To more photos! warmer weather! and homemade rolls!

Once upon a December a time, nary a post would pass that didn't feature some photos. Now it's all chitty chat chat all the time. I shall blame it upon the dreary months known as January, February, March, and (if you're in New England and the winter stretches especially long {which it does nearly ever year [and I should know since it's my 5th]}) April.

Can we pause for a moment of silence for that incredible display of parenthetical bracketing that just took place?

Slim to nothing happens in Q1. The sky is dreary, the skin is pale, and the winter hibernation has added a few bonus pounds to a troublespot or two. Nothing a titch of warmer weather or a holiday can't fix!!

It never ceases to amaze me that despite the weather predictions, Easter morning dawns sunny, warm and bright. (Side note: wrote another spiritual piece titled Travel dreams and 365-days of Easter that I'd love for you to check out.)

So, it was on this sunny, warm, bright, holi-day, that I decided the Winter of our DisconNotTakingPhotos would end. After church, decked in our unexpectedly new Easter dresses, Colleen and I headed down to the river to take in some sun and take a photo or two.

Par for my photo-taking course, most of my photos ended up like this:
While most of Colleen's ended up looking like this:
It's fine. She's the more photogenic of the two of us, but I'm the taller.

And then! For only the second time in my Boston history, I took part in an Easter potluck dinner with my Boston family. Our dinner had a roast beef and a leg of lamb and salads, and green beans, and potatoes, and a host of other goodies. And hold on to your hats when I tell you I made, from scratch and three frantic phone calls to my mom those dinner rolls you see below. I'm ready to take this show on the road now.
So there you have it. All kinds of things I don't often do. Photo well or bake. Here's to all of the thing listed in exclamation points above!

the closest cut

Growing up, I was the one who packed a bag for vacation weeks in advance. (I'm looking at you Girl's Camp 1996 and '97.) Now, my life is unpredictable enough that despite my best efforts--and nerdy To Do lists--I'm sitting on my bed, working from home, on a conference call, surrounded by stacks of clothing not in a suitcase, and headed out of the country for ten days in less than two hours. And I need a shower. And have another hour conference call. BUT NO STRESS GUYS.

I went to Kansas last weekend to visit Alicia and it was one of my funnest weekend trips in years and years. How quickly five years melted away and I remembered why we consider ourselves sisterly. Sure, we've each got our own--but boy howdy do we get along well. We talked nonstop for three days and I refound some center before being thrown back into the storm of wild work projects. We shopped baby clothes (she's having a girl and I'm getting a nephew(!!?!) and talked baby names. The greatest lesson I learned this week is HOW GLAD I AM NOT TO BE NAMING ANOTHER HUMAN. Good luck ladies.

So I'm headed on a little trip tonight. Flying to Amsterdam and cruising to Barcelona. That means ports in Brugge, Belgium; Normandy, France, Vigo, Spain and a ferry to Isla Cies; Lisbon, Portugal; THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR; and then into Barcelona. I told you I love a cruise. The biggest stresser is making contingency plans with my gal pal Laura to meet in the Amsterdam airport, or at the port, or in Brugge should one of us get displaced by flights. Hurricane Earl, I shake my fist at you!

So, I guess I might have a photo or two to share when I come back. If I ever get there in the first place.

It hasn't even rained that much this month

But somehow, I keep finding myself outside for 3+ hours at a time--hunkered down in pouring rain--visible breath, hair getting curly, undergarments growing damp.

visiting coworkers + crazy expensive seats supplied by work + fenway park = staying longer than would otherwise be considered sane. Still a wicked fun time.


Of course this morning shone sunny and bright. Projected 80 degrees.

Ayúdame!

I'm working on a new blog. Not a post, an actual new (supplemental) blog. More to come on that soon(ish), but I need your help in the meantime. Life and death here people, so I've created a new poll in the right real estate. Please respond. No one's feelings (read: mine) are going to be hurt, I'm just trying to figure out the taxonomy (tagging) system for my new stuff.

So. Help me. Quickly. And don't feel bad.

Also, happy Monday. Did you enjoy your weekend? Did it have crazy snow? Mine didn't, but you wouldn't have guessed with the number of times I left the house. Nothing like last year. Glad I got out of Boston before the BIG ONE hit! Travel safe everyone. XO.

When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May

The wind is out in full force today, seemingly in a hurry to kick Fall out the door and introduce Her Majesty WINTER. The wind, coupled with a general feeling of restlessness is turning my attention to the grand fact that I'll be in Argentina in 2.5 weeks. Hello Southern Hemisphere and the fact that sunny 80-degree days await. The opposite of November is May, and who doesn't love May (or counter-clockwise flushing toilets)?

