New post!

I always feel like I should have pictures when I'm about to write a new post, oh wait...I do have pics yay! I almost forgot that I do indeed have pictures from out CT trip. I have additional pictures from the wedding we went to a couple weekends ago, but I keep forgetting to charge my camera so I can upload to my computer.

Some time has passed since I last posted. We had a great trip to NYC and Connecticut. S loved my family and they loved him right back. I can't help but wonder if he had a little chat with my pops, but I guess I'll leave that as a surprise. Speaking of my parents, they just bought a condo in Port St. Lucie, Fl, which I am very excited about because I will have free reign (and a key) to visit any time I want! I am planning on spending a week there with them in September, can't wait! It's also nice because since it's only 8 hours away, we can drive instead of having to buy two plane tickets. You would never think it would be SO expensive to fly from Charleston to pretty much anywhere in Florida. Crazy.

Hmm, what else is new...

I posted a little while back about how S and I started attending Seacoast Church here in Charleston, I really love it, however, S is a little on the fence because it's such a big church. He said that no one ever talks to us. My response is that we never stick around long enough to meet/talk to anyone! A couple weeks ago, I saw on the church's email newsletter that a couple about our age was starting a 20/30-something life group and I thought, that is just what we need! It was the most perfect thing and great timing. It is just a casual almost social group that gets together every week at the couple's house. We went last night for the first time and I really enjoyed it. We got to meet about four or five other couples and a couple singles as well :) Everyone was very friendly and I'm looking forward to getting to know each person there. The group isn't very structured; there is no required reading or workbooks or anything like that. Just a group of peeps who are around the same stages in their lives who can get together and hang out and maybe chat once in a while if there is anything heavy on their hearts. I'm looking forward to many more gatherings and now S will finally have some people he knows to stop and talk to at church.

The next big exciting thing, not sure if I already mentioned it, but S and I are taking that next BIG step and moving in together. I am currently living with a roommate and his brother just moved out of his apartment, leaving plenty of space for all my things! It doesn't make any sense financially for us to both pay rent. We are both 30 years old and we know that we will be married in the very near future so I don't see anything wrong with is (and I don't think anyone else should.) I have been soliciting everyone at work for all their boxes so I can get packing this weekend. I can't wait!

I just realized that I never really posted any pics from our Kentucky trip from earlier in May so here we go!

While in Kentucky, we hiked at Red River Gorge up the Natural Bridge, it was pretty awesome. As you'll notice, we had quite a bit of rainy/overcast spring weather on both of our trips..

S's new truck that we picked up in Kentucky!

It was Military Appreciation Night at S's little brother's baseball game :)

A couple weeks after we visited KY, S's grandma and grandpa came down to Charleston to visit us. We showed them around and played tourists in our own town. Here are some pics from a carraige ride that we took them on.

The next day, we took them on the ferry out to Fort Sumter.

The weekend after the grandparents left, we hopped a plane to NYC and visited CT, too! S was dying to go to the Carnagie Deli and here is his giant sandwich, he killed that thing by the way.

Rainy day in Times Square.

My favorite bakery EVER, Crumbs. It is seriously cuppie cake heaven.



The Statue of Liberty from Battery Park.

Once in CT, we took a little trip down to the shore. We stopped at Sub Base New London and toured the submarine museum and USS Nautilus. I have no idea how S does it, but I could never spend days and days beneath the sea on one of those things!

 I promised S a trip to the casino (where he won $1200 playing blackjack!)

 And he got his lobster dinner that he couldn't stop talking about :p

On our last day in town, we visited my friends, Shay and Mike, and my goddaughter Maddie. Here she is with the little Carolina Girl t-shirt I bought her :)

I miss her, can't wait to visit again!

On my parents' doorstep, just about to leave for the airport to head back to Charleston.

Trips home always go by too fast and there is never enough time to do everything I want to do. Can't wait to get back home and visit again, but until then, I am always having fun in the sun in SC<3



Happy Easter!

