if backseat driving was an olympic sport, i'd win gold

Last Wednesday it was almost 80 degrees outside.  I smiled the minute I walked outside and pretty much didn't stop all afternoon.  I even took a nice long walk before dinner.  There is a 7:04 pm sunset in the 15 day forecast because we change the clocks soon and I feel like there is a light at the end of this long, winter tunnel.

Now, it's been rainy and gray since that glorious day last week and I'm pretty sure Don Henley was in Pennsylvania in February when he wrote Desperado for The Eagles because he was spot on in the verse: "Don't your feet get cold in the wintertime, the sky won't snow and the sun won't shine, it's hard to tell the nighttime from the day."

YES, TO ALL OF THE ABOVE, DON.

But despite the lousy weather as of late, there have been plenty of good things going on, starting with the Winter Olympics.  Matt and I had our traditional viewing of Cool Runnings, one of my very favorite movies of all time, and spent many nights on the couch stating we could "totally do that."  The other night during the snowboard half-pipe, Matt said, "I bet I could stand up right now and jump and do a 1440."

I think that's a case of, it's harder than it looks.

That also goes for ice skating.  The last time I was ice skating was about 4 years ago.  Matt and I went with my brother and sister-in-law, Alex.  Alex got right onto the ice and glided around like a graceful swan, Phil and Matt surprisingly have some skillz on the ice, and meanwhile I literally propelled myself by pulling myself along the boards.  I did not let go for one single second.  My brother said most people ice skate with their legs and I ice skate with my arms.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Also, I tweeted a post that apparently 266 people thought were funny.  It cracked me up because my tweets typically get anywhere from 0-2 likes, always from someone related or married to me.

Emily came home from college this weekend with her roommate.  I went to the mall with them on Sunday afternoon and I felt like I was transported back to middle school because we made stops at  The Icing, Bath and Body Works, and Auntie Anne's.  1999 called and wants their parachute pants back.

We also stopped at Primark where I shelled out eleven dollars of cold hard cash for this giant letter board.  I feel like the potential is endless.

Emily drove us to the mall because she got a new car this weekend.  Em has had her license for six years and she's driven me exactly zero times.  I ALWAYS offer to drive because, well, I like to.  The mall is a mile from my house and I sat in the backseat and gave instructions like "Watch those mirrors" and "Careful, this turn is a little tricky" and "People fly around this curve so be aware."

We had my dad's birthday lunch on Saturday and we all checked out Emily's new wheels.  Annie hopped right in, and despite the fact that the car was not even turned on, she buckled up.  She was so proud of herself.  You should have seen her face when she found the button to lower the window.

Also, she couldn't be more adorable.

In a final piece of breaking news around here, the Fig Twig has a leaf.  

I repeat, the fig twig has a leaf.  Send me all your best fig recipes.  It's okay if you need to dig deep in a recipe binder to find them, I probably won't be needing the for a solid two years.

Maybe I will have learned to ice skate by then.