Jersey Bound

Some of you may wonder, how the hell did I end up in what some call the "armpit of America," also known as New Jersey. Well, that's a good question. I never envisioned myself moving to this area until a few months ago when I found out my new job would take me here. But you know what? It's turned out to be nothing like an armpit at all.

My then-fiance and I packed up our apartment and left my hometown of Carrollton, Ga., in March 2009 to move four hours south to Savannah. The move was the result of me landing a public affairs internship with the U.S. Army. You may think it's nuts, but this was the farthest I've ever lived from my mom and sisters, so it was tough adjusting to the distance at first. I worked in Savannah for a year at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - it was a great experience. I also got married that year, in the same little chapel at Bethesda, where the famous Southern belle and Food Network Star Paula Deen got married. And yes, I did eat at the Lady and Sons and loved it.

My year in Paula Deen country flew by fast. Before I knew it, I was on my way up to Fort Meade, Md., to attend two months of public affairs training from the Defense Information School, or DINFOS. That was an interesting experience - living in a dorm-room type setting and going to class everyday for eight hours. But when it was all said and done, I became what we in the Army Public Affairs community call a DINFOS-trained killer. Oh yeah...command messages, baby. Here, today.

Next I was on my way to the Pentagon - the final stage of the internship. Kyle and I had an awesome apartment in Pentagon City, only one metro-stop away from the Pentagon. I worked there for two months, and wow, I must say it was different. I definitely felt like a little fish in a freakishly-large ocean full of colonels and generals. But I survived - and finally, a year and a half after I left little old Carrollton, Ga., I graduated the intern program and went along my merry way to a promotion in.....New Jersey.

So here I am, a Georgia peach, where I live, work, and play in the Garden State. I hope this blog can give you a glimpse of what it's like up here. I can already predict some interesting stories come winter time, seeing as how I've only seen snow a handful of times in my life, most of which was just a few measley flurries.

So here's to my first effort at most would call a real blog. If anyone out there is even looking at it, hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading!