Finally, after four years!

 Welcome to Corkscrews and Cavaliers!

So glad your visiting!

My name is Lacey! I created this blog spot in 2011. Yes, I know it's taken me years and a lot of life experiences to get off my butt and actually write but here I am, giving it a shot. It's a funny thing I choose to start blogging now, it's probably the busiest, most demanding time in my life! I'm still super excited none the less and happy to have the opportunity in this blog post to tell some you about myself, share some photos and a few of my favorite things. 

The two photos above are what really inspired me to some-what tell my story.. or document my new life... Not really sure what to call this new adventure of mine, I just know it's mine and no one else's. 

Back to the photos, Me and my brother, Stan.

I'll start out first by comparing he and I briefly. I am the caterpillar and he is the butterfly. I was always afraid of going off the beaten path where he always welcomed it. So, when life brought things to me I always let them pass me by to afraid to live a little... or a lot and he went after every opportunity that came his way. 

December 17, 2012, Stan, my oldest and closet friend, passed away, I spent a year grieving his loss and sitting stagnant, trying to figure out how in the world I could get things to go back to normal, with my parents, with my business, with friends and with me just feeling like the old me.  I finally came to the realization that I wasn't ever going to have my 'normal' again. I was never going be the me that I knew. So, I began the journey of getting to know the new me. 

January 1, 2014 came knocking at the door and while everyone was making New Year's resolutions about their new exercise routine, I decided to make a bucket list (A long term bucket list of things I wanted to achieve in my life).

Here are a few items from my list:

Move to Charleston

Attend Culinary school

Graduate

Make new friends

Be a better friend to my old ones

Judge less

Listen more

Travel abroad 

Start exercising

Own a sweet beach cruiser

Before I even made the bucket list I decided to close the business I owned, luckily I ended up selling instead. That gave me the opportunity to de-stress and re-group.  Over the course of about 6 months I worked in an office setting while I decided what I was going to do with my life. I woke up one morning, called my friend in Charleston and told her I was coming down to look for a job and apartments. I found a job and an apartment and prepared to move. I can still remember thinking how scared I was to leave my parents, my hometown, my old friends but I kept on and in two weeks I was living in Charleston!  From then on I was checking things off my bucket list left and right. If I got scared or worried about what other people thought of my decisions I would stop and think, "what would Stan do?"

I found a job at a local restaurant, hostessing and eventually serving. I moved on to my next task--the dreaded school. Yes, I had to go back but for what? and where? I went with my gut, the Art Institute, it was where I wanted to go after high school but never did. It was my chance to do it all over and I did! I'm having a blast and learning so much. Presidents list three quarters in a row :)))) Finding your passion is an exciting thing.

Photo above is an artisan pizza I created.

After enrolling in school, I began settling in to my apartment.... Just kidding! If you know me then you would know my apartment was decorated from head to toe by the end of my first week in Charleston. So, I've just enjoyed adding to it to make it perfect for me! Disgustingly clean, just how I like it! Decorating my home is probably my favorite hobby. Very much into arts and crafts as well.

During all of this transition, loving my family from a distance was just what we needed. We all began to adjust and some-what heal, if that even exist. Our relationships grew and we learned our new roles in each other lives after Stan's death. 

The photo above is of me and my precious nephew Eli, prepare to see a lot of him on here!

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I'm proud to announce I actively work on my bucket list. Adding, taking away, marking things off and continue to work at things on it like being a better friend. I'll create another post to include my new additions. 
One of my most recent purchases was a plane ticket to France and Spain! I am super proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and just going for it! Look for post on my trips in March and April! ....Travel abroad...Check.

I'm thankful to have my big brother to encourage me to do such bold things everyday.
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Corkscrews and Cavaliers is a blog featuring the ups and downs of a 20 something-cavalier loving-culinary student's gastronomic adventures-grieving the loss of a sibling-low country residence, finding herself again. 

....with Cavalier in toe.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a writer nor do I claim to be! I am new at this so bare with me through the typo's, sentence fragments and just plain ol' stupid post. ;-)