It's a wonderful Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe it's almost December. Everywhere you go around here is decorated for the holidays. It's a little strange to see Christmas lights when it's 70 degrees outside, but I'm sure we'll get used to that :).

The lights went up before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving always seems to get overlooked! It's the best holiday, though. A day that is simple--when you give thanks, gather with family and friends, eat good food, and watch football. That's my kind of day!

We had a nice Thanksgiving...my mom and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner and we watched all of the football games. Our dinner turned out ok, but the best part were the pies! My mom made apple (and put a smiley face on the crust just like my grandmother used to do).

And I made pecan pie from the pecans in our front yard! It took my Dad and I forever to crack all of the pecans, but we did it and the pie turned out well. This year I used the pecan pie recipe from the Joy of Cooking--Dave loved it :).

Is it Georgian or Federalist? I don't know!

My Historic Preservation professor from Mary Washington would be so disappointed in me. I can't remember the difference between architectural styles. As we've walked around downtown so far, all I can do is point and say "look at that house...it's so pretty" or "I've never seen anything like that!" That's about the extent of my architecture vocabulary. I did notice that on the photo above, each row has a different architectural element above the windows, but don't ask me what they are :)!

Walking around downtown makes me want to learn more about architecture, because it is absolutely breathtaking (and don't even get me started on the gardens). Here are a few pictures I've taken so far.

The Cistern on the College of Charleston's main campus:

An iron gate window thingy :):

Garden in an alley:

Double porches and a spiral staircase:

Grits are good

Dave's new favorite restaurant is the Hominy Grill in downtown Charleston. He likes it because 1) he loves shrimp and grits and that's their signature dish; 2) the desserts are amazing; and 3) it's not that expensive.

Click here for The New York Times info on the restaurant.

I like the restaurant, too, but I can't seem to find something on the menu that isn't fried or doesn't have onions in it. The desserts are amazing, though. A few days ago when we went with my parents, my mom got buttermilk pie, I got Hummingbird cake (a type of spice cake), and Dave got sweet potato pie. They all were incredible. Dave still talks about the brown sugar pound cake he had when we dined there back in October.

The waiter also brought us something we've never had before--boiled peanuts. My father, who loves peanuts, didn't like them. They were definitely different, but were too mushy for my taste. I'm glad we tried them, though. Apparently you can eat the shell, but as you can see from the picture we weren't that daring. I can't imagine eating a peanut shell!

Don't even think about it

We were downtown today and saw this sign. I'm just making a guess, but I don't think someone wants us to park here?!? :)

Hot dog!

Dave and I drove around Mt. Pleasant yesterday and spent some time exploring neighborhoods, shopping, etc. For lunch we decided to get hot dogs at Jack's Cosmic Dogs. Alton Brown on the Food Network called it the best hot dog place in the country. We agree that the hot dogs were very yummy, but Dave said that the Rec Center in Fredericksburg still has the best. Jack's Cosmic Dogs is definitely cool, though, and they had Ms. Pac-Man...my favorite video game.

Nomini meets the beach

Dave and I finally made it out to the beach this morning and it was beautiful. This is the first time our dog Nomini has been to a beach and she loved it! She ran and ran and ran. We went to the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island. Both beaches aren't too far from our house (about 7 miles or so) and have flat sand, which is great for walking. The tide was really low this morning so it was very peaceful. We even saw a bunch of dolphins! When we were here back in October we went to a bar/restaurant in Sullivan's Island called Poe's Tavern. It's named after Edgar Allen Poe who was stationed in nearby Fort Moultrie. We can't wait to go back there (I'll take pictures of it this time).

Home sweet home

Today is Sunday and we are totally wiped out from a long week and weekend of moving into our new home. So far, so good...although we've run into a few hiccups along the way (plumbing issues here in the house and a Direct TV serviceman who stayed until almost 1 a.m. installing our new TV service--he was a nice guy, but man could he talk!). Here are three things I've learned about the south so far:

1) If you shop at Publix grocery store, a store clerk will wheel your cart out to your car and load your groceries in your car for you. When the store clerk started walking away with my cart I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on (I literally thought someone was trying to steal my groceries!). It was really nice, though, for her to do that (and apparently you don't tip them--it's part of their job. I asked our landlord and he said they won't accept tips).

2) Pecans are good. And in our yard we have TWO pecan trees and a ton of whole pecans!!! I've collected a big bowl of them and hope to make pecan pie later this week for Thanksgiving. I'm so excited about making a pecan pie with pecans from my yard!

3) People will steal your pecans. On moving day, two people were walking through our yard picking up pecans from the ground. I didn't know what they were doing because at the time I didn't realize we even had pecan trees. Pecans are in high demand this time of year so people will go to neighborhoods with pecan trees and collect the nuts from yards and then sell them. Not sure how I feel about people walking through my yard stealing my pecans!!!

This coming week we're going to do a bunch of errands (DMV, etc.), but I'm really hoping we can get to the beach one morning. The weather is absolutely beautiful!!!

Camellias blooming in our yard--in November!!!

Moving in!

A busy few months

These past few months have been quite a whirlwind. Lots of fun and lots of emotions! In September we sold our house. It was a very busy few weeks getting it ready to put on the market but our hard work paid off and it sold. Thank goodness! We're so grateful!

In September, too, my friend Jenna, her husband, and two little girls came down from Pittsburgh for the weekend and our friends Kari and Darrin had a cookout with my college friends. We also attended a party for Dave's grandfather and uncle to celebrate their Henderson business in Williamsburg. It was a really nice party and it was awesome to see how Dave's grandfather built the company. To top it off, I got to meet my longtime musical idol--Bruce Hornsby!

Then October rolled around and we went to Charleston for a week or so to find housing. We also visited with Nancy and Ed, and on the way back with Dave's family in Winston Salem. Nomini got to stay with Dave's mom and George--she thought she was away at a resort :).

The highlight of October was when Dave's brother Paul got married in Albany, NY! It was an awesome wedding and we're so happy for Paul and Kristin!

Now we're getting ready to move and it's been hectic packing up and saying goodbye. My office had a luncheon for me last week at Lebanese Taverna in Arlington. It was fun--I have great coworkers!
Our good friends Ben, Bethany, and Courtney threw a party for us, too, this past weekend for our local friends. It was a nice way to visit with all of our Northern Virginia friends.

This Friday is my last day at work. We closed on our house this past Monday...the new owners seem nice and excited about moving in (which made me really happy). Also this weekend we're celebrating my parents' 40th Anniversary!!! We were married on the same day, in the same church they were married in . . . just 33 years later :).

We move next Tuesday. We're excited and nervous but (almost) ready to go. I wish I could just pack up all of our family and friends with us to the south! We've always been blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We've enjoyed visiting with them all before we move--meeting for breakfasts, dinners, lunches, etc. these last few weeks--it's been nice. I'm a bit emotional about it all but very excited. I guess a few tears here and there won't hurt.