Run, Lindsey, Run...and please keep running this time...

So I have picked BACK up on running, consistantly and for a goal, for the first time since August! Shew, that's a long time. I "sprained" my ankle in August while I was rehearsing for the second run of the wonderful show RENT at Trustus Theater in Columbia. At the time, I was also training for my first 5K run with my good friends Katie Weatherword and Leigh Ann McGee. We had really been working so hard to stick to our training plans and build our endurance while getting in shape and hopefully shedding a few "lb's" in conjunction. Only a few days before the 5K race my awesomely 90's 5-inch black chunky ankle boot HEEL decided to part ways with the part of the boot that contained my foot and ankle. This decapitation of my right boot heel sent my ankle twisting outwards just before losing my balance and falling off the 4 foot platform I happening to be attempting to leave prior to this moment. I earlier placed the word "sprained" in quotation marks because for about 3 1/2 months I thought it was simply slow to heal. However, 7 months, MRI imaging (cha-ching $), Podiatrist visits (cha-ching$), a perverted nurses assistant (eww...different blog, different day), 3 months of physical theraphy (cha-ching$), and one crazy stressful wedding (cha-cha-cha-ching-ching $$$) I'm back on the road trying to build myself jogging back up!

After training for a few weeks I FINALLY finished my first 5K! "Get to the Green" in 5 points was part of thekick-off to the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration that is so famous around Columbia. I had an absolute blast and now I'm addicted!!! I can't wait for the 10K in two weeks!

There was also a costume contest involved with the race, hence the crazy "green man of glitter" and the stuffed leprechaun on a man's backpack...

A little nervous...not gonna lie

The green glitter man

The guy with a leprechaun in his bookbag?

We did it!

Thanks for cheering me across the finish line and "trying" to take a pic

What is that? You have a little leprechaun in your pants? haha

FRIENDSHIP...For better or for worse? Til death do us part?

I have been thinking, talking with Tyler and seriously praying about the topic of friendship since this past Sunday night. I have no idea why I initially started thinking about friendship on that particular night, but maybe it was because Tyler was preparing to leave for Raleigh, NC for a few days. Even though I lived here in Summerville alone for 5 months now that I'm married the concern and desire, really, for friendships here have been swirling in my mind. Of course I have wonderful "work" friends, but none that I have gotten very close to as of now. So I began praying for new friends, and for my current friends (for continued strength and closeness in the friends I have that live nearby) and praying for the strength of Tyler and my friendship. I began reading through my devotion book on Sunday night and found a wonderful reading about what God says about friendships...

The Joys of Friendship

"I thank my God everytime I remember you." Phillipines 1:3

What is a friend? The dictionary defines the word friend as "a person who is attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard." This definintion is accurate, as far as it goes, but wehen we examine the deeper meaning of friendship, so many more descriptors come to mind; trustworthiness, loyalty, helpfulness, kindness, encouragement, humor, and cheerfulness, to mention but a few.

Today, as you consider the many blessings that God has given you, remember to thank Him for the friends He has chosen to place along your path. May you be a blessing to them, and may they richly bless you today, tomorrow and every day that you live.

This devotion really made me ask myself a LOT of questions. Do those I call my friends and DO I possess these traits that a true and good friend should if they really love me? Do I treat my friends with loyalty, kindness, etc.? Am I EVER a blessing to any of my friends?

I can't be positive of all of these things, but they are all traits I will certainly think more about in regards to the people I cherish and value! I will continue to pray that I can somehow bless those people that consider me as their friend. Isn't that the point of having friends? To bless one another the way God intended people to do? I certainly think so, and  know that's what I want out of my friendships! I have that with my husband which is why I married him, and I have that with my family which is why I still talk to them...haha;) It's really an interesting subject that has continued consuming a large portion of my mind this whole week...

Typical Cody-eyes closed in all pictures (ha)

Yep, that's what they did...among other questionable things :)

 In a strange irony, in regards to thinking about my friends, one of our close friends, Cody Gleaton lost his mother the next day, Monday. Mrs. Jane Gleaton was also a wonderful friend of both Tyler and me. I met Cody on the Carnival cruise before I even met Tyler, and his family has been there throughout our relationship since the beginning. From my first trip to South Carolina, staying at both Karen and Chesley's and Mrs. Janes's house, Mrs. Jane has always been there for me with such loving and accepting arms! Arms that were always full of the BEST lemonade, chicken salad, ham delights and french toast breakfasts with sausage AND bacon to name a few of our favorites. Her doors were always open with love and GREAT conversation. She had been struggling with lou gehrig's disease recently, but don't worry, it never slowed her thoughtful and giving heart. Even though she had lost her ability to speak as of our wedding date, she still wrote on her marker board to Cody that he needed to go and attend our wedding. When her daughter-in-law, Karen, told me that today at the funeral tears immediately filled my eyes. How could she have been thinking of Tyler and me during a time when her family needed to be spending every second possible with her in the hospital? Of course Cody couldn't leave his mother's side for our wedding, and we never would have wanted him to! Just the thought, however, that she remembered and thought of us goes to prove her truly loving and selfless nature. Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen is a TRUE FRIEND! This is why there is a very specific reason I have the question mark after the phrase "til death do us part"...Even through Mrs. Jane's death, we didn't part. An extremely strong piece of her still, and always will, live with me. Her selflessness, concern and love for others she called friends  I will carry with me in my heart. Thank you, Mrs, Jane for inspiring me and so many others to be loving and giving to one another! What a valuable gift your life has given us all that death can NOT ever take away!

