I’m an Apple user and i’m sure a lot of people are. We now have a place to hide things behind our computers, its a shelf for the iMac called BackPack, and its getting awesome reviews. What makes it local? Its a Charleston based company and I’ve personally met the owner when I was the first person in line at the apple store, and he is a swell guy.

Being a male I’m not really a fan of flowers, I am however a fan of really shallow depth of field.

Everyone likes going on a nice vacation(or holiday), but maybe you don’t like the free breakfast they serve or maybe you perfer to cook a meal in your hotel room.

Who doesn’t like art and movies? Well for $5 you can go lounge out in the grass and watch Spies Like Us at Eye Level Art on August 18th.

Scotland is a great place, I’ve gotten a chance to visit for a week once even. It was a pleasant stay compared to this one.

Whats worse than not finding the droids you are looking for? Not finding the Cornmeal you are looking for.

Whats up with these pie pops i hear about and where can i get one or ten?

Finding balance is a good thing, I think it could shave some time off of news and put it in social networking though.

And if I wasn’t vegetarian I totally would sign the waiver and eat spicy tuna.

Oh btw Im James Heyward you can read my blog here and be sure to follow me on twitter.

Yeah, alright its me turn to write down some reviews of today’s blogs – lots of things happening and am just hanging in there ya know what I mean?  Well for starter, let’s check out Dave Moulton about the song from the Beatle’s – Nowhere Man

Of course, I just can’t leave out our “Star” on the rise… gotta check out Home Ec-101 – she’s got her new sticky note…

Check out Richard Bell photography essay of Maegan & Christopher’s Wedding at Summerall Chapel & the Citadel Alumni Center – of some wonderful shots of the wedding and receptions!

Calling all Artists/Graphic Designers – Charleston Arts Coalition is having the next competition of the NEW design for BB&T’ Charleston Wine + Food Festival Poster Competition read on how you can enter! Its just might be YOU!

Read Charleston Chow review of the Dixie Supply Bakery & Cafe – I’ve read many reviews and all are good and the price is not too hard on the wallet when you’re really being tight!

Mike Burleson – Pirates in the English Channel

Audubon South Carolina – Back On The Boardwalk

Liz Ramsay adventure in Ko Samet and mishaps – see what happens to her..

I just can’t leave out Joan’s Photowalk..Unusual Burial Places

For all the Tea cuppers – Uniquely Tea – shows you how to Organize Your Tea Cups

Lastly, the Fire Apes – are Firreed Up About Cancer – 5 lowcountry bands are jamming for this event..

I hope everyone has a great weekend coming and you can always find me at The Filipino Friends!

It’s Wednesday.

Hump Day.

The exact middle of the work week.

And this is what I found:

Matt commenting on  social media.

advice on how to clean out your garage so that you can actually park your car in it.  What a novel idea. OK, I don’t have this problem, but i have lots of friends who do.

And who doesn’t love a cute baby pic?  Especially a cute baby in a red wagon.

There is going to be a fall sock hop next month for the kids.  Check this out for further details.

Heather gives us a great Quick Tip on what to do with gift cards.

If running is your thing, John Denver, Monster Mix, & Stank: A Wild West Relay Race Report is pretty entertaining.

Haiku is a perfect description for this day.

Enjoy your evening.  And if you are in the mood for some fiction, stop by my blog Diva Fiction Bytes for the current serial story Riding The Wave.

The only reason we’re not outside watching the Persieds is, well there’s nature and bugs out there (and clouds).

Set your DVR to the Travel Channel on August 19th at 10pm to catch some local flavor.

No, you won’t be home, you’ll be out enjoying yourself with the fine folks from SMC Charleston after the Social Media 101 panel.

Have you seen Charleston Today?

Paul the photographer spends his time freaking out the pharmacist’s assistant:

Hi. How may I help you?
Paul: Hello. I’d like to buy one syringe, no sharp (needle) please. Enough to hold about 10 ml.
P.A.: (looks at Pharmacist quizzically, then back at me like I had two heads!) – Ummmm. OK?
Paul: (Let’s them dangle in the wind a bit knowing that they want to ask why.)

Congratulations to the fine folks at Hook, they have been featured by Smashing Magazine.

Charleston Health Care Stories will premiere August 20th.

Hurricane season is not over and WCSC notes that it is time to watch the tropics.

Have you tried a CSA, City Reimagined reminds us of the option.

Copyright law, always a fun topic, who owns the raw footage of a photo shoot?

We’re bloggers, you know someone had to mention the Volt’s 230 mpg.

