Happy Halloween!

Absolutely my favorite holiday.

I put up decorations on October 1st. Purple lights, ghosts, creepy signs and window silhouettes. We carved pumpkins last Sunday. Mine was a kick ass Micheal Meyers pumpkin. Steve had two: the Pumpkin King and Jack Skeleton. We lit them every night. We went to hayrides and haunted forests and we even ventured to the haunted swamp of Cypress Gardens, which was well worth the wait, if I do say so myself. We've been watching Monsterfest on AMC all week long. I've seen Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Exorcist about fifteen times a piece.

I dressed in all black today. I would've gone all out but work is a bit conservative. I wore my Halloween pin and my dark eye makeup and had my feathered carnival mask. I bought donuts for my coworkers and about five bags of candy. The good kind too: Reese's Peanut Butter cups (regular and white chocolate), Hershey's Miniatures (my favorite is Mr. Goodbar), Tootsie Rolls (number one favorite!) and Snickers. We rented some more scary movies, put the candy by the door, lit the pumpkins and turned the porch light on.

NOT ONE trick or treater! *pouts*

Last year, I didn't even bother because I was in a secure building where people couldn't get in unless they were buzzed in. This year, I thought it would be different because our front door is accessible. Just walk up the stairs, knock and say "Trick or treat".

But, we are in an apartment complex. We are in the back corner of our apartment complex. And we are located off a street that pretty much dead ends and isn't really near the big subdivisions of Mount Pleasant. If I were a kid, this would probably be a "passing thought" neighborhood on the way to the bigger fancier developments around the area.

Steve and his brother came back from the video store and knocked on the door. I got really excited and had the candy all ready. No such luck as they grinned and said "Trick or treat". I almost threw the candy at them.

It would've been nice but I didn't really expect it because we're not the most ideal location. Next year I'll go to my mom's.

There are times when I'm glad we live on the second floor. This is not one of those times. I'm on crutches for probably the fifth or sixth time in my life and I am using them as if it was my first time. When I came home, I stood at the bottom of the stairs for about five minutes trying to figure out exactly how I was going to negotiate my way up. I made it about halfway and ended up tumbling a bit and crawling the rest of the way up.

I hate crutches! I despise them really. They make my underarms and shoulders hurt. They're clumsy and intrusive and you can't carry anything with them. I remember trying to walk with my schoolbag on my back and a crutch under each arm back in high school. I learned real quick to leave the school books at school otherwise, I'd topple over backwards.

Regardless, I've spent the last three days hibernating in my apartment, partly because it's so much effort to get around and partly because I'm scared of trying to get down the stairs with my crutches. Because, you know, falling up the stairs is alot safer than falling down them. And rather than use the crutches, I've been hopping on one foot from the bedroom to the living room and back. Which means my left leg will be awesomely toned by the end of all of this and my damn floor will be covered in soda because you can't hop with a full glass, apparently.

I sprained my ankle. I sprained it pretty bad. We went to Dr. Scream's Haunted Forest in Myrtle Beach Friday night and it was pretty cool. Some dark and scary trails that you walk through and a "hayride" through the woods, which was really a ride on a trailer attached to the back of a four-wheeler. It was really fun and I was having a good time until I hit a rut in the trail and rolled my ankle, falling flat on my face in the pitch black woods. No lie, it probably could've been a scene out of a horror movie because I went down like some slasher heroine, clutching my ankle and turning screams into tears in two seconds flat.

My friends managed to help me up and get me into the tent of the next attraction where some of the actors met me. One of the women reached down and took my shoe off, which made me mad, but I was too upset to say anything. You don't take a shoe off for an ankle injury unless you're going to start treating it right away and I still had to get out of the damn woods.

Thankfully, some random reaper guy from the show helped me out and Steve came out with me. Of course, the last the reaper guy said to me, after assuring me I was going to be okay and telling me to treat it with hot and cold compresses, was "Unfortunately, it's enter at your own risk!"

