so long, january; hello february.

Aside from the heaps of snow Mother Nature bestowed upon my town, resulting in a sore back and a sick Cait, January has been very kind to me.

I got a midnight kiss from and started dating a wonderful guy who is really a breath of fresh air in my life. We’ve spent this month getting to know each other even more and tackling the (very massive) List of Movies Cait Has Never Seen But Should Have. He’s supportive and kind, likes the same music I do, and is willing to eat the Lifesavers I don’t want even if he hates the flavor.

I turned 24 and reflected on being in such a better place this year than last. My emotional debts about many things were settled and this month only reinforced a lot of things. Reconnections were abound – catching up with Ashley, a wedding-obsessed discussion with my two engaged best friends, wine and laughter with my cousin, closure and a point of understanding with Mark, and discussions that necessitated my Safety Scarf with Melissa. I also made new connections in the wee early hours of 2011 with the girls who’ll be my fellow bridesmaids in Natalie’s wedding.

I’ve grown to think less and feel more, to live in the moment and not worry so much. I’ve overcome, to a small degree, the stress I get from traveling. I’ve become quite the texting pro, though I’m sure E would tell you that I’m still a slowpoke. I’ve felt lighter and happier, believing more that things will get figured out and less like my life is over.

And now, a quick resolution check-in:

Get healthy. Nope. I was still in holiday recovery mode and then I came down with a cold, so all hope has been lost for now.

Work on my anxiety. Somewhat. I’ve started re-reading an anxiety book that I read a while back before I thought it applied to me. Now I’m reading it with a fresh outlook and hoping it will be a helpful precursor to going into therapy.

Live in the moment. Yes, and it’s been wonderful. I still over-think things in my spare time, but when it comes to the actual moment, I just go with my gut.

Stay in touch. Yes and no. I’ve been good about seeing mostly everyone, but not so much on following up. Ideally I would like to be in communication with my friends more frequently, even if it’s just through a random text or e-mail, and I haven’t accomplished that.

Be me and stop worrying what other people think. For the most part, yes. I’ve been honest with E about my health/anxiety and have acted like a complete goofball in front of him without a care. But, again, in my spare time I worry about it a bit.

Some additional goals I have for myself this month: successfully complete a secret project for my friends; start eating healthy; apply to jobs (and hopefully get one!); schedule a dental appointment; learn to cook at least two new meals; read at least one book.

I'm just as excited for February as I was for January. Let's keep it going, 2011.

frosty friday.

I've been pretty absent from my little space here on the internet and it makes me sad. There isn't really any reason for it, except for the fact that I slipped back into my bad habit of staying up late, waking up late, and not having time to settle down and write.

And I mean, I've also had to deal with this:

Poor little Christmas lights, still up from December.


This snow pile is taller than the cars.


This snow pile is taller than me. Makes clearing the snow both a logical and physical challenge.

There's more snow on its way which, other than being utterly depressing, means that I have very few obligations outside of curling up in bed with a mug of tea and my laptop. My thoughts are all swirling about, although I'm having a hard time not writing post after post gushing about my relationship with E (there will be at least one, don't you worry).

So until Monday rolls around, enjoy your weekend and stay cozy!

the unexpected blizzard.

I have lots of lovely stories to share from the holidays, but first I need to address the Almost-White-Christmas Blizzard 2010. Because starting on Sunday and ending at around noon today, the sky literally dumped at least two and a half feet of snow on my neighborhood.

It wasn't forgiving, either. The wind has been whipping around, making drifts and making it extremely cold. Luckily the snow is light, which I'm grateful for, but at the same time there's nothing like throwing a shovelful of snow only to have half of it blow back in your face. Yikes.

My 21-year-old, weight-lifting brother has been an absolute asshole by sitting on his ass and refusing to help unless he's paid, which means most of the work was left to me and my father. My mother even had to help, despite having arthritis in her knees and not being in the best shape. I honestly don't mind shoveling too much - we don't have much to do, since we park all four cars in our double driveway - but it's so incredibly frustrating that he doesn't have the courtesy to help.

