A lot has changed...

Just about Everything has changed since I last wrote. I ended up working on a 112' Westport based in Bristol, Rhode Island. I worked on this boat for almost a year, learned a lot, got used to the entire new way of life and then fell in love and decided to switch it up once again! To catch everyone up to speed, last time I wrote (back in April of 2011) I still thought I'd be going to work on the motoryacht '4 You' in France. Soon after that post I found out that the company had decided to sell the boat to put it towards cost of a new boat being built in Holland. So that put me out of a job and with no plan whatsoever. Luckily both the marina and Cupcake were happy to keep me on until I figured it all out.

I had a lot of fantastic people looking after me, helping me out and giving me great advice to assist me on my way into the yachting industry while I was in Charleston. One of which was a captain from a motoryacht that stayed with us several months out of the year. He helped me to completely redo my resume in the efforts to make me look a little less 'green' (meaning lacking experience in the industry). And then he provided me with the opportunity to deliver their crew van from Charleston, SC to Bar Harbor, Maine while they took the boat up there. This allowed me the chance to travel up the coast and spend a day or two in Newport, RI which is where a lot of the big yachts spend the summer months. The plan was to drive it in several days so that I could spend as much time as possible walking the docks, meeting people and passing out my resume in Newport, RI.

A week before this trip was taking place, I met a captain in the dock office who started chatting with me about work opportunities on boats. The funny thing is, looking back I was actually covering someone's shift - I was supposed to have that day off...and had I not done that, I would have never met Captain Eddie which landed my First yacht job and led me to the beginning of my life as I know it now. Crazy how things work out!! But now I'm getting ahead of myself...

Captain Eddie asked for me to stop by the next afternoon prior to their departure and drop by a resume to his wife, the chef onboard. When I did so, I met Merry (Eddie's wife) along with the delivery crew - Jake (the mate) and Chris (a good friend of the boat owners). To try to avoid making a long story even longer, here is a timeline of what happened next:

June, 2011 - Got a call two weeks later for a phone interview & GOT THE JOB!
*Drove the crew van from Charleston to Bar Harbor, ME
*Flew to the yacht to begin my new job which was in Bristol, RI at the time

July, 2011 - Began dating the mate, Jake ... although no one knew since we decided to keep our relationship very private in the effort to keep it professional with work

May, 2012 - Jake & I left the yacht to move back to Charleston where we originally met. We rented a home in John's Island & got our first puppy, Turks! (very obviously named after our favorite place we traveled on the yacht - Turks and Caicos)

March, 2013 - Jake proposed out on our boat in the Charleston harbor! I said YES. :-)

May, 2013 - We bought our first home in Charleston, SC which was a 'fixer upper' to say the least. We have spent that last year having a blast doing some major renovations!  

And a month from now we will be saying I DO! and then beginning our new lives back into the yachting world. Except this time, instead of being the mate and stewardess we will be joining the boat as a Captain & Chief stewardess team!!

I think it is safe to say that it has been a full on, AMAZING, whirlwind of a couple years! I cannot help but be SO excited to see what adventures are yet to come...