The Leaves are Changing Colors

It's Fall in North Carolina and that means a lot more than it did in California. In California, going from Summer to Fall simply meant going back to school... apparently we were missing out on this thing called seasons. Although the weather is quite mild in North Carolina, this whole checking the weather because it changes all the time thing is still new to me. I swear just a little under a month ago, I was telling y'all about how it was in the triple digits and was 70 degrees at night. It's crazy, all of a sudden, with no warning, the weather will drop 10 degrees and never go back. Now, when I go to work in the morning, it's in the 30s, not the 70s. And at the peak of the day, its in the 60s, not the 100s. Apparently this is what seasons are!! Who knew? Fall is gorgeous out here though. Most of the trees have changed color by now and since there are so many of them, it quite a sight. It's definitely new to me, but a welcome change for now...we'll see how long that lasts :-P Everyone makes fun of me when I say it is cold and it is 50 degrees :(

We are still in the middle of quite an intense drought out here. We currently have about 120 days of water left in our water reserves. The city has gone as far as enforcing some extreme water rationing. We are no longer allowed to wash our cars at home or water our lawn using sprinklers. It's pretty crazy. It's something like a $250 fine for your first offense and over $1,000 for your second.

On a completely different note, a bunch of my buddies went to a Gun Show today. It was hilarious. I read about 2 sentences into the email and lost interest and deleted it, but apparently people are into this stuff around here. Granted, a bunch of my friends went just to see what it was all about and laugh at people so excited about guns, but I'm pretty sure Garrett was serious when he mentioned going to the shooting range for our Q1 team offsite at dinner the other night.

Then there's the whole religion thing. I was out volunteering for Habitat for Humanity last weekend. Before we got started, the leader of the group asked us all to hold hands, bow our heads, and say a prayer. It was very different than California, that's for sure. There is just no way that would ever happen in California. Regardless, she asked very politely, so I told myself "Hey, you're in the bible belt, just go along with it." Strange nonetheless.

For those of you who don't know, I won't be in California for Thanksgiving this year. I will be joining our East Coast family in Virginia for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty excited about it!! It will be very nice to get away from work for a little bit and see the kids and all. I just hope traffic doesn't live up to it's expectations... I hear it's crazy. I have about a week and a half off of work for Christmas, so I will definitely be in California then. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone. See you soon.