Shout Outs
Chapschtick!
Feb 11th
Quick! Look in your purse right now and tell me how many tubes of chap stick or lip gloss you have sitting in there. 1? 2? 4? I currently have 3 which proves my point: Women have a fetish for flavored lip balm! Here are a few brands out right now that I’m absolutely in love with.
Burt’s Bees – Everyone loves the minty scent and menthol tingle that it leaves on your lips. My favorites include the original and the shimmer with just a hint of color and flavor. Burt’s Bee’s offers a whole line of other products that are worth giving a try as well. [ I love the deep conditioners! ] You can purchase Burt’s Bee’s products at most major retailers, i.e. Target, Walmart, Drugstores, etc.
Yankee Candle – I got a mini set of these in my Christmas stocking and now I can’t get enough! Yankee Candle’s 
brand of chap stick are shaped like little candle jars (so cute!) and they smell just like the candles they represent. French vanilla, Strawberry, Christmas Cookie and Lime were the few that came in my pack and each one is just as delicious as the next! I can’t wait to go buy a few new flavors. You can purchase Yankee Candle product’s at, you guessed it!, Yankee Candle.
Vitamin Water - This is my newest find and its a great one! Glaceau, the creators of Vitamin Water, have dedicated a chap stick line to their water. The chap sticks have the same names and flavors as the waters themselves, which is always a nice surprise. XXX is my favorite flavor as it is a blend of berries and pomegranate. I will use this stick the fastest out of them all I think; I just love the soft moist texture of this gloss. I was able to find my chap stick at Walgreens. This leads me to believe that you should also be able to find them in Walmart, CVS, Target and other major retailers.
Do Not Eat Here! Nance’s Restaurant, Murrells Inlet SC
Jan 27th
My relatives came into town and with them visiting from up North, they requested that we venture to a seafood restaurant. I recommended any of the restaurants along the marsh walk in Murrells Inlet. My grandfather ended up choosing Nance’s over the numerous other choice and I am so unhappy that he did; as are the rest of my family.
Nance’s Restaurant is nice enough looking from the outside. The parking lot is a bit hazardous without any distinctive parking spots, but luckily for us we are currently in the slow season of the year, so we could park wherever we wanted. As soon as we entered the restaurant I was disappointed in the atmosphere. There was a strong fish odor in the air (to be expected somewhat, but it was more of a sour scent), the lights were very dim and everything looked very old fashioned and in need of a renovation.
We were seated at a back table next to a large area with no lights at all. It made it very difficult for us to read the menu. The menu itself is very limited, especially if you have family members that do not enjoy fish. The prices range from approx. $10 for hamburger to $40 for a seafood mix of oysters, clams, shrimp, etc. Our table of 7 ordered an array of wings, oysters, clams, hamburgers, scallops, fish and steak; we essentially tried everything on the menu. The complimentary hush puppies were very tasty, however they do not provide you with any plates to eat them on! Not to mention, although you are paying upwards of $20 per person to eat there, the restaurant does not provide you with fabric napkins. In fact, they don’t provide you with napkins at all but rather loose rolls of paper towels scattered on the table. In addition to not providing plates or napkins, there are holes in the tables that are set to hold buckets for oyster shells; we never had buckets put into place for us until we had finished eating the oysters! Our waitress Stephanie A. was friendly enough I suppose, however we didn’t appreciate her casual tossing of silverware in our direction when she approached our table; there were knives in those little paper wrapped pockets!
