Loving lately third edition

Happy April, folks. I hope the weather is getting nice wherever you are. It’s fabulous here in Charleston. It’s one of my favorite months in Charleston (the other is October). Doesn’t it just make you want to be out and about constantly?

So this week I am talking about how I am loving a recipe, an easy-care outdoor plant., a cold brew, a luxury home, and non-toxic fragrance for laundry.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I made these for the very first time for Easter and they were a hit! They’re definitely a lot of work but they made me feel like I was getting some vegetables in with my dessert soOo I’m IN!

I followed Lil Luna’s recipe about 90%. A couple things I recommend: cut the sugar in the cupcakes in half (half cup vs one cup). I added walnuts in some of them and I preferred those with the nuts!

For the frosting: I used a little extra cream cheese and probably half the amount of powdered sugar. If you make mini cupcakes like I did, cut the whole frosting recipe in half and you’ll still have enough for all the cupcakes (about 4.5 dozen).

Enjoy!!

Begonias

If you’re a plant lady/plant killer like me, you’re always looking for the easy-to-keep-alive plants. Let me tell you— in my experience—begonias just won’t die. These pink ones (pictured left) were in hanging planters on my porch over a year ago. They were struggling a little bit so I took them down and left them behind a bush at the front of my house and didn’t touch them. Regardless of my total neglect and seemingly lack of sun, they came back to life! So I tore it apart and repotted it willy nilly and now she’s quadruple the size and thriving.

Knowing this, I bought a different variety of begonias for my front steps (pictured right) at Abide Awhile Garden Boutique and hoped they’d be as resilient. So far they are (it’s been about 4 months) and they’re even prettier.

These aren’t immortal of course but FYI but it seems like they are more forgiving with lack of watering vs. overwatering.

Stōk cold brew coffee

I had this cold brew coffee for the first time in the fall when our friends bought groceries for our mountain trip and this was included. I loved it and then totally forgot about it until I bought it recently, not realizing this is what we had back in October. Well I am hooked again!

This cold brew is so different than any other cold brew or iced coffee I have had before; it’s much more smooth and less bitter! I buy the unsweetened one and add a little honey but there’s also a “not too sweet” version. One bottle lasts me about a week (I only drink one cup of coffee a day). I love it so much I maaaaay be spending slightly less money on my $5 lattes elsewhere.

80 Rutledge Ave

I have always loved looking at homes. Especially the big, fancy ones of course. Thanks to my job, I have photos of beautiful homes at my fingertips so of course I find myself scrolling and dreaming all.the.time.

This one really blew me away. It’s got everything. Location, charm, a pool, an outdoor kitchen, porches, fabulous decor, and palm trees in the back yard. Nothing short of heaven. It’s located downtown just a couple blocks from Colonial Lake. If you aren’t familiar, it’s a quiet, really lovely part of downtown. It was built in 1908 so there is endless charm and the owners have definitely maintained that. There are a few photos below but if you want to oogle the rest of it with me, you can see the whole listing here.

Photos by the incredible Keeneye Marketing

Revive Essential Oils

You might remember a couple summers ago I wrote a series called Detoxing my Charleston home where I spent a few weeks “detoxing” my home. You can read a synopsis in my blog post here. I am still constantly looking for clean or nontoxic options particularly for my household items. One of the biggest changes in my home was going fragrance-free; from my laundry detergent, to my dish soap to the candles I burn.

I’ve missed that clean laundry smell so I set out to find an essential oil to drop on my wool dryer balls so my laundry smells like something. I have used all the MLM brands and a brand from Whole Foods but none of the scents have been strong enough! They’re really expensive so it was such a disappointment every time.

I stumbled upon REVIVE which is less expensive than the MLMs and I’ve been really happy with the scents I have purchased so far.

Right now for my laundry I am combining grapefruit and tea tree oil which I am liking, but I will say that I have noticed that the blends have a stronger, longer lasting scent that the standalone oils. If you’re using a standalone oil, put 3-4 drops on a dryer ball in the last 5 minutes of the dryer cycle so the fragrance doesn’t burn off during the full drying cycle.

The two blends I have used and enjoyed are their Purify and Tumble and Tidy. I am on the waiting list for their Clean blend, which is meant to be used for deodorizing and cleaning around the house but I like the combo of oils in that blend so I think I’d like it for my laundry too.

They also have some organic versions if that’s important to you, which normally it is for me but these are 100% pure therapeutic grade, free from any additives, adulterants, fillers, synthetics, or dilutions so I feel good about the regular ones.

You can use the code THECHARLESTONHOME10 for 10% off your first order or 15% off your order of $100 or more. PS they shift SUPER fast!!