Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Surviving the Snow

First of all, let me get something off my chest that has bothered me for quite some time about the DC area, and I include all my beloved suburban MD & VA brethren under the "DC" umbrella (hee, weather metaphor).

As you probably know, we are smack in the middle of Snowpacolypse 2010. 27" over the weekend. 10"+ today - hard to tell since the wind keeps blowing (blizzard conditions) and moving it all around. UPDATE - Per the news, we got 18" here in the 2nd round. I had shoveled out front walk earlier today, and now when I look out my front door, all I see is a wall of snow across the walk. Ok, that was smart. At least I got some fresh air. (That's the view out my back door and off the back porch from early this afternoon. Snow's actually higher now.)

But here's the thing...I hope this finally shuts up all the smart-aleck carpet bagging politicians who count dissing DC snow response as a favorite sport. It never fails that every 2 years, when we have a crop of new politicos in town, regardless of party, that as soon as it snows and DC freaks out, they all decide to get up on their little platforms and OMG, everyone in DC is an idiot and no one know anything about snow, you all are a bunch of wimps, etc, etc, etc.

I will not argue the fact that people flip a little when we get just a bit of snow. But HELLO, that's because we don't GET a lot of snow (I mean, except for this year, it is historic and record-breaking and the federal government is closing again tomorrow - 4 days in a row because of weather, I believe that's unprecedented). DC with snow is kinda like people who've never had alcohol before, give them a beer and wacky things ensue.

But don't blame us for getting a bit wacky. We don't have the infrastructure that *y'all* do back in Chicago/Massachusetts/New York or any other spot in the Midwest or Northeast you care to pick. Clearly our "snow shovels" aren't as big as yours. If you would like to pull out your check and write the various Metropolitan Departments of Transportation a six-figure check to up the manpower, equipment, and various supplies for dealing with the snowfall, I'm pretty sure we can all get used to the snow real quick. But until then, please, shut up, you don't look cute or clever or cool, you look like an a$$. Please go back to the work you're supposed to be doing.

Thank you, I feel so much better now.

You might not know this but I can be a bit superstitious about silly things. So I swore yesterday, as we were getting the blizzard warnings about the high winds that if we had power today and didn't lose it that I would actually get dressed in real clothes instead of the usual yoga pants, cami, sweatshirt that I've been hanging out in all week.

Thus far {knock on wood}, our power has stayed on. And I think getting dressed in real clothes made me feel a bit less lethargic today. This does hold with my usual philosophy of trying to dress up when I feel really crummy because it definitely makes me feel better.

For today...navy J Crew Wellesley cable turtleneck sweater - yes, that's Wellesley - the precursor to Cambridge. Wellesley = HO06, much thicker. Cambridge = now, and thinner, but I think we've all had the quality discussion. Moving on... I may need to replace this next year, though, because I absolutely love to wear it, but after 3 years, it is just too short. In their latest issue, Real Simple had a really great article on stretching out shrunken clothing. Guess I need to try it out with this sweater, huh?

And let me talk about the pants for a moment...Gap real straight cords (on sale for $24.99, $19.99 or $17.99, depending on color). The cords come in regular, petite, and tall. I have the regulars, but I cuff them (or wear with boots). I love the fit of these, very comfy (size 10, btw). They look a little weird if you see them folded on the table, but that's because they are several inches higher in the back than the front. And you know what that means - they actually cover your butt! And don't flash anyone if you bend over.

Now, I'm really not much of a cord girl. I'd usually rather wear jeans or Minnies, but I love winter-white cords for winter. So these are perfect.

Underneath, I have a short sleeve perfect fit tee in light berry (size L - I always size up in the perfect fit tees) - which I got back in December for $4.99 at my B&M. (How could I resist?) I love this navy-white-berry color combo - I think I'll definitely be sporting it with white jeans in the spring.

Other than that - Dina hoops, clementine pearl garden bracelet, and brown croc mocs. (This, of course, was all after I finished shoveling this morning). A pretty decent snow day outfit, I think.

Polyvore for today:






Of course, I'm probably going back to sweats tomorrow... Stay warm and safe, everyone! And thanks for listening...

20 comments:

Pamela said...

I love the color combination with the blue, berry and white! I hate when politicians point fingers at each other and complain about what the other guy isn't doing right. What does it accomplish? Nothing!!!! How annoying!!
Stay warm and be careful! I love seeing everyone's pictures of the storm. It sucks to be in it, but the fresh snow does look beautiful. As long as you're safely tucked away in your house with power!!!

