A day in Charleston

Thursday morning, my mother and I headed out on a spur-of-the-moment mother-daughter trip to Savannah, GA. 5 minutes before we arrived to the exit to Savannah, we decided to make a slight detour and go to Charleston, SC instead. This little change of plans turned out to be a great thing!

The last time I had been to Charleston was on a third grade field trip where we visited a battle ship, the aquarium and the beach all in one day.

Needless to say, I didn't remember too much about the place and have always wanted to go back to see the city in all of its charm and history.

This place is GORGEOUS. If you have any kind of appreciation for old homes and awesome architecture, you will love Charleston. All the hubbub is surrounded around the downtown area. In this area, there are TIGHTLY packed streets FULL of little shops, big stores, cute cafes and high-class dining and TONS of people and cars trying to find a place to park. 

WARNING- If you are the slightest bit claustrophobic, you might not enjoy this city. I drove around this downtown area for at least thirty minutes (most likely more) until I finally decided to park in a parking garage. These are your best bet in Charleston unless you are lucky and talented enough to find a place to parallel park. Otherwise, you normally pay a dollar for every half hour your car sits in a CRAMMED parking garage. 

WARNING #2- Drive a small car. I can only imagine how hard it would have been to be able to do anything had I not been driving my small Honda Accord. 

Once Mom and I were situated, it was exploring the streets of Meeting Street and King Street and those streets that all of the AWESOME shopping is located on. They have everything from small boutiques to Forever 21 (my personal favorite) to Louis Vuitton. 

 What made all of the houses and buildings so special was the intense iron-work detail incorporated in most of them. Everything is just so detailed and beautiful.
I would definitely describe the city as plain romantic.














I literally could not believe how fancy the Urban Outfitters store was. You walk in and there is crazy gorgeous exposed beams in the high ceilings and as you go through the store, it just gets bigger. There is highly detailed moulding and giant glistening chandeliers. I'm telling you, this place was an architect-lover's dream. I didn't even care about the clothes.

And this picture doesn't do it justice.

Just some exploring! You are sure to find little spots of cuteness in between buildings downtown!

Mom and I are avid gelato lovers. So you can bet your bottom we took advantage of the first gelato place we saw. Both of us got Salted Caramel flavor (our absolute favorite!) and this sure didn't disappoint!!!

 Mom and I were lucky enough to find a hotel near all of the goodies of Charleston that just happened to have a restaurant on the top floor. This was the view we had while we were eating our nice dinner! Mom had a true low-country meal: Shrimp & grits. I stuck with shrimp in pasta :)

I had to include my favorite purchase of the trip. I only did shopping in Forever 21 and got a skirt,  some cami's, an eiffel tower air freshener and this baby right here!

For those of you who are uncultured (like my family who thought it said ow-y haha), this dainty gold necklace says "Oui" which is French for "Yes". 

I kind of see it as me saying "yes" to adventure!

We literally were only in Charleston from lunchtime on Thursday until we left after lunch on Friday, but despite its shortness, it was a wonderful trip. 

We had some wonderful mother-daughter experiences.

Thanks Mom! 

Me at Waterfront Park!