The oysters were pretty good quality and got the job done, however our other appetizer of hot wings were terrible. The wings had little to no flavor and were cold in the center. They had a horrible texture as if they had been sitting in a freezer for far too long. Each one of our party members received their meals at separate times and it was a good five minutes before I was able to begin enjoying my food with the rest of the family. The New York Strip that my sister ordered was cold and I quote “tasted as if it had been dropped in a barrel of soot and charcoal”. My mother ordered scallops which were ice cold in the center and she had to send the dish back to the kitchen to finish sauteing them. She received her new hot scallops a few minutes later, however they had simply been microwaved! A few of our orders had been wrong (example: we ordered baked potatoes and received french fries. This isn’t a big deal, but its just the fact that they got the orders WRONG). The hamburgers were extremely small, overcooked and bland. My father specifically asked the waitress if his burger could be cooked “rare” and she said that it was against the law in SC; which after a little research on my iPhone, I’ve found that this law hasn’t been in effect years. I thought it was interesting how we were able to consume as many raw oysters as we requested, even though one in however many is fatal, but we couldn’t have our burgers cooked medium rare. Our person conclusion? Based on taste, texture and temperature, the burgers are precooked and pattied and therefore cannot be cooked to order. In addition to our uncooperative waitress, we had a clear view of the food preparation area, which luckily for us we had just finished eating, when we witnessed an employee wipe his nose and start arranging a customer’s food on a plate. Its extremely unsanitary and uncalled for!!!
In regards to the senior discount that is offered at most if not ALL restaurants in the area, Nance’s has found a way to almost get out of it. It specifically says in the menu (which I’m glad they pointed out) that you will only be offered the discount on the cost of your entree rather than the entire bill like at most other restaurants. I understand that it was pointed out in the menu, but that doesn’t mean that it is right. I can think of plenty of other restaurants that aren’t classified as “fine dining” that offer greater benefits than that as well as a much better experience!
Our bill came to be about $200 which wouldn’t have been too bad if we had enjoyed our meal. I’ve been to most of the restaurants along the marsh walk in Murrells Inlet and this by far is the worst restaurant I’ve been to! There were 7 of us in the party so of course we got stuck with the 18% gratuity rate which upset us all because our service and food was especially horrible. I wanted to make a few comments prior to paying the bill, but my relatives tried to be polite and I decided that I was going to use technology to my advantage when I returned home. The dinner at Nance’s restaurant ruined the experience with my family tonight because we were all so focused on how horrible of a time we were having. I have every intention of posting this review not only on my blog, but on google review, twitter and any other location that will allow it. I am also planning on sending a copy of this to the owner of the restaurant in hopes that he/she can correct the flaws and keep his customers happy year round. I will never recommend this restaurant to any local or visitor alike and I will NEVER return to try the food again.
Here is the contact information for Nance’s :
Nance’s Creek Front Restaurant
PO BOX 44
Murrells Inlet, SC 29576
(843) 651-2696
Adam Lane, Assistant Manager
Television isn’t what it used to be!
Dec 10th
I can remember sitting down to a full lineup of great shows at 8 o’clock, or at least enjoying one TV show each night of the week. Classic shows like “The Nanny”, “Mad About You”, “Friends”, “SNICK”, “Boy Meets World” and so on were the highlight of prime time television. There are lots of new reality tv, drama and sitcoms to choose from now, but very few are funny or inventive enough to hold my interest. So if you are in the same boat and looking for something interesting to watch during the week, check out these great shows that I watch religiously (ps. I hope you have a DVR and/or most of these shows are available on HULU):
House, Mondays @ 8 p.m. Fox
If you haven’t heard of it, crawl out from under your rock. This show has been a hit for a few seasons now and although they are doing pretty much the same thing in every episode, I still really enjoy this show. Step 1: Someone gets sick. Step 2: House’s team can’t figure out what it is and treat the patient for a million other things that make it worse. Step 3: House fantasizes about his boss and has an epiphany. Step 4: Patient is cured. I enjoy seeing how each medical mystery evolves and I always like to find out exactly what the patient had all along. The first season was definitely the strongest, but I still enjoy my House episode each week.
Eye Candy Alert = Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) & Thirteen (Olivia Wilde)
How I Met Your Mother, Mondays @ 8 p.m. on CBS
Another show that has prospered through a few seasons that I cannot get enough of! Barney Stinson a.k.a. Neil Patrick Harris dominates the show for me and I can’t stop laughing. I love how this show is broken up into all these mini episodes of hilariousness that eventually will form the path to character Teds, wife..and the quoted “mother” hinted at in the title of the show. The one liners are the best (It’s going to be LEGEN..wait for it..DARY!, Challenge Accepted, etc”) and the cast will have you laughing after just a few minutes.
