Vacation Days: Charleston, South Carolina

"I thought Charlotte was in North Carolina...?"

"It is, Mom. We are going to Charleston."

^ This conversation took place right before getting on the plane to Charleston for my bachelorette party!

(...in other news, my mother has officially disowned me.)

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year everyone, since I haven't posted since 2016! I'll be all married and stuff in, oh, A MONTH, and blog life will be back to business as usual after that.

(Well sort of, since Jon and I decided that now would also be a good time to build a house. You know, since life is so calm for us at the moment.)

Last month, some of my favorite people in the whole world got together for a super fun trip to Charleston to celebrate my final crazy (they're not crazy.) days as a single woman! I caught an early flight out of Houston with my mom, my friends Lindsey and Danielle, and Jon's mom, Rosemary.

Snapchat: newishcityhou

My amazing sister and woman of honor Emily booked us rooms at the Hyatt House, a hotel that's located in historic Charleston on the main strip, King Street. And fun fact, they save a buck by swapping out wall decals for actual furniture!

Just kidding, that was only in the hallways. But that's my friend Heather proving that, despite what the world may tell you, you too can actually sit on large sticker benches!

When we walked into our room we were greeted with the world's MOST AMAZING CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, roses, and a bottle of bubbly from my brideswoman Alice Ann and my sweet friend Sherz!

(We missed having them there with us, but this certainly eased our sadness).

Those of us who had arrived (my flight crew, plus Em and Heather) walked to lunch at a teeny, adorable restaurant called Five Loaves Cafe. I enjoyed their mediterranean garden burger and a chardonnay.

Then the rest of the gang arrived: my fabulous friend Christy, my brideswoman Courtney, and my bridesman L.J.! We set off walking down King Street (seriously, we were in such a central awesome location) and grabbed drinks at Charleston Beer Works.

After drinks, it was time for dinner! My sister made us reservations at Indaco, a rustic Italian eatery located off of King Street.

We ordered the burrata and ricotta toast for appetizers, and they were to die for! For my main course of food, I ordered the black pepper tagliatelle without the pork tesa. Our server seemed concerned about my vegetarian modification, but I ordered it, and it wasn't bad!

Then we decided to WIG OUT and hit up the bars!

Photo: Emily

(and by bars I mean one bar, Prohibition, because I was out way past my bedtime.)

The wigs were a hit, and it was so much fun! In fact, I'm planning on walking down the aisle in mine........

The next morning my mom and I woke up hours before everyone else (are you sensing a theme here?), and we enjoyed the FREE OMELETTE BAR at our hotel, OMG.

Then we all hopped in Ubers and headed to GORGEOUS Sullivan's Island, where my friends appeased me and endured pretty darn cold beach yoga!

(Mad props to Lindsey for teaching the class)

(Also, we lasted about 10 minutes and were like "okay, that was nice, get me to alcohol").

Photo: Rosemary

We received a tip from one of our Uber drivers that Poe's Tavern is the place to go on Sullivan Island. Well, you don't have to tell us twice.

This spontaneous, no-frills meal was easily one of my favorites of the weekend. The food was simple and delicious, and the Edgar Allan Poe decor was seriously cool.

We shared chips and queso to start, which was a delicious app, and I had my second yummy veggie burger of the weekend! (Fun fact, I actually had a third one the next day at home in Houston because I like to live on the wild side).

Then we went back to our hotel, freshened up (Read: NAPPED.), and took a walk down beautiful King Street! But not before stopping at the nearby Revelator for some awesome coffee. Seriously, this place revived my faith in and love for cappuccinos!

After tooling around town, it was time for a bevvy at Wine & Company, a lovely wine bar that basically looks like my dream house inside.

After a few glasses of rosé, we headed back to the hotel for the actual bachelorette party! I won't go into the nitty gritty details, but know that it involved toilet paper, underwear, a Jon-themed trivia game, wine, and snacks!

(Also Heather decided to move on from sitting on fake furniture to drinking fake champagne, which I assure you is way more fun than it sounds).

After these girls and guy went wild, we went to The Grocery, where Courtney had made dinner reservations for us.

Here was another meal in Charleston that I absolutely adored! The atmosphere was cozy and rustic, the service was fantastic, and the food was dynamite. We were given some complimentary, crusty fresh bread, and I ordered the roasted beet salad to start.

