Search Results for: girls night out

If you know me well or are a regular reader of this blog, you may be aware that I’ve owned two homes for a little over a decade now. When I bought 2312 Wilmot Ave., I still owned 1919 Atascadero Drive and kept it for years. About two and a half years ago we moved to Trimblestone Court, and have continued to own ‘Wilmot.’

Friday, our lives changed.

For the first time in a looong time, I now have the pleasure of owning one home, and it’s glorious. By “I,” I mean Jennifer and I, but since we weren’t on the first two deeds together, I avoid the term “we.” That said, Jennifer weathered the storm with me and here we are.

The pool pic above is me deciding to celebrate with a late night victory lap (and by lap, I mean walk around and maybe do a few breast strokes and tread water in 3-5′ depth).

I don’t know why, but I wanted to have a moment to mark the new us. It was sort of a self exfoliation – a rinsing off of a monthly mortgage burden I’ve carried for years.

Did I have to sacrifice a little to make it work? Yes. Big picture, however, I had to take the same advice I’ve given sellers for a decade now. “Cut the line, because another payment is coming, and again, and again. Just cut it, move on, and make it up.”

Big thanks to Jennifer for seeing this through, and to Amanda, Amy, and Elizabeth, for enduring it, too. It has not been an ideal situation for anyone, but we made it work.

If I could give a shout out, it’s to Michael Edens and his team at Southern First Bank. Michael has been my banker for years now, and his guidance helped me make this happen. Brutal honesty here; We turned four mortgages into two, which may sound odd, but is a win/win going forward.

Congratulations to the new owners of 2312 Wilmot Avenue! Jennifer and I loved living here, and we brought all three of our baby girls to Wilmot. The house was great, but the ‘block’ of Shandon was just awesome. I’m super excited for the new owners.

Back to the pool. I’m probably on video breaking some rules and if someone needs to put me in real estate victory lap pool jail, I’ll just blog about that too with the hashtag #WorthIt.

Thank you!

New Day – FJ

Thursday night many of my female friends got together for a fun ‘Girls Night Out’ at 701 Whaley. The event, which supports Columbia’s incredibly popular EdVenture Children’s Museum, is a popular fashion show complete with a long catwalk for models to show off a specific designer’s latest line. This year the night belonged to fashion designer Trina Turk, which is sort of a big deal.

If you know me or follow this blog, you know full well that I love fun and clever marketing opportunities. Enter the photo above.

It was exactly a year ago when I introduced the F|A logo to our marketing efforts. While in a serious time crunch to come up with something clever for last year’s event, I took a liberty with Georgio Armani’s “A|X” (Armani Exchange) design and had a few hundred black T-shirts produced. While we may never know the full story behind “ShirtGate” (only 20 attendees actually received the shirts), a logo/label was born. Who knows how long we’ll use the black and white F|A design, but for a year now it’s been fun to share with Amanda and the rest of the Midlands.

While I’ve never been to EdVenture’s GNO, it looks like the F|A bags made a big splash. I hope every F|A bag (and the goodie swag inside) found its way to every attendees kitchen countertop or dining room table.

Special THANK YOU to Shannon Pooser and Chris Carrington for all of their hard work to make the show possible. If all went as planned, the event was a success and a good time was had by all.

Thank you!

FJ

I have to tell ya…I had fun on Saturday morning.

My daughter that is the least engaged in anything and doesn’t give a crap about much, Ivey, had her first soccer game early Saturday morning and it was amazing.

Many of you may have seen a few pics on Dorothy Robinson Beaudreau’s Facebook post and you know what I’m talking about.

Waking up on Saturday morning I’m betting most of the parents thought, “Good grief this is early. Why are we doing this? This sucks, and this game is going to suck.” I actually had a dad tell me later Saturday night the exact words, “Dude, I thought this was going to suck.”

It did not suck.

It was an awesome experience that I won’t soon forget, and The Scrunchies played their arses off and what had been a rather timid and docile group of girls completely came alive for their game on a cold Saturday morning.

Shout out to my friends and fellow girl dads, Beau Beaudreaux and Morris Lyles, for keeping everything straight and subbing in and out with the anxious Scrunchies on the sidelines.

I’d also like to point out images two and three above. As we were walking to Baskin Robbins to celebrate Ivey’s victory my Fitbit started being cranky and I looked down and I had 10,000 steps by 10:20ish AM. That may be a record for me…haha

After further analysis, please check out the “calories burned” during a Scrunchies game (Saturday @ 8:50 AM) compared to playing tennis for relatively the same amount of time. I was stunned. If you know me, I love me some tennis and am very active and “gettin’ it” while I’m out there. That said, I burned more cals with the Scrunchies than on the tennis court minute vs. minute.

All that to say, if you’d like to get some great exercise while having some fun, coaching a six-year-old soccer team may be your ticket.

