Things NOT to do at the gym

So Terry and I are getting back into the gym groove.  After a 10-12 hour day at work, I want to go into the gym, get my sweat on, and leave.  The past few days though, I'm not sure if it's just a greater being trying to give me a laugh or get under my skin, but I have been very distracted during my workouts.  I would like to take the next few moments to express my opinions and see whether or not you agree.  If this is happened to you, I also need input on what you did as to not laugh outloud / yell / vomit. 

My list of things you SHOULD NOT do at the gym

#1. Grunt with any piece of equipment other than dead lift weights

Case in point:  I go into the Ab room to be annoyed greeted by Obnoxious Old Man (OOM).  After giving me the run down of the best string of equipment to hit, OOM proceeds to get on the machine closest to me and tell me he's going to up his weight for maximum workout potential (who says that?!).  Referring to my previous statement that I like to get in and get out....OOM was already on my "I really dislike you" list.  But then it starts...... "Uhhhhh...1....MMMMMM....2......Gaaarrrrr....3.....BUGHHHHHH....4.....AAARRRRR....5". 

THIS IS NOT OK.  Well, I mean, I get it if you're heaving 400 lbs of dead weight over your head...then you're aloud to grunt....but they have a separate room for that.....the Grunter Room.  Trying to get an audience to see that you are crunching 70lbs is inappropriate.  And annoying.  And distracting.

 #2. Inappropriate attire

Case in point: Previously mentioned OOM dressed himself for the gym by putting on his 12 year old grandaughters clothes. I don't know this to hold any fact...but I'd bet 90% of the gym would back it.  I can appreciate chiseled washboard abs just like the next person, but when the shirt sleeves are so tight you wonder how there can still be circulation to their arms, and it's princess pink....THIS IS NOT OK.  Negative attention is not attractive.  Same goes for you ladies....the gym is not a place to wear bikini tops. Or shorts so short you're not sure if they are trying to start a gym-thong trend.  Bleghhh...and men....Shorts even remotely close to exposing more than half your thigh....Please dont....THIS IS NOT OK. There is only one person in my book that could break this rule and I wouldn't judge.  Yah, I said it. 

#3. Exercise barefoot

Case in point: A dude was on a treadmill in front of me trying to jog walking barefoot.  How is that even allowed?!  And I really don't think I would have noticed at first except that I kept smelling something awful from in front of me.  Now, I promise, I do not and will not ever judge body odor at the gym.  Reak it up.  It's to be expected.  But foot odor.....THIS IS NOT OK. Put those things in some breathable cotton, get some sole support (make sure to tie those shoes up Extra Tight), and don't uncage those bad boys at least until you are in your car, although I would advise cracking your windows for asphyxiation prevention.

#4. Use equipment incorrectly (comedically)

Case in point: I was next to a replica of this two nights ago at the gym. Creepy smile and all.  While his form was remarkable, he looked like a prancing gazelle through the outdoors. Or a creepy dude with an above average gait extension.  THIS IS NOT OK. How am I supposed to concentrate on my workout when you are begging me to laugh?? But I couldn't even smile because he was one of those people that would have taken it as I was "in to him".  Oh yah buddy...I'm in to you all right.  You're right up my alley: Comedic Genius.  I'm all for trying out unfamiliar equipment in the gym, but you don't have to look exactly like the instruction manual model.

#5. Walk away from equipment without wiping it down

I was that person last night.  No, No, No....not the person who didn't wipe the equipment down.  I was the person who went running after the person who didn't wipe the equipment down to call them out and tell them to go back and wipe it down for me. THIS IS NOT OK. Sure, I could have wiped it down for him, but frankly, everyone should be responsible for their own filth.  You can be as disgusting as your want in your own privacy, but in public, you WILL clean up after yourself....at least if I have anything to do with it.  He was really nice about it, so naturally I felt like spawn of Lucifer for putting my foot down, but I've learned too many times that if you don't say something, it'll just keep happening.

Well, that's all my gym complaints for now.  I really hope this doesn't become a recurring post of my hilarity and annoyance while workin' on my fitness.

Any similar stories?  Any different ridiculousness?

