Art , Dogs & a Baby

That's what's on my list for tomorrow--visit the Columbia Museum of Art and shop for the dogs at Pupcakes Pet Boutique with Jones.  Then, tomorrow night we'll indulge at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner with some close family friends, a December 23rd tradition, (or as my Dad calls it- Christmas Eve Eve).

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I am dying to see the Hudson River School Painters Exhibit; just gonna pop Jones in his sling and expose him to some beautiful art.  Then, we'll venture to Pupcakes to get new collars and treats for the dogs for Christmas.

I am off of work and Jones is out of school, and I can't imagine a more perfect day.

Happy Holidays!

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The Weekly Round Up

Wondering how you're going to spend this beautiful spring week in Columbia? Well, here are some ideas:

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*Dine with your dog at Solstice tomorrow, Tuesday, May 11th--they only have a few more spots, so hurry! Your dog gets a 3-course meal provided by Pupcakes and you get to eat off of Solstice's amazing menu. Call 461-0236 to make a reservation. Can't make it tomorrow? Make a reservation to dine with your dog at Mr. Friendly's next Wednesday, May 19th.

*Tuesday, May 11th is also Family Night at Edventure--admission is only $1! (Every 2nd Tuesday of the month).

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*Rebecca Howser Interiors, located at 2126 Devine Street, is hosting a local artists sale on Wednesday, May 12th from 4-8 PM. Snacks and spirits will be served and artists include Lauren Maurer, Tiffany Anderson, Beverly Stidham, John Mood, Bill Davis, Roger Hutchison, Alicia Leeke, Shayna Katzman Simoneaux, Blanche Quinn, Amanda Ladymon, Barbie Mathis, Stacy Morgan, Rachel Parker and Keith Tolen. See Facebook invitation here.

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*And, if you don't find that perfect piece to hang above the sofa Wednesday night, then head to the Contemporaries' Artist of the Year Soiree and Auction on Thursday from 7-10 pm. Spruce up your walls - or add to your collection - with affordable artwork from some of South Carolina's most talented emerging artists. Food, entertainment, drinks and over 125 pieces of art up for auction. $30 for general public or FREE for Contemporaries' members. Click here for more info.

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*May15th is the 23rd Annual Carolina Children's Home BBQ Cook-Off. Admission is $10 at Gate 11 of the State Fairgrounds, and all proceeds go to a very worthy cause. Sample up to 50 kinds of BBQ, listen to music and entertain the kiddos.

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*Monday, May 17th the 12th annual Vista Queen Pageant, the most outrageous benefit ever, will be held at Trustus Theatre. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door; cocktail hour is from 6-7 pm, and the pageant begins at 7. Contestants will be judged in talent, evening gowns and a question and answer session. The audience will help the judges decide the winner by purchasing tickets and "voting" for the contestant of their choice. I'm sure this will prove to be quite an entertaining evening, while helping raise funds for the fabulous Trustus Theatre. See the Facebook invitation here.

I will be heading to the beach on Thursday morning, so you'll have to fill me in on the fun!

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Wine, Music, Wings, and Pets

Here's my quick run-down of things to do in Columbia this weekend (and early next week):

Project Pet logo
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Thursday, April 8th: Print out and take this Project Pet newsletter to Cellar on Greene between 5 and 7 pm to participate in a wine tasting for only $5. (The tasting is typically $10, but with the newsletter you get the discount and proceeds go to Project Pet). Love drinking for a cause :) And tell the folks at Cellar you read about it on Au Courant Columbia!

After the wine tasting you can head to 5 Points to hear Coolie G with Joal Rush & the Wares, Remedy at the 5 after 5 concert. Starts at 6:30. (Or, if you'd rather, head to The Vista to hear The Shakers at Vista After 5; starts at 5 pm).

Town Mountain, featuring Columbia's own Barrett Smith
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Sunday, April 11th: Skip down to Main Street for the 2nd annual Capital City Music & Wing Fling. Tickets are $5 in advance and there will be tons of awesome music and wings; gates open at noon and event lasts until 7 pm. Town Mountain (swoon!) is playing at 2:55 pm, and there will also be music inside The White Mule. Wing vendors include Village Idiot, Wings & Ale, Sly Fox and many more.
Monday, April 12th: Go eat at Carolina Ale House in Harbison between 6-9 pm, and print and take this card with you to give to your server. 10% of your meal cost will go to help the SC Humane Society.


Tuesday, April 13th: And, if you would like to take the animal thing a step further and actually dine with your dog, then make a reservation for you and your pooch at Solstice for Tuesday night at 7 pm. You order from Solstice's awesome menu, and your dog gets a gourmet 3-course meal from Pupcakes. Call (803)461-0236 to make a reservation. Cost is $12 for your dog.

What are your weekend plans?

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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?

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Week of Christmas Rush

I can't believe it's the week of Christmas! I have not wrapped or baked anything, my house needs a thorough cleaning before Christmas Eve dinner for my family can be served there, and I have more than a couple presents left to buy...nothing out of the ordinary for me; procrastination is king in my home.

Here are some things I am hunting down for last-minute Christmas gifts:

For the dogs:
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Pupcakes is having a sale on one item each day until Christmas...today's item: 30% of all sweaters and coats. My dogs won't be getting clothing this year, but some snacks are on my list. [Register on the Pupcakes website to receive their e-newsletter letting you know about all the great sales!]


