you know it's cold when...

photo from here

you know it's cold when...

you start digging around in the bins under the bed to find a pair of sweatpants

all you want to eat is soup, and all you want to drink is hot chocolate or coffee or hot cider

it takes extra long to microwave your leftovers because your plates are bone cold

you plug in the heating pad to warm up the bed

you wear pants and a long sleeved shirt AND socks (gasp) to bed

your dog, who normally is all sprawled out, is completely curled up and has her tail over her nose

the water in your car tastes like it came from the refrigerator 

the gum in your car is so hard it almost shatters your teeth

that's how cold it was on Sunday. yesterday felt slightly warmer. I mean, really... we should be eased into fall, not slapped in the face by it.

On a completely different note - I thought I'd share with you a little tidbit from my day at work. As a journalist you often receive stories that you're not particularly passionate about. Every week one of the features writers does a story for our Flavor section. We write about a food trend or a specific type of food or how to host a certain type of party. I've written about cold soups, specialty cheeses, what to do with leftover garden veggies, etc. I enjoy writing these stories - I like food - but let's be honest. They aren't worthy of a Pulitzer. A co-worker and I were commiserating about this earlier:

me: you know what boosts my confidence as a writer? stories about muffins. snort.

her: oh man it's really hard not to laugh out loud right now! I'm sure your muffin exposé will be phenomenal.

but that's exactly how I feel when people ask about my stories when I'm writing Flavor…"chips and dip" was particularly traumatic.