Snowpocalypse/Snowmageddon/Blizzard 2010

above: our unofficial cardboard/duct tape yardstick measuring 23" of snow

Happy Snow Day! I just figured I should update my blog since many of you are asking about the BLIZZARD of 2010! DC has been outrageous over the past week. Last Thursday was a normal day up until I went to the grocery store at 10:30pm to grab a few things to eat and drink over the weekend (the cafeteria food gets really old really quickly). I went there with 3 friends and we had never seen such a sight! The entire grocery store was PACKED! So many people stocking up on every kind of food and drink item. I figured this is what grocery stores would look like in 2012 when the apocalypse strikes. There was barely anything left on the shelves and people were waiting in lines that stretched from the front check out counters to the back of the store! It was insanity! I had to wait an hour just to buy like 3 items. Ridiculous!

Gallaudet closed on Friday at noon, which meant I had to run several errands before the whole place shut down for the impending storm. DC declared a snow emergency and shut down many streets for plowing and such. The snow began about 11am on Friday and did not stop until Saturday evening. It really was a blizzard with the winds whipping and the snow being so difficult to see through (I think visibility was about 1/4 mile most of the time).

As many of you know, I'm a southern girl. Born in Florida, raised in Alabama and North Carolina. Snow to me is 1 inch of white stuff covering the pine straw outside. The most I had ever seen prior to this weekend was 20 inches back in the late 90s in NC (I think that was the same storm that my brother cracked his eyebrow wide open in). This DC storm trumped that one. There are several measurements from around DC, but I believe we got about 26 inches or so here.

I was glad I live in a dormitory because I had several of my friends here with me to hang out with and play Wii with on Friday and Saturday despite the snow storm outside. I also got to watch the Super Bowl with my suitemate, Krystin, and some other friends without having to travel outside.

School (and internship) have been canceled for me today so I am enjoying the day by catching up on schoolwork (and I watched Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets this morning! I hadn't seen the movie since I read the book over Winter Break). They are calling for another snow storm to hit DC tomorrow (Tuesday) which should bring another 5 inches to the area. I'm not sure when I'll have class or internship again...but I'm not worried about it yet! Haha!!

Just wanted everyone to know that I'm safe and sound. Every time I speak to my mom she sounds so worried about me in the snow. I promise I'm not driving in this!

Here are some pictures that I have taken out my window of each day (Friday-Monday) to show the progression of snow, plus a few at the bottom of me and my suitemates, Nicole & Heidi, playing in the snow on Saturday! The snow came up above our knees which made it difficult to walk and hilarious to try and run in!

above: Friday (Feb 5) late afternoon

above: Saturday (Feb 6) around 12pm

above: My friend, Greg, & I walking to the cafeteria for lunch on Saturday (Feb 6) around 12pm

above: Me, atop a giant mound of snow on Sat Feb 6 around 12pm

Me and my suitemates, Heidi & Nicole, made our way to the playground on campus on Sat Feb 6 around 4pm

above: me lying in the snow on Sat Feb 6

above: Sun Feb 7 around 12pm

above: Mon Feb 8 around 2pm (the snowman in the middle of the picture was made by my suitemates, Heidi & Nicole!)

Happy New Year 2010!

Hello from the nation's capital! We have over half a foot of snow on the ground here! Yesterday it snowed from before dawn through about 7pm. It is a beautiful blanket of powdery snow!



As I have not written on here since before Halloween, I will try to make this short and sweet.

I visited a college friend, Mandy, at the University of Virginia the week before Halloween. It was so much fun to see her (she is also getting her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology) and to see her campus. We enjoyed the nightlife of Charlottesville, Virginia and went to a wine tasting at King Family Vineyards. It was a very relaxing weekend and so nice to spend it with a good friend.

Jessica, Me, & Mandy in Charlottesville, NC

Wine tasting near UVA

Halloween was fun. As you can see in the last post, I carved pumpkins and enjoyed hot mulled cider at my friend Erin's apartment.

A lot of shenanigans occurred as we got further into the semester. I think we all go a little loopy when we are so focused on our schoolwork! The following pictures are examples of that!