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

This book secretly snuck it's way in to being read.  I finished up My life in France and was wanting a completely different vibe.  I wasn't quite ready to jump into the second book in the Hunger Games Series since I had just finished the first book previous to Life in France.  I also tried hopping back into Steig Larson's series with The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest (2nd book in that series), but about 10 pages in and I knew it was not the right fit right now. 

My mom knows my love of books that are also movies, so one of her gifts (that incidentally she didn't give to me for Christmas, but she left in our garage accidentally for me to come across) were the books and movies of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  I picked up the first book to see if it'd be a good easy read right now, and before I knew it I was 40 pages in.  Needless to say, it was super fast read as well as a super easy read (I'm sure the target age for this book is somewhere from 12 or 13 yrs old up to about 20....but who cares...I don't).

In a super quick synopsis, the book centers around four girls that have been friends since they were born.  Their mothers were all friends as the girls were born within two weeks apart of each other.  This will be the first summer in their whole lives that they will be apart; one going to Greece, one to soccer camp, one to visit her Dad, and the other staying home to save up money for a car.  The last night before the girls are set to separate for the summer, they are all together and a pair of jeans becomes the center of conversation.  Each girl tries them on, only to realize they are the most stunning pants they've ever worn.  They decide that amongst their letters to one another to keep updates (I guess this was before email, although I'm not sure exactly when these books were written), they will also send around the pants to bring each other good luck and provide confidence that all the other girls are there too even though they are in different parts of the world.  

There's lots of drama, lots of funny and quirky moments, and it overall is a feel-good story-line.  At the beginning, I had trouble keeping tabs of who was who between the four of them, but about a quarter way in, I had them in line.  The characters are all easy to like, and while they may not fit the mold of anyone specific, they are all very relatable. 

My favorite quote from the book:  "Maybe happiness didn't have to be about the big, sweeping circumstances, about having everything in your life in place. Maybe it was about stringing together a bunch of small pleasures.” ~Tibby

Between each section of the book (they weren't really chapters, and the sections weren't even distinct segregations from the previous section), there were random quotes.  I say random in a good way, because evening though they only pseudo-fit what was going on in one of the girls lives in that timepoint, bottom-line is that I just really liked all the quotes that they chose.  Silly, I know, but I'm a quote-lover.  Anyways, here they are (highlighted ones I really liked)

Prologue “Not all who wander are lost.” -J. R. R. Tolkien

1."Luck never gives: it only lends.” -Ancient Chinese Proverb
2.“Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.” -Anonymous
3.“Can you make yourself love? Can you make yourself be loved?”-Lena Kaligaris
4.“There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.”-Jerry Seinfeld
5.“Love is like war: easy to begin, hard to end.”-Proverb
6.“Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: If the customer is wrong, refer to rule #1.”-Duncan Howe
7.“When life hands you a lemon, say, ‘Oh yeah. I like lemons. What else ya got?’”-Henry Rollins
8.“I have seen the future and it’s like the present, only longer.”-Dan Quisenberry
9.“Sometimes you’re the windshield: sometimes you’re the bug.”-Mark Knopfler
10.“If you feel like you’re under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”-Mario Andretti
11.“The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Got that?”-Coach Brevin
12.“If you don’t find it in the index, look very carefully through the entire catalog.”-Sears, Roebuck catalog
13.“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes.”-Frieda Norris
14."Time tells the truth.”-Fortune cookie
15."Of the thirty-six ways of avoiding disaster, running away is best." - Anonymous
16."Life is so... whatever." -Kelly Marquette aka Skeletor
17.“You make all kinds of mistakes: but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.”-Winston Churchill
18.“Wish for what you want. Work for what you need.”-Carmen’s grandmother
19.“My karma ran over my dogma.”-Bumper sticker
20.“You can take a road that gets you to the stars. I can take a road that will see me through.”-Nick Drake
21.“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
22.“All Moanday. Tearday. Wailsday. Thumpsday. Frightday. Shatterday.”-James Joyce
23.“Is there world enough for me?”-Jane Frances
24.“In your eyes I am complete.”-Peter Gabriel
Epilogue “We will go. Nowhere we know. We don’t have to talk at all."-Beck

If you are looking for a SUPER easy read....and you are a chick....this is your book.  Unfortunately (and by all means prove me wrong), I cannot see this book being a big draw for the guys.  It's about four girls and their drama; enough said.  :-) 

I still haven't watched the movie, but I plan to either this weekend or next.  I'll update with if I liked the movie or book better. 

