High Tea, Ballet, & Cowboys

Sleeping Beauty Boutique

By Laurie Bower Epps

Every summer, I get out the ballet schedules and have my youngest pick one for us to attend the next school year. Generally, Chloe has an aversion to exercise, so imagine my surprise when she asked to take classes herself over the holidays. Most studios do offer a free trial class, so if you're thinking of letting your son or daughter try it, keep that in mind. For this season, Chloe wanted to go to either Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. Since Sleeping Beauty was closer to my birthday, it seemed to be the better choice. Also, Sleeping Beauty also had an accompanying tea, and that was my favorite event of the year when my middle child danced for the Santa Clarita Ballet Company out in California.

Pickens County Museum of Art & History

By Laurie Bower Epps

Being a professor has given me the unique privilege of having a few days a week where I don't actually report to the office, so to speak. That doesn't mean there isn't work to be done, it just means I can work at my own pace, or in my pajamas, if necessary. A little known fact is that we do most of our work out of the classroom. But preparing for the classroom is what we thrive on.... However, after all the rain we've had, I couldn't resist the temptation of a beautiful spring-like day.

DuPont State Forest

Pictured at High Falls in DuPont State Forest

By Laurie Bower Epps

My girls and I have an annual tradition of taking a Valentines Day hike. This year was especially appealing because we had a false spring like day. You see, it rained for many months straight with no break until late March for more than a day. If there was a sunny day, you were grabbing your stuff and figuring a way to be outside. My dear friend Edie has been taking fabulous pictures of DuPont State Forest, and I decided on this sunny, February day that this would be the year to make the trip up to North Carolina. Let's just say, mistakes were made. So from a parenting perspective, here's a list of what not to do.

Pickens Old Courthouse

By Laurie Bower Epps

My youngest and I moved just before Christmas, and in doing so, we changed the county that we live in. For this blog, it's opened up a whole wealth of new places to discover. My first fashion blog was on the Hagood-Mauldin House in Pickens which is now my county seat. The owner was a court judge, and being a time well before the automobile, travel in town would've been on foot or by horse. Therefore, I concluded that the courthouse and his home wouldn't be located all that far apart. Well, today they are roughly 20 minutes apart by car. I saw the courthouse accidentally when cross referencing something else on the Pickens County website, and hence, this entry was born.

Adventures With Chloe

By Laurie Bower Epps

Meet Chloe. She's 10. She's precocious. But she's my sidekick, and my favorite photographer. Traveling with a 10 year old as a single mom can be different. Yet, she's my muse. I love to travel, and write. Our story has a realness to it. Traveling with a kid is quite different than go to a beach town with your friends. We're going to be hitting the road with my little traveler. Everything from day trips to every day outings, to taking a weeklong (or more) vacation, we'll give you the inside scoop.

Taco Tuesday Just Got Cuter

By Laurie Bower Epps

Welcome back!!! I know it's been a year, but the southeast has been pummeled with rain for many months. As well as, this time last year I was working a high stress sales job. You'll be pleased to know, that I'm back with new content, and a new vision. Now I'm a professor of English, and that does free up some time to devote to my writing, and other creative pursuits.

The Swan House in Atlanta

By Laurie Bower Epps

Many don't know that I'm really from Atlanta. Somehow, as I've gotten older, it just seems to be natural that I'd go home to the place of my birth for my birthday. This year is exciting because it marked my 50th birthday. I'm fortunate enough to still have my dad with me, so I got include my dad in the celebration. My dad is 90 years old, so in a way, it was his birthday too. Dad let me pick where we were going, and I have a running laundry list of places that I'd like to go. My brother was sweet enough to offer me passes to the visit the Swan House which put it on the top of my list.

