One of my favorite parts about living in Austin is the outright fear of cold weather. It is something I can really relate to. When we heard that it might snow Thursday night we talked about it, anxiously, for a week ahead of time. My boss made me give him hourly updates from recent doplar radar. People started to panic and leave work early even though it wasn’t supposed to snow until the middle of the night. On Friday, all of our hopes and dreams were made reality when the city of Austin essentially shut down for the biggiest snow fall in recent memory.

Most of my family live around Chicago where they also got their first snow day in years.The dogs were super cute wandering around the backyard in their matching sweaters. Although my plants (covered in tarps) were not nearly so happy about the wintry turn of events. Especially since it was in the 80s last weekend. I made a fabulous and easy lasagna with roasted cauliflower riccotta from Appetite for Reduction to warm up the house and my bellyAnd then rewarded myself for doing such a good job not working with cinnamon rolls.(Check out my new fly potholders that my friends Amanda made for me in the background)

Then we all snuggled up and watched Return of the King, the extended edition, which was so long that I can now promise you I will never ever do that again.

This weekend I am hoping to get out of the house. Austin Pets Alive is having a live puppy bowl tomorrow outside of the Highball if you feel like it is time to adopt a dog this would be a good time to see one in action. Speaking of adopting dogs I know both Austin Pets Alive and the Town Lake animal shelter are still really in need of old blankets to keep all those babies warm so if you have any to spare head on down there.

Stay Warm!