Charleston Beach Weekend

As I hit publish on this post it will only be 3 days and 21 hours until my Memorial Day beach weekend begins! My car will be filled to the brim with 5 beach-goers, 1 pup, and lots of luggage. But by Friday evening I’ll be sitting pretty on the beach, margarita in hand.

A group of 10 college friends will be staying in a gorgeous beach house for the long weekend on Folly Beach, South Carolina – just outside of Charleston. Forget Mexico and the Caribbean. Stick me on a good southern beach and I’m as happy as a clam! Can’t wait to be back in the land of the southern drawl and shrimp & grits.

Charleston with Tilly – May 2011

Besides an afternoon doing the tourist-thing in Charleston and doing a kayak tour early one morning, our only plan is to relax on the sand.

But as the OCD planner that I am, I’m over-thinking things per usual. That means planning out my packing way too early, shopping for beach towels in January, and checking in on Charleston’s weekend weather forecast every few hours.

Since my summer has a few other beach trips planned, I decided to invest in a few new supplies. I’ll be tanning on the beach in style thanks to a hot pink polka-dotted beach towel, a straw panama hat, and new sandals.

Can’t wait to soak up the sun with my favorite people!

To keep tabs on my Folly Beach vacation, follow me on instagram: @morganereid.

Happy birthday to me!

Not to get all self-centered on you folks, but that’s sort of the point on a personal blog, so here we go… today is my birthday!

And to celebrate on the blog I took a look back on a few embarrassing family photos of a younger Morgan.

These days, birthdays are a little different. Sam’s birthday is the day after mine, so the last few years we have hosted a joint party with friends. This year’s plans include going to see Gatsby, dinner at Medium Rare, and an outdoor movie screening picnic with friends.

Happy birthday to Sam! And thanks for any birthday love.

Real life blogger love

Quick post, dedicated to Anna, my dear college friend who featured me on her blog this week! All May Anna’s doing a Postathon and has to blog every. single. day. Don’t know how she does it! But so happy to have her feature Reidmore on her blog, Adventures of a Type-A. Definitely a blog to check out!

A true friend picks a photo of you at your tannest.

Thanks Anna! Can’t wait to be beaching with you in 17 days!

Prints Charming: my favorite posters

For once in a very long time, I’m not shopping for clothes or furniture! Nope, today’s online shopping spree includes something a little more colorful, and well, slimmer: custom art prints.

My apartment has a few naked walls in the bathroom and bedroom in particular that are screaming out for some art love! Thanks to the magic of Amazon Wishlists and Etsy’s favorites, I’ve been logging my favorite art prints over the last few weeks for every occasion and every room in the house.

FOR A PEP TALK

Anthony Burrill

Marideestudio

OldEnglishCo

FOR THE DESIGN NERD

FOR THE CHEF

FOR REPPIN’ THE NEIGHBORHOOD

FOR BLING

I really like the idea of mixing both gold prints for the bathroom vanity area – they are so chic and look vintage! But on the other hand, the blue and white DC map from 1949 is perfect for this Washingtonian celebrating 2 years in the district. Tough decisions!

Which look is your favorite?

Postcards from Colorado

What a difference a day can make when it’s springtime in Denver. One day you’re in shorts and sandals, driving with the windows down. The next day you’re shivering and shuffling around in the snow. Thank goodness DC spring isn’t so temperamental!

Yes… I promise some work was done on this business trip!

Words to sum up my Colorado trip: breweries, snow, mountains, & wedding events

My job is stressful but one major perk is getting to visit fun places like Colorado. From Boulder to Golden, we traveled all over the north part of the state. I’d have to say my favorite double stop of the trip was Red Rocks: once in the summer sun, and the next day in inches of snow!

Looking forward to a return trip in the summer weather for outdoor concerts and hiking or back in winter for snowboarding in the mountains.

Flying West

This weekend I’m flying out to Denver, Colorado for a business trip. It’s be mostly different wedding events and schmoozing with clients, but I’m more than excited to be visiting Denver for the first time. All I know about the city so far is 1) mountains, 2) breweries…. which sounds like enough! For my trip I’ve got Justin Timberlake’s new album on my iPad, a new book, and snacks packed. So I am allllll set. Any Denver tourist/nightlife tips would be greatly appreciated!

AllPosters.com

As for what else I’ve been up to (outside the office), my number one priority these days is enjoying the summer weather!

