Be our guest, be our guest!

Long time, no blog! Jules and I have been super busy being fabulous hostesses. Since the last post, we have basically served as a Holden Beach hotel…which is great because there actually are no hotels here! Take a look at all the wonderful guests we’ve had this past month!

First the ‘Lers (Taylor and Tyler) came to visit. In addition to long days on the beach, we all decided to embark on the 15 minute journey to Ocean Isle. We took the infamous water taxi, which is essentially just a retired man who owns a boat and drives party people, like us, to Ocean Isle, South Port, etc.

A few days later we were honored to have two of our fave pledge sisters, Stephanie and Jordan, come to Holden. After a dinner at Provision Company (www.provisioncompany.com), we went to Castaways for a few drinks. It was so nice to catch up with Jordan and Steph – made me and Jules miss college more than ever!

The next day Jules hopped on a plane to the homeland (Mexico). Because I couldn’t bear the thought of staying in the Pimp Pad all by myself, I convinced my dad and his wife to come for a few days.

After cooking a wonderful breakfast casserole last Thursday, we decided to make the trek to Wilmington and visit Battleship NC (www.battleshipnc.com). The WWII ship was incredible – although it was a bit too warm below deck!

With my dad and Carrie heading back to the beautiful Laurens County, my mom and her fiancé arrived to keep me company.

We also decided to spend a night in Wilmington. We planned on grabbing a casual dinner and taking a boat cruise. Then, the unimaginable happened. Strolling down the boardwalk, I was minding my own business when Jennifer Anniston passed by. Long legs, tan skin, perfect hair – yep, it was Jenn! I was completely starstruck, and her bodyguard wouldn’t let us within 10 feet, but it was still an incredible moment!

Look closely -- It's Jenn! Skinny jeans, grey tank, wedges!

Now my Julie is back in Holden, and we are finishing up the last stretch of our summer. It’s all beach days and shifts at Castaways, and I have a feeling the nearing end is going to be very bittersweet!

We work hard for the money

Sorry it has been a while! As I say every morning, “Another day, another double.” That’s pretty much been our motto the last few weeks!

Jules and I have been busy working, with not much beach time, but we are making money, honey, and for that we are forever grateful!

In our spare time, we enjoy cooking original recipes and drinking fine wines. See below:

When we’re not “cheffing” it up in the kitchen, you can find us at Castaways with our newest BFF’s. From left: Amos, soon-to-be second-year med student; Jules, soon-to-be CPA; Paige, soon-to-be Costa Rican; Ali, soon-to-be Marriott employee and of course, me…soon-to-be…employed…I hope! (Interview Thursday—say a little prayer for me!)

We are truly so grateful to work with some amazing people. We like to say that you have to have a college degree to work at Castaways. Obviously that’s not true, and if anyone would like to put in an application (college grad or not), we sure would love the extra help. The beach looks beautiful from the windows of the restaurant but we’d love to be on it!

On a serious note, this week has been especially hard for us. Friday we learned that one of our Chi Omega sisters passed away. Allyson Walker was a truly beautiful person. Jules and I both agree that you really cannot think of anything bad to say about her. She was a wonderful, genuine sister and will not be forgotten.

My most recent memory of Allyson is from senior bar crawl. As most of us faintly remember, at Grandma’s (trashy Five Points bar), “Call Me Maybe,” was played while we broke every Chi O rule we learned as pledges and danced on booths, tables (elevated surfaces), etc. I remember I was standing beside Allyson, and she could not stop laughing because I knew none of the words to the song, unlike every other college girl in the world. She had the most contagious laugh!

Allyson went out of her way to make everyone feel comfortable, and she truly cared for each of her sisters. We love you, Allyson, and how lucky we are to have an Eta Gamma in heaven looking out for us. "Ever after, we'll remember you."

Keep "holden" on for more posts!

