Stephanie Howell

long weekend in savannah

this past weekend was so much fun.

j had a four day weekend for veteran's day...and the girls had friday off from school. friday evening we picked BB (my mom)up from the airport. to say the girls were excited would be a MASSIVE understatement. :)

we took her to b matthews for dinner. b matthews is on bay street (one street up from river street) and is a sweet little restaurant. there was a live jazz band and just a great,energetic vibe in that part of town.

saturday we headed down to city market. city market is the more touristy part of town (think paula deen's restaurant, cobblestone streets,street bands,and horse drawn carriages). my mom had never been in that part of savannah and we really wanted her to experience it!

we sat in ellis square and watched the girls watch the fountains and dance. i mean really...wouldn't it be awesome to be 3 and 5 and dance your heart out regardless of who is watching?

the big girls have wanted to go on a horse drawn carriage tour of savannah since we've lived here, and my mom decided to take them on one. this photo makes me laugh so hard i cry every single time i look at it. HAHAHAAAAAAA

still laughing. heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. okay. deep breath.

you may be shocked to know that we didn't think taking two one year olds on a horse drawn tour sounded fun. so while BB toured with the bigs, we hit up the telfair art fair with the littles.

there were white tents set up everywhere, feauturing work of local artists (jewelry,photography,paintings). i think the babies enjoyed their first cultural outing. hehe!

saturday night j and i had a DATE NIGHT!!! yes, you heard me correctly. DATE NIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!! okay, sorry...i got a little carried away. but seriously...so blessed to have a mom who loves my girls so much and encourages us to go out.

we ate at ele, a thai fusion restaurant i've been wanting to try for months. cross one more off of my savannah bucket list.

it.was.incredible.

sunday we went to church,walked down habersham a bit (i'd like to live here please,thankyouverymuch).

and then had brunch at firefly cafe. i have no fabulous food photos or photos of the restaurant because....

i was outside. the entire time. with these rascals.

turns out that *they* were NOT in the mood for a leisurely brunch. shocking, no? ;)

sunday night j and i went to see moneyball. TWO DATES IN A ROW!!! score! :) for the record, moneyball was fabulous.

and then monday i wrapped up a glorious long weekend by meeting up with my favorite ladies in the world for a baby shower (back at b. matthews).

i have to tell you that these ranger wives are the most amazing women in the world. strong, capable, funny,beautiful, and smart women and mothers. i adore them.

whew! it was FUN. so blessed to live in a place that we can have so many adventures! :)

have a beautiful wednesday!

xxo

blogging savannah: leoci's

i've been craving good italian food since we moved to savannah. heck, i've been craving authentic italian since we left olympia, wa! it's been way too long.

enter leoci's trattoria. my sweet friend kerryellen told me that i had to try it out, and as she's an italian food snob like i am, i trust her implicitly. :)

i was NOT disappointed. oh my word. my mouth is watering just thinking of it!

amazing ambience (think small,romantic, intimate,low lighting...with a darling outside seating area with twinkle lights), outstanding service, great wine selection, and the food was incredible.

(sorry for the dark/bad photos...please refer to the ambience description above ;)

we started with the mussels...yum. :) their bread and olive oil/basil/balsamic was delicious.

i got the lobster ravioli and it was SO GOOD. i had to control myself and make myself eat at a normal pace. hehehe!

i don't remember exactly what that is that jimmy got, but his was good as well. although mine was definitely the best.

if you are in town, you MUST add it to your savannah bucket list. :)

happy tuesday!

xxo

s

blogging savannah: the crab shack

if you want fried seafood, cheap seafood, or gourmet seafoood look elsewhere.

but if you want good old steamed, fresh seafood (in ridiculously HUGE amounts) combined with a good dose of atmosphere, go to the crab shack on tybee island.

it's touristy. and kind of expensive. but oh my WORD is it good.

The Crab Shack is my favorite place to get seafood in Savannah.

But if you go, go early because it gets busy. Plus you need time to explore. The place is HUGE! There are gators to see 

 

there's a gift shop and exotic birds to visit...but my favorite part? plain and simple...it's the food.

we usually get a low country boil (shrimp,potatoes,corn,sausage) and a platter (crab,shrimp,mussels,etc) and we have never finished. j came pretty close this time, but no dice. :)

 

and did i mention it's gorgeous there? it's on the water and there are several indoor areas to sit and one huge deck to sit on. to say it's a beautiful view/amazing atmosphere is an understatement.

so if you come this way, you have to add this to your savannah bucket list. :)

happy wednesday y'all!

xoxo

s

blogging savannah: green truck pub

i've decided that in the midst of the crafty posts, the "life" posts, and the giveaways...i want to blog more about savannah.

