White Out: Snow Day Outfit

This past weekend was one for the books.  Between Thursday morning and Tuesday morning, we got bombarded with about 36″ of snow.  This is the biggest storm I’ve ever seen, but it only placed 10th for the all-time biggest snowstorms around here.

The nice thing about living at elevation (7000′ above sea level for me) is that the extra-strong sun rays tend to melt the snow somewhat quickly.  It’s a win-win, since you get to enjoy the beauty of snow without berms of old blackened snow hanging around til April.  Of course, hopefully that still will be true with this storm, even with such huge amounts of snow piled up everywhere you look.

Like most people, I really do enjoy snow.  It brings out feelings of wonder and peace as the pure white blankets everything in sight.  Plus, it’s beyond adorable to watch my dogs prancing through the snow, landing in poofs of powder.  The only downside was that I have so many outfits and reviews I wanted to shoot this weekend, but I wasn’t going out for pics in crops and sneakers in this mess!  So, they’ll have to wait.  I decided to make the best of it and play up the snow aspect.  Turns out it’s actually pretty tricky to shoot during a snowstorm, but we made it work!

This winter outfit highlights some of my all-time cold-weather favorites.  My tried-and-true Sorel boots pretty much go without saying–without these and some thick wool socks (like the ones I wrote about this week), I’d be one unhappy lady.

I’m wearing a pair of herringbone wunder under pants I recently scooped up at my local store.  My 3-yr-old herringbones have taken such a beating that I figured it was time to bring another pair into the rotation, this time in a high-rise fit.  My new pair is actually fuzzy on the inside and surprisingly warm for a simple pair of leggings!  The high rise especially helps lock in warmth at my core on chilly days like this.  That said, they’re a bit hot for sweaty workouts, so they’ll be just for cold weather, casual wear (LOVE herringbone under my black dresses!), and low-sweat workouts like yoga.

I’ve sung the praises of my city puffer jackets before, and it’s still true.  I have both colors and they’re my go-to winter jackets these days.  If I was going to be outside in this snow for more than 20 minutes or so, I’d put on something longer.  But for short jaunts outside (or for slightly less freezing weather) they’re perfect.

And my absolute can’t-live-without winter item: my hat!  I’ve been wearing this ancient Mountain Hardwear beanie non-stop every winter for literally 6+ years and it still looks perfect.  I almost lost this on a recent hike and I was about to have an existential crisis about losing it, I was so devastated! (I found it in the end, obviously.) I bought a Coal beanie (that I wore in New Zealand) but promptly lost it–probably somewhere in NZ–so I’m back to being a one-hat lady.  I’m looking for another perfect beanie that’s wool-free, super-thick, super-soft, and super-cute.  This purple one has seriously been my holy grail of hats, but I’d love to find another one that I love just as much.  I mean, purple doesn’t go with everything. :) If you’ve got suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

Outfit details

Alala city puffer in black
Lululemon run fast neck warmer in space dye camo seal grey
Lululemon high-rise wunder under pants in heathered black herringbone
Sorel Joan of Arctic boots
Mountain Hardwear beanie (old)