A Walk Down Memory Lane...

I've never been one to quote movies, unless it's a song from a movie, than it's likely I'll sing along, in an awful, out of tune kind of voice. I can't sing, I know it, but I do it anyway. Put words to music, and I somehow know every word, and for some reason think I always have to sing-a-long.

Over the last few days I've been catching myself quoting lines from theme songs from some of my childhoods finest...well, just one line in particular, "Get it right or pay the price."

Watching that reminded me of this show:

Which escalated into me watching all of the following,

For memories sake of course:

How I miss the days of awesome T.V. shows.

T.G.I.F!!!

Guess Who's Back?

He may only be back for a week, but a week's a week, and I'll gladly take whatever I can get.

I've been beyond excited once I learned my brother was coming into town for work a few weeks back. There's nothing I love more than spending time with my siblings, and last night, it was time well spent. Living on the east coast just isn't the same anymore without my brother around, and soon Brittany and Brian are going to follow suit and pack up and leave the east coast too. It seems my family is fleeting from the east coast one sibling at a time. First Rob, now Brittany. So, I guess the real question is, who will be next to pack our bags and leave DC, Andrea, or Me? Or will we leave...

Sibling dinner July 2009:

Sibling dinner February 2010:

Our family dynamics are slowing changing, one baby at a time.
Lorena and Michael, we sure missed you two.

Aunt Mays

As the youngest of four, I've never known what it's like to have a younger sibling to care after. The fact that a younger sibling is foreign to me is probably what draws me to loving children so much, but not in a creepy Michael Jackson kind of way. Just in the kind of way that I love to fuss over them, hold them, adore them, and have them sink into my arms. So, needless to say, the day I became an Aunt, I was beyond excited to have a little child to love and adore, one who was actually part of my family. Being an Aunt is the closest I'll get to having a younger sibling, and I think this way is a little bit sweeter anyway.

These past two days I've gotten to play "mom" to my nephew while my sister is back at work, and I've loved every minute of it. It's definitely given me a new appreciation for motherhood, because it's sure a demanding job, but a job that's worth the hard work nonetheless.

My favorite part of hanging out with my nephew, having him fall asleep in my arms for three hours. I don't think there is anything quite as sweet and peaceful as holding a sleeping baby, especially one this cute!
Hanging out with James these past few days has sure made me miss this little one too.

I'm sensing a trip to Sweden is in the horizon.

Simply Adorable

I may be slightly biased, because I'm the adoring aunt, but I dare you to look me in the eyes, and tell me they are not the cutest boys you have ever seen?!

I think I'm a pretty lucky aunt to have these two for nephews, too bad one lives far far far away, and the other is about to move semi-far away too. I guess that just gives me one more reason to keep up with my traveling habits and continue to vacation it up.
Sweden, Tennessee, I'm not picky!

Snow day #4.5

Tomorrow begins snow day número cuatro.

I think this sums it up nicely:

...oh, boy!

Snow Day # 3.5

"Wimps" is how my Dad would like to reference us for not having gone to work since last Friday. I just laugh, because really, who would have ever thought the east coast would get slammed like this? As a native Utahan, and someone who has seen plenty of snow in my day, I've had one snow day in all my life, it was back in fourth grade, and we had to make it up over President's Day. But I remember wishing for something like this to happen. For it to snow so badly that I'd be trapped indoors for a week, but it never did, and remained only a wish. I guess it was a good thing, adding a week on to the end of school to make-up the snow days would have been miserable. However, the onset of a bad snowstorm never made us Utahan's worried, the way it worries Washingtonians. In all of my years of living in a nasty snowy climate, I never would have imagined those wished for snow days so many years ago, would actually happen when I'm a working woman. And the beauty of snow days at this stage in life, I don't have to make them up over holidays, or spring break. For one I don't even have a spring break (quite the unfortunate thing about having a job), and secondly, make-up snow days just don't exist in the working world, and that's a beautiful thing.

Since I've been "trapped" indoors since last Friday, I've had plenty of pondering time to myself. Most recently, I've been pondering this fact of reality, I'm an adult, and I need to start acting like I have adulthood status. I was reading this article in the Ensign the other day, and it was this phrase that got me thinking, "Because many see marriage as the primary marker of adulthood, single individuals can feel they lack the ability to graduate into full adult status." I laughed after reading that sentence, and quickly agreed that, as a single adult, I don't always feel like an adult, or act like one either. So, I decided to make a list of reasons why I'm an adult, aside from the age factor, which is unfortunately an automatic qualifier. Unfortunate because sometimes I just want to think I'm always going to be my Daddy's little girl, and never have to really grow up.

