The Trouble With Blogging... and Winter Storm Jonas!

Well its been almost a month since I've been here and as that was not the plan that's how it played out. Honestly I don't know why, but I pretty much told myself that I would just blog when I felt like it, and I guess I didn't feel like it. I have a bunch of stuff I want to write about, a bunch of products that I have tried that I want to tell y'all about and I don't know why I just haven't been able to get here and get motivated to write.

I have gotten back into reading which has been great, I suppose I could do some book reviews as well. As you may know I got a new Nook for my birthday and I was struggling to get books on there so in the meantime I just read books that I had laying around. Finally last week I sat down and watched a bunch of youtube videos at Jason's recommendation and they didn't help at all. So I started reading forums and people were having the same issues I was, so I did a bunch of things they recommended and TA DA, it worked like a charm! My Nook hasn't left my hands since!

I fixed my Nook just in time for Winter Storm Jonas to hit us! We knew it was coming but truth be told I really didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. Wednesday night we got about an inch and I swear the city stopped, they didn't seem prepared for it at all, we had been out at Target and on the drive home the roads were terrible and there were no plows or salt trucks in sight. When it started to snow on Friday at literally exactly the time they said it would, I wondered were we really going to get all they were calling for and how they would handle it here.

Friday morning Tanya and I went for a walk and then came home to hunker down for all they had called for. It started to snow around 1pm just as they had said and it did not stop until sometime very early Sunday morning!

Friday the snow was steady and heavy but the wind wasn't nearly as horrific as we saw on Saturday. We had the weather channel on almost all day Saturday and they basically begged people to say in and off the roads, which you wouldn't have thought that would have been an issue on account you could barely see a thing outside with the blizzard conditions but people were actually out. They started fining people and arresting them in New York city for driving. They were concerned with people getting stuck everywhere and basically inhibiting clean up and emergency vehicles.. Honestly I just couldn't understand what would be so important to venture out in that.

We were not only worried about possibly losing power here but also at our house! Raleigh was also effected by the storm and as usual they got more ice than snow! We made sure to turn the heat up a lot just in case we lost power and fortunately things at the house were fine.

However on Saturday morning we woke up to no heat in our apartment. I'm not exactly sure why it wasn't working but we ended up calling maintenance and they had apparently contracted our maintenance out to people who had never been here before and basically said they would do their best to find someone with a four wheel drive vehicle to get out to us! I couldn't believe it! Thankfully the heat just started working again or I have a feeling we would have been without for awhile.

I'll share some pictures of Friday and Saturday with you before I move on to Sunday and what we got up to!

Friday late afternoon

Friday night. 

Saturday morning! Keep in mind the wind was CRAZY, there were snow drifts EVERYWHERE!

I was pretty bored, so I baked some peanut butter cookies.. then I ate a bunch. Note to self, don't bake when you cant get rid of the cookies ASAP. 

Saturday afternoon, you couldn't see a thing! 

Saturday night. Don't think these people are going anywhere. In fact a bunch of them are still out there looking not much different. 

Saturday night. What a mess. 

I believe it was suppose to snow until Sunday morning some time, we went to bed late Saturday night and it was still snowing, I was up at 7am on Sunday and it has stopped. It was such a huge mess. Jason had borrowed a shovel from Dave thankfully and went out a few times on Saturday to shovel out the truck so it wouldn't be a huge job Sunday.. it was really good thinking on his part. 

Sunday morning Jason helped Josh move some stuff from their storage unit to their apartment and when he got back he saw an older gentlemen who lives here trying to dig out his cars, honestly he was far too old to be doing it and god love Jason and his big heart he spent a really long time out there making sure his cars were dug out. 

I went out to see if Jason needed some gloves or anything and that gentlemen told me he and his wife were moving to the Philippines where his wife is from, they were over winter! I hear ya my friend, I hear ya!

Having said that it was an absolutely beautiful day and the snow looked so pretty! I was up and ready anyways so Jason and I decided to head over to Target because we had something to return, get Starbucks and see if we could make it over to Dave and Lindsey's to play with the girls in the snow! Believe it or not the people who were suppose to plow the Target parking lot didn't show so that was a bit of a mess but we managed to get everything done we needed to and headed to Dave and Lindsey's.

