Beyond Blessed

So it's been a long while, about 5 weeks, since our last post and I know all of you felt like a piece of your heart was missing...well, we're back to catch you up on the Horan life in the Lowcountry.

Our jobs have been treating us well, given the busyness. Rita Jo's work is going well, so well that a team from Oklahoma City, who was in town recently, wants her to make a trip to replicate her program at their site. She has been very blessed to have many different managers across the country that seem to want her to work on their teams.

Chris' work has allowed him to begin learning from the company's security team in order to further his career aspirations. Thankfully, his manager has been very supportive of his desire to learn more in this field as it continues to be a significant skill needed across all industries. Coupled with his course at Boston U, his daily work will hopefully begin to flourish and produce great results for the team, the project and the company.




January 19th was the Charleston half marathon and Shrimp & Grits 5K. Chris ran with a buddy from work. Chris' leg injury held him back a bit but he pushed through, finishing in 2:02, knocking 27 minutes off of his Indianapolis Mini time from May 2012. Rita Jo and two of our other friends ran the 5K.



The 49ers and Ravens gave us a reason to host a small gathering at our place - our neighbors downstairs came up and three Boeing friends joined us. We dined on Jo's white chicken chili, beer bread muffins and a crowd-pleasing feta/tomato/onion dip.

On St. Valentine's Day, the Horans celebrated their first together married. We enjoyed a lovely dinner in together. Jo made one of Chris' favorite - red beans and rice, coupled with french brie, a french baguette, and a glass of Mark West Pinot Noir. Our wonderful Aunts Cathy and Sharon Dirnberger gave us a wedding gift of a box of candles for different occasions as a married couple - "Pink candles set the mood and pave the way for your first married Valentine's Day." After dinner, we watched our Wedding Mass DVD for the first time; it's so special to have the sacrament captured on DVD. Chris was more nervous watching than he was on the actual wedding day!

We are looking forward to a busy, but exciting year with many weddings, trips and visits by friends and family!

Our upcoming guests will be Chris's St. Louis family, Ali Martin & Matt Ferrell, and Justin Miller - Book your weekend today!! Our one guest bedroom is filling up quick! Did we mention we have a beach 10 min from us???

We miss you all and send our love to the homeland!

Christmas Break and 2013 Beginnings

And we're back...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Horans!

For the Christmas break from work, we left for Cape Girardeau on 20 December - an approximately 800 mile trek south through Atlanta, up through Chattanooga, TN and Louisville, KY.

We had the fine pleasure of spending time with the Dirnbergers and Mansells amongst three get togethers. After enjoying the warm weather of the 'winter' into December in Charleston, nearly 6 inches of snow fell in Cape, leading to snowball fights, snowmen construction and sledding. We spent six days there including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and got to check out the new casino for a drink with some of friends.

I've Had The Time of My Life

We departed for Indianapolis on the morning of the 27th to spend a few days with Chris' mom and his STL family was there as well so we were able to see both sides of the family. We spent a few hours playing Just Dance 4 with the Horan family which Chris' cousins got for Xbox for Christmas. It was quite the work out and may actually be a good way to learn how to dance!

We made our way back (nearly 2000 miles) to the Lowcountry on the 30th to get settled before going back to work on the 2nd. Our NYE plans for dinner out were changed into a delicious dinner at home - maple-lemon glaze salmon with butternut squash vegetable medley. Much cheaper, healthier and more relaxing than going out!

New Years Day, we attended Mass at the Cathedral for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. We continued getting settled in our new home by cleaning up the guest room...enough so our guests can now utilize the bed and walk around in the room (hint hint..come visit us...).

Just over a week until the Charleston Half Marathon for Chris. He's currently going through some pain - tibialis posterior issues. Just gonna have to suck it up and fight through the pain...

We have both begun our spring courses for the semester. Chris plans to fully transfer to Boston University to begin his Masters in IT Security and use credits taken at Washington University in St. Louis to get an Information Management certificate as opposed to the degree.

On Tuesday, we had our 4th month anniversary but it came and went with the busyness of work and school. I suppose we're already so old and into our marriage that we didn't recognize it...not even on Facebook. My fault (Chris) for not saying something to my beautiful wife!

