Update from the Lowcountry...

I can't believe it's almost September. That means that we've been gone from Seattle for almost a month already! Doesn't seem possible. I miss it more than I thought I would. I knew I'd miss the people that we left but I didn't realize I'd miss the city so much. I know that we didn't want to live there forever...too big, too much traffic, and too much rain. But, there are many things that I do and will always miss about it that I took for granted.

First and foremost, I miss the variety of food. You could get any type of food that you could dream of...and there was always at least one restaurant per food variety that was amazing. Two...I miss having our windows open & fresh air. If we opened our windows here for even 5 minutes, our entire house would turn into a sauna. This makes me grateful for air conditioning although which is something we didn't have in Seattle. When our apartment was hot for a few weeks in the summer time, there was no escaping that! Third, I miss (call me crazy) the noise at night outside our bedroom window. This is funny because this is something that I often complained about (insatiable, I know) but it's almost too quiet here...I'll get used to it though! Fourth, good beer & wine. The south does not have good beer. Let me rephrase, they have good beer but it's not local. All good beer that we've had here comes from either Colorado, Oregon, or Washington. This observation could be premature although because we have yet to experience the breweries. My dad just sent me a link to all 5 of the breweries in the Charleston area so I'll have to report back on this! And wineries...aww...wineries...no need to expand.

This is a depressing post! Let me list my favorite things so far about Charleston to conclude:

• the ocean. omg...amazing. warm water, the beach, boogie boards, laying out, awwwwww....
• the history. there is an endless amount of history to be explored here...I have yet to even tap into it!
• the cobblestone roads & sidewalks downtown.
• the southern food.
• the nice people.
• the fact that people actually say "hi" and wave at you when they pass by...crazy concept i know.
• the SUNSHINE! Where have you been for the past two years?
• the fact that I don't have to drive on a major interstate when I want to go to Target.
• that fact that I can shop at a grocery store that's named "Piggly Wiggly"
• the southern drawl.
• palm trees.
• More to come I'm sure!

Quick detail update...Matt likes his job. I'm still job searching. Meanwhile, I'm substitute teaching. My dad is coming from DC this coming weekend. We already attended our first wedding this past weekend (congrats Chris & Court!). We are living in a corporate apartment until Sept 29th (we miss our stuff!). I saw my first cockroach this week (also known as a Palmetto bug...disgusting).

If anyone wants to come visit, you are welcome...not that you will probably want to after that last roach comment!

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene has formed just in time for a big ol' welcome to the Carolinas! I was just casually flipping through channels yesterday when I began to notice a pattern...a tiny little box in the corner of the screen with the hurricane radar being displayed. Awesome. Well, it's Tuesday and IF it hits, it will most likely hit on Friday night and early Saturday morning. The thing I like (glass half full perspective) about hurricanes is that you have time to prepare for them. As we drove through Tuscaloosa, Alabama last week, the damage from their tornado back in April took my breath away. I thought about how scary it would be to be in such a situation where you literally only have minutes of notice to protect yourself & family.

The really bad part about the possibility of Irene is that our friends Chris & Courtney have a wedding planned for Saturday evening. The Haagensons will be here visiting for that wedding as well...so let's all pray that Irene changes her course and stays away from Charleston! We'll keep you posted...or just watch the weather channel for updates :) IF we have to leave...we'll head up north to visit my padre I'm assuming so we'll be safe. Now...must go buy water and canned goods :)

Humidity

Man...did I ever underestimate the humidity. It seemed as though every time I'd tell someone that we were moving here, they had to make a comment about the heat & humidity. It felt similar to the constant comments about the rain before I had moved to Seattle. But..they.are.right! It is so humid here. It is nice when you first walk out of your house after freezing your booty off inside with the AC up so high, but if you spend any amount of time outside, be prepared to be sticky. New things I learned this week...don't go running before 9pm, drink lots of water, clinical strength deodorant is worth the money, hair straighteners are a waste of money, & no matter how good you look when you leave your house, you'll look 1/2 as good after 5 minutes outside...

In other news, I'm attending my very first Junior League meeting tomorrow evening which is super exciting...maybe I'll meet some ladies who are in the market for a new friend :)

We made it!

Well, on Sunday, August 14th, we finally landed in Charleston! We left Seattle on the 2nd, drove to Montana, and then left Montana for the long haul on August 7th. On the 7th, drove Brianne home to Denver which allowed us to spend some much needed time with the Haagensons! From there...Denver to Kansas City (big woop), Memphis, New Orleans, Tuscaloosa, Atlanta, and finally to our new home in South Carolina. It was such a fun road trip...one more thing to cross off my bucket list (drive across country)! Matt and I had been so busy before we left Seattle that we hadn't been spending very much time alone together so it was nice to just be with each other for a few weeks. We were able to get to Charleston just in time to celebrate our one year anniversary with sushi takeout and champagne...perfs!

I'm going to post some photos later but for now, they aren't on my computer and I don't really feel like uploading them! For the first two nights that we were here, we stayed in a hotel in downtown Charleston. It is so beautiful! I was overwhelmed by the culture & feel of my new home but in a good way. I have this overwhelming desire to learn everything about everything immediately. It drives me nuts to have to look up every address, enter it into my GPS, and not know where to go to find something I need. I remember feeling like this in Seattle but I also remember learning my way around fairly quickly so I just need to be patient. It's so weird to not know where the nearest Target is (essential) or where to drive to even get a latte! All in good time...

For the past 3 days, we've just been trying to get a tiny bit acquainted...we moved into our corporate housing which is a cute little apartment in Mount Pleasant. It's weird to not be using any of our own furnishings but they'll return to us soon :) It's very nice and clean and everything that we could possibly need so we are grateful for it. We went grocery shopping yesterday to stock an empty fridge and realized that we have a condiment/spice addiction...it's seriously a problem, no one needs as many condiments & spices as we owned in Seattle. We tried to keep it to the bare minimums as we'll be getting ours back in just over a month.

Today is Matt's first day at work...we drove by the plant last night and it looks great! It's surrounded by palm trees which is a refreshing sight and Matt was excited about all of the close parking spots. It was about a 10 minute walk from his car to the building in Seattle which isn't bad at all...but once again, the things we take for granted! Today is my first day on my own in this town which is a little scary to be honest. It's weird to be by myself again after having a sidekick for the past 3 weeks. It's ok though! I needed this time alone to piece our lives back together and take care of about a trillion details that need to be taken care of. I'm getting overwhelmed just thinking about it...yikes!

With that said, I better get going so I can be productive. Pray that I can find a job quickly and easily if you wouldn't mind! I need to start working...staying home by myself everyday is going to get old fast!

I'll leave you with this (awful picture off my phone...awful quality that is :) The man in the photo is pretty handsome if I do say so myself!)

Matt on his 1st day at Boeing Charleston!

one more thing...I'll see you when I see you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJBKw1O1eM0

This is my theme song for the new season of our life :)

Seattle to Charleston

We are in Memphis, Tennessee right now and I am absolutely falling in love with the south and everything about it. Details to come :)