You mean snow doesn't melt, like, the next day?

I have lived in Massachusetts long enough to have experienced quite a bit of snowfalls up until now so I already know the answer to this question.  With seeing snow only about two or three times in my life before in Texas where our winters are very mild I had never seen snow stick around longer than maybe a day.  We hardly had very much accumulation (not anywhere close to the 8 to 12 inches I've seen here) and the warm temperature the next day would just melt it away.  With all this said I hope you see now why when after the first snowfall here where there is a real winter I thought that by the next snowfall which was forcasted at week's end it would all be gone.  Nope.  Some maybe does melt, but with the cold temperature that stays pretty constant that isn't usually the case.  I now have come to accept that it is all part of the winter season here in New England.  Don't get me wrong it is beautiful, but when we hit 40 degree temps here and most of it did melt away I was happy--both for the little nuisance gone and the little bit of "warm" weather!

A custom I've got to get accustomed to

Since I've joined mommy groups and have taken my daughter to a quite a bit of playdates at mom's houses there is one thing that I noticed quick:  You need to take your shoes off at the door.  None of the hosts tell anyone to do it, but I guess a New Englander house rule is to walk around the house shoeless.  I have very, very rarely experienced this in Texas.  To be honest I don't even remember having the social pressure to do it even once there, but my memory is not the best and my husband claims that we have experienced this so I will go with what he says.  I do recall attending a couple of playdates in Texas before we moved and we all kept our shoes on.  Maybe with the mom's in the east coast it is just a common sense practice to not get the floor dirty with what our shoes drag in since we've all got small children that are playing on the floor.  I just don't know why we don't do it in the south.  I still forget sometimes, but when I look down and see everyone in socks I quickly go to the area where all the shoes are congregated.  Man, I don't know if I can walk around people's houses barefoot when summer comes.  I already have a little bit of an issue with only wearing my socks!

First Thanksgiving in New England

We were not able to go back to Texas to spend time with our families so we celebrated our first holiday here in New England.  I'm lucky that my brother happens to live in the Boston area as well so we had him along with us on Thanksgiving day.  We were invited by a couple of people to spend the day with them and decided to take one of them up on their offer, which was my husband's boss.  To make it feel it little more like home for me, my husband had my mother send tamales so it would be part of the feast we had with them.  It was the first time that I met everyone and they were all very nice and welcoming.  I enjoyed their company and conversation.

So a couple of things that I noticed about Thanksgiving in this area is that the high schools have a game on this holiday along with the professional and college football teams.  Also, if you don't get all your ingredients for your meal for the big day, then you are out of luck because according to the news all of the grocery stores were closed!  I'm still not used to the small town culture that is here in New England in regards to stores or restaurants.

On this holiday I was most thankful for the new addition to our lives, our daughter.  She, as I'm sure every child does, has completely changed our lives.  We love watching her grow every day.  She also makes our lives interesting like she did on this holiday with all her diaper mishaps that made her wear three outfits throughout the day.  Thank God I had the new Mommy wisdom of even packing her that many outfits!

Brazilians welcome!

I have only been here a short time and I already am aware that there are many different nationalities that live up here in the east coast.  I've heard languages spoken that I couldn't even figure what it was.  One group of people that seem to have settled and have the biggest presence here are the Brazilians.  My husband pointed it out to me as soon as we moved here and I gradually saw it for myself.  There are all different types of stores that announce that they are Brazilian or welcome them with it being part of their name or they hang the flag or have Portuguese writing on their window.  Churches also accomodate Brazilians with Portuguese services or when they have celebrations they make Brazilian barbeques.  Hmm, I wonder what that food tastes like.  Anyway, I guess this is the way people feel like in Texas who are not Mexican!  The thing is, at least I understand Mexicans in Texas since they border each other, but Brazil and the east coast...  Isn't that a long way?  I'm not complaining, I'm just envious that they have things here that help them feel like home which is what I miss sometimes.

Starting over

When you move to a completely new area you have to build your life and community again.  You need to make new friends, find new doctors, shop at new stores and more importantly find a new hairstylist!  Finding this person is a daunting task.  It is so hard to find good people that you trust, enjoy and that do their job well.  There is a lot of trial and error involved.  I finally started the search one day to replace my beloved hairstylist from Houston that I sorely miss.  I had not had my hair highlighted in quite a while, but my husband was going to treat me to something he knew I had been wanting for some time. I found a place that had good reviews on how this woman did a good job at coloring hair. So I went. She was big on letting me know that she knew what she was doing and how everyone leaves happy with their color.  She went on and on.  Well, when the highlights were finally done I wasn't happy.  I looked like a skunk!  As I was looking at my hair she asked how I liked it so I pointed out the complete saturation of color right down the middle of my head.  My hair had already been dried, but she said she'd fix it and put I don't know what on it, washed it again and dried it.  She even could tell it still looked bad so she said she'd put some lowlights on it.  After that was done, she washed my hair and dried it--again.  I still wasn't thrilled about it, but was tired of her trying and trying and she seemed done with it so I paid and left.  Ugh.  Like I said, trial and error.

A familiar taste of home

I know we didn't move to a different country so there are some of the same restaurants like I had at home that are right around the corner from me now.  Yet there are some in this state that are far out of reach and there are some that are completely missing.  For example, all the common burger joints like Wendy's, McDonald's and Burger King are all here.  There are even Chick Fil-A's that are available, but there are only a handful in the whole state!  (Unfortunately, there isn't one near me).  What's missing and what I surely do miss is Taco Cabana.  Man, I can think of several things that I liked to eat there.  The one in particular that I miss is the quarter chicken meal.  Mmmmm....  Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there are IHOP's here.  The nearest one is a few towns over, but it is here.  It used to be a little tradition with my husband and me to eat there on one of the mornings during the weekend a time before the baby was born.  As thoughtful as my husband is, he offered to take me there one day for breakfast.  The one thing I can't deny is that they have the best pancakes ever and I was happy to have a familiar taste of home to be able to enjoy here in this new place.

Trying to meet new people

So I am a stay at home mom of a now 9 month old and I needed to start making mom friends for me and my daughter.  Good thing I live in an age where you can pretty easily find groups online.  I managed to join a couple of them so me and my little girl can meet new people and get out of the house.  Well, an obstacle I've just learned that I need to overcome is finding the perfect time of day to attend these things!  If you are a mom, then you know what I mean.  Right now my daughter naps twice a day and unfortunately most of these playdates are schedule right smack in the middle of her morning one which seems to be the most popular time!  Anyway, so far we've been able to finally get to one of them.  I met some new moms and found where there is a park near me.  Little by little I am getting acclimated to this new place.