This sweet, light lovely salad was wonderful! I then ordered the cabbage gratinee, which was unique and incredibly enjoyable, followed by an off-menu vegetarian platter that our server recommended.

The platter contained a bunch of their vegetarian sides: roasted cauliflower, roasted carrots, brussels sprouts, the beet salad again (I wasn't mad about it), and something else that I don't remember because it's been too long, but it was all delicious!!

Then we were off to the bars (....bar), but not before hitting up Jeni's Ice Cream!

I've heard many-a rave review about Jeni's, and their creamy, flavor-popping ice cream did not disappoint!

After the bars (...bar), we went back to the hotel to rest up before our flights back the next day!

Charleston is an AWESOME city, filled with fascinating history, beautiful scenery, a great bar scene, and killer food. It definitely gets my glowing endorsement as a fantastic bachelorette party destination!

I mean, just look at that! (and pretend it's 80 degrees and not 42...)

1 comment bars, charleston, coffee, dessert, dinner, food, fun, pasta, restaurants, travel, vacation days, vegetarian, wine

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The 2016/2017 Winter Menu at Seasons 52

This post was done in partnership with Seasons 52 in Houston, who provided me with my food and drinks, free of charge. I was not monetarily compensated for writing this restaurant post. All opinions are completely, 100% my own!

Brrrr, it's cold out!

Whaddaya say we crank up the Mariah Carey Christmas, bust out our best mock turtle necks, take a break from all the cookie-baking, and go out for some deee-licious food?!?!

A few weeks ago, Jon and I were invited to try the winter menu at Seasons 52. The restaurant has two Houston locations, one in City Center and one near the Gallaria/River Oaks (where we ate). We've been to the restaurant a couple of times (read about it here, and here), and we had such good experiences both times, that of course we were thrilled to go back!

As the name implies, Seasons 52 changes its food with the seasons, or "What's Good Now." Feeling inspired, I kicked things off with one of their seasonal cocktails, the organic sunshine martini.

Made with orange-infused prairie organic vodka and simple syrup, the basic drink was anything but! Sweet, bright, light, and smooth, it went down a little too easy - It really was sunshine in a drink! While I enjoyed it, I'm not a super sweet toothed person, so I opted for a glass of red wine as my second drink. Seasons 52 has an awesome wine list, and I always love investigating it!

We were presented with an amuse bouche of prosciutto, goat cheese, and peaches, which Jon happily enjoyed for the both of us!

Then we ordered a couple of appetizers, starting with the lobster & fresh mozzarella flatbread for Jon and the artichoke & Laura chenel goat cheese flatbread for me. 

Having previously had the lobster & fresh mozzarella flatbread, Jon knew he was going to love it again. I'd had a version of the artichoke flat bread before BUT it was back when I had my stint with veganism so IT HAD NO CHEESE. But this time? IT HAD CHEESE. And I'm telling you, the soft cheese cut very nicely through the tart balsamic coated veggies. The flatbread itself was super light and crispy, and a great way to kick things off!

We also ordered the artisan cheese fondue to split during this first round of food.

OH Y'ALL.

A creamy, luscious combination of cave-aged gruyere and cheddar made this dreamy cheese dip one of my favorite two food items of the evening. The tangy, lovely cheese was made even more delicious when paired with an assortment of breads that offered varying tastes and textures to elevate it. This was one hella awesome fondue!

Oh but this round of food was not over, folks, because we also ordered a side of their roasted brussels sprouts without bacon!

Cooked in a 15-year aged balsamic, what I found most notable about these brussels sprouts were their ever-so-slightly crisped outer layer. The texture was great!

I also ordered a side of truffle mac 'n cheese en brodo.

I LOVE truffle, but I recognize how easy it is to mess it up. Throw too much in, and forget about it being palatable. Luckily for me, the restaurant could not have gotten this truffle mac more right! It had the perrrrfect amount of truffle oil, along with a rich swirl of gruyere and cheddar, all topped with a delightfully crunchy panko crust. This mac and cheese was DIVINE.

For our main course of food, Jon ordered his favorite, the red snapper (what he always gets at the restaurant), and I went with the vegetarian tasting plate.

