The Thaw

I've been busy with all kinds of living, hibernating, and magic making. But tomorrow is the first day of Spring, and it's time to write again!

Winter, you were a crazy, wonderful, frigid ass bitch. Now gtfo, xoxo.
(It snowed 4,000 inches this day.)

The snow has melted.

Have you ever looked at a sidewalk square and thought, "this is the single greatest thing I've ever seen!"? I love it-- bootprints and gum splotches and cracks where sand peeks through -- because its appearance means the most exciting thing ever: WINTER IS FINALLY FREAKIN' OVER. Yay!

To give dues, this winter was actually  awesome. It was so full, and busy, and happy, and gray. Cold as balls, but love-filled; arctic, but impressive. It was spotted with trips down to the stunning park where M & I are going to throw a party in which we consume questionable amounts of steak and martinis and then try to dance, and also get married (OH MY GOD). Having a beautiful respite in winter, when one finds herself in a city turned charcoal-sludge-gray by its daily motion, is seriously nourishing. It's amazing to visit a place with signs of life available to peruse. I love you, eagles & trees!

What really made this winter bearable: THESE BOOTS!!!!!!
Also this winter: I developed an exclamation point overuse issue.

My other getaway: giving a tiki party for some of my very favorite people on the planet, and drinking out of pineapple cups. Which, let's be real, just because Tiki Time is over doesn't mean I have not been drinking out of them still. Can you blame me? That shit is multi-seasonal.

You guys, drinking out of these makes everything so much better. IT JUST DOES.

There were snowstorms that pounded, monolith heaps of slush formed at the roadside, about 9 billion tons of snow buried my very tiny car. The shit show that is "dibs" littered the often unsuitable parking spaces in our neck of the woods with lawn chairs, sawhorses, neon carnival toys, TVs from the early 90s, and terrifying holiday decorations. During a 19" snowfall from which we were all warned to keep indoors, we trekked to a doughnut shop and found it brimming (WINTER CAN'T STOP DOUGHNUTS). Every time I got stuck in the snow, someone stepped up to help me out. I love this city.

#chiberiaproblems

Other things that rocked this winter: my coat. I love you, coat. But not as much as I love the fact that I SAW GRASS TODAY!  I also got my hair stuck in, like, 3 trees (congratulations to anyone who witnessed this). So maybe I forgot what it's like to be tall without a hood on. I am not complaining. What's a couple of branches tangled with my dome-piece next to WINTER FOREVER?

I loved you, winter in Chicago, full of wedding-planning and working and laughing and septum-piercing and adventuring and freaking out that the snow might never go away because OHMYGAWD it kept falling, and honeymoon booking, and wine drinking, and house re-decorating, and plant not-killing (this is a really big deal!), and dreaming, and freezing, and blogging a little at work, and laughing a whole hell of a lot. But one more day in the negatives, and I would've been taking my pasty ass to Barcelona until further notice.

Places I will actually be taking my pasty ass: Puerto Rico (yay honeymoon)!!! Because rainforest. And because ocean. And more importantly, because being lazy as hell on a rooftop with M. and soaking up some much needed sunshine. 

Heelllooooo Spring!!! 

Here's to packing away the winter coats, figuring out transitional dressing, piling on the pastels, and rolling in endless meadows of glorious flowers (because that's what's going to happen now, right?). 

It's good to be back. <3

Kisses, chickens!

-Ash