Pictured in the library

The Belmont Inn

By Laurie Bower Epps

Sometimes while going on a fashion adventure, things don't work out. But occasionally, you've got a serendipitous moment for your blog as I've had with this one. After the last venue being closed, I decided to call ahead on this one. Which I did. But I got the unfortunate news that this hotel doesn't serve food on Sunday's.You see, I just love the Abbeville Opera House across the street, but I'd already been there for a blog last year. This news also conflicted with their website and recording. As all good reporters do, I decided to stop by anyway knowing that hotel's are always generous with their grounds for free publicity.

The Lunney Museum

By Laurie Bower Epps

I'm always looking for a new adventure, so my GPS found a historical home and museum in Seneca that I'd not yet been to, so I felt that I had to go. Situated right at the heart of downtown Seneca's historical district sits this little bungalow waiting to be uncovered. 

Now that Sunday's are my only day off, I headed out with my daughter on the first day of sun since my last blog for a new adventure. I'm a lover of the sunshine and warm temps of the spring and summer. Even though it was a bit nippy on the day we went out, the sunshine seemed to promise that spring is around the corner.

Patch of Sun at Cedars Falls Park

By Laurie Bower Epps

Sunshine has been in short supply here in the Upstate. After raining for seven straight Sundays (and Sunday's my only day off), when a day did turn out sunny, we headed out for one of my adventures. On Instagram, one of my dear friends had taken many excellent pictures of this waterfall series, I just had to go and see it for myself. Plus, the sun was calling me out.

There has been a change for me, I'm working a lot more hours at work, so I'm definitely going to be outside if weather permits. I also love sunshine despite being of Scots-Irish and extremely fair. I can't wait for summer to wear my sundresses and flip flops.

A Tale of Two Sweethearts

By Laurie Bower Epps

Much like the two key cities in the book, A Tale of Two Cities, two people are drawn to each other due to attraction but they're nothing alike. From there, if they fall in love, they move side by side trying to forge a life together. If they can face the good with the bad, they build a future. If somewhere down the road, those differences cause one of them to detour, usually it leads to heartbreak. For love to succeed, both need to submit to facing the good along with the bad but always looking to each other for comfort, or towards common goals.

Two Fashion Icons Hit the Ballfield

Pictured on Liberty Bridge, Falls Park

By Laurie Bower Epps

This column on my blog is also a copycat of my friend, Dana Evans fashion blog. When talking to other women my age, many mentioned that she's beautiful but they didn't feel represented in the sense of body type. Personally, I believe that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. But I can get on board with the idea that just because you don't fit in the typical misses section of the local department store, you still want to be fashionable. Since Dana is truly my muse, it's been a vision for me to join forces with a bit of double-trouble fashionably speaking.

Being a card carrying girlie-girl, you might be surprised to learn that I also love soccer matches and baseball. Ok, so I probably won't be in a ball cap anytime soon, that doesn't mean that I can't indulge in the favorite pastime.

An Afternoon With Kate & Jan

By Laurie Bower Epps

I'm a bit of a museum-rat. Frequently, I'm purusing local websites to see what exhibitions are in town or in nearby cities such as Greenville, Atlanta, Columbia, Charlotte or Asheville. Can you imagine my surprise when the Katherine Hepburn and Jan Brett exhibitions were at the local Upcountry History Museum?

So on this balmy winter's day, my youngest and I set out to visit some of cinematic movie great memories, and the children's books wonderful pages created by Jan Brett. A perfect combination for me and my little one. I've loved and followed the unrelated Hepburns for years. Jan Brett offered up some beautifully illustrated books for my daughter. We were both mesmerized.

My Favorite Blog Posts Of 2017

Happy New Year!

Wishing You A Beautiful & Prosperous 2018.

https://youtu.be/5CxErH78Tdk

See You All Back Here in February 2018. 

As usual, I'm taking the month of January off.

Hometown Christmas

By Laurie Bower Epps

I confess, when I first moved here, I thought it'd be a temporary move. Born in Atlanta, and raised there till the age of nine, I thought I was merely migrating back home from California. I lived in California for roughly 28 years. Mostly in a town called Santa Clarita about an hour Northwest of Los Angeles. I loved California, and despite some of the negative publicity, I thrived out there. However, I did work on a produce farm and was somewhat protected from "the industry" as show business is called from Angelino's.

That's not to say that being much closer to home doesn't have it's fair share of merits, because it does. To boast, this region is rich in colonial history and draws more of its roots in the Revolutionary War than most realize. Not to mention the rich food, and hospitality that the South is so known for. I confess, I too, now "bless your little heart" and drink my fair share of sweet tea. 

Geographically speaking, this part of the country is splendid for some of the most picturesque hiking trails that I've seen in this country. From mountains (where I live) to midlands and even the low country (coast), there's definitely no shortage of new places to explore. Part of what has kept my posts coming in the infinite amount of new material.

Two Christmas Belle's

By Laurie Bower Epps

PENDLETON, SC-- Sort of an annual tradition for my youngest and I is to head out to nearby Pendleton for their annual open house for their local historical homes. Pendleton is located in the upstate of South Carolina about 45 minutes south of Greenville, and next door to infamous Clemson.

What made this a Christmas to remember is that the Upstate had snow! This far south, we don't see too much of the cold, wet, and white stuff on a regular basis. To my surprise, the Pendleton Historic Foundation held their open houses as planned. So Kudos to my friends in Pendleton.

Barrington Hall

By Laurie Bower-Epps

Every family has it's holiday traditions, and a new one is that on Black Friday, Dad & I go to a historic home in the greater Atlanta area. I practically grew up listening to the Atlanta Symphony, waiting for my brother's practice for the Atlanta Boys Choir, in Girl Scouts, or giving tours of Bullock Hall. Last year, I learned that Bullock Hall is one of three belles in Roswell, Georgia so it's my mission to see the other two.

Anyone that is here in the south can tell you that the weather is completely confused this year. It'll be too hot for fall clothes one day and have us reaching for winter clothes the next. So it's not uncommon for us to be in a short sleeved shirt on Monday, but ready for the arctic tundra the next. The day this adventure took place, it was unusually hot, and today, we have snow in the forecast. 

The Burt-Stark Mansion

By Laurie Bower-Epps

My love affair with the town of Abbeville, SC began as a salesperson a couple of years ago. I deliberately would drive through Abbeville, even if it was out of the way on the way to nearby Greenwood, SC. Right in the middle of a bird's foot shaped intersection sits the stately Burt-Stark Mansion, and I promised myself that I'd see the inside of this historic home if it's the last thing I do.

My last trip to Abbeville, my youngest and I went to the Abbeville Opera House to watch a play. I read in a travel brochure for Michelin employees that I really needed to stop into a place called Yoder's Dutch Oven. There actually is a Mennonite community in this small community, and the food is superb every place that I've eaten. However, this proved to be a very different and wonderful trip. Abbeville didn't disappoint us. I'd recommend a visit to this quaint southern town if you have the leisure of road tripping in the southeast.

Watson Mill Bridge State Park

By Laurie Bower Epps

Sorry I took a week off to plan entries for the holidays. I really hope you'll be inspired. This outing, my youngest and I set out for my home state of Georgia. To give you a little geography of my area, we're actually closer to the Northern Georgia than most of our own state. In my Georgia tourism brochures, I just felt inspired by this old bridge. Though excruciating, I did wait for the fall to see it in its grandest light.

Out in the Woods at Oconee Station

By Laurie Bower Epps

My favorite part of American History is the Revolutionary War, and just afterwards. Partially this is due to my hobby of genealogy. I discovered that I've got ancestors on both sides of the war, and usually brothers. Although I admit, my father's family leans more strongly towards the Tory side of the war. 

For 28 years of my life, I lived out in California on the other coast. Now that I'm back in one of the original 13 colonies, I'm determined to uncover as much Revolutionary War History as possible. In fact, coming in August 2018, there will be an entire month of early colonial sites from Virginia. So please bear with me. For now, sit back and enjoy a beautiful autumn day with my friend Darlene and my youngest daughter Chloe.