Midweek Randoms!

• It is February 1st and I am wearing open toed shoes...in Indiana. This is NOT normal. While I feel like I probably shouldn't complain about this fact, I just can't help by complain. I want winter, with snow falling, hot tea, snuggling and watching movies and sledding galore. So far this year we have had a couple snow falls, but with no opportunity to play in it :(
• Last Year on Feb. 10th the temperature was -6*, this year the high is 40*...and that will probably go up before the 10th gets here!
• We have family coming up on the 17th to see snow and I don't know if there is going to be snow for them to see. This is just sad! I am super excited to see them though!
• I am LOVING my new car...still a little sad that I had to say goodbye to my Civic, but I know we did the right thing!
• Louie has been keeping us on our toes. It is so funny when he is in a playful mood. I love coming home from work and seeing him waiting at the door for me. He is just the most precious thing...
• We will be headed to Florida in 45 days for vacation-AND we are taking Louie with us! We just could not bear to leave him with a stranger or in a kennel. Given his abusive background and the fact that he was in a kennel for 5 years I just could not do that to him. Pray for us on this trip...should be fun, right?
• I am already looking forward to the Vera Outlet Sale. Remember last years sale? It was so much fun and this year will be too! My good friend Brooke and her Mom are driving up from Kentucky to join and will be staying at our house. I am so looking forward to seeing them both again!
• I am hosting my first party at our house and I am nervous yet excited at the same time. All week I have been thinking of creative ways to display food and different things...it's so fun! If you like Mary-Kay or want to learn more about Mary-Kay; you can shop here. Right now there is free shipping!
• Did I mention we are going to Florida and I am excited? Well, I am! I am ready for some BBQ and some sunshine! Oh, and Mickey Mouse...can't forget him since we will be at Disney!
• The Honda dealership where we purchased our car offers free car washes whenever you want. I can tell you that I really like that feature and have already taken advantage of it! :) I love a clean car!
• I could care less about the Superbowl. There, I said it. I know it is in Indianapolis this year and that is great for our state but I don't care to be part of it. I did that when it was in Jacksonville and I wasn't impressed then either. We are going to a Superbowl party...the hostess bribed me with her son since she knows how much I love babies, ha!
• We are planning on adding backsplash in our kitchen next weekend...should be fun!
• We now have a lovely deep freezer in our basement. It was a lovely gift from Stephen's parents this Christmas and it will be used a lot with our little family. Can't wait to stock it full of veggies and meat!

That's really all I have to share for now...but I will leave you with some pictures taken over the course of the past week:

Above: Driving the new car on Saturday together :)
Below: The pretty blue sky and dusting of snow from Friday. It was lovely outside!

The pretty weather disappeared and left is with this on Sunday morning:


Got this idea from Pinterest and I love the way it turned out:

Louie has been snuggly this week and I love it. How handsome is he?!


Hope everyone has a great Wednesday and enjoys the rest of the week!

The rest of Mom, Dad & Hunter's Visit {Part 1}

The day after Christmas we had some shopping to do. Well, I had some shopping to do. :) I have for years always bought wrapping paper for next year on the day after Christmas. It is cheap and always on sale, so why not stock up for next year? I love saving money!

I also wanted to get some more Christmas decor type things for the house. I wanted some more wreaths and ornaments this year, but since it is silly to pay full price for these things...I tried to wait patiently. I can tell you now that we scored some super cute and very affordable Christmas wreaths that will adorn our doors next year. Each door should have a wreath on it if all goes as planned! We also got some ornaments for our silver and green tree, since next year it will be much taller. Taller = bigger and bigger = it will need more ornaments. Agree? Okay, great!

Moving on...

The next day we woke up to snow. Actually, I set my alarm for 4am (when the snow was supposed to start falling in our area) and had promised Hunter that I would wake him up if it was indeed snowing. Well, sadly at that time it was still raining so back into bed I went. When we woke up around 8 that morning though, it was snowing and the ground was already covered.

Everyone was SO excited!

We got ready and headed to Warsaw for some walking and shopping. Mom wanted to eat at The Boathouse, but Hunter really wanted to eat at Long John Silvers because they closed in Florida...in the end Long John Silvers won. I forgot how greasy that place is!

After eating we headed to Winona Village to walk around the boutiques and do a little shopping. Here are the pictures from that trip:

Once we made it home, we changed clothes and packed up to head to the park for some sledding and snow fun!  Hunter got to wear his new snowboarding pants, so he was thrilled J We all bundled up and hit the road…since the hubs, Hunter and I had on layers and layers of clothes we decided not to squeeze into the back of the truck but rather to ride in the bed of the truck sitting on saucer sleds. Disclaimer: the park is only a couple blocks from our house so we felt we were safe going that short of a distance. The bed of the truck had a bit of ice and snow in it, so we kind of slid around whenever Dad turned. It was pretty fun, but I was worried about the dangers of it! Here are some pictures of us headed to the park:

And sledding:

Then the guys started building a snowman. It was pretty awesome. Dad and Hunter even used their pocket knives to help shape the snow ball. Pretty funny! I didn’t get a finished picture of the snowman because my camera battery died (poor planning on my part), but just try to imagine a snowman with wooden arms, 2 eyes and a camouflage baseball cap. Have that picture in your head? That’s their snowman!  

