snowcation

This was the itinerary of the snowcation ( or as the Daily Progress is currently calling it, snowmageddon).

Noel wrote his final papers. And shoveled. When he would resurface from his paper to go shovel, I wouldn't see him for hours, because he would be outside shoveling everyone's driveways and parking spaces.

My snow days consisted of a) going stir crazy in our apartment and baked so much, I just about broke my arm off with a whisk still in my hand, and b) rediscovering my love for sleeping in and taking 2 showers a day.

Also, I love my snow boots.

My camera broke, so I have no proof of the snow. If you do not believe me, check this out: WOA


Oh, and I am going right back into the thick of it. This time I am bringing my pick ax to make ice sculptures and snowmen with real buttons on their jackets. Also, I am going to win a snowball fight against Noel.

weepy gurgle face

This week I received an email from William and Mary saying that my personal website would be erased from the internet within a couple weeks. In curiosity, I checked to see what exactly my college site had been.

Is anyone else amazed and astounded by the amount of spelling errors on my website?

I sure am. I clearly didn't finish it....but here's to the gurgle face AND the weepy face, hot hot hot, the dot com, and the fact that we obviously had dinner both on tuesday and thursday nights. Or do you think I made that mistake by accident? We can all thank Katie Shields again for giving us the best 2005 Christmas gift that a girl could ask for.

(Note this very funny convo in the discussion board about who will cook with me...Can you believe there was even a debate on that?!?! I am surprised everybody wasn't rushing at the opportunity. I was always an expert at frozen lasagna.)

2 things

I forgot to mention a couple things that are obviously significant enough for me to backtrack to tell you...


First thing:


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Wendell Berry came to speak at UVA! Noel saved us seats, I left work early and biked franticly to the UVA library, and in the crowd of people, I sat, legs twitching in excitement and anticipation. I was so happy! Thank you, Wendell Berry, for making my day, and inspiring me to ask my landlord if I can grow a garden and have a chicken coop in the backyard.



Second thing:


Both rain coat and pants have been returned from the dry cleaners. Raincoat now smells strongly of soap. Noel says he can smell the soapy jacket from across the room. The lady at the dry cleaners told me they use the same potion to take out cat urine. eek. And yes, the pants still smell like skunk. I am considering it a lost cause, and thinking about throwing them away unless anyone has any more suggestions...a month later, and the skunk is still haunting me.

Triple Date Christmas Vacay

This is what happens when you combine beautiful Charlottesville snow, Alice's amazing craft skills, Allison's baking skills, some football for the men, and enough Christmas cheer and ice cream that your head might explode...Oh, and did I mention handfuls of WaWa Chex mix?!

I haven't had a real Christmas tree since I was 11. Who is impressed with me !? It was barely fastened to the car, but somehow we made it home in one piece.




I decorated my own gingerbread man ornament to put on the tree. It was supposed to be a lady, but by mistake I drew a beard and then quickly recovered by making it into a scarf. The bearded lady now hangs high on our lovely Christmas tree.


This is my favorite ornament, borrowed from Sawsan's collection. It actually is about double the size of the star on top. Our tree leans a little over where King Tut hangs.




Enough said.


Now I must go eat all 3 days worth of advent calender chocolate that I forgot about in all the excitement of this weekend full of fun visitors.

gourmet chef

I love fall vegetables. And I love cooking them, gluten-free style.

Did you know this.....

can turn into this.....?!?!?!

Neither did I.

Yes, you can call me Martha Stewart/Oprah. And yes, you can subscribe to my monthly magazines where I tell you how awesome I am. :)

Skunked, part 2

Firstly, thank you for all those who have been following the drama of the outdoor wilderness that is immediately outside our apartment. You will be glad to know that it has not yet ended. This past weekend I spent 4 hours in the laundromat cleaning off our "Skunkfected clothes." This meant 4 cycles in the super duper hardcore laundry machine while others stared and sniffed, asking "what's that smell?" as I hogged the laundry machine. I got many stares, shakes of the head, nose holding, as I put my first load in, and then as I proceeded to make the skunk smell concotion in a little mixing bowl in the middle of the laundromat to wash my hands in. The laundromat owner in fact put a sign on my laundry machine that said, "Do not use", so the person who used the machine after me (At one point, I thought I would be there all week and that person would never exist) wouldn't get skunk on their clothes. I was so traumatizingly embarressed, I couldnt even read my book without thinking about the inevitability of being there forever.

So, this is where the skunk clothes are now.



I put them out on a clothesline - I craftily made myself!- to let them dry and get in some fresh air, and of course it rained twice this week, in the middle of the night when I couldn't run out and rescue them, so they are still there, one week later, soaking up toxic rain and slowly losing their skunk smell (maybe).

Please note and mourn with me that my favorite Halloween socks have in fact been skunked and are really hanging on for dear life.



AND as if that's not bad enough, my favorite article of clothing, my raincoat, has been skunked. I suppose that's what happens when you wear your favorite item of clothing every day. Beware, everyone-it could happen to you too.

Skunking aside, Who is so grateful for thanksgiving? And 3 day weeks!

Skunked.

I recently had that moment of transitional shock, the moment where I knew I no longer lived in Capitol Hill anymore. On the walk down from the car to the apartment last night, I thought I saw the neighbors cat cut in front of my path. As I continued to walk closer, I realized it was not AT ALL the cat, but a black furry thing with a white strip.



