“I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happened” ~ Rachel Cohn

It is purely the time of silence and serene heartbeats of quietness in ones self, that gives us the ‘green light’ and permit , to think and to feel. Creating a few hours, a lovely evening or the entire day, where silence can happen, even within a busy life is a wondrous bestowal to YOURSELF. Whatever it is that brings that blissful feeling, the peace within your heart to think, feel and LIVE, that is what a “MAKE BELIEVE SNOW DAY” is created for. 🙂
Pretend that you have now been granted a ‘SNOW DAY.” A day just like the ones you had when you were a child in elementary school. Your up early, all dressed for the day, just about ready to take your first delicious bite of your Eggo waffle, and the phone rings…It is the school secretary… “SCHOOL HAS BEEN CANCELLED.” You sigh with relief! 🙂 Your day was already planned, but now, your day is entirely free. (And no homework!) 🙂 Make believe , for just one day, you are that child. You are FREE from all your scheduled activities. Close your eyes and allow the hours to stretch before you…FREE. Even if there is no white fluffy ‘stuff’ outside your window, take the time for the quiet, beauty and blessed indulgence of the day…it’s your gift to yourself. 🙂
What will you do with an entire day all to yourself ? Spend it alone,with a friend, spouse or your children?… There is nothing quite like the feeling of a freestanding day to do whatever it is that your heart desires… To some it may be going back to bed, 🙂 others, doing spring cleaning in the middle of summer, or going shopping at the outlets all day. I have researched some great ideas for your “Snow day.” 🙂 I hope you enjoy and can use at least one or two of them. 🙂
THE DISTINGUISHED QUOTE CORNER:
“It is in his pleasure that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the fabric of self.” ~ Agnes Reppllier
“The real problem of leisure time is how to keep others from using yours.” ~ Aurthur Lacey
“He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his souls estate.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“All of us , from time to time, need to plunge into freedom and novelty, after which routine and discipline will seem delightful by contrast.” ~ Andre Maurois
“Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father.” ~ Roger Von Oech
“Fun is about as good a habit as there is.” ~ Jimmy Buffet
I hope some of these “Make Believe Snow Days” ideas, inspire you…
If your “free day” happens to fall in the springtime, how about creating a stunning and inviting flower box for your front window? There is nothing like the fresh air, a cool breeze, birds singing and creating BEAUTY. 
You know that new scrumptious cake recipe you have been dying to try for weeks, well today just may be the day you conquer it. Fall and wintry days are perfect for conjuring up something fantastic in the kitchen. 
If you feel like staying in your P.J.’s and hanging around the house all day, reupholstering and painting a vintage chair or making a towel holder for your guest bathroom would be a lot of fun. You could crank up your favorite music and ENJOY creating something new for your haven.


If you live close to Wilmington Delaware, a day trip to the sensational and renowned Winterthur Gardens and mansion in the Brandy Wine valley would be a lovely get-a-way. Pack a delicious picnic basket and be prepared to see stellar and baronial antiques, magical flower gardens and a land of beauty. 
Have you ever been to a blueberry farm and picked so many blueberries, you thought your hands would turn blue? 🙂 One of my fondest memories is one summer in South Carolina, when my sister came to stay with us from California. While I was at work, she and my mom went ‘blueberry picking’ and had the time of their life. They brought home so many barrels of their hunted treasure that we had “blueberry everything” for weeks. That night as I walked in the front door, I could smell fresh, sweet blueberry pies baking in the oven. 🙂 It was heavenly! 🙂 For weeks , we had an abundance of muffins, pancakes, fresh ice cream with the berries , cobblers, more pies and then of course, just snacking on the sweet, natural and tasty petite fruit itself, was so delicious. What a great way to spend a free day.

If you live close to Hartford Connecticut, the beaches and cliffs are absolutely breathtaking. When we lived in Connecticut, this was a special get-a-way day for my husband and I and our precious Grantham. As you can tell, it was a chilly day, the beach was deserted, but we did find another couple who had the same idea as we did, and their two dogs had a great play date with Graham. The beach, whether on the east or west coast, is one of my favorite places to visit to regain my soul. Its so peaceful and serene.

Talking about beaches and the mystifying ocean, how about your freestanding day being a day of “riding the waves.” 🙂 
There is nothing ‘quite like the feeling’ of going shopping for a new dress for a special , upcoming occasion. And all of us women know, you can’t just buy the dress, you have got to have all the accessories that go with it. 🙂 Maybe take your best girlfriend and make it a day of shopping and stop for an enjoyable lunch at your favorite Bistro.


