Winter Not-So-Wonderland

So remember how I live in a tropical climate now?

And remember how I traveled home for the holidays to Michigan? One of the coldest damn states in the US?

Yeah, I’m struggling here.

snowwww

My hands are dry, my toes numb and I thought the snow was pretty for all of 20 seconds until the wind started whipping my poor cheeks. My dad even turned up the thermostat just for me.

I’m such a baby.

We have been getting hit with so much snow since I’ve been in town. The funny thing is, I grew up in this. I used to think winter was my favorite season, loved being out in the snow.. and I was even on ski team in high school!

But I digress, I’m surviving with the help of boots, scarves and blankets.

In addition, I’ve been chugging water and using coconut oil all over my body in hopes of not shriveling up like a prune.

Aside from freezing my butt off (ok ok, I’ll stop bitching), I’ve been spending a lot of time with my parents.. cooking, shopping, drinking champagne. I even convinced my mom to do P90X yoga with me one morning, and I made her a believer in the X! Tony Horton now owns her soul.

No but seriously, I’m so glad I was able to come home for such a long time this Christmas. Last year I was only around for a few days. I spent the first week on the east-side at my parents new place, but tomorrow morning I’m headed over to my old stomping grounds… Grand Rapids!

Fun Fact: If you make your hand into the shape of Michigan (it’s not hard, just put your fingers together), GR is on the outside of your palm, and I’ve been at the base of the thumb. You know you’re from Michigan when…

Andrew and the pup have been in Grand Rapids at his parents house, and that’s where I’ll be staying. A lot of our friends are around for the holidays so I’m really excited to see everyone and have a fun New Years Eve!

 

PS… My favorite Christmas gift? FOAM ROLLER.. you haven’t lived until you foam roll your hamstrings

 

How do you handle cold weather?

Do you have a ridiculously-awesome, absolutely-necessary, totally-worth-investing-in foam roller?

Holiday Travel

You guuuuys!!

It’s been a hot minute since my last post, but let me explain.

All day Wednesday I pretty much slept. I’m still trying to kick this cough thing.

Thursday morning I was packing and running errands because at 6pm we left for the drive home to Michigan! I drove for the first 7 hours out of Florida, then Andrew took the wheel.

Unfortunately once we got into North Carolina, we ran into that big snow storm. Slowly but surely we made our way to Kentucky, where we were stopping at a friend’s house to rest. After driving for 13 hours, we let Annie romp around the backyard, took a short nap and refreshed with a shower.

Within a couple hours, we were out the door! I left some White Chocolate Pomegranate cookies to say ‘thank you’ for our friend letting us use her house as a pit-stop during our drive.

The weather hadn’t let up much during the day on Friday but we decided to truck through, we just wanted to get back to Michigan!

snowAfter a white-knuckle drive through the brunt of the storm in Ohio, we were finally back in Michigan. I grew up on the West side, in Grand Rapids, but my parents recently moved to the East side so we drove there first.

Since we got in so late, around 11pm, we ate and then went right to bed.

tree

Today, we slept in and just lounged around. I’m loving being back in Michigan. Even though it’s freezing, it’s so good to see my parents. My brothers will be in town for Christmas but for now it’s just me.

Speaking of my brothers…

babyemHow cute were they? I mean, that baby (ahem, me) was pretty darn cute too, though.

Anyway, as for now I’m just doing Christmas things, planning the Christmas menu, wrapping Christmas presents, and eating Christmas things… like candy cane ice cream.

 

Did you do any Holiday traveling, or are you planning to?