My mom’s the mom who texts me 12 times on the Wednesday before a Friday storm to tell me I can’t  go to work because it’s going to snow. She follows up with emails and calls until finally I say, yes mom, I know, I’m not going to work on Friday. 

My plan was to go to the grocery store Thursday night, go to Redbox after that, charge all the things, and put something in the crockpot until the inevitable Blizzard of 2013 buried me, under 30 inches of snow. My intent was to be snowed into my apartment, while James worked and worked and worked until Saturday afternoon. I planned to go at it alone, because unfortunately, this is the life I signed up for and this is the way things go.

But James’ sister, whose husband also is an Emergency employee, was called into work for the storm, then James brother was activated, and suddenly, it all made sense, just as it did with Sandy: I would drive to the South Shore of MA and get snowed in with them. We would stock up on chicken and wine, candles and firewood. We would gas up our cars, park them in driveways, cook until the power went out, play games by candle light, fall asleep early because there’s nothing else to do, think of the ones that we care for, wish they could be home and then put back together whatever is undone when the storm finally passes.

(that one time I drove through a mountain blizzard in Colorado with my sister and brother and James and cried)

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I hope you have a safe and happy weekend. I hope you learned from the past – and will take this storm more seriously. I hope you have heat and food and people to laugh with. Here are some posts from people I love, to entertain you while you’re pretending to work from home:

Anna’s gorgeous travel photos from Venice.

Rebecca always gives me so much to think about for my future children.

Jenni’s post on three years of marriage – refreshingly honest.

Joanna shares the award winning 6 minute animated short “Paperman”, you’ll love it.

Julia’s husband talks about fashion photography and choosing locations.

Erika opens up about her love/hate relationship with the scale, and how she finally ditched it.

Other things I’m enjoying

I finished listening to Safe Haven on Audible – still a huge fan of Audible, and really enjoyed this book – looking forward to the movie next week.

I bought these shoes last week. Not a big sneaker person, but these are a whole new level of amazing.

After six months of no drops, I treated myself to a new iPhone case from here.

I’m back on Pinterest, focusing on natural light, dark wood, and indoor plants a lot lately.

I’ve added new pieces to the TPP shop, so keep your eyes out. Coming soon: a pink Free People cardigan.