#42: Get a nice winter coat

Things I did this past snowy Saturday:

1.Went to Troy's, our local tire shop, and got in line to get my snow tires put on. 

2. Received the gift of four or five hours to kill with someone I like to kill time with. 

3. Got breakfast at Molly's. This is a Spokane institution I had never been to, a place that even David Byrne has visited for heaven's sake, and it just so happens that Molly's is across the street from Troy's. So I zipped up my nice new coat, pulled up my hood, grabbed Joel's arm and slipped around on the sidewalks in my cracked red rubber boots and made it safely to the diner. As it turns out, once you have a new coat keeping your torso warm, you have more ability to focus on your cold, wet feet (more on that to come).

Oh yes, I bought a coat. A nice one. At that point, I'd had it just over a week. It's a dark blue Merrell coat that covers my bum, has a detachable hood, is stylish and warm and goes beautifully with every scarf and pashmina I own. Gone are the days of wearing a ski jacket and pencil skirt to the office, or freezing in my $30 Target coat that has a Thai take-out stain and dangling button.

Back to Molly's, though, and my Saturday morning. I treated myself to buckwheat pancakes. Pancakes are something I never feel like making for myself, but I so love a good scoop of melting butter and a pitcher of warm maple syrup. And don't forget it's buckwheat, which cancels out the butter and syrup.

In the end, I could only eat one.

4. Walked to the theater to see a morning movie, the kind that you would rather not pay full price for (even $7 often seems too much). So we saw Tower Heist. In hindsight, though, I wouldn't have felt so bad paying full price for it because I was so entertained by it. I might even say I really liked it. But I didn't pay full price. I didn't even pay half price. I paid no price. Thanks, Joel.

5. Handed my cracked red rubber boots to a sales lady and said, "Go ahead, throw them away. The duct tape doesn't even stick to these anymore," and then walked out of the boot store wearing a brand new pair of Sorels. Red. With fur! Never pictured myself wearing such a fancy boot, but it only took me putting them on to know I was doing myself a great disservice to my feet up until that point. So warm and cozy.

6. Sat down for coffee at Atticus and realized I was sitting diagonally to the man who ran into my parked car with a moving truck five years ago in front of our apartment building. It was actually his adorable little boy sitting across from him - a new addition since those apartment-dwelling days - that got my attention. If I wasn't so shy, I would have gone up to his table to say thanks for that time all those years ago when you totaled my car, though it was still completely drivable, and for helping me save up some money with what I received from your mover's insurance to buy a new car, which I was waiting on right now to get fitted with snow tires. Instead I just kept looking at his darling little boy and was glad to imagine that life has been good to them.

Coincidentally, a photo I took immediately outside that apartment building, wearing the boots I've since thrown away.

7. Drove back up the hill feeling in charge of the road, just in time for dinner.

I'm still feeling warm and thankful.