Peace be with all of you! We love you and miss you and can't wait for you to visit!

Praying for Newtown, CT as We Approach Our Lord's Nativity

It was another eventful week here in the Lowcountry and nationwide, very unfortunately. We, along with the rest of the nation and world, mourn the tragic massacre that took place in Newtown this past Friday. If you have children, tell them everyday that you love them. If you have a sibling, always be thankful for their presence in your life. We never know when we will leave this earth so we must always be prepared to go.

That being said, we tell of our week of not so important events...

Chris was accepted to Boston University for some online courses as electives for Wash U in order to remain on track for his Masters program. Go Terriers! Jo finished her finals for the semester - leaving her with three more courses until she will have her Masters in Organizational Development from Webster!

James Island Light Festival

Wednesday, the Feast of Our Lady of Gaudalupe, we went to see the James Island Park Christmas lights with our friends Sarah and Trey; a drive thru light show for the holidays. We then dined at Brickhouse Kitchen; it is a large home with a restaurant inside. I (Chris) had the Penne Pasta w/ Shrimp, Tomatoes, Artichoke hearts and Feta cheese. Rita Jo had crab cakes with Arugula Pesto. If you make it to Charleston, this is an interesting place to eat and they have live mic nights and other outdoor events as well.

Our friends, the McMichaels, sent us their Christmas card, with some newly wed gifts: 4 port wine glasses, a bottle of Stone Hill winery Port, a tray and a jar of free/cheap/fancy date ideas. Thank you!

Jo's first Instagram attempt!

As has been the case for a while, I have continued half marathon training - less than 5 weeks away already. I went on a 10 mile run Saturday morning with Mike L while RJ baked cookies for our work holiday parties.

Saturday evening, we attended Jo's manager's work Christmas party. His wife prepared some delicious heavy hors d'oeuvres and made an awesome Amaretto cake! It was good to meet more folks from the Charleston site (for Chris) and to avoid work discussions outside of the office for once!

Today, Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, we enjoyed our first meal on our new kitchen table - pumpkin pancakes and French press coffee thanks to the lovely Mrs. Horan! She also made this beer bread using Widmer Brothers "Brrr" Seasonal Ale with some honey butter to spread on for the second work Christmas party of the weekend. It was quite the hit!

                 

Happy Birthday to my (Chris') mom tomorrow on her 31st...I mean 48th birthday! We love you! 

We may be on hiatus for a little while until we have returned to Charleston from Christmas break! We pray for safe travels for all this holiday season! 

Continue to pray for the souls of those killed, including the shooter, in Newtown, CT and for their families and loved ones...

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Through the mercy of God, may they rest in peace. 

St Rose of Lima, pray for us! Amen. 

+JMJ+

Three Months and Goin' Strong

Blessings from Charleston to all of our worldwide readers!

We had quite the busy week...from homemade enchiladas as a date night at home to running around the Charleston area to find a kitchen table and things to organize our belongings, we accomplished a lot.

The week started off with great news for Rita Jo at work. She was recognized by some leaders with a Boeing Pride Award for all of her efforts on the program she is leading. She has worked tirelessly for nearly eight months to get it off the ground and running (no puns intended to an aircraft getting off the ground)...Congrats hun!

Rita Jo found a delicious enchilada recipe for our date night in on a recipe blog, thesweetslife.com. The sauce called for cinnamon and even some chocolate chips which gave them a very nice aroma once cooked! Along with our enchiladas, we tried a new beer from RJ Rockers Brewery called "The First Snow Ale". If you can find this wherever you are in the world, try one. It's quite delicious!

We have been meeting more and more of our neighbors. The newer newly weds below us are very nice and welcoming and they are fairly new to Charleston as well. The wife is an associate pastor at a local Presbyterian church and the husband currently teaches kayaking classes but is also a Presbyterian minister. Rita Jo plans to host the neighbors once we get cleaned up around here and decorated!

With the Charleston half just under seven weeks now away, I have been training consistently with runs up to 8 miles. Jo has gotten up to about five miles...she'll be ready for the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K come April!

