Hello, my name is Paula and I was born and raised in Connecticut. My husband calls me a W.A.S.P., which stands for White Anglo Saxon Protestant. I hope no one is offended, it is what it is. Well, we got married in March 2005 and in August 2005 we moved to Charlotte, NC. Other than going away to college this is the first time I moved away from my family.

We married late in life, I am age 40, my husband is younger by 5 years (wooh - hoo!!). At this time we have no children, we are working on changing that as often as we can.

So, after 40 years with the same last name it was and is strange for me not to say my maiden name. I admit I do use it sometimes, especially for reservations in a restaurant, due to the unpleasant fact that my new last name is "Smith". It does crack me up when we check into hotel rooms.

We decided to leave Connecticut (the land of ice and snow) to move South, and to find our "Starrs Hollow" (if you are a Gilmore Girls fan you would know what I mean, if not, you should watch the show at least once, the dialogue and the relationships are so funny and cool). I have enticed my husband to start watching them with me, he loves the dialogue and the pop culture references that they make. We also wanted to be part of a small-town community, and let's be honest, Connecticut is an expensive place to live. We think we have found our small-town home in Mount Airy, NC. Unfortunately there is not a lot of work for either of us up there, so it will be another year or so before we can buy a house and have a decent commute. For now we just visit and pick up the real estate books and dream.

Mount Airy is the inspiration for a place called Mayberry on the old black-and-white TV show called "The Andy Griffith Show". It is Andy Griffith's hometown and they are very proud of this. We figure there will be plenty of interesting characters there, just like Starrs Hollow. And since we are both a little out in left field it is okay..

Moving to the South was a culture shock for me, everyone is into Football and NASCAR (two sports, I am sorry to say I know nothing about). I am a Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins fan, yet, my husband does not follow sports at all. When the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the playoffs and then went on to win the WORLD SERIES last year I was so excited. I watched every one of the games, while my husband read a book, so you can tell his interest in the sporting world. {I do like the cheerleaders - ed.}

We (that is, I) are learning about the Panthers, my gosh you have to. If you don't root for the Panthers it is like you are unAmerican if you do not know the Quarterback for the Panthers(which by the way is Jake Delhomme) and Wide Receiver Steve Smith. They beat the Baltimore Ravens yesterday 23- 21, YEAH!!

( I am trying to get into the game..)

After a year in Charlotte we moved to Winston-Salem, NC. We love it, so much smaller than Charlotte, and less crowded, not so hard to find our way around. Even after a year of living in Charlotte I still had to carry a map around and pray not to get lost, which I did all the time. Charlotte has a lot to offer, especially traffic. I would watch the morning news in Charlotte with Beth Troutman and John Wilson and it would crack me up.

It was never ,"Oh there is an accident at such-and-such, drive safe." As it was, the accidents every morning were simply ridiculous. A day did not go by that there were not several accidents on the highway or a downtown-induced traffic jam. I worked 15 miles from our aparment in Charlotte and it would take me (at the least) 45 minutes to get to work (and that was if I was lucky). Now it takes me less than 15 minutes and I am only 7 miles from work, which is a big time fuel savings.

Did you know Winston-Salem is home to Krispy Kreme? A place can't be all that bad if they have the best doughnuts in the world. I will write more about my southern experience when things come up.

Thank you for reading my blog, I am new at this so please bear with me. Also, from time to time you may notice that the atrocious spelling gets fixed. That is my wonderful husband fixing it!