Melissa Marro www.StagingAndRedesign.com www.RedesigningCharleston.com

Today, driving by Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant SC, my best friend/assistant noticed a sign that had us immediately on the phone with my husband. Larger than life - billboard sized to be exact - was a sign that stated that Boone Hall would be hosting a BBQ and Bluegrass festival that would feature Ralph Stanley & The Cliff Mountain Boys. Ok, to be truthful I didn't know who this was until she said, "You know, that band that sings the song that your husband constantly watches on O' Brother Where Art Thou?" Ok... now I knew exactly what she was talking about!

Apparently they are combining this with some serious barbeque... Now we are talking!! Game on! It's now scheduled tightly into my datebook! Here's the day's itinerary below:

Sunday, August 31st - 10:30am - 8:30pm.

This will definately be a fun filled day for all ages! Prices will be $22 ($20 in advance) for adults and $10 ($8 advance) for children 6-12. If you want to know more, visit Boone Hall Plantations's Website. So, will I see you there?

Today was a fun day with my best friend, Sue and my guys (my husband, John, and my son, Johnny). Typically Sue and John go by themselves as that becomes my quiet time in my home. This time my son, who is about ready to leave the nest, decided he wanted to go and happened to have the time off work. This was an opportunity I just couldn't refuse. Sooo.... off we went, canoeing down the Edisto River....

launching into the beautiful but cool water was easy cheesy...

The current was great most of the time since the level was relatively high. Where the river was wider it was definately more work. There were lots of time for sitting back with oar in hand and watching the wildlife though. We got to see many large fish, some jumping... turtles sunning themselves and some just swimming along... (the photo was blurry because we were actually moving on at a fair clip when we saw this big guy)

There were some great points to stop, get out and swim, have a little lunch or just watch the fish...

As you can see the day was lovely and so were the views.... back to nature is a great thing!

The trip ended about 3.5 hours later. As we waited patiently for my husband and son to go get the car that we had left downstream (we brought 2, one upstream for pickup, one down for launch) the craziest thing happened. Sue and I were sitting by the river watching the little fish when there was a loud thud and laying upside down on its wings was a very large dragonfly that apparently flew directly into the canoe and knocked himself out cold! No, seriously!!

Sue picked it up so it wouldn't drown. It took about 3-4 minutes before it actually was ready to fly off again. It really was beautiful but kind of sad watching him trying to get himself together again....

If you get the opportunity to take the afternoon and spend some time with nature, I highly advise it!! Canoeing on the Edisto River is one of my husband's favorite weekend pastimes. It is also apparently a lot of fun for inner tube lazy river time. There must have been at least 50 inner tubers on the river today!

Green is the new black right? Heck, there is even a new Green channel on cable! One of the things I love about my neighborhood in Summerville, SC is that recycling is made so easy. I try to be green both at work and at home and making it easy is a key component in making it actually happen.

Here in The Bridges of Summerville, they make it super simple by having pick up services every Friday. One week they pick up cans, plastic, etc and the next week they pick up paper. Weeks alternate, except when there is a 5th Friday in the month. That Friday they have off.

I will admit that I do get a little frustrated sometimes by the lack of enthusiasm from our neighbors of this awesome benefit in our little community. Monday is garbage day and yesterday, as I left the neighborhood to go to my office, I noticed that many of our neighbors had overflowing garbage cans... many with piles of boxes and plastic products piled up high (cat litter pails, laundry detergent bottles, etc). One of the board members (who happens to live a few doors down from me) even has 2 overflowing garbage cans.... sigh.

With this in mind I would like to add a few tips to help you recycle in your neighborhood....

• Create a recycling center in your kitchen. In my kitchen I have two pull out garbage cans side by side. One is for our actual garbage and the other is for recyclable cans/bottles, plastic bags, etc. I also have a plastic bin next to my counter for paper recyclables (pizza boxes, cereal boxes, flyers, discarded mail, etc). Because they are in reach it is easy to recycle. It is no harder for my family members to put the green bean can in the recycle than in the garbage can.
• Have a holding area in your garage. Because we keep bins for plastic and bags of recycled products it is important to have a place to keep these. Some may stay for close to 2 weeks (since our recycled products are every other week).
• Keep a recycle paper bin in your office near your shredder. We keep a large rubbermaid tote in a corner of the office for us to empty the shredder into. This keeps us from taking the easy route and just putting it in the trash can.
• Keep multiple bins & use clear garbage bags. Having multiple bins in the garage keeps the space clean and keeps it easy. Using clear garbage bags helps your recycler identify that the bags are in fact recycle and not garbage.

Let's face it, we are a society of consumers these days. My family used to go through 2 large city garbage cans (you know, the really big green ones on wheels) every single week. Now that we recycle, we typically have less than a half a garbage can go out every Monday! It makes you feel good to know that you are doing your part to help the environment.

I hope my neighbors here in Summerville read this and in the coming weeks I see more and more recycle and the garbage can levels come down.

My oldest daughter had a photography assignment at the end of the school year. We decided to go visit Ft. Sumter in Sullivan's Island, SC to see what we could see that might be photographable.... We hadn't been there yet so either way, it sounded like fun.

The fort was fun.... but my favorite parts were just a short walk away.....

On this day we were lucky enough to see dolphins swimming.

Oh.... and Paige (my daughter) finally did get her photo....

What do you think?

Late spring/early summer I had the fun experience of taking a girls weekend away with my best friend, Sue. We decided to visit Gatlinburg, TN as we've heard so much about it (and my mother happened to have a condo for the week that we could stay at for free.... lol!) My business partner, Bevin, and another team member, Susan, were both supposed to join us but could not go at the last minute. Still, Sue and I had a great time.... Here are some of my favorite things we did....

On the way up the windy turns we stopped at an overlook to enjoy the breathtaking views.....

When we got out of the car we noticed an eerie humm.... It didn't take long for Sue to realize it was the Cicadas that were EVERYWHERE! The hills were definately alive with the sound of music - the cicada song!

We also went to visit a pottery shop where they sat out front actually making the pottery.....

One of my favorite things of the week, however was a visit on a motor trail. At one point you can get out and walk around to view this very old cabins and learn about what life would have been like for early Tennesseeans.

On the walk between sites we had something REALLY EXCITING happen. Out of no where a deer came walking up the path. It stopped only feet in front of us!

This was amazing. Of course what my favorite things weren't necessarily Sue's favorite things. She's a bit more adventurous (and less afraid of heights). Maybe it's because I'm only 5 ft tall, but heights really make me a bit panicky.... Sue LOVED this ride though... (view going up and then view going down)

My favorite thing that happened to us, unforunately I don't have a photo of..... On our way back up the mountain to our room we saw eyes on the side of the road. I cautioned her to be careful of the kitty in the neighbor's garbage cans. Then suddenly realized that the kitty was actually a black bear cub!!!! It was very late and dark. Needless to say we couldn't get out of the car (ummm, where was mama bear?). The flash from inside the car didn't work very well.....

All in all it was a fabulous time & I've never seen so many mini golf and pancake houses in my life (strangely we neither played or ate at one!). If you love nature though, this is a great vacation destination!