I also always order the vegetarian tasting plate, however this one had completely different components in it than it did on my previous two visits. The plate consisted of a wood-grilled kohlrabi steak, asparagus, a fennel-roasted onion, and vegan paella. The kohlrabi and asparagus were fresh, standard, and good, and the fennel-roasted onion, was unique and surprisingly delightful (I don't hate fennel, but I generally don't lose my mind over it). But the vegan paella? OH THE VEGAN PAELLA. Y'all, I seriously ate chorizo that night. I mean I didn't really eat chorizo, of course, but I ATE CHORIZO. The vegan paella was hearty, earthy, spicy, textured, and insanely delicious, with vegetables and bits of some sort of fake chorizo thrown in there. This was my other favorite thing I ate that night, it was so incredible!!

The restaurant then presented us with their beautiful display of teeny, adorable desserts. Jon opted for his usual, the pecan pie, and I went with the red velvet cake. Jon's was very good, but I adored my less sweet, richer, decadent red velvet much more. The cheesecake frosting was perfect, and there was a surprise little raspberry at the bottom!

I love Seasons 52, which is why I keep going back. The restaurant offers incredible, seasonally appropriate food, as well as awesome service to boot. Houston is lucky to have multiple locations, and I can't wait to go back again!

Have a safe and Happy Holiday Season!!

Leave a Comment dessert, dinner, drinks, food, galleria, houston, restaurants, river oaks, vegetarian

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Vacation Days: Disney World 2016 + Some Very Exciting News!!

Spoiler alert, because I can't wait an entire blog post to tell you:

!!!!!!!!!

That's right, as of a little more than a week ago, I am officially engaged to the greatest, kindest, silliest, most thoughtful and wonderful guy I know. To say I am over-the-moon excited would be an extreme understatement! But I'll get to the whole engagement part in a bit. I just needed to start off by letting the long line of men waiting around for me know that I am now very much off the market.

(And by "long line of men waiting around for me" I'm referring to two people - my toddler godson Lincoln and an adorable 80+ year old man who once stopped me in Central Park and told me I looked like Jennifer Aniston. Yes of course he had 20/20 vision, why do you ask?)

My family is a Disney family. Like a fanatical, starry-eyed, super enthusiastic Disney family. We hadn't been to Disney World all together in three years (I had gone a separate time since then with friends). So we were pumped to go on this trip, along with Jon and Emily's boyfriend Danny! So if you're interested in the deets, scroll on down below for some photos (taken by me, my dad, and my sister) from our super fun and memorable family vacation!

We arrived late in the morning on a Thursday and all checked into our respective hotels, grabbing a bite to eat along the way.

All of our hotels were on Disney property, and Jon and I stayed at the Beach Club Villas. Located on a beautiful boardwalk, and just a five minute's walk away from my favorite park, EPCOT, I absolutely loved this lovely hotel. I grabbed a quinoa, vegetable, chickpea salad from the hotel's marketplace for my lunch, and it was very tasty and filling!

Then we hopped on a bus and met up with everyone at Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom is beautiful and lush with vegetation, as well as - duh - animals. It's such a peaceful and pretty park!

^ Emily got chosen to be a line time taker for Kali River Rapids. We were very proud.

After the rapids, we went on Emily's favorite ride, Expedition Everest. It's this super fun roller coaster through "Mount Everest" and there may or may not even be a couple of scary yeti appearances along the way!

Then my mom and Jon needed a beer.

And Emily and I needed a (spiked!) Dole Whip.

This was pretty exciting for us because we love the Dole Whips at Magic Kingdom. But with rum? HELLO. Ice cream + pineapple juice + booze, yes please.

Maybe it was the live music, maybe it was the Dole Whips, or maybe it was the all around magic of Disney, but then we decided to dance in the streets like no one was watching.

(Except clearly Jon and Danny were, off to the right, and were quickly trying to get as far away from this bizarre family as possible).

(Also, please ignore my horrifying roots).

Then we watched the Festival of the Lion King live performance, followed by going on a safari, aka, watching Lion King but in real life.

We also hit up a spinning roller coaster ride that whips you around like crazy and makes you lose all feeling in your neck called Primeval Whirl.

(The pole is covering Jon's face in this photo)

The last attraction we hit up at Animal Kingdom was what shockingly ended up being Jon's favorite thing we did, the Bug's Life 3D movie in the Tree of Life called, It's Tough to be a Bug!

Having worked up a major appetite, it was time for some food (and more booze)! We headed to Rix Lounge, a martini bar located in Disney's Coronado Springs hotel.

