snow-motion rules the day

I lifted this headline from this morning's edition of The Seattle Times...because it's so true!  Life slows down quite a bit here with any snow, as explained in this article.  Several inches fell Monday, and temperatures have been so cold (low 20's) that it hasn't melted yet, which is quite unusual for us.  My school had an early release on Monday, and then no school yesterday or today due to the slick, icy, snow-covered road conditions, since just about everyone lives on or near a hill around here.

Monday night I decided to stop my commute in Kirkland rather than drive to my apartment in Seattle, and it's a good thing I did, because it took some people 4-10 hours to get home Monday.  My dad left his office at 5:30pm and didn't get home til nearly 10:30.  His bus was stuck in the middle of 520, the floating bridge crossing Lake Washington, because another bus was blocking the upper part of the bridge with barely enough room to let cars pass.  So he got off his bus, walked to the next exit, and hung out in a gas station while I drove through Bellevue to pick him up.  The streets were empty of cars, but full of snow, and as long as I kept moving I was fine.

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, although very cold.  Mike was out sledding with friends, so Mom and Dad and I walked down to our local Starbucks to use our "free birthday drink" certificates since our birthdays are all so close.  We could choose any drink, so my mom got a venti for the very first time.

Since it was so cold, I decided to break out my big blue down jacket from Chicago for our walk.

It has quite the hood.

When we walked by our local grocery store, Metropolitan Market, their outside display of "winter squash" was living up to its name.

And we felt sorry for these succulents that were a little out of their element.

This snow storm takes us right up to Thanksgiving break tomorrow and Friday!  We are having dinner just the 5 of us, and rather than cooking, my mom has ordered up our meal from Metropolitan Market.  She was originally thinking of us going to a restaurant, but getting it from this gourmet grocery store means we can have leftovers :)

A blessed Thanksgiving to all!