These are a few of my favorite things...

It is a very cold day today and I miss the woods. It has snowed the past couple of days and it would be perfect weather for a nice winter hike except for the cold.  So, because I am restless and chilly and longing for warmth, I will share a list of things that keep me warm during these times:

Earl Grey Tea Lattes. I make a cup of Twinings Earl Grey tea, add some sugar, (I am usually a honey with tea sort of person, but for some reason sugar is better with earl grey...) vanilla and milk and it is the perfect late afternoon/evening beverage. It goes especially well with your favorite reading chair, a pair of thick socks and a mystery (currently reading Cocaine Blues which is the series that Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is based off of).

 *My Favorite Nook

My faux fur blanket. Seriously. It is the softest thing my skin has ever felt except for maybe the bunny rabbit my sister had when I was in middle school that always made me sneeze. Fortunately, this blanket does not make me sneeze (and I never accidentally drop it and feel really bad when it runs into things because it is dazed...)

Vanilla oil after bath spray. It smells like toasted vanilla beans and feels amazing after a shower. I used to use lotion, which always felt so cold and goopy after a shower, but now I swear by oils which seem to moisturize my skin much better and better yet, never seem cold on my skin. This particular one has been my favorite of those I have tried.

Doing puzzles with the Boy: Lately the boy and I have been trying our hand at 500 and 1000 piece puzzles. When we first got Netflix, pretty much any night that we were both getting home late and eating dinner late, etc..we would just go straight to snuggling and watching Scandal or White Collar at the end of the day. Now we switch that up with venturing into the dining room where we have had one puzzle or another set up for the past three weeks. We pour some wine, put on a record (usually either Neil Young's Harvest Moon or Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits) and hunker down. It is amazing, sometimes we get lost for hours and barely even speak. But it is so nice to work side by side with him. And also, I really, really like puzzles.

 

*Just one of our accomplishments so far...

So, until Spring comes, until we all thaw out and we feel the warm sun on our faces, I will continue to hibernate and drink as much tea, read as many books and put as many puzzles together as humanly possible!