First of all, you had me at martini bar. Second of all, it was a really swanky, fun spot. My martini was stiff and delicious. The food offered at Rix consists of mostly shareable bites from a small menu. There weren't a whole lot of veg options, but I ordered their buffalo chicken potato wedges without chicken (which I really enjoyed), as well as their veggie flatbread (which didn't really do much for me). The atmosphere was great, and we all had a really fun time!

Before embarking on Magic Kingdom the next morning, Jon and I ordered up some room service for breakfast. It was decently priced and really convenient because we were able to schedule it the night before. We did this twice during the trip, we were such big fans.

Both times I ordered an egg white vegetable omelet with sliced tomatoes and toast, and it gave me the perfect amount of fuel to start the day off!

We told Jon that since it was his first visit to Disney World, he had to wear a first timer button. He was a good sport about it.

Yes, that's a giant crane behind Cinderella's castle. Apparently it's famous!

Our first ride that day was the Winnie the Pooh Ride. I rode with my mom and sister, while the boys all shared a honey pot.

They said it was pretty awkward.

I'm not going to recap every ride we went on at Magic Kingdom because there were a lot, but I'll go through some highlights.

Buzz Lightyear:

Carousel of Progress:

^ This is apparently what the future looks like. Aren't you PUMPED? Also, we got stuck in the year 1890, and the animatronic characters looped through their script three different times. It was equal parts hilarious and terrifying.

Oh, and we ran into none other than my favorite person in the world, my cousin Colleen!

(This was planned. She works at Disney).

Other highlights included Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor., and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover!

For lunch we ate at the Columbia Harbour House, which is a tradition in my family.

I ordered the lighthouse sandwich with a side of broccoli, and it was quite tasty!

And we also had another Dole Whip OF COURSE.

So that was was Magic Kingdom Day, aka THE DAY MY LITTLE SISTER GOT ENGAGED!!!

Wait, what's that, you say? Two engagements in one trip?! You would be correct!

So the thing is, all of us knew Danny was planning on proposing to Emily at Disney. I knew for months, and I did not. tell. a. soul. I swear, it's the biggest secret I've ever kept! He had this whole plan that he would propose to her at the end of the day in front of Cinderella's castle, so it was this big, anxious, exciting day leading up to that moment!

(Except for Emily. She was completely clueless, even when I - out of nowhere - started applying makeup to her face 10 minutes before the proposal).

(Also, major props to my mother, who carried the ring around with her and was having minor panic attacks over it all day).

My parents said, "Danny and Emily, take a picture with us in front of the castle, and then we'll take one with Jon and Kim." <~~ (Fun fact, that second part never happened.)

Then Danny was like, "Em, let's take a selfie!"

(and she was like uhh wtf you never want to take selfies.)

(um, please pause for a moment to check out the people in the background).
 
And then he was all, "Okay, on the count of three, say YES!"

And she was all, "wwwhhhhaaaattttt???"

And then I was like, "EXCUSE ME I CANNOT TAKE ANY MORE PICTURES I'M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTIONSSSS!!!!!!"

And then Danny's parents casually walked up and were like "Oh hey, you guys are here too?" Because Danny flew them in for the proposal!

Is that not perfect and wonderful and amazing, and did you not just cry your eyes out like I did?

Whew!

After that, we all headed to EPCOT for a lively, joyous, love-filled, lederhosen'ed dinner at the Biergarten!

Then we watched the EPCOT fireworks show Illuminations, cried some more, and had champagne at a bar in our hotel!

The next day was our full day at EPCOT. Prior to Jon and me meeting up with my parents for breakfast, he suggested we have coffee on our pretty hotel balcony.

AND BY THAT HE MEANT COFFEE AND A PROPOSAL.

!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I was completely, 100%, totally shocked. And so so SO happy! I knew pretty early on that Jon was it for me, and I'd be the luckiest person alive if I were able to spend my life with him. And now that's all coming true!

The cool thing about Jon's proposal is that my mom, my sister, and Colleen had no idea. So when we went to breakfast on the Boardwalk with my parents, my mom freaked! Also, where we ate was absolutely beautiful.

Before meeting my sister and Danny at the Paris bakery in EPCOT, we got some action shots of me telling Emily.

Then we drank champagne, rode my favorite ride, Soarin', and met up with Colleen. And man, I got her good.

