10 Things I Loved About Winter 2019/2020

I almost didn’t write a post today…this week has just been A LOT, which I’m sure is how you’re feeling too. But, in an effort to distract myself from all the negatives (and get myself off social media), and now that I am diving into spring, here are some of my favorite things from this past winter!

1. Christmas at home

Korri and I picked out a beautiful real noble fir Christmas tree, and I decorated it with my mom when she and my step dad were in town for Thanksgiving! It was our tallest tree yet—and the tallest that we could fit in our living room. Even though real trees are a lot of work (especially with cats that like to drink the tree water and eat the fallen needles), I just love them so much and will likely always have a real tree in lieu of a fake tree. Our tree made me so happy every day! It lasted well into January without drying out, too.

2. Walk on the winter solstice

The high temperature hit a balmy 61°F on the winter solstice last December, which meant we had to go for a walk along the river! So many people were out taking advantage of the beautiful, no-coat weather that kicked off winter. I wore my nubby pullover and a beanie and was overdressed!

3. Celebrating my brothers’ birthdays

I have three brothers, and they were all born between mid December and mid January. Between those and the holidays, winter is always a family-filled time of year! It’s especially special when my brother that attends college out of state flies back for the holidays. We celebrated one birthday with dinner at Saint Lawrence Gridiron (after discovering that our reservation for Tupelo Honey was accidentally made for the week later), another with breakfast at BACON (featuring his first legal alcoholic drink), and the last birthday with dinner at Luciano’s (a yearly tradition).

4. Shiny new wardrobe additions

I received new gold earrings from AUrate as part of a collaboration in January, and I’ve worn my new hoops almost every other day. They’re so fun! I especially love pairing the hoops with the coordinating ear cuff, which I wasn’t sure was for me when I first got it, but now I love to wear it (even though I can’t wear it on the side of my ear). Together, they make outfits feel complete.

5. Miss Americana documentary (and other TV shows)

I’m a huge Swiftie (as you may know by now), so I was thrilled when Miss Americana was announced and could not wait to watch it! It was everything I wanted and more. Other TV shows I enjoyed watching (for the most part) included The Bachelor (it nearly became a hate watch at the end there, though), 90 Day Fiancé, and Very Cavallari. We don’t watch a whole lot of other TV when it’s college gymnastics and basketball season! (Let’s be honest, though…sports are on year-round at our house, haha.)

6. College gymnastics

Of course, this is the big one for me! I’ve mentioned it many times in the past and wrote a a post a couple of weeks ago about why I love the sport so much. I used to absolutely dread winter after the holidays until I discovered (and got into) college gymnastics. I even played fantasy for the first time this season, and my team rocked—I even got to count a perfect 10! Sadly, the season got cut short this year and I’m still mourning it (Boise State still had two more home meets left including their conference championship, and we were planning to go to regionals again this year). The countdown is now on until next season!

7. Tofu and veggie pho

Korri and I were on a pho kick for a couple of weeks during the winter; we tried two different recipes for making pho at home in the pressure cooker, and neither one quite tasted like our favorite pho place in town (but I’m not surprised, haha…that broth is a work of art). A week later, we received the tofu and veggie pho meal in our Green Chef box, and it was so yummy! We will probably try to recreate it since we have the recipe. Pho is just the best in the winter months! (Here’s my Green Chef referral link, if you’re interested. It’s our favorite meal kit delivery service, and we have tried three so far.)

8. All of the kitty snuggles

What’s winter (or any time of year, really) without kitty snuggles? Almost every day after work, I’d change into sweatpants, and crawl under a blanket on the couch, and my kitties would come snuggle with me. The. Best. They really love the electric blanket! Rosie and Sybil are not the best of friends; they tolerate each other, so when they get close together I get really excited and snap 10,000 photos of them. Haha! I honestly think Sybil likes being close to Rosie…it’s Rosie that isn’t a huge fan of Sybil. Sigh.

9. Cozy weekends and new music

I got a ton of wear out of my new sweatsuit (the ReNew fleece raglan sweatshirt and matching ReNew fleece sweatpants by Everlane) and cozied up under the Gravity weighted blanket I bought for Korri as a gift (which has curiously dropped in retail price since I bought it). I think I want a cooling weighted blanket for myself because I’m a furnace! I’ve also been listening nonstop to Halsey’s new album, Manic, and Selena Gomez’s new album, Rare. They’re both so good!

10. Cat walks with cat backpacks

Our winter was capped off by taking the cats out for walks along the river in their new backpacks! I purchased two of The Fat Cat backpacks by Your Cat Backpack (the review and more photos are here). They’re ridiculous but so much fun. Rosie and Sybil are still getting used to them, but hopefully they’ll end up really loving them. I’m excited to take them out more when it warms up!