the first snow!

We woke up to the first snowfall of the season this past Saturday . I love waking up to the first snow. It's always so quiet, and beautiful, and the sight of everything blanketed in white instantly transports me into the new season; my thoughts turn to the holidays, cozy nights indoors sharing bottles of wine with good friends, baking, hot mugs of tea, game nights, hearty home-cooked meals, playing in the snow with our snow-crazy dog, ice-skating, and everything that's attached to the early winter season. Of course, in two months I am going to be cursing the very snow I am waxing poetic about right now, and I (along with the entire Northern United States) will be very ready for spring and warm weather, but right now I am enjoying the seasonal change. We'd been lulled into a warmth-coma by the unusually warm fall we'd been having (last week it was in the high 50's), and I had actually started to let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, winter wouldn't arrive until January this year. Ha!

Here is what the beautiful crab apple tree in the backyard looked like on Saturday morning:

Here is what our entire backyard looked like:

Here is a picture I took, from the front porch, at about 10:35 am:

Isn't that a lovely tree? Now, here is that very same view at about 10:42 am:

It was a very heavy and wet snow that fell, and apparently this tree was fairly hollowed out with rot, and the weight of the first snow was too much for it to bear. Luckily, there were no cars parked on that side of the street that morning. This is the second large tree that's fallen near our house this year - Kevin and I have a theory that the trees are laying down in protest over the fact we had a large pine tree cut down from our front yard last fall. The trees are angry. It took the city an entire day to get out to our block to remove this tree that was blocking the street; I'm pretty sure that the public works crews were out working all day (and all night) on Saturday, as this first snowstorm wreaked its share of havoc, in the form of fallen branches and trees, and damaged power lines. At five o'clock yesterday morning we woke up to the sound of the crew and their chainsaws working on the tree out front. All part of a Minnesota winter, folks. 

I am very excited, and relieved, that it finally started snowing, because I have promised my entire family (all Texans and Californians) a white Christmas. They have visions of a storybook holiday - complete with snowmen, ice-skating, and snowball fights, I am sure - dancing around in their heads, and I really would have hated to disappoint them. Phew! 

it's funny, because it's true...

Oh man, I can so relate to this commercial. Cracks me up every time I see it. "There was nothing...just white, and cold." Hehe.

P.S. Somebody get this girl a burger!

i am longing for this...

Gorgeous day today - sunny and spectacular, and very spring-like. Making me antsy for the long warm days of a summer in shorts, on a bike, on our way to eat fish tacos by the lake. Sigh.

howdy!

I've missed you! Did you think I had decided to hibernate again this winter? I'm sorry about my long, and until now unexplained, absence.

This winter has been the opposite of last winter (which was characterized by a 3-month hermitage/slight depression and definite anxiety/sheer panic that the sun would never shine, and I would never feel warm, again), which means - things are good, and I've been busy! Between my first semester at the U of M, work, marriage, social life, and travel, I have seriously (but temporarily) had to relegate other things, like my dear old blog, to the back burner of my life.

Overall though, I'm feeling happy, having fun, enjoying plenty of time with good friends, working some things out, making progress at school, making plans, and embracing winter life in MN more than ever. I'm feeling positive, connected, excited, hopeful, determined, academic, optimistic, and yes, ready for spring.

With some luck, and some very careful time management, I hope to get caught up with the blog sometime this week. For now, I'm off to class (American Indian Literature - fascinating!).

Work by Thomas Allen (a former Gopher!), found here.

when in rome...

In the spirit of a true Minnesota winter, we went cross-country skiing today with friends. Despite the cold, the initial technical difficulties due to uncooperative boots and skis, the copious amounts of sweat produced, the multiple wipe-outs (yes, it is possible, and even likely, that one will fall when first learning to CC ski), and the vigorous physical effort required to power one's self through snowy trails (we are going to have some sore muscles tomorrow), it was AWESOME.

