I hope that everyone has had a fantastic Turkey Day! As I mentioned, my parents drove up here last night to join my brother (who goes to a nearby school), AJ, and myself for Thanksgiving supper in my apartment. I had to work until almost 5, so my mom did all the cooking, which was so amazing! We had a delicious meal, even though it was in my tiny apartment. It was great to get to share the holiday together even though I had to work. Tomorrow the plans include going to look at possibly getting a Christmas tree for me! WOO HOO!

Also, I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve done a little Christmas decorating around the blog! You can thank Lisa for the AWESOME design that she’s made for me! I can’t express how excited I am about this design. It makes me want to drink hot chocolate by the fire while listening to Nat King Cole!

How was everyone else’s Thanksgiving?

Don’t forget, today is Club 17 check-in day! Have you done your Breast Self Exam? Check-in HERE!

For those unfamiliar with Club 17, it is a reminder system for the female blogosphere to do their Basically it’s a reminder for the female blogosphere to do their monthly Breast Self Exams (BSE). It is recommended that women begin BSEs at age 20.

Also, word to the wise - don’t overdo it on Turkey Day! It’s OK to eat smaller portions, and make sure you are still exercising! While these are good tips in general, it is especially important that women maintain a healthy diet and exercise to decrease their chances for breast cancer.

LOL, you blogging chicks crack me up! I have some people who are just now sending me their posts as they wake up, and others who are beating down the door to my blog saying “where is the carnival?!?!?!?!” . . . must be you gals across the pond ;-). Ahhh, the beauty of international communication, LOL!

Anyways, if the title weren’t enough suggestion, this week’s carnival is all about thanksgiving - not necessarily Turkey Day, but thanksgiving in general. And boy, do we have some great posts! Here they are, in the order in which I received them:

Where was the first Thanksgiving celebration held in North America? CyberCelt shares a surprising story on Texas RV Travel blog.

Anna says, “They rejoiced and feasted in what we call the first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans who had aided them. I suspect that they may have possessed a better character than I.”

truevyne writes about “A fresh start contained in a fresh egg.”

Julie Carobini celebrates family, friends and her beloved California coast.

Some things Barbara is thankful for are her family, professionals, and BLOGGING!

Can’t forget my own post, LOL! I talk about how thankful I am for my AWESOME parents!

Caylynn discusses her first Thanksgiving in Germany and provides some background and history on the Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations.

I will be taking posts until this afternoon, so please send yours in if you haven’t already!

Since I graduated high school, the thing to do in Jacksonville has become hookah. Yes, the thing you smoke from with the funny hose. No, not illegal drugs, but tobacco, and it’s way cleaner and way less tobacco than cigarettes. And it’s not like you can take a pack of hookahs with you on the go . . .

So anyways, when we were in Turkey this summer, my brother and I both got a hookah. He does hookah at home at hookah bars, but I’ve never done hookah. I just thought it looked really pretty, and it would be fun to do (though he STILL has yet to show me how).

Anyways, the dilemma about having the hookah up here is that I’m in the middle of North Carolina. They don’t exactly have an abundance of hookah stores, so where to get the tobacco and such? At the moment, I have some that Bo got at home and brought to me. I’ve been looking around online, and Hookah Town looks fairly decent, so perhaps we can try ordering from there.

My question - have you ever done hookah? What do you think of it? Is it really all it’s hyped up to be?

I am in no way endorsing the smoking of cigarettes, and I am CERTAINLY not endorsing the smoking of illegal substances. Hookah is basically steam with a little tobacco in it.