A couple of weeks ago I enjoyed a staycation at hotel Emeline Charleston. It’s a new stylish boutique hotel located downtown on Church Street near Market. It’s not what you would expect right next to the bustling tourist thoroughfare. The hotel is a lifestyle experience with it’s hip eatery Frannie and the Fox, coffee shop Clerks, and the Keep Shop stocked with locally curated goods. The common spaces welcome you in and invite you to stay a spell. The decor reminds me of a Wes Anderson movie set – vintage inspired, warm rich colors, funky wallpaper with with interesting art and furniture styled to perfection.

When I was invited to stay Emeline I jumped at the chance to book it for my 17 year anniversary with Gus. We had exactly 24 hours to relish in the company of each other. Life has been crazy with the kids at home for 7 months! Us parents have been pushed to the limits and this weekend was the perfect getaway from our hectic lives. It’s hard for us to actually go out of town without the kids, so having a staycation in Charleston is the most ideal situation.

The beauty of Emeline is that you feel like you’ve travelled to another city but you’re actually just experiencing an elevated Charleston. Yes, we’ve got the most world renowned hotels in the world, so what makes this hotel so special? Well Emeline found a niche that wasn’t filled. In bigger cities like L.A. and NYC boutique hotels are places that the locals want to hang out in and Emeline filled that void. They opened this summer during the most challenging time we’ve ever experienced, but yet they’ve built a sense of community and people are flocking there to see what all the buzz is about. I was curious about the name and found out Emeline is not a real person, but instead the hotel’s muse – a portrait of true Southern hospitality.  Everything you see and experience in the hotel has been imagined and seen through her eyes.

Everything in their hotel rooms are so well thought out. From the lounge area with the record player, the beautiful forest green velvet tufted headboard, to the Mad Men inspired entertainment center in the bedroom. Every detail is carefully curated and my favorite one is the record player that doubles up as a bluetooth speaker. As a music connoisseur who appreciates all kinds of music I was impressed to see records like Adele, Leon Bridges, and their own compilation of soulful classics on their signature Emeline record that is for sale at The Keep Shop.

Before we headed out to eat at Frannie and the Fox, we grabbed a drink in the speakeasy hallway. We just sat at the stool and pressed the buzzer and the bartender was there to serve us whatever our hearts desired.

Frannie and the Fox serves up some of the yummiest wood-fired pizza I’ve ever tasted. We had the TALEGGIO with burnt honey, black pepper and the PEPPER & GUANCIALE with roasted red pepper, and green olive. I highly recommend the MARINATED OLIVES with beans, orange zest, and rosemary and the fresh Focaccia to nosh on.

Thank God the hubs loves a good photo shoot. When you have a cute outfit and a beautiful backdrop, why not? And no we did not coordinate our outfits, we’re just always in sync.

After dinner we hopped on the hotel’s cute green bikes and rode to the battery by starlight. I’ve toured South of Broad by bike before but never at night, and it was such a romantic experience. We ended the night at Off Track Ice Cream and had their Ice Cream Flight with my favorite flavor – the Red Clay hot honey and biscuit.

The next morning we rolled right on over to 5 Church. A quick 2 blocks away, this was the perfect place to treat ourselves to an anniversary brunch. We love this restaurant but never tried their brunch before, and I’m so glad we had a taste of their southern goodness. We kicked off our celebration with a flight of mimosas and demolished the Praline French Toast and their Keagan Filian Farms Pork Belly Benedict. No brunch is complete unless you have a sampling of both sweet and savory dishes.

We ended our getaway at Woodhouse Day Spa in their downtown West Edge location. They were able to accomodate us last minute with a Swedish Body Treatment and Gentleman’s Facial. They book up fast with their massages over the weekends but I was able to try out their new treatment – The Swedish Body Treatment. It’s a sampling of a facial and massage which includes a full body dry brush exfoliation and oil application, followed by a honey butter foot mask with a hot towel compress. The facial at the end with jade roller was a refreshing way to end the luxurious experience. I can’t believe I don’t own a jade roller so of course I had to buy one and it was only $16 in their retail shop. Me and Gustavo relaxed in their VIP lounge and nibbled on the charcuterie plate while we sipped champagne. We packed in a lot for 24 hours in Charleston and every second was time well spent!