actually stuff them. We definitely put a dent in the platter in front of us, but alas we did go home with some wings that we knew would be just as good heated up later that night!
We knew we wanted to pop around Columbia for a little bit longer, and since the city has a great brewery scene, we stopped by River Rat Brewing next for a flight of craft beers. The brewery was super laid-back and welcoming; one of those places where you’d want to hang out with a few of your friends for a few hours. It had a great, large outdoor area that would be so perfect for sunny weather and a good #SundayFunday. The space was awesome, and one we’d definitely recommend visiting for yourself.
Before we knew it, it was time to hit the road again, and we wanted to swing through super charming Beaufort on the way to Hilton Head. Whenever you’re passing through South Carolina, it’s really worth your while to stop through here; the quiet streets of antebellum homes nestled on the water make it the most idyllic little town. If you have time, be sure to rent bikes and meander the streets covered in Spanish moss; they’ll take your breath away! And if you have time to catch a quick bite, you must go to Q on the Bay for some of the best BBQ around (with Alabama white sauce of course), and homemade strawberry cake (recipe stays in the family…don’t worry I’ve already tried to get it).
Our final stop on deck for this epic South Carolina road trip: Hilton Head. It was such a treat to get a little taste of springtime weather here, and the cool ocean breeze and sand between our toes put a smile on all of us. We had a ton of recommendations to go check out Hilton Head Brewing Co., the island’s first brewery located on the north end. We were so glad we did; after getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the brewery, we enjoyed tasting several of their finest IPA’s at the bar. The new-to-town brewer, Nick Farstad, impressed us with his drive to get the brewery back to booming post-Hurricane Matthew, and he was great to teach us about the diverse flavor profiles of some of the brewery’s most beloved beers. We left there wishing Nick and team the best in his efforts to “put HHI on the [beer] map.” We know we’ll be back for another round soon!
Our last (and maybe my favorite) reservation found us at One Hot Mama’s, the culinary brain child and family-friendly BBQ joint by the talented Chef Orchid Paulmeier. You may remember Chef Orchid from season 7 of The Next Food Network Star! Chef Orchid sure knows what she’s doing; the spread set us back a few lbs. probably (because we just couldn’t leave any bites left behind), and we all settled into a comfortable and happy food coma after we devoured what was on the table. I think my favorite dish was the juicy-wet ribs, but I know that Kat couldn’t stop talking about those wings and Kathryn loved the macaroni & cheese. The one thing we could all agree on though; the chocolate, bacon pecan pie. Bold statement here, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a better dessert! Definitely worth a visit when you’re on HHI.
Whew! To say we had a great time meeting these talented chefs, eating this fantastic food and enjoying these drinks throughout South Carolina is a major understatement. Big thanks to AFWF, Discover South Carolina and Lexus for making it all happen. I know I can speak for the team in saying how fortunate we felt to have had the chance to see some of these hidden (and not-so-hidden) gems around the state. It’ll make it even more fun to meet up with the chefs at this year’s Atlanta Food & Wine Festival during the first weekend in June! Early Bird tickets go on sale 3.24, so be sure to set a reminder in your calendars…it’s one of my favorite events all year! Check out a few peeks from last year’s festival below (but most importantly, read about the tasting tents you’ll want to visit first!) to see what all of the buzz is about. Truly, MKR
