Thanksgiving in Charleston

This year was Emery's first Thanksgiving. Dave and I did a Thanksgiving Pot Luck (kinda). We shared the cooking is what it really came down to. Cyndi and Eric our amazing next door neighborers came over with their two girls and Cyndi's mom Jane. They made the salad, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, home made rolls and deviled eggs. My parents came over as well. They made the green beans, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. I made apple pie & cranberries, bought a coconut cake, and Dave did the turkey. It was the best Thanksgiving food I have ever had. Every dish was amazing. We had some additional friends over for Dessert and were able to skype with Olivia and Natalie a little in all the craziness.

Emery and Grace sitting outside before desert.

Proposal

To set the stage Trace and I moved into our wonderful South End apartment on Aug 28, we managed to talk the previous tenant into letting us move in a few days early (charm and $200 bucks goes a long way). Once we had everything mostly set up we decided we needed something to hang above the couch, but not just anything, we really wanted something special and meaningful. After some thought we decided we would get a painting made, a cityscape of Boston representing all the important things to us about the city. As we continued to organize our apartment (thank you very much Bed Bath and Beyond) Trace came across a flyer for an artist we had met about 4 years ago in Arlington VA at some farmers market type of event (so much for convincing Trace he needs to throw all his papers, and crap away that have no use whatsoever).

We remembered that we really liked this guys work, and that he did a lot of stuff for couples. Trace contacted the artist and told him about our idea and he loved it. So we went around town taking pictures of all our “places”, Trace’s school, my school, our old apartment and new apartment, his workplace and mine. We sent the pictures to the artist and about a week or so later received the draft via email, it looked fantastic!! I was so impressed and so pumped about our painting, appropriately titled “Our Boston”.

On Thursday night October 28th , after slaving away many-a-hours on our homemade Snoopy and Woodstock costumes (Yeah don’t even ask if I will ever make a Halloween costume again) I asked Trace when we would be getting the painting, and he had said “probably in a few weeks”. Friday afternoon I got home from work, rushing to meet Trace to get some errands done before his “doctors appointment” that afternoon. Also please keep in mind it was “Halloween” at work that day, which means I was dressed up, and for those Washington fans in the house you will be happy to know I was wearing a Redskins jersey.

When I walked into the apartment I was on the phone with my mom, a conversation which ended quickly when I saw our painting hanging on the wall over the couch. I was so excited and looked at Trace surprised it had already arrived, as I walked over checking out all the details my eyes quickly moved to our new apartment, which happened to be front and center in the painting. I realized that one of the windows didn’t quite look like the others and as I leaned closer I realized that our apartment window in the painting was open, and inside there was a guy on one knee holding up a ring and a girl standing in front of him. I turned around, not sure what to think, was this a joke, a mistake, what the hell is going on. When I looked at Trace he just smiled and got down on one knee. It was sheer perfection!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said yes before I even had a chance to look at the ring, which, by the way, was beautiful.

So that it our story :)

The youngest sister

As you read above, and can probably assume, I’m the youngest sister of three… and absolutely love it. Talk about getting the path paved. There was little trouble that I could get into that one sister hadn’t already, and little I felt the need to accomplish – as the other sister had done all of that. It was glorious. But, don’t be misled, I had my share of accomplishments that I am proud of and never got into so much trouble that I couldn’t talk my way out of it… or only had to hide my face for a short time. But our parents (ah, the strikingly intelligent pair that they are) always knew what was going on. I think by the time I was almost out of high school they just gave me the benefit of the doubt and let it ride.

