Where I've Lived - Bluffton, South Carolina

If you missed my previous Where I've Lived posts you can read them here:

Columbus Ohio

Blacksburg, Virginia

Palm Desert, California

West Palm Beach, Florida

Now on to Bluffton, South Carolina... In 2010 I was living in West Palm Beach when Jonathan was asked to move to Savannah, Georgia to open a new office with his company. After we discussed it, we figured that it would be a lot easier to live only 7 hours away, and there was always a chance I could get a job in Hilton Head, South Carolina which is only 1 hour away from Savannah. Jonathan moved to Savannah in September just before his birthday, and I went up to visit for a long weekend. During the day when Jonathan was working I decided to head to Hilton Head to have lunch with my old GM. During our lunch conversation we discussed the possibility of me coming back to the Island for a role as Assistant Front Office Manager, and by my birthday in November we were making plans for me to move in with Jonathan.

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We originally found an apartment in Auston Chase in Ridgeland, South Carolina - which was about 35 minutes from Savannah and 35 minutes from Hilton Head. It was the only centrally located apartment that we could find. This was the first place we lived together, and where we spent our first Christmas together.We lived in these apartments for only a few months, before we moved into our first home in April of 2011.

We had no intentions of purchasing a home, but decided it would be fun to see what was out there when we knew the area better. We discovered that Bluffton, South Carolina was a great city half way between Savannah and Hilton Head. Jonathan's drive would be more miles, but take less time since there was not nearly as much traffic. We also found that we could spend about the same on a mortgage for a brand new 4-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home as our 2-bedroom 2-bathroom apartment. It was definitely exciting to move into our new home.

While living in Bluffton, we made many new friends and were able to have some of our old friends come visit. One of the most memorable times we had people over to the house was for the SECIRQ [South Eastern Clark Invitational Regional Qualifier]. The Clark Invitational is an annual beer pong tournament that put on by our friends Zach and Graham in Virginia. For a few years, when some of us lived outside of Virginia, we had a regional qualifier - basically another reason to get together and drink. We had custom koozies made, and had about 8 out-of-town guests along with 10-12 local friends attend the tournament. It was a huge success.

 

Over the next few months we continued to spend time with friends, and my youngest sister Lindsey lived with us for the summer [along with Kaitlin, her good friend]. We had crazy times scaring each other with the Justin Biebler cut-out, and watching awesome ABC Family shows... haha. Lindsey made Tuesday Cookies each week, and it was an awesome summer. We were a little sad to see her go, but super excited that she came to live with us again the next summer.

While living in South Carolina it was not uncommon for us to "hang out" with our friends via Google +. We would often have a power hour, or happy hour with our friends from back home before heading out for the night. Many of us lived in different cities so this was a great way for us to stay in touch.

Jonathan and I got engaged on May 2, 2012 and then he found out he was going to have to move to Fort Lauderdale in July to open a new office. We had already begin planning a wedding in Hilton Head, so it was super stressful to plan this knowing I would have to move away. While it was hard to deal with the long distance, it was definitely easier because Lindsey moved back in after graduation. Jonathan and I lived long-distance until I was able to get a job with Marriott in Fort Lauderdale in November. Lindsey moved to Hilton Head, and I spent the next 8 months traveling to South Carolina once a month to visit her and finish wedding planning. It is sad to think that we may never live in our first home again - but all of the memories we made while living there brings a smile to my face whenever I think of it!

In the next week or two I will have a post about living in Fort Lauderdale, and that will bring us to where Jonathan and I currently live! Make sure to stop back and check it out!