Happy Tuesday! We had a three-day weekend on our side, because the kids’ school was closed on Monday, so we had to take the day off. It ended up being a pretty ugly weekend weather-wise, from snow to ice to rain to more snow again to bitter cold (feels like in the negatives!) temps, so most of our activities were done indoors. But thanks to the treadmill and some other things we had going on, I didn’t get too restless. Here’s a look at what the weekend entailed:
snow
March Comes Out Like a Snowy, Fluffy Lamb
HAPPY APRIL! Though looking at the weather we had this weekend, you wouldn’t know it was April. That’s because we got SNOW (a few inches!) on Saturday night into Sunday. It may have looked pretty, but I’m ready for spring already!
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s a little bit about the whole weekend.
Friday started off with my long run. I typically do long runs on Saturdays, but opted instead to wake up at the crack of dawn Friday and run in the rain before anyone was up. No idea why, but it felt good to have my 8 miles done with before my day started!
Friday evening included a haircut … finally! I was planning on donating my hair and had to chop it all off to do so.
During the process I snapped a pic
And here’s the after shot! And I’m holding my hair … wow!
We spent some time indoors this weekend because it was rainy on Saturday. That meant lots of book reading!
And then it stopped raining, so I was able to get out for a stroller run with FW. I had done my long run early Friday, so only had to do 3 miles. It had been so long since we had gone out with the stroller, and it wasn’t easy!
And we ended the day with some pasta making!
The finished product. Chicken scallopini!
Sunday we woke up to snow! The 50 degrees from Saturday was gone. We were back to sweater weather.
The rest of the day included some bagels (unpictured) with B’s sister and brother-in-law, naps, more indoor play and dinner with B’s family. All unpictured. I was a bad blogger at the end of the weekend and captured NOTHING on camera. Whoops!
Thank goodness the weather is looking up for this week – as pretty as it is, I’m done with this snow.
Some questions for you:
- Did it snow near you this weekend?
- Have you ever donated your hair?
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When it snows in March … We feast on treats!
I really can’t believe it’s March. It’s still cold. And snowy. I mean, I know they say that March “comes in like a lion” but I’m ready for at least 30 degree temps, especially on my weekends!
It was cold and snowy this weekend, which meant it was a perfect weekend to stay in, bake, and eat comfort food. So that’s pretty much what we did.
On the schedule for Saturday (I just started my training plan for the Cleveland half marathon) was an easy 5 mile run (hooray for “long” runs under an hour!), and because I haven’t been too brave or running outside lately, the 13 degree temps (feels like single digits) didn’t sound appealing to me so I decided to run inside on the treadmill. It went by fast, and with a warm up and cool down and some walking while B ran, I got in more than 7 miles. (Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Training Tuesday and I’ll share my entire week’s schedule)
It was also a cold day, perfect for some baking. I first made some peanut butter chocolate chip cheesecake bars. I had found a few recipes, but none of them were exactly what I wanted so I pretty much decided to just combine 3 or 4 recipes and keep my fingers crossed that they would turn out. And they did. Definitely sharing the recipe soon.
Peanut Butter Cookie Cheesecake Bars
This weekend was also our monthly Ladies Craft Beer Society meeting – I look forward to our get togethers every month but especially this month: our craft was BAKING! We gathered at Nicole’s apartment and made homemade salted caramels, vanilla honey marshmallows and almond marshmallows. Oh, and of course we had plenty of snacks to enjoy while we were baking. And craft beer.
So many snacks! Chips and huac, pizza dip, spinach artichoke dip, tortilla green chili rollups, my cookies and more!
I loved making the caramels! They were so delicious when they were done and after wrapping them they were pretty cute looking.
homemade caramels
To keep up with the theme of comfort food, B and I went out to dinner for a belated Chinese New Year feast at one of our favorite local Chinese joints, Wonton Gourmet. And feast we did – we got Chinese broccoli, Szechuan fish, crab rangoon and lomein. I think B has gotten more adventurous in his eating after our Asia trip which is great. Oh and other good news? I wasn’t too hungry after all the glorious food at Ladies Craft Beer Society so we have plenty of leftovers. Yum!
Yummy Szechuan fish
Sunday, B and I woke up to a snowy slushy day. Ick. I had a cross training or rest day on the schedule, so somehow I managed to convince B to take a walk. When it’s a nice day, we like to run the bridges, a 4 mile route downtown, so instead, we took a walk – stopping along the way for coffee, tea, and groceries.
First stop, Cleveland Tea Revival for some Ginger Turmeric tea.
Seen on our snowy walk back
Last stop on our walk? The new Heinen’s grocery store downtown to pick up some food for the week. Yup, I took a picture of the grocery store and I wasn’t the only one – isn’t it beautiful?
