Skating at night sounds like the quintessential Canadian pass-time. Truthfully, I haven't done it in a few years. However, our friends recently made a skating rink on their property in the country and invited us over.

I wore skates that were too small. My friend wore skates that used to belong to her grandfather. The boys kept falling over into the snow drifts. Us girls went in early for hot chocolate.

Note: Lest anyone think I am adept at graphic design, I think it's worth mentioning that it's always Mike that makes the fancy post titles for me. Gracias, Mike!

Winnipeg winters are known for being bitterly cold. While some relish all the snow sports that the season provides, I much prefer holing up inside with a book (never the sporty type!). However, this winter has been unlike any I can remember. It's been unseasonably warm (which is slightly worrisome, I suppose), with temperatures hovering around zero celsius. Rather than cursing my existence every time I set out the door (even running between the house and the car is horrendous when it's -40° C), I've been enjoying my walks to school and around our neighbourhood.

And to top it all off, we've also woken up to hoar frost the last three mornings. "Hoar" is an Old English adjective for showing signs of age. Apparently the trees and bushes look elderly with their white hair. I think that's a beautiful (and apt!) description!


Last winter (2011).
The winter before that (2010).

I'm not a winter gal, but I do love early winter snow falls. It's not too cold and getting all cozy inside still feels like a novelty. A cute beanie and scarf seem like fun fashion accessories rather than absolute necessities in combating frost bite. And we can pump all the Christmas music we want!

I know photos of succulents are nothing new, but I happen to like these little guys quite a lot. They're a nice pop of green when I look out at the dreary (and often dark) window. I just hope we don't kill them, as we are sometimes prone to do.

On another note, I started my teaching block yesterday. So last night, I read journal entries, lesson planned & ate skittles. Brain food, you know.

It's always a bit of adjustment getting used to the dark after Daylight Savings. I miss those warm, bright summer evenings more than ever.

However, my friend Kari recently made an excellent obersvation about the cooler weather. She said, "In summer, you feel obligated to spend all your time outside. In winter, it's totally okay to just stay inside."

Absolutely true. Bring on the fires, scrabble games, moccasin slippers, and HBC blankets to snuggle in!

*Did anyone notice the "?" tile? ...it's from our engagement! :)

We were in the mood for a picnic, but unfortunately temperatures in Manitoba do not allow for that right now. So we decided to wine (sparkling apple juice) & dine at the plant conservatory instead. It was warm, humid and we were surrounded by lush vegetation - pseudo summer perfection.

We were happily enjoying our tasty little lunch until a security guard told us we had to leave. We'll just have to be more sneaky next time.

More photos available here.

*In regards to the link: I'm always unsure about how many photos to add in a collage. Bigger, longer collages offer more information and details, but I'm afraid they might be boring. Smaller, shorter ones provide less information and detail, but are easier to glance at. Do you have a preference? I've been thinking of keeping the collages shorter, but linking each post to a flickr set with more photos. I would love to know what you think.

playing around on the frozen beach after our tasty lunch.

while it's fun (and slightly dangerous!) to do a handstand on a frozen lake, i'm ready for spring. we're presently experiencing quite the cold snap (one of many). however, happy weekend activities made the freezing cold more bearable. and it's almost march!

weekend highlights: we played the most hilarious game with friends, went to go see the king's speech (definitely deserved best picture), i had a lovely breakfast with a friend, we signed up for our wedding registry (tiring, but fun), and spent yesterday evening honeymoon planning (me) and wedding website building (mike).

on monday, mike and i took a little trip to gimli, a small beach town about an hour outside of winnipeg. the aforementioned beach is obviously frozen over right now, but it's still a nice change of scenery. it also gave us ample opportunity to day dream about the upcoming summer. mike and i grabbed some food and then took a stroll on the frozen lake (photos of that later).

here we are with our tasty lunch. and yes, it is apparently possible my face to morph from normal - ugly in less than a minute (and put on my coat and glasses while i'm at it!).

