My parents gave me the most lovely framed prints for my birthday, and the other day I finally hung them up!

I love these. They look just perfect on the wall that separates our kitchen area from the dining room. Some oranges on the bottom, and a pair of pears on top, framed and matted.

Did you know it's impossible to have too much art?!

I also got a fantastic African table runner from my sister, which I need to photograph properly to do it justice before posting. My family knows me so well.

In other news...

Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna, Costa Rica

We're getting ready to leave for Costa Rica! We'll be gone for a week, through Labor Day, and couldn't be more thrilled. I'm very much looking forward to disconnecting with civilization for awhile.

We'll be traveling through a few areas, including spending most of our time near the Arenal volcano (above). Looking forward to some tropical cuisine, amazing coffee, Central & South American wines, lounging by the pool, hiking the rainforest... I could go on.

Pura Vida, as they say!

My (29th!) birthday was last Sunday, which meant I got to claim the whole weekend as my own to celebrate! 

Friday night, Josh and I decided to tackle cooking live lobsters for the first time. I'm a firm believer that if you're going to eat an animal, you should be OK with slaughtering it. Otherwise, aren't you just deluding yourself that what your eating (for example, a steak) didn't actually come from an animal (a big-eyed cow)? Anyway, I love lobster, and I wanted to cook it myself.

Friday afternoon, the crustaceans arrived:

After taking a peak, I put the cover of the box back on and weighted it down with a couple Wine Spectator magazines. I was convinced those guys were going to try to escape!

We studied up on our various instructional material:

Then, it was time to suit up:

Josh was convinced that gently rubbing the backs of the lobster would make the whole "death-by-being-boiled-alive" thing easier on them:

Right...

Massages complete, it was time to get our friends into the pot:

Pick them up behind the claws!

Into the pot they went, and meanwhile:

a couple glasses of Cuvee Sauvage were poured.

12 minutes later, they were red and ready!

With a side of clarified garlic butter and a little lemon (not to mention the best patio weather imaginable), they were perfect.

Dessert was much less labor intensive:

Two dips from the Tastee Freez! 

The week before my sister left (she was staying with us for a little over two months this summer while she completed her summer associateship here in Chicago), she treated J. and I to a little home cooked meal:

Tostadas!

Our family has a deep and abiding love for Mexican cuisine, so these chicken tostadas (recipe here) went over really well. Crispy fried corn tortillas topped with refried black beans, shredded roast chicken, lettuce, cotija cheese, avocados (my current obsession), and a few healthy glugs of hot sauce (naturally!) were served up alongside some chipotle-buttered sweet corny-corn cob ears.

Food coma and belly expansion ensued... but was easily overcome by sipping down a cerveza or two!

On July 27th, I'm a loser! Growing up and being a little self-centered, I wasn't a huge fan of 7-27 because everyone in my family - Mom, Dad and sister - had something to celebrate. My Dad was born on July 27th. Then, in what must have been a momentary loss of sanity, they decided to marry on July 27th. THEN, in what surely was a cruel twist of fate, my sister arrived into this world 11 years later on, you guessed it, July 27th!

Anyway, now I kind of love it - it's a festive, fun day for us all to enjoy together, after all. So, since we did a little round-up on my Dad for Father's Day, today I'd like to share a few things that my baby sister Laura - 26 years old today - thinks are just great:

Pink:

Laura loves - LOVES - the color pink. She's wedding planning right now, and you can bet your peonies there's going to be pink of some shade in the color scheme. These pale pink Christian Louboutin peep-toe pumps might be just the thing to peak out from underneath a white gown next June...

Colorful Nails

Essie Lilacism

Being completely ungifted in the art of nail polish self-application myself, I am awed by L's ability to paint her own manicure... and with such fun colors to boot! Not sure I can pull off Lavender at the office, but until she's a full-time lawyer, she certainly can!

Finally,

SPARKLES

If it doesn't glitter like a Disney fairy princess on the way to the ball, don't even bother!

This Kate Spade bracelet is a perfect combination of ladylike kitsch and glittery glam. When it comes to Laura, the more rhinestones, the better.

Of course, these are just a few things Laura enjoys. Others include online shopping, steak, Taylor Swift, baking insanely delicious cakes, Angry Birds, bowling, and sushi.

Happy Birthday, baby sis!

My thoughts on South Carolina:

- Myrtle Beach: meh

- Charleston: yeah!

After my conference wrapped up Sunday morning, Josh and I hit the road for Charleston. Since our flight wasn't until 6 or so that evening, we wanted to take advantage of this charming low country city neither of us had ever seen before.

Despite the insane temperatures (and PS - I have never experienced humidity like that before!) we spent the day eating and walking around the downtown. I have to say, it's pretty incredible to be amongst such gorgeous homes and realize that many of them were built pre-Revolution! With the brightly colored facades and spanish moss dripping from every tree, it feels almost other-worldly.

As I mentioned, we also ATE, taking a recommendation from multiple people to check out Fleet Landing, a restaurant in an old naval building right on the water.

Kicked things off with some "Planter's Punch":

Light & Dark Rum, Pineapple & Orange Juice, Splash of Grenadine, Lime squeeze

Then we saw the lady next to us get delivered a stack of the best looking fried green tomatoes with crab salad, and couldn't resist an appetizer portion for ourselves:

Finally, the mains:

Oyster Po' Boy with Sun Dried Tomato Orzo Salad

The Charleston Cobb with Chicken & Black Eyed Peas

And if that wasn't enough:

Pistachio Almond and Caramel Chocolate Pecan

because when it's a heat index of 115 degrees, ice cream is almost a forgone conclusion.