I could give you many examples that accurately depict how unprepared I was for this past weekend's winter storm.

I was warned all week by coworkers, and even friends and family that live on the other end of the country: "Make sure you have your snow brush and ice scraper ready!", "Go buy food for your place, you might not be able to leave the house all weekend.", "Fill your gas tank up" and "Make sure you charge all your electronics and make sure you have some flashlights in case the power goes out!"

I guess you can say that I like to live life a little on the edge, because I didn't feel too inclined to take any of the above advice.

Before moving to NoCo, I spent the last 4 years living in Alabama for college. The closest thing we had to a snow day there was a time the University of Alabama called a snow day due to the potential for inclement weather and snow showers; that "snow day" wound up being a 72-degree, sunny, perfect day - with no snow in sight.

Truthfully, anything I would've done to prepare for the snow storm would have been better than the prep (or lack there of) I actually did last weekend.

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Off the top of my head, here are 5 things I could have done to better prepare for winter storm Xylia:

1. I could've bought snow equipment (shovel, ice scraper, snow brush) BEFORE the storm started.

I'll be the first to admit that I am a huge procrastinator; in this instance, my parents have been telling me to go buy snow equipment for a little over 5 months now... pretty much since I first moved here to Northern Colorado. You'd think the storm would've put a little pep in my step/gave me the ideal motivation to cave and well, do the responsible thing (it didn't).

2. I could've bought more food to have in the house. A LOT more.

Anybody who knows me knows I love to eat out. Quite frankly, I take out food from restaurants a lot more than I probably should. Why does this matter? Well, since I rarely cook (disclaimer: Mom/Dad if you're reading this, I cook and buy groceries all the time) I never really have things to eat in my apartment. Yes, I knew there was a slim to no chance that food places would be open over the weekend, not to mention that there was no shot of me moving my car at any point during the storm. I didn't starve, but I was definitely hangry (hungry/angry) most of the weekend.

3. I could've taken the snow equipment I DID have out of my car BEFORE the storm started.

This seems like a no-brainer, I get it. I admit I wasn't being too smart when I decided to leave the wimpy snow brush/ice scraper duo I do have sitting in my car all weekend. Not that I think it would've helped me much anyway, but I imagine my situation would've been better if I had SOME sort of proper snow tool to use to brush my car off.

4. I could've refrained from trying to drive in the midst of a blizzard warning.

I don't know about you, but my area was issued a blizzard warning at some point during the storm over the weekend. In reference to #2, I had (what I felt like was) no food in the house — so I made a very short-lived attempt to drive to the gas station up the road from my apartment in hopes I'd be able to get a snack. As you could probably imagine, attempting to drive anywhere in 2 feet of snow in a vehicle that isn't a snow plow truck is not ideal (and was not recommended).

5. I could've done more research regarding snow trends in Colorado during this time of year.

This information would've been good to know like... 5 days ago, but now I'll never forget it; though Colorado is known for its late-season snowfall, March is Denver’s snowiest month on average. The National Weather Service says for Denver's nine-month snow period of September through May, March ranks as the snowiest month and typically accounts for 20 percent of the annual snowfall in the area.

Moral of the story, I'm going to use winter storm Xylia, and my lack of preparation for winter storm Xylia as a learning lesson. If I don't hold myself accountable now I'll never learn - so here it goes: I promise to better prepare myself the next time the forecast calls for a winter storm, and that winter storm threatens to dump 2 feet of snow on my car.

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