This is the first year that I’ve worked outside the home in quite some time.  For the past 4 years I’ve been able to basically ignore the weather and turn up the heat if I got cold!  That doesn’t work so well now, when I have to park far away and wander around campus in the cold.  In addition, my studio has moved this semester to be right across from the outside doors, and it is absolutely freezing in there most of the time.

In February, I’m going out of the country with the university.  We don’t exactly have the most frigid weather here (it gets cold, but we rarely have lingering snows or more than a few days in a row below freezing) but I have a suspicion that I’m going to freeze.  The last time I went away for this long was two years ago, when we spent 2 weeks of March in Italy.  I was not expecting how cold it was, especially in the churches and cathedrals where we performed.  There’s nothing like seeing your breath while you sing!

This time I have vowed to be prepared.  I’ve been going through my wardrobe, looking for things that will work (both for the trip and at home).  I found that I didn’t have a warm coat, so I bought this coat from London Fog:

I’m surprised by how much I like it – I never thought I would own a puffer coat, but it’s so lovely and warm!  It has a hood, and the collar is lined with soft faux chinchilla fur, which is lovely.  I didn’t like the scratchy fur that a lot of coats had.  It’s much more stylish than the puffy coats of my childhood!  And since it’s the end of season, I got this coat for 1/3 price!

I also needed to find warm boots.  I have been finding that my toes go numb inside my boots after a walk.  I have a really hard time buying boots because I have skinny (12.5″) calves.  Most boots look like rainboots on me, and I wanted warm boots to fit snugly so the wind can’t get in!

I have found over time that the only way to get well fitting boots is to give in and buy nicer brands.  They seem to be sized a little smaller in the calf, and they do last longer, but I am very thrifty.  I knew i didn’t want Uggs (don’t like them) or the more high tech/snow boot looking things.   I wear mostly skirts, so I wanted something that looked ok with them, but would also work over jeans.  It took me weeks, but I finally pulled the trigger and bought these, the Trevis boots from La Canadienne:

Yes, that’s my Butterick 5523 dress.  I still love it and wear it constantly!

Amazon had the best price, so while they were more expensive than I would  like I can comfort myself that they were over $100 off the price over at Zappos!  The boots are waterproof suede, and they are fully lined in that fuzzy material (it feels similar to the hood of my coat.)  I like the slouchy style, which reminds me of the 80s (I had pink glittery slouch boots then that 8 year old me wore into the ground!)  They are so warm, they fit my legs, and they can also be worn with the cuffs up:

Closer:

 

I also bought some fleece lined leggings to wear under dresses (I find that layering them with tights is warmer than wearing pants in the cold!)

I’m planning to make a few knit tunics/dresses before I go.  I will have a post about that soon!  I’ve also finished my new vogue dress, and it is fabulous.  I will take photos tomorrow on my husband’s day off and write about it then.