I've always disliked when people replace "love" with heart. Until it became a necessity.

Picture-ful blog entry for your entertainment! (Solely yours - not mine. Not one bit.)

We have about 21 inches of snow on the back porch. Here I am trying to make a snow angel but my arms are kind of stuck. I'm daydreaming about everything I can do with snow. What are some reasons I like snow? It's gorgeous, it's angelic, and when you run in it, people think you're hard-core. First up - a snow turtle. Snow man wasn't going to work out. Apparently, you need something called "skills" for that. And I know I can make apple-peanut butter-marshmallow smiles, but snow sculptures are on a different playing field. Mainly because there's no edible incentive afterward.

I've always thought that if the tortoise and the hair raced again, this guy would lose. Well, this turtle definitely would, because head is an ice block. While I was working on all my projects (more to come!), Mom set about making an abstract piece of art. See below.

At one point, she asked, "Do you need anything? A shovel? Icycle?"
Julie: "Artistic talent?"
But, as you can verify below -

I am an excellent swiss cheese sculpturer. I think there's also a Mayan god that I was sculpting joweled-hunchback man (oh, excuse me - a man with large jowels and a hunchback) and he definitely wants to break into the cheese round. Don't worry: he's got company.

It's the ancient hippopotamus god, Mohawk-opotamus! (The mohawk actually is on purpose!) He's also here for some cheese. There is an icicle in the middle of it, like a toothpick, that isn't in the frame.

My crowning glory (crown and glory? What is that phrase?) is this man. I use the word man loosely. He's presiding over the cheese distribution with a miniature-icicle-organ to use at his discretion. This stern figure has arms wrapping behind his back, ears, and a teeny bit of a jawline! Also, an Elvis hairdo. And if you could see over the deck to the backyard, you'd see the heads of about six men who just weren't shaped for the job. (Yay, puns!)

The title of my post I begrudgingly bring up here. "I love love love love snow!!!!!!!" is too long. Really, if we remember that I'm now a photographer and not wearing gloves, "I love snow" is long. So, for the first time in my life - at least since seventh grade, when I heart'd just about any boy who made me giggle: