Tag Archives: snowshoeing

Good Times On Mt Seymour

28 Feb

Snowshoeing, I hate typing that word, it feels awkward, but it is a fun activity so alas, I will be doomed to keep typing it. Oh what a hard life I lead *pauses for a dramatic swoon*

swoon

Some friends and I went up to Mt. Seymour to go snowshoeing and had a blast! Hmm…I’ve really gotta learn some new slang…

The day started with dragon boat practice (for two of us), then brunch, then snowshoeing. So ya know, just a slightly active day. 😉

I wasn’t sure my suv would be allowed up the mountain, if the roads are bad they make you park at the bottom and take a shuttle up but nobody checked us so up we went…slowly…as in old granny slow…the higher we got the more the snow was swirling around and the more wintry it became. It always amazes me how you can go from city to mountain so quickly here.

Because we were snowshoeing and not skiing or snowboarding we had to park farther away, snowshoe discrimination! 😉 It is actually ok because it gave us time to get used to walking on the snowshoes.

Once we were strapped in and on our way it was basically just fun. The whole time. I mean c’mon, get four friends together, strap their feet to snowshoes, set them on a trail, and how could that not be fun?

I did learn that all my survival knowledge is basically theoretical and does not kick in as an automatic response when faced with a potentially dangerous situation…great thing to learn up on a mountain in winter lol

See, we were trekking along this one narrow stretch where you have to go single file and all of a sudden snow is falling on us. And not the snow that had been falling all day, no no, I mean big poofy coming from the side of the mountain snow. There is technically a potential of avalanche and part of my brain kept thinking “keep moving. you have to keep moving. woman move your feet!” but in actuality all the four of us did was turn around, look up at the mountain to see where the snow was coming from, start laughing and wondering what was happening. So yeah, the survival skills of my friends and I are maybe not the absolute highest they could be…but I’m sure somewhere out there someone is worse than us…right?

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All in all it was a great day, as you can see in the above pictures. I wish there could be more like that. 🙂

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Headlamps an Stuff

27 Feb

I have been sick since Sunday and instead of getting better I appear to be getting worse, arg. It’s not a debilitating illness or anything, just a run of the mill cold but I’m smack in the middle of the symptoms and it’s annoying. Kleenex are my new best friend. *rolls eyes* I’ve been purposefully not letting it slow me down so Tuesday I went snowshoeing, Wednesday (today) I went to the gym and Thursday I will be dragon boating. A nice busy three days off from work! 🙂

I’m so psyched for Thursday, it will be our first time back on the water this season and it’s gonna rock and suck all at once lol. We won’t be on the water till about 7:15pm so it will be dark and cold and this year head lamps are mandatory. Guess who doesn’t own a head lamp? Oh yeah, that’d be me lol

I wasn’t aware until last night we were going to need them so when I was out today I did a little shopping. Silly thing cost me $45! It is a white LED light but if I am in distress I can push a button and it will flash red, interesting huh? I think I will actually get to return it though, yay! One of my teammates found some for way cheaper, only $11, so she bought a bunch and I can just buy one from her. Which means back to the store I will be going to return the head lamp but hey, a special trip to get money back? I’m cool with that!

Since I was at SportChek I also bought an Olympic Team Canada t-shirt. I know, I know, cheesy or what but, shrug, I’ve been wanting one since the collection came out and now that the Olympics are done they are on sale lol. Cheesy and cheap! 😉 The t-shirt apparently has great wicking capabilities blah blah blah, I’m sure it is great, and I did buy it wanting to wear it when exercising but let’s get real, I didn’t buy it cause it’d suck my sweat away from my body quickly, I bought it cause I like it lol 😛

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

Then I bought a toque! Ack! I’d say it was like a shopping demon came over me but I already knew I was needing to find a new toque, shrug. All but the Olympic collection toques were gone, winter gear is being phased out because spring is soon to be upon us, wOOt! So I bought an Olympic gear toque, it’s actually really nice, red and black, I didn’t buy the one that says Canada on it cause clothes that scream your country’s name are so vulgar *shudder* Unless you are a spectator at a sport your clothes should not say your country’s name, or unless it is your independence day and you are celebrating your country, then it’s ok. So yeah, toque, t-shirt and headlamp, quite the productive little shopping trip.

Not that you were wondering, but the reason I so suddenly need another toque is because I looooove my toque that I wear for snowshoeing and that means I do not want to wear it when dragon boating cause it’ll get wet with nasty water and I have no idea how to wash my snowshoeing toque. It is a hand made product, not like it has a tag inside saying how to wash it! I gotta be careful, and making sure that toque doesn’t come in to contact with the water I dragon boat in well, that’s just good ownership lol

I’ve got a couple other pieces of gear I need for dragon boating buuuuut have no money to buy them soooooo just gonna have to do without, shrug.

