A Winter Wonderland

Hello out there! Anyone still here?! Happy New Year!!!

I ended taking a little bit longer break from stamping than I ever planned. It's been a crazy, crazy last month around here. I've been sick, grandma's been in the hospital (she's home now, yay!), travelling, more travelling, wrapping up the classroom for break, parties..... Need I go on? Stamping was the thing that just got placed on the cutting room floor, unfortunately.

And I still have no stamping to share with you today. But I do have pictures! I've been up at my parents' house for the last week and one half, and of course I took my camera along for the ride. We had a mini college friends reunion for the last few days (also at my parents' house), and had a riotously wonderful time.

My hometown has been absolutely DUMPED on by snow. It's officially the snowiest December on record up there. So crazy! I've never seen so much snow up there at Christmastime. Mammoth Mountain currently has the most snow in the world. Does that help put it into perspective? lol It pretty much snowed everyday that I was home, and was freezing cold! The high temperature for half of my stay was only in the mid-teens. Brrr!

So, without further ado, a few of my favorite pictures from the last week.

We decided to try and photograph the sunset out at Mono Lake (the tufa are amazing). However, we missed the sunset, there was a snowstorm, it was 18 degrees, gray, gloomy, and very "doomsday" looking, and the wind was screaming at a good 30mph (can you say below zero wind chill... Brrr!). Oh, well. This picture pretty much does this photo shoot justice.

Looking the other direction at Mono Lake. I was using some of the tufa as a wind shield.

The very next day, it looked like this outside. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. We should have waited to go to Mono Lake, lol. This is the view from my parents' house, by the way. Bluebird day!

There is something truly magical about macro shots. I think they are my favorites. This little beauty is actually on my computer desktop right now. Something about the stark aspen trunk and the snow, with a little hint of the evergreen pine tree sneaking into the right side.... Love.

This may be my favorite shot of the trip. Who knew tree stumps could be so beautiful?! Even better.... This was shot in my front yard with me leaning on a snow burm seven feet tall, lol. Thank goodness for snowboots!

Last, but not least, I stole this picture (with permission, lol) from one of my friends. This was the whole group up at the cabin for New Year's. We even managed to coerse the parents into being in the photo. And it's snowing in this picture. You should be able to see the mountains behind us..... Instead, it's white. And did I mention cold? 17 degrees!

Thanks for putting up with another photo blog post! I love to share other little "pieces" of me every now and then. This also lets you know I'm still alive.... Just out playing. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully, I'll be back in a few days with a card to share.