charleston, i love you | 003: blake suárez07/06/12
My sweet ginger beau Blake approaches everything with great gusto and is the most kind-hearted person I know. He’s a fairly new transplant to Charleston but is already head over heels for it.
Charleston, I love you | 003: Blake Suárez
What brought you to Charleston?
I took a job with a design company called Fuzzco. I'd known about them for a while and decided I wanted to take a break from freelancing. I'd been working on the road and out of Austin for a little over a year and I needed something (or someplace) new; they were hiring and I was newly available.
What do you love most about Charleston?
(This sounds negative, but finish through.) I love getting away from Charleston. The peninsula is small enough to bike across in ten minutes, so the people create one of the most close knit and tangled communities I've ever been a part of. This is pretty fantastic, but sometimes you can't see the beauty in it until you return. Driving back from a trip, nothing is more refreshing than spotting the steeples and the Ravenel bridge.
What's your favorite spot in Charleston?
It's hard to pick one spot, so I'll pick an area: every side road and alley south of Broad, especially ones full of creeping vine. I only ever really started exploring that place when I met you, when we'd bike down after work for that breath of fresh air.
What's your favorite restaurant?
Definitely the easiest question. Two Boroughs Larder is my numero uno. That clicked during the Food and Wine Festival, when they opened two hours earlier on Saturday. Heather told us about some upcoming wine paired dinners, and we bought tickets for the next three. Their dinners are so intimate and thoughtful and our favorite time to just sit and talk talk talk.
How does Charleston influence or inspire your work?
Charleston is full of details. It's impossible to take a walk without noticing the little things, and most times I'm frustrated that I don't have my moleskine in my back pocket to sketch it all. Instead, I usually have an album full of the same photos on my iPhone.
A standout Charleston-related memory?
I remember the first time I inflated your bike tires. We'd been talking about taking the bikes out for a spin, but we didn't have a pump. We borrowed one, finally, inflated them to max pressure and headed down Spring to Rutledge to Cannon to St. Phillip to the Battery and East Bay and Broad and so on. You put my flannel on somewhere on King, and I thought… I need to take this girl to the woods.
What's a typical day like for you?
6 AM - Still sleeping. 7 AMish - Looking for that first cup of coffee. 9:02 AM - Running out of the house because I'm already two minutes late to work. 9:03-5:30 PM - A blur of work and Spotify. 6 PM - Tapping on Olivia's (your) window to get inside for our bike ride. 7 PM - Pouring a glass of Vinho Verde con mi vida, while she finishes up the soup (unless we stop by Bin, of course). 8 PM - Dishes or Belmont. 9 PM - Trying to find the next episode of GIRLS online. 11 PM - Sleep.
Describe Charleston in three words.
Pockets. Kodak. Noodles.
*Blake's website here. Photos taken at Hope & Union.
oh my goodness, one adore the photographs beautiful and blake sweetness radiants and that bike, pump anf flannel shirt paragraph is heart melting. Olivia i think you have found someone worthy pf your own kind heart and love for life. Enjoy dear Olivia & blake!
love this series!
* typos, it just would not be me without them:)
I love this…how lucky he is to have you to show him all the secrets + splendors of charleston. i think you two make such a beautiful couple!
THIS READS LIKE OLIVIA, I LOVE YOU, NOT CHARLESTON, I LOVE YOU. SO SWEET!
Lovely photos! I like how they are out of sequence in time, and you can tell from how much coffee’s in the cup and how much of that amazing-looking Croissant is gone.
Oops, don’t know what happened with the all caps there….
this is just so sweet. makes me really think about why (and how) i love charleston. :)
sweetness-seems like he is pretty keen, on Charleston and You! x
:)
Dang this is sweet :)
makes me wish I was moving to Charleston instead of Atlanta! Oh well, Carolina is always on my mind.
Blake, Let’s catch up next time I’m in town!
I heart this series. I’m a lover of Charleston too. My favorite restaurant is Jestine’s I’ve gone every visit and am always willing to wait in line.
Olivia, I love this series. Just effortlessly fantastic. You two are wonderful together.
Y’all are just too adorable! I’ve never been and you make me love Charleston too :)
hi olivia,
really loving this series. charleston is a special place full of special people.
Darling DArling Darling! Both of you!
You are making me homesick for the eastcoast! Breath-taking photos as usual, Olivia.
How is he dealing with the humidity of the east coast? I know that it can be really hard to handle for some people who are used to non-humid places.
I’m putting it out there. I love the sweetness of this post, the outpouring of affection. But “I need to take this girl to the woods,” has a really creepy vibe going on. I’m sure it’s something magical and lovely but totally has a “Hello Clarise” thing. It made me laugh because I’m sure the inside meaning is beautiful. It’s interesting how our intimacies between are totally bizarre in other lights.
Haha, kIm, Blake loves camping. He meant, “let’s go camping.”
Olivia, I just LOVE your photography! You are truly a talented artist.
i think you might be the reason why he’s already head over heels for charleston :)
That, and the fact that Charleston seems just magical beyond words!
your photos of your ginger beau are so beautiful. i love you guys!
swoon. Great answer. Olivia, you have yourself a keeper. Everything about this reads like a Bon Iver song.
Um, so I’m going to be that nosey commenter who wants to know how you two met! Srysly. You two are pb&Jelly.
P.s I love this series. Although a photo says alot, I enjoy the back story. – Sunshine
Blake seems like such a sweet guy, especially when describing his stand-out memory and when he talks about you! You two are seem so good together. :)
Really wanting to go to charleston right now – it looks so lovely!
This is gorgeous, but the over-the-shoulder photo of the croissant, coffee and sketch is fantastic. Love it.
just opening this page relaxes me. amazing. :)