This isn't going to come as a surprise to anyone - but it is going to snow this week. Again. I am not really deeming it a trend so much as a really repetitive, burdensome weather pattern.

While roofs are collapsing and teachers are writing their lesson plans for July, kids are enjoying the freshly fallen pounds of snow. But they seem to be the only ones. This is my attempt to convince those adults who are ready to spend their retirement funds on a trip to Fiji that snow isn't all bad. Really, I promise, it's not.

Ten perks of being a snowbunny:

disclaimer: (some of these include tips for snowbunnies over 21 years of age)

1) You won't have to go to the gym for another month (or more if it keeps snowing). All you have to do is shovel.

2) Screw the gym, who cares about losing weight this winter? You will be wearing layers of clothes that you have to wear to protect yourself from this snow.

3) Baileys in hot cocoa. Enough said.

4) For those of you who work in the teaching profession (or any other profession where closings/ delays occur when it snows) You get snow days.

5) Snow art. Ever wanted to legally commit vandalism? Paint the snow around your house (don't paint your neighbor's snow or you may be doing something illegal).

6) Movie marathons. When else will you have an excuse to watch movie after movie? Snow is simply an excuse to be lazy.

7) Photography. Decorate your house with snow photos that you take. You don't even have to be good. Snow makes everything look good.

8) Baking a ridiculous amount of dessert. Cookies and snow days go together like peanut butter and jelly ... or this blog and you.

9) Perfect your architecture skills. You can build a lot more than a snowman. Think igloos, sculptures, skyscrapers (you never know) ... the possibilities are endless.

10) A chance to be a kid. Sledding and snowball fights are not just for kids. And you can make them into some intense event like the X games or the Snowlympics.



With that, I leave you to enjoy the snow while you can. There is a bright side - appreciate that you are physically able and well enough to shovel yourself out of 10 feet of snow or go sledding with your kids. Keep in mind, the snow can't last forever - we hope... Spring is only three months away.

Forecast for the next few days from nhregister.com:

It looks like another rough weather week ahead. Look for a calm day today, but then things get difficult again.

Tuesday: Snow likely, accumulating 3-6 inches. Low: 13. High: 25.

Wednesday: A wintry mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and rain. Significant accumulation likely. Low: 21. High: 31.

Thursday: Snow ending early then partly sunny and breezy. Low: 23. High: 26.

For more snow news, updates, videos and forecast go to the main page of nhregister.com and follow us on Twitter @nhregister to get all of your snow news.

"No matter how old you are, it is hard not to get excited when the snow starts to fall. Because, so long as it keeps coming no one can make you anywhere or do anything. All life's rules are suspended...The best thing about snow other than snowballs, is that it has an equalizing effect. Snow can take any object or situation and make it pretty just the same. Couldn't care less what's underneath... It's not just that snow makes the world pretty. Snow gives us all a second chance. Snow cleanses. Hiding the sins of all with no prejudices, favor or blame. Everything gets to be pure again. If only for a little while. Which might be all you need."

 



First there was Romeo and Juliet, then came movies that aspired to re-tell their story and songs that described their love-at-first-sight phenomenon. But in real life, you don't hear much about that being instantly love struck. Sure there are sites like Match.com and Eharmony.com that help you quickly find your match, but it isn't the same as a good 'ol fashioned love story.

I haven't believed in love at first sight since the days when I was allowed to wear princess outfits to school and call myself Cinderella. (For the record that was around kindergarten, not last year.) But I received a letter at work the other day from a man from Switzerland who was searching for his New Haven love. His name was redacted to protect his identity.

The letter speaks for itself, but it gives me hope that maybe some of the season's best RomComs are driving both men and women to partake in elaborate, romantic ventures. Who knows, maybe this Atticus Angel the man writes about will see this blog post and they will live happily ever after.

 

This is what I imagine was going through the man's head when he saw the Atticus Angel...

