Winter? Huh?

This week started with the first REAL snowfall in DC this winter. It was all iced over by the next day, and most of the roads and sidewalks remained slippery. And I noticed on my commute to and from work that a significant number of women, of varying ages were wearing rainboots or Uggs -- I counted 10 pairs of Uggs at my Metro station, and five pairs of of rainboots.

While not a fan of Uggs, I will admit that I'm rather jealous of what I imagine are the wearer's warm feet. I'm not sure how I feel about rainboots, style-wise, but I do know that they're not good on ice. I personally wore hiking boots to brave the DC sidewalks, and I'm sure I'm committing a worse style faux-pas than others.

But the most ridiculous thing I've seen this past week: Women wearing heels with no socks or stockings.

Maybe these women don't want to schlep an extra pair of shoes to the office. Maybe they don't have to be on the frozen tundra of our sidewalks very much. But shoes with no socks when it's below freezing? Maybe the answer here is that I'm more of a Jewish Mother than I've realized... but this seems absolutely, utterly and completely ridiculous.

Anyhow. After two days of the cold (and ridiculous footwear, natch) the Boy and I decided to stop talking about him teaching me to snowboard, and actually make a day trip this Saturday to a ski resort for my lesson. We started assembling gear of his that I'd borrow, talked about what I should wear (long underwear, absolutely; fleece would be better than wool; are cashmere socks a bad idea?), and looked up prices for board rentals.

But now, we have to postpone our plans: It's going to be almost 75 in DC tomorrow, and not much colder than that at the mountain. Trust me, I am the last person to complain about nice weather -- when it gets to be spring, I will spend hours rhapsodizing about the warm weather, sunshine and flowers -- but this is insane weather for March.

I suspect the tourists will descend upon us once again. Cherry Blossom season is approaching, and this weekend could be a sneak preview.

I bet they make ridiculous footwear choices, too.