Blizzard 2011

So when I moved to Chicago, I was told that there are never "snow days" b/c they are so prepared for the snow but usually there aren't BLIZZARDS here! So, it snowed like crazy last night and we ended up getting 20.2 inches of snow. Josh and I both had the day off but we wouldn't have been able to drive anywhere even if we had to!
The plow came by earlier this evening to try to clear the snow around our cars but he got stuck and once he got unstuck, he gave up and basically, our cars are still stuck. We both have to work tomorrow (me at 3:15 and Josh at 1:00)so we're hoping they come along in the morning to clear us both out.

Enjoy the video and pics! It has been an adventure for sure!

On the Hunt...

I know I haven't posted in quite some time. I guess I'm really not all that good at blogging when life gets in the way. All my time is devoted to working full-time (about 9 1/2 hours a day and sometimes more)and trying to build my embroidery business.

I am on the hunt now for a teaching job in the Charleston area. Josh and I have discussed me moving back to Charleston this summer when our lease is up if I can find a job so that I can begin to get my new classroom set up and prepare for the next school year. If this happens, he will stay up here until the beginning oof October and then move home for good. PERMANENTLY! We may move to another house in the future but we are not planning on moving to another state ever again. We've both seen enough snow and we don't care if we never see snow again!

I have completed my online application, am waiting on two references and have already contacted the district I worked for previously (Dorchester Districrt Two in Summerville)about interviewing for next year. Since, I've been gone from their district for more than two years, I have to reapply and get clearance before I can begin contacting principals. I am also going to begin to contact Charleston County principals soon. You don't have to have clearance with them anymore. Please pray that the right job will come along and that I'll be happy wherever I end up. I really don't want to go back to teaching and this has been hard for me to accept but we just can't afford for me not to work. There's not much else you can do with a Masters in Early Childhood Education.

We were lucky enough to get to travel to KY for Christmas and had a great time visiting with Josh's family. A week later, most of my family came up for a weekend visit to see Wicked over New Year's. Now, we are expecting more guests and I can't wait. It is so exciting to have friends/family come when you live so far away. Faidra (Josh's sister) and Callie (our niece) will come up to visit over her spring break. This happens to be my spring break as well so I'll hopefully be able to do some exploring and sight seeing with them. In addition, my friend from college (Julie) and her husband (Michael) are coming up over Easter weekend. We have tickets to see a Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field and they will get to do some exploring on their own when Josh and I work. The faster they get here, the faster the snow leaves us. It won't be soon enough. It feels like -7 outside right now. I'm not planning on attempting to see what that feels like today. I'm just fine snuggled up in our warm apartment!

It's Snowing, It's Pouring... Everyone is FREEZING!

We officially had our first snow storm of the season. They are calling for 5 inches and there's a lot of snow on the ground already and it's only 7:00 a.m. Josh and I are planning to go look for the perfect Christmas tree in the snow on Sunday! I can honestly say I've never had the opportunity to do that before. It's usually not snowing 5 inches in SC when it's time to get our Christmas tree.

I will be driving for the first time in the snow with Josh. I have to babysit and he's volunteered to take me and pick me up so I think I'm going to drive one of those times so I can get the feel of it. We found out yesterday that I need new tires and a new battery on my car in order to survive the winter up here. So, I'm going to drive my car only when it's absolutely necessary until we get that taken care of next week. Enjoy your warm weather where ever you may be... We're FREEZING up here and may need to just start skiing to get around!

10.10.10- Do Something Out of the Ordinary

Sunday was 10.10.10 so Josh and I did something a little spontaneous. It was supposed to be a gorgeous day here in October which is unheard of from what I hear so we wanted to spend the day outside since there will be many inside days in the months to come. It was 89 degrees at the warmest and we drove to Starve Rock State Park which is about an hour and 1/2 away from where we live.

Everything was going great...we were set to arrive at the park at around 11:30 a.m. but when we got off the interstate to drive the remaining 3 miles, we were at a stand still and looking at what seemed like a parking lot. We assumed this was the line to get into the park since it was such a beautiful day. An hour and 1/2 later we realized that it wasn't the park that was causing the traffic but some festival in the nearby town of Utica (occupancy 1000). I'm hoping it was more than what we saw as we crawled past b/c the booths we saw looked like yard sales but it was obviously a big deal to the folks who live in Utica.

Once we finally got into the park, parked and got something to eat, we ended up having a wonderful day. We hiked on lots of rocks and near many canyons. The leaves have turned here and some are already falling off the trees so it was a beautiful trip. There are usually waterfalls but it hasn't rained here in a few weeks, so there was no water to fall. We'll have to go back another time next year when it's warm again to see this. We walked for about 4 hours and some of this included very steep stairs so we were both rather sore on Monday!

As soon as I get the camera back from Josh, I'll post our pictures so you can see some of the beauty we saw!