Snowed In

Growing up in New Hampshire, I am no stranger to blizzards. Nearly every winter, we would get a handful of big storms and if we were lucky,  a snow day or two would result. My family would often take advantage of the snow by heading up North to ski. And for the days where we reminded at home, we would spend at least half of the day playing outside, building snowmen, making snow forts and sledding. In preparation for these activities I would spend hours bundling up before heading outside. I assembled the perfect snow outfit, complete with the trick of pulling my wool socks OVER my pant legs to ensure that no snow would touch my skin! After time in the snow, we would warm up with hot chocolate and, more often than not, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

Blizzards in New York City are a little different. People freak out leading up to the storm, but then once it comes even though this city is a little quieter, things continue on as normal. Restaurants still deliver, Starbucks remains open and Broadway shows still go on.

I took advantage of the quite weekend to stay in a do a little baking and crafting. Unfortunately, I don’t have completed projects or blog posts to show you so hang tight.

That’s right – the sewing machine came out this weekend!

Some exciting things went down in the kitchen this weekend. More to come!

What did you do this weekend during the storm? Anything fun?

Hurricane Prep

If you live on the east coast, you have been bombarded with the news of Hurricane Irene for the past week. High winds, strong rains and predicted flooding has forced NYC to order many residence of the city to evacuate. The MTA will be shut down tomorrow at noon and the bridges leading into Manhattan will close as soon as winds hit 60 mph. Government officials keep telling us, this is no joke, get ready.

Matt and I have decided not to go out to the Hamptons this weekend as planned; probably a smart move. While many folks aren’t happy about this storm, I have to admit, a part of me is kind of excited. Matt and I have been traveling for the past 8 weekends. Storm or no storm, it is going to be nice to have a weekend in the city. And to make things even better, we will probably get stuck in our apartment, at least for a portion of the weekend, which will give us time to do things that we have been putting off for weeks on end. As a reminder to Matt, I made a list of things to do during the hurricane.

I also prepared some provisions to help us ride out the storm. Thanks to our friends, Jen and Ratch for giving us flashlights off our wedding registry. Although we anticipated using these for camping purposes, they might come in handy this weekend. Considering that this is our first time experiencing a storm of such magnitude, I wasn’t exactly sure what to buy… I don’t think there is anything else we would need if we were to get stranded in our apartment for a few days, do you?