On Saturday, January 9^th, Beaufort will welcome world class violinist Frank Almond and his 1715 “Lipinski” Stradivarius for NOTES: An Evening of Musical Storytelling and Casual Conversation, the first annual gala event to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern Beaufort County. 

Suddenly, all the newspapers – and even big billboards on the highway – are telling us that “Santa Elena came before Jamestown,” or, as Dr. Larry Rowland puts it, “This is where America began!” But how is this possible? Before last year, had anybody even heard of Santa Elena? Our teachers never covered this chapter of American history.

I was just telling my brother, “my life is one party after the other all year long.” It's so true. I plan and prepare food for weddings, cocktail buffets, luncheon and dinners from January through December.

My husband and I have been together for 5 months shy of 20 years. That's 19 Christmases, y'all.  We have somehow survived an unending brutal recession, a violently popped real estate bubble, 6 tropical storms, 3 tornadoes and a half dozen nasty cases of the stomach bug. We have remained strong through 7 moves, 43 tween sleepovers, lost teeth, lost keys, flat tires, burnt spaghetti pans, Amex bills, ER visits, and countless steely bouts of individual self-esteem.