Open Doors

You know the saying, "when one door closes, another opens"?  Well, I'm modifying it: When one door opens, a thousand windows of opportunity open!

As you may have read, I'm moving to Charleston in August! I made this decision on Good Friday after meeting with my realtor and a builder on Johns Island.  And let me tell you - Good Friday was a REALLY GOOD Friday!

I hate to get all "Alanis Morisette" on you, but irony is a funny thing.  On said Good Friday I had the most uplifting morning in which I decided to make a huge life move and start building a house and a life in Charleston, SC.  That night, I had a blind date - well, kind of - I knew OF him, but had not seen him since we were like 14.  So all afternoon I waited around (no I didn't) to hear from this dude to tell me what the plans were for the evening.  No call.  No text.  Nothing.

At that point, I was about 2 glasses of wine deep and pissed.  But, not sure why I was pissed - I was dreading going on this date.  I've never been asked out on a "Real Date" before, much less a BLIND one!  I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point between glass 1 and 2 I said "screw it".

I called up one of my besties and we met up for (more) beverages at Waters Edge on Shem Creek.  Her and her fiance (soon to be hubby - like tomorrow) wanted to go downtown and I opted out.  I texted my best good buddy, and he was exactly where I had expected him to be - Richard's.

Before I go into any more of this story, I have to give you an idea of what Richard's is like.  First of all, it's a dump.  And by dump, I mean I would hate to see the inside of this place in daylight.  College friends, Scandals was like Blackfin compared to Richard's...yea, I said it.  It's the only place in Mt. Pleasant that still allows smoking indoors, and patrons take full advantage of this.  After leaving Richard's you must wash your hair and clothing at least twice to get the smell out.  Richard's serves canned beer and wine out of boxes...you can't make this shit up.

I'm getting off topic again - but remember how I said that irony is a funny thing?  Yea, the guy who stood me up just texted me and asked if I was going to be in Charleston this weekend.  Seriously...you missed your chance...read on.

So...I drove over to Richard's to meet up with my buddy and have a good time - cause no matter how terrible this bar may look/seem, I've ALWAYS had a good time there!  I found him and announced my good news about building a house and we decided it was a reason to celebrate - with canned beer!

I noticed this guy standing up at the bar while I was talking to my friend and immediately looked at his ring finger - habit.  No ring.  No tan line.  Hmmm...

Not 5 minutes later, another friend of mine walked by and I grabbed him and asked the common question at Richards: "What the hell are you doing here?".  At that point, he introduced me to cute-guy-with-no-ring-from-bar.  Within that moment, I was so completely drawn into talking to this guy I had forgotten where I was.  We stood there and talked for what seemed like hours and found out that we had a lot in common.  I high fived my buddy who introduced us and then smacked him on the head for not making the introduction sooner.  Granted, it's not about WHEN, but that it happened that matters.

What happened after we met was insane - apparently two rough bitches decided to go all Tiger Woods on eachother in the parking lot.  We were unaware of this until Smokey and the Bandit came sliding into the gravel lot all crazy-like.  Our mutual friend rescued us (ok, we weren't really in danger) and took us out of the bar.  

At some point or another, talks of going to Clemson for a baseball game came up, I asked him if he was an axe murderer or married with kids, and the rest is history.  No, it's not a fairytale, but I'll take it!

After knowing him for only one week I packed a bag and cooler and headed to Clemson for a weekend with a "stranger".  The excitement of seeing him again kept the fear away until I reached the infamous 19B exit...then I wanted to throw up.  I called my mom and told her how nervous I was and asked for confirmation that I wasn't crazy.  She said "You didn't think twice about driving there and you made it this far, I'm sure you will have a wonderful weekend".  Mom knows best.

We did have an amazing weekend together and leaving was the worst.  I knew I would see him again in a week in Charleston, but I really didn't want to leave.

We have so much in common, but enough differences that we can appreciate each other for being themselves.  I have never felt so nervous to be around someone yet so comfortable when I am with them.  It's a weird feeling - but I'm not sure I want it to end!  He is the most genuine guy I have ever had the privilege of knowing - on top of that, he's smart, funny and really, really, ridiculously good looking (yep, went there).  When I say I feel like the luckiest girl in the world - it's because I am!  