we are here about another year and i really want to take advantage of savannah and all of the amazing things that are here. i know i'll miss it so much when we leave.

now and then i'll be blogging things i love about this city. :)

so here's the first thing i want to share:

green truck pub.

i pass this restaurant every single day and my mouth waters every time. i've heard so many great things about it from so many people.

after seeing it featured in this month's savannah magazine (best gourmet burger in savannah) , i'd had enough. i decided we HAD to go. so go we did. which is an adventure in itself considering it's pretty small. and well...we have a lot of kids. :) but i was determined.

and it totally completely lived up to the hype 100 percent. oh.my.GOSH.

everything is from scratch (ketchup,pickles,condiments, you name it). and organic. grass fed beef, all local ingredients..all amazingly good.

and a fantastic selection of craft beers, which made a certain (handsome) someone VERY happy.

the homemade ketchup? is AMAZING. i can't even describe it. a little bit sweet...i probably could have just eaten it with a spoon.

i got the el jefe burger. cheddar, black bean and corn salsa,avocado and jalapenos.

and i ate

every

single

crumb on that plate.

it's 8 am and my mouth is watering again just looking at that photo. HA!

jimmy loved what he got and the girls asked for seconds!

i think it's safe to say we ALL loved it. it even got lucy's seal of approval. and in case you can't tell (by the size of those luscious legs!) she's our family foodie. ;)

so who's coming to visit???

love y'all! happy wednesday!

xxo

out on the town

last night we were given the gift of a night out on the town.

Two tickets to the savannah philharmonic's opening night at the historic lucas theater in savannah.

photos taken when i visited savannah in may of 2010

 

lucas theater is on one of my favorite squares in savannah, reynolds square. reynolds square is also home to one of the most delicious restaurants in savannah, the olde pink house.

 

the music was absolutely amazing. it was a tribute to america, to new york, to the victims of 9/11.

i got emotional a few times. during the star spangled banner, the battle hymn of the republic...

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free

(try listening to those words surrounded by three rows of soldiers and NOT get teary)

and this was also a beautiful moment:

all in all it was just a lovely evening.

the high point for both jimmy and me was an INCREDIBLE rendition of rhapsody in blue.

we saw this crazy talented man play the piano and if you've never seen that song performed...it is quite the sight to behold. i don't know how his hands just didn't fall off. :)

we all jumped right out of our seats for a standing ovation.

afterwards it was off to ruth's chris for a leisurely dinner with good friends.is there anything better?

reflection, conversation, laughter, memories...it was the perfect way to spend this difficult evening.

i am in love with this town. in love with savannah. she has so much to offer. and she completely has a piece of my heart.

hope your monday is beautiful.

xxo

s

savannah spring

it's GORGEOUS here. seriously.

and buggy. and humid. but i grew up in houston which is ridiculously buggy+humid.

the azaleas are in full bloom, everything is green, tourist season is upon us. it's just the best.

 

 

 

 

anniversary tulips from j, azaleas+moss,door decor, houses surrounding forsyth park

street performers, margarita at tybee,azaleas, wrought iron, forsyth park football, forsyth park

now if you'll excuse me, i need to go outside NOW. :)

have a beautiful monday!

xoxo

s

water jump friday

after being away for a week, j did a water jump into the ocean at tybee island.

at first i was a TAD stressed. can we discuss the amount of planning, list making, and packing that it takes to get four little chickies to the beach (to stay for four hours) all by YOURSELF?

luckily, i'm a master list maker and i only forgot underwear for the girls to wear under their sundresses on the way home.

oh well, it was just us howells in the van anyway. HA!

we got to tybee around 8:30 am to see this:

a beautiful day at the beach indeed. in fact, almost perfect. warm but not hot, breezy but not windy, no sand gnats.

after patting myself on the back for about five seconds (i did after all get a cooler, towels, toys,sunblock, two baby carriers and two bigs down to the beach all by myself!) we headed down to the water and looked up to see this:

does anyone see the helicopter up there?

and guess who the first one out was?

that's right!

(he's all the way to the right here).

 

i have to be honest that watching this i felt two things.

a. nervous, b/c that's how i am, my stomach gets in knots whenever i watch him do things like this.

b. JEALOUS. all i could think was how much i wish i could have been drifting down towards the ocean, with no one saying MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY look at me! with no one needing to be held or fixed...just the sky and the water and calm.

b/c back down on earth? life was anything but calm for me.

harper was FREAKING OUT. over what you might ask? why over these:

she pointed and SCREAMED

OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! THOSE BIRDS ARE GOING TO PECK MY HEAD TO A NUB!!!!!!!

really harper? REALLY???

and sadie kept yelling "IT'S TOO DIWTY (dirty) OUT HERE!!! TOO MUCH DIWT ON MY TOES!!!". and i kept trying to tell her that it was sand but she wasn't listening.

and both harper and sadie kept coming to me and telling me they had sand in their bajunejunes (i'll let you guess what this is code for) and i kept telling them

IT'S PART OF LIFE IF YOU GO TO THE BEACH AND ARE A GIRL. YOU GET A SANDY BAJUNEJUNE.

but no one was listening to me. no one.

