Blizzard Stella

A little late this month but such is life. I'm housebound (luckily my day off) for the rest of the day while winter storm Stella dumps snow all over New England. I attempted to go to my Barre class earlier but it was cancelled so I ran a few errands then came home. I am trying to be productive today but it's hard because I'm on staycation beginning Friday at 1730. Technically a week and a half because I took 2 Mondays off. Super pumped. Anxious to get it started. Staycations are my favorite and I plan to make this one fabulous as my next vacation will be spent in Italy for a week and I will probably return feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation.

This past week is fresh in my mind so I'll talk about it first then go back to where I left off last entry and go from there. I got my taxes done Tuesday then tried to use my Violet's gift card (for the 2nd time) but they were closed for vacation. The last time I tried in recent times was Valentine's Day but they were closed due to a family emergency. I'm not in Claremont during the week much so this is frustrating. Anywho, went to Revolution Cantina for taco Tuesday then went to go visit Merm because she had outpatient surgery done on both her feet. I played with Simone for a little while before going home. On Thursday, a guy came over after I got home from work to look at my bathrooms. He does work on my coworker's house and it trustworthy so that basically is the catalyst I needed to move forward with getting a bathtub. Something I've been thinking about for a long time. This past weekend was Jimmy's wedding at the Fairmont Copley Plaza; a very nice, historic hotel in Boston's Back Bay. Heidi and I drove down and arrived shortly after 4. We got settled and got ready then met some peeps for a drink near the Oak room. Cocktail hour was at 630 then everyone headed into the beautifully ornate event hall for the rest of the night. I shared my "Bentley" table with a good group and the food was really good. Shortly after the dancing started, a group of us went back to the Oak room as the wedding was alcohol free (Muslim). Everything finished around 1230 and the rest of the weekend was uneventful. It was spring forward so we lost an hour. By the time I got home, I was good for nothing as I really didn't sleep that much.

Going back to the 2nd weekend in February...see that's the problem with not staying on top of this in a timely manner. I don't remember much except for going for a nice snowshoe on the rail trail on Sunday. I got back to my car as it was getting dark. It was peaceful and lovely. We had a good amount of snow at that time (about a month ago) but since has pretty much gone due to oddly warm weather up until today. I may go out later but I'm still deciding. I had Valentine's Day off so I decided to go over to Ludlow and spend it with the ladies. I brought a bottle of wine and some cupcakes and we went down the road for burger night at Mr. Darcy's after visiting for a little bit. A good time had by all.

The weekend of the 18th, I went down to Milford for the night to hang out with the Manning's. It was a great visit, especially since I had only seen them twice for a couple of hours in 2016. I arrived around dinner time and met them at Market Basket. When we got back to their house, I helped Madison make guacamole while we chatted. We had steak, chicken, lobster, baked potatoes and carrots for dinner (I never go hungry there). After dark, we migrated outside and hung out around a firepit. We did some sledding down a hill of snow Jamie built, made smores, took pictures, and ventured inside when it was too cold. On Sunday, we did some winter hikes around Milford (Monson Center and out to a waterfall) with a pit stop for breakfast out in between. The weather was pretty warm. I got home around 5 after making a few stops on the way home.

The following weekend, Simone was supposed to sleep over my house for the first time but Heather texted me on Thursday to tell me she had an ear infection and strep throat. So that was the end of that. Instead, I ended up going to the Goss' to hang out Saturday night. I had dinner with them and I went upstairs while Ashley put them to bed then we headed down to the basement for our usual. The following weekend was Simone's birthday party. Everyone (except for Sherry) gathered at the Cantina for brunch then we headed to Merm's for cake and ice cream. Caitlin, Jason, and the boys came over too. I got Simone a Crayola mess free paint thing, Swiss Family Robinson, and a Darth Vader remote control car. Pretty awesome.

That's pretty much all I have this time around. Although, this past month or so has been a popular time for babies to arrive. Rob and Amreen had their baby March 3rd, Annie and Frank had their baby February 10th, Colin and Katie had their baby February 24th. Lots of new babies. Also waiting to hear soon of Betsy and Kort's little one as she is nearing the end of her pregnancy. Speaking of love that leads to babies, I'll end this entry with the super shocking update regarding my love life. It does not exist. That is all.