Wanna grab a milkshake to celebrate?

E-N-G-A-G-E-D!!!!

Yes, you read that right. Boyfriend...ahem....Fiance popped the question Friday night.....in a McDonalds parking lot....me in my pajames.....with the ring on a key chain. Romantic? Helllllzzzz yeah it was!!!! This past weekend fiance's sister asked me if I would watch their dog over the weekend so they could have a family vacation to myrtle beach. Friday morning fiance left for Augusta to pack up his stuff into the UHaul and then was venturing down to New Orleans, unfortunately when I got off of work he had dead bolted all of the doors and I wasn't able to get in to let the poor dog out to potty. Without a spare key in sight or anywhere to be found it came down to me either meeting him in Columbia or having him drive all the back to Charleston to bring me the key. Being the sweet, darling girlfriend that I was I drove to Columbia to meet him. After my hour and a half drive with a lot of huffing and puffing, we met in a McDonalds parking lot where he hopped in my car and handed me the key....with a gorgeous three stone diamond ring on the keychain! I had no idea and was surprised by far! After he popped the question and all the tears were whiped from my face, he asked me if I wanted to celebrate over a milkshake, oh honey I would but seriously, I would scare even the McDonald's people with my pajama outfit and pony tail! And shortly after, I was back on the road to Charleston without my fiance. :(

The Ring is by far the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, its also sentimental because fiance used his mothers two diamonds to put on either side of the larger center diamond. The ring was specially made so that it matched up perfectly with my wedding band, which too was his mothers. I am very honored to be able to wear such amazing jewelry that was once worn by such an amazing woman, according to not only her son and daughter but by everyone else that knew her.

Ring.....Check! Gorgeous ring....CHECK CHECK!

So now for the wedding plans. I literally did not realize how much work and effort goes into a wedding and having a wedding in 2 months is definitely not the norm so things are a little more demanding. Friday evening my mom came into town so that she could here for the dress shopping extravaganza. On Saturday, me, my mom, my sister, and my neice all headed to the dress shop to try on all the pretty dresses that I had in mind. After an hour of trying on only 3 dresses, the third one was picked and out the front door we went with dress in hand!

Dress...Check!

On Sunday my sister and our friend Lindsey all headed out to do a little invitation hunting. Since our wedding is on Halloween, fiance and I decided to do a masquerade theme wedding (everyone at dinner is going to be wearing masks) therefore, I had to come up with something creative and fun! We found some really fun things and now we are currently in the process of getting everything together and printed, just waiting on the perfect time to have the ceremony. 5? 6? ugh, i don't really care as long as its dark and there are lights hanging above my head. :) The ceremony is being held in Napa Valley at the Culinary Institute of America on Halloween. We are very excited about this venue because everything is done for us. The only thing that we are having to pick out is the menu for dinner which is held in the barrel room, a musician to play during the ceremony, and whether we want round tables or a long family style table which we've opted to take just to make things a little more intimate and....family style!

Two days before the wedding we fiance and I are making a trip to San Francisco to take pictures.....yes thats right...our engagement pictures because 1. we now live 12.5 hours apart 2. our photographer lives in San Francisco and 3. You really can't beat having pictures done in San Francisco!

VENUE....Check!

PHOTOGRAPHER....CHECK! (My brother-in-laws aunt!)

With all of the decisions that have to be made we are learning more and more about one another and falling more and more in love. I am so lucky and so incredibly happy to be marrying the man of my dreams. I thank God for him every day and pray that he will bless us with a happy marriage full of love.....in cajun country! :)

Long Distance

TEARS OF BITTERSWEETNESS.

Today marks the first day of a long distance relationship and when I say long distance I mean 12.5 hours apart. Skype is now my new best friend. I am very excited for things to get in motion but it seems like its all moving very sloowwwwwwwwlyyyyyy. And if you know my personality than you know that I like things to happen NOW NOW NOW.
Boyfriend is headed down to New Orleans to get settled with the new apartment and job. Forunately, I will be visiting next week to spend time with him unpacking our boxes and doing a little site seeing.

Yesterday another big decision was made. I decided to quit work October 1st. Too soon? Possibly. I'm very excited though, my plan is to move the rest of my things down to cajun land and then spend a few days out west with my parents. I'm in desperate need of some R&R and some time for ME! The next couple of weeks are going to be intense and a much quiet month to recap and enjoy myself is just what I need.