I NEEDED A PARACHUTE, dang it!

 

but it was awesome. this is h and her sweet friend b watching their daddies come back down to earth.

 

harper posing (as always, even when she doesn't know she is being photographed)

she kept calling it "the sea". as in "oh, i didn't know the SEA was this wonderful!!!" ahahha

and a pic of sadie doing i don't know what. strutting maybe???

but this picture makes me laugh so hard. HAHAH.

 

the babies napped, i think they loved hearing the REAL ocean, as that is what they hear on their white noise machine every night.

and daddy was back, and all was right in the girls worlds. and sadie was pretty pumped that daddy wore her elmo sunglasses for a bit with nary a hint of embarrassment.

best daddy ever, i tell you.

i am DAILY so proud of j and what he does. but some days? it's just extra cool. and hot. i won't lie.

there's something about seeing your man jump out of a helicopter that is kinda hot.

and that is one of the MANY reasons i love what he does.

 

happy saturday, sweet friends!

xoxo

s

 

 

monday, monday.

first things first! the winner of KP's sketchbook 3 class giveaway is:

34Kim said...

Yes please!!

I also have already registered, but winning my spot would be swell!!!!

Looking forward to April!

Way to go Kim! Email me at harpersmama8(AT)gmail(DOT)com

♥♥♥♥♥

So how was your weekend? Mine was one of the best I can remember in a really, really long time.

Everyone had Thursday and Friday off, due to St. Pat's being a HUGE deal here!

THURSDAY

i surprised the bigs with a "leprechaun breakfast" and some special t-shirts i'd made for them using iron-ons from here and super cheap cherokee brand tees from targhay.

you can click on each image to see it full size!!!

the babies were in green too!

we watched J march in the parade...it was SO cool. i got chills just looking at all of those handsome men in uniform, and the pride our city has in them.

and then we braved downtown Savannah/city market for a bit.

a few st. patrick's day observations

1.don't tell your somewhat obsessive four year old about the pinching for not wearing green thing. she was TERRIFIED of someone pinching her all day long. even though she was clearly in green. ack. i never should have mentioned that!

2.driving through the liquor store in your minivan to get beer? is AWESOME. i have never felt less cool in my life. But we really wanted to make a green beer!!

3.i probably actually felt LESS cool when i was downtown. hey ladies? drunkenly crying on your cell phone? not attractive.

4.when letting your children pick a souvenir from the cart in the street, monitor closely what they are looking at. that seemingly innocent frog necklace?

well said frogs might have male genitalia on them. and say "i'm horny".

thank GOD she didn't see it when she reached for it, as i loudly yelled LALALALALALLALALA LOOK AT THIS PURPLE TRUMPET!!!

and that is how harper ended up with a squeaky purple trumpet and sadie ended up with a long blue horn that makes me pee my pants  little every time she blows it. and makes the babies cry. lovely.

 

 

FRIDAY

I FINALLY had the priveledge of meeting my sweet friend May Flaum. We've "known" eachother online for quite some time, but haven't gotten to hang out yet.

She came in town for a few hours and we had some quality GROWN UP TIME!! We both have wee girls, so just having grown up time was heavenly.

we hit up paris market:

and then walked to gryphon tea room to have lunch.

AMAZING lunch might i add.

i decided to pull a purkey and purkify my pictures. aka take food photos.

we had so much fun. i think we nonstop talked in one run on sentence for a few hours. and i think she's my sister from another mister. she's awesome.

and then it was home where c+l were sporting clear evidence of "daddy hair". and then it was time for wine in my new paris market glasses.

 

 

SATURDAY

we had a birthday party and then we had a small...uh...incident?

sadie apparently thought the lavender i got at paris market was to pretty to just sit in the dish so she decided to have a grand old time playing with it.

and for the record? i laughed. life's too short to flip out over ruined lavender. and i should have known better than to put it within the reach of the sadie bug. :)

j cooked us dinner, what a guy!

and we sat outside in the beautiful evening light and i tried the red version of my new wine glasses :)

 

SUNDAY

recovery.