I'm thinking "WTF?" Seriously, I know they're worried about liability but that was a little uncool. Here I was in pain and tears and they basically just pushed me out at the entrance and said that. If I didn't know the drill with these things, I would've been even more pissed. And for the record, there was no posting ANYWHERE, not on the tickets, not at the door, not in any of the announcements, that said "Enter at your own risk!" Perhaps it is an assumed thing, but common sense on my part would say if you're going to run a haunted trail where people walk through the dark woods and you jump out and scare them, do a walk through during the day and fill in the holes and ruts that are right in the damn middle of the trails.

No big deal though. I've done this enough times to know I needed to get it elevated and iced and to take some ibuprofen. It was a rather uncomfortable night as I had to crawl up my brother's stairs to his front door and then pass on his couch in a ball of tears and shivering because I was upset. The next day, I could barely hop on one leg to get to the car and we still had to drive an hour and a half home.

I didn't feel like sitting in the ER so I figured we'd go to the Urgent Care around home, which is basically just happy medium. We were in and out in two hours with a nothing's broken verdict, X-rays, crutches, and air cast and a prescription for Vicodin. Who knew?

I've been alternating between the recliner and the couch. I try to get up and get things done for myself but sometimes, it so much effort. Thank god Steve is here because he is doing an amazing job taking care of me. It's driving me a bit insane though because I can only sit and watch so much TV and surf so much of the Internet. I was able to start using my tip toes to get around with both legs and the crutches but I still can't hobble without the support. I was out of work today and I'll probably be out tomorrow, if not until Wednesday.

I guess knowledge helped though. Like I said, I've been through this so many times that I knew the whole RICE method by heart (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation). I knew the ibuprofen and the protection. I knew to stay off it. Even when I went in for X-rays, I knew which way to turn my leg. The lady looked at me and said "You've done this before, I take it?" I smiled sheepishly and said "Many times."

It hurts but it's getting better. I still have pain and it's very tender, but it's getting more bearable. What's harder to deal with is the stiffness in my legs and my feet from not moving it too much. I have exercises to do but it still hurts to do them so I'm not able to start them at this point. I just can't wait until I can get up and move around normally again because it's driving me crazy not being able to do anything or not being able to get up and get stuff for myself. And I know it's driving Steve a little insane, so I'm trying to be good and not ask him to get too many things for me. I usually wait until he gets up but then it kind of sucks because I've got five or six requests built up.

But here's a good moral. Last week, my razor broke and I had just gotten around to getting a new one Thursday night. We left Friday night for Myrtle Beach and when we came home Saturday, we went straight to Urgent Care. So I had no time to shave and of course, seeing as how I had a sprained ankle, this required some pushing up of my pants to reveal my legs. I apologized to everyone for not having shaved. I was so embarrassed! So moral is to always replace your broken razor right away and make sure to shave every day in case you end up in the ER with a sprained ankle.

What made it all worth was the look on the nurse's face when she asked me how I injured myself. I looked her dead in the eye and said "I fell in a hole and rolled my ankle while being chased through the woods by a man with a chainsaw."

There was silence as blood drained from her face and I could see she was trying to figure out what to write.

Steve piped up in the background and said "We were on a haunted hayride" and I just glared at him for ruining my fun.

The nurse, I think, was quite relieved that she didn't have to explain that one.

... would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries.

Yesterday marked exactly six months since we've moved to the Lowcountry and it's been quite an adjustment. Overall, things are going wonderfully but in honor of our anniversay, I'd like to present you with ...

Things I Miss About Philadelphia
Aside from the obvious, of course, like friends and family.

