In the last days of 2019 I have been reflecting on the year and subsequently, this past decade before we ring in 2020 (which sounds so futuristic!). 2019 was a significant year for me because it was the first time that I have experienced an extreme growth. I could tell I’ve been going through a great shift in my life goals, outlook, what I believe is important. At times it’s been quite uncomfortable, but I think all change is that way. Before I explain what I mean, I wanted to quickly look back on the decade. It has been quite a doozy!

The Decade of Europe

2010-2013: Living in Charleston while Spending Almost 50 Percent of my Time in Europe

I graduated college in December 2010 from Clemson (go Tigers!), where I made some of my very best friends. I started my job after the new year and by September 2011 I began traveling to Europe for work. I spent three months in Germany from September to December 2011 and I fell in love with the European way of life, sipping cappuccinos in the cafe-lined market squares, and all of the inspiring travel I was able to do over the weekends. I had caught the travel bug hard, and was hooked.

Clemson snaps

Early in 2012 I was able to get on some more projects in Europe and for the next few years I was spending almost 50% of my time in Europe, and 50% back in Charleston. I was living out my dream, eating gelato with my feet hanging over the canals of Venice, spending summer holidays boating on the turquoise waters in Hvar, Croatia, Halloween at Dracula’s Castle in Transtlvania, and enjoying the magical German Christmas markets during Advent season. When I was home in Charleston, I would visit the farmers market, ride bikes around charming downtown, full of pastel houses and big oak trees covered in Spanish moss, and spend just about every weekend at the beaches of Sullivans Island or Folly beach. Life literally was a rose colored dream.

2013-2015: More Charleston to Europe but with Dating Across the World

I then started dating my husband, who was also engrained in the Europe-Charleston circuit. If you can believe it the crazy life I had cultivated got even more magical, this time with a dashing ‘can-do’ dreamer by my side. I rang in my 25th golden birthday in Mykonos, Greece for a week, just the two of us. While most people we met were on their honeymoon, we were just young kids in love while I was simply 24 turning 25.  We spent summer holidays boating around Croatia with a bunch of our friends, spent David’s 30th birthday in Ibiza for a full week with friends in what felt like a mini-mansion with it’s own pool, then hopped over to Madrid just us two.

When we were in Charleston, David would wine and dine me at the best restaurants in town. We were so madly in love that for years we would get asked if we were on our honeymoon. I mean we would get asked this by our server out at Sunday brunch, by the taxi driver coming back to our place from the airport, walking down the street. I always responded with no, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend on a normal day! I was waltzing around in my own real-life fairytale.

European holidays while we dated

David’s crazy Ibiza 30th, my 25th in Mykonos, and an outdoor concert in Charleston.  All from 2013

exploring San Francisco by foot and tandem bike (so fun btw)

2015: A Whole Lot of Everything!!! One Year, Four Continents, an Engagement, Wedding, and a Move to Germany

In early 2015 Dave and I booked a week in Paris to celebrate our 2 year dating anniversary. I had been to Paris previously in 2007 while studying abroad in college but it was my first time back since then. A week was the perfect time to see and do a lot but in a leisurely way with plenty of time to enjoy glasses of wine at the cafes.

Anyway on the second day of the trip, my perfect love got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was so overwhelmed with happy emotions I had tears rolling down my face for the rest of the day, haha!! We spent the rest of the week in pure bliss in the most romantic city in the world, telling everyone we met we were engaged.

Shortly after our dream Paris trip, I spent a month in Asia for work. Dave met me in Tokyo at the end of the trip and we enjoyed the Tokyo cherry blossoms all over the city.

Upon return I got back into planning our Charleston wedding that fall.

We knew we wanted to move to Europe and live there for a few years – I had been so much but it was always back and forth and I wanted to actually live there. David had previously lived in Europe and was thankfully on board with the plan (I checked before we even started dating 😅).

During our engagement in the summer of 2015, a Germany position came open, I applied, and got it. We were able to keep our wedding date in early October 2015, go on our honeymoon to Rio de Janeiro, and have two weeks to pack up our house and ship everything we owned, then step on a plane in November with a one way ticket to Germany. Talk about one jam packed year (and month!)!

2016-2018: Newlywed Life in Europe

By the end of 2015, we celebrated Christmas in an empty German flat and were so happy. We made our dreams come true! The next few years we traveled all over Europe and beyond. We used every bit of our vacation days and went on new adventures together. My favorite trips were a dreamy summer holiday to Positano, an amazing time in Marrakrch, Morocco, multiple ski trips to the Austrian, French, and Swiss Alps, trips to San Sebastian, Spain (one of my favorite places in the world!) more birthdays rang in Mykonos (somewhat now a tradition!), of course going to Paris as much as we can, and a pretty cool time in Tblisi, Georgia.  Not to mention amazing Frühlingsfests and Volksfests in Stuttgart with friends from home, and wine walks through Stuttgart-Untertürkheim all fall long, which seriously became my favorite local escape.

At one point in 2018 after I turned 30 Dave asked me where do I want to be in 5 years and I looked at him point blank and said, “what do you mean – I am exactly where I want to be. I am living out my dream!” He was like “umm… not the usual 30 year old’s response I was expecting but okay..”!

The love of my life, Sardinia

 

2019: The Year of  G R O W T H  in Stuttgart

Then that brings us to 2019. It started out as another year full of travel promises, but was majorly sidetracked when we found our dream Charleston home in February. We wanted to start looking for a stateside home early because we had such a narrow field and I thought we would ‘never’ find a unicorn of a house: downtown Charleston, big enough square footage, good enough shape – not run down, a good neighborhood, no flooding (which is rare for Charleston so this was definitely a big wish), and affordable. Low and behold, in February our perfect house came on the market. We jumped. Before we knew it we were under contract! We laid low from February to April because of the house, besides a casual trip back to see it in person, and in April we closed. First time homeowners, but we just have to wait to actually live there. 😉

Unbeknownst to me, buying the house turned out to be the catalyst that sparked deep change in me. Instead of planning trips to Tomorrowland, I would daydream about our home and future life. Thankfully I discovered how wonderful local wine walks are, and they became our absolute favorite (free!) fall activity.  It let me clear my head and Dave and I could talk through all of our plans and dreams.  Our lifestyle took a sharp turn: we hardly go out anymore, cook at home just about seven nights a week, and have done way less trips than in the past. My eyes have been open to bigger dreams and that’s what we now look towards. I know this is all a part of growing up but I personally have never experienced this before! This change in me truly shocked me.

We have big plans but for now we are in a bit of a holding pattern. Historically speaking, patience is NOT my best attribute so this has been a huge lesson in learning. This sudden change has been uncomfortable at times to grow through but we know exactly what we want and this bit of a lifestyle change we’ve made will all be worth it so we can live out our new dream.

Who knew all this growing up would happen to me, all at once and at such a full force? I know I didn’t expect it on January 1, 2019.

2019 turned out to be the year of growth, and 2020 will be the year of change. We will still travel and explore fun things to do close to home, but we’ll be choosing what truly are our favorite things to do.  We’ll move back to Charleston next year and have a ton of changes that come along with it. It will set us up for a whole new decade that I can’t even begin to imagine what it will hold! Who’s ready for the ride? Strap on in!

xx