Eye Candy Alert = Marshall Erickson (Jason Segel) & Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders)
Accidentally On Purpose, Mondays @ 8:30 p.m. on CBS
This is one of my new found favorites. This show was released in this fall lineup and its hilarious! Billie a.k.a Dharma from “Dharma & Greg” a.k.a Jenna Elfman, breaks up with her rich, gorgeous boss when he wont commit and has a backup rendezvous with a 22 yr old at the bar, Zack a.k.a Jon Foster a.k.a yum!. She in turn, gets pregnant from said rendezvous and things go crazy from there. The jokes are hilarious, the cast is gorgeous, and although the story is lacking an in depth plot, I’m so entertained!
Eye Candy Alert = Billie (Jenna Elfman) & Zack (Jon Foster)
Big Bang Theory, Mondays @ 9 p.m. on CBS
CBS is really killing it right now with their Monday lineup! Two and a Half Men comes on just before Big Bang, and although I enjoy that show from time to time its not on my top list. Big Bang Theory is all about a group of 20 something astrophysicists and their misadventures. Sheldon a.k.a Jim Parsons is my favorite character of the show, he is the smartest of them all and is hilarious without even trying. Half of the things they talk about, I don’t understand, but I bust out laughing every time I hear them sing “Soft Kitty” (google it!). I’ve gotten a few family members really hooked on this show.
Eye Candy Alert = Penny (Kaley Cuoco)
Trauma, Mondays @ 9 p.m. on NBC
This show is more serious than the few previous shows, but I enjoy it all the same. This shows is another medical melodrama but focuses on paramedics rather than doctors. A few of the cast members are good looking and I do enjoy the show pretty frequently. An episode never ends without something blowing up or some crazy thing happening. I will say this, the more you watch it the more you will get into it.
Eye Candy Alert = Glen (Taylor Kinney) & Nancy (Anastasia Griffith)
V, Tuesdays @ 8 p.m. on ABC
A remake of the 80’s series, V focuses on an alien race come to Earth in “peace”. The “visitors” as they are called show up to Earth and offer humans healing methods in peace in exchange for the use of a few resources. Little do we now, that although the v’s look like normal people, they are really lizard hybrid things that want to eat us all. Who knew? This show is a sci-fi action series that can be quite interesting. The story is slow at first, but give it a try for a few episodes.
Mercy, Wednesdays @ 8 p.m. on NBC
This is my absolute favorite show right now. The shows focuses on a few employees at Mercy Hospital and their lives. The major premise is that character Veronica, just returned from serving as a nurse in Iraq. A place where she met a handsome Doctor, Chris, with whom she has an affair with. She returns home to her husband Mike, who in the past has cheated and tries to fix their marriage. Doctor Chris shows up in hopes to win Veronica’s love like he did in Iraq and things go crazy. Let me point out that although this is a major happening in the show, there are a million other little mini stories going on (affairs, love, death, emergencies, babies, crazy!). I think that is why I love this show so much. There is so much going on that you just can’t look away!
Eye Candy Alert =Chloe (Michelle Trachtenburg), Sonia (Jamie Lee Kirschner), Chris (James Tupper) & Mike (Diego Klattenhoff)
Criminal Minds, Wednesdays @ 9 p.m. on CBS 
If you haven’t seen an episode yet, you are really missing out. Criminal Minds follows the Behavorial Analysis Unit of the FBI as they track serial killers. Each episode is a different case, with underlying stories of big bad serial killers in the background of course. The plot lines are suspenseful, action packed and although each episode focuses on a serial killer, each episode feels different. The cast has a lot of familiar faces, which I’m sure you would recognize. Reed and Garcia are my favorite characters.
Eye Candy Alert = Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) & J.J. Jareau (A.J. Cook)
A few other shows to watch for (their schedules change):
Warehouse 13
Secret Life of An American Teenager
The Office
My Name is Earl
Everybody Hates Chris
My iPhone game addiction
Dec 6th
I download pretty much every new free game app to my phone on a daily basis. The large selection of games help me pass through ackward situations, long lines and silence with ease!
