big city snow

I have tried to be a big girl about the frigid temps here in Chicago, and so far I'm doing okay with it! We've gotten a decent bit of snow and the temperatures have hardly gone past freezing (if even close to it), so this is the standard view out of our apartment.

I love it! There is snow everywhere, always. I thought the cold weather would be more depressing than it has been thus far, but the snow is so beautiful that even on cloudy days, it still feels sort of bright outside. However, I've been volunteering at a theater nearby and walking to work can be a little tricky.

And I guess it's not all pretty. Unfortunately, when you walk into your house, this is the stuff that follows you in...

But in general, I love love love the snow. This picture doesn't do it justice, but you can see how much of it there is! I feel like a kid on Christmas walking around in this...it's so peaceful.

An unexpected benefit to life in a meat locker is that you're a short drive away from ski resorts! And because the mountains aren't all that steep, i.e. right up my alley, they're super cheap. Double score.

Last weekend when Brian and I and our friend Jackson were skiing three hours north in Wisconsin, it dumped almost a foot of snow on us! I saw the biggest fattest flakes I'd ever seen in my life (roughly the size of a quarter). It made for some great powder during night skiing....

...and gave Brian a bitchin' ice beard:

Digging the car out the next morning was less than fun, although I wasn't all that annoyed because it was still a novel experience for me. (Either that or I've started to suck it up more. Too soon to tell.)

Mostly I just continuously marvel about how swiftly life goes on in the face of a near-blizzard. It's worth noting that the slightest appearance of snow in Texas literally shut the schools down when I was growing up (can I get an Amen), so to me, a fully functioning city is nothing short of a miracle.

More snow on its way on Monday!