There are plenty of news stories about kids in their early teens (or younger) drinking, which will happen occasionally, but it seems that a growing number of children are learning drinking habits at a very young age. As a kid, I remember knowing that alcohol was for adults. I saw my parents drink socially, but they were always drinking beer, wine or things kids hate like gin and tonics. Now, kids are living in a world where juice pong, a spinoff of the popular drinking game beer pong, is played and wine exists that tastes like yoohoo.

 

The video above depicts the kind of appeal that drinking games can have to kids and they are what... eight years old (ish)?

Keep in mind that this game isn't usually played with juice so when they hit 13, obviously it will be "cooler" to chug actual booze and play the game how it is intended to be played.

I don't think that kids suddenly found the taste of alcohol appealing so they started drinking at a younger age, but they do want to be cool and more grown up and liked. If that's what they think drinking will do for them - they'll drink.

If 13 year-olds are playing beer pong now, as drinking (games, mostly) are becoming more tolerated and less of a taboo, what will 10 year-olds be doing in five years? They should be playing hopscotch, not funneling beer ... or even apple juice for that matter.

Most kids have pretended to be sick to avoid getting out of school, but some have gone to more drastic measures like pulling the fire alarm to get out of class for awhile. While State Police Lt. Paul Vance says there has been no spike in bomb threats recently, it seems like they are becoming more common.

A few months ago there were two in one day in Ansonia and during the November elections, a prominent Madison lawyer called in a bomb threat at a Republican Town Committee gala that featured Linda McMahon. The lawyer, James Byrne, has a hearing Tuesday to try to get accelerated rehabilitation for what he did.

Last week, another bomb threat evacuated a school in Westbrook and the police have started an investigation to find the culprit.

Perhaps there isn't a drastic spike in the threats, but kids (and adults) don't seem to understand the severity of it.

Lt. Vance said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, laws regarding bomb threats changed and there is now more severe punishment for committing that offense. A UConn student was charged with terrorism a few months ago after calling one in.

It 's interesting, especially in post terrorist-attacked world, that people still commit this offense as frequently as they do. If it is an empty threat, the most it does is evacuate the place that is allegedly in jeopardy.

Unfortunately, it also unnecessarily uses the time and resources of police, fire and medical officials.

There also seems to be no precedence for punishment. While the UConn student was charged with an act of terrorism, the Madison attorney may get accelerated rehabilitation this Tuesday. I wish I knew what determined the charges...

Perhaps events like Sept. 11 didn't have enough of an impact on younger generations. It makes me wonder if more threats like this will occur the further away we get from 2001 and the less future generations feel affected by the the attack on Sept. 11.

The new year is usually about change, specifically ways to change or improve ones self. But some things are better left unchanged, like hair.


Straight hair has been more "in" than curly hair since my time in middle school. I have wavy/ curly hair naturally but would (and still do) straighten it simply because that's what everyone else did (and does.)


But my step mother recently introduced me to the website naturallycurly.com, a place where two curly-haired women teach others how to embrace their hair. Straight hair may be the fashion trend now, but wave-bearing women could turn that around.

Women do a lot to improve their looks by wearing makeup, high heels and uncomfortable clothes, then there are the bank breaking beauty treatments on top of that. Straightening hair for someone like me is pretty easy because I can use a flat iron, but other women have to get pricey treatments and use relaxers to tame their locks.

There will always be some sort of standard for beauty but it is time to drop the straight facade and embrace curly hair in the new year. In 2011, vow to keep yourself (or just your hair) the same.

The women who created naturallycurly.com stress that "hair is just strands of keratin on the outside of the head. It’s what’s inside the head that matters," and they are totally right. Then again, some people can just rock curly hair better, like SJP below.

Even I will try to escape being a victim of society this coming year and try sporting my curls more often.  And you know girls with stick-straight hair wish to have waves frame their faces occasionally.

Have a happy, healthy and curly new year!