I had forgotten how much fun this was. My buddy Damon Jeter and I used to coach a few teams on the NECSA fields on Polo Road some years ago.

Congratulations to the Scrunchies and I’m happy for my friend and also girl dad, Reeves Rutledge, as he’s back in town and takes over as coach.

The Scrunchies have created a team culture of fun and playing hard. We are 1 and 0, our momentum is infectious and powerful, and our pony and pigtails are high and tight!

LET’S. GOOOO. SCRUNCHIES!!!

If you can’t tell…I love being a girl dad. 🙂

Franklin Jones

As many of you know or saw on Facebook via Jennifer’s page, all three of my girls had birthdays last week. Ivey and Nora were born on Aug. 20 and Finley on Aug. 21. When most folks hear this timeline the reaction is usually, “Oh, that’s convenient. Knock it all out, right?”  Wellllllllllll………..it’s not quite that way. Note: These dates are also the day before and the first day of the school year.

That said, a week earlier, while I was in Austin, TX at Keller William’s Mega Camp, Finley said to Jennifer, “I wanna go to BoomTown for my birthday.” Perfect! A quick trip to Charleston was a fun idea!

We did allll we could do – lunch at Fleet Landing, hit the SC Aquarium, Rooftop bar, swam in the hotel pool, candy stores, strolled the market, walked The Battery (watched a wedding), late-nighted at Rue de Jean, Shem Creek, pedicab/rickshaw rides, walked around a historic neighborhood, and of course, visited the amazing and wonderful BoomTown real estate technology campus (think Google for real estate teams…w/ bing bags, ping-pong, indoor basketball court, and a dozen or so dogs laying beside their owners).

Why did she ask to visit BoomTown? BoomTown has been the ecosphere of our real estate practice for years now. Data, marketing, our google relationship, Zillow funnel, the whole bit. More accurately: All three girls have been looking at BoomTown schwag all of their lives. Hats, my socks, coffee mugs, pop-sockets, Swell bottles, headrests, and most of their nightgowns/pajamas are small BoomTown T-Shirts.

If you don’t go to the beach or mountains often, I hight recommend taking a quick trip to Greenville or Charleston and packing in all you can find and do. It’s exhausting, but the memories that these mini-trips provide are priceless.

I have to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to my buddy, Mac Hill, at BoomTown. He left his desk to give Jennifer and our girls their birthday tour and made it a big deal and super fun for them.

Thank you, MAC HILL & BOOMTOWN!!!

Franklin Jones

Monday night Jennifer and I found ourselves in an unfamiliar spot. We were at a nice restaurant, together, on a school night. The venue was called “Private Property,” in Downtown Lexington, SC.

Here’s the scene; Elizabeth Black had just graduated from our alma mater, USC. She walked across the stage a few hours before we gathered for a nice dinner to celebrate her new life accomplishment of becoming a Gamecock forever.

As we were finishing up, her dad, awkwardly but fittingly, thought it would be a good idea to go around the room and say something about Elizabeth. He tried to begin with me. Not being ready for this, I stalled like a pro. Upon further thinking, I stalled like a punk. A little later, after everyone else had spoken, I heard her boyfriend say something like, “OK, now uncle Franklin is going to make us cry.” The others didn’t hear it, but I did.

Here’s the thing. There are some people I never want to disappoint, Elizabeth being one of them. That said, this inherent trait turned a 180 on itself. In short, my silence as to not disappoint was a disappointment in itself. Get it? It’s not about what I think I might have or should have said, it’s about what she may or would have heard. Lesson learned. Shame on me.

Here’s where this is hard and perplex to put into words in front of a room full of eyes and ears, even Elizabeth’s; Liz is my niece. Liz is my daughter’s aunt. Liz is my oldest daughter’s hero, favorite babysitter, and maybe even her favorite family member. That said, there’s a twist in our relationship my girls don’t know about yet…

To take it back a bit and give an idea of our relationship, here’s a post from a few years ago:

“Elizabeth was around three years old when we first met.  My favorite memory together (when she was a kid) was a Black family vacation at Surfside Beach.  It was a perfect South Carolina day, but I remember the ocean being a little rough.  Big waves notwithstanding, for whatever reason Elizabeth jumped in my arms and we took to the surf.  While the rest of the family hung out on the beach, Elizabeth let me hold her by the armpits, belly down with toes pointed towards the shore.  The waves busted her in the head and face over and over…and over and over.  This may be an exaggeration, but it felt like 500 waves crashed over us.  My arms and legs were like rubber, but we kept going.  Why?  I had Elizabeth’s complete trust, and I knew I was in one of those life snapshots I wouldn’t ever forget.   Seems I had a good hunch.  She’s now at USC, and I’m 40 and typing about it.

To this day Elizabeth and I have a special bond.  It’s one of those relationships whereby we can speak to each other through hand gestures, head movements, and eye squints.  It’s pretty cool.

