So it’s snowing again?

Yepper.

What inspired you to do this post?

Well, my friend Tracy lives in DC and has had several snow days. . . and it made me jealous.  Remember how AMAZING snow days were???

No.  I’m asking the questions here. . . remember?  How amazing were the snow days?

They were a-maz-ing.  My favorite was when you would find out the night before so you could stay up really late! . . . but the day of, when your dad would come in and say, “There’s a snow day.  You can go back to sleep.” was also pretty outstanding.  Our driveway would be plowed so there would be snow piled up on the sides of our driveway.  My sister and I would always play in this little patch of the yard near the driveway. . . and we always made attempted to make igloos.  We pretty much always failed.

What was the problem?

Well, we weren’t exactly architects.  We didn’t do the whole forming blocks thing. . . we would just make a big pile, pack it, and then dig out the inside.  It was somewhat effective, but *never* big enough.

Me and Sar making our igloo (yes my hood is really tight). . .

What else did you do?

We always took dum-dum suckers (obtained at the bank) and would stick them in the snow while eating them.  It made the ice flavory, I guess?

Sounds exciting.

It was.  You just had to *be there*.  We would never stay outside *too* long. . . as soon as snow got inside the boots/gloves, I got over it.  We had to have cocoa afterwards.  It was a rule.

What about SLEDDING?  You didn’t sled???

Oh yeah!  We sledded!  Our neighbors had a hill that went into our yard.  It was a small hill, but it was fun times, let me tell ya.

When was your favorite snow day?

The funny thing is. . . my favorite snow days were my sophomore year in college.  It was Christmas break, and I was still in the dorms so I came home.  The storms were some of the worst I remember so we were stuck home numerous days.  That got old. . . but I started chatting online that year and met one of my best friends. . . so yeah, it’s funny how those things work out!  BUT ANYWAYS, back to snow!  One night, Kim dug her car out (literally), and came over. . . We took our sleds to Dad’s parking lot. . . where the snow mounds were GINORMOUS.  We had a blast.  I laughed so hard that it heard.  (I am so mad because I have some great pictures of that night; however, they are sitting in a box in storage.)

Did it ever snow really badly in college, and did they cancel your classes?

YES. . . and HECK NO.  They canceled classes a few times last year or the year before, but no such luck when I was in school.  I remember walking in a white-out to calculus.  I literally had no clue where I was going.  I was just trying to look for people here and there so I knew I wouldn’t run into anything.  So strange.  I took the bus home with a classmate. . . which was an adventure all in it’s own because it was crowded and crazy. . . and I think walking home would have still taken less time and been less scary then the giant accordion bus in the snow!

How do you feel about snow now?

I really don’t mind it. . . if I wouldn’t have to DRIVE in it.  The problem is:  I do have to drive in it.  I suck at driving regularly.  Adding snow to the equation is not helpful!

Mom and I with our snow family.

P.S.–I love the song “Snow Day” by Lisa Loeb.  This video gets all squirrely towards the end, but you get the point.

Um, what does that have to do with this topic at all?

Nothing at all.  Just wanted to point out that I love that song, and it’s amazing.

As a wise man said about a management team at one of my companies. . . Let’s bleach the pool and START OVER!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_illinois_democratic_nightmare

To think that I thought politics were bad there seven years ago when I was living in the state. . . Geez.

Don’t people who run for public office look into the intelligence in a running mate. . . or do a flipping BACKGROUND CHECK?

Someone who’s been charged with stuff. . . whether it’s true or not, may not be the wisest choice.

:\

Last week was an amazing week for me.  Four of my friends (including my sister) have been trying to get pregnant for years, been doing fertility treatments, etc. . . and as of this week, ALL of them are now pregnant!  :)  I am so happy for all of them that I just can’t explain.  All of them have been through so much and so many ups and downs.

I have learned a lot from their difficulties.

I have made two comments about babies that I regret.  One which was completely not my fault. . . I asked someone about her baby on the way, and she just got back from the doctor and got some bad news.  :(  One was my fault though.  I just wasn’t thinking.  A friend told me she had exciting news, and I said,  ”ARE YOU PREGNANT?”. . . well, no. . . she was not pregnant, she just was offered a new job.  Also, (although I didn’t know it) she had miscarried so my comment was probably painful.

I see those comments as more innocent and unknowing. . . WAY higher up on the scale of annoying are people who constantly ask married people, “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE BABIES?” every chance they get.

If you are one of those people, STOP IT.

First off, it’s a really personal thing, and not something you should press on people you barely know.  Some people can’t have kids, and they may not want to discuss this with you.  Also, some people are desperately TRYING to have kids and having a rough time.  It’s really not helpful for you to remind them 24/7.  I didn’t discover how annoying this was until I watched my sister deal with this.

Another thing I am careful about is making any comments about pregnancy to someone who *looks* pregnant.  I am so thankful I have kept my mouth shut about this.  One of my friend’s wives was at a party, and I almost asked him why the heck he didn’t tell me his wife was pregnant.  Um, good thing I didn’t because she was definitely NOT pregnant.  Also, I almost asked someone when her baby was due at a wedding, and she’d had the baby three days prior.  Yikes.

Basically, unless someone brings it up, I don’t say anything to avoid a foot-in-mouth moment!!!

Oh, and I don’t think I’ve done an official blog post about this, but most of you probably know . . . my sister is having twins. . . a boy and a girl!  :)  :)  After looking at her registry and all the cute stuff, I would like her to have the babies NOW. . . however, she is not due until the beginning of July.  :)

Here is the shower invite I made for her at www.tinyprints.com (my new favorite website). . .

Is it cute, or what???

With info blacked out so that randoms from the world wide web don't show up at the shower.

I am very excited about the progress made!  So much fun!

So I picked out brick this morning.  WOW.  I didn’t expect it to be so overwhelming.

With the help of the guys in the showroom, I picked this out:

They gave me a “sample” of the brick so I was sooooooo pumped when I went to the house and saw that some siding was already on the house so I could put the up against it!

WINDOWS, people!

I am really happy with the siding.  It’s a very subtle green, but I like it.

Sample picture of brick up against the siding

Here’s what the inside looks like. . .

Meet the fireplace, windows, insulation and wiring!

Kitchen

The outdoor lights. . .

I’m still struggling with the kitchen light.  I’ll do a separate post about that.

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108701/the-10-must-have-features-in-todays-new-homes.html?mod=family-love_money

Big kitchen with island–CHECK

Energy-efficient stuff–CHECK

Home office–Well, I’m making a bedroom an office. . . Not sure if that counts.  I don’t have a formal dining room. *Kinda* CHECK

Main floor master suite–Well, everything’s on the main floor so CHECK

Outdoor living room–Not.

Ceiling fans–Living room and Master bedroom CHECK

Master suite soaker tub–Not.

Brick exterior–Not.  Siding AND brick.

Community landscaping, walking paths, and playgrounds–We have a hiking path. . . pretty cool.  CHECK.

Two-car garages–TRIPLE CHECK. . . THREE!

This was the progress on my house last weekend. . . I hope to see more stuff this weekend!  I haven’t been over this week because I am never able to go when it’s daylight!

If you look carefully, you can see that there's wiring and some plumbing and such in there. Woo hoo!

My mom reminded me of a lovely story today. . .

When I was younger (but not too young. . . probably early high school?), my family was eating at the Tavern.  Our family friend, Pedro, who was also an owner of the restaurant was sitting with us.

My food came, and I was STRUGGLING to get the ketchup out of the bottle. . . *hit*hit*hit*SHAKE*SHAKE*.  .  . whoooooooa.  The entire bottle went flying into. . . Pedro’s shirt.  Neat.

Also, the ketchup was coming out of the bottle pretty well by then.  I wanted to die.

I don’t know if Pedro ever chose to sit across from me again.  :\

Please note that my name means “Grace.”. . . um, yeah. . . not so much for me!

I think the only celebrity that people used to say I looked like was Jennifer Aniston.  Didn’t she have a nose-job because I’m pretty sure this only happened PRE-nose job?  No shock there.

I just did the myheritage.com thing to see my lookalikes.  I wanted to post it here, but it’s dumb and not working.

Holy crap.  NONE of the people look like me that they posted.  Seriously, I can’t see some of the features at all.

First consider that one of the celebrity lookalikes was. . . LANCE BASS???  Seriously?  If anyone thinks I look like Lance Bass, well. . . yeah, I don’t.

What about JOEY FATONE?  WHAT???

Apparently, I look like a boy band.

As for girls. . .

Cynthia Nixon.  Nope, not really.

Sheryl Crow. I don’t think so.

A couple of girls who look Indian or Latin.  Definitely no resemblance.

Some old lady I don’t know.  I don’t see it!

There were a few others, but I don’t see any resemblance anywhere.

I guess I just look like. . . um, me.

The friend that cracked me up with this thing the most is my friend Lauren.  She resembles the girl from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. . . not a dead ringer, but she looks somewhat like her.  She changed her facebook picture over to the actresses’ picture, and her dad and cousin, who are on facebook, both told her that she looked different somehow, but she looked great.  Bwahahahaha.

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage – Ancestory – Family reunion

People ice fish here and do all sorts of sporty stuff because there’s water all over.  While ice fishing is big here, and I’ve decided that it would be a fun thing to watch and experience. . . I’m slightly terrified of this idea.

People parked and walking around the lake near me

There’s a storyline in “Little Women” where Amy falls into the icy water when Jo and Laurie are flirting, and she’s tagging along.  (Way to go Amy.  Way to ruin EVERYTHING.)  I can’t find the actual movie clip, but here’s the depiction a girl did her her book report, and it cracks me up!  (The girl playing Amy and flailing around deserves an Oscar!)

I’m not sure if that freaks me out. . . or the fact that you have to put your windows down in your car while you drive over the ice *in case* you fall in. . . and I’m told the ice crackles as you drive.  :\  . . . OR could it be that at least once/week on the news, someone dies from falling through ice.

Hmmm. . . maybe I’ll just watch videos of people ice fishing?  It’s a lot warmer, and you are probably a lot less likely to die when watching videos.

Another thing. . . CHEESE  Sure, I’ve probably had WI cheese plenty of times, or maybe not.  I’m really not sure.  Well, I plan on living it up and cheese-tasting while I’m here, as I always hear good things about the cheese here.  They are famous for a reason, apparently!

At happy hour last week, I tried sharp cheddar, smoked gouda, and havarti.

All good!

Um, we'd already snacked a lot by the time we took this picture.

Things are still good.  I’m just still exhausted.  I’d be concerned. . . but I’ve just had a constant stream of moving stuff and a lot of work (and it’s DRAINING learning new people and things. . . *always* feel behind).  I’m pretty sure this is normal.