Bundle Up, Y’all

Tallahassee is expecting some surprisingly cold weather in the next couple of days, so the kind souls of my university felt it prudent to send the following email to its employees:

“All Florida State University employees should be aware that they may need to take extra steps, such as dressing more warmly than usual, to stay comfortable in their offices on Friday, Jan. 16, due to plummeting temperatures in Tallahassee.”

I am so glad they reminded me to dress warmly because I was really thinking about wearing shorts and a tank top.  Shew.  Disaster averted.

Also?  Are you curious as to what kind of insanely low temps are necessitating such a warning (by the way, it’s not just FSU; every time the news comes on I hear dire predictions about the upcoming chill)?

Forecast for  January 16, 2009 (the day of the big chill):

High: 46 degrees Fahrenheit

Low: 21 degrees Fahrenheit

Oooh, brrrrrrrrr.

Floridians are seriously wussy.

Sunshine State Determinism

I  have lived in Florida for too long.

Seriously.  I know this because I simply cannot handle the cold anymore.

It’s not that I don’t want it to be cold.  Quite the opposite in fact.  I’m loving that we’re getting actual autumn weather.  I am thrilled that I finally have a reason, even a need, to pull out my long lost scarves and mittens and toboggans.  I even get excited when I walk outside and the chilled air confronts me and my nose gets all tingly.  I couldn’t be happier that Tallahassee is offering me the gift of fall.

Or at least, that’s what my brain thinks.  My body, however, feels differently.

This morning, like almost every morning, Potter and I got up for our early walk with my friend Lucy and her dog Reece.  Knowing it was supposed to be cold this morning, I did the Florida version of bundling up: lined exercise pants and a fleece.  At the last minute I decided to grab an earmuff-headband, just in case, because I hate having cold ears.  The only thing worse that having cold ears is having a cold nose and if there was any way to cover my nose up without looking like a serial killer, I’d do it (Is there such a thing as ski-mask chic?).

And honestly, during the walk, I was fine.  I regret not having worn gloves, but that would have taken more effort as I have no idea where my gloves are.  But a few minutes into the walk, everything but my fingers were fine, and I kept those warm by alternating which hand had the leash and which was in my pocket.

The problem actually starts when I get home. You see, it has become virtually impossible for me to warm up once I get back inside. Despite being huddled under a blanket with a hot cup of coffee and a book for the past half hour, I’m still shivering.  My nose remains cold to the touch and even my fuzzy socks can’t keep my feet sufficiently insulated. The only thing stopping me from turning on the heat in my apartment is the promise of a super-cheap utility bill and the fact that, really, my apartment’s not cold enough that the heat would kick on anyway.  We’re sitting pretty at 70 degrees in here, but I can’t get warm.

Perhaps my problem is physiological; maybe my blood circulation is lower than normal and can’t keep up with my desire for warmer temperatures.  It’s possible I suppose.

But I blame Florida.  This daggum state where girls wear sweaters and scarves and fuzzy boots and complain of the cold weather as soon as it dips below 70 has infiltrated my skin. The state is trying to program me to think that warmer is always better in an attempt to keep my tax dollars for its-self.

It ain’t happenin’ Florida.  I don’t care how cold my nose stays.  I will continue to love cooler weather and as soon as I have three extra letters after my name (that’s PhD if you’re counting), I’m outta’ here.

So take that Sunshine State.

Fuzzy Socks

 

 

That guy right there is, of course, the inimitable Potter Rotter.  Handsome and suspicious, just my style.

But do you see those things at the end of my legs? Those dark pink things?  Those are my fuzzy socks.  That’s right, folks, I had to pull out the uber-warm and comfy fuzzy socks because it is, I kid you not, cold, in Florida.

With lows in the mid-30s, Potter and I were surrounded by fully-frosted grass on our walk this morning, not to mention the eery mist rising from the pond.  Though I refuse to turn on the heat yet, I know plenty of people who have (and probably rightly so).  Because of my stubbornness, I’m spending my day wrapped in the warmth of a fleece and curling my toes in the most wonderful warm fuzzy socks (thanks, Carrie!).

It’s almost too good to be true.  Might we actually get something resembling winter in Florida? Despite weather forecasts for the remainder of the week, my finders are crossed because there is nothing better than spending a cold day under a blanket, reading a book, and curling your toes in fuzzy socks.

Big Dumb Gustav

Just a week after TS Fay, Hurricane Gustav has already started negatively affected my life, even though he hasn’t even made landfall and he’s not supposed to directly affect Tallahassee.  But because of the impending threat of storms he will bring, my friend Jen, who was kind enough to spend the weekend with me, was forced to leave this evening rather than tomorrow.  So she’s driving back to Montgomery in the dark, and I’m already missing my friend.  Big dumb Gustav.

Despite Jen’s unexpected early exit, we’ve had a marvelous weekend. Bless her, I dragged her all over town shopping (not that she minded too much of course!).  It was so nice to be able to shop with someone who actually wanted to be there and who could be trusted to provide an honest opinion of things I contemplated buying.

We ended our shopping today by visiting the benefit for the flooded shops of Lake Ella.  I’m quite sad to know that Polka Dot Shoes is not going to reopen, but I was happy to patronize the shop one last time.

After our mad dash shopping trip, Jen and I came home, forced Dave to fix us yummy bratwursts for dinner, and watched a movie with our feet propped up from our terribly taxing weekend.

But tomorrow it’s back to the real world, unfortunately.  It’s time to catch up with all of the work I ignored this weekend.  Boo.  I wish the rain of big dumb Gustav would wash my to-dos away, too.

Heat Hate

It has been insanely hot here this week.  The heat indexes in the upper nineties (at the least) have seemed worse than usual because, for the past week or so, incessant rain has kept it quite cool.  And while usually Dave complains about the heat more than I do (running a lot everyday might have something to do with that), I have not been handling the heavy humidity well.  The short walk to my car gives me a headache, and I spend the rest of the day feeling run down and nauseous.  Not pleasant.

And who knows when the heat will let up, but I certainly foresee myself spending a great deal of time indoors for the next little bit.  At least that means I’ll have plenty of time to get some reading done.  On the other hand, I could take a sheet out of Dave and Potter’s book and spend my afternoons like this:

The Florida Chill

Seriously, it is really cold down here.  I know it’s cold everywhere right now (and probably colder in most places), but this is Florida and I’m so not used to it at this point.  Right now the “feels like” temp outside is 30 degrees, and I have no desire to go out there. Potter, however, could care less what the temp is, so yesterday we went to the dog park around noon.  And since I haven’t posted any new pics of Potter lately, I took the camera along to share (and to distract me from the freezing cold weather).

Potter on the prowl.

 

Potter and his bff Maple, just chillin’.

Maple putting Potter in his place.

The dynamic duo waiting for their next victim.

After an hour at the park, Potter was exhausted and I was freezing.  So we headed home where I got a minimal amount of work done, watched a few more episodes of The Office, until Dave and I headed over to a friend’s house where we had a Guitar Hero 3 extravaganza.  Let’s just say that I dominated:) Of course, what else could you expect?

Today Dave and I are going on a movie and lunch date since we both have the day off.  Otherwise, I’ll just be continuing to avoid the crazy cold weather.