It’s cold here today…really cold, with a high of 16 and it felt like 3 when we woke up this morning. This song just feels right to me today; it’s a Stones and snowfall kind of day – take a look at this and this.

“It sure been a cold, cold winter
My feet been draggin’ ‘cross the ground
And the fields has all been brown and fallow
And the springtime take a long way around”
– Winter by The Rolling Stones

Winter isn’t always easy, but it is often beautiful. #winterainteasy

I’m not going to lie, when I looked out the window on several occasions on Sunday and saw that it was snowing…yes, snowing…on May 15th…I wasn’t a happy camper. Spring? (#winterainteasy) But, despite the cold, rainy weather we had here all weekend, there were some nice things to appreciate – like napping, lilacs from my backyard, beer on a sunny patio on Friday afternoon, and these super cute, vintage-style glasses and tray I found at a local hardware store!

We kicked off our weekend with drinks at Bar (yes, that’s what it’s called – simple, to the point, and easy to remember); I had the drink in the photo above, which they named “Shotgun Wedding”, and it was tasty (as I find all their cocktails to be)! I especially enjoyed the way it looked here in the sunlight…making me think of, and wish for, warmer days… Which brings me to these bulbs in the photo below – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love to buy bulbs and place them around the house in the winter; they’re pretty great for many reasons, not only do they last longer than cut flowers, they also remind me that spring will come eventually, and these teeny tiny little muscari were too cute to pass up! And I had fun redesigning this flower arrangement from what I had originally put together with tulips from our friends Mark & Amy; tulips remind me of spring and spring makes me happy! The big excitement at our house this weekend was having a bird get in and us trying to encourage it to fly out a strategically opened window – which it eventually did and was seemingly unharmed in the process I’m happy to report; whew…even the birds are over this winter, it seems! #winterainteasy

We enjoyed a lovely sunset on Saturday – cold, but lovely…

I enjoyed a marvelous, two-day movie marathon over Valentine’s weekend; I can think of nothing better to do, especially given the frigid temps (what one person described as “weather is expected get really rugged”) we’ve been having – we woke up to -10 (actual temp) with a wind chill of -30 on Sunday morning, and it was -15 (actual temp) here this morning…#winterainteasy. Ryan picked out and lined up the following in our Netflix queue, we piled up blankets and pillows in front of the tv (Melody was in hog heaven!), lit a fire in our fireplace, and watched as many as we could in two days – some we’d seen before and some were new to us and I can’t wait to do it all again:

• Movie #1 – The Apartment (1960)
• Movie #2 – Annie Hall (1977)
• Movie #3 – His Girl Friday (1940)
• Movie #4 – Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
• Movie #5 – Romancing the Stone (1984)
• Movie #6 – Stardust (2007)
• Movie #7 – Punch Drunk Love (2002)
• Movie #8 – Not Another Happy Ending (2013)
• Movie #9 – Stuck in Love (2012)

And I got this specially designed, screen-printed Valentine along with some beautiful roses!

The snow started to fall early this morning and it hasn’t stopped since; they are predicting 10-14 inches (#winterainteasy) for Ann Arbor by tonight/tomorrow morning – but I have to admit the fact that this winter storm is named after my favorite Peanuts character, Linus, makes me smile. I have been enjoying watching it fall, drift, and blow outside all day. We took a nice, long walk in it with all our snow gear on earlier and Melody seemed to really enjoy it. Here’s a silly little video I took of the snow outside our window this afternoon… Hope you’re all staying warm, cozy, and safe on this snowy Super Bowl Sunday!

It snowed here almost all day yesterday – big flakes, then little flakes, then big flakes again…blowing and drifting through the sky. This perfect little snowflake hitched a ride on my coat as I was leaving work yesterday afternoon.

We have a love/hate relationship with Melody’s snow jacket – we love it because it keeps her warm and fairly dry when there’s snow on the ground, but she hates the process of getting in and out of it for some reason (#winterainteasy)…once it’s on her though, she doesn’t seem to mind it and she bounds through the snow happily in her little red coat.

It’s cold outside (high of 13 on the 13th – #winterainteasy), but it’s cozy inside…and these over the knee boot socks I’m wearing certainly don’t hurt (I have a hard time resisting a good sweater knit)! Hope you’re staying warm in this wintry weather. Bonus: Ryan surprised me with these beautiful, white spray roses, for our anniversary.

Outside: Yesterday, in Ann Arbor, the temperature dropped to -2 degrees with a wind chill of -20 and we got some snow overnight and this morning too. While I can appreciate the way it looked in the light last night, gleaming like little flecks of white glitter all over the ground, and that everything is so still and crisp after a fresh fallen snow…it sure makes it hard to leave the warmth and comfort of your home in the morning! #winterainteasy

Inside: I find that a good pair of flannel pj’s (like these) or lounge pants (like these), some warm slippers (like these), a nice warm fire, and some lovely fresh flowers and candlelight are crucial to my well-being through the winter months here. Which is why I treated myself to some white tulips and alstroemeria and placed them next to a mercury glass votive and a bowl full of tomatoes on the vine – which we’ll use to make some hearty soup over the weekend. Winter is definitely here and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!

Doesn’t this look warm and cozy? We had a nice dinner out with friends on Saturday evening and a local restaurant where I snapped this photo. It’s a good thing I have this photo to look at and a toasty space heater by my desk to keep me warm, because it’s currently 10 degrees out (but it feels like -5) and it’s looking like it will be a very cold week here with some snow too. It’s my first day back to work from the holiday break, it’s a Monday, and the high today is a whopping 14 degrees…thank goodness for layers and coffee. #winterainteasy

We picked up Mom from the airport last Friday and have really been enjoying her visit; we are so glad she will be staying with us for the Thanksgiving holiday this year! We visited a few of our favorite restaurants and did a little shopping over the weekend together, but (besides a trip to the grocery store for some Thanksgiving supplies) we stayed in by the fireplace on Saturday as it was very icy outside. I don’t know about you, but I for one can certainly appreciate a relaxing, cozy day in on a cold day. We made chili and watched movies and it was so nice to just spend some down time together. Watching Ryan chasing Melody…chasing a squirrel…on ice was entertaining too. And ice skating down the sidewalk with no skates on was an experience. #winterainteasy

On Sunday, before heading to brunch, we took advantage of the above freezing temperatures for the day and cleaned out our gutters. Ryan climbed up on the roof with a bucket attached to a rope and lowered it down when it was full so I could dump it in the compost bin – our system worked well. Now we’re bracing ourselves for another cold front to hit – I’m looking forward to more cozy days in!