Ben, Me, Kat, Wyatte, & Greg at dinner out in DC

Krystin (my suitemate), Me, & Michael (a visiting friend from college)

Michael (friend from college) seems excited about the Capitol (he's a law student)

My Thanksgiving celebrations began a week before the actual holiday. Similar to last year, my classmates (plus dates, boyfriends, fiances, and husbands) and I made food and had a Thanksgiving feast! It was so nice to enjoy food that wasn't cooked in the cafeteria on campus! Homemade food is just SO much better!

SLP 2010 girls (9 of 12 of us) at our Thanksgiving Party

I traveled home to North Carolina the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. I got into Southern Pines around 11pm and got some giant hugs from my parents. We woke up the next morning and headed to Charlotte to stay with Vickie's family. We had 9 people (and 2 dogs) in their house. The food was absolutely fantastic! Vickie's mother, Elham, is one of the best cooks in the world! I ate so much food there I could have stopped eating until Christmas and been fine!

The Perrymans and The Flahertys on Thanksgiving in Charlotte, NC

The Perrymans at the Pinehurst Resort over Thanksgiving

Exams went alright. They are always really stressful but I somehow make it through them every time. I think a lot of the stress is relieved when I spend time with friends just trying to decompress and relax and enjoy each others company.

Krystin & I at H Street Country Club

It was so nice when I finished and knew I was heading home. I drove from DC to Greensboro, NC to visit my friend, Michael (the same guy in the photos above). He showed me around to all the Christmas decoration hot spots (there is an entire neighborhood that all decorates with these giant balls of Christmas lights hung in their trees. It is soo cool!). I had to leave Greensboro early though, because a big snow storm was heading our way. I got home just before the sleet hit Southern Pines, but it started snowing in Greensboro less than an hour after I left. Washington, DC got hit HARD by this snow storm. I felt so fortunate that I left the day before because I would have been stuck for days!

Christmas break was soooooo nice. I feel so blessed to have a wonderful home and family to come back to every break. I visited friends in Chapel Hill a few times, spent time in Raleigh with David and Vickie, and spent a lot of time at home with my parents. (If anyone needs another TV show to watch, check out Glee on Wednesday nights! You won't regret it! My mom and I are addicted to it now!)

Dad & I at CCNC for the Christmas Party (the Waller Family Band behind us!)

Fu enjoying one of his Christmas presents

Our church, BMPC, raised its steeple in January! Construction on our new building is coming right along!

High school friends, Kevin and Mike, accompanied me to see Avatar in 3D

During Christmas break my mother also got her most recent CA-125 number (the cancer marker for ovarian cancer). Her number is 15 (below 35 is normal)!!! We are so excited and blessed to have wonderful doctors and supportive family and friends!! You can check out more information on her CaringBridge site by clicking here.

I drove back to DC on Jan. 18 (Martin Luther King Jr Day) and started classes the next day. I am taking 5 classes (Cued Speech, Voice Disorders, Stuttering, Phonology/Articulation, and Research Methods) plus internship. My internship this semester is at a private practice called Building Blocks Therapy. They have two offices, one in DC and one in VA. I will be working with children with various diagnoses from age 1-10. My supervisor is really nice and I have enjoyed being there so far.

I cannot believe that I only have 102 days until graduation. I will have my Master's in Speech-Language Pathology so soon! It seems surreal. I hope I can just pass these classes, get through internship, and find a good job.

The big questions people are asking me are:
Do you have a job yet?
Where do you want to work?
Do you want to live in NC?

The answers to these are:
No, I don't have a job yet.
I'm unsure of where I want to work but I'm really open-minded. I want to work with Deaf and hard-of-hearing children though.
I wouldn't mind living in NC, but I'm looking all along the east coast. I would like to stay within a day's drive of my family.

I will finish this post with a few pictures from this month in DC so far. I hope things are well for you and your family!

Me, Nicole, Krystin, & Heidi (all my suitemates) at dinner before classes began!

My best friend from high school, Julie, just moved to DC too! She is at GW for graduate school (Public Health School)! I love having her here with me!