Lindsey had told me that their roads hadn't been plowed but on our way over every other one was until it was time to turn onto their street. I really thought Jason would just say forget it when he saw the 20 inches on untouched snow covering the road to get to their house. The truck is brand new therefore it just has all season tires on it and its the snow ultra lightweight Ford so there wasn't much for traction either. Well I assumed wrong, instead of just driving back home Jason laid on the gas and fish tailed down the road to Dave and Lindsey's house! I think the neighbors thought he was totally whacked! Then when we arrived he slid the truck into the cul de sac and was flying around! Literally snow was flying absolutely everywhere, the truck was spinning around and while the neighbors were all standing at the end of their driveways staring, Jason was glowing.. loving every single second of it! There was SO MUCH SNOW!

Finally he was stuck and he and Dave had to shovel out the truck, while they got to work on that I went in to see if the girls were ready to come out and play. Lily was already half dressed and ready to go but Ava took a little more coercing! Lindsey asked her did she want to get dressed and go out and play.. she said "NO!" haha I couldn't blame her, she doesn't like to be cold. Lindsey then told her that Jason came to play with her, was she sure she didn't want to go out.. she replied.. "ummm.. NO!". Not long after though she saw Dave and Jason working on a snow fort outside and she got dressed! 

I don't know if this fort was for them or the girls. 

Lily and I were trying to make a castle out of snow with her bucket but sadly it wasn't really good packing snow. 

That mess in the middle of the cul de sac was courtesy of Jason. 

I'm telling you if I had snow pants I would have been right down there with Lily making snow angels! 

Snow fort. 

Ava enjoying the snow fort! 

Jason enjoying the snow fort just as much as the girls! 

Lily was a big help in the shoveling department. 

Sadly there were no sleds around to buy, they all sold out much earlier in the week! So Jason fashioned this sled for Lily and her friend Elizabeth out of cardboard and a bungy cord! It worked for awhile!! 

We had a lot of fun playing in the snow, but sadly needed to come home to get dinner on and get ready for football. It was a good thing that we left early because as we left Jason realized we were passing the apartment of another guy he works with who is a little older and we wanted to make sure he didn't need any help getting out.. he was good but when we got back to our apartment there was a few other coworkers of Jason that needed help and then just other neighbors! 

They did some clearing of our parking lot last night but I wont lie it was pretty pathetic! They didn't touch anything until after it had stopped snowing and I really think that was a mistake. This morning the parking lot and sidewalks outside looked like a skating rink. I don't think they use salt here. People are still snowed in, I don't think a lot of people had shovels or expected this much. I believe more things have reopened today. 

I have heard a nasty rumor that we may get another storm this weekend but I am really hoping that is not true! We are heading to Baltimore on Saturday for the Garth Brooks concert and I really don't want anything to get in the way of that!! 

So there you have it, my account of winter storm Jonas. It definitely could have been a lot worse, if you have been watching the news at all you may have seen that coast of New Jersey had absolutely TERRIBLE flooding, I am keeping those people in my thoughts. At this point there are still people without power and dealing with way bigger issues than just shoveling out their car. It pays to be prepared in these cases as much as you absolutely can and listen to the weather station, take their advice and listen to their recommendations!! 

I am planning to be back here again this week, I'm setting a goal for myself to blog more than once this week! Thank you all for stopping by, I hope the new year is treating you well! 

Stay Warm!

Christmas Recap

Good Afternoon,

I had intended to get here before Christmas and at the very least wish you all a Merry Christmas but apparently I failed, when we go home its like nothing else in the world exists and naturally the time flies by! I thought I would come by today and recap our Christmas at home and update a little, not that there is much going on.

We left to go home on the night of the 22nd, Jason worked a full day and I was ready to go as soon as he got home. We put everything in the truck and hit the road! I always expect traffic but we've been so lucky and never actually encounter any on the way home. We managed to avoid the rain until we got about 10 minutes from home which was great, got home and unloaded the truck and just puttered around for awhile before going to bed. Jason had a super early dentist appointment on the 23rd so while he was gone I just sat enjoying the house, especially now that its all decorated for Christmas. It was such a peaceful morning, its was chilly and raining outside, the house was so cozy with the fireplace on.. it was absolutely PERFECT!.