Heads will roll.

Overwhelmed? Stressed? Need time to breath? Want a nap? Requiring peace and quiet? YES!!! MY HEAD IS SPINNING! Life is moving very quickly and keeping up is becoming harder and harder. This weekend we are moving my things OUT of my house, yes I'm THRILLED to be going forward with the one of a million steps we have to take but does it have to be so stressful and overwhelming? I am extremely excited about getting everything figured out and back settled but it seems just to get back to that point is going to take so long and I'm afraid that my head is going to speed up with the spinning and literally fall off of my body. And no one likes a head rolling. Very unattractive for a female.
This weekend is the last weekend that boyfriend will be in Charleston and its sinking in more and more and becoming sad more and more. Granted I will be down there in a few weeks to see the new land but I'm just not sure how I will cope with him being 12.5 hours away. I need a good definition of HOW TO COPE WITH A BOYFRIEND SO FAR AWAY! Quickly.
On another exciting note, my BFF is coming this weekend with his dog Bailey! He's headed down to meet the new addition and hang out but what he doesn't know is that his muscles are going to get the workout of their life because I need furniture moved. :) yeeeeehawwwwww!
So wish me luck this weekend with all the moving drama, should be a hysterical time. NOT.

Stop, Breath, Repeat.

This past weekend consisted of a lot of different things. Saturday was spent pretty much waiting on my dad to get into town. To pass the time my brother-in-law made an appointment for me to finally see a C-17 up close and personal. It was awesome! For the past 2 years I'd seen them on a daily basis flying over the city of Charleston and oooo'd and aaaaah'd at how large and impressive they were but to see them in person on the ground was even more awesome. I really had no idea just how big they are! It really made me appreciate his pilot like skills had to be like to fly something so large. Bravo Tizzle, Bravo.

After seeing the massive airplanes, we all headed back to meet my dad who was driving into town to see his first grandbaby! Lilly Kate and grandpa were introduced and then we all headed downtown for a celebration dinner for Vince's new job and Lilly Kate's arrival at Hanks. I had never been to this restaurant but had heard soo many wonderful things about it and how fantastic their seafood was. I'm tempted to say that it is the best seafood in town....ok it IS the best seafood in town. And wanna know the bonus for having an expensive dinner with close family and friends at a fancy restaurant? YOU GET TO TRY EVERYONE ELSE'S FOOD! oh and their alcoholic beverages too. duh. The dinner was a blast and afterwards we all headed back for the infamous Beckaritas/Tayloritas! Yum! So here are just a few pics from the weekend adventures...

Right now life is crazy. And is only going to get crazier. The past week has been focused on finding a place to L-I-V-E in New Orleans and believe me, its a lot harder than it might sound or look. Boyfriend and I were really wanting to try and live downtown for our first year just to be able to enjoy the atmosphere of everything New Orleans but after looking at the crime watch map, we changed our minds fast. I had no idea how brutal it was and rethinking this decision was imperative. As of yesterday we finally made the decision to venture out a little further from downtown into a suburb that seems to be safer and out of harms way. So the goal this week is to find a place and stick to it....considering he'll be there next weekend the sooner we find something the better and one more thing we don't have to think about.
Another goal this week is finding a subleaser for my room. For the past month or so I've been staying at my sisters for a handful of reasons,

1. My mom has been in town 2. Waiting on Lilly Kate to arrive 3. Boyfriend. So far the casting call for a subleaser is going smoothly and I'm praying hard that I can be out of my room by this weekend and can avoid paying Septembers rent and bills! Once I'm in the clear with someone to take over my lease, I will be moving in with my sister because 1. boyfriend is taking all of my furniture/life to New Orleans next week and 2. With all that's coming up, saving money sounds like a brilliant idea! This huge plan is all in my head and hopefully it will actually become real in the next week, if all goes well. :)

Life is definitely overwhelming and very exciting right now and the best way I'm handling it is to Stop, Breath and Repeat, however its hard when so many things are taking my breath away...

My two year itch.

WE'RE MOVING TO NEW ORLEANS!!!!!!!

