How to dress properly from the OG January Baby

Oh boy!
I guess we all forgot about the Outdoors Every day challenge!
I just realized that we're a third through this month, which is only slightly unbelievable...how does time move faster than it used to?
My only excuse for neglecting to think about this challenge is that, I have been too busy in the great outdoors to even consider it.

I have been back in the mountains since the start of September (oh yeah, it's me Robyn writing this)
and similar to my previous winter here, and I'm guessing all the hundreds of thousands of winters before that, 
it was completely freezing!
About 3 weeks ago we got a "Polar Vortex" which is a term I have become obsessed with saying.

"Oh it's cold in Toronto? Well over here we had a Polar Vortex"

It got to -47 degrees over a few of the nights, and in the day it was -35 or -40.
My two minute walk to work or the coffee shop would mean that when I got inside, my hands ached (lack of smittens), and my eyelashes, nose, and hair would be silvery from frost.
On days like that. It is actually a challenge to be outdoors.

After the cold broke, we had Chinook Winds, a phenomenon where I guess warm air comes off the ocean?? and...blows over the mountains?? And then warms up the town?? Something like that.
There's a very sciencey explanation, but I learned the term from a drunk old man at the bar who blamed his loss at the gambling machines on 'the damn chinook wind'

Anyways, about three days after it was so cold I thought I might turn into a popsicle within the walls of my apartment, it turned up to +9 degrees.
It felt as though me and all of the Australian people in this town had new life breathed into us, I seriously contemplated sun tanning by the river. When I would walk outside, the birds would sing, and the sky was so blue. It seemed that everyone was cartoonishly happy. 

Winters here can be difficult. There is no sun, it's colder than you can fathom, and it just feels long and 
sad, like there's nothing but time to think about how I miss my little brothers and wish that I had learned to ski so I had an activity in the wintertime. 
But that's the thing about winter, it always turns into spring at some point. 
I'm not so naive this time as to think our nice warm weather we're having will last and just turn into summer. I'm more than sure that we'll be getting a few more snowstorms and cold spells.
But when the sun comes out I start getting hopeful, and I start remembering why I'm here. To be surrounded by the wild, and the mountains, and the beauty of nature.


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Just realized I was about to send this little speech off to my lovely mother to edit and post, when I realized I didn't really include a challenge..
My first challenge is going to be to dress warm. Maybe an obvious one, when you experience Canadian winters, but I notice I am always underdressed (I have an amazing spring jacket collection that I love showing off)
But todays challenge is to wear your winter coat. Everyone put on your mittens, hats... even scarves.
Then go outside.
Robyn