So I realize that whole blizzard thing didn’t pan out quite so well for a lot of you—particularly anyone with plans to fly over the past week—but as I’ve been stationary this month and also am a born-and-bred Southerner who really only sees snow when she actively seeks it out (i.e. goes skiing), this weekend was a real treat.

For Ella too, who was in pure dog heaven as long as we gave into her bossiness and let her roam freely outdoors.

After a couple meetings and happy hour with my former co-workers on Thursday, I got home from Nashville just in time that night; the accumulation was already building up on my drizzly interstate drive, and downtown woke up to a very snowy landscape the following morning. Only, at our house, out in the sticks, it was bone dry—well, until about noon that is when all of a sudden, the weather system hit our house like a gale-force wind.

When SVV got home from work early due to the roads getting icy, I couldn’t contain my kid-like glee any longer. The three of us bundled up in our warmest duds and went out for a romp out in the snow.

But it wasn’t all snow angels, snowmen and bourbon snow creams for us—our heat unexpectedly went out on Friday night at the weekend’s coldest point. We thought it was just a fluke, that our downstairs heater went out when the weather was at its worst; then an hour later, our upstairs heat shut off, too. UH-OH.

It was in the teens outside, and the inside of our home didn’t feel much warmer.

SVV took every blanket we owned and layered them on our bed. More than anything, I was worried about our wee pup who was shivering something awful and had just been shaved the week before. Ella and I stayed bundled up in bed until midday the next day; we could have gone to my parents’ house, but that would have required a different challenge entirely—navigating the black ice in the dark.

But the good news is, we are never without wine (or bourbon)(or beer).

Around 2pm the following day, we finally pinned down the gas company and got someone to come over and have a look; due to owning an 1800s house without gutters, the snow had dripped onto our gas meter gauge and created a perfect layer of icicles on top of it.

All it took was the technician scraping off the ice and coating it with a special spray to remedy the situation (and then another 12 hours until our house was fully heated again). Now that our siding is finally done, gutters are not long for the future of this house!

Once we knew we weren’t going to freeze to death, we figured we might as well take advantage of the gorgeous powder outside once more before it dissipated. Plus, SVV had been dying to take the GoPro out to follow Ella around.

So chase Ella we did. She loved every second of it. Almost as much as we enjoyed chasing our mini dire wolf in laps.

On Sunday, we were supposed to go into Nashville for a brunch, but the roads all around us had still not been plowed (this is the South, y’all) and I read that black ice was still common in many of the neighborhoods in the city; all signs pointed to us staying home, so we decided to listen to fate and not chance it.

I was getting a bit of cabin fever at that point, having not left the house since Thursday, so we teetered down the road to our neighborhood park and let Ella prance along the snowy greenway off-leash.

The blue skies and mid-30s meant that by Sunday late afternoon, the snow had mostly dissipated, leaving slushy puddles and mud all over our yard—but not before we had the chance to document it all, pre-melt. The snow crystals were so delicate they seemed to evaporate at our touch.

It was fun while it lasted. I’m glad we took advantage of every moment we had in this winter wonderland as it’s back to 50 degrees today—and I’m OK with that—and who knows when the next time Jack Frost will plant his glacial kiss on Middle Tennessee?

Were your snowventures as fun as ours? How do you hole up and handle a blizzard?