What other reasons qualify me as an adult?

Well...

• I have a full-time job
• I live away from home, and have for the last 6.5 years
• I make my own money, and can choose to do what I want with it
• I travel to Africa for work by myself in month long increments
  
• I own couches (that's an adult thing to say, right?)
• I bought my dream car
• I signed up for an extra curricular college course, because I wanted to
  
• I make my own doctor/dentist appointments
  
• I can eat cake or brownies for breakfast if I want, and won't get into trouble
  
• I drive myself to church, and go on my own without being hassled by parents (instead I have a sister to do that job)
• I clean up after myself
  
• I pay bills, lots of them

I'm sure there are a plethora of other things that hang over my head on a daily basis, reminding me that I'm actually an adult, who has responsibilities, and has to act adultish, but that will suffice for now. Listing anymore will only exhaust me on how demanding my life really is. From snow days, to making money, traveling to Africa for work, buying grandiose accessories, and living far away from home, it's a tough life I live!

From one adult to all of you, happy Wednesday.
If you're on the east coast, happy snow day...again!!!

If You Wish Hard Enough...

...It just might come true.

I wished for a snow day last week.

At least one more before winter finally disappears for a few months,
And on Friday, I got a partial one,
Which I would have been content with.

But dump over two feet of snow on us in 24 hours this weekend,
And a true snow day and work being cancelled tomorrow
Would be last weeks wish come true.


Getting paid to be a bum is quite
Undoubtedly the greatest arrangement one could ever ask for.



Even though the sun was out shining today,
Already melting the blizzard away,
Washingtonians think the east coast needs to be shut down for just one more day.
And to that I say, THANK YOU!

I won't push my luck thinking work will be cancelled
Three days in a row,
But we are expecting another snow storm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
You can be sure if that were to happen,
I'd have permagrin on my face all week long.

Church was cancelled today due to the blizzard,
So we went 19th century style
And had sacrament meeting at someone's house,
Walking through the madness to get there.
I don't love snow, or cold weather for that matter,
But walking through February's winter wonderland
Was simply fabulous.



Happy Snow day!

{thanks for some of the pictures, Lauren}

Partial is Better Than Nothing

Right now it looks like this outside:



Two days ago I asked for a snow day when it looked like this...



...But I didn't get it.
However, today, when it looks like this outside...

...I'm getting my snow day,
Kind of.
Go figure!

The east coast is funny that way.
Sometimes they just have to think a storm is coming
In order for them to grant us lovely privileges.
Lovely privileges like working from home.
And being dismissed four hours early.
All thanks to a nasty storm that is about to break out mid-morning today,
And last through tomorrow night.

So, when my boss tells the office to telecommute if possible today.
You better be sure I jumped all over that bandwagon.
You don't have to tell me twice to work from home,
In my bed, while still in my pj's.
A bit of responsibility mixed with laziness, now that's my kind of work.

So, for the last hour, I've been "working" from my bed.
I wish my bed could be my office every morning.
But alas, I'm only granted this privileged once in a blue moon...
Or once every day the east coast has to freak out that we're going to get
"Pounded" by a nasty snow storm.
Bring on the storm, bring on working from home,
Bring on a partial snow day, and work being done at 1!!!
Happy weekend to us all.

The Heart of Winter

Canceled flight, massive snow and ice storm, a rebooked flight not once, but twice, Will Rogers airport basically closed for two days, and a city nearly incapacitated by the weather, yet none of that was going to stop me from making it to Oklahoma City last weekend. So, to Oklahoma City I went, even if I had to endure a few slight hiccups along the way. I've adopted this motto from a friend of mine, "the more miserable, the more memorable," and memorable it was, thanks to the miserable weather that decided to throw a twist into my weekend.

In order to make my weekend possible, I flew into Dallas, where he was waiting for me.

After a night spent in Dallas, and a scrumptious brunch in the morning, we left just in time to make it safely back to Oklahoma City (we saw over 16 slide offs on the freeway), where we were nearly snowed in all weekend long. I welcome being forced to be lazy, miserable weather and all.

Although I've never been a fan of the cold, or snow for that matter, Phil says I have to endure 6 more weeks of this...

As long as winter promises to give me just one more snow day, I'll be ok with it.

Unfortunately, today was not one of those days.