Weekending

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday:

On Friday, I was planning to pick up Alyssa for the weekend. This was the closest weekend to her birthday that she was able to come home for. We were anxious to see her, though, truthfully, it hadn't been that long ago since we'd last seen during winter break. But you go from seeing someone every day for almost a month during the break to not seeing someone for even a few weeks and it seems like way too much time!

She was available to be picked up in the morning but then, winter. UGH. By Wednesday, the forecast called for a 90% chance of snow during the day on Friday and by Thursday it was 100%. The good news was that the forecast did not call for much (I saw anywhere from one to four inches) and it appeared like it would all fall in the morning. That made getting Alyssa still very doable. I just had to shift the timeframe. I did not want to be driving in the snow if I didn't have to. Thankfully, it was no big deal for either of us to just shift the timeframe to the afternoon for when I'd pick her up.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I decided to wear my snowflake sweater in "honor" of yet more snow. Such a fun consignment store find. It's a size larger than I normally wear but I kind of like the over sized look. And it gives me room to grow though that is not my goal :).

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I wore a new pale pink button down shirt underneath the sweater. I got the shirt at one of the boutique stores in town. And I wore my conversation heart earrings. 

Friday morning around 9:00 am, the snow started. Around 11:00 am, one of my neighbors in a group neighborhood text group said that he'd been in an accident- a car slid into his lane and hit his car head on. His car is totaled but thankfully no was hurt in the accident. 

We got about three inches and after a snowplow came through our street and the snow had stopped for an hour and half, I decided to head out to Columbus. The main roads were almost completely fine; I'm on an interstate for most of the drive and that appeared to be fine while I was on it. We live southwest of Columbus and there's an interstate, I-71, that conveniently runs north and west and  and deposits one straight into the traffic quagmire of adjoining freeways that comprise the roadways of greater Columbus traffic (I DO NOT like driving in Columbus!! Once I exit I-71 to get to Alyssa, I have three or so more freeways to drive on each for about a mile but each one requires me to weave through traffic to get to the right exit lane and it's equal parts annoying and stressful). Before I got to Columbus, while I was northbound on I-71, I couldn't fail to notice two seemingly bad accidents on the southbound lanes of I-71. Traffic was so backed up on the lanes that I realized it could impact us since we would be on I-71 southbound on our way home.

Juuuust a gloomy gray snow day in February in Ohio. 

Once in Columbus, the drive was, per usual, stressful. I missed an exit on one of the interstates- I could not get over to the exit in time without causing an accident-  I had to keep going and get off on the next exit which took me to yet another interstate... Eventually, I arrived on campus, then to the Greek streets and then finally I saw a vision that made all my angsty, disliking Columbus driving especially on a day that we got snow worthwhile. A small figure clad in a pale pink track suit that set off the auburn hue of her beachy waved tresses secured in an adorable high pony tail was standing outside her stately sorority house with her bookbag and overnight bag waiting for me to pick her up. It was worth it of course!! Mama was a' takin' her baby home. 

I set the GPS for home and noticed that while the route home had me getting on I-71 South (there are other interstates that will get us home but I-71 distance wise is for sure the best route) but it had me exiting the interstate well before the usual exit to take us home. I surmised that the bad traffic accidents that I saw on southbound were still impacting traffic. We got off the exit that the GPS told us to and I noticed a gas station chain that I like, Love's (I'd put their bathrooms up against Buc-ees' any day of the week. I'm not hating on Buc-ee's, I'm just saying Love's have clean restrooms, too) was right at the exit with lower gas prices than at home. We decided to stop at the Love's to gas up and then to use the restrooms and get pop/snacks. While checking out, a friendly cashier started talking to us. She said that I-71 southbound was CLOSED for EIGHT HOURS due to an accident. (It was likely one of the accidents that I saw on my way up to Columbus.) Wellll, that explained my GPS having me exit earlier than normal.

We got back into the car and I turned on the GPS. Guess what- it now wanted me to take I-71 South. Right onto the interstate that was CLOSED. I was irritated. If the cashier hadn't told me that the interstate was closed, I would have assumed that the accident had been cleared and we could now continue on I-71 South since the GPS said it take it when earlier it had me exit. Well, we got home at a decent time by NOT going on the interstate that was closed for eight hours...

Once home close to dinner time, Donnie was home from work and we were all going to go out to eat at one of Alyssa's favorite restaurants. However, in the end, we decided to just do carryout and eat at home. I ran out to get the food and then after dinner Alyssa and I decided we wanted piezookies (a large chocolate chip cookie with ice cream and whipped cream on top). We made cookie dough and while that was chilling, I ran out to get ice cream. I was happy to close the garage door for the final time when I arrived home- lots of running out and around :). 

I feel like Penn Station meals photograph exactly disproportionally from how they taste- the photos are bad but the taste of the food is so good! We love Penn Station and Alyssa doesn't have one close to her on campus so it's a nice treat to have at home. 

Cookie dough for piezookies

We used these small round pans for the cookie portion of our piezookies. 

My piezookie was delicious! 

Saturday morning was a quiet one before things got busy. I did run out to get Alyssa coffee from her favorite place in town while she did some school work. We had her open her birthday presents from us- if she wanted to take anything back, we would need to do that in the afternoon. She did decide to exchange some of Kendra Scott items I'd gotten her. 

We went down to Liberty Center to do some shopping and take back items. We had a good time and Alyssa tried on a lot of items from her favorite stores there. I've never met a mirror I haven't liked when Alyssa has a dressing room full of items to try on and there's a mirror in the dressing room area for me to take selfies in front of.

The snowscape at Liberty

We got some items and then skedaddled home. Almost as soon as we got home, we had to leave for dinner. Alyssa had dinner plans with her best friend from high school who was home and we had dinner plans to celebrate one of our good friend's birthdays. 

Dinner out with a group of friends was nice- there were eleven of us and the dinner was at a sort of an old fashioned supper club. We had a really good time except for one event. A person at the table next to our suffered a medical emergency. A nurse from our party offered assistance but ultimately medics had to come to transport the person to a hospital. It was a less than ideal way to end the meal. I was super impressed with my nurse friend who sprang into action at the sight of someone in distress. 

We arrived home as did Alyssa. We had time to make piezookies again (with the dough that we already had made)and watch a short movie before bed. 

Sunday morning was church and from there straight to lunch at a restaurant in Miamisburg where we met Donnie’s dad. Had a nice lunch and then we were straight to Best Buy to trade in an electrical device of Alyssa’s. We had to drive to another town to a Best Buy there to get the laptop that Alyssa wanted. Came home from that and it was almost time to take Alyssa back to Columbus. Lots of running around, lots of driving but it was all worth it. We'll have plenty of more at home weekends. 

Icy Miamisburg

What a fun weekend with Alyssa! I love that she's loving college but that she enjoys spending time with us, too. 💕

I dropped Alyssa and by the time I got home the Superbowl had started. The game was fine. I didn't really care who won the game so it wasn't stressful or anything. I thought the TPUSA halftime show was good. Got a little teary eyed at the end of the show with the dedication of it being, of course, Charlie Kirk.