I ventured out today and I just HAD to blog about it.

I'll be the first to admit that I am a huge pansy when it comes to cold weather. So not my favorite. In fact, being cold makes me downright angry.

What's so funny (or not so funny) about that is that I was born in Colorado, chose to go to school in Idaho (Rexburg happens to be one of the 3 coldest places in the nation...), and then moved to Utah to live and continue my education. Twenty seven years later (that's not sarcasm or an exaggeration - that's for real) I got the clue that me and cold weather are not friends and moved my frozen bones to Arizona. And then, just as I was feeling thawed out and pleasantly sun-baked, I moved to Ukraine. UKRAINE...

Ha ha ha. I laugh at my own idiocy.

SO, it's a good thing I came here for my family and not for the weather. Or the scenery or pleasant people. Ok, I take back the scenery bit - the little churches and cathedrals are amazing and there is some beautiful landscape here. But this should go to show just how much I love my fam...

Anyway, being as cold as it is and knowing that cold and I broke up long ago, I don't go out much. And when I do, we're in the car, safely bundled up with warm vents in our faces and out of the bitterness. So today was something new. I was feeling like I needed a little "fresh air" and had an errand to run so I put my layers (upon layers) on and ventured out. And this is what I experienced/witnessed/felt:

• My crazy good balance skills that I'm learning from Wii Fit (ha ha, I just had to throw that in there) came in very handy on the sidewalks that are covered in 6 inches of pure ice.
• My nose started running (that happens to everyone in the cold, right?...) and so I sniffed to keep it all contained. Yeah... bad idea. Both of my nostrils stuck to the inside of my nose for a couple seconds and I kind of panicked and had to take a deep breath through my mouth (BRRRR! Wake up lungs!!). I now have first hand experience with what it feels like to have icicles hanging from your nose hairs. I didn't think it was really true. But oh, believe me, it is.
• A lady was out with what looked like a two or three-year-old. But they weren't in a stroller or holding her hand, walking. Nope, they were sitting on a sled. She was pulling her kid down the sidewalk on a sled. In these treacherous conditions - genius.
• I ran into my brother-in-law on the sidewalk on his way back from a meeting. He had just been waiting at the bus stop where this crazy old babushka asked him where his hat was (he wasn't expecting to be out in the cold) and he told her he had left it at the office. She proceeded to yell at him and ask him if he was crazy. You'd be surprised at how many strangers will yell at you for being improperly clad. And don't think I'm kidding when I say yell.
• I almost fell/slipped about five times. But thanks to my cat-like reflexes (and my crazy good balance skills...), neither my wrists nor my butt will be feeling any repercussions from the unkempt and much neglected Ukrainian sidewalks. 
• What should have taken about 30-40 minutes roundtrip ended up being a very slow-paced hour where I found myself feeling very silly and old-ladyish. But what it also turned out to be was an hour of truly eventful and totally blog-worthy experiences.

I hope this doesn't sound like one huge complaint about the cold (even though I still loathe it), because that was not my intent at all. My venturing out today was quite eventful (here's where you can say "Wow, she doesn't get out much," and it wouldn't even be sarcastic or untrue) and I was smiling the whole way there and back.

Who would have thought - me, of all people, smiling in 12 degree weather?