Wawa No one knows the wonders of Wawa. Wa-what? They say. WAWA, BITCHES! It's a food market, a corner store. Not quite as big as a grocery store, but definitely better than any 7-Eleven or Scotchman you've ever been into. They have anything from normal convenience store snacks to fresh sandwiches and deli food to coffee and their own dairy line. I probably stopped there at least once a day, whether it was for breakfast, dinner, coffee, milk, or even cash. Because one of the greatest thing about Wawa is that they didn't allow ATM with surcharges. So you didn't have to pay to get your money. And, every store had an ATM machine that gave out in denominations of $10. So if you need a quick few dollars, you didn't have to pay two bucks to get it. They had these wonderful Meatball Sandwiches (I got the Junior Meatball with provolone and oregano, thank you) and Breaded Chicken Parmesan with Bacon. All made fresh to order - you go in and use a touch screen to pick your customizations and they make it piping hot while you're there. And they had these stuffed soft pretzels that you could get stuffed with cheddar cheese or pizza sauce (I preferred chedder) and they were piping hot and so, so good. But the best ever was their coffee and cappucino. Seriously, I consumed so much Fat Free Vanilla Cappucino during the winter months that I almost turned into it. It is the BEST I've ever had and there's nothing better on a cold night (or morning) than a piping hot 16 oz. cup of cappucino. I wish they shipped it down here.

Oh and did I mention that while you were pumping your gas (usually the cheapest gas around), you can order your sandwich or anything else from the deli and it'll be ready when you go in? Score!

Eagles Games Being the local team, Sundays were obviously a big deal. If you weren't watching the game on FOX, you could listen to them on WYSP (94.1). And everyone was fired up. Here, we're not in Eagles country anymore so no one shares the excitement and we can't even get most of the games. Thankfully, the past few weeks I got to see them (and I couldn't have been happier with their performance) but there won't be another game on down here until Christmastime. *Pouts* Maybe I need the NFL ticket or something.

Cheesesteaks Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm! You can't move away from Philly and not miss the cheesesteaks. Whether it's the finely chopped steak and white American cheese from the local joints or the large slab of sirloin with the cheese whiz from Geno's, there's no other place in the world to get a good cheesesteak like Philly. There's a close contender here but the rolls are different, and we all know we need the right roll to make a good steak.

Atlantic City Trips There's something to be said about living an hour from Atlantic City. I don't gamble but I don't have too when a bunch of us pile into a car and shoot down the Expressway to hang out, drink and generally just have fun. A typical AC trip consisted of us deciding at the last minute to head out on a Friday night around 10pm after drinking most of the night (with a DD, of course) and hanging out in the casinos while half of us gambled and the other half drank some more, or, as we did one night before a big playoff game, stand at the door and as people who their pick was for the winner of the game. We'd then drive up and down the strip and play the "Guess who's the hooker?" game and then end up at the open 24 hours McDonald's, chomping on food and still playing the "Guess who's the hooker?" game. Around 4am, we packed it up and headed home to watch the sunrise in our rearview mirror as we got back into Philly exhausted, still drunk and, in some of our cases, poorer than we were when we went down. Awesome, awesome times!

McCoy's, Barnaby's, Duffer's and Jocelyn's I prefer hole in the wall bars, where it's not too crowded and everyone is in jeans and nice shirts and where you can find a table and just hang out. These bars were both like that, though Barnaby's tended to be more crowded and "clubbish" on some nights. Regardless, I was sure to run into people I knew there, which was great when I wanted a high school reuninon. But they had a nice deck which was relaxing to sit on and just drink and chat. McCoy's had karaoke, which rocked, and it was always a good time because we sat back, drank and laughed at each other trying to sing. Duffer's was the place to go to drink and play pool and be generally rowdy. Jocelyn's was the bar right down the street from work and I spent many Friday nights there with the Bank crew and with the Bitches crew.

Linvilla Orchards Every autumn, we'd go to this working farm and wander around their pumpkin land. We'd pet the animals and browse their store of pretty much all homemade food and preserves. We'd eat caramel apples and funnel cake and watch the kids run around. And we'd buy pies - pumpkin pies and the best damn Dutch apple pie I've ever had in my life! I miss those pies!