Even though the weather was messy and the roads were in no way clear, I’m so glad we got out there – I still managed to hit my fitbit 12,000 step goal even without a run or elliptical workout and felt good about not sitting around all day and not moving (which very much could’ve happened with the snowy weather we were having).
Sunday night, we enjoyed dinner with B’s family – they had pork, quinoa and Brussels sprouts. I gave up meat for Lent so filled up on the other goodies. And of course – dessert!
ice cream sundaes!
How was your weekend?
- What’s your favorite food at Chinese restaurants?
- What’s your favorite type of Asian food?
- What’s your favorite herbal tea? Usually anything with ginger. I love the turmeric ginger that Cleveland Tea Revival has!
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Stuck in the middle…part two
Continued from part one.
I’m waiting in this long line just waiting to reschedule my flight and I call my mom tell her the dilemma. Within a few moments, I’m rescheduled on the 5:55 flight (I swear, my mom was amazing throughout my adventure. She probably already knows all the people at Southwest customer service by name and ID#) but waiting in line to talk to a person.
1 hour later, still in line, it hits me—if my flight was cancelled and the storm is only going to get worse, what are my chances of getting out of BWI on the 5:55 flight? And if that gets cancelled, the 8:55 (my original flight) will get cancelled and I will be stuck in BWI over night, not able to get out in the morning (because by the time I realize this, the morning flights will probably be full), and stuck here for who knows how long.
I get up to the front desk to tell them to put me on the 7:45 am flight out Saturday, and what do you know – the computer breaks down. Right in front of me. After 45 minutes of tech support (and lots of unhappy passengers behind me), I’m finally able to rebook my flight. I ask what I can do about accommodations (after all, I’m stuck in the middle of two connecting flights) but am told that “in the case of weather emergencies Southwest cannot offer any accommodations.” I’m told to get my luggage and come back tomorrow.
I call my mom. Treo battery low, I plug in the phone and have her call me on a nearby pay phone. I ask her what I can do. I’ve already spoken to two friends who live in the area and have offered to let me stay the night. Problem is, both of them are in Virginia, nearly 2 hours from the airport and would not be able to pick me up or drive me back in the morning. I would need to find the metro and get there that way. My mom convinces me to stay in a hotel and I go to get my baggage. “We’re sorry, but all bags from earlier flights to Albany are on the 5:55 flight that is leaving now,” she tells me. “Are you sure the 5:55 is leaving?” I am incredulous. “Yes,” the baggage woman snaps. “Your bag will be in Albany tomorrow.”
No clothes and no plans, I found myself outside BWI in the airport passenger pickup section, debating which hotel shuttle to jump on. After a quick call from B (who was looking up hotels back in Cleveland), I decided to hop on a Hampton Inn shuttle and met another group of travelers from Arizona, stranded in BWI on their way to Long Island. The kid had never seen snow before, so he was in for a treat when he finally made it to New York.
After a dinner of champions from the vending machine (white cheddar cheez-its of course), and the first food I’d eaten all day, I was ready to do some work and get to bed.
Next morning, I get to the airport on time and find the flight to Albany is delayed. “The Albany runway is closed because it’s still snowing,” the nicer-than-the-night-before employee tells us. Then, 10 minutes later, we’re boarding, and we’re off!
A couple staying at the hotel the night before on their way to Providence had told me of a plane that made it all the way to the Providence airport, tried to land twice, nearly touched down, but then turned around back to BWI. I kept envisioning this happening as we made our descent, but landing was uneventful.
I could write a whole other post about claiming the baggage, but how interesting would that even be? In short, there were about 10 bags in the airport, and about 200 passengers. Another plane from BWI had also landed, with about 20 passengers and mostly luggage from the night before. Of course the workers in Albany had no idea this had happened, because the flight wasn’t even documented on their screens, and told us that our luggage was not coming. 2 hours after landing, I spotted the bright yellow ribbon on my bag poking out of the baggage tunnel. It was here! I was here, my bags were here, and my adventure was over…I was headed home.
Thanks to all you that made my adventure worthwhile. All those on twitter that provided entertainment and offered suggestions of how I should spend my time (special kudos to @Szczepanik who told me to “challenge a stranger to a cinnabon-eating contest. Be sure to remind them of the no-hands rule.”), B – who listened to me as I frantically pondered what to do and sent me listing of nearby hotels even when my phone ran out of battery, the passenger who offered to let me stay in her dorm at Loyola Maryland, and my mom who pretty much did everything she could have done without physically being there.
Oh in case you’re wondering, about the 8:55 flight from BWI that I was originally scheduled on? I checked and yes, it did make it to Albany that night….
I Crashed The Web 