Speaking of Hot

Do you see that large number, there?  The one saying it's one hundred and eleven degrees outside?!  Goodness gracious, it's toasty out there.  I'm still used to summers on the West Coast, where it cools down in the evenings.  Last night at 11pm, our heat index was 94 degrees.  I'm incredibly miserly with running our air conditioning, but there's no beating temperatures like that.  I won't even begin to tell you what it feels like to go for a run when it's nearly 100% humid and 80 degrees.

Instead, I'll leave you with the formula to calculate the heat index.  It's way more complicated than I thought it would be!



Fine Print: I'm mostly blaming the weather here in Hot-lanta for my blogging absence.  I wish I could say that I've been on fun trips and reading some amazing books while I've been awol, but alas, no.  My brain pretty much shut down and left me with zero inspiration and creativity.  Here's to hoping I come up with something enlightening by the time it cools back off... in October.


Crazy mathematical formula courtesy of NOAA.gov.

Cooking with Sara: Thai Chicken Soup

It's Thursday!  Which means that it's my day to cook for the food blog!

As I'm sitting here with frozen, stiff fingers, I'm wishing I still had that bowl of soup here to keep me warm.  I'd even plunk my frozen digits right into the bowl, a la Palmolive commercials from the 80s.  When I woke up this morning, the "feels like" temperature was hovering right around 5 degrees, and you wouldn't believe the number of clothing layers I'm wearing right now.  Most of Atlanta is slowly recovering from our crazy weather earlier this week, but our little road is still covered in ice right at the crest of the hill where it connects to the main street.  The street with stores and gas stations and food and space heaters.  I used to be very pfft! about radiant space heaters; they feel great, but we have no need to spend our money on anything of the sort when we have central heating.  Well, folks, I really want one.  I want one baddddd.

But back to the matter at hand - Thursday cooking day for the blog!:

Thai Chicken Soup on From Blah to Ta-Daa!

Also!  Today is my blog's birthday!  I didn't have any cakes handy (which is actually kind of surprising, considering it's me we're talking about here), so I'm settling for a clip-art-Thai-soup-birthday-wish instead.  Flip off the lights, squeeze those eyelids shut, and take a deep breath.....

WISH!

In case you're utterly bored, here is the link for my very first post here.  Entertaining?  Not in the least.  But hey, like I said then, a meager start is still a start.

Big smooches to all who've become my "blog and twitter friends" over the past two years and to those I've been able to get to know better, despite the distance between us.  You make my life more interesting and more amusing and more sweet ♥

More Snow

Behold.  Bo's first ever snowman.  (Er, snowlady in this case.)

It seems crazy to me that it took 34 for years for him to ever have built a snowman, but I suppose that's how life is when you grow up in Florida.  He's loving the snow and the weather here, which is great, because I was mildly worried that he'd hate the cold and icky winter weather that I'd missed so much.   He's outside shoveling ice as I type.  Rory's taking her 5th nap of the day, and I'm sitting at our dining table, wrapped up in 3 layers, sipping coffee.

Hope your morning is just as peaceful and cozy as mine!

Come to My Window

Remember when I was gushing last week about how much I love it here?  What with the seasons, and all the green, and the trees everywhere, and the forest behind my house?  And I mentioned wanting to show you the before and after pictures of that forest?  Well.  Here they are!

dated 3/25:

just this morning, 5/24:

same forest, same shot - 2 months apart:

Can I tell you how much I love having this to see outside my window in the mornings?!  God help us when dreamy, dreamy Autumn arrives, and I become a slobbering mess.

♥

Well, Hello There, Raindrops

Gooooood morning, all you lovelies!!  I woke up to buckets of rain this morning, and it's totally improved my mood.  (I've been in a horrible funk lately, but that's another topic for another day.)  I love me some buckets of rain, let me tell ya.  The bouts of rain we got in San Diego were nice and all, but I think that with my snotty attitude about living there, I never really appreciated the rain when we got it. 

But this morning, I was so excited about the steady dumping of big rain drops, that I - of course - started snapping photos with my phone.  Because the only thing better than being forced to sit through someone's vacation photos is being forced to scan through some blogger's *cell phone photos.*  Oh yes, you can thank me later.

But what I'd really like to know from you all is this - what shoes are you wearing for real weather?  Specifically, what cute shoes are you wearing?  I have a few pairs of flats that I can rotate through, but I'm left barefoot with icy toes if I wear them.  My only closed-toed options right now are heels, clogs (shush!  they're actually not awful), or distressed boots. 

Can you pleeeeeease - for the love of warm toes - give me some footwear ideas?

Major major points if I can wear socks with whatever you suggest. 

I've had this umbrella kicking around in my trunk for so long, that I don't even remember buying it.  I honestly don't even remember the last time I used it.  But, it totally matches my black and white flats today, so let's just focus on that, shall we?  Shoes, people, shoes!

Sauna, Anyone?

I just have to rant a lil here...

For all you (East Coast natives) who roll your eyes and dismiss my talk of it being humid in San Diego in July and August, IT'S FREAKING 95% HUMIDITY RIGHT NOW. (Yes, that really did warrant capitalization.) 95%!!

And before you try to interrupt me with talk of it being a fluke - for the record, it hovers around 75% humidity every morning here during the summer. That's not something to shake a stick at.

It's July, People

Not Fall. Not even Almost Fall. It's freaking Summer! I just barely got my first sunburn of the season, 2 days ago! As such, I'd appreciate it if all retailers would ix-nay with the "Fall Preview" notices. Don't get me wrong, Fall is my very mostest favorite season of the whole year. But, for goodness sake, please let me enjoy the current season as it's just beginning! Leave me alone for another 2+ months, I beg you.

It's a Scorcher

It's 100 degrees outside today.*

I had to look that up on Wunderground, because it's precisely 64 steps from my chair to the nearest window or door. Yes, I totally counted. But, now that I think about it, I haven't turned my little space heater on once today, and that's usually the first thing I do when I get here every morning. And, I'm wearing an adorable little dress with sandles, SANS cardigan. I haven't had one single goosebump on my arms all day. Yes, indeed, it must be hot out there.

My new bestie, Dee, calls this "boyfriend weather" - when it's perfect to talk a lazy walk in the evening, with an ice cream cone in one hand, your boyfriend's hand in the other. Ahhhh...I couldn't agree with her more.

I guess one out of two ain't so bad ;)



* And yes, it's still only mid-April. But before you go hating on So-Cal, keep in mind that the months of May and June are pure ugly here. While the rest of the country is enjoying that beautiful transition from spring to summer, it's gray and cloudy and chilly here.