Ah Winter - and the story of the 10.5 hour commute

Ah, beautiful! Who wouldn't want to wake up on a sunny Thursday morning...
              to bask in the rays of the sun
                        from the warmth of the house...
                                while looking out at the beautiful snow covered trees?

It was a beautiful sight to behold, but to stop here would leave off the most important part of the story - how it came to be that I was able to take this picture from my bed late in the morning.

Where shall I begin - long story alert...

The afternoon before (Wednesday, January 26th), the office closed early, and here I am about 3 hours in to my commute a little after 7:00 p.m.:



Realizing all the major routes (395, 95, 495) were closed:


Around 8 p.m. when I thought a UFO was over the stoplight - and I caught the green sky on video:


Me talking again at 8:50 p.m. after some people pushed me up a hill and when I thought I was a mile from GMU (which I wasn't):


Luckily, I had peanut butter cookies:


9:24 p.m. at a strip mall parking lot (no gas station and almost on empty):


Lots of people stuck in a parking lot of all places. It doesn't look like much snow, but whatever it was (snow,ice,slush, rain), it was not cooperating with our cars.


10:46 p.m. - already forgetting what date it was:


Realizing that I should probably show what my view was for about 10.5 hours:


Hand exercises at 11:18 p.m. to stay occupied:


Took a picture to have a break from the video setting:

11:35 p.m. and I'm so over the whole experience:


Don't laugh at that last one - I was going crazy.


Sitting in the same spot - at almost midnight:



Turning off the car - almost out of gas:


Grown man going to the restroom (or not) right in front of us:


I'm not the only one taking pictures and videos along the way:


12:33 in the morning -a glimpse of the university:



So, if you got to this point (which most people probably didn't), you know that there was no way I was going in to work the next day after arriving home around 2 a.m.

But, blessings abound -good samaritans all over the place, I didn't run out of gas (shocking since I had only put $10 in an empty tank the day before) and I got home safely.

Here's to little traffice adventures and traffic inspired sick days....though I actually did work a bit the next day..but, from home and in my bed (which is where I took the pictures from the first part of the post).

Winter wonderland

More photos from the walk.

The Scarf

Anyone that knows me well knows that during the cold months I pull out a red plaid scarf and wear it the entire winter. My mother wore it in college and somehow I took it as my own during high school.

I just got it back from the dry cleaner and I'll admit to being slightly worried the entire time that it would get lost or ruined. After all, it's the only thing that comes close to a security blanket for me.

I did knit myself a scarf when I was around 14-16 years old. It's the yellow one that I have wrapped around my head for some reason. It came out really crooked and I think I might still have it wrapped away somewhere. It will be the only scarf I ever make.

Sledding as a young skinny girl.

Sledding as a not so skinny girl on my mission.

Harrison and I at the Festival of Lights 2007.