Shovels, Skis or a Drink: Tales From a Snowstorm From New Jersey to Maine, millions of people, many with Superstorm Sandy still fresh in their minds, dug out from underneath mounds of snow Saturday. Many were left with serious consequences. Hundreds of thousands lost power, and on New York's Long Island, abandoned cars littered the roadways, left by people who could not make it home Friday night as the storm intensified. Others simply had a few inches to clear from their cars and sidewalks. But mostly, people soldiered on, planning cocktail hours after clearing waist-high snow, cross-country skiing down narrow streets and even braving 4-inch stiletto heels to stay chic during New York Fashion Week. A few of their stories: Randle Roper and Jacob Olson have been waiting for a blizzard for a long, long time. Roper, 41, and Olson, 31, moved to downtown Providence, R.I., from Los Angeles two years ago. "We've been waiting for this snow forever," Roper said. The two spent days waiting with childlike excitement for the storm, hoping to use the snow boogieboards they bought when they heard there would be substantial snowfall. "We're looking for the perfect hill," said Olson, who grew up in the Marshall Islands and is completely unfamiliar with snow. "I love it," he said. It's so much fun. A woman prepares to launch her child down a snow-covered street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. The Boston area received about two feet of snow from a winter storm. Angel Nunez stood with one foot on the bottom step of his row house in Jersey City, N.J., ready to scoop another mound of snow. Nunez wanted to clear the steps quickly, and well; his upstairs neighbor is due to have a baby any day, and he wanted to make sure she could get out safely if necessary. Jersey City only got about 5 inches of snow. But after two years of shovels getting dusty and people forgetting what a typical Jersey winter is like, the snow came as somewhat of a surprise. We got a little spoiled from the last few years of not having as much snow. So it comes as a little bit of a shock, but it's February, so we should be expecting it," He said. But I think this is enough. This will do it for the rest of the year for me. The storm didn't stop the chic from attending - and dressing the part for - New York Fashion Week. At the Nicole Miller show, blogger Stephanie Ospina, of New York, was wearing her pointy-toe stilettos pumps with bare legs. She thought about not going to shows Friday but decided "I'm going to go to as many as I can. New Yorkers are that way. She did wear boots - not quite snow boots since they were 3-inch wedge heel shearling boots to the Lincoln Center tents - and changed once she got inside. Alyssa Montemurro, 22, said her 4-inch heels were a workplace necessity. She didn't bring boots. I am 5-foot-3 on a good day, and when you're interviewing models backstage it's best to be somewhere near their face level. In Boston, one 16-ton city snowplow almost got stuck on one street and had to pull back while a frontend loader was called in to clear it. "This is bad, this is really bad," said the plow driver, Domenic DePina, who has worked for the city public works department for more than four years. Complaints could be heard on the plow's communication radio about people around the city shoveling or blowing snow back into the street, which officials warned against. A pirate flag snapped in the gale-force winds outside Eileen O'Brien's house in Sagamore Beach, Mass.