Herr's My preferred potato chip of choice. Either the blue bag of plain, non-ruffled chips or the brown and red bag of Old Fashioned chips. I've had to contend with Lay's since I left and they are just too damn salty. The Herr's plain are perfectly balanced and the Old Fashioned chips are so good and crunchy! I can't seem to find a chip that I really like since them.

Haunted Hayrides We went to eight hayrides last year and they were all completely amazing! Lots of special effects and unexpected twists and turns. A few were within an hour but others were about two hours away and we'd take road trips out to stand in line and go through the various haunted hayrides, houses, mazes, asylums, fun houses, etc. Always a good time and by the end of the season, I considered us to be haunt experts. Or at least, haunt freaks.

Four-Wheeling We used to take weekend trips every three months or so. We had an awesome group of people who went with us and we'd camp out all night, drinking beers and roasting marshmallows by the fire. Then we'd get up early, air down, and head out to Paragon, a park dedicated solely to offroading, and wheel ALL DAY. Then we'd head back to the campsite to do it all again the next day. And those trips were amazing because the adrenaline kicked in and I got ridiculously dirty and shook up from the all the trails and watching people break stuff. But we always made it out ok and went back for more.

No Tax Shopping Pennsylvania doesn't have tax on neccessities. That means clothes, food (groceries, not prepared food) and other things weren't taxed. So if something was $2.99, it wasn't $3.17. Even better, I lived a hop, skip and a jump away from Delaware which had no tax on ANYTHING. So when you needed to buy a big ticket item, just hop over the state line to Best Buy and pay the exact price for that XBox or TV and not the twenty or thirty dollars and upwards for tax.

I-95 and the Blue Route Most people would think I'm crazy for missing the highways and there were times in awful traffic that I hated. But I was on one of these major interstates at least five times a week, just going in between work and Steve's house and home and the bars and the malls. Maybe it's because I haven't yet learned to slow down, but it's hard to get used to having to actually travel down a road and stop at stop lights every mile or so. When I wanted to get somewhere quickly, I got on the highway. Here, not so much. I-26 helps, but that's the only one around. The whole area had veins of interstate and you really take for granted the fact that you can do 90 to get to the movies or the restaurnt you're trying to get to.

Cecil County A 1/4 mile dragstrip in Maryland that took us about an hour to get to. It was race, and drink, what you brought and there were many Friday nights where we hopped in the car and sat around watching the fast cars and drinking beer. Plus, you could wander around the starting line area and check out all the cars. Definitely an exhilirating way to start the weekend.

Autumn There's no autumn here like there is up North. When the weather starts getting brisk and I can pull out my sweaters and jeans and sit around a bonfire drinking cappucino, there's nothing better in the world. Or walking out of work to a crisp, cool breeze and the fresh scent of burning wood or just that smell of AUTUMN in the air.

Online Ordering The lazy person in me comes out here but the local grocery store, as well as other establishments, let you order your food online, pay for it and either have it delivered or pick it up all the store, all bagged and ready to go home. An amazing convenience that I guess just isn't offered here yet. And all for a nominal fee. Definitely wonderful on those busy days when you don't feel like going into the grocery store.

TJ's (or Tom Jones) Not the singer, the restaurant. Our local diner, open 24/7, 365 days a year. Good, cheap food and wonderfully friendly waitresses. I spent many nights there for fast dinners or languid good times with friends or early morning drunken munchies. They're even open over Christmas. And go there after a school event for a party - everyone who's anyone is there, smoking, laughing and stopping by random tables just to say hi.

Peanut Chews Little bite size candy pieces that come six to a pack and are made of peanuts, molasses and chocolate. So, so good and very hard to find down here.

Bagels They sell them here, but I haven't found a bagel as good as the ones I'd get from Custom Bagel. They were right around the corner from work and I'd head out in the morning to get my favorite - toasted seasame seed with cream cheese. Wonderful on a hungry morning and made to perfection.

Great Adventure That's the name for Six Flags, in NJ, for those of you non-natives to the area. A day trip away, Great Adventure is a fun place to visit. We had season passes one summer and we would drive out about every weekend just to hang out and ride the rides. The roller coasters were amazing and always pushing the envelope - Kingda Ka (the biggest, fastest in the world), Nitro, Batman & Robin, the Chiller, Superman (you're on your stomach as you fly through the air) and my all time favorite, Medusa, where your feet dangle (you sit in the chair, not hang from the track, and there's no floor). It feels like you're flying!

And so I'm not being unfair, I give you ...

Things I Love About South Carolina

Liquor Laws I love being able to get beer from a convience store and beer and wine from a grocery store. In PA, you can only buy beer by the case and only from a beer distributor. And only until 9pm, so if you're having a party, you're walking out with four or five cases. If you're drinking alone, you still need to buy a case. Wine and liquor have to be bought from a state store and they close at nine too. And there's nothing sold on Sundays. So you walk out of either place looking like an alcoholic. Being able to wander into the grocery store at 1am because you're out of beer is definitely a perk.

Beach There's not much else to be said than the fact that I can drive five minutes to get to the beach on any given day. A far cry from having to drive two hours to the Jersey shore and fight traffic because everyone else has the same idea. Not to mention, you couldn't just drive there for the day and back and getting a place to stay was like pulling teeth.

Oak Trees They are absolutely gorgeous and so majestic. When they create a canopy over the roads, it's like you're driving through a different time. It's an acceptable replacement for the lack of color that I miss with the leaves not changing.

Driving Around with the Top Down Steve has a Jeep and on long periods of no rain, he takes the top off and we cruise around. There's no better feeling than being on top of the Ravenel Bridge with the views of the harbor and the wind blowing your hair and looking up and around and seeing everything. Or driving to the beach and being enveloped by the smell of the ocean and seeing the palm trees pass you by and the marshes in the distance. And being able to do that close to all year round is wonderful.

Thunderstorms Similarly, there's nothing more soothing than the late afternoon thunderstorms that pop up so frequently here during the summertime. I'm a big fan of rain and thunder and love sitting on my screened in porch with a book while smelling the rain in the air, hearing the drops on the roof and feeling the breeze blow through. Of coure, we had thunderstorms up North, but definitely not as frequent as we do here.

Sweet Tea No one in the world can make sweet tea like the South. Enough said!

Chick-Fil-A My favorite fast food restaurant. We had them in PA, obviously, but in the area I lived, the only one within thirty miles or so was in a mall. A very busy whose only other food choices was a pizza joint, an Auntie Ann's and towards the end, a McDonald's. So to get Chick-Fil-A, you had to fight mall traffic and mall people and the place was always crowded. It wasn't odd to wait in line for twenty minutes to get food. So it wasn't worth the hassle. Here, there's a freestanding one right up the road, with a drive-thru. BONUS!

No Inspection South Carolina doesn't make you do yearly inspections on your vehicle. I'd be even happier if I drove a complete piece of shit car, but I don't. For me, it just eradicates the hassle of having to get the car in before it runs out and replace the stickers and make sure something stupid like my check engine light isn't going to fail me. Of course, we do have to pay the property taxes every year, which were non-existant in PA, but that's no big deal.

Fishing I like it. I can take it in smaller doses than Steve, but there are times when I go out with my chair and sit on the pier watching the sunrise while reading a book. It's amazingly relaxing and an absolutely wonderful way to catch up on my reading.

Bridges Lots of photo opportunities and I find it exciting to have to cross so many bridges to get to different areas. Like I'm going into a whole new territory. Of course, it makes it easy for our visitors to navigate (we say, "If you cross a bridge, you've left Mt. Pleasant, unless you head toward Myrtle Beach and then you're really lost!")

No Toll Roads It seemed every damn place we traveled on a highway that was further than an hour cost us money because we hit some kind of toll road. The Pennsylvania Turnpike, the AC Expressway, the Garden State Parkway, the Northeast Extension. And then coming back into PA from Baltimore - $9.00 toll all together. Ridiculous! Being able to hop on a highway and not have to worry about having toll money is wonderful. (Seriously, I've dug change out the floorboards when I didn't realize tolls had gone up!)

