Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Once Upon a Time I Realized There Are Still Four Seasons

I grew up in Virginia. Virginia is a great state commonwealth. You have the mountains, beach, and four seasons that rotate on a pretty regular 3-month schedule for the most part. I knew this to be fact for the first 18 years of my life.

I went to school and worked for a bit in South Carolina. More specifically, Columbia. Home of my beloved Gamecocks in the fabulous south. About a year-ish before I left they changed the slogan to "Famously Hot" which everyone who has lived there or driven through in July/August knows is just a nice (southern) way of saying the "Armpit of the South" Sigh. That armpit was my home for 5 years and I loved it. Shorts/t-shirts until December, then sporatic for a couple months until March when they were back in season for good? Yes, please. I'm a warm weather gal and didn't miss fall/spring too much to be honest. There was beach season and the season-that-must-not-be-named in my book.

So 5 years later I up and move to Hawai'i to pursue my dream of weathergirl. After discovering there isn't much challenge to memorizing "Highs in the 80s and Lows in the 70s with a chance of some light scattered showers" all year so I moved on from that dream. Hawai'i weather was perfect year round except for the couple of winter months when I needed to make sure I brought a long sleeve tshirt with me because 70 degrees at night with a slight breeze can be chilly. Summer year round was also great on the wardrobe and budget since I knew my clothes would be in season all the time. No questions as to how warmly I needed to dress in the morning before work. Just sifting through the cleanest pile of clothes and hoping that I didn't wear the same outfit already that week although to be honest none of my coworkers would've noticed. Except one for sure. But she's great and would just laugh at me then tell me to sit down while she straightened my hair because we had a work function that evening and I needed to be presentable.

Well now I've been in Colorado for 10 months and this month (especially the past week or two) has confirmed something that had become more of a myth. Seasons are still here. All of them. This month I was shocked to discover that autumn/fall was still a "thing." By this point, I had just assumed that fall no longer existed and it was merely a "Starbucks (long) holiday" to give reason for bringing back the pumpkin spice latte (PSL because I'm hip) so everyone can post pictures to facebook/instagram/bathroom stalls of their Starbucks cup (allegedly) full of PSL or other fall specialty drink. Yes I love colorful leaves and pumpking anything as much as the next person (unless the next person doesn't like those things, then the next next person...unless that pers--you get the idea...I'm just glad I caught myself before it got out of control) but there are still things that I'm not the hugest fan of.



Autumn is just one giant Catch-22 for me it seems.
 
I love the colorful leaves and raking them into piles to jump in....but I don't love being itchy afterwards with a side of asthma.
 
I love being able to wear scarves and perhaps even a vest/cardigan...but I don't love how confused my wardrobe gets since I don't have room in my closet for all of my clothes and have to trade out based on seasons...cold in the morning, warm during the day, cold at night? Anyone who knows me knows what can happen to a perfectly cute matching outfit when I get it in my head that I know how to layer.
 
I love being toasty warm in my car because of the heat...but I don't love that I'M USING HEAT IN MY CAR IN SEPTEMBER.
 
I love pumpkin carving...but I don't love when someone looks at my lit up (amateur) carving of a Marcus Lattimore jersey and asks "what is that?"
 
I love pumpkin spice lattes...but I don't love how often it doesn't get stirred so it's all latte at the top and all the pumpkin is at the bottom and it's too sweet for me to even know where the spice comes in.
 
I love seeing the snow cap on Pike's Peak...but I don't love--oh shit. That means winter is next, isn't it? I just purchased my ski pass so I can learn what all this hype is about snow on mountains but it was also not cheap so I can't afford any Christmas gifts. Consider my learning to snowboard your gift because if all goes well it will mean less rides for me on the winter/snow complain-train.
 
 
Alrighty, time to suck it up Hudson. The weather is getting cold. You knew this would happen. You will become Colorado tough. Remember how last night it was in the 50s and you didn't put on your fleece pullover? That's because you're tough. You can survive what people say will be a make-up winter for the "mild" one you experienced last year.
 
Alright, put me in coach...into hibernation where I can snuggle up in my bed and not come out until spring.