Linus in the Snow - What a Saucy Fellow

On Friday, we got some snow. Nothing crazy, but about an inch stuck. Enough to take Linus out for his very first snow experience!

Saturday morning, after his nap, I got him bundled up in his snowsuit, a la Randy from a Christmas Story:

He was, surprisingly, not too bothered by this puffy monstrosity (a consignment find I've had since October).

We got outside, I sat him down in the fluffy, white, cold stuff and waited for a reaction. It was first time in the snow! I expected: glee! wonderment! joy! laughter! something!

What I got was this:

He looked at the snow. Looked up and down the street. And then just sat there, not moving, and looking about as impressed with the whole situation as McKayla Maroney.

So, we hung out outside for all of 10 minutes while I threw snowballs and rolled around on the ground, giggling - trying to show him all the fun he was missing - until he got bored/cold and started whining. I think it took me longer to wrestle him into the snowsuit.

Oh well. There's always next year!

Oh, Beans!

Holy cow - we had more snow last week. But, it's kind of starting to feel like old hat, you know? Admittedly, I could get use to all these snow days ;)

Anyway, this time around, I decided to make some warm, yummy comfort food while I weathered our latest storm. The Pioneer Woman and her absolutely fabulous cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, provided the perfect recipe: beans and cornbread.

As much as I love beans, I've only ever eaten them from the can. But, after cooking them from raw, I may never go back. It's certainly more economical (I halved her recipe, which called for 4 cups of beans, and still have plenty to freeze), and it's super simple. In a nutshell, you boil the water and beans, then lower the heat, cover the pot, and forget about them for 3 hours. Season to taste, and done. Fabulous!

Wait, let me back up. Did I forget to mention that the recipe calls for bacon? Yes ma'am! One of my favorite things about The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is her unashamed love of bacon. All you need to do is cut up the raw bacon and add it to the beans before boiling. Of course, I had to fry up the rest. You know, just to make sure it would taste ok.

And here is my glorious pot full of beans. Just scoop those suckers into a bowl, add some shredded cheese and sour cream, serve with cornbread, and you have the perfect, simple, comfort meal. Yum!

Snowpocalypse: The Sequel

I went out in the snow just long enough Tuesday night and Wednesday to snap a few photos around the apartment complex (I really am a huge cold weather wimp!).

A couple night time photos while braving the elements to take out the recycling:

The view from our balcony, early Wednesday morning:

My poor "garden":

It may be cold and inconvenient, but it's just so lovely:

Did you hear that there's more snow being predicted for Monday? Unbelievable. Thankfully, it won't be nearly as much.

I also just found out that Eastern will be closed again tomorrow for the third day in a row!! (why wasn't I lucky enough to be a student when this storm hit?)

I've never been more anxious for spring!

<3 Brittany

I've Got Cabin Fever!

That pretty much sums it up. Thanks, Muppets! :)

<3 Brittany

Post-It Note Tuesday: The Snow is Back

Almost forgot it was Tuesday!! Better late than never. Visit Supah Mommy for join in on the fun!

Hope all you folks in the Northeast have fun in the snow... and for those of you who may be enjoying warmer weather, just know that I am super jealous.

<3 Brittany

Snowed In

Shooey! This winter has been ridiculous! I've never seen this much snow in my life.

Daniel spent nearly 36 hours straight at work on Friday and Saturday "battling" the snow and piled on another 7 hours on Sunday. As for me, I spent a quiet, lazy weekend at home with the cats (a precursor to my impending days as a crazy cat lady, I'm sure).

This was taken shortly after Dan came home from work on Saturday night.. sadly, one of only 4 photos that I actually took of the snow. I'll do a better job on Wednesday with Snowpocalypse: the Sequel!

Unfortunately, I am huge wimp when it comes to the cold and you'll be hard pressed to find me out playing in the snow (although, I do think it is lovely). So, I stayed in, nice and toasty in my zebra-print snuggie, as the flakes fell and the snowpocalypse took hold of the tri-state area and beyond.

Between watching episodes of Flight of the Conchords and Full House, as well various movies (mainly the Disney special features DVD's because that's the kind of dork that I am), I did manage to get some crafting done - despite having a scare when I couldn't find my glue gun! (go figure, it was right where I left it last time I hot glued something. Who'd of thought?).

Here's a sneak peek at my el-cheap-o wall art that I began working on on Friday night. I'll devote a full post this after it's all finished:
I've had this collection on vintage valentine's for a couple of years now and had yet to do anything with them. It just so happened that I found some empty frames laying around as well as some heart-shaped doilies.

So I made these to hang around the apartment for some V-day flair:

The hardest part about this project was trying decide which ones to use! I'm thinking about picking up some cheapie dollar store frames so I can make a few more. I just love vintage Valentine's.

As you can see, my record art completely took over the dining room table (it's actually looked like this since mid-last week... and still looks like this, if not worse - oops!).

I'm planning on turning the painted records into clocks. Hopefully, I'll be picking up some clock parts at Michael's on Friday. Here's one of the finished paintings. I was trying to go for a design that looked kind of folky, yet modern... not sure if I succeeded, but I'm fairly pleased with the resulting abstract flowers:

I completed a second one this weekend as well that came out great! But, since it's a gift for someone who may or may not read my blog, I'll have to wait to post it... just in case!

This record is still in the works until I can perfect how I want to sketch out the Matroyshka dolls:

I also got the apartment cleaned (minus the dining room table, obviously) and did a load of laundry. All in all, even though it felt like I didn't do much of anything, it was a pretty productive snowed-in weekend.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Tuesday-Wednesday storm that's being predicted will lead to a *real* snow day. Really, what's the fun of winter when all the snow happens on days that you're already off?

<3Brittany