RIDING! Maybe its a horseback ride along the sandy shore with the fabulous ocean breeze, or it’s your new bike that you forgot is hidden away in your garage…Take your day and enjoy the beauty of nature…


Okay, maybe you are not an avid bike rider or big fan of horses…how about some fresh water fishing or a day of golfing? Both of these renowned sports will get you out in the fresh air and will bring an entirely new point of view to your world, as well as a wondrous refreshment to your body and soul. (And a great dinner on the grill that night if you or ‘your man’ catches anything.) 🙂


For a more restful and pampering day, how about reading your favorite novel that you have not had time to pick up, let alone read, while relaxing on your hammock under a canopy of trees, with the glory of nature surrounding you as well as cool breezes and the warmth of the sunshine? If your not up to burning up all the calories of ‘bicycle riding,’ take a day trip to the countryside or a near by beach on your ‘bike that pedals for you.’ 🙂


There is always the escape to your man cave guys… invite a few friends over, have a movie marathon with your favorite action filled movies and just ENJOY each others company, some great food and an ice cold beer. (Ladies, you can always sneak into his man cave while he is at work and ask your girlfriends over for your ‘Make Believe Snow Day’…) Just change the movie menu to romantic chic flicks and a serve a nice Merlot. 
If your special day happens to be in the autumn months, venture out to a pumpkin patch and pick out your pumpkins for the season…maybe buy a few scarecrows for the yard and stop off at a charming farmers market and get some freshly made apple cider, hot buttered popcorn, and candy corns…take your newly acquired treasures home and put on your favorite movie, light a fire and enjoy your fall treats. (Hot apple cider is my favorite in the cold months.) Mm! It is so good with cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg sprinkled on top.

If your ‘dream day off” is hanging out with your kids, take out a box of their favorite chocolate candies and just watch their faces. My mom and I used to watch our favorite TV show with Baranbus Collins, without failure, everyday, and she would create some type of creative snack for me…(Always homemade.) (No, she did not get the chocolates out everyday.) (For us anyway.) 🙂 Some of the best times of my life were spent with just the ‘simple pleasures’ of home, amongst my favorite people in all the world…my family! 🙂 Still are!
How about shopping for that ‘perfect’ terrycloth bathrobe you’ve been wanting for months? Treat yourself to a new, romantic, floral throw for your favorite chair or comfy bed and some new, soft, pampering and elegant bath towels. Take a long hot, bubble bath when you get home..after all, shopping is a tough undertaking. 🙂 
Okay…here is a new and creative idea for you…how about taking the day to plan out all the details for a Masquerade party? Plan out your appetizers, menu, elegant tableaux, invitations, guest list, your costume and pick a party game or two. I have always believed that planning and creating a gala is half the fun! 🙂 You can’t forget little “Tiger’s” costume… 🙂


How about this for your ‘disguise fete?’ You would undoubtedly be the “Bell of the ball.” 🙂

If your masquerade party is bit more formal, go all out with your tableaux , treating your guests to an elegant ambiance. Gold is always a regal choice for a ‘mysterious’ masquerade party…

Use fresh flowers, fine china, glimmering candles and your very best silver and crystal. Ideas for dinner… Fresh salmon baked in dill, butter, white wine and fresh mushrooms, served over rice. Your appetizers can be homemade or ordered from Costco or other specialty grocers. Pick a theme, create your dining room, write your invitations and just revel in the preparations of this wondrous festivity. (Don’t forget your costume.) 🙂

One of my most cherished memories of the year Kit and I lived in Bethany beach, Delaware is the afternoon we decided to go see a matinee. (He knows my favorite thing in the whole world is buttered popcorn at the movie theater. ) (Who cares what the movie is?) (Just kidding!) 🙂 Well, our movie was not at all what we thought it was going to be, so we got our money back, and decided to go over to the outlets in Rehoboth beach and buy some extraordinarily elegant sheets for our bed…We already had a new, gossamer,white down comforter so we bought a high thread, extra soft set of white sheets, went home, made up our new bed and watched a (much better) movie on cable, as we snuggled up with our Grantham, lit all our candles and enjoyed our big barrel of buttered popcorn we brought home from the theater. It was a wonderful day! Sprucing up your bedroom is always a welcomed project! 🙂

It doesn’t have to be someones birthday or the wondrous Christmas season to create some homemade gifts for your friends and loved ones. If you are a connoisseur of fresh jams, jellies and relishes, stock up on mason jars, pretty ribbons and all your ingredients for homemade, gourmet condiments. Put on some soothing R&B music, a little Josh Grobin or Michael Buble, crank it up and just create and enjoy! 🙂
Speaking of afternoon projects…if you are a lover of crafting, creating some new decor for your berth would be the perfect choice for your free day… A riveting , show stopping, romantic floral wreath to go with a divinely finished birdcage. This combination is absolutely euphoric.