Colleen and I got brave and decided to rent a loft instead of a standard hotel. For roughly the same price, we get to stay in this funky, eclectic little home with a full service kitchen and living space instead of touching elbows and knees with each other and our luggage. The Loft is owned by three of the friendliest folks--I've exchanged several emails with them and am excited to get on down there.

Also on our Spanish-speaking sojourn we're spending two days in La Ciudad de Mexico. What are we going to do while we're there? Hmm, good question. Maybe it's time to figure that out. And did I mention our flights start from New York City? Believe it or not, we're going to touch three of the top four most populous cities in North America in less than a week. (Guesses on the 3rd most populous? Whose ready for another geography quiz?!)

This afternoon I booked a hotel from a site solely in Spanish. I was rather pleased with myself, but I guess there's a slim chance I just ordered a sombrero-wearing donkey delivered to my doorstep. My travel-planning skills are getting a little out of control.

Children of the Corn

It's raining today. Dreary, windy and wet. (Oh my.) The kind of day that necessitates both rubber boots, an umbrella, and a dedication to your job that forces you to bite the bullet and commute to the office instead of working from bed in your pajamas from 9am-8pm (like you did yesterday).

The good news is that this last Saturday was the kind of day that's quintessential New England Fall. The sky was piercingly blue with scattered clouds and the leaves are changing into a postcard palette of oranges, yellows and reds. Each year we take a Fall outing--an unofficial kick-off to the holiday season with drives through picturesque towns and trees AND IT USUALLY INVOLVES FESTIVE SNACKS. Festive snacks people!

This year's Fall Fest brought to you courtesy of the Davis Farmland MEGA-MAZE; a corn maze with 8 acres of corn, 2.65 miles of mazed pathways, 10 bridges, 1 zipline, and inter-maze putt-putt, slingshot activities, water stations and restrooms. The path out of the maze changes every day, so suffice it to say, the maze was pretty intense. We made it through in about 70 minutes but felt proud we'd never walked on the same path twice. It may not have been the quickest way out, but it was a way out.

Where we were really hoping for a piece of pumpkin pie, we settled for a tasty brick of cornbread. Here's some photos we took:

October is my favorite month in Boston, there's just so much going on. And the good news is that it's still early in the month; I'm sure plenty o' Fall activities are still on the menu! And so help me, pumpkin pie better be too...

I want pie! I want beef jerky!

Good morning friends, frenemies, and good old fashioned enemies! Today is Monday, March 2nd, and Boston has received a foot of snow in the last two days. And here I thought it was past... bummer. On a day like today, I'd typically work from home, but considering our modem bit the dust this weekend and the Internet is my living, WFH isn't really an option, now is it? And the greatest irony of all is the fact we're presenting to the City's Department of Public Works (aka: "The Snow Patrol). So I walked to work in mid-shin deep snow. Big start to the day.

I have other updates to give, and perchance I'll give them later, but I need to get hoppin'. Until then, enjoy the 1:30 video below. I promise promise promise it's worth your time. I couldn't stop giggling and am still not sure which is my favorite--and which would get the coveted blog title. I think my true favorite might be "I'm her mother." "No she's not." Too late to change now. What's your favorite?

BRAINSTORM!

Tips for Snow Removal

• BUY A SNOW BLOWER

December is now half-over. Since Thursday, the Heavens have opened and delivered more snow than all of last winter combined. Kylee and I have shoveled nineteen inches in less than four days. That's a lot of snow. Especially with one broken shovel, one shovel from 1972, and neither of us with waterproof gloves. We're snow-shoveling rock stars.

It started raining at the hour mark; our "Utah powder" turned back-breakingly heavy. When we were 92% of the way done with the driveway, four plows came by, dumping a mountainous ton of salty, wet, and HEAVY snow and slush. Ky and I just laughed, took a breather and then sucked it up enough to continue. My car is now parked at the top of the driveway and I think the freezing rain may have cemented it to the ground. Good thing I leave for HOME(!) in three days and probably won't need to drive before then.

Church was cancelled yesterday due to the extreme conditions; we call that a "Get out of jail free card." On Saturday I had figured we may get snowed in, so stocked up on the necessities; a full tank of gas and Diet Coke. The rest of the afternoon I bummed around in my jams drinking straight from a 2-liter (with a straw; I'm not that ill-mannered), watching movies, and chit-chatting on the phone. Considering I worked from home on Friday and didn't go out much on Saturday, I had a pretty lazy weekend. Talk about awesome.

