I don't know how everyone else does it, but I don't title my blog until I have finished writing.  I usually have a main topic that I plan to write about - and the title usually ends up being pretty much about the subject matter, but sometimes I like to throw a reader off a little, haha.  So that is why I wait till last to fill in the title.  My subject is about the answer to a question that I get asked alot.  How did a Jersey girl end up in Aiken,SC?  It usually one of the first things people ask when they meet me, lol.  It is pretty much the same story that everyone has.  This is the readers digest condensed version:  I came here on vacation - loved Aiken - and moved here......          

This is the full blown version,.  My sister-in-law and her family moved to the area in 1986. They kept saying how nice it was, yet nobody ever went to visit.  Some of their friends went to visit, but nobody from the family.  Well, we finally came down to visit in 1996 - a whole 10 years since they had moved down.  It was during all the excitement of the Olympics in Atlanta, GA - which I learned was only 3 hours away! (and less than 3 hours to the beach - and less than 3 hours to the mountains - and about 7 hours to Disney!!!)  We stayed for two weeks.  It was a little boring out in country where she lived, but when we came to Aiken  - wow. it was nice. We loved it!  What a nice city, everyone is so friendly, the cost of living was so much lower down there than what we were used to, the weather was great!  We saw an ad in the newspaper for apartments for rent - I don't remember exactly, but I think they were like $325/month.  At the time, we were paying $675/month for a small two bedroom.  We thought - OMG, what could they possibly be renting for that price! This is going to be funny - a joke...and what a story we will have for when we get back home, lol.   So we made appointments to go see the apartments.   Well, the joke was on us!  The apartments, although older than ours, were very nice.  Not only was it a great location - it was larger than our present apartment, had a swimming pool on the property, a huge laundry room on the property (we had one washer/dryer in the basement for four apartments to share...ugh), tennis courts, and playground across the street.  We were shocked!  It was great :)   During our 12 hour drive home, after a great vacation, we discussed maybe moving to Aiken.  Our 4th grader was not happy about that at all.  By the time we got home - the decision was made.  We were moving.  We looked at the calendar - picked a date - called the apartments to see if they had one for us.......and we moved to Aiken six weeks later. .....

.........and been loving it ever since :)