Halloween!

Which brings me to Halloween.

I have always liked Halloween, but not to the "all-out" extent. I like to dress up, but just for a little fun. I mostly like to see little kids in their costumes, and hand out candy.

Here at our apartment complex, there are very few children, and most are not even trick or treating age, so we got NO trick-or-treaters.

Turns out, I was the ONLY person who dressed up at work. SHEESH!! Where are your inner children?!?! lol I found a really cool afro wig, and built on that. I ended up being a "70's chick".

It was a pretty slow day at the salon, and I thought it was time for a change, so I changed my hair color to brown (ish red). It's fun to change, and works for winter.

On the first of November, I finally went to my FIRST college football game! USC (Carolina) vs. Tennesee. Courtney got some tickets from her client, and invited me. It was really fun. We didn't tail gate since we had to work that day, but our brilliant plan was to meet downtown and take a taxi to the stadium. It was great! We dressed all warm, and enjoyed the Gamecocks kickin some Tennesee butt! I loved the school spirit, the student section was crazy! The marching band was great! They did "Thriller" and I have never seen a band put their instruments down and all do the zombie dance in unison. Fun! Even the mascot, "Cocky" (I kid you not) made me laugh. USC was up by 3 touchdowns by the 4th quarter, so we left to get a taxi back before they changed the traffic flow to outgoing only. It was a very fun night. Thanks Courtney! (Still waitin' on those pics.....)

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween, and are enjoying football season!

Georgia Trip

Happy November everyone! LATE.

I was waiting for some pictures to be sent before I updated, but they're still not here, so I will do without.

So much to talk about, I'm going to have to make multiple entries, or I will blab on and on and bore you all!

Starting a few weeks back in October, Chris and I went to Georgia to see his Dad and Step Mom. They live in Tate, which is North of Atlanta, and about a 4 hour drive.

Georgia is very pretty, and was a nice drive, tho I didn't get to see Atlanta as we drove around the city to avoid road closures, and save time.

Tate is a marble town in Pikens county. So much marble from the quarries there, they have huge hunks just laying on the side of the railroad tracks (all of which are numbered, and would take heavy machinery to steal!) It was beautiful and cold!

Chris' sister, brother-in-law and neice also came out, and we all had a great time.

Jim and Mary have a very nice home, and some property on which they have a barn, and some cool black walnut trees. Mary's family came over Sunday, and there were kids and food, and fun as Jim took us all around Tate in the back of his small pick up truck! We visited the Tate graveyard that has (as you can imagine) Huge marble headstones and mausoleums.

But the coolest part of the day was the evening when Jim called us all out front to sit in lawn chairs and "watch the birds come in to roost". Huh?

Oh my goodness. I have never seen such a thing. These 'cowbirds' (we don't know what they are) come IN THE THOUSANDS to sleep in this bamboo forest one street over. But it's a whole ritual they do as they all fly in that is the amazing thing to watch. Flock after flock after flock come in, and they group up, and fly around like a school of fish in the air, and are quite a sight to behold, and hear! It's something I think you have to see. Me describing it is an injustice, but I am NOT kidding when I say THOUSANDS! hahaha

Monday we all went to the Chattahoochee river, and walked the trail there. It is so beautiful, and this time of year with the leaves changing made it even better, but the best part for me? When Mary doled out the Groucho Marx glasses for everyone, and we all took them with us for pictures and general silliness! :)

We had a great time, and will definitely go back again sooner than later. Tate is only about an hour away from Chattanooga, TN. so hopefully we can get up there next time! I love seeing these United States!

Here is a photo of the river.

I have many more stories to tell, but I have to get to work.

Maybe tonight. :) Love you all!

Happy Birthday to all my Scorpio friends and Family!!!!

Mammogram

Funny Story.

Last week I went in for my mammogram. (Please ladies, get checked.)

