No Halloween??

Some local towns are canceling trick or treating tonight! I heard one city that is going to postpone it until Thursday. But, excuse me, Thursday is November 3, not October 31.
As it is, we are not doing it up for Halloween like we normally do. It's truly my favorite holiday. When else do you get to scare children and eat candy in the name of celebration and it's socially acceptable? At my parents house, we usually decorate to the hilt. Growing up, we even had a coffin we put on the front lawn. There are strobe lights and grave stones and Harvey, a dress form with a stuffed body, cape and mask, who scares my father for at least a full week while he stands in the front  hallway, waiting to be put away in the attic again. (It's also really fun to call and order pizza and have Harvey in the hallway behind you when you answer the door). Alas, with snow on the ground it would be really hard to rake leaves into body shaped piles and to stick the gravestones into the dirt. And without power, the Halloween sounds CD can't play. So it will be a mellow night for kids in that neighborhood if they do get to go out to collect candy.
I just have some feelings about postponing it. On one hand, most of the younger kids won't know or care if it's today or three days from now that they get to don their outfits and pig out. On the other hand, it's just not right to do it on a night that isn't legit. What do you guys think? To trick or treat or not to trick or treat?

Snowtober

I was going to name the post "Snotober" but realized it would read more like the word snot than the word snow. Good save.
They weren't kidding about this snow. I'm glad I put my ice scraper/brush back in my car before going to work tonight because I certainly needed to clear off my car before I could drive. Actually, by the time I was done cleaning one side, the other side was already snowy again. And the wind! Oh my did it like whipping wet snow and sharp coldness at my face!
So after driving only major roads home so I could have the safest travels possible, I am happily hunkered down on the couch. I think my favorite thing about bad weather is that it forces us all to slow down. Church as already been canceled for tomorrow. This is great on two levels: 1. I adore that my church cancels like school. Getting that call is like seeing your town's name on the news for school closings. It's not that going is so awful; it's just the waking up. This brings me to #2. I get to sleep in tomorrow. All my friends in warm locales can't brag about that, now can they? :)
Pictures to be taken in daylight.....

TGIF

Do you ever have days when you are just vacant? I'm sure you do. We all do. I'm having one of those hard-to-focus, want-to-to-nothing kinds of days. Actually, I wouldn't mind napping. Or watching a movie. Or even reading. But as far as accomplishing things, today would not be my day.

Maybe it's because it's not even Halloween and it snowed last night and they are predicting a Nor'easter for tomorrow night when I should be dressing up and going to a party. It's generally shocking when it snows a dusting before Thanksgiving but this....this is just ridiculous weather. It's extra silly that just two weekends ago we broke records for being in the 80's. I didn't realize until I started blogging just how much I talk about the weather but there's no denying that what you see outside your window impacts your state of mind.

Or maybe it's because we had a big work event last night and I didn't get home until like 11:30. I usually go to bed between 12:30-1:00 so it's not that being up that late was a problem. But part of the reason I go to bed so late is because when I get home, which is still typically later like 9ish, I need a little time to just unwind. For me that most often means I need to watch some tv and zone out a bit. So when you get home at 11:30 and still need time to zone, it gets late fast.

I'm also working a little part time job on the side now. It would be embarrassing if it wasn't so much fun. Even though it's only 1-2 nights a week, it makes my weeks feel even more full. Now every night of the week has an assignment. One night for the gym, one for the pt job, one for date night, one working at my ft job and the weekends are more variable. It's increasingly challenging to find the balance between work time, time with hubby, time with friends and family and time just for me. Add the basics like cleaning, grocery shopping and laundry to the mix. Now sprinkle in some much needed exercise and trying to attend church services. And, of course, keeping up with all the reality tv shows I need to stay grounded. And occasionally reading. Or writing this blog.

Now with all of this, when life throws a legit curve ball and offers up something into the universe that genuinely warrants my stress levels increasing, it's kind of like walking through a white carpeted room with a glass of tropical punch Kool Aid at a fast clip.

So, I guess a vacant day is warranted. And I assume you will understand why the blog doesn't always get the love it deserves. Or why sometimes I stray from my topics of focus. Or why this post has almost no complete sentences. I am not thinking in complete sentences today. Cheers to the weekend!

