Winter Wrap-Up, Part I: Cake and a 'Chuck

I just noticed that there's only one week left in winter. In as such, I've made it a goal of mine to catch up on my blog entries and start spring off afresh. So here goes...

My birthday this year didn't hit any major milestones; however my friend, Jennifer, did make this wonderful cake for me. She called it Chocolate Brownie Death with Strawberries Cake. Once I get permission from her, I'll insert a link to her blog, where she describes it in detail. She also has some pictures of other birthday cake creations she's done recently that should impress most anyone! BTW, the cake was soooo rich and YUMMY!!!! She also got me some flowers, which I LOVE but am always afraid to buy myself because of the cats. Thankfully, Lexi and Pandora didn't eat these:)



The beginning of February gave me the opportunity to check something off of my "Bucket List." Ever since I've seen the movie, I've wanted to visit Punxsutawney, PA, on the 2nd to celebrate Groundhog's Day. I almost went last year, but decided to put it off until this year, when the holiday fell on a Saturday (i.e. no vacation days required). I made the journey on Friday night with a girl (Kelly) from the Christian Grad chapter and we crashed at the community center, sleeping snuggly between the theatre seats in the balcony (note: heat rises). We tried our best to get as much sleep as possible, but it was a bit difficult with all the people talking and the midnight showing of "Groundhog's Day."

Dark and early the next morning (~4:30am), we awoke and made the trek UP to Gobbler's Knob. Walking more than a mile uphill this early on a cold February morning sounds more fun than it actually is (and I do realize that it doesn't sound like too much fun to begin with).

When we reached the top, we were greeted with with ~30,000 of our closest friends!!! In reality, Kelly and I only knew about twenty of them (other Christian Grads and PSU meteorology grad students). They were surprisingly easy to find...under the hurricane weather flags!

The prognostication didn't occur until 7:25am, so we spend the next couple of hours dancing with the "Groundhog Girls" to keep warm and enjoying the fireworks show (~6:30am). When Phil finally came out, he brought BAD news, 6 more weeks of winter...hard to understand, as I there was a pretty overcast sky that day!!!

After the walk back down to town, a large group of us had an all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Elks' Lodge. Kelly and I stuck around town for a few more hours and then ran in the 4 mile Groundhog Jog...up the hill, through Gobbler's Knob, and down the hill again. Not the most enjoyable race (especially after minimum sleep the night before), but in addition to the race T-shirt I did get an official Punxsutawney Phil Beanie Baby...I know you're jealous now.

All in all, a good trip, but one that I don't see the need to repeat anytime soon.