not cool

I've been working at Mason for two years now. That's two years of working pretty much in the south, where the entire world is supposed to shut down if some snow hits the pavement.

However, in these last two years I have not had a legitimate snow day. Sure there's been a day or two where we opened late, but the boss still thinks it's a good idea to open up the doors at 8:30 anyway.

But then I just got this message:

Attention all Faculty, Staff, and Students,
George Mason University will be closed Saturday, December 19, 2009 due to inclement weather.
To receive this information as a text message go to https://alert.gmu.edu/mygroups.php and join the "Weather related early closing / delayed opening" group.
Sent via Mason Alert
http://alert.gmu.edu/
alert@gmu.edu

What good is that going to do me on a Saturday?

I passed!

But just barely. In 2009, I have already accomplished 71 things on my list of 100 things to do(and I've got 3 more that I'm listing because I know that I'll be able to check them off in less than a week). That's a C-, which isn't great, but I'll do better next year. There were definitely a few things that I was unable to do because of the broken leg, so maybe I should be graded on a persons with disabilities curve.

But we're not going to dwell on the negative, so here is what I accomplished this year.

*put up drapes in my room*make some art*scuba diving*watch bullitt at adam's*get a haircut*spa day*teach someone something*cabin/ski trip in march*use some free kennedy center tickets*go to the gym*run 5k*be nice to rw*go to cherry blossom festival*go to top chef burger place in dc*visit mandy*mt. vernon in the spring*learn to play praise to the lord, right hand*be somewhere cool on my birthday*send miiike a b-day card*hold a puppy*have a girlie sleepover*fly with someone*get a massage*take pants to tailor/cleaner*watch lost with others addicted*go to eastern market*skinny dip with the sparkles*visit a new U.S. city*network*read some sci fi*go to screen on the green*ski with work peeps*go camping on the beach*bear my testimony*watch fireworks from a boat*learn to cook an ethnic food*ski in new england*go to concerts*fly to slc for the babies*go waterskiing*go to choir*see harry potter*find a dentist*pick berries*send letters to friends*wear my beach hat*Horse Race/Polo Match*see a sundance movie*become an aunt x2*swim lesson with Jen*go to a cultural festival*go camping in the woods*volunteer/donate for cancer cure*go to a legwarmers concert*go apple picking*go dancing*kiss a boy or 2 or 3*go to spy museum*start a business*eat at the ethiopian restaurant*girl trip to aruba*corn maze*go to 4 new museums*practice skating*get int'l student ambassadors running*make brent's book*blog at least 4x a month*do christmas cards*sell something I made*watch lawrence of arabia in bed*listen to book of mormon in the am*go shopping with dad on christmas eve*

zoolights

Friday night was zoolights, which is basically an excuse for the free zoo to charge money. The lights were pretty, it was freezing outside, we loved the golden tamarin, and naked mole rats are downright ugly.

But, I must say that the best part of the evening was being pushed in the wheelchair by Mr. Dave Marble. If you're not familiar with the national zoo, it starts at the top of a ravine and then goes down to the bottom- this means that there are a lot of hills. Dave and I would get a running start and then he would jump on the back and I would steer with the cane..... canoe style.

It was a sight to behold...... a terrifying sight I'm sure for those downhill.

I am pretty impressive

I actually cooked dinner last night. That doesn't happen very often, especially since Halloween. We didn't eat until 9:30, but I think it was worth it.

On the menu: acorn squash risotto in a squash bowl, yummy.

One of the student workers calls me Tiny Tim

Christmas Craft Night

Last week, in an effort to give my chauffeur Emily a break, work Jen and I planned a sleepover for last night (she gets this nickname in order to distinguish her from all of the other Jen's that I know). And to get us into the Christmas spirit, we decided the sleepover should coincide with Christmas Craft Night.

She made chili and cornbread, and we made a quick trip to the craft store for supplies. Then we went to work on our wreaths, while watching and laughing along with the ultimate nerdy boys on Big Bang Theory.

Jen's was super cute and healthy if you got snowed in and had to resort to eating your decorations.

Mine will petrify a bit over time and give you some cavities, so probably not the best plan for food storage, but I like the way it looks.

And the finished product, hung between the two doors with care.

p.s. there are not aliens or angels emanating light from within our house, that's the glare from the storm door.

Driving

I may or may not have driven myself to work today. Interestingly enough, the actual driving with a broken leg was the easy part, it was getting the car started that was fraught with peril.

After being blocked in the driveway after over a month of neglect, my car went for a little spin around the block on Thursday, and then actually out to a friend's house on Saturday night (at which point it parked behind the roommies car, and was subsequently moved across the street to the dirt lot on Sunday morning).

I went out there brimming over with a sense of freedom, but couldn't get into the car. Stupid key fob was out of batteries and my copy key only starts the car and doesn't unlock the doors. Hobbled back into the house to get the spare/original key, but alas the reason the fob didn't work was because the car was out of batteries (oops on leaving the dome light on).

I called the roommie and she came out and moved her car over so we could jump mine. I'm glad no one was watching as i scrambled through the car in my skirt and cast to get the jumper cables out of the back (insert special thanks to Mom and Dad for making sure I had some in my car). So it was actually a good thing that the car was across the street and could easily get the other car next to it to hook up the cables.

Kind of funny how the driving to work turned out to be the easy part of the whole affair.