hope you have a great weekend, friends.

thank you for all your sweet words + well wishes! mike + i  loved reading each one!

i fully intended to have the proposal post pulled together for this morning, but the weekend just slipped through my fingers. as soon as i get the chance to edit the photos + video, i will throw them up here! i'm so excited to share wedding details on the blog as we go along. i can already let you know that the wedding is going to be august 6th (this summer!) and that i'm going wedding dress shopping this weekend! wish me luck - i'm hoping it isn't a long, drawn out process.

on a completely different note, here are some film photos from a sunny, snowy saturday in winnipeg, taken by mike with his pentax k1000.  while winter is not my favourite season, pretty winter photos help me appreciate it in at least some small way. thank you, mike!

it is not often that a cold, wintery day coaxes me outside, but it managed to yesterday afternoon.

despite the frozen toes and fingers, i'm quite glad we went out.

as temperatures have begun to dip plummet into the -30ºCs (-20s ºF), mike and i have been revisiting our travel photos and videos from the last year with reckless abandon (him - thailand + laos. me - greece + turkey). a beautiful, sunny, but ultimately depressing escape. why again, do we live in this freezing wasteland? why are we not wandering around outdoor markets, reading books on sandy beaches and racing around on scooters in asia? oh right... that's supposed to happen after i graduate.

in any case, allow me to offer you one of my favourite escapes as of late - a video mike put together of his time in asia last march. it's beautiful. feel free to get lost in it for awhile, but don't hate me if it makes you even more bitter and depressed about the winter chill...

*song: anoraak remix of 'psychic chasms' by neon indian = perfect accompaniment.

asian adventure from Mike Severloh on Vimeo.

*we have also been dealing with the cold by plowing through seasons of lost. another pleasant yet dangerous diversion.

well, hello there winter.

you're very pretty. from inside.

xo

winter is beautiful but i'm ready for it to be over...

 truly. even if march is typically pretty wintry in winnipeg, it still SOUNDS a bit more spring-like. can't wait!

a few weeks ago, i ventured out into the frosty winter wonderland of winnipeg and took these pictures with my digital camera & the following pictures with dear holga. i love love love how these turned out - they are just so stark & moody! unfortunately the most recent holga rolls have been a bit of a disappointment AGAIN - but i guess as long as i get pictures like these even once and awhile, i'll be happy...

india in a snowstorm.

apparently the ideal time to go out for indian is right after an enormous blizzard. we were able to enjoy the kitsch décor and delicious buffet in complete solitude. excellent!

perhaps i am a bear...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"perhaps i am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me." - anne morrow lindbergh

i hear you anne. all i wanted to do today was turn on some bon iver, curl up and read her fearful symmetry...

parfois, je suis cusinière

this morning i decided that it was high time to end my tv marathon.

this past week i have watched more episodes of lost + 30 rock than i care to admit.

(the drama/comedy rotation keeps things interesting...

maybe too interesting!)

so i rolled out of bed + did some serious grocery shopping.

i spent the.whole.day in the kitchen whipping up the following:

-sweet potato fries + roasted garlic dip

-tzatzki

(not that hard of a recipe, but for some reason i have never actually made it myself?)

-the best oatmeal cookies known to mankind

(more on those later) 

-french onion soup

(à la julia child)

oh soupe à l’oignon...

is there anything better on a chilly winter night? 

every once in a while i would glace out the kitchen window and see this:

oh winter. you're not all bad.

winter project.

québec|jan08

"in the depth of winter
i finally learned that within me
there lay an
invincible summer."
albert camus

krista + me|grand beach|sept09

while i'm feeling much more benevolent towards the snow now

than i did on october 9th,

i am still struggling to find that invincible summer within me.

i think it's going to be my winter project to uncover it.

wish me luck!

xo

hello, climate change

{picture taken at grand beach}
september 20th, 2009{photo taken in kd's back lane}
october 9th, 2009

three weeks:
from playing on the beach in bikinis to scraping off the car in parkas.

oh dear.