L'hiver.

Winter is finally upon us, mes amis. 


And yesterday was particularly magical. And I felt like I wanted to describe it in detail because, well, I haven't done that in a while. And I enjoyed it so very much.




I shlumped up in bed a little after seven. Our room faintly glowed with that cold morning light that strains to penetrate clouds and window treatments. I shoved my fingers through the venetian blinds, bending the plastic slats to peer out into the neighborhood with bleary eyes. The sky sagged low with deep gray clouds, sprinkling the earth with dusty flurries.


When your days starts out as cozy as this...it usually means it is going to be pretty magical.


I stumbled out into the kitchen to start the kettle, and begin warming up mini Eggo pancakes with maple syrup. I'm not much of a frozen food person, but when life requires it, at least I like frozen breakfast food alright. It's nicer than waking up to a handful of cereal or cold pizza, or something.


Eventually I was dressed,had a travel mug of hot tea in my hand, and was locking up our apartment door. I stepped out into the snowy morning, feeling all snuggly and prepared in my wool coat and lovely knit cowl my sister made me last year. The sun was attempting to make an appearance at the edge of the thick clouds, but only managed to show off a sliver of pink sky off in the distance. With snowflakes dancing around me, and a favorite winter song playing on my iPod, I tromped through the snow over to the bus stop.


By eight, I was in McDonalds in Dinkytown, waiting with one of my coworkers for our carpool to arrive. And then, it was off to work. My coworkers enjoy listening to the Dave Ryan morning show on KDWB every time we drive, which isn't a bad thing, and is usually interesting. But my brain was awash with music, and I tried to concentrate on the lovely songs in my head as we drove, rather than hear about some guessing game they were playing at the radio station to win Lady Antebellum tickets.


Work was fun, as usual. Jazzy was super giggly today, and we had a grand ol' time talking about the colors we saw in our books and in the hallway were we work. Jonathan was a bit of a handful, but I had to give him a little grace. He informed me that his parents had been yelling a lot, and that he shouldn't be excited for Christmas because his dad was mad. I couldn't quite follow the string of events, but I can see why things like that could really disrupt a kindergartner's psyche.


We left after a very positive progress report from Sister Sharon, our coordinator,and after each taking a candy cane or cookie from the treat table. Man, I'm going to miss this place ;)(but not because of the food, though that is a cheery plus...)


I was eventually dropped off back at the apartment, with a couple of those little apple pies from McDonalds in tow. I've actually never bought anything from that location until now, when my carpool driver went through the drive-thru before dropping me off. 
It was a bit of a guilty pleasure moment, because this is not the time of year to really eat more than necessary. But whatever. It was one of those days. 


I moseyed about the empty apartment, munching pies and organizing myself. I made some chicken noodle soup, which was nice. But then something stupid happened. I lifted my computer off the table, and  it still had the charger cord plugged in, which caught on my nearly empty bowl, and pushed it onto the floor, demolishing it. Ted, who had been snoozing under the Christmas tree behind me, leapt out of his skin,and bumped the tree as he bolted from underneath it, sending the tree topper toppling down. All in all, it was a great cacophony of noise and clumsiness. I cleaned up the mess and reassured a terrified cat that, no, the Glassware Apocalypse was not upon us.


Then it was off to film class, which needs only to be described in one word: dull. I won't tell you more about that, since it's not even worth mentioning.


After that class, I had a bunch of hours to burn before French at 6:20. So I strolled across the Washington Ave. Bridge to Coffman, where I indulged in some Starbucks coffee and one of those seductive chairs they have in the fireplace lounge areas. And there I perched, reading my book for African lit class, feeling as classy as ever. Eventually, I moseyed over through the persistent flurries to a meeting with my work coordinator, which was very pleasant. 


It's a novel experience being a college student in a place like this, you know? I found myself drinking in my surroundings as I walked past the Weisman in the snow, carrying a cup of coffee, listening to cozy music, and wearing my snuggly outer gear. Bikers rolled past me through the throngs of people. The distant skyline was nearly invisible behind snow clouds. All these little observations of my current location felt so important. It's like my brain is starting to remind me that this isn't forever, and that I should really enjoy my life here. And I do. I really do.


Anyways, there's that sidetrack.


I stepped back out into the cold after my meeting, and went over to Walter Library to read some more. I sat myself down in one of the few empty chairs in the large main hall on the second floor.

My perch was over by that far right pillar.

As I sat there, reading my book, people-watching, trying not to fall asleep, and texting, a thought came into my head. A thought about thoughts. What if all the academic and worthwhile thoughts that had ever been thought in that library were visible, and we could see the little sentences swirling through the air? I'd bet it'd be pitch dark in there, since the library had been around forever. It was interesting to ponder.