Here Comes Hurricane Irene

It's hard to believe that we are batting down the hatches up here in New England to brace for Hurricane Irene. This is what the sky looks like at the moment: beautiful. Supposedly, the hurricane is on track to overwhelm us on Sunday. The Olympic distance triathlon that is part of the series I am participating in tomorrow has already been canceled for tomorrow. No fear, I still get to do the sprint distance race early, early in the morning Saturday.  Church has already sent out an email to prepare for disaster and cancellation. Rumor has it that a state of emergency has already been declared. The meteorologist says that the storm is on track to follow a very similar path to Hurricane Gloria, which I remember from when I was 6 years old and my parents wouldn't let me stand on the front porch to watch the storm because they thought I would blow away. A friend left work early to get batteries and has since proclaimed that there are no D batteries in all of Metrowest County. That's really too bad for me because, although I have enough cereal and even powdered milk to keep me going for a couple weeks, I don't have any batteries and I am not sure if I have a working flashlight. Woops. For now, it's hard to worry when the sky looks so lovely.

Glacier Hike and Climb

During a week in Boston where the temps have been hovering around 90, I am slightly fascinated by these pictures from my trip to Iceland. I have never really shown pictures from that trip here and I think it's about time they start surfacing! Trouble is, trying to spell any of the places I saw there is near impossible. The combinations of letters is way more than my simple English only brain can comprehend.

This ice arch was dripping ferociously and the guide said it probably wouldn't be there the next week. He pointed out the fissure, which you can see in on the right, sloping down from the top. He then proceeded to walk us under the arch:)

The black lines are from volcanic ash. We drove by the volcano that had erupted the year before (and I think just had another, less major, eruption in May, perhaps).

These black lines, again volcanic ash, show all of the volcanic activity that has occurred during this ice's lifetime.

I strongly suggest you use a guide if you plan to hike the glaciers. Sink holes and other crazy crevices like this one can be lurking under what you think is snow. Isn't this pretty, though?

I had only wanted to do a glacier hike but one of the tour companies offered a climbing experience as part of the hike for about the same price. This was seriously one of the coolest things to do!!

Rappelling down was even more fun, though!

Happy 4th of July!

First off, I love a 3 day weekend!! And a 3 day weekend with amazing weather? Pretty much the greatest thing ever.
There's really no need to travel in the summer. New England is at it's loveliest from June-November. It's the other 6 months we should all hit the road. For now, though, I am blissed out from multiple days of amazingness.
Thursday night I went to a wedding at the Crane Estate in Ipswich. The Crane Estate had amazing ocean views and was truly stunning, despite far too many buggies in residence.
Saturday I went to my cousin's annual Fourth of July barbecue. (I ended up bringing Oreo truffles at the host's request). It's great to spend time with family who are fun!
Sunday was wedding celebration part II in Cambridge. We ate our fill of Haitian food and Hubby wrapped two plates to go just like my grandmother would:)
Today was just amazing. Clear skies, sunshine, temps in the high 80s, pool water in the low 80s. I had a solo pool party and was extremely content. I don't think I am ever more relaxed than when I am in the sun by the pool, reading. I was a little like Dr. Seuss; I read in a chair, I read in the pool, I read in the sun, I read where it's cool. I sat outside for about 6 hours before I decided Hubby might send out a search party.
For the first time in a while, I didn't think about my next trip abroad but was thinking about all the days ahead on the beaches of Cape Cod and Maine and New Hampshire I could squeeze in. I think my wanderlust might settle down while the sun sticks around home.......

Summer Lovin'

Tuesday marked the official start of summer, thank goodness! Of course, in the Northeast, that means the lovely weather left town and was replaced with rain. Mother Nature knows we are sarcastic in New England so she likes to play little jokes on us like that.
The start of summer apparently inspired the Dirty Dancing page on Facebook, which in turn inspired me! They posted something about summer love/first love, asking readers about their experiences with it. If you think about it, there are a ton of movies that have this as a theme. The most obvious, from the title of this post, is Grease but for some reason I am also conjuring up Uncle Buck. So random!!
So did you ever have a summer love? A crush that only lasted as long as the warm temperatures?
Let me entice you to share with an embarrassing story about myself.......
When I was like 10 I went to Lake George, NY with my best friend and my family to visit an amazing amusement park they had there, The Great Escape, and to hit the beach. Me and my friend, clearly inspired by Dirty Dancing (only about 3 years old at that time) and the like, MADE UP boyfriends who we named Ricky and Richie. PS-they were supposed to be brothers. See the problem there? Ricky and Richie are both nicknames for the SAME NAME. Of course, being 10, we didn't think of things like that. I think it only occurred to me about a year ago as we laughed at the memory.
Ok, your turn!

