From Bliss Out to Bliss-ard!

The nice people who helped us dig out.


A scene in Edina this morning after shopping at Lunds.

Wowser. Blizzard of the century - so far. And who is the party planner with such a feel for timing? It starts on a Friday night and lasts a full 24 hours through a Saturday. Who really has to do anything on a Saturday? I mean really? The only thing I could think of I said to Lee, "I"m glad I'm not going into labor today."

So it was another great Saturday - I couldn't get out of my new J.Crew pj's - shown here. Thank god the hubby likes them. They seem anything but sexy to me - but he thinks they are cute, I guess. Whew. (BTW - this is not me - :-)



So, the fire inside and the blizzard outside were mesmerizing. I did find the energy to whip up 3 pillows for my brother (Kelly) and his partner (Tom's) new place. So I got to cross one thing off my OCD list of things I have to do this weekend. They are really great, btw - of antique Indonesian fabrics from INDIGO in the Minneapolis warehouse district. Here's a shot from their website. Just yummy accessories. Tom and i went shopping there yesterday. You have to use your very best Sherlock Holmes eye or it all looks the same, but if you shift your focus to just what you might need, it pops out at you. In the end, we kept every single thing we found and we felt as if we had gone on a little archeological dig.


Indigo - downtown warehouse district in Minneapolis - great accessories!

After the morning cappucino by the fire, Lee had the idea we should go out and play in the snow. He actually used that word "play". (We are 57 and 59.) We thought we might walk to Lunds since driving looked moderately treacherous. Hey, we've spent our time in NY. We know that "hunting and gathering" scene. So, off we went - trudging through 18" deep snow. I insisted on a stop - 1/2 way - at Dunn Bros coffee to re-assess the sanity of this trek. We were only 1/4 of the way of the whole trip and not feeling particularly Will Stieger-ish at the time. Maybe if we had had our sled and dog with us. Maybe if we even had better boots. So we walked back, got into our car and headed out to Lunds. It was not a pretty site -swerving back and forth in the ruts, praying for green lights - all in Minneapolis - then...we had a startling experience!

Edina rocks at plowing streets. The difference once you crossed France Avenue was so staggering. It was like they had bikini-waxed their streets while Minneapolis's roads were piled with snow. What is that? And the plows in Edina - they were, like, major machismo. Get out of their way. But, you kind of did because you felt so grateful anyone was actually making your life easier. On our way home we crossed France back into the no-man's land of Minneapolis and, the minute we turned onto our street, became boldly stuck in the snow that had accumulated for the past 15 hours and not been touched. For 45 minutes, we pushed, we ground the gears, we burned rubber, we froze, we sweated, we swore, and we got a great workout. Eventually, a darling, vibrant, young couple came by and offered to help push as Lee backed the car into the nearest parking spot - 3/4 of a block from our home. There was no getting down the street and trudged home, fingers numb, hair frozen looking like Medusa's.

But, what the heck - we got a nice tenderloin, gin, some chocolate and we are stocked with coffee and milk. All good here. Fires all day. And all I've done is veg out on the sofa. Lee, too. He didn't write a sentence today. We cuddled under the down comforter, walked to the window to exclaim something dim-witted about the storm and put on another log. The BLISS-ARD of 2010.