Ema said...

Love the light berry/navy combo! And I'm a fan of white cords in general (but don't make the mistake of wearing them in the snow, as I did, rain/snow stains are hard to get rid off).

I also have a Wellesley navy cable sweater (maybe the same than yours) that I LOVED (you're right, much thicker than the new ones) and shrunk to the point that I can barely wear a cami underneath. It was as warm as a cashmere sweater and costed a third of the price!

Your rant reminded me that in Italy, Northern people (like me) use to make fun of the people who live in Rome when it snows there because they are not used to it and not equipped for it. It's the same the whole word over, I guess.

Sorry for the long comment...

Cate said...

Very cute snow day outfit... I'd definitely be in sweats if I were you lol.
Ironically, this has been a very snow-free winter here in buffalo... I think you guys have gotten more in the past 5 days than we have all year (and it's SUPPOSED to snow alot here)

Summerilla said...

I applaud you for getting dressed today! I'm slacking and I'll continue slacking tomorrow too I'm sure. I only get dressed when I venture outside to see how bad it is and well it's not about being fashionable, it's about staying warm.

Glad you all have maintained power! Ours flickered a bit but nothing too serious - meaning it was back on within 10 minutes. I am getting so spoiled with all these no work snow days.

GlobeTrotter said...

From a fellow NOVA Snowmaggedon I and II sufferer thank you thank you!

Cleo said...

I must add to your observation regarding the handling of snow, storms, and electricity: Why are our power lines above ground? Can you imagine how nice it would be not to have to worry about electrical outages because the wind blows too strongly, a tree falls, it's snowing, it's storming? It's sad that so many people are without electricity (heat) in conditions like these. I'd love to see that infrastructure built one day.

Anyway, love your outfit. The colors are quite nice.

K. Kiran Graves said...

super cute... i love loafers, ballet flats, and such. i wear them all year round. its also fun the pair them with funky tights or socks...

HeidiG said...

Pamela - thank you! and yes, hate the pol finger pointing. So far so good with power, fingers crossed it stays that way - winds are supposed to be really bad tomorrow morning.

Ema - no apologies for long comments - I love them! I'll definitely let you know how the sweater stretching works out. (good to know that you Italians are as bad as us!!!) Silly Romans, hehehe.

Cate - it's crazy, I think we've gotten everybody's snow!!

Summerilla - It's been so nice to lay low, but I must admit that I'm dying to get everyone out of the house - I'm used to having the house to myself during the week. Everyone is here!! And since I work from home, I've still been working.

Globe Trotter - you are welcome!

Cleo26 - thank you - and yes, I agree. Too many power lines, too many possibilities for outages.

Drewablank said...

Thank you for getting that off your chest! I so agree with you - that's what I've been ranting about to almost everyone I've talked to about the snow, snowstorms and our area's capacity to deal with it!

On to the clothes...good on you for dressing up during this time. I have been slacking, just like Ms. Summerilla. I was only able to get outta my sweats when I ventured out for hot tea and then happy hour with my friends on Monday night and then a grocery run yesterday morning (look out for the post on my blog!). I love how that little purple peeks out of your sweater! Aaand you're wearing white pants! *does a little happy dance* I love when people wear white during winter. :)

HeidiG said...

Mrs Politico - thank you!

Drewablank - thank you! Looking forward to your pics!! I just updated our snow total from the news - 18" for the 2nd round up here. Eeek!

3-Penny Princess said...

I'm totally with you on finally getting the motivation to wear real clothes. Having been stuck inside for the better part of 6 days now, PJs are definitely the preferred attire. Since pretty much 98% of my meetings were cancelled this week, I won't need to venture out till Friday again. Which is good, because it's sheer suicide to try to get out of this neighborhood until they plow (and even then, I'm not risking the descend down the spiral hill). Hey, as long as our power holds up and I have TV and internet, I can stay here indefinitely! We're thankful that we only lost power for a day and that (so far) it's held up through the vicious winds.

I think it's funny how people make fun of Washingtonians. I'm definitely guilty of telling people for years that our winters are fairly mild. Well, last winter was kind of cold and this winter is out of control! I certainly won't be telling anyone that anymore! But like you said, now that we've proved our "winterability," all those northerners won't stick their noses down at use anymore!

