Ya’ll…I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING. Just in case you missed THIS post two weeks ago…my family and I are moving to CHARLESTON! As this post goes live, I have 15 days left in Virginia. What. In.The. World.

I’ve been getting SO many questions from friends and family and followers like “where the heck did this come from!?” and “why Charleston!?” and “YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IS GOING!?!?!” So, I’m pumped to kick-off this Charleston blog series with a bit of a backstory about how this move came about 🙂

What a lot of people don’t realize about my family is that we actually all lived in Charleston, SC when I was growing up – my little brother was born there! My dad served in the Coast Guard for 20 years, and we were stationed there when I was a toddler. I don’t remember much, but we have photos of my mom pushing me in a stroller down Rainbow Row and us all eating after church on Sundays at Magnolias. We have all always loved the South (my parents were both born and raised in Tennessee!), but moving back down there seemed very far off for all of us. But, that didn’t stop us from visiting almost every single year – as often as we could!

But, at the beginning of this year, a blogger that my mom and I follow in Charleston put her house up for sale. It kickstarted a conversation about me potentially buying the house as an investment property and renting it out for a few years. We even talked about my dad and I going halfsies on it as a family vacation property! The idea of us moving South anytime soon still wasn’t a thought that crossed our minds. We just wanted a place in Charleston to visit and vacation because, in all of our minds, moving just wasn’t even on the radar! Plus, I felt strongly that I didn’t want to move without them. I’m way too close to my family to live 8 hours away – so that wasn’t an option, either.

But, sometime that week, my younger siblings overheard the conversation about having a place in Charleston. They both LOVED the idea – which was super surprising to me and my parents! The biggest reason moving wasn’t on the radar was because my sister (Abby) is starting high school this fall and my brother (Nathan) is finishing his associates degree at our local community college. I think them both being excited about the idea set off a lightbulb for my parents…and they started discussing (privately) the possibility of us moving sooner than any of us had even considered. They left us kids out of the conversations, because they didn’t want us to get our hopes up…but we did 🙂

There were so many ups and downs during that few weeks and so much uncertainty. My mom was looking at homes in Mt. Pleasant, but my dad was simultaneously thinking it wasn’t going to be an option with his job. But, somehow, a few months later, we had a trip booked to go tour homes. AHHHHHH! Our house still wasn’t listed for sale and our parents were still telling us it was a huge “MAYBE” and this trip to tour was just to “look around and see our options”…but, spoiler alert, it went better than we thought 😉

I took SO many photos and Instagram stories of the trip to tour homes…but I never shared them!!! So, next week, I’m dedicating an entire post to that trip and I can’t wait for you to see it!! Until then, here are some of my all-time favorite Charleston memories over the years:

My sweet mom dug these up for me from when I lived in Charleston as a toddler. I LOVE THEM!

Hosting my first-ever alumni retreat!!!

Head shots to make the announcement that IM MOVING!!!

One of these was taken while we were touring homes!!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also love:

Southern Wedding at Middleton Place in Charleston, SC 

Hope Taylor Alumni Retreat in Charleston, SC

I’ve Been Keeping a Huge Secret…