more things to fall for, or why delaware might actually be kind of COOL

G-g-g-greetttings, readers, from the frigid state of Delaware! (...Whaaaat??)

Yeah. It's cold here. I was well aware of that from the moment I woke up, with my bedroom window wide open. (Typical.) I drove to the Y for my regular Monday morning swim, only to find the insulated winter pool closed for maintenance, and instead the outdoor pool open for business. It was supposed to be 81 degrees, and clouds of steam rising off the top supported that theory.

But when I jumped in after dancing across the icy concrete on my bare feet, the breath exploded from my lungs in classic gasp reflex form.

I'M IN DELAWARE, PEOPLE. COME ON NOW!

 All said and done, it was actually a refreshing way to start the week. Nobody could say I wasn't awake when I got to work today.

My roommates and I have been saying for at least a month now that we'll be around more, and have an easier time planning things, and maybe even SEE each other every now and then, now that summer's over.

So far this hasn't fleshed out. We literally have to clear our schedules for a simple hangout months in advance, and just so you all know if you want to get the three of us together in 2013 you'd better make the call now. Because right now we're scheduled through mid-December, and that's not counting Christmas. So good luck ever seeing us.

Here are some key points I'm looking forward to for the rest of the year:

• I've invited some of my besties from all over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to Wilmington for a birthday extravaganza mid-November. So far only my roomies and boyfriend (OK, and Mary and Lisa) have RSVP'd, so I'm a little worried about having space for everyone at the party... Ha. Ha.
• Then there's Thanksgiving and my actual birthday. This year, I plan to finish and ship the fruitcakes BEFORE the holiday season. Stay tuned for the second annual fruitcake saga.
• On the second Saturday in December, Old New Castle opens its historic doors to tourists. There are sales in the shops, tours of old Revolution-era mansions, toasty drinks and snacks, and festive music. You might recall the Spirit of Christmas as my first moment of endearment to this tiny old state.
• In that same post I mentioned the Santa Crawl, which I am DETERMINED TO DO this year. I swear I have been waiting since that moment to get in on the fun. This year, it's not on the same day as the Spirit of Christmas, but the week after.

Fortunately all of these things are scheduled to happen before the Apocalypse on December 21, so that's positive. Still debating if I should even bother to buy Christmas presents this year...

BUT. We all know I am not the kind to live in the future. Sort of. I refuse to put all my stock in the next two months, so instead I am predictably doing fun and interesting things left and right.

It turns out PR kicks into high gear in the fall and winter, so I'm suddenly throwing myself into my daily checklist, scraping away at it all day long, and never quite getting to the end of it. The best part of this is how many new things I'm learning about every day, from trendy high-end products to cultural rituals to economic and industry patterns and concerns.

After leaving work late almost every day, I go grocery shopping, to Zumba with my roommates, out to eat. On Wednesday Jason and I checked out Ernest & Scott Taproom on North Market Street. It's been on our radar for awhile, since they advertise in the same magazines that all our other favorite places advertise, and their selling point is a ridiculous number of delicious draft and craft beers.

We were not disappointed. Its burgers were rated #2 People's Choice in Wilmington, second to Union City Grille right around the corner from my house. I will say, Union City had some killer burgers, but Ernest & Scott's was unlike any burger either Jason or I had ever tasted before. We also tasted some pumpkin beers, and since I'm planning to write an entire post on pumpkin beers by the end of the season, I won't go into it, but I will say this: DO NOT miss a chance to taste Wolaver's Organic Pumpkin Ale. It's #1 on both of our lists so far this season.

While we were waiting for our food, and then while we played a half-hearted version of the debate drinking game (we basically just drank when anyone said "taxes"), the manager Elvis stopped by our table to talk about the business. It's new, refurbished from what used to be Public House, which I hear had a bit of a sleazy rep toward the end. Before that, it was Delaware Trust. The inside is super spacious and elegant, high-ceilinged, with beautiful antique detailing everywhere. It's named for Hemingway and Fitzgerald:

The contrast between Hemingway– the macho, gritty and somewhat disheveled character and Fitzgerald- the stylish refined aristocrat, parallel the available offerings at Ernest & Scott and aims to capture the spirit of both writers. 

Romantic indeed. Anyway, we promised we would recommend it, and I have. I do now, in fact, for great food, great beer, great ambiance, and the opportunity to support local business.

On Friday I got done with work and as I left had one of those terrifying driving moments where you realize you may have just missed a red light, or a stop sign, or one of those important things you should note while driving. So I convinced Jason to go out to Shellhammer's, which also had a delicious, if oversalted, burger. And, of course, good beer. Their Facebook page is a pretty fun one to follow. Not quite as clever as Dead Presidents', but they post tantalizing specials that make you want to go to Happy Hour every day. Yum.

We stopped at RedBox on the way out, and picked up What To Expect When You're Expecting. With an all-star cast, it looked decent. Substantial enough but mostly funny, a little romantic, but not mushy. When we put it in and started the previews, I got hooked on the preview for Friends With Kids, and decided I would FAR rather watch that, so we went on a Harold-and-Kumar adventure to every RedBox and Blockbuster Express and spin-off insta-dollar-DVD rental in the area.

An hour and a half later, we finally started Friends With Kids, which turned out to be one of those great, agonizing movies about two people who are obviously supposed to be together but everyone can see it except them, and they just keep missing each other. Cast includes some SNL staples (Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph) and the movie tackled the modern family/parenting issue with just the right amount of humor and reality.

And when it was over, we decided to watch the other one, which was considerably less good, with less developed characters and storyline and less substance. But funny nonetheless.

On Saturday night, the most thrilling part of my weekend, Jason borrowed a friend's season tickets to a Philadelphia Union game (soccer). I like soccer, the way the chants sound more European, the constant motion on the field, the flopping...

Plus, Union won.

This weekend also marked the first writers' meeting, the one I've been looking forward to since before I knew it existed, since I even thought about setting foot in this state. I met up with my mom there (at Panera) and got my first pumpkin spice latte of the season (smashed Dunkin Donuts' overly sweet pumpkin sludge into the ground with its goodness) and a french toast bagel. Yummm.

More to the point, we got to talk craft with more than just each other. We met some monster/comic/experimental writers, which was new for me, but well-timed for the Halloween season. I miss talking about writing for fun, and I think my mom misses it in general. She really does love to learn new things, and to write, and unfortunately she's been doing it in a vacuum for awhile now. I, on the other hand, get to talk about writing and to write every day at work. PR: Where writers go instead of journalism. I love my intellectual, grammar-freak, word-nerd work crowd. But it's good to talk about monster writing and graphic novels and where to start when writing fiction every now and then.

In college, the question is: "So what's your major?" In a group of writers, we ask, "So what do YOU write?" I say I blog, and that theoretically I write poetry although that's taken a backseat recently, and they say about what, and then I am inevitably surprised that some writers blog about things other than their own lives.

...What?!

By the way, stop by second set of baby steps, the Facebook page, and click "Like" to get an update every time I post. I waffled over posting other, related items, but I've decided to mostly keep that to a minimum. So blog only.

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ALSO, check out our claim to fame! Last week's #WednesdayNightDateNight got us into Spark magazine, the "what's happening in Delaware for mostly young people" guide with infamously bad grammar (which I keep misspelling...) Our claim to fame:

good-lookin' couple