Welcome! “Where Bloggers Live” started out kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers! We all like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives, so every month this wonderful  family of amazing women shares their work-spaces, homes, towns, and thoughts, with posts based on specific prompts. It’s been so interesting over the years to see the different ways each of us interpret the topics.

First, can we just take a moment to appreciate our new graphic?? Our own talented Em from Dust and Doghair created it for us. She was so clever to show, quite literally, “where bloggers live” on the world map! But…I look so lonely, all the way over there (in Thailand) all by myself. Oh, poor me 🙂

Back to it…

I feel like I’m in the minority when I say I Love Winter. I realize some people have to be out in freezing cold temps for hours and hours…or don’t have have proper cold weather clothing, or having a long outdoor commute to work, etc…and winter is uncomfortable and a pain.

But I am (knock on wood) fortunate enough to not be tortured by winter. And I can really just enjoy its benefits…and then go inside when I get cold!

And I’m writing this on January 5, from sunny Thailand, where the daytime temps are in the mid-80s and at night it only goes down to about 65. So I’m not getting any winter at all this year!

But my five favorite things about winter are:

Snow

Oh, how I love the snow! And living most of my life in New York I hear all the whiners people with their “but it just turns brown and disgusting,” and “but shoveling is back-breaking” complaints. They are not wrong. HOWEVER, in the beginning, for a few brief shining moments, it is MAGICAL. And that is the part I love. Seeing the first flakes fall, always an event. If you’re at school, or work, everyone feels obligated to dash to the window to ooh and ahh…even though this is a sight they’ve seen dozens if not hundreds of times in their life. It is special Every Single Time.

When the snow falls it’s like the world slows down. Sounds are muffled. Everything ugly or dirty gets a sparkling frosting of white.

Life literally does slow down, if not stops. School is canceled, meetings get pushed back, shops stay closed. People drive slower.

Henry James was wrong…the two most beautiful words in the English language are not “summer afternoon,” but “snow day.” There is nothing better than waking up to your annoying alarm reminding you to go to work or school…then getting the call from The Powers That Be that it is a SNOW DAY. Go back to sleep, my little friend…burrow back under your warm covers…get up later and have hot cocoa while you watch the snow fall. You have no obligations today…it’s a Snow Day. 

Yeah, eventually you’re gonna have to shovel…and it will turn grey and gross…but those are a small price to pay for turning the world into a winter wonderland and absolving you of your daily mundane tasks…for just a moment.

Early Nights

Another characteristic of winter I think many people do not like, but I love is…early sunset, early dark. When the sky is almost dark by the time I get home from work, I have no choice but to put on my nightgown, heat up some soup, and curl up on the sofa with a blanket and a kdrama…by like 5:30pm. Work? Study? Vaccuum?? No. It’s NIGHTTIME.

Winter’s long nights are the perfect time to hibernate. We all need a break. Bears go in their dens, plants go dormant underground..we also need a break. A chance to rest, refresh, recharge for the new year ahead. From Christmas til almost March is my hibernation period. I’m resting. Don’t bother me.

No Sweating

I am a sweater. “One who sweats,” not “a knitted or crocheted garment worn for warmth.” I have a very low sweat bar. If it’s above 50 degrees and I am moving…I am sweating. And I hate sweating. I’m a face and head sweater. Meaning, y face is dripping, my hair is soaked, my bangs are floopy-doopying instead of swooping gracefully across my (sweaty) brow. My clothing is soaked. Shirt, bra, underwear. If it’s against my skin, it’s WET. If I’m wearing anything other than the blackest black, I have wet spots showing. If I sit in the car, I leave the seat wet.

It. Is. Not. Fun.

Winter is the only time all year I can move…and not sweat. And even that is not a firm rule. If I’m wearing many layers to keep me warm while outside…and I’m moving…I’m sweating under them.

While I was going to school in Korea, they were the coldest winters I’ve ever experienced. And I walked almost half a mile to class. You had to layer up or you’d freeze in the face of the Siberian winds blowing down from the north. But when I got to class, and pulled off several outer layers…I was The Only One Sweating. Sigh. Seven degrees outside and I’m sweating.

But I sweat a lot less in the winter.

Contrast of Seasons

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness” ~ John Steinbeck

I do love winter. I also love spring…and fall…and summer. I love them all for their contrast to one another. If the winter were not as long and dark and cold, would I appreciate the coming of spring as much as I do?

John said it better than I can, but you know what I mean 🙂

Layering Clothing

I do love layering different colors and patterns and textures. But in the warmer months (March-December) I just Can Not. Put one piece of clothing over another? Are you out of your MIND?? What do people say all winter: “layer your clothing, the layers trap heat.” Trap Heat are the two ugliest words in the English language!

But in the cold of winter? I am free to build layer upon layer…sometimes even a third layer! These outfits are so much more visually interesting to me. My summer wardrobe is a little dull. But fall/winter?? Plaids atop stripes atop florals with a side of leopard! Whee!

I do love winter. I could probably have come up with TEN favorite things…like the year-end holidays…and twinkle lights…no mosquitoes! But…I’ll stop here so you can go visit my friends’ posts and see their favorite winter features.

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Sally at Within a World of My Own

Leslie Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After  <- and a special cameo appearance from Leslie!

 

 

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