Kim Jong-il is dead, it’s cold as a witch’s tit outside, and I haven’t commenced my Christmas shopping. I’m craving comfort food and comfort clothes, and even Julia Green’s mural of a flying sausage in downtown Boise has me jonzing: I want to eat bratwurst; I want a personal shopper; I want a return to bustling health; I want to rock the lederhosen.

Poncho: Anthropologie (Boise, Idaho)

Leggings: Splendid (Fancy Pants, Boise)

Instead, I content myself with padding around in extreme comfort wear. (As long as one owns a poncho and a pair of Splendid leggings, I believe, there is no excuse for sweats.) Mere hours after this picture was taken, I wore this same outfit, sans poncho, to Body Jam—a.k.a. fantastically dorky hip-hop dance class—at the Downtown Y. If depression involves taking yourself too seriously, Body Jam is a tricyclic.

Cece suede ballet flats in wild berry: J. Crew (Boise Towne Square)

I have high arches and bad feet (nails in my left ankle and torn up cartilage in my right toe), so I’m very careful about shoes—especially ballet flats—but this new model by J.Crew is a delight to wear. Made in Italy, they have plenty of padding as well as an arch-hugging, hidden wedge that makes feet feel happier and calves appear sexier. No more web-footed duck walk when I’m wearing these hot pink tamales.

Gloves: echo (Marshall’s)

I am always cold. I love elbow length gloves. ‘Nuff said.

Long wool coat: Donnybrook (Made in Ukraine)

After a few minutes of freezing my butt off, I changed my look to Delhi Duty Free meets Perestroika. I bought this coat at Burlington Coat Factory when I was 16. I now have a healthy aversion to most things I liked when I was 16, but not the Velvet Underground and not my Dr. Zhivago coat.

Faux fur trapper hat: North Face

Earrings: My dad brought these back from Luang Prabang, Laos

Only five more days till Christmas . . . . I will definitely be shopping local.

Dear Photographer:

Thank you, Spiderwoman (a.k.a. Kelly Lynae)! xo xo xo