Happy St. Patty's Day

Go Niners?

Don't judge me but I hate football.  Okay you can judge me a little...go on...you know you want to...

But I won't let that stop me from getting in the spirit (I mean it is "our team" playing and I am going to a Super Bowl party with the husband, I may as well have fun with it).

So I made brownies.

Saturday Snapshot

So...January 31 turned out to be one of the scariest days of my life. 

That is my house

It was 10:45 and I was about to go to bed when I heard my neighbors making a ton of noise and then come banging on my door screaming "get out get out there is a fire."  I live in a condo with a tiny backyard and on the other side of our fence is a barn/shed/pool house thing that was apparently engulfed in flames.  I wanted to rip pictures off the walls but my neighbor was screaming so I just ran out the door my husband was working so I was alone and then I realized how bad it was when I realized how much smoke was in the air and ran back and grabbed my cat.  Freaking out that I had no where to keep her and worried she would run away I ran back inside and got my car keys and threw her in there and called my husband and realized I didn't know if anyone had tried to put it out so I (like an idiot) ran back inside carrying my fire extinguisher from the garage and my back door was glowing.  And yet (again like an idiot) I threw open the curtains and opened the glass door to realize the entire barn/shed/pool house thing was on fire and I ran...and hyperventilated...and ran.

What used to be a fence and a pool house.

I drove my car down the street to park out of the way.  Luckily I had flip flops in the car because I was barefoot and I had my phone in my pocket.  So I called...my mommy of course.  And that's when I lost all my composure because I thought my house was gone.  The fire trucks weren't there yet but all the neighbors were out safe and I heard a crash and the fire exploded and I was certain the tree in our yard had caught and we were about to lose all our possessions. 

Soap left from the fire hose, on the left is my fence on the right is the burned one.

And then our amazing small town volunteer firefighters (of which our neighbor is one) arrived and saved our houses.  They ran hoses through our houses and put out the fire.  They got there so fast.  A few more minutes and it would have hit our homes.  The home attached to mine has a window that shattered from the heat and the paint on the back of our building is all bubbled (which I'm told happens when it is close to bursting into flames) and I just can't believe how lucky we were.  Everyone is safe.

I am so incredibly grateful to all the firefighters.  Thank you so much.  I think I am still a bit in shock over the whole thing but I know how lucky we all were.  My neighbor firefighter spent most of the time we were freaking out staying calm and using my garden hose to keep our homes wet and cool and he may have saved our homes.  

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce from At Home with Books.

Photos can be old or new as long as they aren't random photos you found online.

Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce from At Home with Books.

Photos can be old or new as long as they aren't random photos you found online.

The husband and I took a short trip to the snow and just happened to pick the COLDEST WEEKEND EVER!

But we still had a blast.

Temp in the truck on the way up and snow off the highway.

Umm...burrrr

View from the gondola.

Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce from At Home with Books.

Photos can be old or new as long as they aren't random photos you found online.

A delicious Saturday latte.

Good vs. Super Awesome

A good friend will think of you with a smile when they see something that would make you laugh your ass off.

A Super Awesome friend sends you this:

Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall
By Lauren Oliver

Well I finally got with the program, joined in with the boatloads of brilliant people and read Before I Fall.  Yes this was another book that I finished, slapped my forehead, and said "why the heck did I wait so long to read this!"  I have no reasonable answer to this question.  But it is done now and wow.

I loved this book.  I remember reading a review...so long ago that I can't remember where I read it...and it said that Oliver did teen angst right.  I have to agree.  Not only does she get it right but she makes you wait for it, earn it, until just when you start to doubt it is going to happen.  Oliver writes such a believable voice of a teenager that it was so easy to jump into the book and live in the story.  It wad equally heartbreaking, funny and honest.

"The crowd is thinning as people take off, but it's still hard to move.  Lindsay keeps calling out, "Excuse me, excuse me, move it, feminine emergency!"  Years ago we discovered at an under-eighteen concert in Poughkeepsie that nothing clears people faster than referencing a feminine emergency.  It's like people think they'll catch it"
-page 74

Before I Fall is about a girl named Sam who goes through a fairly typical day in the life of a popular high school student and then...well...she dies.  She dies and then wakes up again the next day only it is the day before, it is the day she dies and she goes through the day again.  She goes through the day seven times but no one time is the same.  The things she learns, about the day and about herself, are heartbreaking and eyeopening.  It was intense.  I continued to find myself putting the book down at the end of a chapter (the end of a day) and needing to take a break.  It made me realize how much it was really affecting me.  It was almost as if I was holding my breath, my body tense in anticipation of the moment the day ended.

**Source: purchased with my own sweet loot.