Boxing Day Shopping!

I could not resist the Boxing Day sales this year.  I went with a purpose and stayed pretty much on track.  I got money from Corey’s family and decided it was finally time, after 4 winters of skiing, to buy a new pair of classic skis!  I have been using my friend’s very old pair…. so old that the back ends of them are starting to split apart.  The shoes never did fit me perfectly either, but when you are skiing for free, you don’t really mind.  Plus, I never really ad anything to compare it to since I only started to cross country ski 4 years ago.  With 30% off at Ernie’s Sports and $250 in Christmas cash, I had no excuse!  Off I went… although I was sort of scared! 

It was a great experience though!  We got there at about 9:15 and the parking lot was about 80% full.  I got helped by a young man right away and he helped me pick out a pair of skis and try on a pair of boots (the best boots there I am sure as the boots were just about as expensive as the skis).  He got them fit with bindings right away and Corey & I browsed the store while we waited.  I picked up some socks and swim goggles as well…. two things you can never have too much of!  In the end, I saved $150!  While waiting for my ski bindings to be installed, I eyed up a GoPro 3 and mistakenly told my husband he should buy it (since he had been looking at one for a while).  Well…. he did!  And saved $105!  Now I just need the weather to warm up by 10-15 degrees Celsius so I can try them out.

Then, we snuck next door to Fitness Experts since I needed to buy some resistance bands for my physio exercises and some ankle weights, again, for physio exercises.  BAM!  More savings 🙂

After all that, we went to Michael’s and I picked up some (more) scrapbooking supplies.  This is getting to be an expensive hobby.  I have considered buying a cricut maching (it’s a machine that cuts out all kinds of neat patterns and stuff for you to put in your scrapbook… you can choose different sizes and everything).  It’s currently on sale right now until Saturday.  Definitely something to consider, especially if I decide to continue with this scrapbooking hobby, which I am thinking strongly about!   

We also checked out Best Buy for something that Corey was looking for (macro lens for the camera), but they didn’t have it and the parking lot was a little insane there. 

We went out for breakfast and I tried taking a nap when we got home but somebody was working on something very loudly in my neighbourhood…. why the hell you are outside with your power tools in -35 degree celsius weather I will not understand, but whatever…. it’s daytime so better now than 11 pm at night.  However, my husband just informed me it was someone trying to start their vehicle?  Weird.  I am just waiting for my food to settle some more but hoping to go to the gym for a quick run and weights workout later this afternoon. 

Otherwise, it will be a low key day.  Apparently though, my extended family sent a big Christmas package up with my ex-friend’s mom who is visiting.  That’s kind of awkward, so I need to get a hold of that.  You would think that if you had a package of Christmas stuff that you would be making an effort to get it to them before Christmas?  Instead, I found out she had it when talking to my Aunt yesterday.  I guess there are many good reasons why we are no longer really close friends….  But that is a story not appropriate for this blog.

New Bike!

Well, I’ve been wanting a 29er for over a year and today was the day! My husband had told me earlier in the summer he would buy me one since my specialized mountain bike is now 11 years old and I’ve been drooling over his hardtail 29er for a year now. I told him he should wait until next year, but he tricked me! He brought me to my favourite store under the premise that he needed a second opinion on some shorts he was looking at and we proceeded to look at bikes (which I pretty much do every time I go there!). I told him which one I liked but was also saying that I loved the Brompton folding bike and the adult tricycle with the basket in the back! Ha! So anyways, he pretty much said that he was going to buy me the mountain bike whether I wanted to or not!

I have to say that I am quite in love with it! It’s a Trek WSD X-cal and it is awesome! Only had time for a short spin but I sure am looking forward to taking that thing on the trails tomorrow or Tuesday!

As for my old specialized, I’m planning to use it to commute back and forth to work on nice days that I don’t swim before work….. At least until I get a Brompton folding bike. I’m excited to squeeze in that extra bit of biking on a weekly basis!!!

