My trips or places I would love to visit

Charleston’s Angel Oak Tree

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Magnificent isn’t it?
This is the Angel Oak tree in Charleston. This is one of the last places that we visited on our trip. Some people kept telling us that it was 1,500 years old but the most common estimate is 400 to 500 years old. 
The tree is a southern live oak tree and is located on Johns Island in Charleston. 
It was truly a sight to see in person. 
I am glad that the city is protecting this. If the facts are true then this tree was planted around the 1600’s! That’s remarkable! It appears that it could have existed around the same time that the Magnolia Plantation was established. 
It was truly exquisite to see and just staring at it just makes you imagine of the things that this tree has seen. It is truly remarkable.
I hope that you enjoyed this post! Thank you for reading!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley) 

Our Visit to The Magnolia Plantation in Charleston

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Sorry for the delay and non-post on Monday. I was having some Google trouble and had to wait a day to fix it. I have been trying to get the photos together for this post. I knew that I had a lot and that it would take awhile to download them to the blog. But without further ado……

On our second day in Charleston last month my family and I decided to visit Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. The plantation was founded in 1676 and has survived the centuries and important events such as the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. 

We drove down this magnificent path and just took in all the land and the gardens. 
During the month of July the plantation had $5 days where all of the tours were just $5! We signed up for the home tour, garden tour and boat tour. Look at these magnificent trees! 

There were enormous butterflies everywhere. 

We began in the biblical garden. 
“Give fools their gold and knaves their power,
Let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall,
Who sows a field or trains a flower
or plants a tree, is more than all”.
~Whittier 

Descriptions everywhere to read. 

John 12:13
The large “feathery” leaves of phoenix dactylifera, the date palm that is native to palestine, were used as emblems of victory or triumph.
When our Lord entered Jerusalem, the people “too branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him”. 
The middle is shaped like a cross.

Next was our tour of the home. Unfortunately, they did not allowed pictures inside while the tour was going on. Sorry!

It is striking. I can’t believe this house was built that long ago. 
Walking up to the porch. So stately!

Look at how vast this porch is! It was big enough to be a whole house!

Love this photo. It is a photo of the backyard. 
My husband, daughter and me.
Next, we took the boat tour around the grounds. 

This use to be where they made rice. There were lots of small alligators around.
After the boat tour and we walked the grounds a bit more. 

My husband taking pictures in the distance.

It was dreadfully hot! 
Beautiful blooms around the property.

A great place to have a wedding. 

I did manage to find some magnolias. Glorious aren’t they?
I almost forget to mention that peacocks roamed the property! I mean how elegant is that?

I did look around the gift shop and spotted some blue and white pieces. 
Honestly, my family and I has wonderful time and I truly enjoyed just walking around and discovering all of the features of this home. If you are ever in Charleston, I would highly recommend it. 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

A Historic Home Tour in Charleston

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I was really trying to visit more than one historical home but we could only seem to fit in one. The house that we visited was called the Nathaniel Russell House.

Walking up to this beautiful neoclassical home. 
The wonderful gardens. For a moment I felt like I was in England. 
I wish it was spring. I could just imagine the magnolia flowers in bloom. 
One of my favorite photos….
Once inside our tour guide began with this wonder. There were lots of details in these stairs. 
The windows….
I was fascinated with this piece. I could not remember what it was but I had to get a picture. 
As you can imagine I loved this setting. The blue and white looks so charming. 
Just look at the details in this ceiling. It’s extraordinary!
I was enamored with this room. The orange color on the walls, the drapes and how they flowed from windows, the antique blue and white chair. Not to mention the beautiful color of the original floors. 

The outdoor balcony…..
Then we entered this room. This is where the lady of the house would entertain her friends. I must admit that while our tour guide was discussing all of the details my attention to her was “in and out”. I just could not stop looking at all of the features in each room. 
One thing did happen during our tour. We were with a young family who were from the Netherlands and they were apart of our group. Once our tour guide began discussing how Mr. Russell was a slave broker their youngest daughter immediately turned to me and began staring. 
I don’t know what she expected. I guess she was waiting to see if I would get upset and have a fit or if I would just fall apart. I guess she was that curious about my reaction. She stared so much that it made our tour guide uncomfortable. She then stated in the middle of her explaining the job of Mr. Russell that “this was apart of history” and I agreed with her. I nodded to make her feel secure in what she was saying and to let the young girl know that all was well with me. Honestly, it is apart of history and African Americans were not the only slaves in history. So moving on…..
I had to get a photo of this beautiful Wedgwood piece 
Walking into the last room my daughter immediately noticed the harp. I could only imagine how much that was worth. 
Just look at the details!!!! She said it took years to restore everything. 

Just love the colors. 
It was a lovely tour and I did enjoy it. A lot of times I am inspired by the decor. It helps to come up with ideas for decor at home. Like some of the colors in this room. I would have never had thought to put pink with blue but it looks lovely. I believe the color of the furniture and the rug is pulling it all together. I hope that you enjoyed this tour and if you are ever in Charleston stop by the Russell home. 
Thanks for reading!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Our Meander to Rainbow Row

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It has been three weeks since we have returned home from Charleston and I am still thinking of it. It was such a magical place to me. I was so content just walking around and looking at all of the homes. It was splendid….

Before getting to Rainbow Row, we decided to park the truck and walk around the neighborhood. Pink houses were everywhere and I wanted to take a picture of each one of them. 

