In my Civic, I've been using dino oil in the summer and switching to Quaker State Winter oil (semi-synthetic) for the winter. I found that the semi-synth gave a noticeable improvement in cold-weather starts.
Quaker State doesn't appear to make their "winter oil" anymore, so I just picked up a jug of Mobil semi-synth for this fall's change. The car has 265,000 kms on it, so I'm a little leery of doing the switch to "full" synthetic this late in the game (although there may or may not be anything to that bit of synthetic oil folklore). The Mobil semi-synth says it's designed for "high-mileage" vehicles - I'll probably keep using it year-round.
If I were in your shoes, though, I'd probably just go with synthetic. Semi-synth is fine, IMO, but if you wait for a good sale you can get a decent synthetic for a semi-synth price. Last week, Cdn Tire had jugs of Pennzoil Platinum on sale for around $27. I think I paid $22 for the Mobil semi-synth.