how Portland does snow

It's no secret that I harbor a measure of derision for Portland's "snow" days. Coming from a place where I had to go to school after two feet of snow fell overnight, it's hard for me to muster excitement for school children who get a snow day for frost. But that's just the way it is here, and even after 8ish inches of snow fell last week, I have yet to see that one snowplow Wilsonville allegedly has.

Snowfall like this comes to Portland about once every five or so years, and I'll be honest: I loved it. With legit snow being so rare here, it was nice that the whole area shut down. Josh came home early from work Thursday and Friday, and I did lots of baking and cocoa drinking. On Saturday we drove to Josh's parents' so that Asher could sled down their driveway, and on our drive we saw people out everywhere. Not many cars were on the road, but there were kids and adults alike bundled up, carting sleds, throwing snowballs, and building snowmen.

Snow comes so regularly to Denver that it rarely produces such a communal thrill. As a kid of course I'd have my mom help me with my snow pants and parka and boots and gloves and hat just so I could play in the snow for 20 minutes. We made snow men and even went sledding a time or two. But life had to go on, otherwise our whole winter (and a good chunk of spring and fall) would be snow days. Here in Portland, though? Life is paused for a time, and even this Rocky Mountain girl will admit that's pretty fun.

So yes, I may never stop scoffing at the minimal amount of weather it takes to constitute a Portlandian "snow" day, but when those snow days are real snow days? Portland sure knows how to do them right.

a perfect day for cocoa

Want to brave the weather and come over for some cocoa? 

Yesterday Portland got some real sticking-to-the-ground, piling-up-on-cars, big-snowflake snowfall. This is literally the most snow I've seen in Portland since moving here three and a half years ago. This snow snob approves.

So head over, and I'll have the cocoa ready. 

What kind of cocoa do you want? My current favorite cocoa concoctions are Safeway-brand cocoa with York Peppermint Pattie creamer. When you have the dark chocolate cocoa, the creamer makes your drink taste like a Thin Mint.

Speaking of, I ordered three boxes. Of Thin Mints. Obviously. Every year the boxes get smaller and the prices remain the same, and every year I'm suckered into buying those over-priced delicious treats. Perhaps I'll have to try dipping Thin Mints into my Thin-Mint-like cooca. Whoa. What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie? I mean, you have to have a favorite.

Has it been snowing where you are? It seems like it's been snowing all over the country lately. Josh came home early yesterday because of the snowfall, and we bundled up Asher and took him out to play.

He loved it. Obviously. That's no surprise.

Can I tell you about how much I love Josh as a dad? Seriously, those two make my heart just melt. Even in the snow. How is your family doing? Your husband? Your children? Marriage and family are hard sometimes, and it's okay if you don't feel like you have it all together. Because chances are we're all doing a little bit better than we think.

What do you think of my tablecloth? I found it at Target on clearance for $6.50, so I bought it. Having a tablecloth on the table somehow makes me feel like I earned bonus housewife points. My mom always has a tablecloth out, and I think I need some more to feel legit. My grandma had the biggest tablecloth stash you could imagine. Are you a housewife? Do you like it? What earns you extra domesticity points?

What's on your Netflix queue these days? Believe it or not I don't have a TV show I'm bingeing on currently. Once I wrapped up Chuck I just haven't been in the mood to find something new. I've been reading a lot, and I like that. I'm really enjoying my Stephen King novel, and I'm almost finished with this book by Sheri Dew. And I have access to my dad's Audible account, so that's awesome. Obviously.

The snow gave me permission to stop counting Weight Watchers points this week so that I can enjoy M&Ms, homemade bread, and extra mugs of cocoa. Isn't that considerate?

The snow is falling heavy now, so you might want to head home since Portland doesn't exactly have a huge supply of snowplows. Getting around in even a mild snow storm can prove dubious in these parts. After you leave, I think I'll hole up in my sewing room and work on that jacket some more.

Thanks for stopping by! And thanks for looking at what is essentially the same picture over and over. I just can't get enough of that kid in puffy snow clothes. Also, I really love our cocoa dates. I'm so glad we're friends.

snow day

Remember what constitutes a snow day for Portlandians? I'm sure you can imagine my delight at the snow that started falling last night and continued through today. While all the Denver locals are lamenting this spring snow, my snow snobbery relishes the snowfall—this is the most snow I've seen in three years!

We've commemorated the weather with cocoa, Wreck It Ralph, and cinnamon rolls, and we might venture out later this evening to the outlets for some more shopping. So far this trip has been perfect, and this bona fide snow day has been the cherry on top.

an Oregon winter

I grew up accustomed to winter. I spent my childhood in Colorado, where we rarely, if ever, got snow days. (Seriously, I can probably count the number of snow days I had on one hand.) Then I went to school in Utah where winters were very similar to my Colorado ones.