Happy Reading!

Phase One of Master Bathroom Demolition

By no means feel that you need to watch the whole movie below, it was just our way of capturing a whole lot of work in a short blip of time.  And when I fell into the wall....it was pretty funny.  :-) 

We're off to a very good start!

**and in case you can't view it on here, here is the youtube link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEqwoYx4o3c

Update: More Light Holes in the Front Room

As an update to Friday's post: the lights are finished!  And we hung the painting below them.  Here's a picture from Terry's phone because I still haven't uploaded my pictures. 

We are both enamored with it!  It completely changes the room and makes it so cozy. 

In other big news update....We started in on the Demolition of the Master Bathroom! More to come with that soon.  A little video may or may not be involved ;-) 

More Light Holes in the Front Room

Super boring post, but maybe if I write it, we will actually finish this project and not just leave it to finish itself like the past 5 projects we've started.  What can I say; we have so much drive and ambition at the beginning.... and then by the end we are each waiting for the other to finish stuff up.  Come on Terry!!!!  I kid!

So you already know about our first set of lights that went in here, but we definitely needed lights on the wall behind the couch as well.  Just to refresh your memory....the only light that the room had previous to these new installs was this guy.

Poor light.  We really love his character, and we just couldn't squish (squash?) his dreams of illuminating the whole room, so he stays.  But since sitting in a dark room is not high on our list of things we love to do, he had to have some help. 

This past weekend we....and this time IT REALLY WAS A WE scenario (I was sweating and my arms hurt for two days) cut three more holes in the ceiling above the couch.
We measured....and measured....drew circles...realized we were off the stud too much....wiped the circles off with bleach....remeasured....drew another ^&$^%#$ circle....realized we were off AGAIN....wiped with bleach AGAIN....and then we got it right (YIPPEE).

I almost asked Terry to take pictures of me cutting the holes for proof that I work, but I didn't want to come off as vain.  So no "during" shots.  But here's the after. 

And that is how it still sits.  We need to hook up the recessed light boxes and he has to run the electrical line up in the attic.  I get to screw in the lightbulbs (hard work I tell ya!) and Voila!

I'll update if it gets finished or not this weekend.  There are rumbling sounds of master bathroom demolition this weekend.  If that is the case, THE LIGHTS WILL WAIT!!!  Give me a sledge hammer!!!! :-)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Amor and Art

My man is quite the romantic. 

Saturday night was our typical Steak night.  Sarah joined us, and the two of them tried out a new first course; Beet Salad.  Composed of Beets (shocking...I know), carrots, apples, pecans that were coated in cayenne and sugar then toasted, chives and a champagne vinaigrette.  Not my thing...but I took a picture because it's certainly eye-appealing.

Steak night was typical steak night, perfectly cooked steak, delicious wine reduction, sauteed spinach with bacon, and root vegetable (parsnips, turnips, and potatoes) puree.  SO delicious.  Sarah brought brownies for dessert.  Gotta love it when the guest brings dessert. :-)

Sarah ended up leaving fairly soon after dinner and we were going to call it an early evening as well, until Terry said he had a surprise for me.  The conversation went something like this:

T: I know we don't do Valentines, so it's not for Valentines, but I got something for you....for us

L: Ohhhhh, What'd you get me?!?!

T: Well when do you want to open it? You can't open it on Valentines Day, so when do you want it?

L: Now.  Today isn't Valentines Day.

T: Oh, well I meant sometime after Valentines.

L: That's not what you said, and today fits your original criteria......what'd you get me sneaky?!

T: Fine....go sit on the couch.

:-)

A big cardboard box came out and I was completely confused.  I had no idea what it was. He pulled off his surprise quite well.  So much so, that when I got the box open, I was speechless (and lets face it, that's a rare occasion in and of itself). 

He got the other painting that we fell in love with when we were out in Tahoe and bought our wine painting!!!   This pic is blurry but you can kind of get a rough idea of it's size in comparison to Terry.

