Snow, Snow, Snow!

Snow

Snow

It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow

Snow

I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

Snow

I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow

Snow

Oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow



Where it's snowing 


All winter through


That's where I want to be


Snowball throwing


That's what I'll do


How I'm longing to ski


Through the snow-oh-oh-oh-oh



Snow-tober

Well, we got a taste of a New England winter this past weekend.  The storm started with sudden heavy snow showers - to the point that when I was running an errand and came back out, my car was already covered in a decent layer of snow.

It snowed, and snowed, and snowed.  We watched in cozy comfort from our living room as Hunt studied and I yelled at the television for Clemson to beat Ga Tech.  And then the power went out around midnight.

And stayed off. Through one day.  And into the next.

We huddled in our bedroom with multiple down blankets and many candles.  Hunt was trying to remain focused on studying for the Cardiology boards while I was focused on figuring out a way to prevent the end of my nose from falling off due to frostbite.

Our building's emergency lights lasted for about eight hours and then our hallways and stairwells became the perfect setting for a Hollywood horror movie.  And Chloe's urge to race at full tilt down those hallways wasn't dampened one bit.  Trying to find a five pound puppy in the dark while balancing a take-out dinner and flashlight would be humorous if the irrational side of my brain wasn't convinced some rabid zombie was going to come howling down the hall after me.

At the start of the storm...

The next morning after 12 inches of snow

We decided to brave the cold one more night and then we would throw in the towel and stay at a hotel a couple towns over that had power.

In the midst of the storm

About 3:00am on Tuesday the power came surging back on.  I woke up and realized that glory, glory we had heat, hot water and light!!!!  I then promptly shook my exhausted and boards-anxiety-riddled husband to tell him the news.  And even more promptly regretted it when he bleary-eyed said that was great and he needed his sleep.  You know, so that he could be rested to take his career-defining test.  Oh, yeah, that little looming thing.

The evergreens are bent almost in half!

After taking four bags of ruined food to the dumpster I relished a gloriously hot shower.  (We had resorted to showering in the locker rooms of the hospital, but nothing is like your own shower that you've bleached yourself.  Oh, and I managed to meet Hunt's boss for the first time while heading to said locker room *sigh*)  I threatened Chloe, who badly needs a deep cleaning, that I would take her with me in the shower, but just couldn't bring myself to handle a wet, squirmy and yelpy puppy after multiple days of cold water and dark rooms.  I don't think she minded.  In fact, I'm pretty sure she supported this decision whole-heartedly.

I'm told by our neighbors that this was a first, that they didn't lose power at all last winter during the most punishing blizzards they had had in decades.  Hopefully this won't be a repeat and is due to a freak snowstorm smothering tree limbs heavy with foliage.

Remember when I was wishing for cooler weather in the midst of hot and humid August?  I take it back.

The Water Is Coming!

It has been raining steadily since Tuesday morning here in Wus-tah.  But this morning was what can only be described as a monsoon.  I saw Hunt out the door and watched as he ducked into his car to get out of the showers.

On his way into the hospital Hunt called me to say that the driveway at the front of our complex was becoming a lake with the water running down the street.  We discussed that it might be smart to move my car at some point in the day since our parking lot is in a valley in our complex.

Not fifteen minutes later I happened to glance out the window to see that what had been a heavy rain was now a flood!  My car was parked at the lowest point and the water was almost up to the running boards.

I ran outside in my galoshes (thank you for the gift that keeps on giving honey!) and as I plowed through the standing water the murky water came over the tops and almost spilled into the floorboards of my CR-V when I yanked the door open.  Thank heaven that my car started and I was able to get it to higher ground.

Next up: my mash-up impression of Paul Revere and Noah.

I ran through all three floors of our building knocking on doors and yelling that the lot was flooding.  I think all of four doors opened.  I eventually gave up on the heavy sleepers and later saw one of my neighbors get completely soaked as he tried to move his civic while the water was above his wheel wells.

