Atlanta's winter wonderland

They said it was going to snow. And it did. So everyone got off work early to get home. Everyone.

I left work at 2:15 and instead of heading for the highway because it was completely jammed, I called Pedro and he guided me through smaller roads. It went well until I was about 6km from home and then came to a total stop. It took me 2 hours to ride 3km and I was almost out of gas. But I was the lucky one, I got home and it only took me 4 and half hours! Thousands of people were stranded on the highways. As night came so did the ice which just blocked everything even more. Most just left their cars on the streets and walked to shelters, churches and stores that opened their doors. Others slept in their cars. Pedro went out to see how the highway was and brought home a stranded couple that was considering sleeping in their car.

Photo from the AJC

This is what the street in front of our house looks like: all ice!

One side was closed because of ice.

lession learned!

Don't ever go to the Museum of Modern Art on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
But if you are in New York for the first time for only a few days, then by all means go. But don't complain.

This was Christmas

For Christmas we packed our bags and flew to cold and frosted Toronto to spend the holidays with my sister Helena and Gusto. It was wonderful to be back, to spend time with my sister, to see old friends and to show Pedro around town.

It was blistering cold! Two days into our trip we get a phone call at 7 in the morning: it was my mom calling, very worried, that she had just heard on the news (in Portugal) that Toronto had been hit with an ice storm and thousands of people were without power. Fortunately, the area where Helena lives the ice was only about 1cm think so we were okay.

Being with my sister has always had a bad influence... on my hair! She gave me the "let's do it" attitude and it's the shortest I have ever had it.

Christmas eve was spent baking, cooking and on skype with family back in Portugal. This is has become a new Christmas tradition: family, food, presents and skype. It really does make us feel closer to home. Helena's blog has much better photos of this!

Thank you so much Helena and Gusto for a great Christmas!! We really hope to be back soon. 

(Helena, we forgot to do something very important: steal the mailbox!!!)