There's the beauty on the wall underneath our newly installed lights.  We aren't going to keep it there, but we are going to keep it in the same room, above the couch.  This painting is SO us!  Baking and cooking and wine.  I just absolutely love it.  It's another hyper-realism painting and in different views in the room, it looks like the books are coming off the page and that the creases are 3-D.  It just amazes me how they can capture it in paint to look so real. 

Funny sidenote to this painting, the artist, John Mark Gleadow, is from Delaware.  Raised in Lincoln (where one of my brothers and family live), went to school at Uni. of Del for Art, and has his shop in Dover (where I was raised).  Small small world.

Such an amazing surprise!!!  I'm spoiled! 

Gotta Love a Love Day

Virtual smooches going out today to each of you!! 

Terry and I don't "do" V-day, as I've made him obligated to dote on me throughout the whole year and not just one specific holiday that Hallmark decided to invent. ;-)

Anyway, last night in our sassy non-celebrating fashion, we decided to make the chocolate souffles that Terry made our first year dating. ("Yah! Let's ignore V-day but make the souffles you made me for V-day 5 years ago!" Ha)

I am very pleased to report that they just turned into a complete disaster!  Puzzled that I wrote pleased?  Well here's the thing; I was beginning to think that Terry was a miracle worker in the kitchen.  Everything that boy produces is amazing.  It was nice knowing and seeing that even the best cook in the world (my opinion) can have a few oops moments and that we can laugh about it.  Also, it was a fun time in the kitchen together with us working on each of our parts pre-disaster.

We learned a new lesson in that when the recipe states to use a metal bowl...to use a metal bowl.  Glass apparently retains to much heat and cooked our egg yolks during the mixing part of the melted chocolate with egg yolks.  We tried twice.....failed both of them.

(This is supposed to look gooey and runny chocolate)

Instead....it was almost like brownie

 Here was our second attempt.  Again another Chocolate Egg Yolk Ball with the Egg Whites patiently waiting to be folded into the chocolate liquid blob.

We did make a third attempt at dessert, although this time we took a different approach.  We finally had success! (and it was quite tasty with very little clean-up)  :-)

Let there be light!

While we got iced in last week, we were a highly productive team for house updates.  That wall in the front room is just itching for our painting, and while we have finally figured out all the framing issues for it, the next phase we needed to plan was the lighting.  Terry has been scoping and scheming this idea for a while, but it was finally put into action. (Thanks again Jeff for all the electrical Q&A)

Man hard at work (picture looking in through the french doors from the kitchen)

(another shot so you know where-abouts I'm talking in the house.  You can see part of my handi-work in finishing up priming around the french-doors so it can be painted to the room color again and the door trim can go up.

This was my handi-work on the other side of the door.  What started as just priming the space around the door frame turned into priming the entire kitchen.  Since we're going to be re-painting the kitchen anyway, I figured it was as good a time as any to tackle it. 

I missed a lot of picture taking, but taking pictures of wires running down walls and in the attic and light fixture installation is not that exciting anyway, so here's a pic of the finished product instead. 

Can't Wait for the Painting!!!!

Chicago Take 3: Ohhh the Food!

We just can't go to a city like Chicago without stalking for days casually finding some good restaurants to try out.  We booked our hotel room through Hotwire (LOVE Hotwire!) and we ended up at the hotel where Chef Marcus Samuelson's restaurant, C-House, is located.  Friday night dinner: decided!

For those of you (most of you) who aren't crazed about food and chefs, he's a pretty big deal.  He won Top Chef Masters Season 2, and his food is unique, with influences from his life through Ethiopia, Sweden, and USA (mostly NYC inspired).  Here's a little more about him.
The restaurant was beautiful. Great Ambiance. Nice clean lines and all copper toned (all the art on the walls were in sepia, his copper pots were in the front of the kitchen, the chairs were a burnt sienna / rust tone, and the lighting was all shaded in copper).