This picture doesn't show it well - but the most shocking thing to me is how fast the water gathered and overpowered the drains.  My car was at the lowest point in the furthest corner - and this was at the beginning.  I can only imagine what is happening to the people to the north of us in Vermont who only just got their power back after Irene.

I thought we were in New England

...and that we could stop worrying about being impacted by hurricanes!

Irene wouldn't bother us one bit except for the fact that Hunt and I are supposed to travel to Atlanta this weekend for not one, but two weddings of dear friends. And while I am very happy that the bride with the outdoor wedding on Saturday no longer needs to worry about being pummeled by wind and rain, it does appear that the eye wall of Hurricane Irene is passing very close to Boston Sunday evening...right when we are due to be flying into Logan airport.

It doesn't really impact me since I am able to work from any location as long as I have an internet connection. It greatly impacts Hunt since for some reason he can't perform long-distance emergency interventions in the cath lab. (I've asked him to look into it, but it appears without some kind of meta-physics miracle, it's not going to happen) So, I may have to attend solo. Which stinks. Along with many of my girlfriends who have husbands with jobs that cause them to travel or be restricted to certain locations, going solo to weddings is something of a norm in our lives. I wouldn't care so much if it weren't for the fact that my husband is so unbelievably fun. He brings a lot of humor to just about any situation and, to top it off, he's a great dancer. All in all, a fantastic wedding date.

So, Irene, woman-to-woman here, could you just keep moving further east please?

The Wedding Disconnect: Simplifying Your Life

While managing one of the biggest projects of my life, I've been learning the ins and outs of how to simplify processes and take advantage of wedding deals. One of those ins and outs? The fact that the option that is supposed to make your life easier is not necessarily going to turn out that way.

When it came to ordering our wedding invitations I went with Paper Affair in Atlanta since they offer 20% off of your total order during the month of July! And since everything seems to have a hidden up charge of 30% when you mention the word "wedding," I jumped on the discount. And the plus of ordering from DC meant that I got "drop shipping" which resulted in no sales tax and delivery straight to my door!

Few things concerning this whole planning process have been delivered into my hands, cutting out one more thing to do, so this sounded awesome to me.

On the day that I received our invites one of the worst thunderstorms of the summer rumbled across northern Virginia and DC. The wind speeds reached up to 75 miles per hour - similar in strength to a tornado, except that the winds moved in a sheering motion, toppling trees and power lines and creating a complete white out at times. The highways were shut down and it took commuters hours to get home from the city.

And this was what I came home to find...

This resulted in screams from me that I'm guessing only dogs could hear - and me frantically ripping into the box and pulling out each box of invites, envelopes and response sets. Other than a few damp inner boxes, no damage was done. Though I think it shaved a day or two off of my life to realize that the little stacks of paper, which I had spent a healthy amount of money on, might have sat at my doorstep slowly turning back into pulp.

And considering that the invites that were sent weren't actually correct, I've since evaluated completely simplifying and sending out an Evite at this point. It would make my grandmother pass out in horror, but at least it couldn't be ruined by the forces of nature!

A New Year

So much has happened since I last updated! As a recap:

The weekend before Christmas

• I went up to DC to attend the Cardiology Department party with Hunt the weekend before Christmas
• A huge blizzard also decided to come up to DC
• Hunt and I evacuated DC so that we would be able to get to Atlanta in time for me to work the Christmas services the Sunday before Christmas
• 18.5 hours later, after one snow-drift rescue by 3 snow plows at 4:30 AM in Richmond, one glorious stop at Waffle House, many hours of conversation, we arrived safely in Hunt's civic.
• DC was snowed in with 2 FEET of snow and we had risked our lives to NOT be in a winter wonderland right before Christmas. We now wonder what we were thinking.
• It was wonderful to go to Buckhead Church's Christmas service as an attendee. Seeing those who had given their life to Christ or been baptized in the past year going up to light a candle sent tears streaming down my face. Please Lord, let me never take my job for granted.

Christmas!

