The winter coat problem

Believe it or not, we really ARE moving to Chicago. Just don't ask when, where we'll live or what I'll be doing. Cuz we don't know.

In the meantime, I've been making lists of things that we'll need to do/buy/take, and the top of that list is: winter wear! Small problem. To me, this is winter wear:

When we were visiting in April, one of our friends said "I would love to go winter coat shopping with you!" To which I replied, looking down at my cute black car coat, "This IS my winter coat!" Apparently this will not suffice, however, in Chicago. The above is like a summer coat for them. More like an August coat. Great. I'm going to look like an eskimo. Or the Muffler Man. I'll spare you the picture.

So I've started to do some research on the best coat to get (ie ask friends who live where it's cold) and I've come up with the following as an absolute necessity: full-length, down North Face/LL Bean/Eddie Bauer/other outdoor place brand, probably in black. It needs to have a hood, and an extra layer to zip in or out is a bonus, too. We're not talking about a ski jacket (which I already have) or a little wool coat with one layer of lining (already have 3 of those). We're talking full on "looks like I'm wrapped in our down comforter five times" coat. And for it, I have to give the store our firstborn child. Oh and then I need for real boots (not like cutesy little furry ones) that I can stomp through the snow in. With five layers of socks. And my toes will probably still freeze. Fun times!!!!

I've also come to the realization that I will actually have to dry my hair before heading out to work (wherever that is) between the months of September and July. I've had a couple days here in DC where my hair started to freeze because I didn't take the time to dry it, but Chicago is like a whole new league of frozen hair. They are NOT kidding up there. And I would like to keep my long hair, thank you very much.

So it's slowly starting to sink in that winter might be just a wee bit more intense in Chicago than we're used to, having grown up in Texas and Florida. And to prepare, we're going to have to get coats, boots, gloves, scarves, wool socks, a couple cute new dresses, maybe a pair of heels or two and any other number of items. All for the sake of staying warm, of course.