Mom and I decided the snowman building was a man’s job, so we sat pretty and took some pictures:

All in all, it was an amazing day in Indiana. We prayed for snow and we got snow…enough to play in while my parents were here. It was beautiful outside, too!

God is SO good!

Stayed tuned for Part 2!

Brrrrr!

Our mornings are usually all the same. We have a routine, and it works well for us. Typically The Mr. leaves after waking me up and making me check my BS before telling me goodbye, then I go back to sleep for an hour before getting up to start my day. He also sends me a text and lets me know how the cars are and if he took care of it or if I need to plan on leaving early so I have time to scrape the ice or brush the snow. This morning his text said "there is lots of ice, I scraped but did not get it all. It is frigid out here!"...boy was he right!

I got up when my alarm sounded and got ready in record speed. When I headed down to my car (about 15 minutes earlier that I normally do) I was greeted by frozen sidewalks with ice, and a sheet of ice over every inch of my car. Usually I put my purse and lunch bag in the car, start it and start scraping while it warms up. Good plan, yes? Well, it is a great plan when your car wants to start! That's right, my little silver rice rocket would not start this morning! Perhaps it was too cold for its Florida roots?

Eventually, my loved car decided to start. I am not sure the reasoning for the delay or stubbornness, but I am blaming the bitter cold. I was curious as to how cold it was and what my thermometer in my car would say. Once the car started, I got my answer! You are reading that right, it was-6 outside. Actually, weather.com said it was -8...anyways! I know I will be staying bundled up and warm today, that's for sure!

Oh, and next week? It is going to be in the high 40's-close to 50. How crazy is that!?!

Blizzard

Okay, okay so we had a blizzard...I was totally excited, but because it is my first blizzard I felt I was entitled to some level of excitement. Yes?

While I am still excited because there is a substantial amount of snow on the ground and still falling; I am also disappointed. Every county around us, except for 1 is in a 'State of Emergency' which means you are not allowed on the road and will be ticketed if you are. The only way for me to get a snow day would be for this to happen in our county...but no. I am here, at work. Thankfully The Mr. did not go to work today and was able to get me to work. I really would not be here if it were not for him digging my car out and driving me here. Oh, did I mention that we got stuck 2 times on the way to work? And once was as we were turning onto my company road/parking lot?!?

So far we have gotten mostly snow with some sleet mix. This is good, because freezing rain and ice would be much worse and people would probably lose electricity fairly quickly. As far as I know there are no power outages in our area...yet. We well see!

The snow is still falling, but I did snap some pictures last night on my way home and then this morning. Here is what our town looks like today:

This was taken as I was driving home from work on Tuesday evening. The snow starting blowing around 4:30pm and a little after 5, so much had already fallen!

This is real, my camera was NOT on the black and white setting!



Drifts between our cars this morning...




That is A LOT of snow!



Drifts and an apartment building in our complex...

My sweet husband shoveling the snow so we can get my car out!

Soooo thankful for him!

Glad I had on these boots, which btw I almost lost in the snow at one point!



Can you see how deep my footprint is?






Warm and bundled up!

Still snowing...view from work.



Work parking lot, they are filling dump trucks with snow and hauling them to another property. There is so much snow! Also, more cars are showing up!

I hope to get out this evening after work and take some pictures downtown and around the library. The buildings are so pretty anyways, so I can only imagine what the courthouse looks like covered in over a foot of snow! I will post pictures and stories when they happen, so hold tight folks! If you are being effected by this blizzard or winter storm, stay warm and inside! If you are in Florida...soak up some sun for me :)

SNOW!

I don't know about the rest of you bloggers, but I LOVE signing in and seeing that I have more followers! It just makes my day, that and your loving comments! Welcome to my life if you are new, hope you enjoy reading all my rants and updates about life in IN!

It snowed all.day.long yesterday. The flakes were not big (in my opinion) but they consistently fell throughout the day and it was beautiful. I have seriously never seen this much snow at once in my life. Sure I have gone skiing, but I don't think having a 2 foot base really counts when everything but the slopes are green. So yes, this is my record :)

This blog is all about honesty, so here it is: I am totally jealous of everyone and their snow days. I know the South has basically been shut down for the past couple of days. Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama...this means you. I know that your part of the nation does not get snow often so people are not equipped and cannot drive safely...but really? You have like maybe 1in of snow and you are in a state of emergency. I digress. Why am I jealous? Well, because all I want to do is put my snow pants on and play int the snow. Deep down I am a Florida girl and this much snow excites me. But, I am at work-working and when I get home it will be late and dark. I pray there is still fluffy snow this weekend so I an make a snow angel and snowman! Okay, rant over!

I snapped some pictures as I was leaving work and when I got home yesterday. The snow was so fluffy! I had no idea that walking in snow was equivalent to walking in soft sand at the beach-it totally felt the same! Enjoy these:

Do you see all that snow!?

Snow covered car, half way up the license plate! *I still think my car looks weird with an IN license plate, the FL ones are much prettier!

This is how thick the snow was on the windshield...it is not the best picture but you get the idea!

Snow in the wheels!

After the 3 mile treck home from work, still icey and snow covered!

I like the tree ourside our apartment building, I like it even more when there is snow on it! :)

About to head inside for the evening!

 The weather man says that we are going to get at least another inch this afternoon/tonight. We will see! :) Have a great Wednesday!