Happy Boxing Day!

I had the perfect boxing day! Silly me went and set an alarm for today. I was up and at it at 6:40 am. Once getting caffeinated and having a banana and some water, I hit the trainer for Coach Troy’s Endurance Booster DVD. I only did an hour thirty of this 1:45 DVD and I felt awesome! After that, I went upstairs to cook breakfast. But first! A recovery drink of bailey’s with coffee!

I took the dog to the dog park in the afternoon. It is still amazingly icy here and I decided it was not worth her pulling me down, so I let her run crazy for an hour at the dog park. After that I came home and snacked and then headed to the pool where I had my longest swim yet! 2200m in an hour! Very good for me. I focused a lot on breathing and relaxing and feeling the water. It felt great.

Now I’m spent and it’s beer o’clock!

I was thinking of going shopping today since there were some amazing deals at some of my favourite stores. But you know what, I checked my banking and decided that I am banned from shopping for a while! More on that later!

Merry Christmas!!!

Just wanted to wish a very Merry Christmas to all of you out in blogland!

So far, I am thorougly enjoying my long weekend.  I got off early on Friday and ran a couple errands before coming home and spending some quality time with the dog and my husband.  On Saturday, we were up before 6 am… definitely did not plan it that way!  We figured we may as well head to Wal-Mart and pick up the last few things we needed for the Christmas Eve party before the mad rush of Christmas Eve.  The rest of the day was spent preparing for company and a bit of cleaning. 

I did manage to go for a run!  It was my first outdoors run in 2 weeks and I banged out 14.5 km!  It was my longest run since this summer.  I felt great except that I was running on a bit sheet of ice.  It wasn’t super slippery because there was sand on top to provide some traction, but still a few very slippery sections.  It was a very slow run.  The worst part about it was that the ice was very hard and I was definitely feeling it in my right knee by the end of the run and again today.  This winter I have done a lot of running on the treadmill because of the ice and to be honest, I will continue to run on the treadmill until the ice melts or we get more snow because it is so hard to run on that stuff!  It is supposed to snow next week, so hopefully this time it will stick around.  I’m starting to get a little nervous about the Hypo Half which is exactly 2 months from tomorrow.  I just hope the weather will cooperate enough for me to take my running outside at least twice a week in the weeks leading up to the race!

Back to Christmas!  We had a very enjoyable and fun Chirstmas Eve party at our house!  There wasn’t much happening really, just a get-together with friends and food and drinks.  It was fun!  The food was amazing! We did chocolate fondue with assorted fruit, a veggie tray, spinach dip with baked pita and chips, wings and pepperoni.    It was awesome!  It’s always great to see friends during the holidays, especially since I was feeling homesick earlier in the week.

After the party it was close to midnight and we decided to open gifts before we went to bed!  It was so much fun!  I was spoiled again this year.  My brother gave me a Kobo and I’m in the process of getting it all set up now.  Corey bought me a case for it and gift cards as well as lots of peppermint gu, compression socks, compression calf sleeves, 2 spinervals DVDs, an awesome Pittsburgh Penguins toque, and some bathroom stuff.  Of course, I am still waiting for my big gift from Corey, which is my Garmin 910XT which should be arriving around mid-January!  I’m pretty excited about that!!  My brother in law bought me a Marc-Andre Fleury Penguins Jersey!  I love it!  He also bought us a Keurig and I’ve already had 2 cups of coffee and they were awesome!  Yup, we were pretty much both spoiled!  I have yet to receive the package from my Mom, so that should be something fun for next week!  Tomorrow, it is Boxing Day sales!  I am going to head out to two stores and see what kind of deals I can get!

