Notables

1. The sky seems closer here. The Engineer and I both said this to different people around the same time. I'm not sure why we feel this way, but we both thought it.
2. The Fall color is awesome! Even going to the grocery store is beautiful!
3. Turkeys on the side of the road here are as plentiful as deer on the side of the road in Alabama. And, they are HUGE.
4. The Fall foliage is still showing itself in places, though from what I can tell, peak has passed. I don't have a picture, but all the trees and bushes in the Target parking lot were red and my thought was, "Well played, Target. Well played."
5. Our dog has discovered squirrels. It is hilarious! He will stand on the edge of the deck and stare at them until he thinks they aren't watching and he will take off after them. At first he didn't understand that they climbed the trees. He just knew for some reason they disappeared. He has since figured that part out.
6. Starting a business isn't hard as long as you have lots of free time and lots of money.
7. I LOVE having NPR on every other radio station, and I love that they play all my favorite programs every day. It's such a thrill to listen to them "Live" instead of just as a podcast! (Yes, that equals nerd, and I'm okay with that.)
8. Gas dropped below $3.40 last week. That is indeed notable.
9. I miss having a schedule some days.
10. Laundry and dishes are never done.

Notables

1. I heard the geese flying over today. This is apparently not a great sign for the winter ahead.
2. My daily observations are restricted to a pretty small area-- you know, the one I'm in on a daily basis. They by no means define the entire North, or the entire Northern experience. Some are specific to my state. Some are just random things that natives haven't even had happen before. Keep that in mind when you're reading.
3. Book Clubs seem popular here.
4. The One City, One Book program is awesome. The author of our book this year is coming to speak next weekend. I'm excited to hear him and get his explanation of a few things. I also have a book review post coming.
5. Our library lets you check out books on your Kindle. How awesome is that?!
6. At dinner last night we heard two guys mention two names that perked our ears right up-- Garcia and Lattimore. Yes, they were talking SEC football, and even though it was the Gamecocks, it was still SEC football. I wanted them to be my new best friends, but The Engineer would not let me leave our table. (He's pretty good about keeping me from embarrassing myself more than I normally would.)
7. Wal-Mart sells live lobster.
   
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8. I think I will always be a dunce when ordering at Starbucks. I think I have it down and then when I get to the cashier I panic and can only say "small, medium and large" in conjunction to mispronouncing the name of the actual item I am wanting to purchase. I should have taken lessons from Amber before I moved. I have not given up on myself yet, but this series of failures leads me to believe I may never get this one right.
9. Some of the mailboxes face the sidewalk instead of the street. (I wonder how many mailboxes got hit and how many cars lost their side-view mirror before they changed it?)
   
   
10. We live near a river and there is a walking/biking path built across it. I try to take my dog for a walk there every day. It is beautiful! And, I'm pretty sure my little buddy enjoys it too...
    
    

Notables

1. I was in and out of the DMV in 15 minutes with my new license in hand. Talk about a faster pace!
2. I was offered a homemade chicken enchilada while I waited for my state inspection to be completed by a local mechanic. Awesome!
3. If there is a space between two cars equaling 2 feet longer than your vehicle, it is safe to merge into that space.
4. A safe following distance at 70+mph is just under 10 feet.
5. Our new favorite game is trying to decipher all the personalized license plates. We've seen some doozies! (JNESSA, B3LAVTA, RNOV8TR, THE-WIZ, HUGADOG, OZZZY, NINO, YOUZ, LV-MUZK )
6. You can be around 100+ people for an entire day and not one of them will mention football.
7. You can always count on your friends to "watch the (insert SEC team here) game with you" via Facebook. It's almost the same...
8. There are tons of things to do here. This weekend there was a Chili Cook-off, the Circus and Help-Portrait all in the same few block area.
9. People are pretty nice.
   
10. Having an actual season called Fall/Autumn that lasts more than three days... priceless.

Notables

1. Gas is at least 30 cents more per gallon.
2. People drive VERY FAST on the main highways-- we're talking 70+ (more often + than 70 in a 55 on one of the main roads), but seem to obey the speed limits as long as they are posted at 45mph or less.
3. Lanes appear and disappear within a 50-foot span.
4. There are more homeless people here than we are used to.
5. They don't joke when they say "Live Free or Die".
6. There are no seat-belt laws for those over 18.
7. There are no helmet laws for motorcycle or bike riders as long as they are over 18.
8. Perhaps it should be "Live Free AND Die" in some cases. On the other hand, perhaps it's the state's way of wedding out the idiots and keeping the gene pool a bit deeper.
9. I can already hear myself talking a little differently. I feel like I have to speak more clearly and enunciate better to be understood.
10. Some things just don't translate well here. Yesterday I met a lady named Ann and she said her name twice and I thought she was saying Ian both times. She finally spelled it for me. Sometimes the accents do feel almost like a foreign language.

Notables

1. We are among the few who have already used their heat.
2. We wear jackets when everyone else is still wearing shorts and T-shirts.
3. We say "Y'all".
4. People KNOW we aren't "from here".
5. The Fall is magnificent!
6. There were only two bags of grits tucked away on the shelf at the grocery store. Both were white grits. No yellow grits to be found.
7. Contrary to popular belief, people are friendly here.
8. Not everyone sounds like the guys on "Car Talk".
9. The squirrels are bigger than my cat.
10. There are spiders EVERYWHERE.