recent happenings

we have been in our new house about a week and a half now. we had a great group of friends who helped us move in. we are so thankful for their friendship & help!
we moved the same weekend as my dad's 60th birthday, and we were planning to surprise him the next day (sunday) for lunch. it turned out that since the move went so smoothly (and quicker than we thought, thanks to my sweet engineer husband who streamlined everything), we were able to go to augusta that same saturday (my dad's actual birthday) and surprise him for dinner! he was not expecting it, and we had a great visit.
we are slowly getting things unpacked, but i am seeing that it is going to be a process. this is the first time in my life i've moved where i didn't have 2 weeks or a whole summer off of work and school to get settled.
we are getting used to our new location and driving a little further to get places. downtown doesn't seem as far as i thought it would. i went to liz's birthday downtown last week (but unfortunately didn't take any good pictures!). tonight i had dinner at the nosedive with my sweet girls from bible study, as an end-of-the-study party. i am sad that we no longer have a central location to meet. the four on the left are new moms or moms-to-be, which is exciting! these girls have challenged me in my faith and "spurred me on to good works," which i thank God for!

my sweet husband (our anniverary & my birthday)

last wednesday, august 11th, marked 3 years of marriage for christopher & me! we are thankful for God bringing us together and for strengthening our marriage these past few years. we have many more to go! we spent the weekend celebrating with a trip to charleston, which chris planned and kept a surprise until last week. i hadn't been there since middle school and had been wanting to visit again, now that we're south carolinians and all. we stayed at an antebellum hotel downtown called the mills house.on friday evening we took a carriage tour of downtown. i love the quaint row houses and cobblestone streets! on saturday, chris & i each planned an activity. there was an art museum two blocks from our hotel, the gibbes museum, so i couldn't resist that! chris was very patient with me as i enjoy taking my time looking at paintings.chris chose for us to visit ft. sumter, so we took a ferry that afternoon. he definitely enjoyed looking at the monument and old cannons. i was reminded about how little i retained from u.s. history, which i attribute to having coaches for all my high school history classes!
we ate delicious food (especially seafood!) all weekend. my favorite restaurants we went to were magnolia's, where they serve kind of a modern southern cuisine, and hominy grill, a quaint brunch place where the servers wear t-shirts that read "grits are good for you." when we left the hotel on sunday morning, there was a torrential downpour! chris had to navigate alternate streets so as not to forge the rivers that various streets had become. we had planned to drive to the beach at isle of palms before going home, so we headed there (less than a half hour drive), hoping the rain would subside. it did briefly, but began again. we just decided to enjoy our time there, since we were getting wet anyway!
my husband is a master of surprises. i brag to my coworkers (who, being counselors, are pretty good at confidentiality!) that christopher is like a vault...i haven't had a chance to blog about it, but he also surprised me on my birthday in july. i wanted to get some friends together at my favorite restaurant in greenville, the lazy goat (mediterranean tapas food). chris made all the reservations. my favorite part of any meal is dessert, and this is especially important on a birthday. i thought maybe friends could come over for cake and coffee afterwards. chris led me to believe he had some amazing dessert in the fridge (i wasn't allowed to look in it all afternoon), and then surprised me at the restaurant by having them (singing, of course), bring out a mint chocolate cake from their sister restaurant/bakery. it was delicious! i love christopher!

birthday week

we celebrated my 25th birthday on wednesday, and chris got me two dozen beautiful roses! we went out to portofino's, a local italian restaurant that liz introduced me to. after spending two weeks in my office with stark white walls and little personality, i went on a mini shopping spree with my birthday money to find some office decor. i wanted a table to put between the two counseling chairs in my office. i also thought some soft lighting would be more relaxing than the fluorescent lights.i've never really liked fake flowers, but with no window i thought i better go fake if i wanted any green in my office. so these hydrangeas from world market grew on me (no pun intended). i also wanted a wall clock so that i'll be able to discreetly keep track of the time during sessions. i liked the retro look of this and thought the red was a nice pop of color. finally, i finished the artwork i started last month. this wasn't exactly what i'd planned - i didn't end up using newsprint or magazines, but i like how creative projects have a way of being spontaneous. the background is acrylic paint, and the collage part is scrapbook paper. if the silhouette looks familiar, it's because my sweet husband volunteered to let me trace his shadow! i'm excited to get more settled in my office, especially as i build up my schedule of individual sessions with clients. i'm enjoying work so far, and i think it's a great fit for me. i am so thankful to have a job that i like!