Sheba in the Snow

xo, Linds

Crematory Icicles

Seriously.. the weather is so whacky around here. One week you've got a couple feet tall icicles hanging from your apartment awnings and the next week it's between 50 and 60 degrees out. I'm not complaining... I don't mind cold weather but I'm not the biggest fan of driving in the ice and the snow. I'm not at all one of those people who are ecstatic about summer time either. The in between is fine with me!

xo, Linds

10 Days Till Asbury Park, New Jersey

 Yeah, 10 days. I can't really believe it. Less than two weeks. I'm kind of at the point where I'm feeling very excited, anxious, stressed, and nervous. Christmas is getting closer and that is a whole event in itself. I kind of wish I could slow down more to enjoy the holiday but I will have to get right on to packing and preparing. It will be harder to leave home. It seems harder each year. I have a lot more pets since last year, whom I spend a lot of time with. I will be homesick for my critters. Though, I know vacations are for escaping the normal every day routines. I need to remember to embrace that. I need to forget for a couple days about the endless the car troubles, the terrible home lives of my kids at school, the paperwork that should be done and organized, the house that needs cleaned, carpets scrubbed, picking up ferret poop, finding time to blog, wash dishes, take the clothes to be washed, me time, family time, friend time, boyfriend time. It's never ending. I need to let it go. That's what it's all about.. I need to remember laying in bed at home, hearing the wind rushing through town and hitting our tiny apartment and how that reminds me of Asbury Park and waking up in that hotel room and knowing the beach is only one block away. I day dream of the beach fairly often. The waves crashing. Seeing for miles, without another person in sight. The seagulls out on the rocks in the distance. The little closed down, boarded up summer shops. The Bouncing Souls! Of course. You know, if it wasn't for them I'd never know of this crazy, abandoned little town by the sea. I think about lyrics to Springsteen songs from decades ago. I think about my own youth. Growing up. Life. I think about Clarence on the sax. I couldn't speak for anyone else, but a saxophone solo from The Big Man is enough to put me in the holiday spirit. These songs and the memories bring joy to my heart. So even though I am leaving, I know I've still got the holiday spirit in me. I know I'll be back to close out the year. A vacation is just what I need. A step back. It kind of puts everything into a bigger picture. I come back refreshed. A new perspective. Ready to start 2012 on the right note.

xo, Linds

White Halloween

I have heard of White Christmas... but White Halloween? Well, nothing really surprises me with the whacky weather we have around here. The snow is coming down right now. It's not enough to really stick to anything but enough to put a light dusting on top the cars and really define the trees. Just enough to remind me how beautiful the snow is.

I am so thankful to live in a location that has a decently fair share of all four seasons. When each one comes, I'm glad to see one go and always ready for the next. I do believe fall is my favorite but it is without a doubt the season to get cut short. No complaints, though. I'm pretty content with the hum or the furnace and the pitter patter of little ferret paws around the living room after sleeping in on a Saturday morning. :)

Here are just a couple photos from snow in the past. I'm sure this was in December or January or sometime when winter was in full swing. Definitely not in October! This was Michael and I's first winter together and I had just got a new fish eye lens for the Nikon and we went out to play with it. This upcoming winter will be our third winter together and our second winter here in the apartment above the crematory!

I think the last few years, we have had some of the most intense snows I can recall, with exception of one or two childhood memories and photographs that come to mind. It reminds me a lot of crazy, unexpected, fun times. I know the first year we got this apartment was one of the biggest snow storms we had in a long time. It was enough to knock the power out in LaBelle for a good week. Also, right around the time when my father was home from a serious stay at the hospital. It was a very eventful season! I guess we had figured I had better odds staying in town where there was power and a less dangerous hill to get up and down every day for work. So, Michael stayed with me in this apartment when it was completely unfurnished. We slept on the floor! We got snowed in. We dug cars out of the snow here, at my parents house, a block away from the house, and the one time we decided we would go to the pet store when it was obviously too bad out to go! Of course, I can't think of a winter now without thinking of the roadtrip Michael, Corpsey and I took to New Jersey in one of thee worst blizzards ever! I will still never understand how we navigated through Asbury Park when you really couldn't see what was the road and what was not! We got snowed in the hotel with The Bouncing Souls! We ate vending machine food and saw the beach covered in snow! That is something not everyone gets to see! Oh, and Corpsey's infamous slips and falls on the walk back from Asbury Lanes!

See.. I just love the how the seasons have the power to bring back such vivid memories from the past and fill me such excitement and wonder of what new memories will be made this time around.

So... I wonder if we will have a White Halloween.....?

Stay warm and safe!

xo, Linds