30/30: Hot Chocolate on a Cold Night

October 9th

The temps have dropped here in NC so we thought it would be a good night to try a cup of hot chocolate from Coco Cinnamon.  It's a cool spot for a hot beverage.

30/30: Suspended

October 6th 

We checked out the Eno River State Park today (I'd been to the West Point on the Eno so it was nice to see the "other side").  

We walked a trail along a quiet creek then went over to the suspension bridge.

While it's sometimes hard to tell it's fall in Durham, here in the park the leaves were falling and it seemed more like October.  Part of what we like about where we live is that we can drive 15 minutes and feel like we're in another state--maybe even pretend we're in New England for a little while.

30/30: Party Planning

October 4th 

We're officially throwing ourselves a 30th Milestone Birthday Masquerade.  For some reason, I've always wanted to have a masquerade ball and I feel like I'm getting a little old for it--this could be my last shot.  I envisioned having it in a dark hall with spiral stairs and balconies, but since we bought a house and spent all our money on that, we're having it in our living room.   

Today, I printed the invites which I created using this super easy (and free!) template from Greetings Island.  

Tonight we took advantage of this warm October weather (mid-80's which still takes some getting used to when you're from the north), and ate Chipotle on the deck with Maya.

The First Flurries

This is what was left in the morning of the first "winter storm" to hit Durham.  

It was the talk of the town.  Every school was delayed at least two hours; some organizations canceled all together. 

Maya took one look outside, dropped her head, and walked away from the door.  She was thinking, "I thought we got away from this crap."

Tommie's boss asked if we wanted to take a walk in the snow last night.  We said, "We're in our PJs watching TV.   We saw snow last year."  And the year before that, we saw enough snow to last us a lifetime.  If this is all we get down here, we're cool with that.

Christmas Tree Alternatives

Downtown Durham lights the Lucky Strike water tower for Christmas, though if you ask me it could use a little more "oomph." I was more impressed by the luminaries lining the waterway.

Also, Tommie's work decorated a tree for charity along with lots of other Durham non-profits.

We don't do trees in our house, so the closest I get is decorating the mantle and putting up our little tin tree. 

While part of it is just to avoid the hassle, the other part is because real and artificial trees are not environmentally friendly. My husband is a real Grinch about it, but it does make sense when you think about every household in America that has to cut down a tree, or buy a plastic tree from China.

While I do miss the smell of fresh pine, I'm definitely willing to try some of the interesting tree alternatives out there.

Like making a tree from branches or driftwood:

Found here.

Getting a reusable wooden tree from Possibilitree or Jubilieetree:

Hanging ornaments on branches in a vase:

Found here.

Or going with a living tree we could plant afterwards:

Found here.

Thankful For Warm Winter Days

I need to make a concerted effort to blog more often. I spend my days on assignment writing about things I don't very much care to write about, and sometimes that makes me cranky. Letters From A Libra is a side outlet for me to write about anything I want, and it helps keep me grounded.

I also want to keep my friends and family up-to-date on our lives in the south. This is the first time Tommie and I have truly been on our own with no family around, so its' a good way for us to share what we're up to with them...and with complete strangers on the Internet. Good thing I like over sharing with strangers.

I also don't want to loose sight of all the good things about our new life here. Like the fact that on December 3rd it is a balmy 73 degrees. I went for a run in shorts and a t-shirt; I have the slider open for fresh air, and Maya is laying in the sun. There is still a semblance of seasonal changes here, but we don't have to stop enjoying the outdoors in October.

This is Maya after she fell asleep in the sun and was so zonked she didn't notice when it turned to shade. Anyone looking outside would think we had a dead dog in our yard (I put the blanket over her earlier so her belly wouldn't burn). Luckily, no squirrels crossed her path and woke the dragon. Clearly, she's learning to like it here.

Roaming Around Raleigh

It became fall this weekend in North Carolina. There's a noticeable chill in the air and more leaves are falling. It seemed like a good time to venture to the State Farmer's Market in Raleigh, which is full of pumpkins, apples, and other autumnal goods.

It's really an understatement to call the this place a farmer's market...it's open seven days a week and has everything from gardening supplies, to produce, to baked goods, and even shops. We treated ourselves to homemade pumpkin pie fudge and fried seafood at the on-site restaurant.

There were apples to taste, cider to sip, and colorful dahlias to admire. I picked out a few to put on the mantel for my birthday. It might be because I'm an October birthday, but I do love this season. 

On our way home we took a walk around downtown Raleigh and stumbled on the free Museum of Natural Sciences. We only had time to check out the three-story Nature Research Center featuring a theater, critters, fossils, and research labs. Did I mention it's all FREE? A fact that instantly made it ten times more exciting to me. 

In fact, a free museum and a giant full-time farmer's market made the whole trip to Raleigh better than we imagined.

Winterizing

It snowed last night, and though we refused to turn on the heat in protest of the early onset of winter and the thought of an early spike in heating costs, we did take other measurements to winterize the place--like pulling out storage bins full of scarves and mittens (I'm wearing both as I type this); putting our heated mattress pad, down comforter, and flannel sheets on the bed, and rearranging the bedroom so we'll be closer to the heater when we do cave in to the thermostat. 

We moved the bed from this side of the room...

To this side (which was seriously lacking in feng shui)...

 So that now, it looks like this...

We even found a multipurpose use for the aforementioned storage bins...by placing them at the bottom of the bed, we can set up our computer there and watch television shows and movies under the comfort of  warm blankets.  

The rearrangement also provided me with the perfect excuse to hang up my lantern from Turkey. Prettyyyyy.

Fall Along the Ipswich River

A few weeks ago, Tommie and I used a Groupon to rent kayaks from Foote Brothers Canoes and paddle a few miles up the Ipswich River. We went back to the area on Sunday to walk along the paths that wind through Bradley Palmer State Park and explore the footbridges we had recently paddled alongside.

We took Maya with us because she loves woodsy paths. She does not, however, love horses, and apparently this is a popular spot for riding. Tommie thinks her growling and barking is a "short-man complex"--that she's jealous of their long, lean legs. We tried to avoid the riding trails, but at one point had to outrun a pack of riders like we were trying to escape from the headless horseman. 

We won't be able to take these walks for much longer with winter on the way. We haven't minded the mild weather this fall, even if it's yielded unimpressive foliage for coastal Massachusetts. Soon everything will be covered in white anyway. It's important to enjoy the last few weeks before hibernation begins.

It Must Be Fall

From far away foods in my last post, to local fall favorites--we couldn't resist hitting up Russell Orchards (in Ipswich, MA) to get a taste of fall. 

I love that the smell of warm, fresh-baked cider donuts permeates the entire parking lot as you arrive. It even overpowers the smell of the farm animals, and I'm thankful for that. 

I know everyone says their orchard makes the best apple donuts...but these really are the best  :)  

The New Rainy State

States in the Pacific Northwest, like Oregon and Washington, have always intrigued me but I hear they get a lot of rain and that's depressing. Lately I have been wondering if living on the East Coast is any better. I check the weather every day and all throughout May it has been the same prediction: clouds, rain, and unseasonably cold temps. It's just insult to injury after we endured an exceptionally bad winter. Tommie and I recall the last time we had nice weather (for more than a few fluke hours) was in October on Columbus Day weekend of last year. That was over seven months ago.
My mom thinks we should get "sun lamps" to improve our moods, but I think it's beyond improving about this matter. The sun made an appearance this Saturday and I wasn't even happy to see it; I was mad at it...I knew it would be gone the next day, and it was. I'm indignant. I'm not joking when I say my goal for next year is to gain flexibility so that during the winter and spring stints of perpetual gloom, I can just leave...fly/drive/walk if I have to, until I hit sunshine...I don't care what direction or how far I have to go. I'll just use my usual guidelines: To avoid getting lost, stay between Mexico and Canada. There has to be sunshine somewhere in between.

This Isn't Funny

I wish the weatherman was joking when he said we'd get snow on April 1st, but I woke up to the sound of sleet tapping against the window and I was not amused. I pulled my snowpants out of the storage bin that I banished them to in March while groaning and cursing. I can feel my mood souring with each cold day that passes and I don't think I'm alone. I think we will all be elated when the first string of warm sunny days arrives. If indeed it ever does...

All Lion And No Lamb

We are at, what I hope to be, the tail end of 5+ months of cold. I am losing my patience (what little I had anyway). We are talking about almost half of an entire year of crappy weather, and it's not like we don't have days of rain throughout the rest of the year. So, here we are: March 22nd and when I look at the 7-day forecast for Boston I see no sign of warmth.

Some people think a high of 40 degrees is warm. They have frozen brain cells. I see low's all in the 20's and anticipated snow showers. We had snow yesterday too; fat, freezing flakes of unwanted, unwelcome, completely unnecessary snow. March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Well, it's not lambing anytime soon. I want to turn my heater off . I want to take a walk in a light jacket. I want to put the ice scraper in storage. There are some people who don't mind dealing with winter...and then there's me. The northeast is a great place to live when you like to complain. It's also a very bad place to live when you like to complain.

70 Degree Jump

We have made two good decisions this winter: Getting a Subaru for the snow and planning a trip to San Diego in February. Tomorrow I'll be trading 5 degrees for 75. Though I am physically and mentally defeated by this season and a lingering pain in my jaw from tooth complications, I can't imagine anything more healing than sitting right on the swim/surf line at La Jolla Shores, enjoying the view...of the surfers...and soaking in that warm Vitamin D. Maybe I'll even be able to take a dip in the Pacific. The ocean is great for healing and those surfers don't hurt either...I'll try not to get yelled at for crossing over into the surf zone which can easily happen when you're distracted.

Hearty or Stupid?

This week I had my third root canal and we got our sixth major winter storm. (The snow pile in our driveway is over my head). I'd be frowning if it didn't hurt my face so much. I know I like to complain, but come on, even an eternal optimist would at some point say, "Enough!"

This is exactly why I don't think the first snowfall is ever "pretty"...while others see lovely sparkling flakes floating down from the heavens, I see the world a few weeks later covered in muddy, icy mounds of despair. Optimism isn't something I've ever been good at, but I'm not quite in a pit of despair yet (it's more like a giant pothole), and our vacation to San Diego next week is the only thing sparing me from burying myself under the eight-foot mound of snow outside.

We New Englanders try to make ourselves feel better about being trapped in horrible weather by calling warm-weather people thin-blooded wimps, but you know what they really are? Smart!

I was raised in a hearty, cold place; I was raised to think I didn't deserve to be warm and comfortable all the time, or know what the sun felt like except for a few glorious fleeting months of the year. Winter is here to toughen you up...make you remember you can't have it too easy. Well, I get it! I'm miserable. It's not easy; it's not fun; life sucks. So how long do we have to do this for? How many more back-breaking storms before spring?

Let's face it, there is hearty, and there's just plain stupid.

Collecting Color

Thank goodness I have a summer wedding to plan during one of the coldest and snowiest winters. Thoughts of bright colored decorations and warm summer dresses provide temporary relief from the arctic world outside my window.
I have started to gather decorations to achieve my summer ceremony and reception visions and snagged some great deals so far:

* 12" yellow paper lanterns bargained down on Ebay: $1.68 each (I got 10)
* 10 turquoise table runners with free shipping on E-bay: $25
* 30 paper hand fans from a former bride on Recycled Bride: 0.35 cents each (I got 36)
* 2 blue metal vases on clearance at A.J. Wright: $5.00

I love finding good deals and that task alone could keep me busy all winter long. So, while snow continues to cover the ground outside, I'll continue to cover myself with brightly colored decor until summer arrives.

Winter Quest

Weather is never a factor when you live in a place like San Diego, but in New England weather is your biggest enemy. Winter is a test of physical and mental endurance and it can make doing something as simple as going to the dentist more like a quest, or a really horrible video game pilot. We "played" the pilot for this game yesterday when we had to use the Groupons we bought to go to a dentist in Boston (a 45-minute drive on a clear day). (These Groupons were my attempt to save a few bucks on dentistry; if only I could find Groupons for root canals.) The weather was awful...what began as steady snow turned into slushy rain then began to freeze over to ice, but if we didn't show up for our appointments, we had to forfeit the Groupons and I couldn't stand to lose more money over my teeth, so our quest began.

Just on the way out of the long driveway at my work, a co-worker attempting to turn into the parking lot in his little Scion, was stuck blocking the way; his small wheels spinning in vain. Clearly he wasn't going to make it past Level 1 of the quest. After 10 minutes of trying, he backed (or should I say slid) down the driveway and ditched the car in a snow pile.

Next, I met up with Tommie and we got on the highway for Level 2. Cars were moving slow at first, but maybe because someone had flung their sports car into a snowbank along the side of the road...a warning that Level 2 wouldn't be as easy. We inched our way through the mess. At one stage a tsunami of brown slush put into motion by a truck on the other side of the road, came crashing over the median and directly onto our car. It was so loud that Tommie actually ducked...inside the car.

As we neared the city (Level 3) impatient commuters picked up speed despite the slippery road and zipped around our car as fast as knives being thrown at a target. The spray behind them made us have to practically drive blind until we got to the the bridge (Level 4) where an ominous sign above us read, "Beware of falling ice and snow from bridges." Just what you like to read a couple hundred feet above the water.

As you can guess, we made it to the final levels. We found parking without getting the car stuck in a snow pile and surprisingly without getting another tsunami wave splashed on us from oncoming cars; we climbed a mountain of brown snow just to feed the parking meter (thanks, Boston); climbed another pile of brown snow just to get to the sidewalk (thanks, Boston); and right before we got to the door of the dentist, I dodged a pile of snow that fell from a tree above me and landed with a heavy thud on what could have been my head.

We made it through the quest, and at least we got something really cool at the end...like clean teeth, right? (How sad is my life?) And so I give the winter quest two thumbs down. Anyone else ready for spring?

Decoration Day

Today was a snow day. Perhaps the only good thing about winter is getting unexpected days off from work.
I spent the day trying to come up with a decoration plan for my wedding. I drew with colored pencils, retaught myself how to fold paper in 3-D, and spent way too much time online searching for good deals on decorations. That's the problem with being cheap; I'm always convinced I can find an even better deal than the last one, but ultimately nothing is ever as cheap as I would like...okay, nothing is free.
Because the colors I'm drawn to for my summer gathering are bright (aqua, yellow and orange), it's going to be tricky to tie them all together and maintain a level of cohesiveness, but I'm up for the challenge. Tommie, on the other hand, just wishes I'd stop asking him about the color of paper lanterns and interrupting his work to show him what I remembered from elementary school art class.