Happy Belated Quahog Day!

Although quahog day came and passed yesterday, this link provides information about other upcoming activities on Cape Cod this week. What's on the calendar: on Thursday you can compete to eat the most stuffed quahogs in 90 seconds or on Sunday you can attend Chowderfest at the Cape Cod Melody Tent.

Admittedly, I had never heard of quahog day until last week when the Cape Cod facebook page started teaching me how the Cape has an "official" quahog named "Doug" (get the pun here?) who predicts the weather at the beach for the summer. He is the Puxatawny (no idea how to spell that) Phil of mollusks!

It's just cute. Having just been "down the Cape" this past weekend, I really wish my timing had overlapped to see this self-proclaimed star-studded event. Community festivals and local traditions are some of the most fun activities to stumble upon, especially when they are as quirky as a quahog turned meteorologist:)

A weekend by the Sea

The weather on Cape Cod was amazing this weekend! After experiencing 4 days of rain on Magaluf beach in Mallorca, Spain a couple weeks ago, I was not encouraged Friday night when it started pouring on my first night in Dennisport. Me and my soon-to-be-married friend (from elementary school! hooray for deep roots!) sat in a quintessential seafood shack sipping clam chowder (yes, pronounced chowda in these parts) and munching some very yummy onion rings while it just dumped down rain. Thankfully, Saturday we woke to clear skies and moderate temps. Our very affordable hotel had a private beach that we chilled on all day and it was lovely.
Have you ever read the Bernstein Bears book "too much birthday"? That's kind of how I felt last night. Too much sun + too much fun and I was down for the count last night. It afforded me the opportunity to see the movie the Bucket List, though. Have you ever seen it? I super enjoyed it-great lessons on living your life to the fullest and seeing the world. It was a bit of a silly scene, though, as the bachelorette slept and I cried, watching the end of the movie in a hotel room.
I really think it should be June in Massachusetts at all times! The windows are open, the birds are chirping, there's not an ounce of humidity in the air, and we ate dinner on the deck.
I hope you all had as relaxing and glorious a weekend as I did!

Magaluf Beach

As the thunderstorm warnings continue in my neck of the woods, I thought I would daydream a little about where I was last week: Magaluf Beach in Mallorca, Spain.

Molehill out of a Mountain

Remember this post showing a mountain of snow back in Januaryish? Here's an article in the local news 5 months later!! http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/features/x1166552870/Snow-pile-slowly-goes-from-mountain-to-molehill. It's still there!!

Helllllooooo again!

A wonderful little thing called vacation tore me away from you for a while. It was sooooo needed and I feel very refreshed. I took some notes on how to hang on the the vacation hangover.
Some ideas:
walk more, spend time outside, read, journal, make fewer to-do lists, soak in warm water, tv is good, don't try so hard, be less scheduled, sleep, sightsee, try new restaurants, care a little less about the details, spend less time on the computer, empty your head, fantacize about life lists, plan your next trip, think about what you are grateful for.
Most importantly: work isn't life-just a means of funding experiences.

The best part is that my next vacation is only six weeks away! Then it will be full blown summer!! Hooray! (That deserves an extra whoop of joy since it snowed today-nice April Fool's joke Mother Nature). Case in point, below is a picture of Iceland yesterday; THIS is a picture of Massachusetts today. Really?

Welcome back to Massachusetts!

A week in Iceland and I come home to this?

Whiney Wednesday

Today is a drag. I had to wake up at what I consider an insane hour. I won't bother to mention the time because all the mothers will yell at me about how they get up earlier every day. I know. That's why I'm not one of you.

It's raining and nasty outside and I was really proud that I found my rain jacket because I couldn't find it when I went hiking. I drove my usual, long commute to get to court, which I like other than the time it starts. I consider it the theater of the living. I situated my rain jacket proudly and exited my car to walk into court. Instead of walking around the guardrail and taking a long, rainy stroll through the parking lot, I climbed over the guardrail. Ummmm, the wet guardrail. So my head was dry but my pants looked like I had too much to drink and couldn't get to a restroom in time.