We did not sit down for a full course meal, as we were off to the birthday girls surprise, but we did order off the bar menu which still had a lot of options.  We ordered these three dishes:

avocado and pickled red onion on a bed of dehydrogenated corn.  The Yellowtail was sushi style, and the avocado was a mousse that also had lime and cilantro.  The only complaint I had was actually directed at ourselves in that we didn't order more of them. (The picture below isn't mine....mine was blurry)

The second dish we ordered was the Angus Prime Burger with Gouda cheese, lettuce, tomato and onions.  Here's the only part of the meal that took a wrong turn but maybe that's because we ordered a hamburger in an upscale restaurant and disappointed us a bit.  Terry cut it in half for us (which I still don't know how he did) but when we went to bite in, the bread was un-bite-able.  Imagine a juicy succulent savory smelling burger in the middle waiting to be devoured, and it's sitting in the middle of two bricks. Go ahead. Imagine it. Now imagine trying to take a bite.  I'm all for trying something new, and the concept of a baguette for a roll is fine, but it ended up making the burger get squished, the onion and the tangy/tart cabbage (not sure if it was sauerkraut or horseradish) fall out, and the juices go to waste all over my hands.  They brought us bread before our food arrived, and we couldn't figure out why they wouldn't have used it for the burger because it was melt in your mouth goodness. So much so, that I took the remains of my smashed and saddened burger and plopped it in what was left of that goodness bread.  (this is a stock photo from C-House.  Funny that the bread looks like the "good" bread in this picture....

....here's my picture (sorry again it isn't so pretty but it was very dim lighting) with the "bad" bread. You can see what I mean about the bun and how the bread behind it would have made it perfect.  This almost makes the bread look like it had teeth prepared to bite back at you.  The fries were delicious though....always love boardwalk style fries. :-)

The last dish we ordered was his version of Mac & Cheese.  It had pork sausage, goat cheddar and campanelle noodles.  It was so rich and cheesy, and the crunch on the top with the small bits of sausage in the sauce made me not want to let Terry have any of it and keep it for myself.

Here are other Pictures online of his food and restaurant.  I would definitely give it another try and see how his main menu stacks up.  And the dessert menu....who are we kidding. 

After a lot of wandering around downtown Saturday, we decided that we would try out Graham Elliot Bowles restaurant, Graham Elliot.  Graham is a pretty big deal in the food world.  At age 27, he was the youngest 4-star chef to be named in any major US city. Graham competed on Top Chef Masters both seasons, and he is on the new TV show with Gordon Ramsey, MasterChef.  Here's more about him. There weren't any available tables until 9:45 in the dining room, so we decided to just grab seats at the bar...turns out we could order from the full menu there (sweet!). 

  

(It was either you could see the sign and you couldn't see Terry, or you could see Terry and be blinded by the sign....I always choose to see Terry :-)  )  

The mood inside the restaurant was very modern.  You can kind of see it below, but the art on the wall is actually a single line of pomegranates, and there is an angles mirror behind it, so it looks like there are rows upon rows of pomegranate traveling into the wall.  It was really interesting in person. Still curious why of everything he decided pomegranate.  For how modern it looked however, it was layed back.  All the wait staff were wearing jeans, and although the menu was a bit daunting (we had never tried half the stuff on the menu), it was easy to ask questions and not feel like an imbecile.

After we put in our order, they brought us popcorn.  Yes, popcorn.  And it's the best popcorn we've ever eaten.  It had fresh ground pepper, chives, parmesan cheese, and a new ingredient to our palattes, truffle oil.  YUM! 

With some deliberation and assistance from our bartender waiter, we decided on the following three dishes for dinner:

Game Birds: Squab breasts, quail eggs, rye crisp, and mustard caviar.  Or at least that's what the menu said.

The consistency was a little hard for me to get past.  It reminded me of congealed fat, but once I was able to ignore the texture, the flavor profile was nothing I've ever experienced.  For the record, quail egg tastes like a regular egg, just daintier.  The green smear in the middle of the plate was parsley puree.  The slaw on the edges had a sharp tang to them as well as dill and celery seed.  I dont remember what the red sauce was. Loss of words started about here in the evening.

The next plate we had was: Wagyu Beef, trumpet mushrooms, roquefort custard, salsify frites, and arugula puree.  Or at least that's what the menu said.

First off, let me say that I dont do mushrooms.  With that being said, I could eat mushrooms like that in large vats at a time.  Find me a vat (and a fork) and leave me be for a few hours.  Terry can have the Wagyu.  The Wagyu was delicious, but I could not distinguish it as anything more amazing than a really delicious filet.  Terry thought otherwise.  He was having sensory overload.  Oh and the sauces, I didn't mention the Au Jus.  Salty, earthy, heavy aromatics.  One word summation of this plate: Sinful.