If you take a look at the pics above you can see why she could easily be “Miss South Carolina.”  Of the pics, you can probably guess my favorite.   Yep, it’s the one where she’s hugging her Pappa (grandfather), Mr. Black.   What you’re looking at is the expression so many of us make when we hug this man.  As meaningful as the photo is, however, you’re not even seeing the best part;  The face on the other side.”

I listened to others speak about how close they were and about their ups and downs with Liz and the good times and the bad. While they were speaking it dawned on me that Elizabeth and I don’t do good times and bad as they were speaking about. Sure, no one is happy all the time or have the perfect life, but Elizabeth and I only do good together, good or bad. We’ve never been sideways with each other. We’ve only been awesome, or not awesome, together, and enjoyed a sort of language and trust that other folks in a room would ask, “Franklin, what do you know?” (and by ‘folks’, I sometimes mean her parents haha)

I don’t mean for this to be a long post, but as you can see from my beach post above Elizabeth and I have known each other a long time, and developed a life relationship. This is the little girl I held on the banks of Lake Marion while she cried her face off (I’ve come full circle with this with my twins, BTW). This is the young girl whose recitals I’d attend with pride, and the girlfriend of a**hole boyfriends. The Miss SC pageant contestant I yelled for, and the college student I wish I could have gone to class for. I’m 43 years old and I’ve bought one female bathing suit in my life. It was a cash exchange meet up in the 5-Points Food Lion parking lot. A little odd, but it was for Liz.

I could type forever… but to bring this all full circle please notice the shining medallion on Elizabeth’s neck in our most recent pic above. That medallion is Kinsey’s, and she wore it often. One side has Kinsey’s initials, and now the other, Elizabeth’s. Thoughtfully, Jennifer had this made and gave it to Elizabeth a few weeks ago.

Welcome, Elizabeth, to this new world. I’m sure you will ‘figure it out’ in a much shorter span than I did. 🙂

Congratulations to my Elizabeth Black. This is us…and I. Love. You.

Uncle Franklin

What a great weekend! As many of you know from Facebook, Sunday was my birthday, which has never been big deal to me. As a kid with a summer birthday I was always away from home (Anderson, SC). I was always at Camp Greenville away from my everyday friends, so it just wasn’t a big deal. Well, enter my sweet girls.

This weekend was pretty awesome. We all woke up late and as we finally piled in Jen’s van, we debated where to have lunch. Since it was my birthday and the kids were making such a big deal of it, I sat in the 3rd back row with Finley all day. After some thought, I shouted from the front, “How bout Groucho’s mommy?”  “Yay!, three girls yelled.” For me, Groucho’s is super kid friendly. More importantly, it gave me an opportunity to support my friends Drew and Suzanne Hampton, which I’m all about. After a fun lunch I bought a T-Shirt, of course! (I love marketing and branding my friends endeavors anywhere I can!)

Next stop was Baskin-Robbins. I chose the flavor I’ve ordered for 30+ years, “Daquiri Ice.” As you can see from the pics, Ivey and Nora preferred my flavor over theirs, so much so we had to order another cup of it.

After our sugar rush we headed to Grandmother and Grandaddy’s house for a surprise visit. My grandparents haven’t seen the kids since Christmas so we traveled to Stepp Drive in Forest Acres for some good quality time. The girls were perfect and I think Grandmother and Grandaddy enjoyed it, big time.

Next stop was home where Ivey and Nora and I tried to sneak a nap while Jennifer and Finley went to get me a prize. Finley was going crazy to get me something because we made a big trip to Just The Thing to get a proper Mother’s Day prize for Jennifer some months ago. After almost two hours they came home with the God-awful-est necktie in all of the Target Stores system. It’s a sea-foam green tie with a swordfish pattern. It’s the thinnest tie I’ve ever held, and I’m not sure how I can possibly make it work with ay of my collars. Jen said they went to Target thinking they’d get a C9 brand shirt I could wear to the pool or something, but when Finley saw that tie, “she had to have it for her daddy.” Sounds perfect to me….

Finley gave it to me as I was waking up so I was kinda groggy. She said, “Daddy, daddy, it’s for, you know, when we go on those romantic nights with, you know, the George’s, daddy!” I sat up and said, “Oh, got it babe,” and gave her a huge hug. BTW…the dynamics of any “romantic night out” with the George’s means 10 people. Ten. I love my tie and maybe one night I’ll wear bandana Rambo style around Litchfield/Pawley’s Island and label myself, “Arrogantly shabby.”

The day ended with a loop around the ‘hood and a few hours at the pool. If you know me, this has become my happy place with family and friends.

A nice bonus was all of the Happy Birthday Facebook shout outs, and to top it all off a Realtor hand delivered an offer to Groucho’s for 7 Lakecrest Drive.

What a great weekend.

Thank you!!

Franklin Jones