For the rest of the day, I don’t have much planned.  My plan was to stay in pajamas until noon at least!  Originally I had planned for 2 hours on the trainer, but you know what!  I’m going to be a total lazy ass today!  Well, somewhat…. the exception being that I will play some dance games for the X-Box Kinect!  We got Dance Centrale 2 now (another fabulous gift from my husband) so I have to practice those songs and practice my smack talk for New Year’s Eve.  I will probably walk our dog later as well (she was also excited about opening her stocking and was spoiled rotten!).  We have turkey breasts planned for dinner and maybe we will go to a friend’s for drinks later.  Overall, a pretty low key and relaxing day!

Hope all my readers are also have a fabulous day and getting to spend quality time with family!

What I Did This Weekend

Pretty low key weekend overall. 

I started it out right Friday night with a 1 hour spin on the trainer.  After that I was pretty much toast.

Saturday morning I had an appointment to get my hair done early.  I was worried that I would be bored for the rest of the day, but it was an awesome day actually!  First, I went for coffee with my friend.  Then, I met another friend and we went to the Farmer’s Market Christmas Fair.  It was awesome!  So many great vendors.  I also discovered a very tasty wine made right here in Alberta!  I picked up 4 different kinds and so far I have tried the raspberry which is AMAZING!  I’m not usually a big fan of fruit wine (other than grapes of course for your reds and whites!).  But it was very tasty.  The winery is called Birds and Bees Winery

Saturday night was Corey’s work Christmas party.  Dinner and a comedian.  I was dying of tiredness.  My hair appointment was at 9 so I got to “sleep in” until 7:30 and I did no exercise and drank lots of coffee, but I was still dropping!  I couldn’t even finish my last beer.  It was fun to get out, but we were home by 10 and I was sound asleep by 11:00!

Sunday was another fairly low-key day.  We went for coffee first thing as I had run out of coffee at home!  We then went grocery shopping and came home and cleaned a little.  I headed out on my run with the dog and we did 13.5 km!  It was great!  It was pretty slippery out though since it had warmed up and then frozen over night, but most places were ok, it just took some route rearrangement!  After that, I watched a movie, did some more cleaning and then hopped on the trainer for a quick 45 minutes.

There, weekend finito!

Oh, yes, there was one more thing!  I wrote a long and detailed post about running with Sidney!  And….. somehow most of it got deleted before I could post it, so you will have to wait!  And I doubt it will be nearly as long or detailed because now I’m just annoyed and pissed off!

Oh yeah!  And ONE more thing!  I registered for a half marathon in February!  It’s official, hypothermic half marathon, here I come!

Last Week’s Goals

 

1) Run X 4 – I ran only 3 times, but they were all such solid runs that I don’t feel like it matters that I “only” got 4.
2) Bike X 3 with one bike at 1h 15m in duration – Only did twice…. but I cross country skiied twice!  That has to count for something!  Longest ride was 1:01
3) Swim X 2 with one swim at least 40 mins in duration – YES 🙂  Both swims were 40 mins or longer
4) Core class X 1 – Check
5) Yoga X 1 – No 😦
6) Meal plan the night before – For lunches I did, but not for dinners
7) Clean off my kitchen table (seriously, it is a disaster!) – Nope, did not do it (Pathetic but true)
Order Christmas gifts – Nope
9) Wrap and start mailing presents for those that live in Newfoundland! – Nope
10) I would like to lose another pound this week, so clean eating and healthy portion sizes – Did it!

This Week’s Goals

 

1) Run X 3
2) Bike X 3 with one bike at 1h 09m in duration
3) Swim X 2
4) Core class X 1 – Check
5) Yoga X 1 (not sure where I’m gonna fit it in!)
6) Less than 5 alcoholic drinks (I’m already at 2, so I need motivation to stay on track!)
7) Clean off my kitchen table (seriously, it is a disaster!)
Order Christmas gifts – Nope
9) Wrap and start mailing presents for those that live in Newfoundland!
10) I would like to lose another pound this week, so clean eating and healthy portion sizes

Shop Until you Drop!