 Now, I should add that my whole ensemble for the day was already pretty drab. When I go the court against someone I think is a bad guy, I try to be as unmemorable as possible. Frumpy and forgettable is my goal and I think I did well today-two t shirts, a bulky sweater, a big scarf, wide leg pants, a ponytail, no makeup and all blue and brown tones. good?

So, I spent four hours in the theater of the living and got desirable outcomes, thankfully. Then I went and got gas.....$51.00 to fill a Ford Focus!!! That's crazy talk!

With that, I will just say "Wednesday, I have had enough of you for this week."

A walk in the park

I'm so bad at downloading my pictures! (Why I need a fancy new phone) But since the cord has been found, here are some photos from my walk in the park. I was feeling not-so-great and needed some rejuvination. Some fresh air was part of my solution. It was really beautiful out there!

I have to admit that as picturesque as this scene is, I'm super glad that the snow magically melted over the weekend and dead grass has emerged. Hooray for Spring!

Danger: Ice. That doesn't scare us!

One of my favorite activities in the whole wide world is hiking. I used to hike throughout the winter but I didn't get out as much this winter. Maybe because it was Snowmaggedon, perhaps. I was super excited to hike with some of my triathlon buddies and a friend from nursery school on Saturday. Yes, I said nursery school-pretty impressive that someone has known me that long and would still go into the woods with me, no?

A Very Exciting Day

I got home at almost 2am after a 5.5 hour movie marathon with a group of lovely ladies from church, all of whom can prepare the most amazing foods. There was handmade caramel popcorn, fabulous mint brownies, a bunch of dips, even homemade flan!! I ate so much that I honestly had a dream that I got stretch marks on my stomach. But that was just the start to A Very Exciting Day....
Normally I don't work on Saturdays but today was an exception. I planned my whole day around my afternoon commitment to work. I got more than half way there, 11 miles to be exact, when I got a call that the thing I was going in for was now off. Being very close the best running shoe store in the state, I decided to shop instead, since I was already all the way out there. No parking.
Now having been bitten by an unquenched shopping bug, I went on a 4 store spree. I ended up with a yellow trash can for my new sunshiny bathroom, mod podge for a new project idea, and (put on your Bob Barker voice here) A NEW CHAIR!! Clearly, a picture will follow because I am pretty sure I am in love with it.
After 4 stores, 1 broken candle holder that I felt super guilty about, and a chair I didn't set out to purchase, I was exhausted. I hate to say it was against my better judgment to visit my grandmother in the hospital because horns might grow out from where a headband should go but that's where it all went downhill. Literally. As I tried to drive down the hill of the hospital driveway, it was so icy that, in order to avoid sliding into oncoming traffic, I steered into a snowbank. Inches from hitting the stop sign, I was officially stuck in the pile of snow.
Hubby didn't answer his phone. Brother didn't answer his phone. Not sure if we have AAA anymore. The only people who stopped to ask if I was OK were women in compact cars like my own. With one excellent former male bridesmaid on the way to my rescue, three angelic men in a truck stopped and pushed me out!!!!! I wanted so badly to thank them but I only had $8 in my wallet (and that's actually a fortune for me to carry in cash). I felt so silly but I shoved it in one of their shirt pockets and encouraged them to go to Dunkin Donuts while I continued to thank them. HOORAY!!!!
On top of all this, while I have been writing this, I just saw a TV ad for Secret Millionaire coming back the first week in March. And yes, even the promo made me teary. Set your DVRs, folks. This is paying it forward at it's best.
To conclude, I hope your day was also Very Exciting, minus the downhill part.

My Mom is a Celebrity

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/newsnow/x1673926705/Hopkinton-school-bus-crashes-in-snow

Snomageddon

This is a mountain of snow in a parking lot by a bunch of stores. We are running out of places to put it all!

This is my deck, the view from my front door. This was two storms ago, a.k.a. a week and half ago.

This final one is a front loader thing that is moving snow from one place to another to make room for more! This one was nice enough to drop a big chunk, which promptly got stuck under my car and was dragged for a few feet like I had run over a puppy. It left a nice smell, too.

I feel super old and boring because all I can talk about or even think about is the weather. It's seriously like Narnia here on the East Coast. Because I have not gone to work for five consecutive days in as long as I can remember, due to so many snow storms, I actually tried to go in today. After 45 minutes and only 8 miles, not even half way to the office, I slid and stopped to bang my windshield wipers a few times and turned back for home. Even that was so bad that I started preserving the water left in my water bottle in case I couldn't make it home and had to live in my car, with only the junk I haven't cleaned out to sustain me.