December in Charleston - 70s and sunny

Saturday evening, we found ourselves at yet another sushi bistro celebrating our 3 month wedding anniversary. We enjoyed a spicy roll combo of salmon, tuna and crab along with a Charleston Crunch roll and Sapporo beer.

Sunday, the second of this Advent season, we decorated the Christmas tree and ran a few errands. The Hoosiers won the NCAA Division 1 soccer title...yet another banner to bring home to Bloomington! We went to 5:15pm Mass at the Cathedral and went to the first of many Rosary Dinners with the Knights in the parish hall. We got to chat with some lifelong Charlestonians and learned some more about the area. Jo continued her studying this evening with a glass of Cab while I cleaned up a few things, preparing for the coming week.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Getting Settled in Our New Home

...So we took a little while off from blogging to get our St. Louis home packed, boxes shipped and to spend Thanksgiving with family in STL and Cape. Jo came back on Monday after Thanksgiving and I stayed a few more days in St. Louis to tend to work matters that came up at the last minute (after having our flights back to Charleston booked together...had to rebook to stay until Thursday evening).

Thursday night, upon my arrival back, we went for a late dinner and drinks together at Mac's Place before spending our first night in the our new abode. With boxes everywhere, it's been somewhat stressful but we're taking the move day by day and slowly getting acclimated to the new southern way of life.

After signing the lease!

Boxes, boxes...and a cooler

Friday evening, I went to the South Carolina Stingrays game with a friend from work, Trey. Yes, they're playing hockey in Charleston! It's an affiliate of the Boston Bruins. The Stingrays snuck out a win against the Reading Royals (Pennsylvania), a statistically much better team the the Rays. I should have taken video of the late 20 something guys in front of us chanting "Come on Rays" with a response to themselves of "Let's go Rays" the entire 2nd and 3rd periods. Quite hilarious as they had had a few drinks by game time.

Saturday, I (Chris) woke up and went for a 6 mile run with my new Garmin Forerunner 410! Check out the specs on it at the link. It's great if you're training! I came home from the run to find Jo still in bed. She's definitely not a morning person. 

We spent Saturday unpacking the majority of boxes, with the hopes of getting settled sometime this year...looks like we've got a few weeks to do so. We purchased a new 4 post bed and dresser by Fine Furniture at Stuckey Bros Furniture in Mount Pleasant; beautiful furniture that will last many lifetimes! We used all of our Target giftcards in one stop Saturday too...the cashier was quite impressed. We made a final stop at goat. sheep. cow. to pick up some Brie and a loaf of French bread to snack on in the evening. Delicious!

Sunday, the beginning of a new liturgical year and the season of Advent, we continued unpacking, watched a little bit of football and went for a run. Mass at 5:15 at the Cathedral was wonderful with a strong homily reminding us to always stay focused on the meaning of Christmas. The world is so caught up in the materialistic things during the Advent season (reflection by Cardinal Timothy Dolan) with complete disregard for the season and its meaning.  In an ancient document of the early Church, the Didache, and also in the NT, we get a traditional prayer for the Advent season: Marantha or "Come Lord, Jesus"

We pray that all of you have a blessed Advent with your families wherever in the world you may be. We look forward to spending this wonderful time of year with our family and friends. Safe travels! Laus tibi, Christe!

Chris & Rita Jo

 

Movin' On Up to the West Side...of downtown Charleston!

On Sunday, 11/4, we ran the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge on a beautiful warm sunny day. We took a walk down below the bridge on a fishing pier and took in the views, which included the USS Yorktown. The carrier sunk in Charleston and after several attempts to resurface it, it was pulled back up and now sits idle on the shore. In the afternoon we went to a friend's place for a very informal Pampered Chef party...yup, we got a few more things. Can't pass up kitchen items! We then went to Mass at the Cathedral at 5pm. Joyful joyful we adore thee!



USS Yorktown - stocked with F-18s and prepped for the Carrier Classic...which didn't happen



We checked out another house downtown: another old, charming Charleston home with beautiful hardwood floors but the kitchen was small and the bathroom was gross. At this point, we were somewhat worried about finding a place. We contacted the agent again to show us two of the places we had already seen.