I know I say this all the time but I don't take a second of our time at home for granted, I enjoy every single minute of it. These perfect moments with coffee in hand, I take in every single second of it. 

I actually didn't expect Jason to be gone as long as he was so I unpacked everything, got ready for the day and just enjoyed being at home. When Jason got home we had a bunch of running around to do and because it was miserable out we just wanted to get it over it. I was super excited to hit up Trader Joe's though, I love that store and they aren't readily available everywhere so when I get a chance to go I jump on it. I specifically wanted to go there because I was running out of my new all time favorite tea and its a Trader Joe's brand, and seasonal so I wanted to stock up! When we got there I bought 5 boxes and Jason was looking at me at first wondering if I was serious with the 5 boxes and then as if I was crazy when I assured him this was exactly how many I was getting. We toured around Trader Joe's a bit but as usual it was crazy busy and we wanted to get the rest of our running around finished. 

Of course being the 23rd of December every where was ridiculously busy! We finished our grocery shopping and went home for a quiet night. 

On the 24th I was a straggler who still needed a few stocking stuffers and what a mistake it was to leave that until so late. If I had more patience it probably wouldn't have been so bad but when its impossible to find parking and you cant easily navigate the store because there are millions of people and then you wait in line for a year to pay, it just all takes so much longer than usual. When I was finally finished I couldn't wait to get home. The traffic getting home was a nightmare, and I laugh when I type that because literally Walmart and Target are two minutes from our house but the road taking me home was backed up a country mile, literally. I must have waited 27 lights to turn left.. I couldn't believe it. 

We had decided on Christmas eve we would just make some snacks instead of an actual dinner which worked out well as we finished wrapping and just getting things ready for the next day. Did I mention that it was almost 80 degrees on Christmas eve? It was actually hot, people were out doing their Christmas shopping in shorts and flip flops!! On Christmas Eve we decided to take a drive to look at all the houses decorated for Christmas, we do this a lot through the month of December but on Christmas eve it was particularly odd as Jason was in shorts and flip flops and we had all the windows and sunroof open in the truck. There were some pretty great houses though. 

This street in particular was really good, the people across from this house had a very similar set up. Its so nice when people go all out or make the effort to decorate for Christmas, I think people really appreciate it more than they would ever know, or at least I do. 

I have to say although I could care less for winter it was really hard to get into the Christmas with the weather being so warm. After our drive which did not include the usual Starbucks white hot chocolate due to the weather we came home, put all the presents under the tree and got cozy to watch a Christmas movie. 

Christmas day was wonderful, although it absolutely flew by! Jason and I didn't get up until around 8:30am and didn't finish opening presents until noon! I don't really know how that happened, I guess its part of the joy when its just the two of us, we really enjoyed our gifts and talked over coffee, took our time and just enjoyed the morning. By the time we were finish the idea of breakfast was pretty much off the table sadly which sucks because I really fought for it as Jason didn't want to have breakfast. We just munched on leftover snacks from the night before while puttering around. We got ready for the day and cleaned up the house as much as possible, finding homes for all our new stuff and decided what would stay at home and what would be coming back to the apartment. 

Overall we had a really great day, Jason cooked the turkey in the big easy which I always appreciate because it allows for so much more oven space. It turns out so well in there too! 

Christmas day was also extremely warm, in the high 70s! I know that no one really got winter weather this year, except maybe the mid west but it was just so strange. I always appreciate a good sunset though and Christmas day didn't disappoint! Neither did being able to sit outside and enjoy it. 

Saturday again we had running around to do, we wanted to do some exchanging of sizes on certain items and return a few things. It was convenient to do it at home and just get things done so we figured why not. We weren't out long and then just stayed at home for the rest of the day. Sunday was time to leave sadly, as much as I am so grateful for the time at home it definitely never feels like long enough. We stayed to watch the Patriots game which SUCKED and then got on the road just after 4pm. Again no traffic and we made it back in great time. 

Overall our time at home and Christmas was fabulous! We got back Sunday night and are heading back home on Thursday night of this week. Jason will work the full day and then we will head home for New Years Eve, we figure we will get home in time to get downtown for midnight. We will spend the weekend putting away all the Christmas stuff and just getting organized again. 

