Happy Spring!

Today's the first day of spring. 

Since weather in New England is still wintry, it's hard to imagine that warm weather is coming.

We just got 7 inches of snow, yesterday.

Needless to say, I haven't put away my winter clothes.

But that doesn't stop me from online window shopping for spring clothes I'll be able to wear...

soon.

Gosh, I hope it's soon.

I'm done with the ice, the salt, the slipping, the sliding, the Uggs, the scarves, the heating up the car for 20 minutes, the seeing your breath when you breathe, the dry skin, the frizzy hair, and the static shock you get when you touch something.

Done. Done. Done.

Mother Nature tried to kill me.

This morning I was watching the children in my classroom play outside at recess. I normally do this and I don't really give it much thought. Today was slightly different because... it was snowing.

They were running and jumping, leaping and falling, making snow angels and sliding down the slide. The looks on their faces were looks of pure joy. And in lots of ways it makes sense. These kids are little. Some only 3 years old. It's a new experience. It's a fun experience. They may not remember snow from last season. And they certainly have not played in the snow with their friends from this year, yet.

Their screams were full of positive energy and I envied them.

Because on my end... this morning, I thought I was going to die.

Now, I'm not being dramatic. I really, whole-heartily, 100% thought I was done. 

First off, let me say, I hate driving. Hate it. Hate. It. It's not for me.

Add in a snowstorm? Oh.my.god.

I woke up feeling good about myself. Feeling a lot better than yesterday since my antibiotics must have kicked in. I cleaned off my car which isn't fun but the snow was light and fluffy and full of life.

I started driving and that's where it all went wrong.

I realized that the snow wasn't full of life and instead was trying to kill me.

We live in a town that seems to be at the bottom of hills. 

Which means, any direction I go to get out of this town... I need to go uphill. 

I work about 40 minutes from where we live. Which means, I was in for an even longer ride this morning.

I was trying to get uphill and the car had a little trouble. But I just kept on singing Ed Sheeran and hoping for the best. What else could I do?

Then... another hill. A little more slippery... more skids... more thoughts of "hmm... this isn't good".

I had to shut off the radio. You know it's serious when you can't listen to music.

But then... my favorite part. [enter sarcasm]. Going downhill.

I watched for a split second as the cars in front of me slid off the road.

Into ditches and mailboxes.

But I didn't have time to stop completely.
And I couldn't turn around. 

So, I started and immediately slid into someone's driveway. 

My brakes made that awful sound that told me they were working their hardest but couldn't do more. 

I put on my hazards and just stayed still while the cars behind me passed.

Going fast. 

Just because you're in an SUV doesn't mean you need to act big, bad and bold.

I tried again... I began to slide sideways down the hill.

And not that fast slide where you don't have time to think about it.

It was the slow-motion slide where you know exactly what's happening but can't do a thing about it.

I think that one's worse.

I got control of the car and slid into someone else's driveway narrowly missing their mailbox and a huge tree. 

I put on my hazards again and this time just kept them on as I gripped the steering wheel tightly and literally just screamed my head off the rest of the way down.

Not just a metaphorically-speaking scream, either.

I mean I was screaming as if Mother Nature was trying to kidnap me and put me into her white van.

Seriously.

When I finally got to the bottom of the hill, which is pretty freaking long apparently, I did what any married 26 year old would do: I called my mom.

Screaming and irrational.

She told me that I needed to stop crying so my tears wouldn't stop me from seeing,

I quickly told her that I had no tears and that I was just hyperventilating.

After an hour and forty minutes... I got to work. Safely.

Texted Sean to tell him that I was okay.

And decided to reflect on what had just happened.

Here are my thoughts:

1. Perhaps the state of Massachusetts should treat the roads when they know [which they did] a storm is coming. The funds are there, use'em.

2. Maybe, just maybe, the plows that are out on the roads could actually put down their plows rather than drive around with their plows off the ground. Get some snow off the roads?

3. It would probably be a better idea if the salt truck was behind the plow truck.. that way the plow truck didn't remove all the salt the salt truck just released. Right?

