You Mean You Still Have to Go to Work When it Snows?

When I first moved to NY, I vowed that I would never wear a puffy down winter coat. Never. They were ugly, unflattering and to this Southerner, completely unnecessary. It wouldn’t actually get THAT cold here, would it? HA!

It was a chilly grey morning and I was about to leave for work. You know those days where it just smells like it’s going to snow? This was one of those days. After crossing over First Ave on my way to the 6 Train, it happened. The cold gust of wind blew down on my bare head through my clothes and swirled around my feet. “Shoot” I yelled – wait, truthfully I yelled something a little worse, but since my family reads this blog I’ll have to keep it PG.

I finally had the realization that I needed to trade in my cute black form-fitting light jacket to that of a puffy down LONG coat. I promise it’s not that bad once you try it. Tastes like chicken.

While it has not yet reached the temperature for puffy down coats here in New York, I thought I would give you Southerners some of my essentials for a late fall and winter commute so you can prepare yourself for the BIG weather change.

And you thought moving to New York was different.

I created the below inspiration board from a site called Polyvore. The Web site lets you make your own smorgasbord of clothes, furniture, words, whatever you’re in the mood to create.


Commuting Essentials by MereDesign featuring Big Buddha bags

So here are my must haves:

- UGGs: Change out your rainbow flip flops for some comfortable boots with some sort of insulation; if you don't want to splurge for the real thing, they have similar ones at Target
- Large Bag to carry your work shoes until you need them
- Hat: Your coat’s hood will not be enough, I promise
- Gloves & Scarves: Make sure to get gloves that allow your fingers to move – makes it easier when you need to get out your metro card on the subway
- Puffy Down Jacket: I recommend the long ones that go down to your knees.
- For some extra warmth and because my hands are always cold, check out the hand warmers like the ones from Heatmax. My dad/Santa put them in my stocking last Christmas and they kept my fingers nice and warm all winter long.