But if you did see thoughts, you wouldn't be able to see this nice ceiling, now would you?

After eventually finding myself just gazing at the soaring pillars with their fancy gold hats, and not reading much anymore, I decided it was best that I bundle up and head on home to get situated for my evening class. So out into the snow I went.


Upon arriving back at the apartment, Ted and I played the always fun game of Brushie Brushie, which basically constitutes me holding out his furbrush and him walking himself past it, and rubbing himself all over it. I then Skyped Whooshie in London, ate port wine cheese with crackers and chili with Leslie. Then the niceness was interrupted by the arrival of departure time for my French class. Boo.


Here, again, is another part of my day that I won't put in great detail. 


BUT.


I will tell you that IT WAS MY LAST REAL FRENCH CLASS....EVER.


Sure, we have three different tests within the next week or two, but I will NEVER have to sit in a classroom for two hours discussing the subjunctive, or prepositional phrases, or...or..ANYTHING FRENCHY. GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!




So that was pretty magical. 


[I was about to write that it was pretty damn magical, but you might have been offended by that, so I stuck to 
magical. But it actually was pretty damn magical. I think I can say that after 2 years of this stupid stuff.)




Harnar and Leslie met me after class outside Burton Hall (which is very pretty inside, but as silent as the grave, let me tell you). We took a nice lil' roomie road trip over to Target to buy groceries and Christmas lights and what have you. 


A good end to a good day, I say.


And it was still snowing.


Even when I woke up this morning, it was snowing.


Yeah.






And I slept like a rock that night.




The end.




Sorry that was so long-winded....












Songs of the Day:


My Understandings by Of Mice and Men


Canvas by Imogen Heap (!!!)


Eve by Emancipator


Cosmic Love (Short Club Remix) by Florence + The Machine


Painless by Mae

Snowpocalypse, indeed.

I guess that's what they're calling it.

And that is what it is.

If you don't live in the Twin Cities, or haven't heard because you're sitting in some steamy beach house in Cali minding your own oblivious business, the Midwest just got whomped with some heavy-duty white stuff. Downtown St. Paul apparently got 23" overnight, and we didn't get much less than that here in Minneapolis.

Thankfully, I had nowhere to be but my apartment on Saturday, which was when all that came down. We hosted that Christmas party, which was a great success, despite the weather. I think, at most, we had 17 people here at once, which made our little apartment very very warm. Hannah, Lucie, Rachel, Leslie, Leslie's mom, and myself, baked five varieties of cookies, and later on, put on a spaghetti dinner, complete with homemade garlic bread and apple cider. It was downright lovely. Leslie and her mom, and Cameron, had to stay overnight, since they all had to walk great distances, and the winds outside at 11:30PM were dastardly. Cameron basically walked from the Larpenteur/Snelling area, and Leslie and her mom from Stadium village. Both trips took some multiple hours to walk here.

It was just madness out. People were snowshoeing down the sidewalks, cars were getting stuck and being pushed out all over, the buses shut down, and everyone was snowed in.

But I must say, if you had to snowed in somewhere, why not your own apartment during a Christmas party?

Yeah. So, needless to say, it was all great fun. Now I am left in a toasty apartment, having just returned from a slow and very cold ordeal getting to and from history class. I almost threw in the towel, as two full buses had already crawled past my stop this morning, but as I was about to leave, an emptier one came. But, boy, it traffic slow out there. It's -3˙ out, but it feels like -20˙. But the sky is crisp and clear and beautiful, so I am having an alrighty day.

Enough of recounting.

Done.

-Heatherthererer

Songs for the Day:

Prayer by Rufus Cappadocia

Yawny at the Apocalypse by Andrew Bird

The magic never stops.

Well, today is the day that the citizens of Atlantis (mine apartment) are putting on a Christmas party.

And today Minnesota is expected to get well over a foot of snow.

And it's Lucie's birthday.

So it's a good day, as long as you are not driving.

Apparently, the weathermen said it might be worse that "The October Blizzard of '91", which is still absolute legend around here. Even those of use who were barely a year old at the time.

And so, here we are, in our nice clean apartment, readying ourselves for more cookie baking (I finished about 85 sugar cookies last night at about 3 AM). Last night we all stayed up last baking, painting our wooden Christmas tree, making paper chains, popcorn and cranberry chains, and a Christmas tree angel. The snow was dumping down, and we listened to the entire LOTR soundtrack. It was magical.

I will have you note that being in college makes you exceedingly thrifty. Take a rolling pin, for example. How often do you need one of those? Like, not. So, because we had many things to roll out, but no pin, I got thrify and used Hannah's birthday present to me: a blue vodka bottle she found on the side of the road one day. Don't worry, we cleaned it. I like blue glass.