We were out for about 2 hours and it was a gorgeous sunny day with the perfect temperature (about 20 degrees), and Theodore Wirth Park was stunning with all the sparkling snow and the bare trees. I think we're hooked. They say that in order to enjoy life in a place like Minnesota you really have to take up a winter sport, and I agree. Just when I start to wonder again exactly why Kevin and I aren't living on the West Coast, Minnesota goes and surprises the heck out of me with an amazing experience like the one today. It's pretty great to live in a place where these types of activities are just around the corner - I mean, really, only 15 minutes from our house and I got to ski across a lake today! Looks like I'm becoming quite the Minnesotan, what with the skiing, the broomball playing, and plans in place for a hotdish party.

bin full of hats = F-U-N

In digging through our winter hats/scarves/mittens bin this weekend I discovered that, my word, I 've got a lot of hats! I happen to love hats, so the discovery of 21 warm and lovely ones just waiting for me to wear them during the next few months, was a delightful little treat.The thing I love the most about my awesome hat collection is that almost all of these beauties were handmade by my talented mother (apparently, she worries about my staying warm out here in the winter?). Thanks, Mom!

Can you tell I had some serious fun with my entirely self-produced (Kevin just sort of ignored me while I was doing this) photo-shoot?

cold

California, here I come! And not a moment too soon - we're at 4 below zero today with a "feels like" temp of -27 degrees. Holy frozen nose hairs, it's cold out there! Flying out to LA on Thursday and I am SO excited. See y'all when I get there!

can't stop listening to - winter song

I love holiday music, but I do so tire of the cheese (I swear, if I hear Vanessa Williams sing "Little Drummer Boy" one more time, I am going to just LOSE IT). I also love winter music (which is not necessarily holiday themed), especially living in a place where the physical change that comes with the season is so evident. There are winter nights, when it's snowing outside and I am driving at night down the quiet and lovely streets, that I can feel the magic of this time of year deep down inside of me. (This warm fuzzy sentiment never, by the way, occurs in March, when all I want is for the blasted never-ending winter to relent and let spring finally push through.) I am always delighted when I find winter music that manages to conjure up that magical feeling of the season for me. I recently discovered The Hotel Cafe's Winter Songs and cannot stop listening to one particular track:

Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson singing "Winter Song" - melancholy and beautiful. Enjoy, and, happy winter, friends (wow, I just successfully maneuvered four commas into this one sentence!). Cheers!

our lists

Feeling a bit stressed, tired, disconnected, unmotivated, and anxious this week. Maybe my mood is reflecting the recent shift in weather - winter arrived rather suddenly (and definitively) this week and it's been cold, in the 30's (which Kevin is quick to point out will feel positively balmy in about 3 months), windy, and "snrainy" (not quite snow, not quite rain). Lots to do for school and at METRO and not enough sleep or enough connecting with friends, family, and Kevin lately.

I think Kevin and I both get a little apprehensive when the winter weather arrives because we worry we'll sink into previous winters' habits and hermitize for 5 months and grow a bit depressed and, of course, all that apprehension tends to be rather counter-productive. This is temporary though, I hope. Over the past couple of days we've been compiling a "Winter To Do" list, chock full of things like learning to cross-country ski, cooking tasty and wholesome meals, trying some new restaurants, going to concerts, finally checking out the Minnesota Orchestra, working on some puzzles, going to the theater, taking bundled-up wintry walks, meeting friends for drinks in cozy bars, working in a weekly cheap date night, exercising regularly, volunteering together, and so on. We also have some individual lists of things to do this winter that we know are super good for our spirits. My list includes yoga, knitting, book club, wine club, broomball (like hockey, only not really), reading, running, going to the movies, writing, having people over, and trying something new (like rock-climbing or embroidery or learning to sew). Also, I really think I need to work on getting more sleep (I am a totally different person when I am running on a healthy nine hours of sleep). Kev's list includes running (man, he is a totally different person when he's running on a regular basis - that stress just melts right off him), keeping up with his bike maintenance skills, playing the bass or guitar (maybe, even learning the Mexican birthday song?), luxurious little naps on the couch, lots of snuggling (the man needs his snuggles, especially when it's cold outside), and I'm not sure what else.

So, I am hoping that by making our lists and by remembering how miserable it's been in years past to just stay in all winter and let ourselves sink into gloominess, that we'll actually be motivated to stay active, be creative, go on dates, make plans with friends, stay in touch with old friends, connect with family regularly, and get outdoors a lot this long season. Wish us luck!

