sweatin to the oldies

the weather is temporarily crisp here in the land of boiled peanuts and it makes me think of the few things i actually like about cold weather:

Car chapstick. i try to keep burt's bees on my person at all times with the exception of office days where i keep it in my work bag. inevitably i wear a different pair of pants and forget to do the great pocket switch before leaving the house, which leaves me to face the day without the minty sting of burt's. in the winter, my oversight is balanced out by car chapstick. try keeping chapstick in your car during an atlanta summer (or DC summer for that matter) and you'll end up with mint soup. (i know chapstick is really a brand name and not a product name, but i hate the word balm and i'm not even going to think about using the word salve)

Cooler on wheels. ever go on a road trip and try to provide all your own snacks/drinks to avoid the subtle wallet leeching of gas station prices? try doing that in the summer and you'll end up with hot brown water and melty peanut butter-chocolate chip sandwiches. As someone who used to used to think of their car as an extension of their apartment, i can really appreciate the fact that winter weather automatically converts your trunk into a mobile cooler. sodas stay bubbly and chocolate chips stay crunchy! which is great when you can't feel your toes and all you want is a perfect last bite.

Sweaters/sweatshirts. this is pretty self explanatory. i hate being cold. solution: hoodies and wool sweaters. need i say more?

Fewer coffee sweats. I like to drink my coffee on the hotter side, which can be troublesome in the summer months because I usually end up with the coffee sweats. Not familiar? Well, about a quarter of the way into my drink, my heart starts racing and I break out into a full body sweat, complete with flushed cheeks. When the weather gets cooler I have to work harder to produce this effect, usually by drinking more than one cup of coffee in the span of a couple of hours. I try to avoid this if at all possible because too much coffee equals the dreaded sweats AND an intense desire to hit something to relieve the caffeine induced anxiety.

the list of things that i detest about winter is about 3 times as long. looking on the bright side -winters in Atlanta are mild and short lived so I can save the griping for when I move to nyc and can afford nothing more than a cardboard box in the back alley of a chinese restaurant.