When craaaazy weather attacks

When it comes to weather, Syracuse, NY is known for its massive yearly snow accumulation. Each year, we compete (and usually cream everyone else) for a Golden Snowball award trophy and news crews trot out a few times between the months of November/December through... well, May, some years to film pieces on our incredible, edible (jaykay--unless you want to grow a third arm from all the Onondaga Lake pollution) snow. This winter was no different, and in fact not only did we win this year's trophy by a landslide (179.0" to Rochester's 127.0") but 97 consecutive hours of snow back in December brought a staggering 44.3" of that total dropping down on us. It was a long, cold, snowy winter here in the 'Cuse -- and while I didn't outright hate it, I was SO beyond ready when spring weather came knocking.

Only so much of this a girl can take!

And it's here! Finally! Shining sun, warm breeze, the chance to wear cute sandals and sip iced coffee while reading outside on my lunch hour... I've salivated over such things since mid-February, and now the time has arrived only to bring with it massive amounts of rain. The saying goes that April showers bring May flowers, and I do hope so but it's going to be awfully difficult for those flowers to grow if the ground is too wet to plant them in the first place. This has been one of the rainiest Aprils that Syracuse has seen, and after today I can't imagine it's going to get any less wet.

The day began with a damp, foggy morning which blossomed into a muggy, sunshiny afternoon. As 3:00 neared, clouds began to roll in, dark and thick and the air felt heavy with the promise of a storm. Not going to lie, I was super excited! Thunderstorms were an integral part of the spring and summer months for me growing up in central Ohio, and I sometimes miss the spine-tingling beauty they bring. Syracuse gets thunderstorms, of course, but not nearly as many and, during my 5 years as a resident, not quite as intense. I don't miss daily tornado warnings, but I do love a good storm. Which is why I was like a kid the night before Christmas as the clouds came in and the sky grew darker. And man, oh man, we were in for something wild.

Scary.

The "view" out the window during the height of the storm.

Through the howling wind, driving rain and curious whirling of the clouds (my suspicions on funnel activity were confirmed by reports following the storm.. I moved here to get away from that stuff, damnit!) it was the hail that truly stole the show. I've seen hail before, but never like this: 

Wild. Just wild. And thus begins spring in Syracuse... it's gonna be fun.

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Moving Progress: 1/100%

I've come to realize over the past year that I am the kind of person who needs goals and deadlines. I did very well in school, but never as well as those projects and papers where I was up until the crack of dawn, eating coffee beans whole and working like a madwoman to finish in time. Even when I set aside time to work on assignments gradually so I wouldn't have to pull an insane all-nighter I would inevitably find myself staring at blank pages or rearranging my farm on Farmville rather than do the work. Somehow, I always managed to come up with something brilliant at the last minute. Those quiet, desperate hours produced some of the finest work I've ever done, though how is a complete mystery.

And this translates to everything else in my life as well. I am notorious for putting off simple, basic household chores until the dishes are piled to the ceiling or the cat has been lost under a turbulent sea of dirty and clean clothes tossed haphazardly together. Only when I know someone will be coming over and the risk of my mess becoming public knowledge is imminent do I spring into action and clean the shit out of every single room and surface. It usually lasts a week or so before the disaster area creeps back in. Under a deadline, with a goal in front of me I am golden. At work, I find myself scrambling to produce at least twice my projected daily and weekly goals. Which isn't a bad thing, of course, but it does amuse my less anal coworkers.

I wish I could figure out a way to harness that manic productivity I am imbued with during special occasions and use it in small doses every day. I'm trying -- I've consistently done one load of dishes every day since Saturday, and the pileup has shrunk significantly. Must convince my Zumba'd-out self to tackle a load tonight, though, or I'll be back where I started by tomorrow. I'm also trying to think of ways to minimize the number of dishes (and clothes and things) we have, period, so there isn't as much room for the disaster to manifest. Moving will help, but I'm struggling with that as well because the deadline is technically May 31st... a LONG time away from now, and I can't get myself motivated to work on something that I've got more than a month to complete.

But we got boxes from Liquor City over the weekend, and I am determined to move at least some clothes and dishes to the new apartment by this weekend. If the weather can make up its mind whether it wants to be cold or finally warm up, that is...

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On asking your boyfriend to marry you

My relationship is anything but traditional. We're generally laid back and just don't do the whole romance thing very well. Don't get me wrong - Terrell and I have our sweet moments, but they're usually within the context of our weirdness (hence the existence of sickening pet names for one another which I will not be repeating on the Internet). So, I suppose it makes perfect sense that we would approach marriage from a totally nontraditional standpoint.

Four weeks ago, my mom and brothers came for a visit. Time with my family is always chaotic, but having Terrell around helped calm the waters for all of us. Halfway into the evening, as Terrell was making dinner in the kitchen and I looked at him and just knew. When we were alone in the back of the apartment, I asked him if he'd marry me and he said yes. Because I had been just a smidge on the tipsy side from too much red wine the night before, I double-checked his answer in the morning and it was still the same. And that's about it.

Of course having a more "romantic" story to tell might be nice, but I like the simplicity of two people realizing that they want to build a life together and committing to it together without needing to make some symbolic gesture. I never wanted a surprise proposal, and we've been talking marriage and getting engaged since July, so why not go for it myself? Waiting around for him to make up his mind and tell me seems silly. If we're both ready, then we're ready and it shouldn't matter who pops the question. Plus, it took the pressure off of him to try and figure out what kind of ring I'd like and plan something that I would have inevitably ruined on accident (because I'm really, really good at that!). A number of websites have informed me that I have totally emasculated him, crushed his manhood, and even insinuated that now he is "65% man while I am 110% desperate and needy"... but I think--no, I know--that's bullshit.

So now I am engaged. Which still feels rather weird. We didn't tell anyone for a week, then told our moms. Mine was ecstatic, of course, but his needed some time to get used to the idea which makes sense when you factor in that I am the eldest of my family where he is the baby. My family is happy to be marrying me off because mine will be the first, but I think Terrell's family still sees him as a child much of the time (and he sort of is :D). Another week went by and we finally told the rest of our families and made it "Facebook official" (dear god, this is the way our society works now, isn't it?) which was kind of weird for me but the reactions were pleasant and enthusiastic.

I suppose it feels weird mostly because I never saw myself getting married until my thirties, if ever at all. Also, I don't have a ring. People keep asking to see the ring when they find out, and all I can do is shrug. It's not that there won't be a ring - we've picked one out and plan on getting it once we can reasonably afford the expense. Truth be told, just like I'm not one for big, showy gestures, I'm not big on the idea of a ring. I detest diamonds and everything they stand for - plus, I find most engagement rings to be hideous and/or boring. Rows upon rows of diamond rings just look so sad and lookalike. It's just not my thing. The ring I've chosen features a pearl as the center stone with two small lab-created white sapphires, and it's absolutely perfect. Inexpensive, beautiful and something I will enjoy wearing for the next two-three years. And isn't that what it's all about?

So now, I plan. Sort of. We're not getting married anytime soon because frankly neither of us has the money to do so and even if we did, too much is up in the air right now for that kind of event to occur. He's about to graduate from college next month and we honestly don't know what job(s) he may find around here, if any at all. It's going to be scary and unsettling for a while, but I know we can handle it. This blog is supposed to be about me, so wedding stuff is probably going to become a major focal point, so get used to it :)

So if you wanna be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery

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