Our prayers have been answered! Boyfriend was flown down by the same company my dad works for and was offered a position as a Safety Specialist at the NASA facility in New Orleans, LA! We are thrilled and cannot wait to get things in motion to move to The Big Easy, The Pelican State, and NOLA! In just a few short months I will no longer be able to call my blog The Charleston Nugget, instead I'm going to have to change it to something a little more brilliant, stay tuned. :)

Boyfriend and I are very excited to be starting a new page in our lives, its one that we've been waiting for all summer long! My only issue with this move is the fact that I will be leaving behind some of the greatest friends, my sister/brother-in-law, and most importantly my Lilly Kate! It will definitely be a struggle and a new adjustment to living away from all of my family but I think with a little bit of time and support from V, I should be able to handle the transition just fine.

Charleston has been one of the most fantastic places to live and though I thought I would always be here, I am excited and ready to pick up and try something new. Over the past 3 years I have moved from Tennessee to New Mexico to South Carolina and now to Louisiana, so I'm starting to realize that I have some sort of two year "I have to move" itch. I'm way past my days when I lived in a town so small that the local liquor store owner knew everyones name and kept high school year books behind his counter. This feeling of spreading my wings and go anywhere and everywhere is a great feeling and I can't wai to experience new cultures, new people, and new places! Thankfully, I am dating someone who has the same interests as I do, which means there is no telling where we end up in life. God gives us all these uniques places for us to see and I will definitely be seeing as much as possible.

Life. Is. Good.

She's here!!! She's here!!! Little munchkin arrived early Wednesday morning and has had so much to say ever since. :) She's the most perfect thing I've ever seen, how can you possibly get enough of something so sweet and innocent? Aunt Nenna is here to spoil spoil spoil!

Here are just a few pictures of the last week and all that happened.

Kazoooooooooooooooooooooo.

Can't Wait for Lilly Kate!

Friday is my sisters due date and it looks like this little one is waiting until then to make her appearance, I'm definitely ok with this just as long as she gets me out of work for at least one day! :) Since this little miracle has decided to bast in my sisters belly for a while, what better way to take your mind off of the things that aren't happening and onto things that seriously are happening like....karaoke.

Saturday night V and I headed to James Island to meet up with one of his friends from high school who happened to be in town. We were excited about getting out of the house to not think about jobs or lack of jobs, to our surprise we found ourselves at a local dive bar. Sure, it was a little sketchy and definitely very smokey but when I read the sign for Karaoke.....I knew the night had to end W-E-L-L! Now, usually if I'm convinced to sing karaoke I've had a few drinks and the ole vocal chords start to feel confident so I have no problem taking the stage and belting out what I think sounds incredible to the entire bar. However, on this night...I was indeed, Sober. And still.....Sang my little heart out. Fun? Surprisingly...it actually was. I followed my boyfriends sisters rendition of "Shoop" with my all time favorite karaoke kick "When God Fearin Women" by Martina McBride. I figured, you can never go wrong with a little angry woman country music in a bar, right? Right! I was all excited about getting on stage and performing my kick ass stirrin gravy song when I was introduced to the man before me and his brilliant performance of "You outta Know" by Alanis Morsette. As the birthday boy took the stage and started singing I thought to myself that he's ok, definitely on pitch even though he's staring straight at the monitor looking like a nerd until.......UN-TIL the chorus came along and holy alanis morisette on the microphone! Now, I've seen some pretty interesting acts at karaoke bars but this took the cake for all of them combined. This little man screamed his heart out while he toured around the floor singing and screaming to the crowd. It was excellent. As he ventured back to the stage after throwing the mic stand down on the floor, he opened his pocket and brought out a......KAZOO. YES, A KAZOO. AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HE PLAYED INTO THE MICROPHONE DURING THE INSTRUMENTAL PART OF THE SONG. 1. WHO TAKES A KAZOO TO A BAR? 2. WHO EVEN KNOWS HOW TO PLAY A KAZOO? AND 3. WHERE CAN I GET A KAZOO? The entire performance blew my mind as well as every other mullet wearing fanny pack in the building. After his outstanding performance of course it was time for me to sing my song.....HOW DO YOU FOLLOW SOMETHING LIKE THAT? Luckily, I have talent and luckily everyone in the building enjoyed my martina rendition.....even without a Kazoo.