I went to the breast center just outside the hospital here in Columbia. Nice place. Nurse calls me back, tells me to put on gown, lock door on this side, and wait for tech to come in from other side. I'm sitting at a vanity looking at myself in the most flattering light I have ever seen myself! wooow! I look pretty! lol
The tech knocks on the door, opens it, it's MY CLIENT!!!
She was cool, and sends me off in the end with "I'll call you next week for my hair!"
Yeah, Good Times.

Congratulations!

Just want to send out heartfelt congratulations to our friends Danielle and Malcolm.

On October 3rd they adopted a 5 week old baby girl they've named Cathleen Marie Craycroft.

Chris and I want to wish you both every happiness on your new addition, and can't wait to meet baby 'Catie' as soon as possible!

Congratulations!

SC State Fair!

Chris and I went to the South Carolina State Fair on Sunday!

We met a friend of his from work and his family. I thought (from looking at the websites map) that this fair was going to be smaller than our County Fair in CA, but I was wrong. I was surprised once we started walking around, how big it really is! I was also pleasantly surprised at how many similar things they have!

There was a building full of those silly things like the 'personality test', a building with home and crafts, even the glass cases with the baked goods just like in OC! It made me think of Danielle and Stephanie's baking. YUM. That one also had fruits, vegetables, etc. from local farms that I thought were pretty cool. They were displayed on carts you might see in farmers markets.

There was a building with art, but I was disappointed in how little photography there was, and the weird (in MY opinion) paintings taking up all too precious photo room. ;) A big difference: there is a HUGE sand sculpture display/competition. It was at LEAST 2 stories high, and this one depicted a sword-weilding horseback warrior of some kind. They were working on it as you walk past. Pretty cool! But I wondered, did they knock it down and the next team started theirs? hmmm.. I will have to investigate.

Chris, Al, Cathy and I ate a deep-fried Oreo. That was good, but I could only do one. For many reasons.

We walked around, and looked at the CRAZY rides, of course seeing the screaming kids, and hoping no one got sick near us. We decided to go on the Ferris Wheel, my favorite, and got to see Columbia from a birds eye! Very pretty view, and great cool breeze up there.

I think that SC has more games than in OC. I did try the water gun game, but barely missed. SHOCKER! LOL The Fair is just fun. No matter where you are! I've decided. We parted ways with our group, and I insisted on trying an 'Elephant Ear'. Apparently a solid Funnel Cake! I got powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. YUM! It was so big Chris had to eat at least half!

We made our way to the exit when we forgot we didn't see the animals!!! Oh Dear...We can't leave without seeing the cows and pigs, etc. So we marched back to the barns to see the animals. Here there aren't any barriers between you and the cows, so you could walk right up and touch them. (not that I would do that OR recommend it!) We saw all the other animals too, and Chris saw his first live, in person Turkey. Yessir, all kinds of cool things at the fair.

I can't wait for July '09. I plan to come to CA for a visit, and it just so happens the OC Fair is in July! YAY!

Birthday in Beaufort

OK. As I mentioned before, last weekend we went down to Beaufort for Chris' moms birthday.

It was really fun to get back down there and having the whole family come out made it really fun for all of us, but especially for Egie. Chris' brother and sister with their spouses and kids, his Uncle, Aunt and cousin, Egie's friends, neighbors, and I believe her cousins made it a full house!

We had tons of food, and beautiful weather.

I gotta tell you, it must have been so cool growing up in that house, in that yard, and in that neighborhood, because it's cool now!

Here in South Carolina, fences are few, and so the yards all run together, but even still, theirs is plenty big on it's own. That's a very cool thing about this place, and I'm not sure if it's the
South, South Carolina, or just the East Coast, but here you have a yard to go play in. You
really can go outside and play.
We had so much fun just being in the yard, either playing frisbee, or catch with glove
and ball. Egie lives on the water, an inlet I think they would call it, and they have a
dock. No boat, but a dock. Well, there's a canoe, and the teens took that out for a spin.
The little kids fished off the dock, and actually caught some fish! We only got a pic
of one. If you know what kind of fish this is, let me know, 'cause none of us knew.