P.S. - Please keep my beloved great-aunt (my grandpa Bill's sister), Sister Jeremy, in your hearts and prayers. She's very ill and I think it's almost time for her to leave us. She lives in a community for retired nuns in St. Cloud (here in Minnesota), and my Dad is flying out from California tomorrow so that he and I can drive out and spend some time with her, loving her and soaking up her beautiful energy. Really, I am not exaggerating when I say that there is a light around her - she is love, wit, kindness, truth, beauty. Just the loveliest human being, without a doubt one of God's greatest.

can't stop listening to - fleet foxes

This beautiful song:

My current favorite song - called White Winter Hymnal - off my current favorite album by my current favorite band, Fleet Foxes. The fact that I find the video to be absolutely beautiful, is a bonus. This song has been rendered even lovelier to me through this interpretation of the lyrics that I found on the internet:

"I think of this song as a little frame of a childhood memory - maybe of a five or six year old. He is with a bunch of children, maybe running after the older kids, who just look like a bunch of coats since they are so bundled up. He thinks in his child's mind that the scarves keep their heads from falling off. Then he looks behind him and his friend has fallen and hurt himself and there is bright red blood in the snow. Sometimes a memory like that sticks with you even though you can't remember anything else about it."

Lyrics and other interpretations of the potential meaning of this song, can be found here.

is it spring yet?

Took a bit of a break from blogging after getting my wisdom teeth out (which went beautifully, and thank you to all of you who asked) and now I'm back for a quick update on the past week and a half. It's been cold this week and we find that we are VERY much looking forward to the spring. It's supposed to be 50 degrees this weekend and we're positively ecstatic - just like a couple of giggly little kids waiting to go out and play.

Kevin has been understandably over-excited about daylight savings as it means that he now leaves the house when it's light and comes home with a few hours of light still left in the day. Poor guy was leaving for work before dawn and coming home in the dark for a few months, and I think all that lack of sunshine was really starting to wear on him. For a while there he would just come home, curl up on the floor - a pitiful little ball of pasty skin - and whimper softly to himself. It was too sad. Thank goodness for the artificial manipulation of time!

I am absurdly busy with school these days, but I will try to be a bit more consistent with my blogging (my, but you people are demanding). In the meantime, here are some pictures from an outing we took to Minnehaha Falls a couple of weeks ago on a lovely, and very welcome, sunny day. You know you're getting to be a season-hardened Minnesotan when it's 30 degrees outside and you're out with the rest of the city enjoying the "warm" weather. Good grief.

and folks dressed up like eskimos...

It's -7 degrees but "feels like" -32 today. Heck yes, it feels like -32! It's cold. Too cold. It's Minnesota cold. It's your car door freezes shut, your glove falls off and you get frostbite, the inside of your nose freezes, your windshield freezes from the inside, can't start your car for 10 minutes, can't see from the tears caused by the stinging wind, hurts so bad, cold. Anyone want to visit?!

A recent picture of Kevin and me:

baby, it's cold outside

Just how cold, you ask? Well, today was the warmest out of the past few days and it was a balmy ZERO DEGREES. On Friday night, on our way home from the movies at around 11pm, it was 9 below zero! This is serious, people. This week's arctic freeze has left me wondering whether a person who is 3/4's Mexican is really meant to live in a place that is currently experiencing weather colder than that of Moscow, and a place called North Pole, Alaska. Are my hearty 1/4th worth of Latvian genes enough to get me through a Minnesota winter? I sure hope so because holy walleye, it’s cold out there!

What I would really love to do is crawl into bed tonight, wrap myself up in a pile of snuggly blankets, and go to sleep until it's oh, June. I could blissfully sleep away the cold months and emerge only once the snow had melted and I no longer needed 45 minutes to put on all of my winter clothes just to go down to the basement to do a load of laundry. I could hibernate and happily live up to Kevin’s nickname for me of “bear” (derived from my deep physiological need to sleep at least 10 hours per night, and Kevin's wise observation that you do not, in fact, poke a sleeping bear).

Lucky for you, my faithful blog readers, I cannot actually sleep the winter away. And so, assuming that the 18 units I'm taking this semester don't keep me holed up in a coffee shop reading until the cows (Minnesota dairy heifers) come home, then I should be fairly consistent in keeping you updated with riveting accounts of the Shevlin family happenings. I know there’s been a bit of an uncharacteristic long waiting period between blog posts of late, but I was busy recovering from a very stressful fall semester by doing absolutely nothing. It was glorious but now it is over and since I’ve vowed to be super organized and incredibly in-tune with the rhythm of my life this semester, I should be posting fairly regularly from now on. On the off chance (right) that my tendency to over-commit myself gets in the way of my being able to blog with any measure of consistency - don’t get your long-johns in a bunch...I’ll come back to it eventually!

Me, on 6-8 hours of sleep.