More rides, more laughter, more love, more magic, and more food.

Another Ogonosky family tradition is grabbing lunch and margaritas at EPCOT's La Cantina de San Angel in Mexico. So good!

(If these pictures are getting annoying, feel free to click on that little red box with the "x" on it in the top right hand corner of your screen).

After we ate and drank around the world, we all split up for dinner. Jon, Colleen, and I had a wonderful meal at Le Cellier, located in Canada.

Once we were seated we were provided with complementary pretzel bread, which was ugh SO GOOD. Colleen and I ordered the baked triple-cream brie to split as an appetizer, and while I liked it, it was almost - I can't even believe I'm saying this - a little too rich for me with the doughy baked shell around it. For my entree I ordered the meyer lemon-scented tofu, which was good, but didn't blow me away. But I also ordered a side of the potato-turnip gratin, and it was INCREDIBLE. Oozy, creamy, rich, cheezy, bubbling, and SO decadent. I couldn't get enough! Colleen and Jon were totally enamored with their dishes of New York Strip and halibut.

Then Jon and I came back to our hotel room to find a super thoughtful gift from our friends Dillon and Melinda!

Snapchat: newishcityHOU

The next day was our last full day, and we spent the first part of it in Hollywood Studios. Jon and I were able to take a ferry there from our hotel.

This picture is funny because where is Jon even looking, AND check out the other couple taking a selfie behind us. BFFs.

Our first ride of the day was the Rockin' Rollercoaster, which goes so fast it makes you look like this:

We also hit up Toy Story Mania (SO fun!), Muppets 3D, the Great Movie Ride, and the Tower of Terror, where Jon almost knocked a lady out with his backpack that flew up in the air as we plummeted downwards.

For lunch that day, we ate at Backlot Express (another Ogonosky tradition of course), and I had an awesome caprese sandwich.

After lunch, we all went our separate ways - My parents hung out at their hotel pool, Emily and Danny went back to Magic Kingdom because they're young and alive, and Jon and I did about 30 laps floating in our hotel's lazy river.

We met up that evening for drinks at Trader Sam's, followed by dinner at Kona Cafe in Disney's Polynesian resort.

There was a 30 minute wait to get into Trader Sam's, so we enjoyed some fun, tropical drinks on the patio beforehand.

Once we got into the bar, we were quickly able to see why people love this place so much. It's a small, dimly lit tiki bar, where the bartenders do crazy things every time you order a drink. I ordered a zombie drink, and all of a sudden creepy music started playing, lights went up on some shrunken heads, and the bartender slowly limped out towards me, with a fake eyeball popping out of his head. Also, I guess one of them played a joke on Danny because his chair kept getting shorter and shorter, until we finally realized he was up to my mom's elbow and could no longer reach his drink.

After drinks, we headed up to Kona Cafe for dinner.

When we were seated, we were presented with an INCREDIBLE fluffy Hawaiian roll with sweet butter. My mom, sister, and I ordered the Thai chili soup to split as an appetizer, which was spicy and soul-warming. We also ordered some sushi rolls for the table, including a vegetable roll. It took forever for those to come out, and it turns out there was some kind of mix-up in the kitchen. When they did finally arrive, we dug into them and were very pleased!

For my main course of food, I ordered the pan-Asian noodles with tofu, and they were AWESOME. This was by far one of my favorite things I ate the whole trip. The yakisoba noodles were wok-seared with vegetables in a velvety ginger-garlic sauce, and they were insanely addicting! After we finished all of our food, they brought out a complimentary dessert of chocolate strawberries and a strange little Mickey head candy to congratulate us on our engagements! It was super delicious.

The next day (aka sad day) was our last day in Disney. Jon and I met up with Colleen for breakfast at the EPCOT Paris bakery before heading to the airport.

I ordered an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on the freshest, butteriest, flakiest croissant you could ever imagine!

Once again, I had another incredible trip at Walt Disney World in Florida. The food was fantastic, the service was great, the sights were gorgeous, the attractions were beyond fun, and there were some obviously exciting events that transpired. I cannot wait to go back!

Like, tomorrow. Can I please go back tomorrow.

4 comments asian, bakery, breakfast, dessert, dinner, disney, drinks, florida, food, lunch, mexican, restaurants, sushi, travel, vacation days, vegetarian, weddings

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