I didn't have enough time to move at all when I heard this "HSSSSSSSSS" sound. (Noel told me later that he heard the hsssss from inside the apartment. ) I smelled it instantly, and fled running into the street wailing and screaming for Noel. I am pretty sure I woke up the entire neighborhood with my blubbering yelling.


SKUNKED.

The smell was horrible- on my phone, my hair, my keys, my jacket, my pants. I could feel it seeping into my skin before I had to strip naked outside of our apartment and sit isolated in the bathroom until Noel came back with some potion concoted with hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, baking soda, and bleach for me to bathe in.




Noel saved the day, and now I know we no longer live in a safe place away from attacking rodents (I must interject here that Julia did remind me about the mouse we named Mickey who lived in our apartment. She did say a skunk is 50 times worse than a mickey, anc I completely agree, especially with the 50 times worse.) I didnt think I would miss the concrete jungle as much as I did in that moment. I thought I moved to a nice quaint college town. In the midsts of my bubbling and hysteria, Noel did remind me that UVA had a rabid fox roaming campus for a while.

It was more than just a traumatizing experience. I still smell skunk everywhere I go...it has implanted on the inside of my nose(or my hurting and traumatized heart), and I cant get rid of it.



This was my favorite cartoon when I was a child, and now I know better. I later learned that there are some crazy people out there who have skunks as pets. Don't be fooled, these are not cuddly creatures. May I just say, what in the world.

Hey Mr. Grumpy Gills

Tonight I went to see Finding Nemo on Ice with my co-worker and her 4 year old son.
It was the highlight of my week.

I especially loved the papa turtle with its flock of baby turtles.



And how incredible is it that there is a giant ice skating roller whale that is ultimately going to eat Marlin and Dora, all on the ice rink in front of thousands of little children.



I think I liked the whole experience more than my 4-year old friend.
Disney, you are brilliant. Apparently swimming and ice skating are more similar than I could ever have imagined.

The Jewel

This weekend the Jewel came to visit.

Need I say more.



She joined us for a magical weekend of apple picking.

This is disgusting, and I refused to participate, but bobbing for apples is apparently appropriate in many more places than just your middle school halloween parties. All I have to say is the Jewel is hardcore ( Rose and I were not.)




The Jewel also filled in as our weekend clergy. (I had a flash of the Jewel on the steps of tucker peforming sunday service.) Since Noel and I lost our "unity salt" that we performed in our unity salt ceremony at our wedding, the Jewel offered to re-perform the salt covenant ceremony. We then placed our "new" salt in a little baggie like this, placed it on our mantle, and are officially re-married with salt. Here are some post salt ceremony pictures ( with bouquet). Noel even wore a fancy sport coat.

Invention Convention

We have a raccoon problem. While I am asleep in the middle of the night, Noel claims that he is outside with a broom beating away raccoons. Today was the last straw for him, however. While my back was turned for maybe 2 minutes,Noel had hoisted our trash can mid-air.

Sorry, rodents of the backyard,
get your trash from somewhere ELSE.
Love, Noof and Noel.



Since I can't reach the trash can anymore, it looks like I am exempt from trash duty permanently. (Noel says that must mean I am about the same size as a raccoon.)

Volcano Cupcake

I tried to make a giant cupcake for my work pot luck. This is how it came out.






So much for opening up my own cupcakery. Noel referred to it as the volcano cake incident, which is a good description. There is still cake underneath the carpet. Needless to say, I brought a bag of apples to the potluck. Thanks to our new friends Sarah and Cody, who graciously ate the entire volcano cupcake.

Dedicated to Stevie

In order to explain the name of our blog, I must tell you that Stevie Wonder is my favorite singer. He has always been my favorite and continues to be my favorite. Windows down, windows up, in the morning, at night, it doesn't matter. Stevie is my favorite. Before Noel came around, Stevie Wonder was my boyfriend. He is oh so encouraging.



I knew I could marry Noel when he told me that he walked to Stevie Wonder. As the story is told, little baby Noel was crawling until he first heard Stevie Wonder on the radio. Then he walked. How fitting...the extra boost a child needs in the lyrics of a Stevie song.

Thank you, Stevie. Not only can my husband walk, he can climb. We owe you one.



Cheers and many thanks to Stevie!

Newlyweds <3 Canada

We just got married. kind of. I feel like I have been married forever. As I danced around the kitchen in an apron and sang to Charlottesville's hit radio station ( soft rock ? yes, please) , I couldn't help but feeling like my domestic life has reached an all new peak.

So a month and a half in, and still going strong. In a ploy to get people to read our awesome new blog, this is what you missed because you didn't come on the honeymoon with us.
Canada is lovely, and you even get a stamp on your passport.


Yes, this is a polar bear. No, we did not go to the Artic.
I just love all aquariums, no matter the city.



Everything that had the french word "Noel" in it, I made my husband stand in front of so I could take a picture. I was endlessly amused. He obediently complied.



Clearly I had a ball in Canada. You know how much I love fountains and kissy faces.


Mid-pose. How appropriate.
Our family's motto: Be prepared.
(that is why Noel takes out the trash 3 days before the garbage guys comes.
Or so he says.)


Best reason to road trip. I guarantee that if we had taken a plane, we would have missed this wonderful sign. How I wish we lived in a town with two exclamation points in its name!