Jack Frost Can Suck It

I am SO DONE with winter. DONE. As my husband pointed out, however, yesterday was actually the first official day of winter, so it's going to be a long haul! Early Friday morning, we were hit by an ice storm that resulted in almost all area schools closing. At first, I was majorly thrilled to start holiday break early, until the power went off Friday morning. And stayed off for 4 hours. It came back on, only to go off again at 6 that night. We ended up sleeping with Luke in between us in bed so he'd stay warm. It came back on sometime in the middle of the night and stayed on all Saturday.

Sunday, Shane and I had ticket to go see "Wicked" in Chicago. On the coldest day of the year. It was COLD. I mean, freeze your tatas off cold. I wore three layers of sweaters, and I was still beyond cold. "Wicked" was wonderful! I've wanted to see it for quite some time, as I loved the book. Shane wasn't familiar with the book or the musical, but he still enjoyed it. After the show, we couldn't snag a cab, so we walked a half-mile to Berghoff's. Only to discover that it is now closed on Sundays. Funny! Only not. We ducked into Garrett's popcorn to warm up and buy a couple bags of popcorn. Those of you heading to Chicago for BlogHer this summer have to HAVE TO try Garrett's popcorn. It's that good. Anyway, after this, we ducked into a diner. At this point, I checked my cell phone and had five voicemail messages. My parents were watching Luke at their (powerless) house, so at about 5pm they took Luke back to our house to get him bathed and in bed...only to discover that our power was out and had been out for quite awhile, as the house was 53 degrees.

Long story short, we hurried out of the diner without eating, snagged a cab, bought a disgustingly greasy but oh so good pizza roll at a fast food place, then caught the 6pm train. Because electricity and I don't get along, the power on the train kept going off and we left about 15 minutes behind schedule. It was a slow ride home, as the power kept surging and flickering. We finally made it back and swung by our house, which was now down to a frosty 42 degrees, so we ended up staying at my parents' house. They didn't have power, but they have a wood stove AND a fireplace, so they had warmth at least! Luckily, our power is back on, but as the lines are still heavy with ice, I'm not too hopeful that it'll stay on long term. Cross your fingers!

The strangest thing about an ice storm is that as annoying as they are, it's also so beautiful outside. The whole world is sparkling right now, especially in the sun. Don't believe me? These two girls have some amazing photos! Still, beautiful as it is, I'd much rather be looking at a warm beach right now...