The final dish:  roasted cod, creamed wheat, swiss chard, warm pancetta, espresso gastrique.  Or at least that's what the menu said. 
The final dish.  In my opinion; the masterpiece plate.  The creamed wheat was made of Bulgar, dill, parsley, onion, stock, and parmesean cheese.  The greens were dandelion leaves.  The sides were clementines and apples slices in a silky sauce that was a bit tart.  Pancetta on the top.  And then the star of the show, the cod.  Perfect sear. Perfect flakiness, Perfect to every other component on the plate.  This cod easily ranks as one of the best dishes I've ever eaten.  Again, get me a vat of that creamed wheat (and a spoon) and leave me alone for a few days.

Here are other pictures online of his food and restaurant. I already can't wait until the next time in my life that I get to eat at this restaurant.  Jordan and Billy showed up about half way through the meal and I felt bad because we were in the middle of this mind explosion and completed thoughts and conversation were very difficult. 

I promise I won't go on and on about food like this all the time, but frankly this blog is just as much a memory keeper for me as it is keeping everyone who reads this up to speed with the fun things going on in the lives of  T&L.  That being said, this was a weekend of food we have never experienced before and it gets me really excited and I start describing the plates and re-tasting and re-living the meal, and it just makes me happy.  So I won't offer any apologies for the food over-load either.  :-) 

Oh and my final note: Specific to Jeff:  You asked if these blogs take a long time to write, to which I answered that most of them don't take much time at all.  Well......this post.....this was not one of the "shorties".  Goodness, I've been drafting this one for the past 3 days.  But I captured it all perfectly.  Now I just need your camera for some good pics of my own.  :-)

Chicago Take 2: John Hancock Building off the Bucket List

I've been wanting to go up the Hancock Building for the views of the city for a few visits now, but we always end up getting ourselves into other fun things instead.  This trip, it was happening! 

View from the Bottom

96th Floor Please

View from the top looking West

Not the greatest pic, but ya win some, ya lose some ;-)

Picture looking North up Lakeshore Drive

View East looking at Navy Pier

We went up to the restaurant and lounge, which I would definitely suggest if you are visiting but don't want to fork out the money for the Observatory.  I did read that the Observatory View provides a lot of history, which would be nice with a group or with family, but we just preferred going up, hanging out, and feeling like a (warm) bird overlooking the city for the afternoon.

Chicago Take 1: Jordans Surprise Birthday Party

Terry and I jetted drove up to Chicago for the weekend and had an amazing trip.  The main purpose for driving up was for my friend Jordan's 25th birthday surprise celebration.  Billy had the party planned for months in advance, so we were in from the first mention.  I must say though that the snow earlier in the week had us quite nervous, but it all worked out perfect.
Her party started at 8:30, but by the time we got to our hotel and snagged some food (post to follow), we didn't make it to the bar until close to 10.  When we walked in, Jordan was on the dance floor, so I ran out and jumped in with her.  Her expression and realization were simply priceless.  She registered the, "hey I'm dancing with Gibbons", but then it was watching her string it together that, "HOLY @#%@)(*$@ Lindsey and Terry are here" that was so perfect.  She started sobbing and had me in a strangle hug-hold for a few minutes.  Man I love surprises!!! I'm awful at them (Terry will attest), but if I can pull them off, they are the Best!!

still in shock

Lauren came to play, cracking us up all night! My cheeks hurt the next morning from laughing so much.

Billy pulled off an amazing surprise!

After the party was over, a smaller group moved to another bar down the street.  It took a while to get there however because, well, we'll just blame all the snow.

Low Key's together (always have to get a group shot)

Such a fun night!!

Snow and Ice isn't very nice

Most of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic got pummeled by the winter demons this week, and we were one of the unlucky ones in it's line of fire. I ended up having to take two days off of work, one day being extreme non-productivity, and the other high productivity. Pictures of the high-productivity day to be posted soon. 

My hard efforts paid off with shoveling the drive throughout the storm.  Everyone else drives were still ice and snow-covered. 

My drive in to work still this morning from the neighborhood.  The main roads are fine, but the side streets are still covered with inches of ice on the road.