Here's to the Land of the Long Leaf Pine

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is upon us! BASKETBALL SEASON!  Bittersweet for me this year since I cannot watch my beloved Tarheels.  I have never missed three games in a row that I can remember and certainly have never missed an entire season.  I was present in Carmichael Stadium during the 1981-1982 season and never missed a season since.  Presence in the womb totally counts.  Thats probably why I feel like I do when the drum line starts.  That might have been one of the first loud sounds that I ever heard.  I may need lots of support to get through this.  I wonder if there is something like Alma Mater Anonymous....I may need to start one.  I know there are at least one or two Tarheels over here on the West Coast.   Good thing there's a BW3s down the street.  I have a feeling I might acquire a taste for wings in the next few months.
I want to share a link to a story about Dean Smith. Tomorrow he will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  If you know me well, you know how I feel about Dean.  If I could meet anyone who is alive today it would be him.  Even in his current state of mind I would still pick him.  In fact I feel as if I already know him since my obsession with him began when I was a child.
Here it is before you start to think I am a little too crazy about basketball.  He was a good man and coaching was just one of his many gifts.
http://www.unc.edu/spotlight/dean-smiths-courage/

Since we did not bring any Christmas decorations to California I guess I will have to try and get crafty.  I have a few ideas of some Christmas crafts that will help make our season merry and bright and what better place to shop than the 99 cent store!  When I emerged with my loot (all under 20.00! whoohoo. Gotta love the dollar store. Runs in my blood) I saw a bright pink piece of paper under my windshield wiper.  My first negative and skeptical thought was, "Waste of paper. WHAT now?!  (channeling my inner Bertie).  Advertisements all over the place. Leave my car alone"... Well wouldn't you know it, it was a fellow Tarheel who had apparently seen all the stickers on my car and left me a note that made me smile as big as I have since the wires were put on.
Then I felt bad about my negative attitude...

And this would be cool all on its own but I had just finished a long conversation with the cashier in Trader Joe's about how great NC is.  She checked my ID because I bought a bottle of Pinot Noir, saw the North Carolina license and said she has always thought she could move there.  She had Charlotte in mind and said the most wonderful things about our state.  She loved that the houses were all so nice and "plantation-like" and at the same time affordable.  We talked about the weather in North Cack and So Cal and we decided that California might win that battle except for the seasons.  Snow was not on either of our happy-lists.  So today was full of Carolina love and it made me so nostalgic for home.  Here's to the land of the long leaf pine.........GO HEELS!!!!!