Morning Surprise

This is what my house looked like when I woke up this morning!











And this is what our cars looked like (I didn't know that I needed to put my windshield wipers up so that they dont freeze to the windshield, thankfully someone helped me out with this...)

And this is what my back yard looks like! Notice the amount of snow on top the shed??!

Waking up after a snowfall feels like some secret occurred during the night. A beautiful and amazing secret that you could have only been privy to had you stayed up all night and watched it fall. Spinning its magic and turning your world into a white winter wonderland!

On a side note, I saw a little dog, whose legs seemed only a few inches in length, leaping and bounding through this snow this morning. There must be at least a foot of snow on the ground and he was enjoying every inch of it!

Monday I work 45 minutes (at a normal speed, not snow speed) from my house. It is currently snowing and it is supposed to continue snowing through tomorrow. I will let you know how that adventure goes. I am guessing it will take me at least 3 hours to get home Monday.

Snow Ice Cream

Today I met my most feared adversary since moving to Boston, driving on snow/ice. Somehow this southern girl survived the drive. Work let out early and I got paid to slowly make my way home. After sliding around for what seemed like an eternity, and having multiple cars pass me, I finally pulled into my drive way.

Luckily Ty and I live within walking distance of each other, so I set out on foot so meet him in the middle. It was interesting to watch all of my neighbors dutifully out shoveling their driveways and sidewalks as the snow continued to makes its way to the earth. I wanted to tell them to let it be. To give it a chance to overtake our lives and make us stop.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening playing games and eating snow ice cream. If only more Friday evenings could be like this... Oh wait, they probably will be for the next 3-4 months. Gotta love New England ; )

Websites I Fancy

Sorry I haven't posted anything in quite some time... I knew I was going to be bad at this.

So the reason for this post has nothing to do with Boston, but I have discovered a few excellent websites I thought I would share.

www.jott.com- This website allows you to create to-do lists from your phone and will email/call you to remind you!

www.evernote.com- This website serves as a scrap book so-to-speak for important content

http://rewardsdb.com- This website is my favorite. It allows you to see where you can earn the most frequent flyer miles/credit card points/give to a charity for purchases you would have made anyways :)

www.dailylit.com- Thank you Larissa! This website will email you portions of the book of your choice on a daily basis- Wonderful for down time at work (maybe hours in my case)

My Biggest Fear

It seems that my most time consuming task upon moving to Boston has been my search for a gym (other than the house and job of course.) I know this should not be THAT big of a deal, but somehow it morphed into a giant creature looming over me. I have visited more than 5 gyms, worked out at almost all of them, and even joined one I had never even seen. You might be wondering what fuels this madness? The answer: my irrational fear of running in the extreme Massachusetts cold.

The gyms around here average $55 and greater if you want a pool and spinning classes (which I want.) Somehow I ended up joining the first club I looked at, also the cheapest, and it has no pool or classes. The reward: It is VERY cheap and I can take as many bikram yoga classes as I want (elsewhere.)

Yay for finally convincing yourself to be frugal! : (

Sweet Lies

I know this has nothing to do with living in Boston, but it is an outrage and I feel the need to comment.

So it appears the corn industry has decided to fight back against the belief that high fructose corn syrup is a bad diet staple. They launched a campaign recently with TV ads and even their own website to some how normalize sugar consumption in the minds of Americans. EVERYTHING can be twisted so that it is "normal", "natural", and therefore acceptable. We are doing this with many issues in society today, but I digress...

The website where you can view the ridiculousness first hand is here:
www.sweetsurprise.com

The thing that most Americans will miss is the fact that, although HFCS (as it is referred to on the website) may have the same caloric content as table sugar, it is such a good preservative that you find it in EVERYTHING! They suggest that we consume HFCS in moderation, well excuse me but the only way to do that is to blatantly attempt to avoid it. Only then might you actually consume it in moderation.

The real kicker here is that our wonderful FDA has actually been bought out and are allowing packing to read "natural" even when it contains the HIGHLY PROCESSED HFCS. I have never actually seen HFCS growing in a field anywhere, have you???

Life in Boston

Important Translations:

• Rotary = Roundabout
• Thickly settled = This sign should read: We've jammed a ton of people into a small space and you can forget about parking your car here
• Mass = Not a cluster or clump, but the state in which you are living
• Breakdown lane = go ahead, drive in it
• Road Lanes = Not visible and even if they were, they are just a suggestion
• Turning Signal = Invitation to be cut off
• Carpet = Nonexistent
• Health Insurance = Mandatory
• Gay Marriage = Legal

Observations:

• One of the oldest states yet now is one of the most liberal
• Out of state license plate will get you out of running a red light with a pedestrian in the cross walk and no drivers license in your purse... (No, Of course I do not know this from experience...)

A Few of My New Favorite Things:

• This American Life
• Siggi's Yogurt
• Fage Yogurt (Thank you Alissa)
• Coffee Break Language Series (Free Itunes Podcast)
• Netflix (I know I'm pretty late picking up on this, but hey)
• Dunkin Donuts Chai Tea- Its price tag of 2.33 definitely beats Starbucks
• Stop and Shop- You can scan your items as you shop, how fun is that?!
• JP Morgan's Kashmir Cinnamon Ice Cream