Earlier this month, I was wishing for snow and a “real” Michigan winter because it had been unseasonably warm and we didn’t even get to have a white Christmas. Oh, how I wish I could take those thoughts back. I forgot how brutal it is when it is literally painful to walk outside and you can’t run to your car because it is too icy and dangerous.
Spray Tan
I love getting a custom spray tan from Grand City Tanning. My natural skin tone is translucent so I am also worried about looking like an orange when getting a spray tan. The specialists at Grand City are seriously so nice and will get you a great color that looks like a real tan.
I’ve gotten the “complete tan” and the upgraded “ultimate tan” and the ultimate tan lasted about 2 days longer. I recently got an ultimate tan on a Wednesday which still looked perfect for a wedding on Saturday. I get fully undressed because I don’t want lines and it is never weird with the lady spraying my tan, I promise.
Plan a Vacation
The anticipation of planning a trip can be better than the trip itself according to this NYT article, and I have to agree. Dreaming of a trip that I will take to escape the bitter cold is a welcome relief when scraping ice off my car.
Find 1 Thing You Love About Winter
I love a few things about winter, but there are many times I think “why do I even live here when I hate winter so much?”. It is helpful to remind yourself why you like living where you live.
I like that there are no bugs in winter; I like how snow looks when it’s falling outside. I like how cozy being inside with my fireplace on can be. I like living close to family; I like using snow as an excuse to stay in sometimes. I like the variation of seasons and the coziness of huge knitted sweaters.
Focusing on the positive aspects of winter is a nice distraction when you’re bundling up to avoid getting frostbite to get the mail.
Get Indoor Hobbies
When you’re snowed in, you can run out of things to do fast. While I love binge-watching shows on Netflix/Hulu/Prime/HBO, watching TV all day can be really boring. This is the perfect time to catch up on all those craft projects you were going to do “someday”, or tackle decluttering a room, or start reading books you thought you’d read but never have enough time for.
This is also a perfect time to work on computer-related projects like taking a course online to learn a new skill, starting a website or starting an Etsy store with all those craft projects you suddenly are able to finish.
Find Winter Clothes You Don’t Hate
January/February is a great time to buy Winter clothes because more stores have them on major discount to make room for Spring clothes. In Michigan, it is cold and snowy from November-April; so you will be wearing Winter clothes for 6 full months of the year. Winter is a lot easier to handle when you don’t hate your wardrobe that you have to wear 50% of the year.
If this is something you struggle with, I suggest that you do a Marie Kondo-style sorting of your wardrobe to find out what clothes you actually like.
Don’t do a capsule wardrobe though; buy as much as you can reasonably afford so you have a bunch of options to wear during the long winter. Buy sweaters that are only good for a a limited time in the winter (like Christmas sweaters and Valentines sweaters) so you feel like there is some variation in your closet.
Update Your Skin Care Routine
Now is the time to invest in better skin care because your skin is the most dry in winter. You have all that time stuck indoors, so you can add to your skin care routine and really reap the benefits by Spring. Most people I know have a separate routine for Summer vs. Winter because the weather is so dramatically different here. You’ll want to trade out your treatments with drying agents and pick out some products that will add moisture and give you more of a glow.
