Hello friends! I’m happy to say I had a VERY uneventful birthday. Honestly, I thought it’d be nice to get together with friends for a dinner or something, but I just wasn’t feeling super active this week after traveling the last two weeks. I was happy eating soup at home and watching the Bachelor on mothers giant TV in her guest room. Because yes, I am that fancy.

Some birthdays can be big events filled with friends and love. And some are just meant to be quiet. Right? Sure. Speaking of birthdays, it’s crazy to me that I’m still not even half way through sharing photos from Marlowe’s birthday SIX months ago! Β I’m not even sure how to get through so many of our travel posts. It’s hard cause I don’t want to post travel post after travel post– and I want to share other stuff in between, so the travel posts continue for months.

The reality is that, I don’t think I’ll be traveling anywhere anytime soon. We’ll see, but I’m kind of into taking a break right now. I know I said it, but 9 out of 10 flights I get on I say, “this is the last plane I’m ever getting on” — I want to travel– I LOVE travel, but the plane travel is really wearing on me. Our last flight I wrote this really personal post on anxiety and depression and triggers and all the things. I haven’t posted the post yet, if you’re curious to why you haven’t seen that one— I do plan to post it at some point, I just haven’t even re-read it myself yet.

But yeah, I’m just not into it lately. And it’s hard to say this, but after much debate, I want to postpone the Indonesia trip. I’m not sure for when yet– I don’t want to give myself a timeline/deadline. I just want it to be when I’m not dreading flying 36 hours across the world. I’m nervous to continue planning the trip and bailing out at the last minute because I can’t handle air travel. And/or nervous to go through with it and then feel like absolutely garbage the entire trip because I’ve taxed my adrenals with the stress and anxiety of travel. It’s just a bit more pressure than I really should put on myself right now. And if I want to create an awesome trip for you guys, I shouldn’t take the risk. You know?

My super personal post is called “boundaries” — and I guess this is one where I’m putting a boundary on myself. I need to. I can’t keep taxing myself and wondering why I don’t feel amazing. You know? I do hope future trips can happen. And one day I can eat my weight in mangosteen, but for now, this feels really right.

I’m still hoping to travel– but not in the same fashion. Maybe shorter flights if I feel up to it. And definitely by land and water. But all future air travel needs to be done SUPER mindfully.

Our short trip to Charleston was good– but I was REALLY drained. The two flights there destroyed me. They were so bad. SO SO bad. I almost rented a car midway through, on our layover in Atlanta. I was frustrated because I knew I should have made the 8 hour drive to Charleston instead of the two flights. Lesson learned.

We had never explored Charleston before. We had discussed stopping there on road trips before, but never took the plunge. And if I’m being totally honest, we only considered flying there because it was sponsored for instagram. I wouldn’t fly there again. But would I visit there again? Sure, I totally would… by car.

Charleston was super cute. And we dressed to match apparently. Not intentionally, but fall was fully in the air and we were feeling the tones. It was a bit cloudy, but the temperatures were still really nice and the flora was pretty.

Obsessed with this pretty restaurant (Basic Kitchen). The food was decent—you know, basic, haha. It was nothing to write home about, but it felt simple and clean and I left un-glutened so I was happy… and went back two more times to show for it. But mostly it wad just a super cute spot and I’m totally into the rainbow and more than likely going to do something similar in Marlowe’s room.

Marlowe was happy with a simple pasta and I had some sort of rice and sweet potato dish.

We’re really good at making friends when traveling.

And hey, we even had real friends too! I had met Kristina from this blog forever ago. When our kiddos were toddlers. They didn’t really remember each other since I don’t think they’ve seen each other since they were 2 or 3. But man they became FAST friends. Marlowe is more the quiet type– and Adoration is an extrovert to the extreme. They complimented each other really well. Marlowe asks at least once a week to see her. We gotta make that happen soon. (K Kristina?? let’s do it!)

Marlowe’s jam is chai lattes. She wold have one everyday if I let her/made them. For breakfast each day we stopped at Huriyali (I think on elf you guys recommended it!) — it was really good. I got an aΓ§aΓ­ bowl everyday (And turned into a popsicle). But it was super cute and the staff was super nice. I’d definitely recommend it.

See their love?! And my love: Kristina + chocolate popsicles. Mmmm.

Wonky adorable buildings and photos with my little lady.

See, back at Basic Kitchen. I think the thing with Charleston is— well, it’s the south. So vegan food isn’t really the hip thing around there. And the few places that did have vegan food, weren’t super gluten-free friendly. South Carolina folks love their biscuits and gravy—- and I don’t blame them! Β So I was perfectly content sticking with the few options that seemed to work.

Cute little girlies on our exploring days. They decided to create a protest this weekend too. And kept shouting “free the horses!” every time a carriage went by. Gotta love my little activist child πŸ˜‰


More cute buildings. Please peep the cute little moon shutters. I would love to have little moon or sun shutters on my home.


Overall we had a really good time. I had debated hard whether we would even get on the plane home or if I could possibly justify renting a one way car and making the drive home. In the end of it, we got on the plane. It was easier than flying there, but still a bit rough on me.

My friend Kristina says she admires me for getting on a plane despite my intense fear. I panic, hate it, and still I do it again. I think it’s insanity really, but I’m glad other people admire me for it.

I’d be happy to visit this cute town again. Maybe on another drive up north, if our North Carolina friends are out-of-town or don’t want visitors, haha. But it was definitely a sweet spot, so if you’re ever looking for a cute southern town to visit, Charleston might be a nice place to consider πŸ™‚

3 Comments

  1. Pingback: Ohdeardrea: January in Mexico - Our Girls Getaway

  2. Hi Drea – I don’t mean to criticize, but was the trip paid for by Instagram? I have been a long time reader but I eventually unfollowed you on IG because you spent so much time complaining about the platform it was frustrating as a reader. That was months ago, so maybe your rhetoric on the platform has changed. I don’t know, just seems weird to accept a free trip…. um, OK. Then you didn’t mention it as a sponsored trip/post anywhere else in the post so I do find this confusing.

    • This post is not sponsored, I always disclose when things are. But yes, our trip was a business trip paid by a hotel I was working to create content for, but thats separate from this post– these are just the pictures I took in between out and about in Charleston.

      I definitely enjoy instagram more than I did last year, but still have my share of qualms with it and much prefer this space to the instagram space. And I’m totally okay being unfollowed there — or anywhere– because I definitely want people share my space with me if it feels good. Not all relationships feel good ALL the time, and thats okay, but they should always be healthy regardless πŸ˜‰

      But side note: not sure why it would be weird to accept a free trip— who wouldn’t want to go on a free trip haha?! I totally would.