Snowed in...

Soo.. trying to pick up where I left off…

*As a side note, Matt and I finally got his car today. We tried yesterday, but the wheels were not getting him anywhere! It was a little frustrating, quite funny and a touch scary…so I video recorded it. :) He has a very nice car (M3) and we had to rely on my car ( ’06 Accord coupe) to get us through the snow...hm… not sure what to think here…

... Back to Christmas morning…We had a great time at my parents’, and then drove back to Atlanta to spend Christmas evening with his family for dinner. Many years back, his parents came up with a fun way to celebrate Christmas, and I was very excited to be a part of the unique tradition that I had heard so much about. I don’t want to give away the family secrets, but it was a popping good time!

...Coming from my family’s, where my siblings have 4 kids (ages 13, 9, 4 and 2), and there is a lot of music, screaming, laughing and…chaos…pretty much constantly. Then going to his family’s, where his only sister has one little boy, age 1… things are slightly (understatement!) quieter. (I debated using the word(s) more peaceful, but in all honesty, there is something peaceful about kids making lots of racket too…) I am so thankful to be a part of both of these families! Though the atmospheric conditions were quite different, they were both loads of fun!

Meanwhile, back in the car, as we are driving over to his parents’ on Christmas evening, it started snowing! Do you know how long it has been since Atlanta, GA has had a white Christmas??? 128 years according to one of my friends on Facebook! One hundred and twenty-eight years! 1882!

…and mine and Matt’s first Christmas was white!

That’s iconic for us because of more than just the obvious…

Our first date in late February 2009 was in the snow (and you know how important those are!). We had plans to go to a sushi place – I think he was planning for Taka. But, because of the predicted snow storm, many, in fact I would venture to say most, restaurants in Atlanta closed. I double checked with him to make sure we were even still on for the date, and he assured me that his car would be just fine (mind you, it’s the same car that got stuck in the snow two days ago…I guess timing is everything:)). To be honest, I was nervous to be out on the roads in the ‘bad weather.’ However, he picked me up confidently, and as he was waiting for me to come down, managed to find a restaurant that was open...Craft. Only one of the top two nicest restaurants in Atlanta… no big deal …are you kidding!? It just happened that they had an opening, because no one was coming out ‘in the storm.’ We received lots of attention from the staff and had a wonderful time!

*I keep putting the strong comments about the weather in quotes, because by the time 7:30pm rolled around, it wasn’t bad weather at all. There was snow left on the ground and it was cold, but the roads were fine and a ‘wintery mix’ was no longer falling.

Not only that, but our second first date was also in the snow. We were again headed to sushi, Circle Sushi this time. Thankfully, this was over lunch, and the restaurants hadn’t had time to decide to shut down for the day. *I guess you could technically say that this wasn’t really a date, because we were just going to lunch as friends. But this was the lunch that led to our marriage… As soon as we got in the car, ‘our song’ started playing on his radio and everything just fell into place… a month or so later, we were engaged to live happily ever after…

And now for the less mushy iconic snow for me…

Most of you probably know that I have been giving my career a lot of thought lately (why not? Everything else is changing…) Over the last few months, I went on several interviews and talked to quite a few recruiters over the phone. But one day, I had a few girls over for girls’ night. One of my friends brought one of her friends (that I had met once or twice before) and we went out and had a good time. Long story short, the next day, the friend of a friend (who I hope to soon just switch to ‘friend’) sent a job description at her company to me. Seemed like a perfect fit. So after a few conversations, they brought me in for a face - to- face…and whatdya know… it was snowing…

I had two offers, the other of which was much better pay, but I got a very good vibe from this company and decided to accept (snow not withstanding:))…my first day was supposed to be today (1-11-11)…and…obviously…it was snowing… so I couldn’t actually start (This time the roads really are too bad.)…I’m just saying…I have a good feeling:)…and you know what I think about trusting your gut!

Could all of the snow on these special occasions really be happenstance? Yes. But, those are some crazy odds.