and we are off. i will leave you with some photographs from the other night when my brother and sister and i decided to play in the foot or two of snow.

we made snow angels and a snowman named jeffery.

and i tried to be artsy.

the gate.

and i took a little video of our walk down the alley to find our snowman some accessories.

see you in 2009.

my man and i travel across the atlantic ocean to london, great britain where we will stay for an entire week. i am starting to get very anxious and extremely excited. we have had this trip planned since march and tried to do some planning but then realized we have a lot of time and stopped. well time snuck up on us and now, in less than four days we fly.

i have been many places in the world but never to london, well besides the short layover while traveling somewhere else (was it sweden or italy?). this time i get to leave the airport and explore one of the many cities people rave about. it will be a bit chilly there, but not as cold as it is here. i keep saying 'we are going someplace tropical'. people look at me confused and then realize it is tropical compared to chicago. here is our weather forecast so far.

look - NO RAIN. so far the weather for our trip looks close to perfect — please don't let this jinx us.

Here is a list of things planned (or that will be planned)

RUGBY MATCH IN TWICKENHAM (the one and only thing my man HAD to do)

NEW YEARS EVE CRUISE DOWN THAMES RIVER (a romantic night of dancing, eating, and fireworks)

A DAY TRIP TO STONEHENGE, WINDSOR CASTLE, AND OXFORD (castles, monoliths, spires oh my)

A DAY TRIP TO LEEDS CASTLE, CANTERBURY, & WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER (perfect photo opts)

LONDON WALKS WALKING TOURS (the only thing 'open' on new years day)

THE TATE MODERN (oh modern art i heart thee)

TOWER OF LONDON (and all its goodies!)

VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM (william morris and other decorative designs)

there are so many other things i want to see while there and hope i can squeeze everything in. Oh the excitement — i am jumping up and down right now.

it is bitter cold today. just checked the weather and now understand why there is a layer of frosty ice on my windows. oh joy to the world. i think i might stop recycling so it stays warmer.

here is a video taken the other day after we had one snow storm of 6 inches and then another a couple days later of 4 inches. its time to buy serious snow boots. my wellies are not cutting it.

this past week we had our official snowstorm, and our second. oh joy! since december began our streets have looked like this (taken looking through window screen in front room).

the snow fell hard on monday afternoon and just as it was about to disappear it snowed throughout the night on friday. i woke saturday morning to a couple inches of white fluffy blinding snow. i said goodbye to grass, goodbye to clean, dry shoes, goodbye to quick easy steps, and said hello to winter. i then prayed to something asking to be transported to savannah where i didn't really need heat and wore tee shirts during winter months which also only lasted from dec to jan not dec to april. and then i prayed for the ground to show itself again and to stay that way, for a long time.

and yes i know, snow is beautiful and enchanting and fun to play in, but when this happens every other day (like last winter) and you have to walk in it and it becomes dirty ugly piles on the street corners you begin to not want it. so instead you just learn to deal with it. you wear more socks than ever thought of and you buy shitty boots so when the salt ruins them you aren't mad, and you wrap a scarf around your face and the only bit of skin you let touch the air is around your eyes. after 5 minutes of bundling, wrapping, tucking, and adjusting you can finally leave the house. wake me in april, i'm hibernating.