Really, though, it will not stop.

On the bright side, it's kind of a lovely excuse to curl up with a book and study from home with hot tea. I woke up a few days ago to find beautiful ice crystals on the *inside* of my bedroom window; I suppose I could have predicted this if I'd thought much about condensation, but it still left me slightly surprised and bewildered. Perhaps I am still a California girl at heart, despite loving the snow.

After admiring my icy window for a few minutes, I got myself out of bed and studied downstairs for a couple hours before my first shoveling break. You see, it was snowing so hard and fast that if I'd waited until it stopped to clear the pathways, I'm not sure I actually would have been able to break apart and shovel out the two-foot-deep snow-ice. I'd decided not to drive anywhere (so didn't need to fully clear my back pathway toward the car) but I did at least need to get out my front door.

Just before leaving for winter break, I spent a fantastic evening doing crafts with children at the Wayne County Family Shelter. Volunteering with "Project H" is such a fun way to make a direct impact on the family's lives. (Plus, at the same Family Shelter, UM runs a medicine clinic that's the only place preclinical students can see pediatric patients; I'm excited to go back to help at the clinic this spring.) It's impossible not to smile as you watch a child run over to their father to give them a Christmas card they just finished. They have great personality, too, as most kids do. Before we cleaned up, one of the girls looked over at my paper and said "You are definitely drawing Santa all wrong."

Over the holiday break, I was with my extended family in Maine. For the first time in years, all of BOTH sides of the family were together, so I saw all four of my grandparents, plus all my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a wonderful week, spent mostly curled up under blankets as we talked about the year and looked out at the frozen waves.

We did get out for some fun hiking, running, and snowshoeing, though. My mom had a goal of running 1,000 miles in 2013, so despite all the snow we went out on December 30^th to get in her last three miles together. We ran down past the town dock and towards the little one-room library, passing these gorgeous trees that had crystalized with ice around their branches.

It's good to be back in Michigan again, as we all get ready for classes to start up. It's a great feeling when you realize that coming back to Ann Arbor really does feel like coming home.