Hope y'all had a great Easter! This year was the first time that I celebrated Easter without my family. Usually I go to church in the morning with my mom followed by a big Easter dinner at home. Since I moved to Charleston, it has been a big adjustment having to either travel for the holidays or celebrate sans family. Last year my mom was in town for Easter and we went to church followed by a great beach day, however this year I was on my own!

A few months ago, S and I had talked about going to church together. His dad's side of the family is Southern Baptist and I think his mom's side is Presbyterian? He wasn't exactly brought up going to church every Sunday, but his mamaw and papaw are very religious as well as some of his other aunts and uncles so he knows what's going on and does consider himself a Christian. I, on the other hand, was brought up Catholic where my mom dragged us to church every Sunday, I was not a fan. Once I turned 18, she backed off and really didn't bother me with it anymore.

Once I moved to Charleston, I noticed a big cultural, religious difference. I noticed the sheer number of churches in the area seemed to far exceed my neighborhoods in Connecticut. Being new to Charleston and in a totally different part of the country, I kind of started thinking about going back to church. I wasn't really sure which church, but I started to feel the need to maybe become a part of something like that again.

S has never really attended church regularly, but has tried a few different churches in the past. We didn't really start talking about it until about a few months ago. We talked about attending Seacoast, a  non-denominational church in our area. When the time came, he told me the night before that he wasn't ready. I completely respected that and was fine with it if he did not want to go. Maybe I wasn't fully committed to going back and still had a few reservations about religion. I hate to say it, but I feel like my Catholic upbringing jaded me!

Finally, last week, I asked S if he wanted to go to church with me on Easter and he said yes. We decided to still go to Seacoast and it turned out to be a great experience. The service was better than anything I had ever experienced in the past and I honestly think that if church had been anything like that for me growing up, maybe I wouldn't have despised going so much! I didn't feel a lot of pressure, I felt as though I could accept the sermon as I wanted to and I really loved how the pastor related it to real life situations. I also found that it touched S in a way that I never could have imagined; there were times throughout the service that I had to really fight back the tears. I think that this was exactly what he needed to get his faith back on track. He has some reservations as well, but I think this is going to be a new-found, ongoing thing for us. The theme of yesterday's sermon was "Love Is..." and this will remain the theme over the next eight weeks. S said that he is really interested in what the pastor has to say and is looking foward to it. I cannot think of a more fitting topic as we start this spiritual part of our life together.

Back in February, we had visited Kentucky for S's papaw's 80th birthday. While we were there, I got to talking with his cousin's wife, Jamie. Jamie is very committed to her religious beliefs and they attend church three times a week. We started talking about S's past and our future, etc. Jamie had then asked me if we ever went to church and I told her no, however, we had talked about going (at that point). She said that maybe it would be good for us, especially S. A little backstory: Although I only ask things on a need-to-know basis and choose to only ask about pertinant information, S has gone through a divorce that was finalized in December 2010. We met in January 2011. Although everything had just been finalized, he hadn't spoken to his ex since they filed somewhere back around this time of the year in 2009 (apparently things happen real slow in Washington State.) S is over her and luckily they really don't have any ties to each other anymore whatsoever so that made moving on for him a bit easier. S still struggles sometimes though and says that he feels broken. I can't really put myself in his shoes and I don't know what it feels like to go through a divorce, but I think part of him felt that he wasn't sure he could love like that again.

I am actually totally anxious to talk to Jamie about our experience at church yesterday. I can't believe how much she was right and I just know that our future there will help him heal further and what better topic than "Love Is." Going to church set the tone for our whole day yesterday and it was probably the best day we've ever had together. After church, we went to brunch downtown at Eli's Table then met up with some friends at Folly Beach. I felt an even stronger connection with him and I know he felt the same way. He told me last night that he fell even more in love with me yesterday and that he has never felt so loved. He said that he didn't know that he could feel love like that. Now tell me that isn't the sweetest thing you've ever heard?! After the events of  this Easter, I feel like I can confidently say that I know we are going to make it for the long haul. Not that I really had any doubts before, but this just really made me feel even stronger about it.

I never realized what a difference one day would make. I'm glad that we are in this together and that we will be right by each other's sides all along the way.

Easter Sunday