SC Greenville | "House of Cards" Big Peach 🍑 Valentine’s Day Vibes

These past three weekends, I’ve been commuting back and forth between North and South Carolina—and good news: the three-lane expansion of I-85 from south to north is finally done! Greenville’s totally lucking out with this upgrade 🛣️. Construction started way back when you first hit the iconic Gaffney Peach landmark (that giant peach you can’t miss!), and it took years—the north-to-south three-lane section isn’t finished yet, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Once the roads are fully upgraded and infrastructure catches up, more people will definitely want to stay here long-term. I suddenly felt like wandering downtown Greenville, and one spot caught my eye: that apartment building Two years ago, it still looked like an unfinished, half-abandoned project—boarded-up windows and all 🚧—but not long after that, it was already marked “sold out.” Now it’s fully built, and passing by tonight? It looks gorgeous! Modern, sleek, and totally transformed. Okay, maybe we underestimated it back then… but let’s be real, even if we’d had better foresight, we still couldn’t afford it 😂. Some houses downtown are insanely expensive—the wealth gap here is pretty big, and a lot of these places are for wealthy people looking to retire in peace (lucky them!). Downtown was busy tonight—most folks were heading to see the Hamilton musical, tickets in hand and excited chatter in the air 🎭. I’m not into theater, but my sweet tooth kicked in hard, so we decided to hit up a dessert shop instead 🍮. Carmella has such cute, cozy decor—pastel accents and soft lighting—that I half-expected it to be one of those “pretty but tasteless” Instagram spots. So I played it safe and ordered tiramisu… total surprise: it was delicious! Rich, creamy, with just the right amount of coffee kick. One serving was perfect for two of us—any more would’ve been too rich. At $11 a portion, it’s a good size too (no skimping on the mascarpone layers!). I heard their sparkling water is great too, though we didn’t try it this time (next visit for sure!). Guess this is how we’re spending Valentine’s Day this year 🥰—low-key, sweet, and totally our vibe. And tomorrow? Not a single dollar more will leave my wallet! (Budget mode activated. #Greenville #GVL #AmericanLife #ValentinesDayVibes