Downtown Charleston The heart of the city and it's amazingly easy to navigate and get around. I love being so close to Philly, but with the good came the bad and driving and parking in the city was expensive and damn near impossible. Being able to easily get around Charleston and not being afraid to leave my car (in certain areas, of course) not really worrying about finding a parking spot makes me a happy girl because I can head downtown anytime I want and not let the hassle stop me (and I know there are times it can be bad, but even at its worst, its far better than what I went through, particularly when I was commuting to school).

Of course, this list, on both ends, in no where being complete but for our anniversary, it was nice to take a trip down memory lane as well as to remind myself of the reason WHY we moved down here.

Here's to another six months!

And on a side note, I'd like to mention a few more things:

Congratulations to Tara on her marriage and for becoming the first Kallurian to be one step closer to being a real grown up.

Congratulations to Jennie for taking her own step to being a grown up and graduating from college in December. Good luck on the LSAT's!

And a congratulations to Brooke who is busting her butt in law school and still has time to put up a kick ass new layout.

Also, just wanted to put some love out for my closest friend, Casey, who is in Hawaii at this moment. She is ok and working on getting home, but I still want her to know I'm thinking about her and hoping she gets home safe.

It's really starting to sink in that we do not live in the North anymore. I didn't even realize that the first day of Autumn occurred until three days after it happened. The days here are noticeably a bit cooler, which really only means that it's in the high seventies or low eighties. And the nights are getting a bit chilly. But back in Pennsylvania, at this time, the days would be chilly and the nights would be chillier, perfect for hayrides and apple cider and bonfires.

Autumn has always been my favorite season. I love going to the orchards and farms and seeing all the fall harvest. I love the scarecrows and hay bales and hot chocolate. I love standing around at a hayride in my sweatshirt and jeans and eating caramel apples and sipping hot chocolate. I love seeing the leaves change. And I especially love Halloween.

Will it ever get chilly here? I can imagine I'll be experiencing Autumn weather long after the season is over. Although, we were out this Saturday night at the Lowcountry Dragway and even though I was in jeans and a t-shirt, I was downright chilly. I would be very glad if weather like that continued for the season, particularly when we start heading up for the hayrides.

Because ya'll know that since it's the first of October, it's hayride season. We are a huge fan of haunts and hayrides and spent every weekend in October last year at one, sometimes two, resulting in us visiting close to ten. This year, I'm looking forward to doing the same and I'm hoping it will be even more fun because they'll be all new and we won't know what to expect. The problem is that there don't seem to be that many around here so if anyone would like to suggest some ideas, I would be more than willing to listen. We're game to driving two or three hours for one to, so please, please suggest away.

And because I love, love, LOVE Halloween, I spent most of today putting up my decorations. Not to over the top because I'm not sure how many trick or treaters we're going to get, but enough to get in the spirit. Some purple lights and little ghosts hanging from our ceiling. Some creepy looking silhouettes in the window and more purple lights and ghost lanterns in the window. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks. I've got pictures so I'll post them soon.

I think we'll probably end up at my parents Halloween night though, seeing as how we're in an apartment and they're in a little tight knit neighborhood with a bunch of kids. Plus, they're Halloween freaks like me too and they always pride themselves on being the creepiest house in the neighborhood. My dad is the one who'll dress up in an old mechanic's outfit and a wolf mask and sit on the porch waiting for the kids (he only scares the big kids, not the little ones). He makes fake graves in the front lawn and rocks the stobe lights and fog machines. It's really such a fun holiday for my family and this really is one of my favorite times of the year!

Another great thing about Autumn is football. Of course, I've got to support my Eagles but what stinks is that their games aren't on every week like they were up North so I have to be content with the scores from the web. The first nationally televised game between them and Green Bay is tomorrow so I'll definitely be watching that.

