Cold.

Things that happen when it is -3 degrees outside during the day-

Ice forms on the windows, inside your house.

Your car won't start without a little complaining.

You stand by the door before you step outside, gathering the courage and remembering that the pioneers had it worse.

Your eyes hurt instantly as soon as they hit the frigid air.

Your water bottle that you accidentally left in the car is frozen solid, as is your ipod and occasionally your iphone.

Fun fact- negative temperatures cause your phone to die within 20 minutes if left in the car.

Going to gym is so much harder, especially when you refuse to wear long pants.

The sun can be shining all day but the temperature does not go up at all. As a woman who grew up in Arizona, I do not understand this at all.

Dreading church because it means exposing your stark white legs to the elements. I have yet to build my Sunday winter wardrobe.

Basically, this cold snap better be over soon because I want my low 30's weather back, please. Low 30's = paradise. Seriously.

Let's be clear- I am not complaining. I don't mind this cold at all, because I am inside all day anyway! And even though this state is trying its hardest to make me hate it, I still love you, Montana. Your mountains are everything to me.

It's a deadly beauty, but I fall more in love every day.

Life is so fantastic.

So many news things, guys! First, I can't remember if I mentioned that my license came through, but it did finally! So i've been working full time now for 3 weeks and I absolutely love it. I'm not sure what I was doing before I had this job, because it is my life now and it's everything I have ever wanted in a job. I work Mon-Thurs and I am totally loving my 3 day weekends :) I get to sleep in past 6 am, and I can go to the gym for as long as I like, and I can watch Netflix to my hearts desire. 

Speaking of, I moved to a new place in another town that's about 12 miles from work. Not bad, by Montana standards! Haha. And I am now living with a roommate in a small two bedroom house. It is a HUGE upgrade from where I was at in Hamilton, and my roommate Meghan is very chill and easy to get along with. But we finally got internet yesterday and I hooked up the Wii to netflix so now my life is complete again. And today I bought a brand new MacBook Pro (which I am typing on right now). I wouldn't have bought it so soon but I received $500 from a contest I entered at Runner's World that I totally forgot about until they notified me that I won! So that went towards my new computer.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was amazing! I didn't go to AZ, rather I made the 4 hour drive to the Great Falls area to spend the holiday weekend with Sydnee and her family (the same family me and Chic visited in July). It was awesome! The weather was perfect the whole time, Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic, and me and Sydnee totally rocked at Black Friday shopping. I got basically a whole new wardrobe at Old Navy because everything was 50% off and it made me go a little crazy. Haha! So worth it. All in all, it was a successful and joy-filled weekend. 

Now I have two weeks until I fly home for Christmas, and then after Christmas I have a ski class that start in January that I am so so so excited for. I've only gone skiing once when I was 16 and I think I remember picking it up pretty fast. I'm in better shape now than I was when I was 16 so I think this will be a really fun experience for me and it will hopefully be the start of a new passion for me. I'm still working on getting back into running, but my feet are still a little reluctant. I'll be doing to bulk of my running on treadmills this winter (I just got a gym membership!) and I am hoping to train for a marathon this summer. I'm shooting for the Big Cottonwood Marathon in September in Utah! I did the half over a year ago and it has been my favorite race.

Well, for the next four or five months I just have to focus on staying warm and enjoying what an actual winter has to offer! I'm so happy to be in Montana and I am not sure what I did to deserve such an awesome life! :)