BTW - did you color your hair? Or am I staring at my monitor too long and imagining it? Anyway, I can't wait to see you all on the 20th!

C said...

ha...that looks like my backyard... I think we got 10" on Saturday and 22" today.. and I shoveled twice today and there is more snow and I do not feel like shoveling it again. It is shoulder height and there is no place to put it anyway. BTW, there is a salt shortage in the northeast...they think NOVA got most of it. Nice outfit, but the only clothing I am thinking about is hats, gloves and wool socks. Nice that you had the energy to get dressed. Oh and you DO have other people's snow... the ski resorts in NY State and in MA are mad.

Anonymous said...

OMG even we (Canadians) have not had snow like that and I live in a snow capital, and you are 100% right you do not have the infrastructure in place to handle these storms, and even our weatherman are pointing that out to us, so you have every right to freak out over the snow, at least you have power.

Again I love your outfits.

Anonymous said...

Heidi I forgot to add this, 2 years ago we had a record snowfall year 168 inches, it snowed for just about every day for 4 months, we had trouble handling it and we had the equipment.

Suzy said...

Can you believe all of this snow??? Record breaking in several states. And if you heard the news this morning, they said that even though the south is famous for not being able to handle lots of snow, because just as you said, it is not frugal to have to buy and maintain billions of dollars of equipment and staff for something that rarely happens. But they also said that even Pennsylvania,(and a few other states) which IS a state (where I grew up) that is capable, has not been able to keep up with all the snowfall!

As for driving in all of this and all of the accidents (yesterday there were literally hundreds of reported accidents in the morning here) My husband blames tires. Most (not all) standard equipment tires on cars are all season tires that do NOTHING when it comes to snow. You may recall that my DH is into vehicles, has a few cars and motorcycles, and one of the first things he does is put better tires on our cars, not for snow purposes here, but for wet weather as well. So it really is a big safety issue.

Power going out is the worst part of it all. I read Dina's post about heading to a hotel. It may become necessary, like after the hurricane that hit here about 6 years ago, to bring in help from power companies in other states if this snow keeps up!!!

CRAZY! Stay warm! And I love your outfit today! I am also guilty of hanging around the house on all of these snow days in yoga pants, tees and big sweaters with my furry Ugg slippers! But Patina wouldn't be upset, I'm not being a "slumpadinka" (was that it?)! Take care!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I just walked around the apartment in yoga pants all this time. So I am very impressed that you looked so adorable during the snowstorm.

We were also lucky and did not loose power but I was afraid we would specially with the high winds yesterday.

Glad to hear you stayed safe and warm.

Monique said...

Wow that is a lot of snow! Hopefully this storm stops soon so you don't have to continuously shovel. I was getting kind of sad that I don't get to see snow in Florida but after I have seen how many inches you got I'm not so sad anymore. Love the outfit especially how you combined the sweater with the berry colored shirt very nice. Stay warm.

Anonymous said...

Lookin' sooo pretty in this outfit today! I love black tops on people with brown eyes!

Jen said...

Hey Heidi, cut us northerners some slack! This time next month you all will be looking forward to early buds & daffodils and days you can head outside in cute jackets while we will be looking at even grimer grey snow & slush and still sporting snowboots!

I must say that you folks are bearing the snowpocolypse admirably.

HeidiG said...

3-Penny Princess - I watercolor my hair (non-perm) and went with a slightly different color this time, not loving it, going back to regular next time. Yes, can't wait until the 20th!!

C - yep, I do believe we have everybody's snow. they can have it back, though, I'm done.

casual-crew - thank you! 168 inches? Inconceivable!!

Suzy - yes, slumpadinka it is. I think your DH's right about the tires. I'm also worried about all the accidents we're going to have because of 7' snow mounds on corners. The usual MD/VA policy of just letting it melt isn't going to work so well with *this* much snow. And we saw some idiot jogging on a main road, in the road, at 6 pm, wearing all black. That guy deserves to get hit.

Rosa in DC - those winds were Cuh-razy!! We did not lose power either {knocking on wood}.

Monique - I did get a bit of help yesterday with the driveway from the bobcat plowing the alley. But yes, I bet you are appreciating that FL weather.

yogagirl - thank you!

Jen - good point about next month, but I'm honestly not harshing on all Northerners and Midwesterners - just the ones who emigrate to DC and seem to like shooting fish in a barrel for sport. Love the rest of you!!