ZOMG SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!

Seattle recently had over a year's worth of snow fall in about 2.5 days.  Which was exciting and entertaining all at the same time.  People here aren't known for their ability to drive in snow (hailing from the desert wasteland of south Louisiana I happen to be an expert.  Or not. Either way...) so the city pretty much shut down.  A lot of people lost their power, thankfully this was not the case at my home but I wouldn't have minded not having to work for a few days. Something else I discovered was that the dog goes absolutely batshit crazy in the snow.  Ears back, nose down, pouncing in circles.  So the snow was fun but after being stuck in my house and unable to drive anywhere for a week cabin fever started to set in.  I have rarely seen as many happy people as I did when everything was once again drivable on Saturday.  Nor have I ever heard the phrase, "OMG it is so AWESOME to be out again" repeated so many times by so many people.

Snow nose!

Night snow

Mr. Snowman

Snow flowers

Snow throne of some sort...

Also, melting snow in the streets is disgusting.  Do not like.

How to stay upright when zooming downhill. On sticks. On snow.

So one of the things that happens here is SNOW. It's this odd white fluffy stuff that falls from the sky instead of rain, I had heard rumors of its existence prior to moving up here but I thought it was just a legend.  Like elk, or yeti.
Anyway within about an hour's drive of Seattle there are ski resorts where wizards can teach you how to stay upright on two tiny sticks while hurtling downhill.  If you drive even further east I hear there are some much larger mountains w/ ski resorts but I'm quite content with my little mountain until I too am a ski magician.
One of the things that I love the most about this area is how quickly everything changes.  As soon as you head east out of Seattle on I-90 you start climbing in elevation.  I've been going skiing every Sunday and every Sunday the drive amazes me all over again.

Heading east to the first week of ski lessons

Snoqualmie

About to hit the slopes

Sunset on the way home

Heading back up for week 2.  In a freaking snowstorm (see next post on SNOWMAGEDDON) 

Fairyland

Insane snow storm for week 3.  

The roads had several feet of snow plowed along the side.

Blizzard at Snoqulamie

I might do a follow-up post on this one if anything major happens.  Hopefully it will just be more swooshing downhill.

Christmas on the Bayou

I went home for the holidays and ate until I was cross-eyed.  There's never enough time in the day so I wasn't able to make it to Baton Rouge to see friends and family but I hope to make it there next time around.  But before I went back down south I did a few things around Seattle over the holidays.  Including picking up my lovely Christmas time wine from my wine club.  YUM.

Tasting at DeLille 

Enjoying the enclosed patio

It was a yucky day out.

 After that I went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's showing of The Nutcracker.  It was great and a little different from the version that I'm used to.  Also, the Seafair Pirates were there collecting for children's charities and adding to the general festivities.

Yaaarrrrrrr 

The opening screen for the Nutcracker

After all of this I headed down south for the week of Christmas.  I was hoping to spend a lot of time sitting outside and soaking up some sun.  However, the Seattle weather seemed to follow me south.  Oh well.

Strange things were afoot in the Seattle airport 

Margaritas and cookies at DFW!

Christmas tree w/o any cats in it!

Southern Pecan...a good way of knowing I'm back home.

Ari looking festive

Looking down the Bayou 

Lovely Seattle weather in south Louisiana

Christmas Eve wine.  It was accompanied by Beef Burgundy

Birthday cake!

Christmas dinner...Turkey, mashed potatoes

Sweet potatoes w/ blue cheese and pecans, gravy, and dressing

homemade cranberries...

broccoli rice and cheese casserole and mac n cheese

Christmas decor

Festive kitty

Heading north!  Back in DFW for round two.