Not much else going on truth be told, I did however score some pretty awesome boxing day sales. In the States they don't actually call it Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) but they have all the same sales. I got a Old Navy gift card for Christmas and the nice thing about those is that Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic are all linked so if you have a gift card for any of them you can use it at any of the stores. I managed to place one big order from all 3 stores online (via one store) and use all the coupon codes and sales! I got 7 items for $100 and saves $164!! SCORE! 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying your time with family and friends. The weather took a turn here and is definitely a lot cooler than the weather we left at home, I am not happy about that. But I suppose it is winter so I cant complain about weather in the 40s and 50s! 

I don't know if I will get back here before New Years but if not I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year! I have high hopes for 2016!! 

Thank you as always for stopping by! 

Catch Up & The National Tree Lighting

Well well well.. is there anyone still out there? I cant believe its been a month since I've blogged.. I don't think that has ever happened around here. If it has than its been a really long time since.

I cant really explain why I haven't been around, I just didn't feel like writing. I felt like I didn't have anything to say and forcing myself to come and write about things that I didn't care about didn't make sense. I knew that I wasn't giving up on the blog forever but I just needed some time to regroup and get to a place where I wanted to write. Truth be told I cant say that I'm there yet, wanting to be here and write all the time but I did want to catch up on a few things here because this isn't a place just to fill you in, its a place for me to document my life and have somewhere to come back and remember things.

We went home over Thanksgiving which was amazing and much needed, its hard to describe how great it is to be home to someone who gets to be home all the time. I look so forward to our time there, I feel so at peace, I sleep better.. everything just feels so much better. We decorated the house for Christmas as we are going home this year and I cant begin to tell you how excited I am for that! We actually decorated the outside of the house for the first time as well and it was so much fun. We didn't do anything too extravagant but we put up lights, garland and bows! It was so strange to be decorating the house for Christmas in shorts though. As I'm sure most of you know everywhere has been seeing unusually warm weather for quite sometime.

I love our Christmas tree at home, its big and beautiful and PERFECT!

We put up the a Christmas sign as well, and there is a wreath on the door you just cant really see it. 

We were there for 5 days which was absolutely amazing, I don't take one second of it for granted but in the end its still really hard to leave. We have been really lucky traffic wise driving to and from home which is also a huge bonus. 

Once we got back from Thanksgiving we had lots of Christmas things to look forward to around Maryland and I had high hopes that being busy would make the time fly. I cant say that has been the case but we have definitely been up to some fun stuff. I plan to share all of that with you guys in a few posts but I didn't want to start this one off with being 10 pages. 

Back in November Jason and I entered a lottery in hopes of getting tickets to the National Tree Lighting in Presidents Park DC. You cant just purchase tickets, there are so many people who want them that you had to enter the lottery and just hope. We found out that we got tickets on the 5th of December I believe and we were super excited to attend. 

After doing a little reading on the website they honestly didn't make it sound too great, so we went in with very low expectations. Jason got off work early and we headed into DC, we got a Starbucks and toured around on our way to get in line. I will have to say that their setup was actually extremely efficient and we managed to get through the line and security very quickly. Because of the recent events in California as you can imagine security was over the top, I believe there was just as many cops, military and secret service as their was civilians. The buildings surrounding Presidents Park where the lighting ceremony was held were all lined with snipers, I wont lie it was a little intense. 

While we waited for the show to start they have choirs all over singing to the crowd, it was great! It didn't seem like such a long wait when you were being entertained. It was also an absolutely beautiful day! Sadly not many of my pictures turned out because it was dark, I have a video though of Miss Piggy and Michelle Obama reading Twas the Night Before Christmas that I will try and insert! 

The ceremony was hosted by Reese Witherspoon which was really neat and there were lots of wonderful performers such as Fallout Boy, Aloe Blacc, Andra Day, Bellamy Young and my personal favorite Trombone Shorty! There were many more as well, including the Obama's which was pretty exciting. 

After the show was over we were absolutely FROZEN so we decided to walk around a bit and check out a few of the monuments in the dark before getting a late dinner. If you've never been to DC as I have said before it is absolutely amazing, and the monuments lit up at night do not disappoint. The Lincoln Memorial is still my favorite but check out the World War II Memorial lit up at night. 

The Washington Monument

I believe this hotel is called the Willard Hotel, this place is absolutely AMAZING and I want to stay there. 