Until then, I have to get my fix watching my little brother play football. It's fun watching him because he's eleven years old, 5'8" and 180 pounds. He plays offensive and defensive lineman and kicker. He's the biggest one in the league and towers over everyone. He literally just seems to tap the kids with one hand and they go down. He still has to hone his skills though but if he practices enough, he'll go damn far and the scouts will be after him for sheer size alone.

Watching the little kids play football though is fun because they're still at the stage where they just don't get it sometimes, but they try hard. They're 2-1 right now and the first two games they played like rockstars. And when they work damn hard and come off that field all proud that they won, you can't help but feel that too and congratulate the hell out of them. And when they loose, you can't help but be upset because you know they are.

And seriously, I know why some people turn into those football parents - the ones that scream and yell at the refs and each other. We're not THAT bad, but when you're on the sidelines watching them out there, the adrenaline just gets to you. When you run down the field as they make a sixty yard run for a touchdown, you can't help but feel a bit of the same rush they do. And when the refs call horrible plays and spend the entire game flag happy, you can't help but get angry.

Especially when certain refs yell at my little brother for hitting to hard. That pisses me off. Yes, I know he's much bigger than the other kids and yes, I see he hits hard. But here's the thing - because of age, he can't play for his middle school (you have to be twelve to play JV for them) and they won't sign a waiver for him because of his size (league rule). As a result, he's in the division with all the kids his age and as we know, he's not the same size as the kids his age. And they teach him how to play football - they don't tell him "You need to watch how hard you hit because you're bigger than the other kids" because that's not the point of the game. And that would be unfair to him and discriminating because then he wouldn't learn how to actually play the game like all the other kids. So he goes out there and he plays the way he was taught and he gets a flag for hitting too hard. And the parents on the other team freak out at him for hitting too hard.

And it's like, if you don't want your kid to get hurt, don't put them in football. It's not like he's out there hitting them hard on purpose. He's playing the way he was taught and it's not really fair to him to make him "dumb" his game.

/*End rant ... :-)

So there's a whole new season of Autumn, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up and I'm excited. And this month marks our six-month anniversary in Charleston. The times and the seasons, they are a-changing and there's so much to look forward to.

We went out to dinner with some of Steve's co-workers on Friday night, which was a welcome excursion out as it was the first time we'd gone out with people our own age that weren't our family or friends visiting. It was a very nice and relaxing dinner at the Water's Edge, a bar and grill by Shem Creek and being able to sit and enjoy everyone's company while watching the sun go down over the water was very, very refreshing and definitely a nice break.

Other than that, not much has been going on. For anyone who's reading my Vox blog, the fall season has started on TV and I've been invested in that. I bought a DVD Recorder which helps for my CSI and Grey's Anatomy conflict. And I'm really, really digging the new show Heroes.

Our life has been rather busy. We got to football games twice a week, we've visited my other brother in Myrtle Beach two or three times in the past month, Steve goes fishing every weekend and I occasionally go with, my parents are moving into their new house so we've been over helping them. And along with the hayrides, I'd like to go to the Renaissance Faire near Charlotte just to check it out.

So it seems that we are progressing beyond that whole "getting" settled phase into "being" settled. We still have a few more steps to go but it's really nice getting into a rhythm and having this place start to feel like home.

Truthfully, the most difficult part has been finding friends. We had our own little group up North that we had known and partied with for years and it's really an odd feeling when all of a sudden, that groups gone. I was so used to my cell starting to ring before I even got off of work on Friday nights and having plans for the weekend by Wednesday that sometimes now, coming home isn't so fun on Fridays because there's nothing planned. Steve and I go out and do things and explore new areas and stuff and we have a lot of fun, but sometimes not having that group around can make you feel so lonely, even though there are two of you.

Alas, though, that's all a part of starting over and eventually, I'm sure that will change too. Until then, we're just going to wander around the area on weekends together, driving until we get to a half of a tank then turning around or checking out places that other people have recommended and just generally enjoy each others company and getting used to our new home together.

Because really, that's what this whole move was about.