If your favorite season is spring or summer, then for you, perhaps creating alluring and fetching flower pots, (getting your hands all dirty) and bringing forth some garden ‘eye-candy.’ 🙂 I adore this homemade topiary tree…I have never planted or made a ‘live one’ before…That would be a great new project to learn. Very Lovely! It would be hard to stop at just 4 pots though. 🙂


If I had a ‘Make Believe Snow Day,’ I would probably chose to rearrange my dining room, create a brand new centerpiece and festoon my table to look like something out of a fairytale… I’d get out my southern cook books and find a new, Kit-pleasing recipe and preapre a really nice candle lit dinner for him. This table is heavenly! Creating something new and beautiful is my passion! 🙂
Kit and I lived in Arizona for 9 years….I kept wondering what we had done so terribly wrong to make our punishment last so long, 🙂 (I am just teasing…) No, Arizona was not my first choice to live in, but we ended up meeting some of the best friends of our lives there and every home we lived in was blessed with a lush grass lawn. 🙂 (Thank the Lord.) (Arizona really is a land filled with an abundance of beauty and is a great state to live in, I am just not a rock, cactus, “dry heat” kind of gal. ) 🙂 Our special get-a-way one day was going to the Grand canyon. If you live in Arizona, it is certainly worth the drive…it’s beauty is majestic and we did a lot of hiking and came home eminently refreshed in our minds, bodies and souls.
Another cherished memory and great “snow day’ is a day trip to Fox woods in the sublime state of Connecticut. Kit and I met my brother and his spouse in Mystic Connecticut for dinner at our favorite eatery by the water and then drove to Fox woods. Unbeknownst to us, they had reserved for Kit and I , the most beautiful suite inside the hotel, that I’d ever seen. The bath tub (of course it was a jacuzzi tub,) held at least 6 people…I think I took 7 bubble baths in one day it was so much fun, (except when I added to much bubble bath and the large bathroom was overflowing to its knees in white, floating, opalescent bubbles… (How do you call maid service?) 🙂 If you enjoy shopping, great food, gambling, (we did it just for fun,) and the ‘air of felicity’, even if you live far away and it wold be more like a ‘snow week’ to really enjoy this exciting get-a-way, it is worth the trip. 
If it is a chilly, wintry day, make yourself a savory hot lunch, light your outdoor fireplace and bring out your favorite novella or two, (depending on how fast you read.) Brisk winter days are my favorite kind of day to be outside, all bundled up and enjoying the aroma of freshly burning firewood and the nippy wind upon my face. 
Another wintry, chilly day may be a wonderful time to so some things around your home to add some new and creative displays of beauty. My mom loved those days, (so do I.) We called them our days of “puttering” around the house, brightening up a few rooms with small , esthetic changes. This decorator has festooned her balustrades with fresh greens and ribbons…It adds a winsome flavor and lavish texture to the stairway as well as the room…Most people “bedeck the halls” at Christmas, but you can do it for any seasonal theme… Autumn, Valentines Day, spring, 4th of of July, etc…or “just because.” A very romantic, everyday look is fresh green garlands accompanied by poetic roses, swagged upon your mantles or stair bannisters. A perfect craft project as well as beautiful decor for the Vintage, Romantic, Shabby Chic and Cottage homes.

In your quest to “putter” and beautify…one room to start with could be your beloved bedroom. Perhaps, go shopping and buy some new throw pillows for your bed, or a romantic and blissful, white canopy to dress up your room and give it some pizzazz. Add some new and diverse candle stick holders, adorned with taper and pillar candles in soft whites or cream yellows. (Very romantic.) I love cherub angels as they not only add class and texture to our rooms but they are marvelously enchanting. 
How about a day at your favorite spa, or create your own spa at home with luxurious bubble baths, warmed, fresh elegant bath towels, face masks, ambrosial body sprays and coddling lotions. (My favorite kind of day…I just need to acquire the riveting, antiquated Claw-foot tub or now the jacuzzi tub for 6 at Fox woods that I have put on my wish list, to further my dream day.) 🙂

Prepare a beach bag with all you’ll need for a wondrous and relaxing day amongst the sea birds, crashing waves, sounds of fog horns, fishermen hoping to catch their next meal, and the magnificent, delightful warm sun.
Its a perfect time to throw on your jeans, sweatshirt and hat and frequent all of your favorite boutiques, shops and thrift stores to see what special “Finds” you can accumulate. How about going to an antique store for some vintage place mates, table linens, petite pillows, or bean-bag-microwaveable stress relievers? (Have you ever tried one of those?) They are just like a non-electric heating pad and feel wonderful on tight, tense muscles.)