We grabbed brick oven pizza before heading home and toured around DC a little. It was a really nice to just take it all in on such a beautiful night and really get into the Christmas spirit. 

So that was one of the few outings we have had recently, I plan to share a few of them with you this week. 

I hope you have all been well, and are all ready for the holiday season.. I know we sure are! 

Thank you as always for stopping in! 

Washington DC Visit October 2015

Good Afternoon!

I am seemingly behind on posting or at least as far as what I thought I had already posted. I wrote last week about our trip to Annapolis, Maryland and I thought I had also posted about the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia but apparently the latter never happened! I think I will come back later this week with that one as well as our trip this weekend to Colonial Williamsburg!

So if you were around last week you know that we went to Annapolis, Maryland and I believe I mentioned on Halloween Day we went to Washington, DC. We have been to DC before and toured around the monuments and all that good stuff, and just a few weeks ago we went into downtown DC just to go to the Gap and we did a little walking around.

If you are planning a trip to DC you should know that it really is walking friendly but there is SO MUCH to see! If you only have a few days in DC than I highly recommend spending one day using a trolley tour to make the most of your time. We used Old Town Trolley because that's the trolley company we tend to use in all places that we visit. All of the tour guides that we had were absolutely fantastic and not only is this a great time saver but you also get a ton of additional history about many buildings throughout the DC area and all the random statues and their significance.

Once you purchase your trolley tour ticket you can get on and off the trolley at your leisure at all the designated stops and spend as much time as you like at each place. I believe the trolley picks up and drops off every half hour. If you choose to only visit the places you stop on the trolley tour you will see a ton!

If you have never been to DC before, whether you are an American or not it is absolutely worth seeing! The history is amazing, there is so much to see and learn. I have been twice now to all the monuments and learned the history and I cant wait to go back again. Jason and I are planning this winter to take advantage of all the museums there and of course the Smithsonian! Visiting DC is absolutely time and money well spent!

Here are some pictures I took on our tour this most recent visit!

The buildings throughout the city are absolutely beautiful, and fall is a really wonderful time to visit! 

DC train station. 

The Capitol as you can see if surrounded my scaffolding, it has been like this since 2011 when it sustained structural damage from an earthquake, at this point they are saying it will not be completed until early 2017. 

View of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Capitol. 

One side of the Jefferson Memorial. 

U.S Marine Corps War Memorial - Iwo Jima Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

The Reflecting Pool & Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln himself! This statue is 19 feet I believe, its massive. 

During our time out in DC we noticed a TON of veterans out and about with care givers and such. It turns out they were there for a tribute at the Korean War Memorial. Most of the veterans we were seeing were from that war and were there for the tribute. It was wonderful to see all of these brave souls and thank them for their service. My grandfather served in the Korean War for the Americans, although he couldn't have been there obviously, I felt he was in spirit. 

The Korean War Memorial is absolutely amazing. 

I feel we visited at the perfect time, the weather was absolutely perfect and the area was in full autumn wonder! The colors were absolutely amazing! 

Entrance into the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. 

The White House. 

A not so fabulous Panoramic of the World War II Memorial. Jason and I have pictures we took here years ago, it was really nice to go back. 

I think the pictures speak for themselves, DC is absolutely a trip to make! I don't think you have to be an American to appreciate all it has to offer. There are a ton of places to eat there, lots of shops, basically anything you would hope for in a city you can find in DC as well as all the historical monuments and museums. All of the museums linked to the Smithsonian are also free which is pretty amazing! Everything is open 364 days a year as well, minus Christmas Day! 

If you are planning a trip to DC and have any questions I would be happy to help, as I said I highly recommend the trolley tour to maximize what you would see if you don't have a lot of time. 

I hope you all had a great weekend, thank you so much for stopping by! Although last week we had one day in the 80s our weather seems to have taken a turn and we are looking to get into some real November weather! I am currently in wool socks, a massive sweater and drinking a hot tea! 

And on that note if you are anywhere close to a Trader Joe's go and get yourself some Vanilla Cinnamon black tea, its in a blue box (I'll see if I can include a picture) because its basically like drinking a piece of cake, and it smells amazing too!! You're welcome!! 

Looks like you can purchase the tea HERE on Amazon if you don't have a Trader Joe's near by!

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Have a great day!!!