WINTER COAT

I'm late saying it, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It feels like it's been forever since the hub and I have been able to spent such a long time back in our hometown. I think it was about nine days total that we were there. Looong, huh? I spent most of my days curled up on the couch, sketching faces in the pages and listening to classical music, every once in a while trying to figure out how to play my ukulele.

It feels almost weird to be sitting in the office working again. Isn't it crazy how rusty one can become with just a little bit of time spent away from projects? It's like I had to wade my way through Photoshop again to remember everything that once easily came to my brain. But here we go anyway! 2014, I feel like you'll be pretty awesome.

To start it off, let's get back to our Friday Art + Story, shall we?

This one's called Winter Coat:

I grabbed my coat and threw it around my shoulders, shuffling behind him on the gray cement newly coated with tiny flecks of sleet. “It’s snowing!” I yelled out to him with glee, staring straight up into the cloudy gray sky.

What felt like only a few hours beforehand, we had been on the exact same path, walking back to the icy car, hastily swinging open its doors and immediately flopping ourselves into the seats, simultaneously turning the knob of the heater as high as it could go. The sky was pitch black then, and the church bells were ringing into the starry night above us. Moments before, we had sung in unison with the flickering candles and the beautiful choir, the melodic organ paving the harmony for all of our voices. My eyelids were falling as he drove us out of the quietly lit city, past the placid lake, toward the country on the outskirts of town. The lights fell away, and he turned the car onto the road speckled with homes and their decorated trees, peeking out the windows into the magical world with its mountain-like backdrop.

The snow was fleeting, as were the late nights filled with shrieks of laughter, all of us huddled around the glossy screen as we watched movie after movie, our fingers stealthily sneaking into the red rectangular tin of chocolate peppermint bark, and the drinks filled to their brims with Pimm’s, cucumbers, and strawberries.

We don’t need our coats now that the snow is gone, but eventually, it will come back around to greet us, as it joyful does every year.  Until then, I’ll have to be patient.

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Hope all you pretties enjoyed the holidays! Happy 2014. :)