Stop off at a vintage boutique for some great books, antique plates or decorative items to spruce up your haven. 
Don’t forget that delightful and quaint shop near the water that is abundantly filled with choice and top notch, seasonal decor… (I would spend a fortune in this shop!) 🙂

If you have been looking for that one special painting that would look “oh so perfect” over your fireplace mantle, stop in and tour a shop that specializes in displaying the work of local artists… I adore these animated and life like rose paintings…
Antique stores take you back to an entirely different era…I love getting away for a day and just enjoying all the nostalgic decor items. I allow myself to pick out one item as a special treat. Hmm…In this Antique shop, I think I would choose the antiquated blue pitcher on the far right hand side with the pastel,alluring decor. I already know where I’d place it. 🙂

How about taking your “snow day” to hunt for the perfect new sideboard for your dining room. Having a sideboard in your dining room not only gives you a wondrous place to display your decadent desserts, colorful salads, piping hot buttered breads and beverages for the evening, but it also allows for some of your personal, signature decor style to bring forth beauty to the room. Tall candles reflecting against a vintage mirror above your sideboard would look absolutely stunning. 
If you are blessed to live by a river or lake, set up an area with a front row seat that you can read, take a nap, listen to your favorite music on your ipod, write a letter or make a phone call to an old friend or your sister in Oklahoma. 🙂 And don’t forget to ENJOY your lovely, breathtaking view. 🙂 
If you have a Christmas store near by, its wonderful to go and shop for your new Santa ‘early.’ There are no crowds, and plenty of ample time to choose ‘just the right Santa’ for your home. We are blessed and fortunate to have Christmas Tree Hill in Rehoboth Beach that is open year round! I am a connoisseur of Santa’s. 🙂 Its amazing how many different Santa’s the artist have come up with…traditional, old world, nature Santa’s, surfing Santa’s, you name it and they’ve made it. 🙂 Enjoy a nice lunch at a quaint eatery as your out and about on your ‘adventuresome quest.’

A “Snow Day” I will never forget. My husband decided to take his first try at para-sailing…As we walked up to the line where the guys would get you all ready for your dare-devil adventure, people (who had just finished the ride of their life,) passed us with faces so white, their freckles were standing out like stars in the night sky. (Truly.) They looked aghast, spooked and fainthearted. I kept asking; “TELL ME AGAIN KIT, WHY YOU WANT TO DO THIS ON YOUR DAY OFF???? ) 🙂 Well, he did do it and I stayed on the beach praying the entire time….he got so high up in the heavenlies that he looked like a tiny black spec in the blue sky…finally, (my blood pressure slowing down,) I could see his body, then his face and legs once again as he came in for his landing. He said it was “out of this world.” His skin tone was rosey and he was smiling ear to ear. I just kept thanking God he was Okay. 🙂 So, for all of you adventurous, daredevils and thrill chasers, perhaps para-sailing or paragliding would be a perfect “Make Believe Snow Day” for you. 🙂

I myself prefer a much calmer “snow day.” 🙂 A trip to Belfonte PA…it is a quaint and alluring little village with beautiful streams, mountains and picturesque streets filled with great eateries, coffee pubs and boutiques. (We have our dear friend Neill, who lives there and we visit him as often as we can.) Its not to far from Delaware. Grantham goes on every trip with us, come rain or shine! 🙂 (You can barely see him in this photo.) 🙂

If you love the outdoors, create a beautiful sitting area ‘just for you.’ Choose your favorite colors, fabric, design and bring forth your own special alcove. That would be another great ‘snow day’ project.

Lastly, unless you live in Virginia or the gorgeous state of Maine, these would have to be trips that would go under a “Make Believe Snow Week ” category. 🙂 There is nothing like a venture to Williamsburg Virginia, where you will enter into life, the way it was in the 1700’s. You will undoubtedly enjoy being in the midst of beautiful plantations, pristine gardens and witness firsthand, over 4 centuries of history in the making. They even have historical interpreters and actors to rein-act life on the eve of the Revolutionary war. If you work up an appetite, they have fantastic Italian, Mexican, seafood and steak eateries. 
Lastly, probably one of the most elfin, enchanting and sublime places you will ever visit….Maine’s Asticou Inn. It is said to be the last remaining Grande Dames of the Victorian Inns. There are exquisite gardens, spectacular views of the harbor accompanied by the charm of a by-gone era. While visiting, enjoy dining at the renowned Peabody’s at the Inn with decadent fresh Maine crab Benedict for breakfast, fresh lobster bisque and an exotic salad for lunch or Lobster tails, pan seared scallops or a fabulous Black Angus Fillet Mignon for dinner.

I hope that this blog has given you a few ideas that you’ve never thought of before for your “Make believe Snow day.” Whatever you chose to do, Have fun, relax and enjoy being rejuvenated and refreshed.
Additional Links:
Victoria Magazine
Country Living magazine
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