This is my first winter in Oregon, and it's a lot different. For almost the entire month of January it felt practically seasonless. The weather was cold enough so you were uncomfortable and needed a jacket but not so cold that you could see your breath. It hardly even rained in January. Sometimes it was cloudy and sometimes not; it was a very strange month weather-wise. It was just gray with few season indicators.

Hoping I don't jinx myself, I'll admit that I like weather. I like the weather that accompanies the seasons: the snow and cold of winter, the easing warmth of spring, the heat and sun of the summer, and the blustery chill of autumn. I love the weather markers that tell me where I am in the year. And here in Oregon, I miss the snow. I miss the way falling snow muffles sounds so everything is just quiet, and I miss waking up to snow falling off tree boughs and compelling warm and cozy evenings.

So this morning when we woke up and saw this, my heart warmed a bit.

But when I saw the general response to these two inches of snow, it felt like Oregon was prepping for snow madness. {Click photo to enlarge.}

Chains. On the buses. For two inches of snow. Most of which was melted from the roads anyway. Oh, brother.

At least the traffic was great coming into Portland, because, you know, lots of people were snowed in.

snow day

Or at least, that's what Oregonians are expecting this week.

I'm from Colorado, typically a pretty snowy state. We had maybe five snow days my entire public school career. Maybe. I am no stranger to snow. In fact, I like it. Driving in it isn't my favorite, but I can do it.

The Portland forecast says we'll maybe get one to two inches of snow.

And yet, while purchasing light bulbs this afternoon (to supply the lamps I bought over the weekend), the cashier not-so-jokingly said, "You should be buying candles in case the power goes out." In case the power goes out. {Note: I've been in only a handful of snowstorms in which the power has actually gone out.}

I nonchalantly replied that I grew up in Denver, and so I'm pretty comfortable in snow. The bagger then asked if I had four-wheel drive, as if that car feature really meant I was from a snowy state.

Yes, I understand that if you or your town is not equipped for snow (I don't think my town has many snowplows), then one to two inches of snow may seem a little more daunting.

But still.

Expecting a power outage? Oh, please.

quintessential first day of december

As all of you who live here know, yesterday this is what it looked like outside (Katelyn woke me up excitedly to show me!):

and this was at 11 in the morning--sa-weet!!!

Can you think of a more perfect way to kick off December?! I submit that there is not. So anyway, Katelyn and I woke up around nine or so, got ready, and ate breakfast while watching the most recent episode of "Chuck" online (Emily and Dad converted me to that show--it's pretty hilarious). Then we got to make an exciting trip to the storage unit to pick up Katelyn's Christmas tree we decided to use in our apartment. She also had to pick up some more things from the storage unit and much to our benefit, almost all of it was in one bin that was sitting right on top.

We ran to the bank and then picked up Katelyn's brother so he could have the car. We then made mac and cheese for lunch and continued to watch the "Chuck" episode we didn't finish (and also did not go to the stake service project up in SLC--who wants to go to Salt Lake when you can stay in your cozy apartment eating KRAFT mac and cheese and watching TV shows online??) The best part about the snow of the day was that it continued to snow all day and it was cloudy and like Michelle said in her post yesterday, a true Winter Wonderland!

I was actually productive a little bit yesterday: I worked on some articles and read for British Lit, however I gave up on the articles (that were actually due, but I just emailed the guy explaining my problem) because my computer was being unusually retarded yesterday. I've had this problem with the "i" key and it comes off and it's really hard to put back on and my efforts yesterday were fruitless. Oh yeah, and my computer kept restarting itself all afternoon--good grief. I think next summer when I have a bit of money it will be time to find a new one that *hopefully* won't give me so much trouble. [*The "i" key still isn't working too well, so this whole typing thing isn't coming so easy . . . but I just had to post about yesterday because I knew if I didn't do it now I wouldn't do it and I'd end up only having 3 posts for December like in November . . . sorry . . . rambling . . . ]

So after some school and work things, then we decorated our apartment!!

Our super cute little Christmas tree!

Me decorating the Christmas tree--I love the snow in the background!

Julie putting up some colored lights she got from her grandma (they kind of look like fiesta lights!)

More decorating endeavors--I'm glad I didn't fall off :)

Katelyn and I went out to dinner at Wendy's last night which was a fun excursion and then we went up to campus to pick up Katelyn's brother again and while we were waiting we had a bit too much fun with the camera . . .

What can we say? It was REALLY cold

I'm a super spy

I don't know what I can say about this one . . .

A cute one of Katelyn

A cute one of Katelyn and me . . . well it's cute of Katelyn. Not my favorite one of me

Oh wait--our day isn't over yet! We went back to the apartment and then pulled out the Easy Bake oven. That's right--the Easy Bake oven. We tried making some Easy Bake sugar cookies that were not so great . . . . We watched "The Family Stone" (which was better than I thought it would be) and "Tristan and Isolde" (which also was better than I thought it would be). Then we went to bed.

A perfect December day.