Compost in my Shoe celebrates his first year at the blog.

What’s a round up without a little pie?

We can’t completely neglect politics, Earl on divorce and the public eye:

Sooner or later, you come to learn two things:

1) There’s rarely ever a case where someone is completely blame-free, and
2) No matter how much you may want to protect them, the kids always get caught in the middle.

… and that’s even without the entire world surrounding you, trying to pile it on and make it as visible and hurtful as they can.

Heather hangs at Home Ec 101 and in the Corner.

The Lowcountry has a lot of pride in its local shrimp. (With good reason!)

Chuck seems to have really enjoyed some peel ‘n eats at the Noisy Oyster:

The server got a break as he started his spiel. He suggested we start with an order of fried green tomatoes and how great the rock shrimp taste…we stopped him and said we live here and just wanted a pound of peel & eat.

He smiled and said “Surely, NOT one pound to share.”

Scout Horticultural shares a great story about the other side of Lowcountry Shrimp, catching them!

It’s not very often that a movie features a blogger as one of the lead characters, so of course the local community had things to say about  “Julie and Julia”.

A few bloggers got together for a meetup at the Terrace Theater.

Alison noted how impressive Julie’s feat of blogging every day is.

Francis gave it a rave review.

This is my first five-star film rating…. If you only see one more film this year, make it this one.

In other news, two new triathlons have been announced, one a new South Carolina Half Ironman, and the other an off-road triathlon on Folly Beach:

The inaugural Folly Beach Challenge is an off-road triathlon featuring paddling, biking, and running. After a 3-mile paddle on the Folly River to Folly Beach County Park, participants will bike 8.5 miles (round-trip) on the sands of Folly. After arriving back at the park, a 3-mile run awaits.

If you think a triathlon is too much exercise, you may need to reconsider once you learn about Pie Lollipops.

For those of you that are keeping up with Geoff’s adventure check out where he has been and where he’s going to next.

For those history buffs, check out Mike Burleson, New Wars for some interesting posts.

Here’s a link for those enjoying playing in their gardens – Compost in my shoe is going to the American Community Gardening Association gathering in OH – and follow him in the next few days.

Find out how Syd found who he is.

For those of you that loves tea and anything british, Uniquely Tea will give you pictorial tea tour – Queen Elizabeth II

Don’t forget that back to school is around the corner and it  is TAX FREE weekend!

Read about Dark Sky Magazine ~ Thursday Flurry of Words

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend! as always you can find me at The Filipino Friends!

Have you seen Kate Waring? She was last seen being taken home from Wasabi’s on State St.

Barcamp Charleston has a date and venue. Now it’s time for you to help organize the event.

Mark your calendars, Robert Donovan’s first photography show is set for August 18 at Farringdon’s Bistro Pub, stop by, enjoy a beverage and support one of our own.

Read Charlie? Stop by and meet the interpreters of MUSC:

They spend their days visiting clinics, dropping by birthing rooms and racing to the ER. Never mind the fact that they have little-to-no medical or social work training. They’re still the lifeline for Charleston County’s 11,000 plus Spanish speaking residents. In fact, they’re the area’s only group to provide in-person medical translation.

After spending a recent Monday morning with these caring souls, we’ll be the first to tell you their job’s not an easy one. Like many of the hospitals’ physician teams, the Interpreter Services office is always open, through daybreaks, weekends and holidays.

Speaking of photos, Jenna shares a rare and elusive sighting at the South Carolina Aquarium.

Addison muses on the demise of serendipity:

What has drawn me to the great inter-tube, and has kept my interest for the past 5 years, is that each visit brings the likelihood of learning something new, or being exposed to a different perspective which might open me to new possibilities, or just giving me something else to think and chew on. Rarely have I been disappointed.

Recently, my friend Xark mentioned that he was, if I may paraphrase, reconsidering his usage of his reader, which I took to mean that he was reducing his reading of blogs in response to the powerful force of social media, i.e., Twitter, Facebook, et al. The further implication being, to my ears at least, that blogs might not be as good as the newbies in terms of delivering timely, relevant information. . .

I hear congratulations are in order for our favorite blogging wedding planner.

Book lovers are a special kind of nut.

Have you tried flash fiction? Dark Sky Magazine shares a twisted little piece, Hog Ripping.

While we’re talking twisted, one of Manson’s cohorts has been paroled.

Since our blogosphere is such a small, interconnected world, it’s only appropriate that we now move on to Chuck’s. You do know he covered the Manson trial, right? No worries, today he was covering (and sampling) a cookie contest.

