You're listening to the Beautiful Mess podcast, your cozy comfort listen, and this week we are sharing our winter bucket list, which is another way of saying how to survive the cold season if you live in a region like we do.

And we'll also be debating a hot take that personally makes Elsie's blood boil. So let's jump in.

I'm so excited to get on that hill with my sword this week. But it's a fun one. It's a, it's a good one, actually.

Yeah, it is a good one. Yeah. Okay. So winter bucket list, I feel like this one is like more like about getting through the season than it is about appreciating the season, at least where we live in Missouri. I appreciate that we have all four seasons. I appreciate a snow day. I like it in a way. The first one's the best. The first one's the best. It gets progressively

worse. The third one's worse. Yeah. If there's a fourth or fifth one, I want to die. Yeah. If there's a

whole bunch in a row, there's things. Yeah. I mean, I'm glad I never have lived in a region where there was

no four seasons. And I don't know how that would feel, but Emma,

I remember when she first lived in L.A.,

she was like, you would hate it as soon as it was fall time,

and there was no fall, you know, and there's no, like, winter.

People barbecue for Christmas.

Like, which is cute and special, but yeah.

Good for you, but I do think I like, I do appreciate and special, but yeah, good for you.

I do think I like, I do appreciate the winter.

But yeah, in Missouri, it's a little more of a thing to survive.

You know, we have the really short days.

So a lot of us have the seasonal depression.

And then for me, it's like my yard is, it's like my pride and joy.

I love it so much. It's so beautiful. Like sitting on the porch and just like enjoy it. Like it's like a miniature park. But this is the only time of year. It's ugly. Right. So unless it's snowing, it's just ugly. It's like it's not, you know, it's all mangly and dead looking. It's spooky, but it's not spooky season. So it's just sad. Yeah. So we do definitely look forward to spring, though. I guess that's the good thing about it is it'll be ready when that arrives. I would say I appreciate winter when I'm not currently living in it. Yeah. Like when I think about it in the summer, I think about it fondly. I'm like, oh, I remember when I was reading my book and drinking hot chocolate that one night and it was snowing. And it's lovely. And when I'm living in it, I like do appreciate moments here and there. But I'm also like, what can I do today to be less sad? That's what this list is about.

It's true.

Okay, so on that note, before we jump in, we had for six months.

So Emma heard that in a suburb of our town, there was a romance-only bookstore that opened.

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