Anyway! Enough about that. Now for all the pictures. Hopefully if you're stuck in this mess, you're snug as a bug in your house.

Last night...

My little baby car.


Snow falling.


Around 8pm, we already had about 14 inches.

And today...

Our poor bushes.

Our street.


Our front yard is under there... somewhere.


5-foot pile of snow we shoveled & the wall of shoveled snow around our driveway.


Backyard. Can you see where it drifted to the TOP of the fence in the back?


Up to my knees in a low spot.

for the snow-less.

Happy Friday! I'm snowed in... again... but I have a treat. In addition to a few snowy pictures, I also took some video last night after I shoveled.

Be warned that the wind is really loud in the beginning and gets loud every once in a while, so don't have your speakers turned up a whole lot. Also, I'm pretty incoherent at times because I was tired and cold, so don't mind if I say things that don't make any sense. Finally, my apologies for the shaky camerawork - especially when I turn the camera vertically towards the end - again because it was cold and I wasn't really thinking how it would all turn out. (Oh, and I also drop the f-bomb at the end, just a warning.)

Here you go! I hope you snow-less people can appreciate your non-snow-ness because um, this sucks.

snow day from cait* on Vimeo.

And a few pictures, as well.

terrible timing.

Well, despite never leaving this house and sleeping more often than not, it seems I have still gotten sick. I've been sniffly the past week or so, but nothing major. Methinks it was a terrible idea to go out and shovel snow twice last night, neither time being particularly dressed for the occasion. And it's annoying because I always get sick the same way: first I'm sniffly, then my throat gets itchy-scratchy so that it takes for-EV-er to fall asleep, which causes me to sleep poorly and get even sicker. Blah.

It doesn't really help that it's the week of Christmas, either. I (still!) have last-minute shopping to do, plans with friends this week, and my mom definitely needs my help cleaning the house and preparing for Christmas Eve. I've got something to do pretty much every day. Granted, most of these activities aren't happening until the evening hours, so at least there's no waking up early for anything.

And despite the fact that the late-night snow shoveling was what (I think) pushed my sickness over the edge, the snow was so pretty. It made me feel snowed in (even though I wasn't going anywhere at 11pm anyway), so I snuggled up with some hot chocolate last night, put on the Peaceful Christmas station on Pandora, and wrapped as many of my presents as I could (I'm still waiting for some in the mail!). It definitely put me in the Christimas spirit for the week.

So, for those of you who didn't get snow, here are some pictures so that you can live vicariously through me, without having to shovel snow or drive on ice!

Snow covering the lights on the bushes! I loved how it looked. I took more, but the best one is going to be a 24 Days of Christmas photo.

My neighbors' houses. If you notice on the far right, that house has those inflatable decorations out on the lawn. The big snowglobe (not shown) definitely got crushed by the snow.

baby it's cold outside.

I'm all snuggled up in my room, looking at the rain-slash-snow falling outside, and I'm just so excited for winter this year. That's probably because I'm not in college anymore, so I don't need to walk the excruciating ten minutes to class in freezing cold weather. Seriously, it got pretty bad.

Example one was in freshmen year during finals for the fall semester. I'd spent three consecutive days completely within the confines of my dorm building. Since we had a small dining hall in the basement, there was no need to leave, even for meals. But on one of the days, I needed to trek all the way across campus (a ten-minute walk) to tend to something in the business building. It was the absolutely FRIGID.

Then there was junior year. For some reason, the cold was unbearable that winter. I remember walking to classes on several occasions with the wind blowing directly in my face. Being a stubborn/forgetful college student, I didn't have anything to cover my head, so my ears and nose completely froze. It was downright painful. The worst part was finally getting to class because my face would start to defrost and it would give me a headache.

But now? I get to cozy up in my house and drive myself whenever I need to leave instead of freezing to death.

My Day 5 photo is just okay, in my opinion. It took me a while to get it the way I wanted and I'm still not totally happy. But I love these little glass candy decorations and I wanted to show them off.