High tech penny pinching.

MojoSteve rants on our “local species of idiots.”

Holly Herrick is back in town to sign copies of her first cookbook.

Stop by and wish James well, he is going back to school:

I have two teenagers left at home and I have been preaching to them the importance of getting the best education possible. The best education possible includes making good grades in high school so that they hopefully can pass an SAT and get into college and get a four year degree in something other than basket weaving. When I am telling my kids about the importance of college I have always been very real with them and used my life as an example.

Before you slip off to bed, keep these words from Syd close at hand:

Instead I’m glad to find that contentment is not dependent on circumstances or other people. Instead, it depends on my outlook. Circumstances may color the world around me but joy comes from deep within. And the extraordinary is everywhere around me if I just take the time to look. A jewel can be as bright as a diamond or be the dew on morning grass. Music can be the sound that comes from a Stradivarius or the rain on the roof. Taste can be a five-star meal in a fine restaurant or a hot dog cooked over a camp fire.

Sleep tight.

Heather says she’s been tweaking the template her usual place, but it won’t belong before she’s back in the writer’s seat.

Julie and Julia at The Terrace

Come to the LCB Movie Meetup Night at The Terrace on Friday, August 7, 2009 at 7:30 pm to see Julie and Julia.

From Wikipedia…

Julie & Julia is an upcoming 2009 comedy-drama film, written and directed by Nora Ephron. The film depicts events in the life of famed chef Julia Child, contrasting her life with Julie Powell, a woman who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child’s autobiography.

Ephron’s screenplay is adapted from two books: My Life in France, Child’s autobiography, written with Alex Prud’homme, and a memoir by Julie Powell. In August 2002, Powell started documenting online her daily experiences cooking each of the 524 recipes in Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she later began reworking that blog, The Julie/Julia Project, into a book, Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (Little, Brown, 2005). The paperback was retitled Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (Back Bay Books, 2006). Both books adapted by Ephron were written and published in the same time frame of 2004 to 2006.

Ephron began filming Julie & Julia in March 2008. In the first major motion picture based on a blog^{[citation needed]}, Meryl Streep portrays Julia Child, and Amy Adams appears as Julie Powell. The film officially premiered on July 30, 2009 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and is scheduled to be released throughout North America on August 7, 2009. ^[2]

A movie about a blogger, a legend, and food! Should make for a fun meetup.

Vera Thomas Hannaford chronicles her knitting and crocheting (but never cooking) in Vera’s Crafty Blog.  Her husband, Patrick, consults Child’s masterpiece Mastering the Art of French Cooking quite a bit, so while watching the movie, she plans to look for recipes for him to make.

It seems as if our family has moved into a rain forest.  Every since we moved to Johns Island, in May of this year, it has rained at least three times per week.  Today at 3 pm the bottom fell out of the sky here on Kiawah Island where I work and once again I got soaked.  Today  I am calling the blog roll up Water World Round Up in honor of all the rain and it appears that some of our bloggers are sharing pictures with water or talking about it.

The City of North Charleston is gearing up to participate in the  26th Annual National Night Out which will be held on August 4th from 6 pm to 9 pm in over 10,000 communities and military bases world wide.

At 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 4th, Mayor Keith Summey, along with Police Chief Jon Zumalt and Housing Authority Executive Director George Saldana, will join residents of the Horizon Village community to kick off a neighborhood cookout and crime prevention walk.

Johnson Hagood shares several portraits from the Tropical Light Blog which include some of the following.

• Waterfront Park, Charleston

Photo Courtesy of: Johnson Hagood of Tropical Light Blog

• Jessica
• Morris Island Lighthouse
• Charley’s
• Figure Study for Radcliffe Street
• Rooftops , Charleston
• Bachmann Seafood in Moonlight

The Newsless Courier gives us the Straight Story on New CCSD Buildings

Probably not everyone is as irritated as I am by paeans of praise to the Charleston County’s newest Taj Majal school buildings in the latest editions of the P & C. Even knowing that the funds for building them and those for daily operations are separate has not assuaged my nagging suspicion that, here in these multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art schools, children will still be left behind in reading skills.

Charleston’s Waterways Recognized by Outside Magazine:

As Charleston’s natural beauty becomes more and more recognized by the rest of the world, it is important for those of us who call this place home to maintain and even elevate our reputation by protecting what we have.  There is no argument against the fact that our waterways play an integral role in defining our charm, greatness and appeal as a city and as a region.  For this reason alone, we must continue to invest a considerable and substantial amount of our time, energy and resources into protecting and preserving our waterways.

