Sometimes its worth it!

I have usually considered myself a pretty practical person. And when Corey suggested a few years ago that I should replace my dead blender with a vita-mix, I thought he was crazy. "Who needs something like that??!" I thought! "I only make smoothies..." Well, we found one discounted on Ebay, never been used, and I have never looked back! He was right... my Vitamix has revolutionized my smoothies! (And soup, and hummus, and soon to try peanut butter)
Then just over a year ago, before we approached our first winter in our first home, he found a large snowblower on craigs list. I looked at him, and at it, and was like "Really, what on earth do we need one that big for! We have arms, our driveway isnt THAT long..." But he insisted, and again.. he was right!

Today, I had full intention of pushing our snow before I left for work (we have this amazing pusher that works 10x better than a shovel when the snow is light enough) but sadly within seconds I realized the snow was much too deep and heavy for the pusher. So I sent him a message that I would have to be blown. Well he did, but it continued to snow all day, enough so that when I got home at 4.... I got stuck trying to pull in the driveway. So I go get the shovel, free my car and realize the logical choice to rev up the blower instead of trying to shovel my way into the driveway. Man that thing is nice.... Thank you Corey for convincing me!

And to my friends who shoveled their entire driveways today... You get mad props....!! I did our back sidewalk and front stairs (the areas the blower couldn't do), and crap that was tough! You did your upper body workout for the day!

So today I am thankful for the things that sometimes just turn out to really be worth it!! (Side note, the picture is just half of the driveway. )

Bus trip to the slopes

Living in Ohio, the skiing and snowboarding isn't exactly the BEST ever... but not too far away in NY there are some decent resorts. Today I was lucky enough to hook up with a bus trip out of a ski shop in my home town to go spend the day snowboarding. Double bonus.... group discounted lift tickets, and I didn't have to drive myself there or home!!

Haven't gotten the chance to ride in almost 2 years, so I was pretty psyched to get out there today. My friend was trying her hand (or feet?) at snowboarding for the first time, so while she checked out a lesson, I hit the lifts. Found some friendly lift riding people to chat with in the beginning, then later did some riding with a girl that was on the bus trip with us (her fiance was also back on the beginner hill). Overall, a pretty great day. Slopes were a little crunchy and icy at first, but with it snowing all day, we had some powder at the end of the day before we had to pack it up and get on the bus.

Such a great feeling riding down the hills, and even better, NO INJURY! Had 1 pretty impressive wipeout that I hope someone enjoyed watching, but nothing hurt after, so that's a plus! I knew I was going too fast! :-)

Time to get ready for work. Pretty cold tomorrow AM... think we can get another snow day? HAH

More snow!

Call me crazy, but I enjoy living in the north eastern US because we have seasons! There are a few months of hot (which I love), there are a few months of cool temps (which is the wonderful break from the hot), there is spring (which I am indifferent to, other then the flowers that pop up in my backyard,) and then we have winter. Cold, snowy, short day winter. I love winter as much as I love summer. I get a little excited everytime I see snowflakes.  Whether it's the first ones of the season, or a return snow flurry after 2 weeks of heavy snow- I am happy to see it! Today at dismissal we opened the door to some light snow, and it made me smile. Sure it can have its dilemmas of traffic but overall I am a fan!!