Kevin and I are so lucky. We have incredible family members and love spending time with them — something that I know isn’t true for all families. Not only is my sister, Susan, one of the most awesome people we know, she also married a guy we adore. Honestly, Kevin and I couldn’t have chosen a better addition to the Swindle family if we’d been able to handpick a husband for Susan. Marty’s a perfect fit.
So, as you may have gathered from the paragraph above, we like hanging out with these two, and were pumped when they made plans to come visit and check out our new house. (They live in Columbia, South Carolina, so it’s an easy drive between our houses. We’re so glad they live as close to us as they do!)
Kevin and I have been busy trying to get our house in order over the past couple of weeks, and were excited to finally have the guest room set up in time for Susan and Marty’s visit. (Our house is finally starting to feel lived in — there’s just one room that’s still full of boxes at this point!)
Not only did we get to hang with Susan and Marty this weekend, but we also got to meet their adorable puppy, Piper, for the first time. Y’all — this pup is TOO cute, and so sweet, too. We quickly learned not to let her small size fool us. This girl can hold her own, and before long had commandeered many of Fulton’s toys. (Her favorite was Fulton’s bull toy which is, quite literally, exactly her size.) She has more energy than Fulton knew what to do with, but they became fast friends and played well all weekend long.
While we weren’t busy being entertained by the pups, we enjoyed hanging around in some of our favorite Winston spots. Susan and I hit up Pure Barre on Saturday morning (she’s a Pure Barre goer in Columbia, and we love going to class together when we’re visiting each other or are at my parents’ in Atlanta) and also stopped by the Cobblestone Farmers Market in Old Salem to grab some veggies to grill that night for dinner. We found purple okra again (Kevin and I discovered this last week at the market and LOVED it), mini cucumbers, squash, tromboncino zucchini (also new to us — not pictured below), bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. Quite the lovely, local haul!
For lunch Saturday, we stopped by a food truck event where the girls enjoyed sandwiches and the guys chowed down on noodles. Everyone was happy (and sweaty — it was hot out yesterday!).
After our outdoor meal, we decided to opt for an air conditioned activity, so we moved the party to Winston’s wonderful independent movie theater, Aperture, and saw Boyhood, a fictional film captured over a 12-year period and showcasing a boy’s journey from young child to freshman in college. It was definitely an interesting new way to film a movie, and one we all enjoyed.
Saturday night was low key, and we grilled out (all those delicious veggies we’d picked up that morning plus some lamb sausages Kevin and I got from the Cobblestone market last weekend) and watched Step Brothers with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly (a movie Kevin and I hadn’t seen and one that came highly recommended by Marty).
Sunday morning, we wore the pups out with a nice long walk around Ardmore and grabbed a leisurely brunch at The Porch before Susan, Marty, and Piper hit the road to head back to Columbia. (And, obviously, we had to take pictures of all three girls and all three guys before they left. Documentation, y’all.)
We’re so glad the Schmids came to visit us!