• Mom was diagnosed with SWINE FLU! On the day that my brother Brad and his wife Anne flew into town for their first Christmas with us since they've been married.
• We stocked up on Lysol, face masks, hand sanitizer and bravely entered the petri dish otherwise known as my parent's home.
• Mom was a trooper and (while wearing a mask) managed to play the part of consummate hostess (with Anne and myself playing bit parts) for the Christmas celebrations and feasts that were prepared.
• Anne, Brad, Hunt and I went by ourselves to Johnson Ferry Baptist's Christmas Eve service at 11PM. I love this tradition, and love singing "Silent Night" right before midnight in a church full of people holding candles, and then singing "Joy to the World" when it becomes Christmas morning.
• Dad surprised Mom with a David Yurman necklace. It was caught on video. I would say that he did very, very well with his gift giving plan this year.
• We went to see Avatar 3D as a family. Awesome graphics. Awful story line.
• Our dog Molly suffered through the presence of Brad and Anne's miniature Schnauzer, Kaiser. I come to think that Molly thinks that she is a human and has no idea what this bouncy, excited creature is that invades her home every so often. She is not the playmate that Kaiser wishes she would be. But, their interactions entertains us!

New Years and everything after...

• Hunt and I drove back up to DC so that I could spend his birthday with him (on the 30th!) and celebrate New Years together.
• We made it to DC without fearing for our lives. Even when we stopped in Gaffney, SC.
• Brad, Anne, Mom and Dad drove up to Nashville for the Clemson bowl game - again, Mom was a trooper to have been fever-free but still very weak. So glad that they got that family time together!
• Hunt and I tried out a new restaurant (new to us) in DC for his birthday. 1905 - highly recommend it. It maybe had 10 tables, a very cozy atmosphere and excellent food. Happy Birthday Hunt!
• We went to a black-tie party at the National Building Museum for NYE. Unfortunately, the hosts hadn't planned for the large crowd and we were forced to stand outside for close to an hour trying to get in. In the rain. Thankfully, Hunt gave me galoshes for Christmas, and since it can be hard to get cabs after midnight on NYE, I thought it would be good to wear them and bring my party shoes in a plastic bag. Pre-planning has never worked so well. I avoided looking like a drowned rat by putting the plastic bag over my head. Don't try this at home kids!
• The rain didn't bother us all that much since we were happy that Hunt didn't have to be in the hospital on-call like he was last year.
• It was so good to get extended time with Hunt - though he worked at the hospital every day that I was there - even New Years day - we had many dinners with friends, ate taco soup and cornbread, watched movies and generally got to act like a couple that lives in the same town.

One of the things I find hardest is to take down all the decorations after the holidays have come and gone. I am thankful that I still experience a sense of child-like magic with every Christmas. I love the music, the cookie-making, the gift-wrapping, the movies, the parties, and the soft glow of the Christmas tree greeting me every time I walked through the door. I hope that feeling never goes away.

Happy New Year everyone!

Hi, my name is Gustav

and I may just ruin your Labor Day plans....


One half of my job is baptisms here at Buckhead Church. That involves walking with people through the process of applying for baptism, talking through their decision, their hesitance, their tightly-held beliefs that have been handed down through their parents, discussing the finer points of why we don't christen infants, helping them shape what they are going to say to keep it within 2 minutes, calming them on the day of filming, producing their video, and ultimately guiding them to the pool behind the scenes on a Sunday morning.

One major departure from this is baptisms down at the annual Labor Day Retreat. This is where 800-900 singles from Atlanta descend on Sandestin for four days. Getting baptized at the retreat is a popular option for various reasons. Most that participate are from BC, which has the highest ratio of singles out of all three of our campuses. So, I have been guiding 35 or so people (as opposed to 6 for a normal Sunday) through the baptism process and preparing them for getting dunked in the ocean.

I'm thinking that Gustav is going to make the whole getting in the ocean thing pretty interesting.
















If I come knocking on your door at 6 AM one morning of the retreat telling you it's now or never do not be surprised.


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Listening to: Blue October - Into The Ocean
via FoxyTunes