I mean, it is New England. So while I should be comfortable driving in the snow... the state should know how to prepare for it.

The end.

A tornado?

We were in a tornado watch last night. What, Massachusetts?

Yeah.

So, I took responsibility and made our survival kit, in the bathroom, since I hear you're supposed to stay away from windows... and every other room in our loft has 7-8 foot windows.

Sean "assessed" our kit a little bit later, to which he said "I'd give you a 7 out of 10, for survival gear".

A 7?! Why's that, sir?

Apparently, I did well preparing Apollo -- carrier, blankets, toys, food = check!

Us, on the other hand... apparently you need to pack clean water... and the faucet can't count! So all three of us would be dehydrated!

Apparently, you're not supposed to pack salty snacks... like salted peanuts, ritz bitz and goldfish. Or that water we didn't pack becomes a bigger problem.

Oh, and all that technology I packed with us, you know the cell phones, the tablet, etc. Well, while I brought the chargers... none of the them were actually charged which apparently means they wouldn't work if the power went out!

What a learning experience.

I did pack a flashlight, though! And it actually works.

Luckily, nothing happened.

But let's face it: better safe than sorry.

Now, I have to put everything back where it belongs.

Maybe I'll do that later...

Hurricane Irene.

Sorry for my lack of updates. It's all Hurricane Irene's fault :(

Thankfully, our house is safe -- although our plum tree in the front yard completely uprooted and is now laying horizontally in the grass.

We'd been without power since Sunday around 8AM. Again, thankfully, we got it back around 2PM today (my parents still don't have it!). So that's about 50 hours without electricity, water, hot showers (!), cold drinks, hot food, AC... etc. Obviously, more of an inconvenience than anything else but not fun nonetheless.

Every street around looks like this:


Trees are down everywhere... sometimes on top of people's cars... or houses. :(

Luckily, things are starting to normalize again and we're safe.

By the way, the sound of trees/branches cracking, breaking and falling to the ground might be the scariest sound I've ever heard.

*My honeymoon recaps will start back up tomorrow.

Bachelorette!

I've had a very busy week/weekend.

I got my nails done yesterday:


Bright? :) Well, I think they are very "bachelorette party" worthy -- which is exactly what I did this weekend! We went into Boston and stayed at the Onyx Hotel ate lots and lots and saw an improv show -- which was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen! It was so much fun and I'm so glad I was able to go!

Also! I finally had success at finding a rehearsal dinner dress (and jewelry to match!):


And the shoes:


Remember how excited I was to check the 10 day weather forecast?! Well, that stupid app stressed me out for 3 days when it kept showing this:


See that? That 60% chance of rain and lightning bolt icon. WELL, luckily that has since changed to sunny with a 20% chance of rain. Ughhh. I just need to stop checking....

Sean started giving me my wedding presents ;) the first one:


It's a book he specifically made (words and pictures). It's the cutest thing and one day (soon) I'm going to do a in-depth post about it because it's really amazing!

It definitely feels like the wedding festivities have begun. It's busy and hard to keep up. But fun. Really fun.

Purchases, dancing & weather

I went to the mall in search of a rehearsal dinner dress and got sidetracked by my coupons for Victoria's Secret. Of course, the coupons didn't end up helping me at all since they were those tricky ones that only let you do this or that in a specific way. But, I was pretty excited with my purchases. :)


We're still waiting for our diploma from dance class. I got some questions after my last post and I have to admit that I loved going to dance with Sean. I've never taken dance -- ever. It's really not my thing. I learned a lot and it was really fun to go together and have something fun to do that didn't really seem like "wedding planning" -- while we did it... but in actuality it was something wedding related that Sean participated in 100%.

I would definitely suggest doing it. Even if you both know how to dance. We were horrible in the beginning. And now I feel more confident. Not to say that I'm a pro -- far from it. I'll probably still forget what to do and lead the way... but at least I learned that's my personality. :)

Tomorrow marks a big day. Wanna know why?

Well, not only does our countdown switch to SINGLE-DIGITS -- BUT!

The 10 day weather forecast will finally show what will be going on with mother nature on 16th. Oh yeah. BIG DAY.