For my mom, sister, sister-in-law, grandmother, friends:
image via Hand Picked e-newsletter

Hand Picked has multiple items for only $1; this week only! Items include initial lip balm, glass bangles, sterling silver CZ post earrings, and sterling silver ball post earrings. Plus, through January 2nd, everything in the store is 20-40% OFF!

For my pops:
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A Rosso gift certificate...I LOVE this restaurant, and so does my dad...if I get him a gift certificate, there's a good chance he'll take me along when he goes to use it :) And, if you buy a $50 gift certificate from either Rosso or Gervais & Vine, you get a FREE bottle of wine!

And for anyone on your list with children, a great gift is a Kids in the Kitchen cookbook, created by Young Chef's Academy, in conjunction with St. Lawrence Place, a transitional housing program for homeless families with children. The cookbooks are only $10 each, and all the proceeds will go to support St. Lawrence Place. They can be purchased from the following local vendors, or by contacting me at bsmith@stlawrenceplace.org:
Young Chef's Academy
Trinity Cathedral Bookstore
Mary & Martha's
Rosewood Market
Groucho's Deli on Forest Drive
Shandon Presbyterian Church

Happy last-minute prepping/shopping/cleaning/baking for Christmas!
What do you have left to do?

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Pumpkins, chili, and pretty things

So, this past Saturday was one of my favorties on record...it was jam-packed with fun Columbia events as well as shopping, playing with my nephew and eating great food with a great friend...what else is there? Plus, the weather was rainy and chilly--perfect for fall events.

We started the day at the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church on Heyward Street for their Fall Festival and Pumpkin Patch. (We had originally planned to go to a different pumpkin patch, but this one boasted a band and jump houses for the kids...who could resist?!)

Benjamin, my 2-year old nephew, loved every minute of it--he picked up every pumpkin he could muster, and some he couldn't--he danced all by himself to the music, (don't you just love the audacity of toddlers!), and he wooed the little old ladies selling baked goods.

Ben, channeling Michael Jackson here...

After picking out several fine pumpkins, my sister, Ben, James, my mom and I left the Fall Festival to do a little shopping of the Aunt Ba-Ba variety...Devine Street. I had to go to HandPicked, as they had pashminas on sale for $11 each! I am a complete sucker for a scarf/wrap and wear one almost every day during the fall and winter--I purchased 2 at HandPicked, royal blue and silver. Then we headed into Pupcakes to say hello to Blue and Prada and picked up some treats for our children, Peach and Abby. Ben loved playing with the dog toys!

Stopped in The Bohemian and snapped a pic of this amazing coat...I die...

Then stopped in Just the Thing and glimpsed this awesome turqouise bracelet...Christmas is coming...

After some shopping, the rest of the crew went home for toddler lunch and nap, and James and I headed to 5 Points for the 23rd Annual Group Therapy Chili Cook-off. Such a treat! Not only were there plenty of cheap and tasty chilis to try, but live music, beer, and people-watching too! And all the proceeds from this year's event went to Camp Kemo--I just love a fun event for a great cause!

As much as I wanted my favorite chili of the day to be made by a husband-wife team or the really-country-didn't-spend-money-on-a-frou-frou-sign-or-condiments team, my ultimate favorite chili ended up having been made by Pawley's Front Porch. It had black beans and pintos and a really nice and kind of different flavor...plus they had mini jalapeno corn muffins to go with it.

After we stuffed ourselves with chili, we went home for a lazy afternoon before I headed out for dinner at Granville's. I'll post my review of dinner later.

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I heart Fall...and Pupcakes!

Happy first day of Fall!

Fall is by far my favorite season of the year. Though we don't get as spectacular a leaf-color-change in SC as we did when I lived in Lexington, Virginia, SC still gets a little nip in the air, and the sun that coats the landscape is a little more sepia-toned.

My favorite month of the year comes in Fall--November. I love November because of Thanksgiving, the proximity to Christmas, the chill in the air, being able to finally wear gorgeous scarves like this one, and also admittedly because of that damned movie Sweet November with Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron...not exactly Oscar-worthy, but it touched me nonetheless. And, lest I forget to mention, my wedding anniversary is in November-- November 22nd will be Year 1!

On this beautiful first day of Fall, I had the pleasure of visiting Pupcakes on Devine Street in Columbia.

If you have a dog, know someone who does, or just like dogs, you should visit Pupcakes Pet Boutique. They are currently located at 2732 Devine Street, but will be opening a new location at 625 Harden Street this Thursday, September 24th!

I ventured into the store for the first time recently and purchased a dog bowl that I had seen advertised on their Facebook page--it is called a "Brake-fast Bowl" and the intent is to slow down your lightning-speed eater. My dog, Abby, used to inhale her food--literally--she didn't even chew the pellets, just swallowed, and I just felt like that couldn't be good for her.

But now, since the introduction of the "Brake-fast Bowl," she actually lies down to eat her food because it takes her a good 3 minutes to get every pellet. Such an improvement!

Abby eating lying down

Plus, it's a great conversation piece because it is so funny looking.

In addition to having great gifts and treats for dogs or dog-lovers, Pupcakes has a very friendly and helpful staff, including 2 precious dogs named Blue and Prada. The human staff, Marie Lipton and Amanda Hamilton, are true dog lovers, as well as humanitarians--Pupcakes recently signed on to be a Platinum Level Sponsor of the inaugural "Race for the Place" 5K to benefit St. Lawrence Place, (the non-profit where I work), to take place on February 6, 2010.

I highly recommend stopping by one of their locations soon to treat your dog to something special! Say hi to Prada and Blue for me!

Blue and Prada of Pupcakes

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