Weather banter is becoming a normative past time at this point. On the news, it seems the criminals are all stuck in a snow bank because all that is being shown are pictures of cars driving in this mess. On facebook, most locals are commenting on the snow somehow. Some take the tough stance with statements like "It's snowing. Get over it!" or things akin to that. Others are still excited to see snow. It's novelty has worn off so I am really impressed by their enthusiasm. It's like being excited to see a live animal at a zoo. A final grouping of comments reflect the the frustration with the repetition. I fall into this category.

I'm sick of watching the weather person on the news and feeling as if he or she is the most important person I will hear from all week. I'm sick of playing roulette every time I pull out my street; the snow banks on the corners are so high I can't see a thing coming and often just have to hope for the best as I pull into traffic. I'm sick of people honking to take right turns in the right hand lane, as if that still exists. It has been obliterated by piles of dirty white stuff and has made my already long, grump-inducing commute a real trial of faith in terms of loving my fellow man.

Beyond the narrative about the weather, a few humorous anecdotes have sprung up about it, as well. There are a number of photos that show the usual state weather map the weather person shows, though instead of having numbers of inches of snow accumulation, they now have categories of misery the residents will endure. I saw one that rated people on how "screwed" they would be from the latest storm. Another recommended certain areas to buy boats and other areas to hit the liquor store to drown their sorrows. One of the local news channels, instead of just giving the numbers of how much snow we have received so far this year, is keeping a "Shaq-o-meter", a tribute to the Celtics' recent acquisition of Shaquille O'Neil. I think he will be figuratively buried by the end of tomorrow, as the snow amounts top his height on the figure. This idea would be cuter if it didn't inspire Shaq to make a guest appearance in one of my dreams this week. I am easily influenced.

I don't know what the overall amount of snow is, to be precise. It was over 60 inches so far last week, after that week's storm. This week's two day Snowmaggedon is going to gift us with another 16-20 inches. Roofs are collapsing like teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert. I am spending a lot of quality time with my couch. I am going to go look at pictures of summer now...

Gratitude

"Selfless and noble acts are the most radiant in the biography of souls"-David Thomas

Yesterday in church we talked about gratitude.

Before I even got there, in my car I had been thinking about ways to verbalize my appreciation for a family who was moving across the country and giving their goodbye talks that day. Oddly, the word "glowing" kept coming to mind. I thought it was just my non-morning-person brain functioning at a low level, able only to think of how shiny all their blond hair is. It turned into a metaphor, though. Glowing also relates to being a "shining example" and not hiding your proverbial light under a bushel. What I wanted to express gratitude for was service, fellowship, and example that was offered to me. Later that day, when I sat down to write out a card, I looked up quotes to aptly say thank you and the one above was the first one I read. Pretty amazing that it would follow the visual lighting theme of the day.

Part of the lesson about gratitude posed the question, "Are you thankful for your challenges?". Obviously, that is a harder task than being grateful for the wonderful things in the world like tulips, Nutella, and indoor plumbing. I will spare you my launch into the woes of my life and the requisite lessons I have learned from them, which are the silver linings for which I am grateful. I encourage you to give pause to this thought, though.

Both Oprah and a former clinical supervisor of mine recommended keeping a gratitude journal. There's plenty of research that shows that people who focus on the things they are grateful for each day are happier people. This is often a tool used in couple's therapy, too. I have a palm sized notebook that I can carry with me or easily keep next to my bed, and I try to list at least three things from that day I appreciated. I try not to duplicate these items from day to day but to find new things to be grateful for each day. It's pretty cool how this opens your eyes to see the good in the world, certainly not what we are used to hearing about!

I am by no means Pollyanna. Complaining is a favorite past time, in fact. Curmudgeon comments are a favorite quirk of mine. I guess I have to have something to balance that out, though.

So, in an effort to do so today, I will share my list with you and encourage you to share yours with me or someone else or just to write it down someplace. I always start the same way.

1/24/11
I am grateful for...
1. The turquoise sweatshirt I bought this afternoon
2. The sudoku book a client brought me today to keep me happy at court
3. A warm coat (It was negative two this morning!! Oh, and I still saw a man wearing just a t-shirt; we are hearty folk here in New England!)