February Faves

So, now that the big race is over, and our Super Bowl party is history, I feel the need to enumerate some things to look forward to in the next week, so here goes:

1. My sister's Baby Reveal Party! Tomorrow night I am going to a Gender Reveal party for close family and friends where my baby sister will let us know the sex of the baby that she is due to have on June 28th. I am so excited to find out...she's doing a really cute-themed party where we have to wear blue or pink based on which sex we think it is, then we'll bite into cupcakes and see which color icing is inside to find out the actual sex! (We got the idea from Hostess with the Mostess' blog post here).

2. Going to see An Education at The Nickelodeon this Wednesday night. This film has received 3 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.



3. Valentine's Day...I will be babysitting my nephew, Ben, for the night and allowing his parents to celebrate V-Day, as my husband will be working all day and night. We plan on celebrating V-Day the following night. I am super-excited about the gift that I will be giving my husband this year! (Thanks for the idea, Rebecca).

4. Beginning my book club book of the month, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

5. My second week weigh-in tomorrow night for Hampton Hills Biggest Loser. I am crossing my fingers that not drinking and dieting for 2 weeks has continued to pay off in weight loss!

What are you looking forward to this week?

Just 'Cause

I am having a stressy day today--pulling together the details for a 5K race with over 200 participants is not easy...and in the cold and rain no less. Especially when people don't do what they say they're going to do...ugh!

So, instead of thinking about it for the next 5 minutes, I am thinking of the pedicure that I will have tomorrow afternoon when it is all over.

Here are my new favorite colors:

Metro Chic Sephora by OPI:

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Fashion by deborah lippman:
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{I don't actually own this exact color, but I did find a Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear polish that is pretty similar at Walgreen's, it's called Celeb City Frost}.

OK, thanks for indulging me in that 5-minute escape.
What are your favorite nail polish colors?

Everything's Coming Up Cupcakes

OK, so this post may have sprouted from the fact that I am limiting my diet recently, so it has not included any sweets. I usually do not have much of a sweet tooth, but cupcakes are a new passion of mine, and more because I love the way they look than for the taste. They're just damn charming, aren't they?

I made some for a party I had right before Christmas--2 kinds, lemon cupcakes with a lemon cream cheese frosting, (the same recipe my sister used for my wedding cake), and my grandmother's infamous "Ms. Wolfe's Cupcakes." (I will save the recipe for a future post, but they are unbelievable--a chocolate cupcake with a sweet white icing and then a layer of dark chocolate ganache on top, hardened in the fridge. To die for...)

Just in the past 2 days I have seen posts about cupcakes on a few different blogs that I read...

Like Post Grad Hair Cut's post: Vancouver Guide: CoCo Cupcakes.

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{Coco Cupcakes' Hungry Caterpillar}

And this post from simplesong: ticings.
You can order these sheets of edible icing printed with contemporary designs to use with your own cupcakes!

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And finally Happy Lady Eats' post the best cupcake in {san diego}:

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{chocolate and red velvet cupcakes from the Daily Scoop in San Diego}

So, here I am doing my own cupcake post...about the only cupcake shop I know of in Columbia, (please, do tell, if there are more): Cupcake.

Cupcake's original location is in Charleston, and one moved into the Vista in Columbia last year. There are 9 cupcake flavors baked fresh daily. They also sell Cupcake Gift Tokens, packaged in a pink or chocolate brown bag, you can send a 1/2 dozen, dozen or more tokens as a gift to be redeemed at any Cupcake store. What a sweet surprise Valentine's gift that could be!

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{lemon blueberry cupcake from Cupcake}

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{Cupcake is located in the Vista at 1213 Lincoln St}

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{Cupcake Columbia's daily flavor chart}

Has anyone tried cupcakes from Cupcake in Columbia? What's your favorite?

J. Mayer in the House

And by the way...

Did anyone hear about the surprise, FREE show that John Mayer put on at the Carolina Coliseum last night?! Apparently, he twittered that any USC student could come--tickets were at the Russell House, first come, first served. Man, I wish I got Twitter updates on my phone...
I'm not a USC student, but still have an ID from a few years ago, think they would have bought it?

Anyway--did anyone get to go to the show? I heard it was really intimate, maybe only 200 people or so, and that he was really hot...

And, just so you know, he's staying at The Hilton Columbia Center hotel in the Vista...my husband works at the Ruth's Chris there and knew he would be in town over a week ago. I have threatened to stalk him by hanging out at the hotel bar this week, but haven't done it yet.

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I know I'm flying my freak flag a little, and my father is probably cringing as I type this, but I love J. Mayer's full-sleeve tattoo.

A Word for Wednesday

urfeit: an overabundant supply or indulgence.