And BIG, old trees to climb!

The live Oaks are amazing, with all the Spanish moss hanging down.

We were all having fun out back and Chris' brother-in-law was playing 'football' with the kids. Here he is teaching Adam how to tackle Mattie!

After all that food, and some fantastic "not your momma's banana puddin'", most of the crowd was ready for bed around 8:30! hahaha

We all got up in the morning, and met at a restaurant for breakfast, and we had fun all over again, before everyone headed home. It was a great weekend, and fun meeting new family, and hangin' with all of Chris' clan. Just a couple more pics for you.

The back of the house from down by the water, and the porch fun a little closer.

Autumn is here!!

Happy October everyone!

Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole month since I've written anything. I keep thinking I should post, but then I can't think of what to write about.

Well, now I have some things to tell, so here goes....

September just seemed to still be hot, still had storms, and it seemed like it was going to be just another month of HOT, but somewhere in the middle of the month the mornings started getting cooler. I stayed outside longer watching the hummingbirds fight over our feeder. I got excited that I needed a long sleeved shirt to go walking. The humidity was gone! There was a day a few weeks back that was as if I called and requested the perfect day from God: "Yes, please, 78 for the high, cool breeze, clear blue sky except for a couple random clouds, warm in the sun, cool in the shade, 54 for the low". THANK YOU!! :)

I love the Fall. Chris says it's your reward for making it through the Summer. True.

I do have my skates, and all the gear, but haven't gotten a picture of me all decked out yet. Don't worry, it's coming. I've been out here in the parking lot a couple of times, but it was still just hot enough to be too hot to skate for a long time yet.

Fall also means Football, and play off Baseball. I still root for the Chargers, but the Carolina Panthers are a pretty good team this year, so that is fun. I'm hoping we can go to a game this season. Charlotte is only about 50 mins away, and Chris has never been to a professional Football game. He hasn't been to a pro Hockey game either, and that is something I hope to remedy also, but the Hurricanes play in Raleigh, and that is like 4 hours away! sheesh. NO PRO SPORTS IN THIS TOWN SUCKS. lol I never realized how spoiled I was. Still haven't made it to a USC game (Carolina), not sure if we will make one this year, but I still hope.

I was really sad that the Angels lost, but honestly, I'm a fan, and I didn't see a spark in their step, and the fielding errors were inexcusable at this stage in the game. 'nuff said. Maybe I'll post a random rant about how weird it is that Football is on so late here on the East Coast! hahaha

The salon is going pretty good. A little drama here and there is normal, a couple of people have left. One girl is pregnant, and left to save money, another guy left to return to an old salon, also to save money. The economy crunch has hit everyone. Even the hair stylist, a normally "recession resistant" profession. I still like it there, and am getting busier.

I don't miss Starbucks much at all except for my friends, and of course, the free coffee. I was shocked and amazed a couple of weeks ago when I couldn't remember the name of a drink I was trying to tell Chris about. I stopped, and raised my arms in the air. "I FORGOT A DRINK!!" Yes! I have cleared out space in my mind that was occupied by Starbucks drinks and recipes. That just tickles me.

So, October is here, and the weather just keeps getting better, but the sun is out less. That's the sucky part. When the weather finally gets good enough to go outside and do stuff, it's dark at 6. I'll make it work.

October means the fair is here! YAY! It opened yesterday, and unfortunately, it rained. Here the fair is only 10 days! I have to make sure we get out there this weekend. We hope to go with some people from Chris' work. I'll write a review next week.

October 2 is Chris' moms birthday, so last weekend we drove down to Beaufort. Last week was one year ago I came out here to meet Chris for the first time, and also my first trip to Beaufort, and to meet his family. This time it was an even bigger crowd, and lots of fun!

I think I'll save that story for later also. I want to upload some pictures from the day, and I'm too tired to do it tonight. This is already too long.

I love you all, more to come soon, I promise!