Where to Begin?

New Year's weekend got off to a gloomy start as I sat by the phone waiting for invitations to New Years parties to pour in, until suddenly it dawned on me - I am the party! I quickly made hotel reservations in Charleston, SC and convinced my roommate that we needed to get out of town and discover some of our new surroundings. The three-hour drive whizzed by after we finally settled on one of the 100's of radio stations satellite radio has to offer. The hotel was under renovation, which would explain the decent hotel price on New Year's Eve, but the room was fine and the view was pretty good. That afternoon we went to Charleston proper and had a real seafood lunch right on the ocean. Gary ordered fried green tomatoes declaring that it was time that we experienced Southern cuisine. I wasn't very impressed, the tartness did nothing for my taste buds, but Gary liked them. Gary also had a dish with grits and crab cakes. By this time we were starting to drawl our words and say "y'all" to each other.

That evening we headed back to downtown in a shared taxi. Seems that everyone had the same idea of wanting to enjoy the evening and not get busted by the tough South Carolina cops for drunk driving. The weather had turned from rain to a warm, balmy breeze. I was entirely overdressed in my leather jacket. We had a lovely dinner at Sticky Fingers, carrying on our experiment in Southern cooking and then headed down the street to bar hop. Except we ended up at Wee Willys and danced our way into the New Year, never actually hopping anywhere else. By 1:00 pm we were both ready to head back to the hotel.

The next morning we checked out Folly Beach which made me think I was back in Manhattan Beach or Ventura, California. It made me somewhat nostalgic for California, but I did get a kick out of seeing the marshes and thinking in my head that I was in the middle of a Pat Conroy novel, low country and all. So that's it y'all. Hope your 2007 is fantastical and all your dreams come true.

If I could love all the hurt out of the world, I would gladly devote my life to selflessness. Since that is impossible, I will make strides every day in my conduct, and my choices, to make my world a better place. Never give up hope.

Sara Abrams
visit: www.CatsAndDogsofCharlotte.com