HOW TO DRESS FOR A NEW YORK CITY WINTER

I have a system when it comes to winter coats. Depending on the decade of degrees outside (you know, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties), and varying based on the level of activity I'll be attempting, while also taking into account humidity, wind chill, and cloud cover. It is highly scientific. I hang my coats in cold-level order in my lockers. I have complicated IF HAT / THEN SCARF algorithms. I even made you a cool chart!

(Not kidding you, I've been saying for years that somebody was going to make a temperature/coat chart for me and that it would change my life, and now look! I was the one that did it! This feels like a Harry Potter Patronus Time Travel Moment. Yes? It was me all along!)

See, in New York you live and you die by your outerwear. It is not cut and dried, either. It is fully possible to stand outside for just a few hours on Thanksgiving morning when it's 55 degrees out in a warm coat and gloves and still freeze to death. It is entirely likely that, on a 20-degree day, you could comfortably spend an entire afternoon walking around and not even flirt with frostbite. 

And now I will impart unto you everything I have learned in my 4+ years of all-weather bipedal transportation.

***

60-45 Degrees F

Chilly

Jacket weather! Denim, Leather, Light Wool, Cotton

Scarf? Hat? Sure. Decorative mostly. Likely you'll get over warm.

I RECOMMEND /

one | two | three | four | five | six

***

45-30 Degrees F

Cold

Layers with your leather, woolens under your woolens.

I RECOMMEND /

one |  two | three

PLUS RAIN /

one | two | three | four

***

30-20 Degrees F

Pretty Damn Cold

You need a hat. And a coat that isn't messing around. 

I RECOMMEND /

one | two | three | four | five  

***

20 F or Below

DEFCON Level Midnight Freezing

We're talking Full Body Mummy Puffer here.

I RECOMMEND /

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven

***

Any Colder Than That

What the hell are you thinking!? Just don't go outside!

***

Other NYC Winter-Ready tips:

HeatTech
This stuff is magic. You get it at Uniqlo. It makes the best long-sleeved undershirt, and their gloves are the only gloves I ever buy.

Do I Really Need A Scarf?
Probably not. In all my years of winter dressing, the scarf has always been my most fashionable yet most awkward to carry around when I overheat element.

Talk To Me About Socks
Don't make the mistake of leaving the house in ankle socks. On a real cold day, trouser socks are suicide. Wool, wool, wool. Wool!

The Importance of Moisturizers
My hands get so wrecked here in the winter. You're gonna wanna to ride the subway, you're gonna wanna use the hand sanitizer. You're gonna wanna use the hand sanitizer? There are so many great options, our fall-back is always this one. I shove a tube into every bag, pocket, you name it. Also good on chapped lips + cheeks in a pinch.

The Ear / Chin Conundrum
When attempting to travel light on an iffy-level day, and you're unsure how cold you may or may not get, remember this: at least one of these face parts must be equipped for warmth. Which one you choose? Ah. That is the question. (I always choose ears.)

Don't Bother With That Umbrella
Hooded rain slicker or you're soaked.

lazy blogger's photo credit: all via pinterest

IN WHICH WE DISCUSS RESOLUTIONS

(should one of my resolutions be to keep this mirror more clean?) (probably)

Happy New Year! The dentist appointments have been scheduled. We're knocking them back one at a time. I'm seeing my fertility specialist in a few weeks to re-discuss strategy (one of these days remind me to write a post about how trying to get pregnant while fertile-challenged is basically just solving a rubics cube of scheduling). I've spackled together a cleaning schedule that'll keep this place spotless without depressing me overly much (vacuuming! somehow vacuuming is the worst!). I'm making it to my yoga class here . . . one of these days. I feel really good about things! It feels like January! Fresh starts! I have even been making a list of goals for myself! I almost never make New Years resolutions for myself, but this year I've been really into it for some reason.

What's that you say? You want me to share these resolutions with you? Well, hey! Let me share these resolutions with you!

ONE // This is the year that I am going to master Meal Planning. Capital M Capital P. No no, I mean it. My goal is to have a healthy dinner that I prepare, from scratch, on the table at a reasonable hour, at least three times a week. Brandon has requested that these not cost an arm and a leg, which means, sigh, no lobster (I am allergic to lobster, do you believe this!?). Money-saving, healthy dinners, I am aware that this is the simplest and most basic task a stay-at-home-mother should have mastered already. I know, I know it. We'll let it go.

TWO // Continue to simplify. Between the capsule experiment I did last year, the everyday challenge that is living calmly + peacefully in this open loft space of ours, and our slower, more holistic lifestyle in Brooklyn, I've gotten a little bit addicted to simplifying, organizing, and living with less. Airy and lovely. I hope to extend into other areas of my life as well. And you know, it feels like an accomplishment, the level of peace + calm I feel every time I walk into my home, and it should. I'm going to take more pride in the housekeeping that I do, because it matters. For a hot minute there I'd forgotten to make room on my list of acceptable satisfaction sources for nest fluffing.

