when city meets the country

It was the strangest thing... I don't know that I've ever felt like it was Christmas Eve on Thanksgiving Eve. Is it possible we skipped Thanksgiving altogether? Was I misinformed? Let's hope not... I'll be sorely disappointed if tomorrow doesn't bring the normal Southern Thanksgiving feast, fabulous random balloon's courtesy of Macy's, and the special added bonus of an extended Grey's Anatomy. Can life get any better?

I'm loving being back in sweet home AL. It's such a change of pace from DC. I'm enjoying my hiatus (although I do enjoy the thought of returning... ah, how I do love the mix). The trip home was excitingly uneventful. So after hearing the horror stories of just how awful the lines were going to be at the airport, I made sure to high-tail it out of the office pronto on Tuesday. I was glad to not have to wait in long lines, but I was there for quite a long time. I made friends with a nice lady who was stranded there until a later flight (her company had originally booked her for a flight the following day - ooops). She was also in HR, so as you can imagine we had no problems yakking. She did tell me that I was the first Southern girl that she had met who did not cook avidly. I don't know what to think of that comment... I'll choose to let it slide!

Today we made a dent in the shopping fun, beating the insanity of black Friday. I'm just not a supporter of that initiative. I enjoy the breath of fresh air of everything being a bit spread out here vs. in DC, so the idea of throwing chaotic shopping into my AL mix is just not too appealing. I managed to find a great outfit for our upcoming Christmas party and also a cute pair of antlers (haha, why not?). I'm pleased. No more shopping needs here... I even successfully resisted a pair of Seven jeans today (I would have felt a smidge guilty, as I think they're the same pair as the Fashionista's. I'll let you hold that honor!).

I'm loving the 'rent's new pad. The concept of coming home to a new "home" was initially a bit odd, but now that I'm here, I really like the new place! It feels so roomy. My parents mentioned that it was about 400 sq feet larger, which seemed like not much -- until I remembered my Dupont pad was only a mere 615 sq feet! That gave me a bit of perspective - hah!

The area out here's amazing though... it was truly a country area, but as Huntsville's grown, it's become much more developed. Those areas which haven't been developed yet will be shortly. I think one of the most interesting things about leaving and coming back is to see the change. That's definitely been a big one! But it's still sweet home... home sweet home.