Charleston Travel Diary

After visiting Charleston last spring, I fell in love.  It’s definitely one of those places for me that I would love to return to again and again.  Lucky for me, my girl Kristin made it her permanent address earlier this year and I found the first weekend free I could find to go and visit!  I worked with the Charleston Tourism Bureau during my last trip with Raj and was able to pack our itinerary with just about every museum and tour we could squeeze into our four-day trip, so this time it was fun to go in agenda-free and just be a local.  If you missed my Charleston Travel Guide last spring, make sure to check it out — it’s loaded with everything we did and where we stayed during our last trip!  I also styled three spring looks with Lulus for a project while I was down there this time around featuring a few of the outfits you see below!

Charleston Travel Guide | Three Spring Looks

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect this trip — it was 75 degrees and sunny with absolutely ZERO humidity, so we used the opportunity to walk around (and bike!) as much as possible!  First stop was Rainbow Row to snap some pics!  I thought for sure that we would run into a crowd of people in front of the bright row of houses, but we lucked out and happened to be the only ones there this time around.  It was actually pretty crazy for it being such a famous street!

Kristin also took me over to The Battery at the end of the peninsula to walk around White Point Garden — a beautiful area right on the water with the most gorgeous view of the Charleston Harbor!   I packed very light for this trip (I didn’t have Raj to carry my luggage), and ended up borrowing this dress from Kristin midway through the trip!  We ended up grabbing drinks and apps at Oak Steakhouse (the beef carpaccio was out of this world) after doing a little window shopping.

I brought along a few dresses I had been waiting to wear in some warmer weather, including this gorgeous halter dress with a striped fringe skirt I saw during the Anthropologie event I went to last month.  I had brought along my favorite stacked heels and planned to wear it for dinner one night, but ended up pairing it with these comfy slides and wearing it during the daytime.  It was honestly not one of my favorite looks — if I had access to my own closet, I would have preferred more neutral sandals (and unfortunately me and K can’t share shoes), but I was very comfortable all day, so I can’t complain!  I will 100% be restyling this dress in the coming weeks — it’s currently on sale for $80 (originally $168), so you should grab it before it sells out!  A few people asked for sizing — I would say it runs slightly large (I’m wearing a size 2 here and still had a little extra room).  For a more fitted look, I would recommend sizing down!

One thing Raj and I were not able to check off our list was bike riding during our last visit, but my little gracious host had a guest bike waiting for me this time around and we took full advantage of the clear weather!  We biked over to Gnome Cafe 2 of the 3 mornings I was there — a cute little vegan place that had the best cold brew coffee I’ve ever had!  We also had brunch at Cannon Green one day during the weekend… and finished off two carafes of mimosas (that was a hysterical bike ride aka “walk” home).  I ended up throwing this embroidered top into my suitcase at the last minute and was so glad I did!  I wore it with these cutoffs and my slide sandals during a casual morning bike ride and then again one night with denim for the Riverdogs Baseball game!

I had so many of you asking about this crochet two piece I wore on the gorgeous rooftop pool at the Market Pavilion hotel.  It’s from Adore Me and you need it.  I was so thrilled to partner with Adore Me during my trip to help promote their swim line and let me tell you — it’s freaking incredible.  It’s honestly refreshing to see affordable swimwear that’s actually great quality and that fits consistent, so I can’t recommend this line enough!

I packed this floral dress that you maaaaay remember from my trip to the Tulip Farm last week and paired it with these studded sandals for dinner one night.  I love pieces that can be dressed up or down and this is definitely one of them that is beyond versatile — oh, and it’s currently on sale for around $40!

A huge thank you to my amazing friend Kristin (and her hubby) for hosting me all weekend and giving me the local treatment!  She was actually my first friend I met through blogging (although we’ve totally stopped using the term “blog friend” after all these years) — it’s so amazing what this little internet space I created has lead me to.  Also a huge thanks to Julie Livingston Photography for helping us snap a few photos together!