Lemme circle back to my snow removal tip. Invest in a snow blower; it'll save your achy-breaky-back. And since I can ONLY throw snow over my left shoulder you may not recognize me the next time you see me--I'll be the hunchback with one super-defined shoulder and lower back. What what.

"It's karma, I tell you what."

As I so eloquently described yesterday, I had to work. On President's Day--the usual freebie vacation day that most employees get off. One of the perks of working at a small company, however, is the strict adherence to paying for only state-mandated holidays. So we worked.

I have also, in previous posts, alluded to the giant ice storm us Bostonians have been digging out of for nearly a week. Skies have been clear this week but temperatures range in the -8 to 19 degree range, so the ice not only stays frozen, but freezes harder.

Yesterday, of all the days since the ice storm, being President's Day, the day we had to work... both the founders of our 10-employee company spent time at the ER. For individual slips on the ice. Different times, different places. One has a seriously sprained knee, the other had a collapsed lung. Both are in pain at home.

This morning we sat discussing this recent turn of events, and one of my designers spoke right up and said, "It's karma, I tell you what. They made us work yesterday, they paid the price."

Slippery When Wet

Today was an important day.

I fell down for the first time ever due to weather conditions.

Seven winters in Utah and I never slipped in ice or snow once. Not once! But it snowed eight inches in Boston yesterday and rained all afternoon. The Waterworld that was our yesterday afternoon became Ice Age this morning.

Luckily, no one saw.

Unluckily, the unopened Diet Pepsi I had in my hand (for a little afternoon pick-me-up) hit the solid ice pack and burst at the seams.

Today was then a sad day.

Baby, it's cold outside

Unless you're living in the greater Boston area, stop complaining about the weather. It is clear and bright outside and 6 degrees. With 17 mile-per-hour wind. That makes it -11 degrees outside. And I had to park on a lake today and walk half a mile to my office. I've never actually wanted to die because of weather before.

Any of my Boston friends want to head for Florida on this three-day weekend?

Through wind or snow, rain or hail

Day five of the drive:

We made it. Hallelujah we made it. We should have died about nine times on the trip. NEVER DRIVE CROSS COUNTRY IN JANUARY -- you'll probably die.

Today was full to the miz-ax. We woke up and pizza at my favorite place by Columbia at 10am. Then, Mom and I hit Canal Street and bought way more crap than my car had room for. Retrieved my car from overnight parking in Times Square--I figure no one stole anything because the car looked like utter white trash. It was the only car in the City covered from bumper to bumper with salt and from window to window with crap. (Crap I call my life, but crap nonetheless.)

We finished the drive from NYC to Boston in 5.5 hours, but we spent 1.5 of it in a grocery store in Rhode Island. Once again, filling my car with more neccesary crap. It started to rain and I started to mini-freak out. When you've been on the road five days in the heart of winter, you learn to HATE ANY kind of precipitation as it makes driving conditions unbarable. (TANGENT: I'm sure all my copywriter friends have noticed my spelling is crap. I'm not sure why I've given up on spellchecker on Blogger but apparently I have. Apologies around.) So we get to my house and hurry hurry hurry to unpack because we have to try to make it to IKEA before they close. More driving in the dark in the pouring rain.

People, I'm getting close to a nervous breakdown from driving in inclement weather. Spinning off the road and waiting to smash into something will do that to you I guess.

So we get into IKEA with an hour left in hopes of finding some furniture and a way to pull my room together. (Those of you who know my Mom know she'll throw something fabulous together without even trying.) Only problem is, you can NOT hurry through an IKEA. It's impossible. AND we both had to go to the bathroom. DRAMA. The drama ensued when we couldn't find any of the things we needed, we had to RUN back through the store to have some fabric cut before closing, and the tall bookshelf, wardrobe pieces I bought wouldn't fit into my car. Holy 10 at night drama.

Still have to go to the bathroom. Bad.

Never fear, my dad flew in tonight and had been waiting for us back at my house. He drove all the way out to IKEA (30 miles away) and took one of the long pieces in his car so we were all set. My mom had to drive with him because the driver's side of my car was jammed to the dash to accommodate those freaking long pieces that caused all this drama. Well I'm freaking out because it's POURING RAIN, and I'm so SICK of weather and driving in it (I drove probably 2000 of the 2400 miles). My parents are going to follow me back to the house.

To exits away from IKEA my windshield blade starts to creep its way off the wiper. Holy drama. If I keep wiping my windshield, I'll lose my blade and not be able to see at ALL (it's now 11:30 at night too). Blah blah blah, I turn my blinker on to get off at the next exit -- and it's at that EXACT moment my dad decides to cut around me and get in the next lane. See ya later Dad, I'm getting off in crapper Randolph, MA to fix my damn windshield blade. This is all made worse by the fact that I FORGOT MY PHONE.

