Being Swedish

(or, Precisely's advice on how to get through winter.)

While getting ready for work this morning...

Precisely: "Have you checked the weather yet?"

Me: "No.  Why?  What's it doing?"

Precisely: "It's 0 degrees out."

Me: "%*#$!!!" stamps foot  "I can't do this anymore!  I'm sick of my snowboots, I hate my puffy coat, and I don't want to wear 17 layers!"

Precisely: raises eyebrows "It's not patience.  It's not a toddler having a temper tantrum.  It's winter.  It comes once a year, and we have another 2 months of it, and you have to deal with that."

Me: sulks

Precisely: "Just be sure you bundle up."

Me: "I'm sick of all my winter clothes, I have nothing to wear."

Precisely: "Just be Swedish."

Me: skeptical look

Precisely:  "Put on the biggest sweater you own, a small skirt, some thick tights, and goofy shoes, and you'll be all set."

So that's what I did.  10 minutes later, Precisely comes back into the closet.

"Cute," he said. "Isn't it fun being Swedish?"

"I guess so?" I responded. "What will be fun is when it's warm again."

"hey," he said. "You're parents could have never moved out of Minnesota, and then you'd be stuck there, where it's really cold."

Truth.  Here's to another 2 months of winter.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

There comes a time in every single-girl's life when she has to find a way to stay warm at night in the winter.  Or at least every single-girl who decides to live in a spacious yet drafty loft which is mad expensive to heat, and therefor keeps the temperature at a brisk-somewhere-in-the-'50s range. (It doesn't help having an equally competitive roommate so that neither of you wants to seem like a wimp and turn the heat up.  You just put on another sweater and have a cup of tea and stop complaining.)

I have an electric blanket, and a heavy down comforter, but sometimes it's still not enough.  A couple of years ago, my Mom gave me and my sister matching pairs of pajamas for Christmas.  These pajamas are Christmas themed; they're bright red with snow flakes, they're made out of flannel, and they are SO WARM.  While at my parent's house this past week, I found these flannel Christmas pj's, and decided that they were coming back with me to Pittsburgh.  Because they're SO WARM!

Thus begins the dilemma...

Maybe some of you are thinking, "it's pajamas, not that many people are going to see them, what's the big deal?" To which my answer is, it's like underwear.  True, only I see them, but if I like them, I feel better, and my clothes look better too.  True story.

Trading in my cute camis and slips for a pair of flannel pajamas feels a lot like giving up entirely.

But.  SO WARM!

So, last night I wore them.  I was brushing my teeth and the bathroom door was open and Precisely walked by.

He paused, "What are you wearing?" he asked.

I turned around.

He burst out laughing.  Like doubled up, and can't talk he's laughing too hard laughing.

"They're really warm!" I yelled.

"Omg.  I thought".. he laughed..."there's no way she's wearing Christmas pajamas".. laughs... "but you are!  Those are snow flakes!" Dissolves into another fit of laughter.

I rolled my eyes. "They're flannel and they're warm, and I have no one to impress but you."

"Which you are not.  At all." he emphasized.


And you know what?  I'm not going to apologize for being warm.

It could be worse, at least I haven't bought a cat.

SNOWPACOLYPSE!

Here's what you need to do to survive a state of emergency snow day.

1. Make good decisions like choosing to live a block away from your neighborhood pub, so that you can enjoy pitchers of Yuengling even during a blizzard.

2. Keep your laptop/iphone/other lines of communication plugged in and fully charged so that in the case of lost power, you still have the internet.

3. When friends ask if you if they can come over because they're bored respond "Yes! But bring supplies i.e. wine and movies."

4. Two words: girly magazines.

5. Craft! The goal of sewing 200 tote bags out of old t-shirts as goody bags for an upcoming party is an excellent way to spend a day trapped inside.

6. Do all that stuff you always mean to get around to but never do like synching your iphone, painting your nails, giving yourself a facial, doing your laundry, etc.

7. Steal your roommates electric blanket.

8. Spend guilt-free hours on craigslist, texts from last night, apartment therapy, and all of those other websites you can't really justify being on while at work.

9. Make Belgian Waffles. 'nuff said.

10. Discover the BBC version of Gossip Girl; Skins. Even more outrageous than it's new york counterpart, and they're British! Also, the kid from About a Boy is in it...and he's hot now!

11. Enjoy the news. I don't remember the last time weathermen got to be this excited. Check out this guy from Baltimore.

12. Amaze yourself at your culinary creativity since the night before snowmageddon, you did not go to the grocery store for bread, milk, and toilet paper, but instead went to yoga, and now are stuck with a fridge containing cheese, avocado, eggs, and couscous.

13. Clean. Or, think about cleaning, then decide to do something else that involves less getting off the couch.

We're Doing This Now?

Today I got an email from one of my best friends confessing that she had joined an online dating site.

Judging me? she wrote. It's OK. I am too.

I'm not. I'm just surprised that we're doing this now. The dating website that is. I mean, obviously I use the internet when it comes to boys. What did people do before they could google the person they're dating? And I am not one to ever back down in a poking war on facebook. But a dating website. I don't know, I always figured that would be something to come later. Oh wait. I am judging.

Or, maybe it's the fact that right now, the thought of going on a date just sounds exhausting. Maybe I'm becoming a-sexual. Or maybe it's just the winter. I haven't seen the sun in days.

Either way, I'm spending a lot of nights lately with my laptop and netflix while wearing sweatpants, and not feeling at all sorry about it.

You Forget...

In health class, I remember learning about how once a woman gives birth, her body is flooded with hormones that make her forget just how truly painful childbirth is. The reasoning behind this, is that otherwise no woman in her right mind would ever give birth more than once.

It is my belief that Pittsburgh winters are basically the same. You know in your mind that the winters are rough, and yet part of you forgets just how terrible it is until you're standing at a bus stop waiting for the 54C which is 20 minutes late, and you can't feel your feet, and you almost want to cry, but then realize that your tears would just freeze to your face making you even more miserable. Ugh. And it's only December!

Gone are the days of bike riding, summer flings, lying in the grass reading, and drinking beer on the front porch. Hello days of dark, bundled, weight gaining, I wish I could just hibernate through this until April.

I still love my city, but my god did winter kick my butt yesterday! It's time to break out the parka.