I've been nagged...

Okay, two people in the last two days have told me, in not-so-subtle terms, that I need to post on here. So, let see, what's been happening since my last post, which was before Halloween (so maybe I am a little overdue)...

Well, Halloween itself was great. My roommate and former co-worker (from two different jobs) Tasha and I, along with one of our other former co-workers, Shavonne, headed to South Carolina for yet another co-worker's annual Halloween bash. It was so great to see everyone again, and my slutty Snow White costume seemed to go over pretty well (I was affectionately dubbed "Sno Ho"). Yeah, I know, I should have posted pics way back when. But they're up on Webshots, so check 'em out.

November was also great. I spent the second week of November in Charleston, which, for anyone who's never been, is just a fantastic city. I was there for training for work, so I didn't get to do a lot of site seeing because it was dark by the time I got out of class. Luckily, I've been before and have seen most of the tourist attractions, so I could just enjoy hanging out downtown at night. We did go on a ghost walk one night, which I hadn't done before, and really enjoyed. The next night, we ate at an allegedly haunted restaurant from the tour, Poogan's Porch. We didn't see any ghosts, but the food was fantastic.

I took my camera with me, but since I was with a group of people most of the time and it was dark, I couldn't get many good shots, because I couldn't really stop and take the time to use the tripod. I have posted a few that I took on the ghost tour and one night when we went down to the Battery. But just being down there and walking around that beautiful city at night has made me decide that I really need to get back into the photography thing again. And I really, really want to take another trip down there, by myself or maybe with just one other person, for about a week and just take a ton of photos.

Of course, after I got back from Charleston, it wasn't long before it was Thanksgiving. I decided not to make the drive home this year, mainly because my car now has 170K+ miles on it, so I thought I'd save the wear and tear of a trip through the mountains of West Virginia to my hometown in Pennsylvania, and just wait until Christmas to go home. I did cook a turkey and all the trimmings, though, and had a few friends over. A couple people ended up not being able to make it at the last minute, so we had A LOT of food.

And then came December, which of course is always hectic. I had most of my shopping done by the first week of December, but I just got my Christmas cards mailed out yesterday. Now I am down to one gift left to buy, which makes me really happy. I used to run around at the last minute, desperate to find stuff, but I am much better now at getting it taken care of early. Which I love, because it means I get to stay out of the stores during the peak shopping season, except for groceries.

Oh, and I almost forgot the job update. As I mentioned in one of my last, oh-so-long-ago posts, I made the decision to go back to the museum, this time working for the Foundation's development department. I went back the second week of October, right after Thomas, and I have to admit, I hadn't been 100 percent certain about my decision. It didn't take long to realize that it was the right decision. It didn't hurt that George Clooney made an unexpected visit my first day back (yes, he's as good-looking in person), but it's much more than that.

Like any workplace, the museum will always have its own unique frustrations and politics, but I just feel like I've come back home. And I'm really enjoying the many different aspects of my job, and getting to learn a lot of new things. I have a lot of exciting ideas that I can't wait to try, but to an extent I am still getting my feet wet and learning the ropes. It was really nice already having a background there and knowing the basics, but there's been a lot to learn with the database program I have to use (which was what the Charleston training was on). But while it's been a challenge, it's also been exciting as I realize a lot of different strategies and tactics we can implement with the program we use.

Okay, this may well be the longest post I've ever written, so I'm going to wind this up. In the future, I promise to be more dutiful in my blog posting obligations...mainly because this thing took way too damn long to write!