Wow, is God speaking or what!? Today I'm flipping through a magazine on the way home from Mrs. Jane's funeral and a page with "today's thoguht" read...

"SOMETIMES THE LONELIEST MOMENTS ARE THE ONES THAT SHOW YOU HOW STRONG YOU REALLY ARE"-The lonely moments I've had alone at home these past few days got me thinking about friendship.

Thank you Lord for all of these thoughts and blessings you have shown and taught me about friendship through this mini-journey. Thank you for Mrs. Jane, her life and her inspiration on all of her family and friends that loved her. Thank you for Cody and what he means to Tyler and me. We miss seeing him and love him very much. Please send your angels over Mr. Fritz, Cody, Chesley, Karen, the boys and all of Mrs. Jane's family members that miss her and love her so much. Please continue to give me friends that are blessings and be with my friends that are blessing in my life now. Thank you for bringing them into my life.  

Our Mini-moon in Hilton Head Island South Carolina

A wonderful family friend of Tyler's was SO sweet as to let us stay in their beach condo at Hilton Head Island. Hilton Head is on the southern most coast of SC near Beaufort and Bluffton. This region of this beautiful state is FULL of quiet quaintness and history.

After spending a wonderful day with The Vaughns (both sets), the Whatleys, the Adams, and the Gargis' eating at the FANTASTIC Barbara Jean's in the market in Charleston and going on a carriage tour with Mama and Daddy and the Whatleys, we headed to Hilton Head Sunday afternoon. It was dark once we arrived and we couldn't find our way around at all! There were no signs we could see, no street lights, and hardly any other cars on the road. It was so much like a ghost town that we actually pulled into a parking lot to find out where we were, and laughed for a good 30 seconds. We felt like we were in the "Twilight Zone".

Hilton Head has a psychotically strict city policy for building/land development. The stringent standards were set forth in 1956 by Hilton Head visionary Charles Fraser's master plan for the island's first resort community, called Sea Pines Plantation. The Sea Pines Plantation plan established Hilton Head Island as the first Eco-planned resort destination in the United States. Today, Hilton Head Island contains several environmentally planned residential and resort communities. Neon signs, bright street lights and tall buildings are not permitted, allowing visitors and residents to see the stars at night. NO JOKE! We saw plenty of stars, but not much else...haha. It's really neat in the aspect that the area is extremely quite and private, but slightly strange when you can't find the grocery store or even the condo you are staying in.

After waking up the next morning and driving around the small island for while to get breakfast, we found that it was really so nice and quaint! Difficult to find things due to the tiny low standing signs, but it was really nice once we kind of learned where we were.

The weather was so beautiful, we headed straight to the beach after breakfast. Are we like old people? You bet! We were the youngest people in the breakfast restaurant, Plantation Cafe, and everyone turned to stare and us "young bucks" walking in for coffee and breakfast at 7:30 am with the ol' time sharing retired tourists. And that's not a judgement, but it's the truth. As we sat there and ate some awesome french toast and crab cakes eggs benedict, we eaves dropped on an EXTREMELY loud 70-something Yankee trying to sweet talk to other "elders" into the perks of owning timeshares. We just listened and chuckled under our breath as they discussed the outrageous figures they spent on their travels. Watch us be the retirees that end up doing the same thing...God-willing we are able to work that long and receive the retirement we deserve (P.S. Nikki Haley's trying to cut state employee's retirement benefits! I will punch that woman! She better back off the education deal, or she's gonna find herself some angry/overworked teachers bangin' down her state house door pretty soon!)

THIS WAS AT EVERYWHERE...HEHE :)

Anyway, BACK TO THE BEACH!!! The weather was beautiful!

Blissfully Cheesy! But SO dang happy I could care less!



 Okay, I know this seems extremely long, but blogging is seriously addictive and since Tyler is in North Carolina this week it kind of helps me feel like I have someone to talk to when I write about things. But I do have to finish with this tid-bit about Daufuskie Island and the Gullah people.

After the slaves were freed in 1865, a group of freed slaves from the Beaufort, Bluffton and Savannah areas fled to a small island directly across from one of Hilton Head Island's peak. You can see the island, but it you can only reach it by ferry boat. They were completely illiterate and formed their owned kind of language/dialect that was said to be called an African Creole English and is called  Geechee. The Gullah people are best known for preserving their African linguistic and cultural heritage more than any other African American group in the United States. They were, however, illiterate until the 1960's when a white man named Pat Conroy traveled to the island to establish schools and teach the Gullah people how to read and write. He wrote a book about his experience moving to Daufuskie is his famous book  The Water is Wide. I hope to read that book and get to visit the island in the very near future. Their history and culture is truly FASCINATING!

Tyler looking across the water at Daufuskie island from the marina at Hilton Head

My Inner tourist learning about and looking at Daufuskie

A Gullah woman carrying a food basket on her head just as native African women still do today. circa 1900

Did that really just happen? The wedding of our dreams!

Where do I even begin to explain the OVERWHELMING emotion that consumed us both on that day!? From my uncontrollable shaking while walking down the aisle (for some reason I can perform in front of anyone at any time, but that I couldn't handle), to feeling the reality says my vows to the man I will spend the rest of my life with, to walking into the reception I've been dreaming about and planning for since last May, to spending time with ALL of my friends and family from both of my two home states, to finally having a wonderful "mini-moon" in Hilton Head for a few days of much needed rest!

An EXTREMELY special thank you is deserved for Mrs. Joan Asbury. Mrs. Debbie Whitley and Miss Keli Moore. The most special and memorable aspect of my wedding has been the decor and flowers. I have dreamt about it since I was a little girl. From the burlap, to the hay bells, to the raw cotton bails, to the moss, to the birds and the theme colors of Bordeaux red, plum purple and peacock blue, these three fantastic friends brought it to life! I will be forever grateful to them all for understanding my vision and so elegantly carrying it out. It truly made my wedding day special! 

The beautiful mantle over the fireplace in the Cotton Dock Barn

At night with the fire lit

The head table centerpiece with a birds nest in it on the other side

The chandelier that hang in the middle of the dance floor

The buffet table centerpiece

One of 7 beautiful hanging lanterns from the the wood beams of the barn

The birch log, cotton, baby's breath, moss and white and antique green hydrangeas 

Bride and groom chairs with raw cotton wreaths

Burlap ribbon used with the fabric that "caged" in the head table (bird theme)

the purple, red, blue and turquoise ribbon wand the guest waved as we left the reception

The lovely bouquet before the toss

Hooray for hay, cotton, feathers and burlap!

The chandelier again

The ceremony was held at St. Luke's chapel in the beautiful downtown Charleston and the reception was at Boone Hall Plantation's Cotton Dock Barn. Boone Hall Plantation is a very famous historical site just outside of Charleston in Mt. Pleasant. The "Avenue of the Oaks" was the setting for the famous "Run, Forrest, Run" scene from the movie Forrest Gump, and the bicycling and home of Allie from The Notebook. The setting is breathtaking. God truly blessed us through the random series of events that lead up to our wedding...

Avenue of the Oaks

Bridal party going to take pictures around the Plantation

The beautiful plantation home

Though Tyler proposed in Charleston and we decided to have the wedding there, God began working in my life. At the time Tyler proposed, I was living in Columbia, SC (about 1hr. 45min from Charleston). Finances became REALLY difficult at the time of the engagement and that cause me to plan and RE-plan the wedding I think a total of 4 times. Boone Hall was booked at the time of our engagement when we thought the wedding would be in April, so we planned to have everything at Magnolia Plantation (still very lovely but not our first choice). I thought there was a strong possibility of me getting a teaching job in Columbia, and that school's spring break was April 2, so we planned for that date. After not getting that job, I began cutting and rearranging things here and there and we moved the date to February because every venue was less expensive during the winter months. In early October a job became available that I got in Summerville, SC. Of all places to get a job, Summerville is only 15 min. from Downtown Charleston and is actually considered a suburb of Charleston as well! We were so excited to be living in the most beautiful part of the state and to be getting married here too! In addition, Boone Hall had an opening for the very last weekend in February so we jumped in that slot and cancelled the others as fast as we could. Isn't it AMAZING how God works in our lives in ways we could never expect in order to bless us beyond belief?! Thank you Lord for creating and building this special day when I didn't think I could ever figure out how!

"Trust the Lord God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6

HERE WE COME!

IN SHOCK AT THE BEAUTIFUL BARN-AND CRYING OF COURSE

THANK YOU DADDY!

FIRST DANCE

NEET NEET GETTIN DOWN-PRICELESS!

OUR GREATEST FRIENDS, TAMARA WEATHERFORD AND FULLER BRYANT

MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY

KISSES IN THE HORSE PASTURE

BOOGIE FEVER CENTRAL!