Kittens On The Keyboard makes us all envious by sharing her activities on her day off.  Marvelous Monday indeed!!

I’ve taken a random week off from work. I have the worst problem: I have too many paid time off hours accumulated and am in constant danger of capping out so I’m forced to just take time off whenever possible. Horrors.

I’m turning the keyboard keys red because I bought a pound of fresh cherries this morning and now cannot stop eating them.

Nikki and Geoff are stopping off at the Yellowstone National Park and share this with us in the road less traveled:

Photo Courtesy of Nikki

As mentioned in my previous post, I am working my way across the US with my friend Geoff and we are now in Yellowstone National Park. There really are not words to describe how unbelievable every inch of the park is, so I will not even begin to try. Even pictures cannot capture the captivating and often bizarre formations within the borders of this place.  Here is a photo they shared with us on the blog as well.  Very nice indeed.

School starts soon. The sales and signs are popping up all over town. Every school year I had a desire that this would be the year I was organized. Isn’t there something inspirational about a blank notebook and fresh paper? Well, I hate to break it to you and myself, but it has never happened. I can be flighty, but this year I have some accountability. It’s not just an in my head “I’ll do better.” This year it’s public and there are others joining the journey. (If you are on Twitter, you’re welcome to join us. Just do a search for #backontrack to see what we’re up to).

Kimberly Riggs shares with us the “cash only system” at Simple Cents:

So this is what it’s like to abstain from plastic altogether: cluttered, confusing and wow – you should see the stink eye I get in check out lines while counting out my bills…

I know it’s a prudent course of action only to spend what cash one has in hand. My husband and I plan in the future to take on more responsibilities, pay off the house and invest wisely in the pursuit of earlier retirement.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Walker Photography

It’s been no surprise that July, 2009 was a wet one.  Can we hope for a peaceful hurricane season? According to Brad.

It has been a very stormy finish to the month of July.  Several rounds of thunderstorms have been effecting the area since Wednesday and it has been a very wet month across the area as well.  Officially 8.16 inches of rain fell in July at the Charleston International Airport which is over 2 inches above normal for the month.  Total rain for the year is just over 30 inches which is slightly above normal.  Now that we are heading into August, out attention turns to the tropics.  Good news is that things are rather quiet and not expecting any development over the next few days.  We’ll continue to monitor and cross our fingers for an uneventful hurricane season…

Leslie and Bean take a walk on the beach.

I didn’t attend church today, so here’s Joan’s church photo in lieu of attendance and the simple splendor of the French Huguenot Church.  Great information on two beautiful and historic landmarks.

Jam on it!  Vinegar too.

I had a birthday last Sunday, and I’m becoming increasingly aware that I’m no longer young, so  I found Nikki’s post on aging particularly apropos.

Yes, Jessica Lange and Demi Moore are seemingly ageless, but is old really, truly cool in our culture… But I don’t think old is cool when I watch Lou Dobbs or Pat Buchanan being crotchety, hateful and — old. I don’t think old is cool when life becomes more about conserving than creating. I don’t think old is cool if it means living in a gated retirement community with people who look just like me. I don’t think old is cool when I read about nursing home residents being abused and neglected, because they’re not only old but poor–a double mark of shame in our society. I don’t want to join a Crone circle or wear a Cougar tshirt or go on an elder cruise, but my friends and I don’t have enough role models or reliable road maps for a next act that doesn’t look like the one our mothers lived… Maybe someone is waiting for us to do it ourselves.

Don’t know why bridal dresses qualify for the the no sales tax weekend (next weekend), but it’s a good time for a trunk show.

Emily shows off her mad skillz with invisible zippers.

Eat local with the Saturday Farmers Market Menu.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl.

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –tear up the planks! here, here! –It is the beating of his hideous heart! The stories of Edgar Allen Poe are so cool–especially interpreted by the awesome Vincent Price. Do watch the videos. He’s still amazing.

Lovely birds at the Audubon Center.

Geoff hits Big Sky country.

Dr. Eugene Mah is one step closer to reality.

Dave Earley wins the Charleston portion of July’s World Wide Photo Walk with a wonderful photo. Congrats!

Vera Thomas Hannaford blogs about her knitting, crocheting and Hello Kitty obsessions in Vera’s Crafty Blog and tweets about other obsessions–especially music–on Twitter as vhanna26, and thinks no one does horror like Vincent Price does horror.