I am hating the winter at this moment!

I never minded the winter back when I lived in L.A. 

I never really minded it all that much when I lived in Nor. Cal, either. 

Sure it was a bit colder than the winters I was used to down south, but it was tolerable and it allowed me to live out my obsession with scarves and hats :)

AND THEN I MOVED...

Now, some of you might be asking yourself (because I know you all really care about my life), where in the world did she move to that warrants this hatred for winter? Alaska? Siberia? 

ITALY

I moved to the land of eternal sunshine, la bella vita...

...and cold, snowy winters!

When I tell people it snows out here the reaction I often get is, "You are so lucky, I would love to live where it snows."

REALLY?!?!?

I used to be one of those people, so I get it. I love the snow... I think it is beautiful and I see the romanticism in it, especially since I come from the land where, at Christmas, visions of palm trees dance in our heads. 

So, imagine my shock when I moved to an alpine town in Northern Italy and was smacked with the reality of what living in snow really means.

It means: really freaking cold temperatures, dealing with slush when it starts to melt, having to deal with ice on the floor when all that slush re-freezes at night or next time it snows. It means doubling the amount of time it takes you to walk from point A to point B. It means praying to God that you don't slip and a)make a fool of yourself and b) break something (this really does happen! My roommate broke her ankle this way 2 years ago and I know of many more injuries friends have gotten due to snow). It means having to put on 15 million layers to go to the corner store to buy eggs when you realize you forgot them and they are a main ingredient in the meal you are preparing. Basically, it's just a pain in the ass!

Snow is great the first two or three days, you can run around in it, play, make snow angels, have snow ball fights.

Snow is fun if you like to ski or snowboard. 

I have said it for years, "Snow is great to look at from the inside of your nice warm living room, but it's horrible to have to function in."

Anyway, this post seems to have turned more into reasons why I don't like snow and not so much about winter, so let me get to the point I had planned on making when I sat down to write:

I have a love/hate relationship with winter!

I LOVE the ambiance, Christmas, my birthday, everyone just seems to be cheery!

I HATE the fact that I get so sick during the winter. 

That's not to say that I don't get sick during other periods of the year, but usually during the months of November (usually only the last half), December and January I know it will be a stream of colds, and at some point a full week of fever and what I feel is imminent death. 

Sure, I used to get sick in California, I will never forget the year I got strep on Christmas, but I never used to get this sick this often, until I moved to Italy! 

I am currently sitting here a coughing, sneezing, runny nosed, watery eyed mess and I blame you, Italian winter!

*I'm just realizing that most of my plans in the foreseeable future deal with snowy, harsh winters. Crap!