Too Dang Cold

So I grew up in Illinois.

In Illinois, it gets cold in the winter. Very, very cold.

When we moved to South Carolina, I was disappointed in the lack of chilly winters, because it really narrowed down the amount of time I was able to wear sweaters. I like sweaters, you see. I like warm and fuzzy knitted things and it's hard to pull off wearing cable-knit in 65 degree Decembers. Don't get me wrong, I still try, but even I acknowledge that I look ridiculous.

I try to embrace ridiculousness in all aspects of my life, fashion included.

In any case, every year I moan and groan about not being able to wear my sweaters enough. This year, South Carolina decided it was tired of hearing that nonsense and if I was going to complain so much, it would just give me what I wanted and see how I felt about that, then.

Well, South Carolina, I am actually super, super happy.

Blissful is how I feel.

Other than the logistics of having to keep the baby warm, I love a very cold day in South Carolina. I love the frigid cold, where it makes more sense to curl up under blankets than to wander outside. Oh, sure, I'll complain when my fingers fall off (I don't wear gloves) but secretly? I'm thrilled.

I'm thrilled because of the sheer fact that these days don't last for long. This isn't Illinois, where it goes on and on and on. This isn't our last year in Illinois specifically, where we lived in a hovel of a duplex with heat that only worked in fits and spurts and I once sent my mother a photo of me, sitting inside my own house, wearing two T-shirts, two sweaters, my winter coat, a hat and two scarves, and thick pajama pants worn over my jeans. Also two pairs of socks and THEN fuzzy slippers..

Again, that was inside the house, with the (baseboard, on an exterior wall under a window) heater running full blast.

So that kind of ruined me on winter for a while, until we moved to this magical green land where really cold days only last for a week or less and then suddenly it's 50 again and I'm running around in a T-shirt getting dirty looks from native southerners who are still wearing parkas.

Still, I especially love these cold days because it means I get to pull out my warmest clothing - stuff I really don't get to wear as much as I would like. Like this waffle-knit hooded top from Duluth Trading Company, which I wore into the office yesterday.

It is just the warmest shirt - it's two layers sewn together really well, so even the sleeves are super warm. The neckline is almost too high, but not quite, and the hood lets you sort of sink back into warmth if you need it.

Duluth Trading Company does what they call "Longtail T's", which are made a few inches longer than the industry standard. This is heaven for long-torsoed people like me, for whom basically all shirts forever are just too short and once they've been through the wash, become indecently so. I already own a metric ton of their elbow-sleeve T-shirts (expect to see those pop up here, um, a lot) and decided a couple of months ago to use a little bit of Christmas money to try out this waffle-knit top, too.

Then I wore it for two days straight after it came in, washed it, and wore it another two days straight over a weekend.

This infinity scarf was a gift from my friend Lauren, and another thing I don't get to wear as often as I would like. It's deeply warm and consists of my two favorite colors and another one that is in my top 5.

Guess which colors are which, I dare you.

I have about a million scarves, so if the weather is cold you can expect to see lots of them as well. I really do love handmade scarves - I have a few that friends have given me and I wear them constantly when it's even remotely appropriate and sometimes, even when it isn't. I have been known to be overheated in the pursuit of showing off new friend-gift scarves.

The hat is from Urban Outfitters, and it is the only thing I've ever bought from there, from the only time I have ever gone in. In January, Jason and I did an overnight trip up to Asheville, which is only about an hour and a half from where we live, if that. One of our friends was able to give us a great hotel room overnight and my in-laws kept the baby, so it was just the two of us, one of the best hotel rooms in Asheville, and Christmas money.

And Chai Pani. Every single one of you who reads this needs to promise me, promise me, that they will eat there if they visit Asheville. You must eat there.

Unfortunately, I did not plan for how cold Asheville was in early January, and ended up with incredibly cold ears walking around as the sun went down. We ducked into Urban Outfitters, which I discovered quickly to be Hipster Heaven and not altogether a place I have much interest in ever visiting again.

What they did have though?

Fuzzy hats. Fuzzy hats are apparently very in with the early-20's hipster crowd now, and that worked for me. This is the warmest hat and I love it and I even tried it on in the store, which readers of my personal blog will know is not something I normally do.

It's long enough to pull down over my ears, and it was the first thing I reached for yesterday morning, before anything else.

And finally, you've already seen these shoes. Get ready to see them very, very often. I'm not much of a shoes-person, and tend to rely on the same five or six pairs all the time forever. Right now it's these brown Privo flats.

And, of course, SmartWool socks.

Um.

You'll see those in basically any outfit post where I'm wearing socks.

I have plans for a couple of regular features - Tomboy Brands/Loves, where I talk about the clothing brands I like most or maybe individual clothing items I like the most. Which would you prefer to see? Budgeting Bloggers will be my other regular feature, although I won't be starting to track that sort of thing until March, which will be when I start giving myself a wardrobe budget again. I'm also going to do the occasional post about Style Bloggers I follow or find interesting. Some of them will probably be bloggers you already know about, hopefully some will not.

If there are any features you're interested in maybe seeing, let me know. I'm just getting this off the ground so if you have any ideas you want to share, now is the time, while I'm still fiddling around with ideas.

Outfit Details:
Waffle-knit hooded top: Duluth Trading Company, here.
Jeans: Old Navy, similar here.
Socks: SmartWool, available here at Duluth Trading Company.
Shoes: Privo by Clarks, some Privo can be found here on Amazon (thanks to my friend Jo for letting me know!)
Scarf: Made by my friend Lauren.
Hat: Urban Outfitters, here.