 

now...i'm fully aware i'm about to say something cheesy.i make fun of myself (to myself HA!) for being cheesy on the old bloggity...

but it doesn't make it any less true.

i love my family so much and i am so content with where i am in my life right now.

i'll take minivan drives, early dinners, messy sinks and baby bjorns

over

wild st. patrick's days, drunken crying cell phone calls, trashy necklaces

any day of the week.

i think all of the aparts we experience as a family really make us enjoy and appreciate the togethers.

hope you have a beautiful week!

xxo

 

 

infatuated

i'm in love with savannah.

or, as the girls call her, sa-voom-boom.

goose bump inducing, throat catching, teary-eyed love.

i can't get through her as quickly as i would like because we are always pausing so j can read her historical markers, the history here is amazing.

i never ever tire of her. i adore her quirks. her food, her architecture, her sights.

she is the perfect mixture of old and new. of funky, tortured artist SCAD hipsters, tourists,and genteel old money.

amazing shopping, culture, azaleas, searing summer heat but beautiful in the spring... local artists, gourmet foot, street food. wrought iron.

southern charm,forsyth park, hospitality, class, watching drunken antics on river street.

the beach a stone's throw away, incredible mansions, countless festivals...the biggest st. patrick's day celebration outside of boston.

kitch and class all rolled into one.

okay, i'll stop but i could go on forever. truly.

admittedly, we haven't had the time to explore her as much as we have wanted to. but we are working on it...we had to take a brief hiatus due to the arrival of two sweet baby girls. but we are back with a vengeance.

favorite restaurants: mrs. wilkes' boarding house, vinnie van go-go's, soho south cafe, firefly cafe,the pink house, crab shack,chart house,huey's on the river, the cotton exchange, mellow mushroom

still wanting to try: elizabeth on 37th, garibaldi's, vic's on the river, corleone's, lulu's chocolate bar, 700 Drayton, Clary's, gryphon tea room

favorite bakery and candy shop: back in the day, savannah's candy kitchen

favorite shopping: paris market, nadeau, SCAD gift shop, 24e(not my style, but fun to peruse),Broughton Street

still wanting to try: flea markets, junk shops, antiques...HELLO!!! also art galleries. basically all the places you can't go with kids...sarah jane children's boutique

favorite street: west jones street. we drive down this all the time and dream of living there.

favorite neighborhood:ardsley park (ditto above).

here are a few of our favorite places in photos:

left to right, top to bottom:

fragrant garden at forsyth park, the forsyth park fountain, local entertainment at one of the squares, mrs. wilke's boarding house, tybee island, more tybee island, three photos of savannah's candy kitchen, city market (outside vinnie van go go's),six photos of forsyth park, two photos of back in the day bakery, crab shack, paris market, broughton street.

 

when the babies are a bit bigger i am going to take my REAL camera and just walk around and photograph savannah.

you are going to have to drag me from here screaming and kicking. and you are going to have a tough time convincing us not to retire here. :)

she's won me over and will always have a hold on my heart, i think.

happy monday- xo

s

savannah children's book festival

saturday we headed to the savannah children's book festival in forsyth park.

we had a tote full of some of our favorite bedtime stories...the llama llama books, the skippyjon jones books, and pirates don't change diapers, as well as a camera and a sharpie for when we met the authors.

the girls were SO excited. especially when we met some of their favorite characters.

as you can see, sadie was suspicious. as usual.

"get your stinkin' llama paws off of me."

we made our way to the main stage,

where the girls listened to judy schachner and anna dewdney speak.

it was so cool...they read their books and then answered questions.harper was WAY into it.

i may or may not have recited all of the words to llama llama red pajama without looking at harper's book.

after each author read, they made their way to the author tent, where you could wait in (MASSIVE) lines to meet them and get their autograph.

we quickly went over to anna dewdney's tent (huge lllama llama fans in our house) and waited for a long time, even though we were towards the front of the line.

i'm pretty sure the wait had something to do with the older couple at the front of the line that had at least 3292128429340238420384023840238 books for her to sign, and totally looked like a couple out of a saturday live skit. they were probably her biggest fans. heee.

eventually we got up to the table. and the girls were SO cute and polite.

she told them how precious they were and also that they were very precocious. hahahahah! sadie kept saying "LLAMA LLAMA MAD AT MAMA!!!!" and making her laugh.

and miss h, as usual, was being the queeeeen of TMI. telling her goodness knows what. her middle name, her baby sister's names, her favorite snack? who knows.

we had an awesome time. i am loving living here SO SO much. i'm already dreading the day we have to leave!

well shoot! there was a layout here, but i received emails from several of you reminding (correcting???) me that the phrase is "all of a sudden" not "all of the sudden". believe it or not, i know that...i blame it on VERY tired preggers  brain. luckily it was easy as pie to correct the title. i'll repost it later!

hope you have a beautiful monday!!

xxo

s