THREE // I have a book coming out this year! So I'm putting my head down and going to try and focus on, well . . . that stuff. Like this blog for example! For the first time in my decade of blogging (ouch), I'm attempting an editorial calendar. Geez that sounds nerdy. Basically this means that every time I walk around and think to myself "hey, that'd make a great blog post!" that I actually make it into a great blog post. Hopefully great. But you never know. I don't know why this seems so daunting to me. It feels like eating cheese after finding out I'm not lactose intolerant, when really I wasn't ever lactose intolerant to begin with, more that I've been lactose . . . intimidated? Also. There are things I've missed writing that you may or may not have missed reading: like my Forever 21 posts. I try not to shop there, not even for fast fashion reasons, but also because of, well, flood gates / open, yadda yadda yadda, but I so miss writing those posts. They were so much fun. Should I bring them back? Would that seem overly disingenuous? Or maybe JUST RIGHT disingenuous? ;) And link roundups to interesting things I've been reading.  Remember when I used to do link roundups on Fridays with my Babble posts? And beauty posts. Topical things. Stand-alone essays. Gosh, I've been lazy in here. Here goes nothing.

FOUR // This is going to be the year we tackle eczema, so help me Bob! This will require torturous Aquaphor application before bed and a bit of experimenting with our diet during the day. It honestly sounds like the hugest headache to me, but Huck! You don't know it yet but your life is going to be so much radder without eczema! (Gosh, why are boys so happy living with the dumbest irritations rather than put some effort into something? Only four and already he thinks he knows everything. I will have my way on this one, you turkey!)

FIVE // Move More. Since moving to Brooklyn I tend to feel far less stir crazy than I did when I was living in Manhattan. Which is wonderful! But I'm losing steam on the staircases lately, and the days when I come home sore from having the city underfoot are lately few and far between. I've realized I miss walking, and the time it affords me to think things through and marinate on stuff. I have plenty of reasons to be out, I just need to remind myself to go out and stay out once I'm there. Take advantage of this city while I have it! You know, buy the groceries in person rather than ordering them online. Like today! Today I am going to go TO THE DRUGSTORE to get my Vitamin D supplements, rather than go to Amazon Prime. Pats all over my back right now. 

SIX // Take a biology class. This is because, some day, when my baby period is over (not yet! NOT YET!) I hope to get my Lactation Consultant Certification and spend all my days helping boobies and babies make magic. It'll take approximately 500 years to get there at the rate I'm taking it, which is really okay with me. I'm super hoping to be too distracted by a baby sometime soon to get around to it, so, just the one online biology class. That'll do. 

SEVEN // Write more. I want to sit myself down and write about the day I just had, every night, before bed. (I also want to pick up some fiction writing but I am not making that a resolution.)

Whew! Are you making any resolutions this year? It feels like a resolution kind of year, doesn't it? If you're making any I want to know yours too! Spill it so we can all remember the things we forgot we needed to work on this year. :)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS, RON

Only a week or so late but hey! Here's a little bit of our Christmas in Utah.

For Christmas Utah gave us snow. And snow and snow and snow! It was lovely. The mountains were bare when we landed but by the time we woke up Christmas morning, everything had been covered in a freshly dusted topping of white. It was pretty magical. The boys went sledding and the girls did jigsaw puzzles. My niece Morgan filled us in on her secret for 45-minute showers: she brings her iPhone into the shower with her in a ziplock bag, tapes it to the wall, and then watches an episode of Parks and Rec while she washes her hair. Right? I'm still basking in the genius of this idea.

This is Brandon. Brandon is my husband. It's funny how after 11 years of marriage one can still discover new things about one's husband and his family. Such as: how deep an aversion to planning in advance some people can actually have. You know by-the-seat-of-their-pants types, right? Change-your-mind-but-forget-to-mention-it-to-anyone types? I'm finally getting into the swing of it, learning not to ask, "So what's the plan today?" and just paying attention to the subtle cues and rolling with it. One day, someday, I swear I'll be so chill. I'll be, like, the chillest person on the planet. All thanks to Brandon, the chill despot. I finally got past the thing where my inner planner goes on overdrive to compensate for the lack of planning, and now I'm like, sooo almost there.

Anyway, inflatable reindeer ring toss games.

My niece Jaycey got a Polaroid for Christmas that she instantly put to good use, terrorizing all of us when we least expected it. :) I rounded them up while she was out of the room and really looked at all of them, all of the faces in the family, the aunts and uncles and grandparents cousins, and I realized, you know what, these are an AMAZING keepsake! Ultra candid and horribly embarrassing and just so human, you know? I think I'm gong to need to remember this for next year on Christmas morning. I snapped a quick photo of our three so I could always remember. Brandon looks especially good here I think. :)

Huck was in little boy heaven on earth with his cousins. He idolizes them and they were so, so, so sweet with him. They wore him out clean good, and I got all the exhausted big baby snuggles a girl could want at night. That's some heavy duty mom heaven on earth right there. We are in cousin withdrawal now. Brooklyn is in stark shortage of cousins, somebody needs to fix that for us.

When in Utah there are a certain number of things one must do in order to fully experience the Utah in all the Utah glory. 

FIRST: Eat at Cafe Rio, at least thrice. The pork salad. 

THE PORK MOTHER EFFING SALAD.

