11 things I learned from being completely powerless

Remember how last friday I wrote all about how excited I was for the weekend, and all my awesome plans that I had? Well, a couple hours later, my plans were severely altered when a freak windstorm blew through the Miami Valley. The 80 mph winds knocked over trees, dislocated power lines, and terrified me on my drive over to the gym after work. One minute it was all sunny and pretty, the next I'm driving full force into the apocalypse! I'm only being slightly dramatic. Flying projectiles were pelting my car as I dodged the occasional tree limb or trash bin. Then, just as I was hitting my final set of stoplights, they went dark, and patches of our entire county lost power.

My house was included in these numbers. We were one of only four homes that went dark in our neighborhood and a whopping 198,000 in our area. Needless to say, we were at the very bottom of the electric company's massive priority list. It took five long, uncomfortably hot days for a very overworked crew to get to our little corner and restore power. Since then, I've been doing a mini happy dance every time I flip a light switch or hear the buzz of the AC.

It definitely opened my eyes to just how much I take for granted. Now I know how absolutely life-sucking a 97 degree day can be when you can't cool your home. On top of this new found gratitude, I learned/realized quite a few things. I believe a Top Eleven list is in order (what? I couldn't sum it up in 10)! Here are some fun bits of wisdom and highlights from my 5 days sans power (via Instagrams).

11 :: Obi Wan was right! Working out blindfolded hones your senses. Perhaps training in the dark will make you an Olympic lifting Jedi? Or maybe you'll just break a couple of toes because you can't see where you're placing those weights...

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10 :: Pugs deal with extreme heat the same way they take on the everyday—by lying around and doing nothing. Except they do tend to snort and pant more than usual.

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9 :: Sometimes, when you're tripping over electrical cords and about to drop from dehydration, you just gotta get out of the house and listen to some good music. The Me & Mountains cassette tape (yes, I said cassette tape) release party was an awesome escape!

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8 :: Slow it down. I know that I can get so preoccupied with everything going on around me. Things like work, training, Facebook, Pinterest, and a myriad of obligations have a tendency to pull me in a million different directions. I'll find that I've wasted hours at a time scrolling through pretty nail polish tricks on Pinterest when I could have spent that time creating something or folding laundry, or something productive like that. I learned to take some time out to become aware of the details. Smell the flowers, even if they're all parched and sunburnt.

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7 :: When you're down the best cure can be some (air-conditioned) retail therapy. That's when I came across this fun line of notebooks & binders I designed for the day job that just stocked at Target! Just as I was putting them back on the shelf after taking this awkward, mid-aisle photo, a little girl began digging through them. She picked out the dolphin design and told her mom this was the one folder she wanted all year. That is really what it's all about!

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6 :: Sometimes the best things in life really are free. I was feeling a bit Scroogish about fireworks this year. Why would I want to hang out in the 90 degree heat after sleeping and sitting in it ALL weekend, just to watch some contained explosions? BUT as the display started, and we could hear them from our living room, we stepped outside and realized we could see them from our house! So there we stood—the hubs and I—in the middle of the street, arm and arm, watching the sky erupt. It was magical.

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5 :: I'm a crafty girl! I know, big surprise considering this is sort of a craft blog. But lately I've spent so much time swinging kettlebells and trying to reach a 300lb dead lift that I think I've lost touch with my artistic side. The oppressive, movement-discouraging heat coupled with the lack of my usual distractions lent itself to crafting by candlelight. And wouldn't you know? It reignited my excitement over jewelry making! Perhaps I'll get back into it?

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4 :: Maintaining the Paleo lifestyle is hard when you don't have a working fridge/stove and you can't get the suggested amount of sleep because you are SO effing HOT! But I found ways around it. Smashed banana protein powder pudding anyone? We also got to dine our way around Dayton. It was expensive, but dang there are some good eats in this city.

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3 :: I have a borderline unhealthy obsession with Iced-Coconut-Milk-Green-Tea-Lattes from Ghostlight Coffee.

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2 :: You can be a big kid and occasionally rely on the kindness of those in your life. Of course we didn't want to inconvenience our neighbors and string an extension cord between our houses (it looked really classy) so we could power a couple of fans, but sometimes you have to. The safety of our little smash-faced pugs was more important than our pride. On a side-note, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who offered us assistance, boarding, food, help, or an air-conditioned hide-away! You all have restored my faith in humanity! I kid. Sort of. This picture has nothing to do with #2. My nephew is cute, and I wanted to include him. Period.

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1 :: The hubs and I make a pretty good team. By "team" I mean that I picked out where we would eat, and he did manly things like haul ice around and configure our precarious electrical cord situation so it wasn't quite a fire hazard. I love that big guy!