Anyway, all three of us had a sweeter than sweet childhood and I’ve truly enjoyed my life so far (which I believe has as much to do with a mindset as it does with the sheer stroke of luck of being born into a fabulous family). We grew up in Northern Virginia, I went to JMU two years after Natalie did, then graduated in 2007 and moved back up to Nova and back in with Mom and Dad. Dad and I started a sports marketing company in the fall of that year called Sports Bingo, Inc. which is still in business and growing faster every year. In 2008, Mom and Dad wanted to move (and take the business) down to Charleston, SC and I was told that if I still wanted a job, I was coming. If I didn’t want to move, “then I suggest you find a job and a new place to live”. Thank you Dad, but I’ll be honest, I love honest. So I moved. What a great decision that was. I continued to work with Dad, found a part-time job waitressing, moved in with a co-worker, met my now-boyfriend Hunt through the roommate, and then two years later, circa Oct. 2010, I moved up to New York to be closer to Hunt… and it’s New York, who doesn’t like an adventure. So, although I really miss my Charleston friends and living near my parents, my sister, my brother-in-law and especially my cutest-thing-in-the-world niece, I already think this move was an excellent decision and thus the start of East Coast Sisters.

So, that’s my life map so far. Other quick things about me – Despite what Melyssa said about birth order stereotypes, I don’t think I’m a typical youngest; I think I have a very slight case of OCD; I love our dogs Wrigley and Shea and love dogs in general; Natalie inspired me to learn how to sew; I was Wendy, the fast-food character for Halloween; My bedding is brown and green, very earthy and soothing; I would like to visit Alaska some day. That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading! Oh and I'm Olivia.

The middle sister

My name is Natalie and I am the middle sister, please forget everything you have heard about middle children, I promise I am norm… semi-normal. So anyway we all grew up in Herndon (now Oak Hill) VA and went to Oakton High School. I graduated from OHS in 2001 and went on to attend JMU in Harrisonburg, VA. I spent an amazing 4 years in the Burg and after graduating from JMU I worked for a bit in DC at a non-profit organization until I realized I wanted to go back to school. I took a year to complete my pre-requisites and apply to Physical Therapy school, and in 2006 I moved up to Boston to start my Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree at MGH Institute of Health Professions. I moved up with my then boyfriend, NOW FIANCEE (see next blog), who went to Law school in Boston. The following three years were both exciting and demanding, living in a new city, meeting new friends and studying, studying, studying. We both graduated in 2009 and currently we work in Boston and live in the South End.

I now work at an out-patient clinic in Wellesley, a part of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. I love the patients I work with and the people I work with. My job is different each and every day, and although sometimes exhausting, I truly love what I do!

Living in Boston has been wonderful, I really love this city. After getting used to the bad drivers, I now consider myself a masshole, but please don’t tell my father, or his car, haha; and the fanatic and sometimes crazy sports fans, I have found so much to appreciate about this city!!

With me and my sisters now all in different cities we hope we can stay connected and share life stories with this blog :)

The big Sister

I'm Melyssa. The oldest sister. It's funny as you go through life it becomes more and more clear that your personality is very closely linked to your family placement. I'm loud, outgoing, independent, a little bossy, and a VERY good delegator. (I answered "we're fine" for years without even realizing it.)

The three of us grew up outside Washington, DC in Herndon, VA near Dulles Airport. I now live in Charleston, SC with my husband Dave and our 6 1/2 month old daughter, Emery. (who might i add is currently trying to help me type). Dave and I moved here in fall of 2007, two days after we got engaged. We moved into my parents condo (their vacation home) for 3 months while we got jobs and started to house hunt. We ended up living about 10 minutes away from the condo in a three bedroom house. A house that would have been triple the price had we stayed in northern Virginia. It was a big change, but i truly feel like I could live anywhere. Dave, on the other hand, has to be by the ocean. He's a fisherman, it's his passion. So here we are one mile from the Wando River and 15 minutes to the beach. It's perfect except for the heat. Emery will have a very different up brining then I did.

Job: I went to school for E-commerce and Web Marketing and low and behold I'm actually doing something close to my major. That can't be said about all my jobs, but this one might hold me for a while. When I got pregnant I was working as a marketing coordinator at a container manufacturer here in Charleston. I enjoyed it but it wasn't taking me where I needed to be. So I joined up with two of my friends and we started our own buisness. A web design and web programming firm called KMK Web. I can work from home and have a great deal of flexibility. Now that also means I work at night and on the weekends, but I really like it.

So there ya go, the short version of me.