Frozen Eyelashes.

It doesn't snow in mid/south Texas.

We had a snow day only twice growing up;

one time it rained and then froze on the roads,

and the other time, it wasn't snow...

....it was sleet.

It melted before the end of the day,

but they closed school anyway.

Winter in Texas = 30 degree weather, and rain.

The first time I encountered snow

was during my first semester at BYU-Idaho.

And it was magical.

Like, really really magical;

please take note of my face.

It was like sparkly pixie dust falling from the sky.

And it stayed pretty magical for a while;

we'd even go build snow men in our pj's

late at night if it had just started snowing.

But then, 

after a few months,

instead of thawing quickly like it had initially,

the snow started to build on top of itself.

Layers and layers, and inches and inches of snow.

And it got colder and colder...

...and weird things started happening...

...like, my nose hairs would freeze....

...and people got frostbite if they wore earrings outside...

And then one day, I was late to my 7:45am class,

so I slapped on some mascara literally on my way out the door...

And this girl from Texas didn't factor all together

that because Rexburg is relentlessly windy,

gusts of wind would most certainly

be making my eyes water,

and I would be blinking instinctively...

and if one does such a thing with wet mascara

in -20 degree weather,

their eyelashes will freeze together.

After a thorough freak-out,

and rubbing my eyes to warm up the mascara,

so that I could open them again,

I arrived to class looking like a racoon,

and thought to myself,

"Why ON EARTH would anyone want to live here??"

"Why does anyone like the winter??!"

...

And that was roughly 8 years ago,

but it was pretty traumatic, so it stuck with me

and I've never reeeeally enjoyed winter since.

But a wise friend of mine told me recently

that although winter is not his favorite,

he's set a goal to enjoy each winter more than the last.

And I figure since I have been hating on winter for years,

it can only go up from here!

So here's to the best winter yet.

I do love scarves and jackets and boots,

so that's a start

PS-I recognize it's still technically fall,

but it's snowing outside, dangit.

It's winter.