ONCE UPON A TIME . . .

There lived a very unhappy girl.

She had just moved into a new house and upon moving in, discovered a few problems.

First, her bed was too large and the stairway was too small to fit her box spring. She was stuck sleeping on a mattress on the floor (Boo).

Then, while she was getting settled, strange things started to happen. All of a sudden she felt as if she were outside in the cold rather than in her cozy little room. She could feel the air blowing and blowing . . . but from where?

"It couldn't be the windows," the girl thought. There was already plastic covering them. The closer she got however, the more air she could feel and sure enough it was the windows. The girl then noticed that her windows looked as if they were breathing. . . THE HOUSE WAS COMING TO LIFE!!!

How could this happen? Upon looking at it closer, the girl realized that the air was coming from around the wood part of the windows. She did her best with what she had and Saran wrapped until she couldn't Saran wrap any longer.

Problem solved . . . or so she thought until a big gust of wind came through and almost turned her into a human Popsicle. The girl jumped up to do the one thing she knew would help the situation, call her mother and cry. When she went to grab the phone off of her dresser, she leaned in a little too closely and smacked her head on the vaulted ceiling.

The girl was confused . . . had she grown? No, that couldn't be it. In fact, she was barefoot and therefore as short as she could possibly be. What was she going to do come Sunday when she slipped her foot into her new high heels?

The girl thought she should try it out. She slid her foot into her beautiful shoes and . . . Nothing. She wasn't too tall, at least not where she was standing. As she made her way through the door frame however, she discovered that ducking would be necessary from now on.

The girl couldn't believe the situation that she found herself in. For a moment she thought about crying but then the strangest thing started to happen. She began laughing! She laughed and laughed and laughed until she couldn't laugh any more. "This is going to be great," she thought, "It'll be like living in my very own fort!" And who doesn't want to do that!?!

Adventures in the Snow

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, covered in scars, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'yahoo!', what a ride."

I love, love, love the snow, and Boston is full of it lately. Leaving church on Sunday I snapped the following two photos.

It was so beautiful and peaceful walking to the train. With hardly anyone around, you could hear nothing but the crunching of snow under your boots. (and my laughter as I came to the un-shoveled areas and had to walk knee deep . . . in a dress!)

With the long weekend and the new snow fall, I was provided a great opportunity to get out with some good friends for a little cross country skiing.

(Emily, Jen and Sarah)

Emily and I were brand new to the sport, but with a little instruction and help from Jen the PRO . . .

. . . we were off and skiing with confidence.

We skied for quite a while and never once ended up on the same path. The trails were great and the weather couldn't have been better.

We (mostly me) took a few spills during the day. This was one of the best. Emily took off first, lost control and ended up wrapped around the tree (one ski on either side). I came up second, tried not to hit Emily, lost control and landed with my skis in the air. We couldn't stop laughing.

Emily and I up and ready for more!

Later we came to a bit of a hill. I went first, lost control and was almost in a full split before falling forward and sliding to a stop. Emily and Jen came flying down after me, lost control, ran into each other and ultimately landed a few feet from me. I really wish we would have caught that one on film. It would have been hilarious to watch.

After skiing for a few hours we went to Concord, MA to grab a bite to eat at the Main Street Cafe. Great soups, sandwiches and baked goods . . . It was just what we needed.

To finish the whole day up, my roommates (Angie and Jen) made snow angels in our front yard.

It was the perfect ending to the perfect day!

Isabelle Noel Grover

January 9th, 2009

The Grover Family (my sister Kristin's family) welcomed a brand new baby girl on Friday. I happened to be lucky enough to live close by and see her in her first few days of life.

(Kristin, Kenley and baby Bella)

After playing at the house all day, Cora and I got our turn to go to the hospital and spend time with Bella, Kristin and Kenley. Cora was so cute about it. At first she didn't understand that Bella was not in Mom's tummy anymore. However, after a short time she jumped right into big sister mode and began telling everyone when Bella was "stinky" and when she needed her "paci" (Pacifier). She kept us entertained!

(Kristin in full Mommy Mode)

I really hope she doesn't lose her beautiful Black hair.

Welcome Isabelle, I love you already and can't wait to get to know you better.

New York Part 2:

I found my new favorite place . . .Bergdorf Goodman!  I wanted to jump right into the snow white windows and stay there forever.  They reminded me a little of Labyrinth.  

  

I loved the attention to detail.  I seriously could have stood there all night dreaming up stories to go along with each window had it not been so cold.  

I especially loved this dress . . . I wonder how much it costs . . . actually, maybe it's best if I don't know.  

Then I found it . . . my perfect gift.  

Here, have a closer look so you don't get confused when you go into the store to purchase it for me. 

 

The big New York Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center was beautiful.

Next up we went to the Shake Shack.  I had seen it on a number of different blogs were people raved about how great it was.  The only problem was that they didn't mention that it is an outdoor only place. 

 

We were starving and were so excited to try this place out, so we decided to brave the winter weather and eat there anyway.  The food was amazing, as promised.  

We finished up just as the snow began to fall.  

Then it was off to get a little desert before heading home.  Do you remember the move You've Got Mail?  Well, there is a scene where Meg Ryan is waiting to meet this amazing guy who she had been emailing.  She is sitting in a little Cafe with a book and a rose, when Tom Hanks comes in and ruins her night.  Well, we went to that little cafe . . . Cafe Lalo! 

It was so cute and the creme brulee was fantastic! 

On our drive home we ran into a bit of a situation.  It was snowing so hard that we could only move at a pace of about 30 mph.  When you have to drive about 4 hours to get home, it's 12:00a.m. and people are struggling to stay on the road, you know it's time to pull over and call it a night.  So, that's what we did.  

Besides the fact that the Motel looked like the one at the end of Poltergeist and the fact that the guy wouldn't give us extra blankets because then he would have to admit that there were 5 girls in the room, it wasn't so bad.  My only real problem was in my head.  Never watch a dateline special on Motels and bed bugs, that's all I'm saying.  

The next morning we woke up to a lovely winter wonderland.  It was an easy ride home.  The roads were clear and the trees were beautiful.  New York was a blast.  I can't wait to go back!