Everyone seem to have planter boxes outside their windows. A lot of people had fresh jasmine! You could smell it down the street. 

So colorful and vibrant.
Such a gorgeous neighborhood. It is shocking to know that in 1778 a fire destroyed most of this neighborhood. 
We turned the corner and there it was…… Rainbow row. 
My daughter and I just walked up and down the street looking at all of the pretty pastel colors. 

One of my favorite snapshots from the neighborhood. I love this picture! I can’t believe that I took it!
Such a nice area and a beautiful day weather wise. I thought that it was going to rain but I am glad that it didn’t. I really enjoyed looking at these homes and sharing this moment with my family. 
Another place that we stopped by the day before was Sullivan Island beach. It was so quiet and secluded. Although we did not have much sun it was the best day to go because it was the coolest day of the week. I am glad that we were able to see it!

We really enjoyed the beach and loved the place where we had lunch. We ended up eating at Poe’s Taven for lunch and stopped and grabbed some of the best ice cream at Republic Ice Cream. On our way back to the hotel my husband was gracious enough to let me stop at a few consignment stores. I refrained and did not purchase anything but it was nice seeing and visiting these places. 
Thanks for reading!!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Candy Shop Vintage in Charleston

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Roaming around Charleston is the best way to see it. Exploring all the nooks and crannies of the city is the perfect way to find new stores. Like this jewel below….

This is Candy Shop Vintage. It is a wonderful store if you enjoy vintage earrings and jewelry like me. I wanted so many pieces from the store but I refrained and only purchased one pair. 

Splendid aren’t they?

I felt like Marella Agnelli wearing this. It just felt iconic!
The sales associate there was so nice. She allowed me to try on as many pieces as I wanted. She was superb. 

Macaron trinket boxes… a perfect gift. 

I actually own one of those golden swans! I didn’t realize that it was vintage!

So many marvelous pieces…..

Of course I had to purchase a pair of vintage earrings. 

I adore these. I paid about $40 for them and they are clip-on earrings. They are a wonderful size and are comfortable. The sales associate said that they do ship! So if you see something online go ahead and order it. It’s a great way to get an outstanding vintage piece that no one else will have. 

It was so wonderful walking around in this area. We found a great bakery called the Sugar Bakeshop. It smelled wonderful as soon as you walked in. I was not able to get any treats because it was so hot and I did not want it to melt. I did end up going to Mac & Murphy. It was a nice little shop but I did not see anything that I wanted. 
We also did stumble onto a place called the Flowershop. It was closed but they did let us look around. It was beautiful and bijou. 
I really did enjoy my visit to these stores and hope that one day in the near future I can visit again. 
Thanks for reading!!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

An Elegant Boutique in Charleston

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After roaming around downtown Charleston on our first day my husband wanted to get in the truck and drive around a bit more and I am glad that we did. We ended up finding this wonderful little boutique not far from all of the beautiful historic Charleston homes.

The Boutique Charleston provides home furnishings, gifts for showers, anniversaries and birthdays. They also provide items for your bedrooms, bathrooms, and I also saw beautiful lingerie. 

I wanted to stay longer and look around but we were headed to the Magnolia Plantation and didn’t want to be late. 

There were beautiful faux flower arrangements everywhere. 
Beautiful linens

Sferra cocktails napkins and linens. 
The store was just beautiful!

And of course I had to pick up something.
And of course, I had them gift wrap it for myself. 
I wanted to have a wonderful surprise when I returned home.

I could not pass up those beautiful Sferra linen napkins. 

They are stunning and I am going to use them at home and work. I really loved this store and I guess it is a good thing that my husband was there because I would have seriously did some damage. 


(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Exploring Charleston

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We have returned home and I am sad. I have not stopped thinking about Charleston since we left. It has only been a few days and I MISS it desperately. I am serious. I really loved the homes, the gardens, the details in all the architecture, but mainly the historic homes.

I am so glad that my husband finally agreed to visit Charleston. It was so worth it to me.

Most of you may have already seen a lot of these photos on my Instagram account. At first I thought maybe I should not write any posts about the trip since some of it was documented on Instagram but I thought that there maybe some people who don’t have social media accounts and just read blogs. 

This was our first day in Charleston. The area is called Colonial Lake. It was a suggestion from Julia and what a great suggestion. We walked around the entire area and looked at all the homes for free!!!

There were beautiful flowering trees everywhere! I could not believe how much was still in bloom. Especially since it was so horribly HOT!!! I have to admit that the heat was merciless to us but I still enjoyed it. 

I don’t know about you but I could not get enough of the pink houses. They were my favorite!

I also wanted to be careful taking pictures of people’s homes. I was so afraid that one of them would come out and scream their head off. 

This was my absolute favorite photo! I loved this door and was going to walk by it but thought there is no way I am not going to take a picture of this!

These are the homes in the South of Broad area. There were lots of people walking around doing the same thing we were doing. Take pictures and savoring in all the beauty around them. 

Huge magnolia trees everywhere…. 

Vines growing on everyone’s homes and garage areas.

Once my family and I started walking around and looking at all of the homes the more they got into it. They began to read some of the information that was available on the outside of the homes. It became a wonderful day. In fact one of the neighbors did spot us taking a picture of her home and was very flattered. I was relieved. I did not want to offend her. She ended up telling us the process of how she purchased her home and gave us a free parking pass for the area! Fantastic right?
Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and I will continue with my Charleston adventure for the next few weeks to come. 

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)