Have I mentioned the drama in my life yet?

You guys! My life has been girls-gone-not-quite-wild-enough CRAZY since I started this whole Boston experience. Do you think I'm making the wrong choice and I can only be warned in so many subtle ways?

And I apologize for giving a journal entry the last five days, I'll try to weed that out soon.

And I abstained from having donuts, even the morning of my great-aunt's funeral. They were even from Albertson's.

o-hate-o

Day three of the drive:

I'm tired tonight. Not so much of driving, but of cheating death. Did you hear me? I'm tired of cheating death. I have nothing nice to say about Ohio, it gave us our worst weather yet.

I am an absolute moron to be driving cross country in January. Who DOES that? Of course the only snow in the East is in Pennsylvania tomorrow, the one state we have to cross. Sigh. But I have GOOD news! We found a Texas Roadhouse out here in O-crapp-o so had a lovely dinner.

Glad we could be here, at the ski resort for the first snow of the year.

If my third chance at cheating death tomorrow is unsuccessful, I want every one to know I have lived a happy life, I love you all and I will take my relationships with me into the next life.

Now that I am sufficiently creeped out, I'm going to bed. New York City tomorrow!

the wheels on the bus

Day two of the drive:

Did you KNOW you can drive to Illinois in two short days? Who knew. Did you know Minnesota is right above Iowa? Me either.

In driving, we counted forty-two cars spun off the road. Scarier to think of our experience seeing what it could have been in the light of day.

This moron left her cell phone in the hotel in freaking Nebraska and we had to drive back to get it. 2300 miles isn't far enough to drive right?

My faith in weather people is lessened again. The Weather Channel and USA Today said there'd be snow all the way across Iowa. False. No snow. Maybe tomorrow.

Chicago style pizza in a hotel just outside of Chicago tonight. GOLDEN GLOBES!!! Oh man oh man oh man. I love awards shows. My favorite two parts of the night;

1.On the E! Channel preshow:
Correspondant No.1:"Angelina Jolie's dress was just beautiful. But why did she look so upset?"
Correspondant No.2:"I'm pretty sure she's mad she's not in some third-world country saving it. This has got to all be a little much for her.

And she DID look cranky.

2. Jamie Foxx (whom I hate) was introducing Dreamgirls for best comedy/musical, "Dreamgirls table represent. Jigga. Yall lookin good. Real good. Will I see you. Jada, lookin good."

I can only imagine Will (Smith) felt any "white" credibility he's been building in Hollywood start slipping as Jamie decided to ghetto-size the Globes.

Hope everyone enjoys the work/school day tomorrow (Tuesday). I'm unemployed still.

Omaha, somewhere in middle America

Day one of the drive--

A wintry near-death driving experience is a right of passage isn't it? Hello North Platte, Nebraska. Your roads were deceptively icy, it was dark, and I don't know how to correct once I start sliding. Hello double spin out. I'm glad the roads were completely iced or there's no doubt we would have flipped. Strangers in Nebraska are nice though; my car is out of the snowy median without calling anyone and i'm now safely tucked into the closest hotel to the crash site trying to unwind and sleep. Hard to do so when my mom is snoring like a Mac truck on the next bed over.

Other then the high end drama, the first day was rather uneventful. Crappy roads the first two hours in WY, but I guess that's what you get for driving cross country in the middle of winter.

Happy MLK day yall. Be glad you don't have to spend it somewhere between Omaha and Cleveland. Not exactly what I call civil.

The Telegram

It's snow-snow-snowing and it won't won't stop.
STOP.
Today was my "last day lunch" since an Interactive department lunch-time meeting trumps the lunch we had planned for tomorrow.
STOP.
Stephanie and I decided today that we basically work with Javier from Felicity. Hilarious.
STOP.
I witnessed quite literally a drug-deal in the tunnel of the airport yesterday trying to board my plane. Where's an air marshall when you need one?
STOP.
The snow is throwing off this weekend's driving plans. Bust.
STOP.
Yesterday's interview was conducted with the founder as we walked his dog. Every interview has a curveball.
STOP.
Tonight after work is full of very important "last night in Salt Lake" tasks. Oil change, tire rotation, hair/bangs cut, dinner at the Texas, packing of the moto, etc.
STOP.
I'm tired and wish I could lay down and recuperate from my whirlwind trip this weekend.
STOP.

Any one-liner updates anyone cares to share?