Winter weather advisory

Today tony and i got up for work and noticed a lovely dusting of snow on the ground. it was really pretty and seeing as how there was no snow when we came home for thanksgiving or christmas, not to mention that last year at this time we were living in tucson, we didn't really mind it. in fact we thought it would make for a good day off sitting on the couch, watching movies and drinking cocoa....
well unfortunately, we had to work. More unfortunate is that NO ONE in northen virginia knows how to drive in snow. i am not just making a jerky, stereotyical assumptions, i am speaking from hard evidence!!! here are the facts:
we live about 20 minutes from the hospital that we work at ( those of you who did not grow up driving in Michigan, that means, about 10 miles)
It shouldn't even take us that long to get there, but the lights are set up funky here and when you pass through one green light, the next one 50 feet ahead turns red.. don't ask me, i just live here..
anyway today we pull into traffic, which was easy since everyone on the road was driving at a cool 5 miles an hour or less! i am not exaggerating either... promise
we merge into traffic and then come to a complete standstill... i swear on all things holy that my speedometer NEVER once went over 10 miles an hour for the first part of our drive.
we live in a hilly part of virginia, so from where my car was 'parked' on the road i could see what the hold up was....again, i am not making this up, i don't even think i would've believed it if i had not seen it with my own eyes
people were so scared to drive in the snow, that they put on their hazards, and just stopped driving IN THE MIDDLE OF DAMN ROAD.
so to get down the road, i had to literally re-do a driving test, weaving in and out of parked cars ON THE ROAD!!!
here is where is gets even better. those people that are stopped are getting out of their cars...NOTE TO ANYONE READING THIS:::: please never get out of your car in or near the road, and i am being serious...especially here, i have seen more deaths in the er of people who got in a little fender bender and get out of the car to check it out on the side of the road and end up getting hit and ( most of the time, it is really sad) killed by a passing car that saw them!
anyway...people were getting out of their cars AND WIPING THE WINDOWS OFF WITH KLEENEX AND NAPKINS!!!
i am not an engineer, but i am pretty sure that the people that designed those cars put windshield wipers on it for a reason...
but i digress..
the point of this long angry-ish, but mostly in a silly undertoned post was that driving to work today took me 1 hour and 15 minutes... and when i called my boss to tell her that tony and i would be late she said " oh i totally understand."
as if there was a blizzard. there was, at most 1.5-2 inches of snow on the ground.. i mean, i could still see the green of the grass..
here is the kicker...we were listening to the radio in the car and the dj was talking about how it was declared " a winter weather advisory in effect until tomorrow."
yikes, yes that is all i can end with is yikes!

holiday seasons at home

So Christmas came a little late this year... We left on the 27th on a very sunny day. This time we left on time.. that never happens unless we have a plane to catch. The drive was about 10 hours but it was one of the fastest drives we have taken thanks to books on cd..this time we listened to one called whiskey sour.. it was a great mystery that took us all the way to sarah's front door.
At her house, we found warm hugs, friends and christmas gifts galore!!! I got the most amazing aprons from sarah...a rockin vintage one with a hot redhead pin up on it barbequeing with her honey.. and a patchwork one that i left at my mom's since i cook like crazy there... not to mention a new cookbook LOVE IT!!

adriana got me another cookbook that was on my list of things i would love to have, an amazing scented goddesss shaped soap, mary had a little amp cd, and this cute little monkey t-shirt. most importantly though was the gift of gab..i got to spend a few hours catching up with my best dolls!!! always best dolls, not just at weddings :)

after some great conversation tony and i sleepily headed to my mom and dad's house..we hung out with my dad for a little bit and then went to bed.

the next day i met barbie at the gym to begin to work off the food that i knew i would be eating while i was home.

we chatted and sweated our buns off ( literally)

after a shower and some primping we headed over to gwen and tony's. we stayed and chatted for a long time, then headed over to uncle mark and aunt sue's house. We had a lot of great wine and some more great converastion.. after we were wined and talked out. we headed to dinner...

The next night we met up with jay and cathy for dinner. After we dinnerback at my parent's place we played my new favorite game Mad GAb and indulged in a bit of the sauce...

the game consists of words written then when read properly make a real work or phrase. for example ( and my favorite one so far that my husband didn't get until just under the wire) the words were written bun crock moo sick and after reading it aloud and getting coached you are supposed to figure out that it is supposed to say 'punk rock music'

FUN FUN FUN !

after we said goodbye i had to get to bed, because i had another gym date with barbie in the morning!

That night i met up with my girls and tony hung out with mike and his guys. Although Adirana was missing, i got to spend some time with all my best girls, including Kristine, who i didn't think i was going to get to see...

we chatted long into the night ( and tara didn't get tired at all!! i am so proud)

Sunday was new year's eve... not just nye, but the first one that i have had off of work in 4 or 5 years...and the first one that tony and i ever got to spend together!

scott had a party, so we went there and brought in the new year with darts, air hockey, drinks, and friends..not to mention champagne and cigars!!! it was really fun! and from now on, i think i shall not work another christmas or new year's if i have anything to do with it!

The next day we had a new year's/ christmas party at our house. I am so excited i got to see uncle butch and auntie grace, uncle richie and auntie rosie and her shiny new knee ( well i didn't get see it, but i saw it in action) cheryl and tim. Not to mention i got to meet some of tony's family that i have not met prior to then, brian and tanya showed up, ashley and her boyfriend...there were so many people there, i can not even name them all, but i was glad to see everyone. The only crappy part is that scott and i got my mom a new camera for christmas so her camera has all the pictures on it and she hasn't downloaded them yet!!! ( so get on it mom)

we had an amazing dinner of pierogi's ( that the gang prepared last month) and tons of other food!!!

it was really a good time.

sarah, mark, jeff and mike came over later on in the night. it was nice to get to spend some time with everyone!

The next day scott took off work ( he is a lot like my dad-i was his excuse to not go to work)

we had lunch with him and hung out doing a bunch of nothing, one of my favorite things to do!!!

after that i got fitted for my dress for nicole's wedding.

After that we stopped over mark and tiff and jay and cathy were already there.i can not believe how fast nate is growing and i can't believe that i didn't take ANY photos of him!! he is the sweetest thing ever! laughing his little buns off.

i'm pretty sure i hogged him- tiff let me feed him and he fell asleep on my lap. i am still so mad that i didn't get any pix of him.. i mean i have one on my fridge, but he should be on this..

anyway we left there pretty late in the night.

we went home and got a good night's sleep, we had a lot of driving to do.

since i wasn't going to be home for my mom's birthday, she and i had some time together. i got her a new phone. then we went shopping for a bit..

brought some lunch home for the guys. ate lunch and drove off into the sunset ( literally it was pretty much dark when we left) well not really..mid afternoon. but it felt late...

i love coming home, but i sure hate leaving...as much as i love traveling, i can't wait for the day when tony and i drive in and land in OUR home and then don't have to move again, but i wouldn't trade this time right now for anything in the world..