I like where things are going in my life - and about 8 months ago, I would have never said that.  I've become more in touch with my spiritual side (more than I had before February), and have leaned on my religion for a lot more than I used to.  God has a special plan for all of us, it just takes time for him to get his plan in motion.  What a blessing it was to start my plan on Good Friday!  I cannot wait to see what He has in store for me next, but I'll take everything that I have right now!  

Cheers y'all!

Mi Casa!

Well, after visiting only one house in Huger, SC and a thousand more listings from my realtor I decided to look at new construction on Johns Island.  We set up appointments at three new subdivisions and as soon as we drove into Staffordshire (the third one we visited) I knew that I wanted to live there!

The neighborhood is full of young professionals and the location is perfect!  

• 25 minutes to the beach
• 35 minutes to my mom's
• 60 minutes to my dad's

Here's the lot:

Lot 55

 The road name is actually changing - Ladies and Gentlemen, I will be living on Needwood Forest Drive.  No joke.  That's really the name of the road.  What a terrible arrangement of words...in more ways than one.

Here's the elevation of the house:

I cannot wait to pick the finishes - it will NOT be beige!

And the floor plan:

First Floor

Second Floor

I had the chance to walk thru a near-finished home with the same floor plan and took these:

Entry into open kitchen and great room

Kitchen

I'm so excited!  The estimated close date is August 24th - and it can't come soon enough!

So far, this process has been totally painless with the help of my amazing Realtor, Jennie Hood from Carolina One Realty.  If you're in the market for a new/pre-owned house, she's the best! Harbor Homes has been wonderful so far too - and my agent there is actually going to be my neighbor!

I cannot begin to express my appreciation for my mother and step father during this process.  With me being in Rock Hill, they're having to handle a LOT for me, and I can't stop thinking about how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life!  My dad doesn't know it yet, but he's building me a fence and a deck/pergola!  The support I have from my family is making this process painless, and I am so blessed to have them!

Yes, there's a guest room - but it's pretty much booked up with guests until 2013!  Love my friends in Charlotte!

I cannot wait to start a new life by the sea - it's where I belong! 

Artistic April

First off, Meatless March was a total success!  I only cheated two times - once was St. Pat's when I mowed down a Wild Wing's Buffarella at 11:00pm and the other time I was making dinner for my friends and completely forgot to leave the chicken out of my quesadilla.  Trust me, there were PLENTY of other times I wanted to cheat!  The hardest part about not eating meat is not being able to find something fast (read: Chick-fil-A) when I was hungry.  The most "fast food" I ate was a veggie sub from Jersey Mike's...which is pretty delicious.

So, my most common response to "I'm not eating meat this month" was "What the hell do you eat then?".

Glad you asked:

Did I miss meat?  NO!  Look at all the delicious stuff I ate!  I will say that Trader Joe's was my best friend in March, and I will continue to drive the 30 minutes to Rae Road in Charlotte to purchase all my groceries going forward.  They have such delicious produce and it's CHEAP!

I ate lots of FREE shrimp - thanks to my father who took me casting one weekend in McClellanville while I was down visiting.  We tried to go offshore for some serious meat fishing, but ended up fishing in the creek instead.

Shakes and smoothies provided the protein I was lacking, and by the end of March I had concocted a ridiculous amount of different flavored smoothies, and learned that I like the protein shakes a lot more when made with coconut milk instead of water.

I love veggies, but I needed meat yesterday...so I ate this:

Lunch.

 Ok, so onto April...

If you don't know already, I'm what most people would call "Artsy Fartsy".  While my cousin wrote 15 page papers on God knows what, I was sketching trees from our dorm room.

Lately, I've been going thru some tough stuff, and I've been trying to find alternate ways to control my stress.  Yesterday, I had an epiphany...I should paint.

So I trucked it to Michael's Craft Store and bought some new paints and 4 canvases.  I then spent the rest of my afternoon painting in my tiny ass living room, on the floor with the iPod on shuffle.  It was so relaxing.

So, now I have 3 blank canvases and 29 days to bring back the artsy fartsy Lindsey.  Hey, at least I'll have new art for my new house - whenever I find it.

Also, I'm adding "Appreciative April" to the mix.  Each day I will tweet (I never use the Twitter) about something that day that I found that I appreciate.  I think this exercise will help me find the positive in the days that seem impossibly negative.  Follow me @LowcntryLindsey

April is going to be a good month...I just feel it.