snow/showers

This past weekend I flew to Austin, TX to help throw a bridal shower for my friend Danyelle. She and I met when we were fresh(wo)men in high school and were inseparable for the next many years through most of college, until we each moved away and have lived in different states since then... but we've remained friends all the same, and now she's getting married in a couple months and I get to be her matron of honor. #squeewoot 

Hence, the bridal shower. I've been helping the other bridesmaids plan this thing for a couple months, and then winter decided to throw a great big wrench in my plans in the form of a winter storm hitting all of New England on the day of my flight. I freaked out for a good day or so before the flight, then Thursday morning I drove in to Boston early and managed to get in to the airport right before the bad weather hit. I sat at the terminal watching thick snow blowing directly vertically from the high winds, and as my flight time started getting pushed back I just readied myself for the inevitable cancellation...

See how blown-out white it looks outside the windows? That's not a trick of exposure, that's really what it looked like because the snow was so thick.

Thankfully, the snow stopped after a couple hours, the runways were cleared and planes de-iced, and my flight left after all landing me in Austin around midnight. Woohoo! The next morning, on Friday, Zach sent me a picture of the 1.5ft of snow they got back in NH: 

Texas has also had a much harsher and colder winter than normal, but the weather gods smiled down on me this time and it was sunny and in the 60s and 70s the whole weekend. I cannot express in words how amazing this was. When I stepped outside on friday morning and felt that warm sunshine on my bare skin, after the winter we've had and how cold it's been here, I seriously wanted to cry it felt so amazing. And all these years I thought it was Zach who was so affected emotionally by the weather... 

 I got everything done I needed to that day, then unfortunately started feeling a bit off later in the afternoon and before long accepted that I was coming down with the nasty cold Zach had last week (and is still fighting even now...as am I... this thing sucks...). I felt fairly crummy the rest of friday a good bit of saturday, but still managed to pull everything together for the shower. We had a few hiccups with the planning, but it was a really fun group and no one cared that half the food and all the booze didn't even get there till after the party started. So despite the snags I'd say it was a roaring success.

The bride-to-be and me

Early sunday morning I boarded my planes to head back to New Hampshire, back to the cold and lots of fresh snow. It was a bit of a shock to pull back into our neighborhood and see the massive piles of snow plowed from the roads after that last snowfall. Yesterday was gorgeous, if cold. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon hanging out with Jeremy, Ethan, and Sam, and the boys had fun playing in all that snow (the kids are all on winter break this week).

It's snowing a few more inches today. Zach and I are still battling this same cold, and D woke up feeling miserable this morning. Not ideal, for sure... but it was a great weekend, and now it's nice to be home.