In Preparation

I have gotten so, so much advice for how to survive the winters here. It is hilarious honestly. I have never gotten or given as much advice for the miserably cold and frosty Michigan winters. Honestly, even though I can’t imagine it being worse it is scary that people are so blunt and forward about it. I am thinking that it has to be that people in the Northwest are somewhat spoiled. I mean seriously, they don’t have thunderstorms, bugs, mosquitos (I know mosquitos are bugs but really they deserve their own category), extreme heat with humidity, floods, tornados, etc. The only thing they have at all is the rain and a rare earthquake which I cannot even fear yet because I have never experienced one to know how scary they are.

But aside from that my warnings have all concluded to this preparation:

Book a vacation between January-March.
Stay active.
Exercise a lot (this might not be a great option for me but I do see yoga helping in this both mentally and physically).
November and December it apparently rains everyday. Raincoat…check.
January and February it is just gray everyday and the weather is by then grown very old.
Because of our location it gets dark at 3:30pm. HUGE problem with that one.

And from my observations of my energy and mood from this weekend that was a first glimpse at what’s to come I can say that I better make these preparations to keep myself active. Saturday and Sunday we had rain for portions of the day and the crisp smell of fall in the air and all I wanted to do was hibernate. Oh, and watch football, which I did do for hours on end on Saturday. Basically I was happy with the outcomes of all the games minus the UW vs. Nebraska game. And State in all honesty. But what, what, UM is ranked in the top 25.

So I plan on spending time (finally!) with my guitar, using my library card for both books and DVDs, it’s easy to go over to Ashley’s straight from work to chat and watch tv, utilize our gas fireplace that I have always wanted, still attend happy hours since there is no excuse not too, get in a lot of comp time to have more vacation time next spring/summer, actually work on that recipe list I’ve been aiming to do, have weekend potluck dinners, continue going to the free movie screenings, volunteer at the cafe for music more often, buy a big box of tea and hot chocolate, take baths, actually light candles, continue taking my vitamins for the Vitamin D, and go to bed early.

I did so enjoy my weekend at home. It was not quiet since we had gobs of people over Friday through Sunday night for first a homemade pizza night, then a taco bar tailgate, then a Pagliacci’s delivery night. That bit is starting to get a little overwhelming. Not so much the weekend events but having the sister, husband and dog over like every night, no joke. I am starting to really take to the dog, mostly because it loves me, but seeing the sister dynamic nightly and taking up the living room is a little sad. But it’s not ending soon as Wednesday night we are having a sushi making, teriyaki and sake night at our place. Adios mios.

Chelsea