Tourists in Holden Beach

Sorry we’ve been away for a while. Between working, beaching/pooling it, and attending to our visitors (but mainly working) we have barely even had any time for ourselves! Work at Castaway’s has been hectic with many a doubles and not much time left for the sweeties to hang out together.

On Sunday we had our second visitor, the other –ler, Tyler! Earlier that day I (Julie) had so gracefully spilt a tray with Coors Light and Mr Pibb all down my front while also ordering a Crab Dip instead of a Spinach Dip…it had been a long weekend to say the least and I was so excited to have Tyler here!

 Tuesday the sweeties and the –ler had a chance to unwind and stayed at the bar after work and had a few drinks. We ended up calling Handy Tax,i nicknamed “Happy” Taxi by Caroline, and our taxi driver, Cookie, had some interesting stories to share, such as her DWI she earned in her front yard because she was spinning donuts…we felt safe!

 After we made it home, our next problem to solve was how to get Caroline to work in the morning since all 3 of our cars were at Castaway’s…oops. No worries though, Handy Taxi came to the rescue once again and scooped Caroline to take her to work in the morning. Fred, the taxi driver, told her to say hi to Momma who regularly utilizes him to get to work and Miss Janice whose husband used to be a taxi driver. Momma and Miss Janice work in the Castaway's kitchen....

Tyler and I were also stranded at the house but being the employee of the month that I am, our manager came and scooped us for beach day on our mutual day off! After the beach, we hit up Silver Coast Winery for a wine tasting with two regulars at the restaurant. I loved trying all the wines and learning how they make them and the process they go through. We even got to meet the winemaker himself, Dana!

I was loving the Cabernet Sauvignon a little bit too much, though, but hey #YOLO…even if it means being the drunkest at the vineyard. Next we headed back to Mainstreet Bar & Grill for a yummy dinner which consisted of Ribs, Shrimp, and fries. Since Tyler was visiting, we decided to be tourists and walked across the street to Super Track Go Carts where I had the time of my life!! The owner is a local who frequents the restaurant and somehow Tyler and I were the only ones there so we got VIP treatment and got to ride longer than usual and I killed it leaving Tyler in the dust. The best part was Tyler yelling out, “Give her a DUI” when I would hit the wall on a turn.

After go-karts we headed over to play some putt-putt at Fantasy Isle. It was no Broadway at the Beach with the dragon, but it was still fun! To keep with being tourists at Holden Beach, we headed inside for some ice cream after putt-putt. I settled for some delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter. After our fun-filled day, we called the ever so handy taxi and headed home.

Tonight the sweeties are taking it easy and cheering on our Gamecocks! Unfortunately,  when we first arrived home we had to kill a cockroach and if y’all know us, you know that is no easy feat! Stay tuned for more adventures to come and Go Cocks!

Our new pet:

22 is the new 21

Ittttttttttt’s BIRTHDAY WEEK!!

Yesterday was my 22^nd birthday celebration on the beautiful coast of NC!

The day was kicked off with a big breakfast of bacon and eggs. After a night of work and drinking homemade ‘ritas, the meal was just what we needed!

Jules and I were lucky enough to have Mr. Taylor Dove as our very first visitor. In addition to killing spiders and cooking breakfast, Taylor also enjoyed his tour of Holden and it’s many… “hot spots.”

So, after breakfast we traveled about 40 miles to Wilmington! This was our first time in the city, and it was beautiful! We immediately went to a brewery for a quick bite and, of course, some yummy brews!

At Front Stree Brewery in downtown Wilmington http://frontstreetbrewery.com/, Jules and I had a raspberry wheat, and Taylor opted for a traditional German ale.

After lunch, we went down to the river to check out some local shops. Naturally, we (ok, maybe just me) were hoping to see someone from One Tree Hill, as Wilmington is where it was filmed, butttt no such luck!

Before we headed back to Holden, we stopped by Rita’s for some yummy treats!

I had coffee custard with rainbow sprinkles – delish!

After a quick stop at Food Lion for some champagne and red velvet cake, we went back to our house, recently nicknamed, “Da Pimp Pad,” and had a few pre-dinner drinks!

For my birthday dinner we traveled 10 miles to the nearby oasis known as Shalotte. Here we found a Wal-Mart (the closest one to us), a Verizon store AND best of all – a Mexican restaurant! We happily indulged in some fajitas and ‘ritas, and then took our celebration back to Holden for some drinks at Main Street Grill.

The birthday celebration was completed at our favorite local hotspot, Castaways! With some birthday cake shots, a Whitney song dedicated to the birthday girl and many attempts to convince the musician to play “Sweet Caroline,” our DD, Mr. Dove, decided it might be time for us to go home, only after we played some beer pong at our manager’s house…We’re def gonna win employee of the month!

Today, I checked the mail to find some surprises from my favorite family and friends, which made this birthday week even more special! Even though I’m far from home and no longer a young 21-year-old, I couldn’t have asked for a better 22^nd!

Stay tuned for more from Holden!

Wine, rebels and toilets

We’ve been in Holden almost a week, and we have had MANY adventures already!

For the first few nights, we would go to work, get off and pop open a bottle of wine.

Now that it’s the weekend, Castaways gets VERY busy, so we are getting off later, but making money, which is VERY nice!

We are quickly learning that our neighborhood is a lot like a small town – everybody knows everybody!

This morning I went to our community pool while Jules worked a lunch shift, and I made a friend…sure, she’s a 35-year-old school principal, but when she told me she loved riding her golf cart through the neighborhood drinking wine, I knew we were destined to be BFF’s.

While there, she warned us of an older man in the community who is a real stickler for ALL the rules. I took her advice willingly, as we have already been scolded for wasting energy (leaving every light on because we’re scaredy cats) and driving too fast (30, as opposed to the 20 mph speed limit in place….). My new biffle apologized in advance for the older man and told us we’d definitely be seeing him around this summer. Awesome!

Jules and I feel like we’ve been pinpointed as the badass college girls in the neighborhood, and while this couldn’t be further from the truth, we enjoy being thought of as “rebels.”

My latest adventure…oh, just a casual toilet overflow and a sewage back-up into our shower. Thank goodness our landlords were here for the weekend and were able to fix the mess. Now I can check “plumber” off my list of potential jobs.

Live music started last night at Castaways, and let me tell you, the band is HOT. That’s a subtle plea to all our single friends that are contemplating visiting us. Y’all need to see these guys!!

So, week 1 in Holden proved to be interesting. Can’t wait for more adventures!

Just spent my second night in our ballin’ house! Jules and I stay on the bottom floor, AND we have a “party porch” out back! Downsides: no dishwasher or garbage disposal, but after sampling some of the tasty dishes at Castaways (i.e. Rajun Cajun sandwich, seafood mac-n-cheese and oysters by-the-dozen), I don’t think we’ll be eating at home much!

Last night was my first night training, and luckily, my sweetie was working too! It was a slow night, but it was great to learn the ropes, and the sunset from the restaurant is AMAZING—A MUST SEE!

Jules and I got cut around the same time, so we came home, opened a bottle of wine and watched a few episodes of one of our new faves, “Mrs. Eastwood and Company.” This is our new replacement for the Kardashians, because we both still feel betrayed by Kim’s supposed “fake” marriage.

Life in Holden is going wonderfully so far! Can’t wait to see what our summer entails!

So tomorrow starts our summer in Holden Beach! Thanks to Miss Julie Baldwin (who is half a CPA!!!), we are staying in a fabulous beach house (I’m talking granite countertops…be jealous). We’ll be working at Castaways (http://www.castawayshb.com/), but if you need to find us, we’ll probs be on the beach! Cheers to summer 2012 – our last little bit of fun before the real world begins