Sushi at Kotobuki
Bottomless brunching at M Street Bar & Grill with a visiting friend
First Leinenkugel Summer Shandy of the season!
Tilly finally got her summer haircut
A double batch of French Toast Bake for the office
Celebrating 2 years of dating Mr. Barker
Becoming a shuffleboard pro at my neighborhood bar, Breadsoda
Sam models his new Warby Parkers
Explored Union Market and enjoyed Takorean for lunch

Wish me luck as I fly west for the weekend!

Papparazzi in Progress

Drumroll please….. This week there was a new addition to the reidmore blog family! Say hello to my my brand new Canon Rebel fancy-pants camera!

Sam was much much too generous in celebrating our 2 year date-iversary and went all out! This is a purchase I’ve been considering for a while, since my iPhone & digital camera just don’t cut it for fun photo ideas. I can’t wait to bring the new camera along for day trips to the Arboretum or when we head south to Charleston next month. On to important matters: what should I name her? Rebel Wilson? Nick Canon? Any ideas?

This has opened up a world of new accessory possibilites. I’ve been eyeing a few styling camera add-ons to make the camera my own.

Bloom Theory camera strapRebecca Minkoff Craig Camera Bag

First things first, I’m accepting volunteers who’d like to share any photo knowledge with me. While I’ve clicked away on auto with my family’s Canon Rebel before, I’m no Annie Leibovitz just yet. Any recommendations on photo classes/books/blogs would be greatly appreciated!

Shopping for fonts

A week ago I came home from work and found Tilly on the floor, chewing up my graphic design tablet pen. It was completely mangled and ruined. Not quite sure how Tilly got the pen off the desk or why she happened to pick the only pen that cost $30.. all I know is I’m no longer able to down handwritten fonts and drawings on the tablet. To some this may sound silly, but I’m going through withdrawals!

Luckily for me, dozens of handwritten fonts can be downloaded quickly & without dropping a dime. This is really the best kind of online shopping I could do! Instant gratification once the font downloads & I don’t even have to whip out my credit card.

All fonts are available to download from Dafont.com

Since when did font names get so creative? What goofy name would you title your font?

NYC weekend trip

This is a bittersweet post. On one hand, last weekend was a great trip to NYC to visit dear friends & explore the city I love so much. On the other hand, my iPhone photos will have to do.

You may recall a post about me bragging about my sweet new camera… well I took it along for the weekend’s trip and snapped away. When going to get the film developed this morning, the man behind the counter tells me the entire roll was blank and all my pictures are gone. So no fun photos to share. Heartbreaking stuff, right?

Thank goodness for the 1 million other smartphone shots I took this weekend. There was so much eating, drinking, walking, shopping, catching up that had to be documented.

la sardina camera fail

Ignorance is bliss – snapping away with the chic camera before I was aware of my user-error caused film drama Morgan in the snow

Quick trip down memory lane… a few years back while in college I spent a summer interning & living in NYC. Over three months I fell in love with the hustle and bustle and commotion. I definitely love DC as well, but for such different reasons. It was so nice to be back for a well overdue trip.

Morgan in New York

Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and playing tourist while interning in the city for a summer

Very happy to have learned that the blank film was a problem on my end and something that can be fixed. Can’t wait to test out the camera again soon!

You’ve Got Mail

My 9 to 5 job is within the wedding industry so it’s not abnormal to spend hours looking over invitation designs. So when something pops out to me as great design & a great user-friendly product, I have to stop and pay attention.

A few weeks back, I discovered Paperless Post, an innovative stationery website that allows you to pick your favorite designs to share with friends online or in a tangible print copy. Some of the designs are free, some require paid coins, but all of the cards have 1 thing in common: they’re beautiful.

Everything from save the dates to BBQ invites and get-well-soon wishes, Paperless Post has is all covered. And they’re all so creative and well-designed. I love graphic design and these pretty cards just make me smile.

Once I’d stumbled upon the site, all I wanted to do was dream up a dozen occasions to have friends over, just so I can send them an invitation – whether it’s in the form of snail mail or a Facebook event. I mean, just read over the invite for the “brew-lympics” party… “edible medals to be awarded in the following events: shotgunning, beerpong, flip cup.” Planning a summer brew-lympics now!

If you’d like to sign up for the site and view the hundreds of additional designs, check out PaperlessPost.com.

(No, this is not a sponsored post. Just found a site I loved & had to share it!)

reidmore

my quest for a good bargain, new friends, and the perfect margarita

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