7QT: March Snow, NYC, and Cars

Well hello again, blog.

What a treat to have extra time for blogging! And more than once this month! Woot!

Today we are on our second snow day in a row, so consider these quick takes brought to you by Winter Storm Skylar.  It's amazing what you can get done with two adults home two days in a row.  Our house ACTUALLY got VACUUMED today.  And I'm blogging???  WHAT??  I'm going to start this post on a Wednesday in hopes that I will actually be able to finish it by Friday.

Okay, here we go.

--1--

Speaking of the snow, we have had quite the "active pattern" happening here in March.  Unfortunately, we had one Wednesday snowstorm in January, one Wednesday snowstorm in February, and we've had two so far in March.  Guess what day of the week I teach lessons to 9 violin students?  Yep.  Wednesday.  And... uh... check out this forecast for next week:

If I make up every lesson I've missed, I'm currently up to a total of 36 lessons to make up, and if this same thing happens again next week, well... you get the idea.  Since I can't control Mother Nature and it probably isn't humanly possible to fit all of those extra hours into my schedule somewhere anyway, we might just have to call it a wash and maybe modify end-of-the-year recital plans so that everybody can play something really easy.  I'm not too stressed about it, just finding it really uncanny right now that Wednesday seems to be the magic day.

--2--

In the name of no stress, I'm currently blogging (of course, my relaxing activity of choice) and sipping some French Press coffee.

M and I just discovered the French Press recently.  Since J was born we have preferred our coffee on the stronger side anyway because... sleep deprivation.  We had been leaning towards the Starbucks/French Roast types.  Then one day I accidentally bought a bag of whole bean coffee, and rather than waste it M decided to just buy a coffee grinder on Amazon.  We remembered how much we love freshly ground coffee (we used to have a coffee maker with a built-in grinder when we were first married) and then he remembered how much friends have recommended French Press coffee, so he decided to just get the French Press too along with the coffee grinder.  We haven't looked back.

So today I'm enjoying Peet's Major Dickason blend (my current favorite).  There's just nothing in the world like a delicious cup of coffee.  But I think you already knew I was a fan.

--3--

Another comforting thing for me lately has been this meal:

Wild rice, raisins, walnuts, feta, green onions, and a drizzle of lemon juice.  So easy, so delicious, so comforting.  I enjoyed this gigantic bowl after coming in from shoveling yesterday with this little helper...

--4--

Speaking of comforting foods, I enjoyed a lot of delicious things this past weekend when I met my mom and sister in NYC for a girls' weekend!

Turmeric latte and zucchini/cashew/chicken pad thai at Le Pain Quotidien near Central Park

Eggs Benedict with crispy polenta at the Brooklyn Diner

The cocktail pictured above was called "The Golden Arches"... grapefruit juice, lemon, tequila and basil.  So refreshing!

Since being home I have been trying to recreate those flavors in the form of a smoothie-- just so I can remember that wonderful weekend in my taste buds.  :)  The smoothie I've been having at home has been spinach, water, half a peeled grapefruit, frozen pineapple, a bit of frozen mango, half a banana, some coconut milk yogurt and a dash of turmeric.  So it's a memory of turmeric latte plus Golden Arches and I'm lovin' it.  Hah.

--5--

The reason why we came to NYC was to visit the Downton Abbey exhibit.

It was like stepping into their world for an afternoon.  So enjoyable.  I highly recommend it if you're a fan of the show.

--6--

We didn't have tons of time, but we did get to walk around and see some of the other sights.  I had never actually been to the city so it was pretty thrilling for me just to be there.

It was nice to be outside walking around so much too.  Plenty of exercise!

I think the best part of the weekend was just relaxing and lingering over meals and spending lots of time catching up with my mom and sister.  It's rare that we have time to just sit together and talk.  We're usually busy with some activity or with my children when we're all together, so this was a rare treat.  I hope we can repeat it soon!

--7--

The big event of Friday (the day I meant to get this post published) was getting a new van!

After about four months of searching and waiting, we finally sealed the deal.  Let me tell you, car shopping with kiddos in tow is not easy.  M worked really hard and did most of it over the phone, online, and on his own, but there comes a point when we both have to be there to sign papers.  That time came last Friday evening when, after a loooong day for both M and myself (the girls and I left the house at 8:30 that morning to begin our day of activities and hadn't been home all day) we met at the dealership around 4:30.  Luckily there were plenty of snacks around for the girls and they put some cartoons on the TV for them, but M and I still had to stand our ground with pushy salespeople until after 6 PM (well, it was mostly M really).  J was so tired that she wasn't really interested in cartoons and just wanted to crawl around on my lap and make pretzel towers and give me big squishy hugs on my face.  So I was a wee bit distracted.

Long story short, it was a long afternoon after a long day and a LOT of hard work for M, but.... it's finally ours!!!  And it's wonderful!  I'm still pinching myself that I have bluetooth capabilities in my car and that I can now just press a button to open my tailgate.  Oh and the suspension, steering and brakes are all feeling super smooth and I don't have to worry about any of them failing me anytime soon.  It's the little things in life, right??

So there you go, them's my quick takes, and it only took me six days to finish them.  :)

For more quick takes, visit This Ain't the Lyceum!