As in: I avoided eating or drinking a surfeit of anything this past week, (including alcohol), and was rewarded with a 7 lb weight loss at my Biggest Loser weigh-in last night! (Sorry, a little unabashed gloating is called for every now and then!)

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Or: Everyone in the Columbia area should go to Smoke Barbeque's Whole Hog 4 Haiti party on Saturday, February 6th, 12-8 PM. Although I am not a fan of eating pig right off the spit, I am sure there will be a surfeit of other wonderful food to sample. Plus, there will be amazing music from Danielle Howle, American Gun, Black Bottom Biscuits, and more!

Sponsored by Smoke and Caw Caw Creek.
$10/adult suggested donation.

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische.

Do-Gooder Monday

Some chances to do good this week:


1) Register for the first ever Race for the Place 5K run/walk to be held this Saturday, February 6th at 8:30 am. All proceeds from this event will benefit St. Lawrence Place, a transitional housing program for homeless families in the Midlands. {I work at SLP and have been helping organize this event, so I'm a bit biased, but you should do it!}

Sponsors include: BlueCross BlueShield, Bank of America, 621 Athletes, Pupcakes Pet Boutique, Doc's Barbeque and Southern Buffet, Edisto Irrigation & Landscaping, Pinnacle Physical Therapy, Shandon-Wood Animal Clinic, Cottage & Vine, Ed Robinson Dry Cleaners, Chick-fil-A, Young Chef's Academy, Allegra Printing, Piggly Wiggly, Colonial Life, and Mad Platter!

There will be a Fun Run for kid's under age 12, and Chick-fil-A will be on-site with the cow and free food, as well as Young Chef's Academy with an activity for kids and Ed Robinson Cleaners with a raffle for free dry cleaning!

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2) Eat at Village Idiot in 5 Points tonight--100% of sales from 4-close today will be given to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund!

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3) Go to the Junior League's Clean Sweep event at the Fairgrounds this Saturday, (after the race of course!) 8am- 2 pm; $2 for parking and $2 admission; at 12:30-1 pm the sale closes and then from 1-2 pm you can pay $5 to fill up a bag as full as possible with donated items such as DVDs and music, linens, books, home and garden items, etc...a junk-finder's dream! And all the proceeds go to help the Junior League fund community projects for local non-profits.

Know of any other charitable events going on this week?

Greens & Eggs

I started my chilly and wet morning at the All-Local Farmer's Market with two of my favorite people, my husband and our friend Jason who is in town from Afghanistan.

Keeping up with my 31 Things to do in my 31st year, I purchased some amazing fresh flowers from Floral & Hardy of Lexington, SC. (Love the clever name!) The owners mentioned to me that they are trying to get their flowers picked up for sale by Earthfare, (the store claims to be open to carrying local brands and products, but so far no luck). So, next time you're in Earthfare, do Floral & Hardy a favor and mention to an employee that you would love to see some of their beautiful flowers for sale there.

Beautiful stems from Floral & Hardy. Doesn't the bottom one's petals look like little slivers of pickled ginger? So gorgeous.

I then moved on to purchase Sunflower Sprouts from City Roots and Butter Bibb Lettuce (I think) from Freshly Grown Farms--these are the 2 local farms that are featured in this week's Free Times article Columbia's New Farmers:Urban Entrants Changing Face of Agriculture. Gorgeous, fresh-as-you-can-get lettuces!


I also bought a dozen free-range, antibiotic and hormone-free eggs from Wil-Moore Farms, and then a piece of vanilla pound cake from Tasty Treats Bakery out of Leesville, SC. (I am presently dieting in full-force for the Biggest Loser Challenge, so I can't eat the pound cake, but somehow, just purchasing a piece gives me some of the satisfaction I might get from actually eating it. Then, later I can also live vicariously through whoever ends up eating it).

After the market we headed to Gotham Bagel Cafe for brunch. None of us had ever eaten there, and it was a very nice experience. I love the open, urban, warehousey-feel of the building where Gotham is located, and it's also a plus that it's a part of the revitalized Columbia Main Street. The staff was very friendly and we had very quick service.

Cool architectural details inside Gotham.

Gratuitous shot of the sweets case--just 'cause I can't eat them right now.

Jason ordered a Philly Cheese steak with curly fries, James had a special sandwich called The Legend with potato salad, and I had a 3-egg Cheese Omelet with feta and mozzarella. The Cheese Steak was doused in an authentic-like cheese sauce, and James said the potato salad was very tasty. My omelet was perfect--the cheese to egg ratio was just right and it was nicely seasoned with salt and pepper.

Philly Cheese Steak

The Legend- roasted turkey, swiss, feta, sun-dried tomatoes, and red peppers.

Overall, it was a great easy-like-Saturday morning. How did you spend your Saturday?