SECONDLY: Fondle at least one of Courty's boobs. I don't know, you guys. This was such an awkward moment for my chest. My girls finally realized in that moment the full extent of their breastly inadequacy, and they still haven't recovered. I'd told them! I mean, I knew they sucked! (HAR HAR) I don't know how they called themselves boobs all this time, when THAT was parading around needing actual support and things. But, anyway. 

I dreamed about nursing that night. It was very Freudian.

THIRDEST: Try whatever currently trendy food situation is happening in Provo. It was a Dirty Diet Dr Pepper double header! In a Swig vs Sodalicious showdown, I vote the Sodalicious sugar cookie the superior sugar cookie. Though both tasted mostly like sawdust. #wompwomp. Swig's DDDP was more carbonated than Sodalicious's, so take from that what you will, and soda accordingly.

LAST OF ALL: Boardgames, the national past time of the Holbrook clan. There were lots of board games going around. Most of the Holbrook classic board games are above Huck's skill level, though for his dad's sake he managed to get really into Candy Land for a minute. His dad may live to regret it. I think these photos of an edamame-fueled Chutes + Ladders game rather depict the thrill of victory and agony of defeat quite nicely, actually.

Chutes & Ladders is a pretty cruel game, yo. 

(Penguin cheerleaders.)

And then we had MORE SNOW. 

And it didn't strand us this time. 

My father-in-law's assortment of funny Russian hats for the win. :)

GENIUS KOREAN BEAUTY FINDS

photo credits: one | two | three | four 

I was having a coffee date with some friends in Koreatown just before Christmas last year (hee hee, last year? that's still always funny to me for some reason) when we got on the subject of Korean make up. The Koreans are known for having their own specific make up styles and really amazing products, they practically invented the BB cream (well, a German invented it, but the Koreans took it from there), there's even something called Korean brows. You're going to lose hours here, I'm sorry. But as a fellow dark-haired, yellow undertone type of lady, let me tell you. I can appreciate. I've been obsessed with reading Korean make up reviews on Amazon. But what I didn't realize is there's actually a shop in KTown that's stocked all these products all along! Cue my geeky excitement.

Koreatown is very small, just one city block on 32nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. It's the best spot to find japchae and bibimbap and after living in Seoul as a kid, I always get a bit of a thrill when I'm down there, but somehow I'd passed a million times but never noticed the tiny The Face Shop tucked in between all the Korean BBQ restaurants. My friends gave it all these rave reviews, so immediately after polishing off the last of our Korean doughnuts, I booked it to the shop for a little poke-about. The place is really fun. Think: crazy magazines. I get such a kick out of Korean boy bands. Anyway few weeks later and I am happy to report: totally lives up to the hype. 

I picked up this CC cream in Natural Beige while I was there and oh hell, it has thrilled me to no end. This stuff! My skin keeps getting all these compliments, I swear it's going to get a big head soon. (I also bought a tube of BB cream, though I haven't loved it quite as much.)

Another big hit for me is this Korean brow pencil in dark brown. It seriously may have changed my life. My hair is so dark it's almost black. It's been the bane of my existence to find a dark brown that is ashy enough to match my hair. But leave it to the Koreans! Thank your, Korea!

Here's a shot of the stuff in action, snapped from the roof of our building this afternoon while Huck ate all the fresh snow he could stuff in his mouth. (Snow day!) I've been using the CC cream as an under-eye concealer, and the pencil to fill out the outside ends of my brows (#shortbrowproblems).

Anyway I'm no Korean model but that ain't bad!

Record number of uses of the word Korea in this post? ;)

THE VERY BEST OF TWENTY FOURTEEN

Check us out all sparkling and new in 2015!

As is customary at this time of year, I cobbled together a few of our favorites from our annual Christmas photo album for the grandparents + laid them all here lovingly for your browsing pleasure. As I scrolled through just now I thought to myself, just as I think to myself every year: Geez crap. What a blessing it is to have a record of all these nutsballs things we come up with to do around here, and how grateful I am for the blogging that I do in here, in whatever form it happens, and for whatever reason it does, because in the end it's my people that I'm preserving. And I just think that's really neat.

So let's see . . . January in Portland, March in New York. Manhattan in July, Brooklyn in August. Christmas in Utah, New Years at home. 2014 has seen us all over the place. It was a wild year. And while I didn't totally land all the jumps I tried to make this year--I didn't make a baby, though I did make a book; We didn't get a tropical vacation, but we did hit the lake--I feel like I managed to pull all these extra weird tricks that I now can't imagine our life without. Are all of the years going to be this much bonkers and this much work?! I mean, obviously, yes, they are. The thought of it makes me laugh in disbelief and feel giddy with excitement, too.

So I got ya the story of our 2014 in photos, after the jump.
Your scroller fingers are about to get real tired, maybe you wanna run for a soda first? I'll wait.
Okay. Hit it.

The end! I officially declare 2014 CLOSED! 

Whew.

Many thanks to Justin Hackworth for the fire escape shot and to Emma Jane Kepley for the Gap + Christmas card photos. The rest be thanks to me, yo! Oh, and Brandon. And Ikea. Ok.