snow snow SNOW

DC doesn't get much snow. I think we last year it snowed once or twice, and not very much. This past weekend more than made up for that. It started snowing Friday night around 9pm. John and I were at my company's holiday party. Here we are leaving a bar around midnight. Pretty pretty snow, but the streets were starting to get slick.

DC and the surrounding areas are pretty ill-equipped to deal with snow removal, so I was a bit surprised when we got up Saturday morning and our street had been plowed. Granted we live on a major road in DC. But still. This was around 8am.

There was a sale in Georgetown that I just couldn't miss, so we trudged out in the snow and took the bus the few miles over to the store. It was slow going and the streets were quiet. But we got what we needed and headed home to cozy in for the rest of the storm.

Despite grand plans to head down to the mall to get rare pics of all the great memorials and buildings covered in snow, we didn't leave the apartment again until Monday morning.

Having so much time snowed in allowed us to get caught up on wrapping gifts and baking. Check out a couple of things I crafted.

Gift boxes

Gift card holder

The federal government was closed Monday so I didn't have to go into work. We decided to go dig out my car. Please note the homeless man in the background attempting to hitchhike (I didn't know people did that anymore).

All I have to say is, John Buss is a rockstar. Despite the snow packed in around the car, the lack of a shovel, the snowball fight going on around us, and all of the snow we pushed out of the way being pushed back by cars going around the police cruiser pulled over talking to the hitchhiking homeless guy, my car was outta there in about 15 minutes. Growing up in Syracuse and his years in Maine paid off.

Pura Vida!

Our vacation to Costa Rica was just awesome. What a great country to visit. It had come highly recommended by several friends and it certainly lived up to all of the praise. The first half of our trip was spent near the active Arenal Volcano, in La Fortuna. The area was beautiful - unlike anything I had ever seen before. The resort we stayed at had hot springs on the property which we definitely took advantage of.

Here is our cute little bungalow, and the view looking out from it.

Our first day there we went ziplining. So much fun!

We also be-bopped through the hot springs.

That night was the night John proposed. The next day we hiked down to La Foruna Waterfall. I don't hike. Or exercise. Especially at 8am. In the heat. But it was really pretty - and a lot bigger than we were expecting. We also got to swim in the natural pool adjacent to the waterfall.

On our last full day there we went to the Tabacon Hot Springs. The grounds were amazing! Lots of different hot springs to explore. And of course, a swim up bar. By this point we were quite familiar with Imperial - Costa Rica's local brew.

The next day we packed up and headed to our next destination: the trendy little surfer town, Tamarindo. The roads in Costa Rica are horrible. Narrow, curvy, and potholes the size of bathtubs. Here's a pic of our GPS - you can see how squiggly the route is. It was a slow going, but the views were great as we drove around Lake Arenal.

We checked into our hotel and made it down to the beach just in time to watch the sunset.

Tamarindo was a lot more chaotic than we were expecting. But we quickly fell into the lifestyle and the way of life in Tamarindo. If you are wearing more than a bathing suit and flip flops, you're over dressed. We did little more than eat, sleep, and enjoy the beach. It was extremely relaxing. Since there was no coffee maker in our room, each morning we headed to Olga's Cafe. John Buss got his caffeine fix and I got my huevos rancheros fix.

This guy kept us company at our hotel. Its hard to tell from the pictures, but his body was about 3 feet long - his tail 5 feet. He was enormous.

One day we did venture to Playa Conchal - about 20 minutes north of us. Its called the Shell Beach because there is no sand - only shells. We renamed it the "Everything Bagel" Beach because the shells looked just like the toppings on an everything bagel.

This is also where we saw the howler monkeys. Cute, right? Don't be fooled - you should hear the noise they make. This guttural shriek - the most terrifying sound I have ever heard. *shiver*

Enjoying a few cervezas before heading back to Tamarindo.

And seriously. The rest of the time we just enjoyed ourselves.

Food...

Beach...

Love...

Of course there are a lot more pictures. You can see the flickr albums here and here.

The Proposal

John proposed on our second night in Arenal. It could not have been more perfect. We had enjoyed a great evening at the hot springs swim up bar with a group of great people we had met at the resort. After the bar closed we headed up to one of the higher level hot springs to enjoy the rest of the evening and the clear night sky - something we have missed living in the city. The stars were amazing. Next thing I knew, John was next to me asking me to marry him! I have to admit, one of my first thoughts was "Oh my god, please don't drop that beautiful ring into the hot spring!!!!" But no worries, I said yes and the celebrations began. Words can not explain how happy we are. Its a good feeling to know that you've found your perfect match.