Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Truly a Winter Wonderland


Like many others, I'm a die-hard snow fan. I remember the days of crawling into bed, crossing my fingers, and wishing on a star for a snowy day. Well, I think after twenty years of hoping, I've hit the jackpot of all snow days, combined. I'm not one look a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm questioning weather or not it's possible to have too much snow. 

I will always love snow, but it's CRAZY outside. Usually a Portland winter consists of an inch or two of snow, but mostly rain. Whenever snow is in the forecast, people get out their chains, the city salts the road, and they stand at the door ready for shovels 

and plows. Well, this year, it was an unexpected storm that left everyone standing at their door with an open jaw instead of an open bucket of de-icing solvent. 

We had a record beating 15 inches of snow. In 1968 we had 14. Wowza! 

*Days have past since I finished this blog, so here's the snow update*

Snow. What snow? We had fifteen inches of snow? Ha, you could have fooled me. In a mater of a couple of days all of the winter wonderland lala sloshed away with the buckets of rain we have received. Even though it's gone, I am inclined to post some snow highlights. Skipper's very first snow!! He loved it. I'd throw a snowball for him to chase and he'd run after it, and then dig his nose into the snow to try and find it. He'd also catch the snowballs and eat it. Oh Skipper...what a character.

After a week with snow on the ground I started to wonder if we'd ever see the color of pavement again. I also began to wonder if I would ever drive my car, it was sorta tucked into a blanket of snow, including our Toyota Previa. I questioned if it was still out there. It had 15 inches on top of it...crazy. 



And now, for my personal favorite: Those ambitious ones who think they can make it up our hill. I've lost count of how many people got stuck outside our house. We always poke our head out the window to watch the cars as there tires spin, and their car slides to a halt. Here's a bus that thought they could make it, got stuck, and began the process of trying to turn around. Surprisingly, they made it back down the hill, about an hour later. 



And to top it off, here are a few random snow pictures. I enjoyed it, but now we're back to the rainy winter that we are used to, and the snow-filled two weeks that we had...a distant memory. 


Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Worst Blogger Award

If there were an award for the "Worst Blogger," I'm pretty sure I would be nominated. Not only do I forget about blogging, but when it comes down to the act of "blogging" I tend to just write about the fact that I don't do a very good job blogging. The last time I thought about updating my blog, I blinked and two months went by. I blinked again, and well...you get the idea. 

Well, here goes an actual blog entry. 

A lot has happened since I last thought about updating the blog. 
I spent the summer working up in British Columbia, Canada. Having spent many a childhood summers up there, I decided why not one last hurrah! So I packed up my bags quickly after returning home from Graduation and drove up to Canada. After missing a summer two years ago, the first time in like 12 or so years, I wanted to spend one more amongst the trees, trails and people that I loved so much as a kid growing up. I had a dual role, camp counselor/videographer extraordinaire (alright, that last part was me). I spent the summer helping kids tie their shoes, and labeling tapes (twenty hours of tapes, I might add). I filmed, produced, and edited their promotional video, which I am very pleased to say, was very well received. 
You can watch the video at the camp's website www.bowisle.ca

After a couple of months in Canada, the opportunity presented itself for me to take a trip to Maui. Yes, I jumped at the thought, scratch that, I leapt. My parents and I spent about a week there. 
It was hard adjusting to the warm clear water and the sandy beaches, but somehow, someway, I did manage, and came home with some pretty entertaining sunburn/tan lines. *The photo to the right is in front of a huge HUGE banyan tree in Lahaina. It was sprouting trunks all around the square and linking it self back up...amazing!* 



I bought a car. Awesome. Nissan Versa. 


I was very fortunate to have such a wonderfully heartfelt thanksgiving loaded with family and friends. My Aunt and Uncle came up from California, which was awesome, bringing not only their lovely selves, but their two Boston Terriers. I dubbed the weekend the "3BT Bonanza" Our Boston Terrier, Skipper, was the third one making the house bursting to the edges with dog! *Check out my Aunt's Blog "plowing the mind" for some awesome photos)

And right now I am blogging. Woooo. Look at me go. 
Hopefully I will find other things to update with, but this was my inaugural "welcome back to blog life" entry. 
Peace out cub scout!