Chris went to his first Knights of Columbus meeting in downtown Charleston with Council #704. He met some great men and looks forward to glorifying the Lord through works of charity throughout the Lowcountry.

Thursday was our 2 month anniversary - we went to DIG (Daniel Island Grille) in North Charleston for dinner and drinks. We can't believe how fast the time has gone! We are very blessed to have each other as well as our family, friends, faith and our jobs!

To cap off the week, we checked out another potential place to rent: this one, an old artist's studio built in the early 1900s but newly renovated European style by the owner who is from Sweden. The place is behind a mansion that the artist used to own which is split up into apartments today. The mansion was used for the South Carolina Inter-state and West Indian Exposition from December 1901 to June 1902. It is just south of Hampton Park near the Citadel Military Academy. We then went out to get sushi and drinks with two other couples in Mt Pleasant. One roll was called "Boeing 787" so we had to get it.



The pink colored roll is the 787

We had some great discussion around marriage since one couple has been married 7 years now, we, just having been married and the third couple is planning theirs! 

We woke up Saturday and headed down to check out the house from the night before and went on a solid 5.5 mile run from there down to the Ashley River at the Battery and back to the house. It was a gorgeous day: sunny and 70s!

After the run, we signed the lease for the house...and our landlord is the owner of Hyman's Seafood - the most popular seafood restaurant in downtown Charleston! We can't wait to move in and host some gatherings of family and friends so come visit us! Give us a ring or text if you'd like the new address! We stayed in Saturday evening to continue working wedding thank you notes and dine on some gourmet North Charleston Pizza Hut. It was actually quite delicious!

View of the Ashley River from near the Battery

 

View of the Ravenel Bridge from an SC Veteran's Memorial



First Week of Our New Adventure

We arrived Sunday evening after flying from STL to BWI hours before Hurricane Sandy hit the Eastern coast. The turbulence was pretty bad and rain in Baltimore had us wondering if we would be delayed and/or stuck there. Hundreds of flights were already canceled at that point. Surprisingly, nothing from Sandy hit the Lowcountry.

On Wednesday, All Hallows Eve, Rita Jo co-hosted a Development Fair for the entire Boeing South Carolina (BSC) site; she shared her new employee development program with approximately 1,500 BSC employees. That evening, our newly engaged friends, Sarah and Trey, had us over for beer and chili (made by Sarah) from Southern Tier brewery. Trey had two growlers, one of pumpkin and Chokolat beer mixed (delicious!) and one of just pumpkin. A few trick-or-treaters came by, two of them being in their late teens and coming by at 9:30pm. Strange. We discussed their upcoming wedding plans and, of course with RJ, work-related topics.

Thursday was All Saints Day, a day when the Church recognizes, remembers and honors the holy men and women that have gone before us that have been canonized saints. The Mass, celebrated by Msgr Brovey at St John the Baptist Cathedral in downtown Charleston, was beautiful with an incredible schola (choir) and homily on how we should model our lives after the lives of the saints. After Mass, we had dinner at Tsunami Sushi on East Bay with a few friends for $1 Blue Moon night.

Friday, All Souls Day, we worked late unfortunately. We hung out at the hotel and Jo did some homework for her class while I began this blog. We had some 'za delivered and went to bed early. Eternal rest, grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Saturday was our first house hunting trip. Our realtor picked us up at the hotel and took us to Daniel Island, Mount Pleasant and downtown Charleston. We saw some beautiful condos/townhouses but nothing really felt like the place we want. It's hard to find a place like we have in STL with the size and space for the low cost! We came back to the hotel to relax for a bit before heading back downtown for a glass of Malbec and some Nevat cheese from Spain at Bin 152 at the corner of King and Queen Sts.

Bin 152

For dinner, we met our friends Grace and Hannah at Mercato, an Italian restaurant on Market St. A live Jazz band played as we enjoyed homemade pastas...and more vino =) We topped the evening off with some cookies n cream and pumpkin frozen yogurt on King St.

Life is good so far in Charleston. We are so thankful for the opportunity to be here and to be with each other but we miss all of our family and friends!