Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thanksgiving
not the best picture of her but her outfit is so dang cute. Thanksgiving was wonderful. Harlow was a champ per usual with our wild bunch.
Monday, November 7, 2011
The Great Halloween Blizzard of 2011
also known as "the year that Halloween never came."
everyone was talking about the big Nor'easter coming. all week. snow snow snow. one of my biggest pet peeves are when people get scared about a big "Nor'easter." 90% of the time, the weather people are totally off. also, why does the name "Nor'easter" freak people out so much? it's just a snow storm...coming from the North East. so what?
as per usual, i ignored the warnings.
i went to dance class like any other Saturday morning. had lunch with a pal. walked around town a bit. no big deal. then Harlow and i went to the mall to get her some much needed new shoes. we entered the mall around 130pm. we went walked out around 3pm, it was winter white outside. i was SHOCKED how much snow had fallen in such a short amount of time. the 10 minute drive home took us almost an hour! we passed six cars off the road in less than two miles. it was BONKERS. my next stop was going to be to the store for fire wood, milk, and food for the weekend. i nixed the store in order to get home safe and sound.
Harlow and i had a lovely evening alone (Gwen was in Boston shooting). we bathed. sang. read books. after she went to sleep, i even ordered a movie and snuggled in to watch the snow fall and relax all alone. before the movie even started, the power dramatically died.
no power = no heat, no light, no water. and to top it all off, my cell service went dead.
i immediately started packing to get Harlow and i out of there and to a warm place for the night. as i brought the first load outside, i realized that leaving wasn't really an option. trees were cracking and falling. the road was full of branches, trees, and power lines. scary. so i hunkered back into the house and made a bed for myself on the floor of Harlow's room.
sadly. i only had FIVE pieces of fire wood for the fireplace. oooooops. totally ill prepared. that did not keep the house warm for long. i put more layers on Hlow plus a hat, and pulled her onto the floor with me...away from the windows.
i didn't sleep most of the night. i am not generally the type to get scared. but i was really scared. it was VERY cold. and in the silence, on the floor, all i could hear were the sounds of falling limbs and trees all around me. i was honestly freaked out. and hovering over Hlow trying to keep her warm and shield her from anything that may fall on the house.
when we woke up at 5am to walk the dogs, this is what we found: dead silence, an creepy feeling of being buried/stuck, trees, power lines, limbs down EVERYONE, and our neighborhood looking completely abandoned.
i was standing in the middle of the street when i took that picture with my cell phone. the crazy part is that it was like that in both directions. there was no way to get out...and no way for anyone to get in either. it completely freaked me out - baby on my back, no wood to heat the house, no food that didn't require cooking. i thought we would be there for days. luckily, by the end of the day Sunday, with the very generous help of some neighbors, we were lucky to get out.
it took SEVEN DAYS to get the power restored to our house. SEVEN DAYS. and i know we were the lucky ones. there are people still without power. also, we were lucky enough to have access to my company's apartment. i cannot imagine what we would have done with a baby in a home without heat for a week. scary.
everyone was talking about the big Nor'easter coming. all week. snow snow snow. one of my biggest pet peeves are when people get scared about a big "Nor'easter." 90% of the time, the weather people are totally off. also, why does the name "Nor'easter" freak people out so much? it's just a snow storm...coming from the North East. so what?
as per usual, i ignored the warnings.
i went to dance class like any other Saturday morning. had lunch with a pal. walked around town a bit. no big deal. then Harlow and i went to the mall to get her some much needed new shoes. we entered the mall around 130pm. we went walked out around 3pm, it was winter white outside. i was SHOCKED how much snow had fallen in such a short amount of time. the 10 minute drive home took us almost an hour! we passed six cars off the road in less than two miles. it was BONKERS. my next stop was going to be to the store for fire wood, milk, and food for the weekend. i nixed the store in order to get home safe and sound.
Harlow and i had a lovely evening alone (Gwen was in Boston shooting). we bathed. sang. read books. after she went to sleep, i even ordered a movie and snuggled in to watch the snow fall and relax all alone. before the movie even started, the power dramatically died.
no power = no heat, no light, no water. and to top it all off, my cell service went dead.
i immediately started packing to get Harlow and i out of there and to a warm place for the night. as i brought the first load outside, i realized that leaving wasn't really an option. trees were cracking and falling. the road was full of branches, trees, and power lines. scary. so i hunkered back into the house and made a bed for myself on the floor of Harlow's room.
sadly. i only had FIVE pieces of fire wood for the fireplace. oooooops. totally ill prepared. that did not keep the house warm for long. i put more layers on Hlow plus a hat, and pulled her onto the floor with me...away from the windows.
i didn't sleep most of the night. i am not generally the type to get scared. but i was really scared. it was VERY cold. and in the silence, on the floor, all i could hear were the sounds of falling limbs and trees all around me. i was honestly freaked out. and hovering over Hlow trying to keep her warm and shield her from anything that may fall on the house.
when we woke up at 5am to walk the dogs, this is what we found: dead silence, an creepy feeling of being buried/stuck, trees, power lines, limbs down EVERYONE, and our neighborhood looking completely abandoned.
i was standing in the middle of the street when i took that picture with my cell phone. the crazy part is that it was like that in both directions. there was no way to get out...and no way for anyone to get in either. it completely freaked me out - baby on my back, no wood to heat the house, no food that didn't require cooking. i thought we would be there for days. luckily, by the end of the day Sunday, with the very generous help of some neighbors, we were lucky to get out.
it took SEVEN DAYS to get the power restored to our house. SEVEN DAYS. and i know we were the lucky ones. there are people still without power. also, we were lucky enough to have access to my company's apartment. i cannot imagine what we would have done with a baby in a home without heat for a week. scary.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PUMPKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the Locke family held their 8th annual pumpkin carving party two weekends ago. good thing we did it before the freaking HALLOWEEN BLIZZARD of 2011. more on that later. back to pumpkin carving. this is a party we (Sue and Gwen) started having back in our Chicago days. in fact, here i am carving a pumpkin at our first ever carving party. whoa, that's a lot of pink, Sue.
the parties were a bit different back then - a lot more drinking, a lot later in the evening, and a bit more wild. they have expanded over the years to include a potluck of sorts that i like to call "The Harvest Feed." they have also become a lot more baby friendly in the last two years. good wholesome times.
regardless, here are some pics from our party two weekends ago. i didn't take pics until late in the day, so i missed a bunch of the guests.
a carving group.
Uncle Wolfie, the pumpkin king.
a picture of Hlow making her famous Hlow face.
PUMPKINS! hey, Alex, if you're reading this - you forgot your pumpkins!
this would be one of them artsy pictures...from inside the pumpkin.
and the evening ended with a roll on the ground with Daisy. look at those two, Oliver and Harlow. all grown up!
at night.
the parties were a bit different back then - a lot more drinking, a lot later in the evening, and a bit more wild. they have expanded over the years to include a potluck of sorts that i like to call "The Harvest Feed." they have also become a lot more baby friendly in the last two years. good wholesome times.
regardless, here are some pics from our party two weekends ago. i didn't take pics until late in the day, so i missed a bunch of the guests.
a carving group.
Uncle Wolfie, the pumpkin king.
a picture of Hlow making her famous Hlow face.
PUMPKINS! hey, Alex, if you're reading this - you forgot your pumpkins!
this would be one of them artsy pictures...from inside the pumpkin.
and the evening ended with a roll on the ground with Daisy. look at those two, Oliver and Harlow. all grown up!
at night.
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