freezing ass cold

Wow, winter has officially arrived. When I woke up this morning, it was -19 outside my kitchen window.I am gonna be honest, it arrived on Sunday. But I didn't leave the house on Sunday, or on Monday because 1) Why on earth would I? and 2) Ezra was home sick yesterday and we stayed inside (obviously). Today, Jamie worked from home for several hours so I could get some work done, and when I finished a little early, I used my time to head over to the Mississippi River. I wanted to see if I could capture some images that visually communicated the cold. Honestly, I think I failed a little.I mean, these look cold. Maybe chilly. But not as cold as it was when I shot them (-3 degrees and windy).I also wanted to head over to the water falls to capture some of the ice, but I just didn't have time. So I'll have to save that one for later :)Anyway, I know many of my readers are from Minnesota / Wisconsin, but I also know many of you are not (hello Californians!). So I wanted to try to tell you what it's like to live in weather this cold. Now, I want to be clear. I am not complaining.These frigid temperatures are what keep my housing prices down and let me live in this amazing city at a fabulous lifestyle. But. That said, there are some weird things that happen when the temps dip this low that maybe you haven't thought about. Like:• All your nose hairs freeze when you step outside• The garage door stops working sometimes. Sometimes not. You never know.• We can't use our dishwasher (the plumbing is on an exterior wall) until 3 pm or so, when we hit a "warm spell" above 5 degrees ensuring the pipes aren't close to freezing.• The dog begins standing on 3 legs when she pees (rotating which paws have to touch the ground).• Windows near the humidifiers (a must in these winters) get frost on the inside.• Your sunglasses get foggy from your breath when you're bundled up to your nose, but then the frost freezes.• Same thing with the camera. When shooting those images up there, my breath frosted the viewfinder on my camera which then froze. Had to scrape it free to see.• My car stereo starts sounding "tinny." This goes away when it warms up. I have no idea what causes it.Do you also live here in the tundra? What are some things that the cold changes for you? Tell me in the comments -- this stuff fascinates me!For your internet shares of the day, Jamie and I binge watched The Expanse last weekend and cannot wait for another new episode tonight. It's beautiful and has an amazing cast. Go watch that trailer and enjoy!And this article on food styling is wonderful. I love hearing behind-the-scenes on how they get beautiful food photos! Plus? It's from The Guardian. So you know I love it.