If my endurance level at the shopping mall is any indication for how much preparation I have to do to get ready for my half ironman next summer, then I am in trouble!

I am really not a fan of shopping.  I hate shopping malls.  I enjoy shopping at the sports store, looking at bikes and trying on yoga wear!  I hate trying on real clothes.  I hate spending money on real clothes.  I don’t mind online shopping, but then if it doesn’t fit, it’s a pain in the ass.  I’m the type of person that really must try on everything.  The exception to this is nursing scrubs (I bought all mine online!) and Lululemon & Running Room (their sizing is pretty consistent and they have a super accurate sizing chart).  I don’t mind shopping for things (like camera equipment, laptops, etc.).  But when it comes to clothes…. I’d rather be shot.

This is probably why the only dress pants I have are 4.5 years old when I needed to buy some business casual clothes for my public health rotation.  The ultimate irony of that shopping date?  When I got to my placement in rural Labrador, turns out the nurses up there all wear nursing scrubs for everything except after-hours things, which they just wear normal clothes.  So luckily, I have a few pairs that are in good shape and they still fit, which means I haven’t gotten too fat!  I went shopping before our Ireland trip for a couple pairs of jeans and shirts to bum around in.  Nothing special, very casual clothes.  But at least the shirts I can dress up to wear to my new job.

I’m pretty happy with the outcome of my adventure!  I bought 4 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a cute little scarf and a super comfy pair of leather shoes for under $350.  Considering the shoes were $150, I think that is a pretty good deal!  The first place I hit up was Winners.  You would be surprised the deals you can find there!  I started shopping there once a week for a full month before my Mexico trip and came away with some awesome deals and super cute shorts and skirts!  Unfortunately, I only bought one pair of pants.  I only tried on 2 pairs.  It’s hit and miss at that place, but it’s always worth a look! 

Then, I remembered that I went dress shopping in Newfoundland and had returned my first option, a dress I bought from Le Chateau, for store credit of $101.  I was pretty annoyed at the time that they didn’t give a cash refund, which is apparently common knowledge.  However, when I specifically asked the sales person, she told me I could get a refund.  I remember when I brought the dress back and spoke to the manager about this…. more because I was upset at the misinformation than anything else… she informed me that it was this girl’s last day of work on that day.  Hmmmph!  Anyways, I digress!  I decided to pop on in there and see if they had anything.  Lots of nice stuff, but holy, that store is expensive!  Does anyone else think it’s a little crazy that I didn’t blink an eye when I shelled out $125 for my awesome Sugoi road biking shorts, but seeing a price tag of $89 on a pair of dress pants nearly made me faint???  Well, it did.  Most of the pants in there were $89-99!!!  I tried on 2 pairs and bought 1 pair…. of course, due to my store credit, they were already paid for.

After this, I went to Smart Set.  I tried on so much clothes there!  The sales lady kept bringing me more stuff to try on, which was awesome!  I loved that because I tried on some weird stuff I never would have picked off the rack.  Most of it I didn’t buy, but it was actually not as torturous as I thought it would be!  I was a bit disappointed that my usual size of pants were a little snug.  But I also know that I am in the process of cleaning up my diet and getting back on track with my workouts and so I am not overly concerned about that.  They still looked decent on and that is what matters.  I went shopping by myself.  What I hate even more than shopping is shopping with other people!  I always feel rushed and I take a long time to pick out items to try on and to decide what I’m going to buy or not going to buy and sometimes try things on a second time.  It was great to have the sales lady helping me out though!  Here I bought 2 pairs of pants and 2 shirts and a scarf! 

Then I bought a super comfy pair of leather shoes from SoftMoc.  I just love Clarke’s.  They are the comfiest!  I really want to buy some fun shoes later but for now, I wanted to be on the safe side and buy something comfortable in case I’m spending lots of time on my feet.

Not the best photo, but you get the idea!  Now I challenge you to tell me which pair of pants are from Winners and which are from Le Chateau?!