Here are the few that I’m addicted to now:
Touch Pets - > Its like a Tamagotchi on steroids (side note: do you remember Tamagotchi’s? They were the best. I had an R2D2 Star Wars one; I should score some points for that). Anyway, basically its an animal RPG where you have the ability to adopt a puppy and raise it up. Using “Puppy Bucks” and “Food Bowls” to increase your experience points and keep your puppy in “platinum mood” can get challenging especially when you run out of either and are forced to wait until they regenerate themselves.
Traffic Rush-> It is a simple concept brought to us by Donut Games, who have made a lot of other iPhone apps that I love (Rat on The Run, Cows Space, etc). You get the image of a street crossing. Cars can cross horizontally or vertically. Tap a car to stop it for a brief time or swipe it for it to speed up. Get as many cars through the intersection as you can without crashing. Simple enough right? I’ve made it up to 136.
Ramp Champ -> Its like skiball from Chuck E Cheese! There are four different levels with different things to fling your balls at to get more points. Each level has a set of “trophies” for you to complete and you earn tickets for your score. You even have the ability to trade them in for prizes (old skool!). I have almost two shelves full of random prizes and a few trophies!
Girl Wars Online -> Another RPG that is driving me bonkers! Use your money to purchase shoes, handbags, clothing and real estate. Use the items you purchased to perform activites that increase your experience, stats and popularity. When you get bored, cash in your fashion points with “The Diva” to gain extra stuff or go head to head in a “catfight” to see who comes out on top.
So go download these games and check them out; they are FREE after all.Any game or iPhone app you are completely crazy for?
Scariest Movie Ever: The Strangers
Dec 5th
“Why are you doing this to us?”…”Because you were home”
The background music sends chills down my spine and the visuals make my heart race. Something about “The Strangers” works every part of my brain that triggers fear. The concept of the movie is simple, quarelling couple are staying at a house in the middle of nowhere and some killers come to mess with them.
The scariest part of it all is that this isn’t some science fiction movie, there isn’t a lot of blood or special effects or supernatural occurrences. No aliens or ghosts or weird contraptions, just people and true horror. The things that happen in this movie could happen right now! If I was Liv Tyler in this movie, I would have had a heart attack in the first 15 minutes.
Faint sounds of scraping on the outside of the house, knocks on windows, people standing in my front long just staring, old record players skipping..its the making of a true psychological and very REAL thriller. If you are looking for something to get you shaking in your boots, definitely check this film out. 9/10. Its on sale at Amazon right now.
The Baker’s Dog, Myrtle Beach SC
Oct 29th
About The Baker’s Dog (right off the website!):
“The Baker’s Dog is a pet bakery and retail store located in Myrtle Beach, SC. We have over 10 years commercial pet baking experience in the Myrtle Beach area. All of our treats are made from people quality ingredients with no added salt, sugar, or preservatives. We offer a variety of treats ranging from hard to soft and we even have wheat-free and corn-free nibbles for your allergic pooch.
Contact information and directions are available on this page.”
Megabyte is my lab/boxer 2 yr old and I adore her. We stopped in to see Paul, the co-owner and cookie chef at The Baker’s Dog, and took home a fantastic treat box for her. She is now the #1 fan of all of the great fresh baked treats.
The store offers a large variety of toys and treats for your pets. Squeaky toys, stuffed toys, unique toys, lots of different flavors of crackers, cookies, bagels and even doggy birthday cakes!
I’m very excited to bring Megabyte in the store tomorrow for the howl-oween treat giveaway. If you bring your pet in dressed for Halloween tomorrow or Saturday, you will receive a free dog treat! Megabyte has an adorable pumpkin costume somewhere in the attic that is perfect for the occasion.
<<—Megabyte 
I 100% recommend that if you live in the area, or are just visiting and love your pets then you should stop by and see what The Baker’s Dog has to offer for you! I guarantee that you will find something you love!