Though the world is fast asleep...

Well, it seems that in the future I'll need to rely on things besides the weather to get me to update, but for now, I am pleased with being encouraged by snow. I am sure most of you know by now, but on Friday morning, I woke up to this:



And I trudged to work in this:



That's right. I trudged!!

My roommates and I are watching Samantha and Caleb's dog this weekend. Convenient enough for me, he wanted to go outside when I got home, and I needed a friend to play in the snow with me. So begins our two-hour walk:



I took him to Prospect Park. The park pretty much took my breath away. I had landed in a post card. It was almost silent but for the other few out with their dogs, or having a snowball fight, or trying to snowboard...yes, saw that. I walked into the middle of a field and laid down in the snow and just took it all in.











Happy in the snow :)

I met a lady walking two dogs and ended up talking with her and walking to her place. She told me a little of her story and I told her a little of mine. I was hesitant to talk to her when she first said something, anxious to get on with my evening alone, but after she briefly mentioned her divorce and after I realized how normal two people talking is, I was happy to go against my "blinders-always-on" instinct. I don't know if she was lonely, but I think we needed to meet. And it was a good night.

Today I planned on going to Central Park but it didn't snow anymore, so I figured it wouldn't be as nice. So I stayed in and walked Fargo down the street to our bagel place and felt like I was a part of all this. Snow on the ground in Brooklyn, walking a dog and eating my bagel. Then I did my chore for the week (we have a chart), which was cleaning the kitchen. My favorite of the chores because I use it the most. I also cleaned my room. I did all that after I watched four or so episodes of Arrested Development which came from Netflix a few days ago. If any of you have the time to watch that show, do. But be sure to watch it from the beginning. You'll find out where Michael Cera and Jason Bateman came from before Superbad and Juno. You'll also find out where Scott Bayo and Henry Winkler ended up, among others. Plus there is rumors of a MOVIE!

So on to the next...I decided to go to the grocery store down the street to buy some fruit, bread and chicken. I made up a recipe that involves chicken with lime juice and bread crumbs. It's very, very good, I think.

After a little dinner, I got on the train to go babysit. I left an hour early, which is normally okay, but the trains were not moving tonight so I ended up jumping in a cab around 34th street (I was headed to 72nd near Central Park). I was rather annoyed but then decided that if there is any place to be late and stuck and traffic, it is Times Square. Not terrible, really.

This has got to be my favorite part of the day: I totally had a Mary Poppins moment.

Since I've been here I've been baby-sitting for two little girls most Saturday nights. Sometimes I sing to them and normally when I do, they just stare at me. I think hearing someone sing must be an amazing thing when it is brand new. Tonight right before bedtime I was sitting on the floor, holding the baby and helping her older sister put on her pajamas. I started singing, "Stay Awake," the song Mary Poppins sings after a long day in London and the children don't want to sleep. Well, totally cute and unexpected, the girl gets her pjs and and then sits on my knee and cuddles up with me and her sister. And they just sat there and listened to me sing. And I didn't want to move!

But I did, I put the baby to sleep and walked out to see her sister sleeping on the couch where she normally waits for me to read out of her favorite book, her children's bible. Not kidding.

When I walked out of the apartment, I heard an older man tell some older other people, "Well, goodnight kids."

Then I saw an older woman walking a tiny dog. He was trailing her and decided to roll over without her knowing. She kept walking, therefore, dragging the dog. I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing to loud.

I decided to walk a little over half a mile to the next subway stop so that I could look over Central Park.

It was quiet, but I could still see all the lights and millions of cabs next to me.

I passed a couple. The girl was whining, "I want to be in a cab right now." The guy said, "Just walk with me. Come on, give me your arm." I felt for him.

I saw an older couple on the subway. The woman looped her arm through her husband's who made a joke about her almost knocking him off his chair in the process. I was happy for them.

I went to Starbucks for a tall, skim, white hot chocolate because snow calls for hot drinks and chocolate, as I've already said. They charged me too much and gave me something with coffee in it. Oh well.

And then I read my book (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis: it gets you thinking and makes me feel comforted, safe, challenged) until my stop came.

I worked on a song I wrote this week for about thirty minutes and now I'm sitting on the couch with Fargo, listening to my top 25 most played on itunes (includes Jon Foreman, Sara Bareilles, Harry Connick Jr.).

I rarely talk about the day-to-day things that I do and have had a few requests for something of the sort, so here it is.

I wasn't consistently happy all day but I feel happy now at the end of the day and since the end typically sums up everything else, I think it is safe to say that it was a happy day.

Now it is passed my bedtime and I've still got some reading to do, so I leave you now. Goodnight!