Today was a gorgeous January day in the City by the Bay. It seemed as if the entire city was in Golden Gate Park soaking up the warm sunshine. And yet, in spite of this rather pleasant winter weather, I inexplicably found myself missing the deep winter of the Midwest.

I may have no right to say this being a California native, but I truly believe winter is not winter without a fresh snowfall, down coats and knit scarves, and the occasional bitter trek through said snowfall. I’m not ungrateful by any means - there are more than a few days that I wake up counting my blessings that I don’t have to scrape the ice off my car and wrap a scarf around my face. Right now however, as I upload my first post in a very long time, the only place I want to be is on the University of Notre Dame’s campus, camera in hand, in the beautiful stillness that comes after a fresh snowfall.

Touché, Midwest. You’ve got me hooked.