And, hey, it worked like a charm.

Now Lucie and I are sitting in the living room, blogging away, listening to the wind creak the building, and the water sloshing in the pipes. Hannah just woke up, and fumbled into the living room, proclaiming:

"Ok, guys, you know when you're barely waking up, and your brain is like, "I need to pee. But Rachel is going to take a shower. I should pee before that. No, wait, I can just pee in the kitchen."

She'd tired. She got to bed later than all of us, which means later than 4:30. Oi.

But I will not bore you with more details. It is just wonderful here.

Except when the treat of finals kicks in. Yuck.

I go now to make Lucie some birthday hash browns. You know you're jealous.

Peace, love and chamomile tea.

Songs of the Day:

anything by Nat King Cole

'Tis The Season To Be, Part 1: Cue merriment.

Magic.

My world is magic.

The magic began yesterday, when Minneapolis began to get heavily sprinkled with snow around 2. I stepped out of work in the afternoon, into a swirl of white. The rest of the day was spent taking a hot shower and snuggling into my favorite chair into the apartment. Lucie and I hung out and made SOME ART (I literally made two pictures, one with the word SOME and the other with ART on them and put them on the wall), and we just basked in the warmth of our little Minneapolis abode.

At about eleven, Hannah came back from her internship, burst through the door with a loud "DO YOU GUYS WANT TO GO ON A WALK?!"

Heck yes.

Long underwear was slid into, boots pulled on, scarves wrapped, and three abominable snow students marched out the door.

Dinkytown was the quietest I had ever seen it on a Friday night. Nothing had been plowed, and the snow was falling steadily. The old-fashioned street lamps smiled through the flakes. We tromped our way into campus, where the world looks chronically like Hogwarts. After much frolicking and skipping about, we made our way across Northrop Mall (which looked like a postcard) and across the Washington Avenue Bridge. Barely anyone was out, but we did see some people on the River Flats, and so a great hooting and hollering match was established between us and them. Once we reached the middle of the bridge, we lay down, 50 feet above the Mississippi and made snow angels. We then proceeded to draw many pictures on the frozen windows of the bridge, and censor some crude ones we found.

In the end, we made it over to Middlebrook dorm, snagged Mike and Isaiah, and headed over to Hard Times for some 1 AM hot chocolate, cookies, and scones. Great merriment was had, but eventually my completely snow-soaked pants were making me so miserable that I decided it was time to head out before my legs froze.

All the way back, to keep myself from falling behind, I walked directly in Lucie's footprints, one step behind her. It also kept my mind off my miserable pants. The concentration worked me into a absolute hypnosis, and before I knew it, we were back in our warm apartment, and I hopped in the hot shower again to thaw out my icy hair and frozen legs. This done, we all gathered in Lucie and Hannah's bedroom, and ended our day drinking chamomile tea at 3 AM.

Sliding under those covers was like a dream in itself. After being so miserably cold, and wondering if warmth and bed would ever come, piling my IKEA comforter and the heavy comforter made by my great-greandma on top of me, I slid into a warm and dreamless sleep.

Morning came bright and late. We all bumbled around, getting ready for the day in our own lazy fashions. I finished my wall art, Lucie went to some interview, and Harnar went over to the wood shop to make us a Christmas tree, and work on other thingies.

I eventually made my way over to the art shops, as well. Standing and waiting for the 3 bus outside old Eddy Hall was one of the most glorious things to be done. I watched as the sun peek in and out of the clouds, crows came in droves to settle on the knobby oak branches and the old architecture, and little snowflakes make the air sparkle. I felt like I had stepped back in time. Enjoying snow is just timeless.

So the rest of the afternoon was spent in the shop working on my project. Lucie met us over there, and we helped Hannah carry her many projects back to the apartment. Riding the bus holding bungling pieces of wood is quite a chore.

Rachel returned home soon after, and Leslie arrived, as well. We all moseyed over to Mesa Pizza for some tasty treats, and ambled back here for tea and M&Ms. Currently, as I sit under that cozy lantern, Lucie is on the couch reading Adam by Ted Dekker (WHICH IS A FANTASTIC BOOK), and Rachel is next to her, reading up on doings on the mission field in India. Leslie is sitting on Santa's lap (we named our big blue chair St. Nicholas) watchind old Digimon episodes, and Hannah is on the floor, building us a Christmas tree. It's awesome.

And so, my cozy life continues.

And you are very patient to have read this. I write these, again, so I don't forget happy memories. :)

I am going to go get into some snuggly clothes and read some French.

Peace, snow, and knee-high socks to you.

Songs of the Day:

Sleep Soond I'da Moarnin by Kim Robertson

O Little Town of Bethlehem by Nat King Cole