This is my Winter song to you..

It has been unseasonably cold here this December. Temperatures never leaving the 20's is pretty rare for Baltimore this time of year and don't even get me started on the wind factor... Sometimes we have 70-degree days in these months & I love it. This year though, the Winter coziness that Mother Nature has gifted us is happily welcomed, for.....

....we have a fire place! It's really the main reason we bought our bungalow last December. I have always dreamt of having my own fireplace with a warm hearth to snuggle up to with my kitties in lap and red wine in hand. My Dad, in Burningtown, NC, just outside of Asheville, has a massive fireplace AND a wood stove, to boot. That's just my own personal Wintry heaven down there. You've never experienced so much coze.

These below average temps have encouraged Jeremy and I to use our fireplace that much more. Oh, and the fact that we now have living room furniture (big step) to sit on and enjoy the radiant heat has really put us on a whoooole new level. Last year when we were new homeowners, we sat on upside down plastic Rubbermaid tubs to enjoy our fire. Much lower level of coze, you can imagine. Actually, we got engaged right there in front of our mantel (yes, on the plastic tubs) on Valentine's Day 2010 just before we built our VERY first fire (out of the scrap wood leftover from putting up crown molding)! It's by far the most monumental 4 square feet of our entire house!

Side note about our engagement: a dead, frozen bird fell down the chimney when we opened the flu just after i said 'yes', and it landed EXACTLY where Jeremy had placed the ring box for me to shockingly discover as I open the screen to the fireplace. Dead and/or frozen birds are now the mascot of our marriage, obviously. :)


Anyhoo...this fireplace is more than just a heat source and a cozy spot to be. It forces us to step away from the computers and the televisions and the iPhones (ok, fine, I still keep my iPhone with me. It's like an apendage and I need it for survival). We can sit and chat about this and that, and just simply enjoy each others company for the time it takes the fire to diminish and embers to cool. It's our safe place from the frozen tundra that seems to be slamming itself so hard against the front windows that the indoor blinds move a bit.

We can just chill...in that moment. Not worry about work or going to the Safeway for groceries or what tomorrow brings. Just....sit, with the occasional smooch and occasional conversation, but generally just silence. And I must say it's my favorite part of any given day (next to plopping in our new temperpedic bed at night!). The fire and the stillness it brings to our crazy days, is effing awesome.

With that, I'd like to leave you with my second favorite song at the moment, "The Winter Song" by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson. It's actually the song playing now if you have your volume on (playlist below). Here's a link to it as well though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67xr_KKPTHE

Is love alive, they ask? You bet your ass it is. It's alive, & it's coming right out of the tip of these little piggies warmin' up by the fire :)

All for now. -ERSM