Good morning beautiful people. As you all know, last week we had four days of ice and snow, forcing a near-total shut down of DFW … and I fucking loved it!
I know a lot of you hate being forced to stay home for any amount of time, but not me. A few days before the temperature dropped, I was prepping like the apocalypse was near. Not in a panicky, dramatic way; more in the vein of a cartoon hippo fluttering down the aisles of the grocery store on her tippy toes while Vivaldi’s “Spring” from Four Seasons plays in her head, spinning and high kicking as I fill my cart with the staples and specialty items for every recipe or dish that I want to make while “stuck at home.”
I make every cold weather dish I love plus a few first-time recipes. I made homemade focaccia topped with flakey sea salt, my better version of Olive Garden’s zuppa Toscana soup, red beans and cornbread, chicken and dumplings, spicy tortilla soup and a tuna casserole. I made some version of frozen treats every day, just so I could use the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl I got for Christmas.
I was in fat bitch heaven.
It was a perfect little vacation for me. My idea of the perfect day is any day I spend in just my underwear. This time the underwear was long johns or pajamas, but either way I consider it a win.
We ate; we napped; we watched movies. But I think my favorite part was watching our giant poodle puppy, Penny, run like a lunatic all over the yard, trying to figure out what all the crunchy white stuff was.
There is nothing like puppy energy (I say with a smile), but, at the same time, there is nothing like puppy energy (I say with an eye roll). That ho only has two speeds: full throttle or full stop.
She just turned 5 months old last week, and she thinks she is a little bitty baby. She ain’t.
She’s all legs and attitude with absolutely no spatial awareness. She is basically a 37-pound lapdog that constantly wants to cuddle or play.
She is exhausting, but we are so in love with her. She has brought some much-needed energy and life into our world.
I hated watching all of the ice melting and the world returning to normal. I loved how quiet the world was when everyone was forced to stay home — no cars constantly driving by, no noise from the freeway a few blocks away, no screaming kids from the school across the street or their awful parents who think they can just park wherever the fuck they want.
It reminded me of the COVID lockdown. Sure — the deaths, sickness and paranoia were awful. But, oh the beauty of day-drinking and doing nothing at all! (You know I am a silver lining, cup half full kinda person.)
Now that I think about it, snow days — well, sleet and ice days — have been some of my favorite days ever. As a kid, snow days were magic. It’s Texas so we get so few of them, so when they happen, and we didn’t have to go to school, it was like a gift from God.
I started my job as an entertainer in the Rose Room on a snow day. Actually, it was a sleet and ice storm day, but it counts.
My husband and I celebrated our first Valentine’s Day together on a snow day. It was one of the best days of my life. I woke up to snow on the ground while I was in bed with someone I was head-over-heels in love with, surrounded by our three doggos. I had two poms, Dax and Evee, and he had a chow named Baby. We were an instant family.
I don’t think I had ever been that happy before in my life. The beautiful but brief covering of snow was the icing on the cake that was my life.
Such happy memories.
Snow days, ice storms — whatever you wanna call it — I appreciate them so much. It forces us to slow down and chill, literally. It will probably be years before we get another one, but I cannot wait!
Remember to always love more, bitch less and be fabulous! XOXO, Cassie Nova