The Weather in the Great White North

I was going to blog more about stuff today but unexpected weather kind of delayed that. I want the winter to end. Not because I can't take the cold- I don't care. I can deal with that. I am getting sick of snow. It makes it hard to get anywhere. We are supposed to get even more snow on Friday. Boo ; /

Anyways, back to yesterday. The weathermen thought that the snow would start around 3 pm and maybe get an inch and then dump snow on us last night. This was/is not true. It did start at 3 but it dumped on us right then and there. We had 2-4 inches of heavy snow that was still coming down and 40 mph gusts of wind when the commute started for most people. No matter which way I tried to get home, it was jam packed. It took me almost 2 hours to get home.

(halfway during my trip; No worries, Mom- I didn't technically do this while driving as you can see in the video below)

Here is a little video half way during my trip

(correction: I live 12.9 miles away from work; my bee)

No worries though. I got home and Adam had gotten me flowers, had gotten something at the grocery store that I had missed on my list, and finished our wall collage, which I will blog about tomorrow ;) He is a good one ;)

(Ignore the dirty dish in the sink. He couldn't find a vase hehe so cute)

I'm not sure how much snow we have this morning but instead of just tapering off, the lake wanted in on some action and added some lake effect snow to the already bigger-than-expected storm. I'll have to see the damage when I get outside.

Northwoods

Until I get my pictures off my camera from my California trip, I thought I would share pictures from my last weekend with Adam. I ended up taking more pictures with my iPhone than my real camera, which makes me wonder why I even bring my camera on trips. I took my last vacay day on Friday so I went to Milwaukee on Thursday evening. I got to have dinner with some of Adam's friends which was good. The next day we did a few errands around M-town and had lunch with a couple more of his friends and then headed north to go see his sister.

Adam's sister, Sarah, worked at a ranch in South Dakota the last two years wrangling horses and doing trail rides. Backstory: their family went on vacation to same ranch 10 years prior and that had started Sarah's love of horses. When it came time for her to get a summer job, she did some research, found the ranch, and got hired to learn more about her passion. Fast forward: She's now working for the summer at a different camp that is closer to home. She got hired because of her experience with horses. She hasn't been up there very long so is still feeling the awkwardness of being somewhere new where lots of people know each other but you don't know anyone (I know how she feels... I felt that way a lot this winter, as I'm sure I don't have to remind you guys who listened to me on the phone or read this blog... ) So Adam and I decided to visit her. She showed us all around the tiny towns of northern Wisconsin.

She isn't even 5 foot but she holds her own 

even up against the draft horses.

We ate at a cute little restaurant known for their numerous choices on bottled soda. It was really fun.

Adam said he would pay for us if we could figure out how much the tip should be. I confidently whispered the number to him and was a dollar off. Adam threatened to make us do the dishes to pay off our dinner when it was apparent we were both struggling with math. (sorry Mom and Aunt Karen) I really don't know what happened. I used to be decent at math but honestly never really have to use it with my job so I'm afraid I'm getting really sloppy with doing math in my head.

The rest of the weekend was filled with mini golf, kayaking, really good ice cream, nature, and lots of laughs. About the nature part, seriously I have not seen that many stars in a long time. It was beautiful. And we got to walk in the horse pasture and all the horses came up to us because they thought Sarah was going to feed them. It was so fun! I've never walked among horses. I've always been on the outside waiting for them to come up to the fence.

There was one horse, Ace, who loves people. He would rest his body against yours and put his head on your shoulder. It was awesome. I didn't want to leave.

 I love animals and so I loved hanging out with the horses, seeing deer, tinie-tiny frogs, or even minnows in the lake. Stick me in a zoo, aquarium, or the wide open spaces and I will be happy as a clam if I see any kind of creature... well except bugs. They are off limits.

Sarah was only off till Saturday night so we headed back to family's house that Adam stays at. We knew we had to get to Milwaukee some time but had nothing specific to get back for so we took our time and stopped at various places along the way. It was so much fun. We went through a national forest and stopped in Green Bay. Neither of us had ever been there so we wanted to see the bay. We found an amusement park instead complete with a $1.00 roller coaster. It was legit and super fun!

Then we found a local spot to eat and even looked at Lambeau Field. It was so spontaneous and fun. I love those kinds of trips!

Sunday was wedding errands and hangouts before I headed back here. It was such a good weekend!

The Decision

via

You know what is ugly? Every US map there is but that's not what my blog is about so I digress.

Okay, so I am presented with a dilemma. My new move has forced me to consider what part of the country I most identify with. I mean, I grew up in a state that didn't even pick a side in the Civil War. I lived in one state, went to high school in another, and church in yet another so I didn't really identify with my "home" state. My church was non- denominational because they couldn't choose which denomination to associate with. My high school was utterly confused. It was a mennonite school called Shalom Christian Academy which sounds like it's Jewish or Christian or neither? I'm not even sure about that one. I wasn't right down the road to any major city but I was within hours to 5 of the largest cities in the country. So again no association with any particular one. Then I went to another border state for college that tried to pretend they were from the South but in all reality they weren't that south at all. However, now I am in a state that is nothing but North. I do things like ice skate, curl, ski (one day), look for good chili recipes, and order flannel sheets online. There's no "y'all", its back to being "you guys" for everything. Every town at one time was an industrial town so there are huge warehouses and factories EVERYwhere. There's always snow, whether it's a light dusting or a monsoon of snow (normal people would call that a blizzard). And when there's snow, a. the state takes care of it promptly and b. people still drive their normal speed. It's crazy how different if feels to be here then it ever has anywhere else. What's a girl who grew up in the midst of indecision and the neutral part of the country to do?