Hmmm, this quickly became quite the post about shopping, oops! Lemme catch you up on other stuff real quick…

– We got snow! As in lots of snow! Three days worth of non stop snow! Lovely! I was so happy while it was falling, every time I went out in it or looked outside it made me smile. Made most other people grumps but whatev. I so desperately wanted to go snowshoeing in the falling snow but was too sick for that, boo!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

– The avalanche warning was high but I like to think that makes things more interesting lol. It was so sunny you could hear the snow melting and a couple times I got pelted with snowballs that were actually chunks of snow falling off trees. 🙂 I ass-tobogganed part way down the mountain which was epic and I sooo want to do again! lol I went off trail on the way down so I could walk through some fresh snow, it’s way more fun, well, I got to a part that was super steep and no way could I climb down it, instead of going back and finding the trail again I sat down, had my knees bent, snowshoes on the ground in front of me (feet still strapped in them) and let myself slide down using the snowshoes to steer me, clear the path so my butt slid smoothly and also act as breaks when needed. Seriously, most fun ever! There was a minor issue of not being able to stop in time at this one section and becoming a tad airborne but meh, I landed on soft snow so who cares? Just made it more fun actually…I’m really hoping I get to do that again lol

– Some not so cool stuff, I keep getting sick! My immune system is really taking a beating this year, I am not impressed at its lackluster performance in the germ kicking business.

– I bought a piece of fish I have noooo idea how to cook, sigh. It is coconut encrusted, sounded interesting and was on sale. Perfect combo! I am going to (most likely) attempt to cook it tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes *worried face* I really hope I don’t food poison myself before practice, that would suck!

– I skipped Stir Fry Sunday this week cause I was too sick to want food Sunday or Monday and by Tuesday it just seemed like I was destined to not have stir fry this week. I will be back to my stir fry madness this coming weekend though, no worries!

– I discovered the deliciousness that is cherries in a cherry sauce put on top of ice cream, trust me, this is something you should try, Mmm!

– The cat got mad at me and purposefully peed on the floor right in front of his litter box to show his anger. You’d think I’d get mad, instead I realized that because I’d been sick when I’d been home the past couple days (this was on Monday) I was unconscious so I made a concentrated effort to stay home and conscious more and since then he’s been much happier. Yes I am aware he has me well trained. 😛

– Lastly, I missed three days in a row of my Squat Circuit Challenge because of being sick. Sunday and Monday I got home from work and basically crashed. Then Tuesday I forgot, which is weird, I think because I was out of the rhythm of it. So starting tomorrow I will pick up where I stopped. I hate that I inadvertently took a bit of a break in the middle but whatcha gonna do, can’t control being sick, shrug.

There we have it, my catch up of the last couple days. Food, exercise and shopping…apparently that is my life this past week lol 😛

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30 Day Challenge Confirmed

13 Feb

It seems that I am taking part in the 30 Day Squat Circuit Challenge…I’m still mildly confused by this even though it was my decision to do it lol

I'm doing this??

I’m doing this??

I did the first day thinking something along the lines of “I can do this but it doesn’t really mean anything…I can still not do the challenge…” then I did day two and three and well, it seems I’m committed now lol. 😛

I’m glad I’m doing this challenge, it’ll be good for me, and will hopefully push me to get to the gym more often, and the mountain! We got some fresh snow the other day up on the mountain so guess whose hoping to go snowshoeing tomorrow? If you guessed me you’d be riiiiight! 😀

Today was spent with my lil sis at the gym working with a trainer. He focused on showing us solid, full body moves that we can do in gyms or at home (so we have no excuse to not work out lol) and I felt like I got a good workout. Not as good of a workout as it could have been but that was because it was a learning workout so there were more pauses than there normally would be as he explained things, or corrected form or took pictures. Yes, took pictures, weird huh? He took pictures of us doing various exercises that he will email us so we will remember what the proper form looks like for various exercises. Smart man.

He also gave us a suggestion for a workout to do together next week (this week was our last session with him, sadness), he suggested we do the Widow Maker. Neither of us had heard of it, it is basically a freakin huuuuuge outdoor staircase that equals to 12-13 flights of stairs. Huh. We promised we’d do it next wednesday and have also promised to email him to let him know we did it so we really do have to do this thing, we’re accountable to the man…I think that was his sneaky plan to make sure we kept working out…

He also suggested we go back in 3-4 months and have another fitness evaluation so we can see how far we’ve come (this is of course assuming we get better and not worse lol). I think it’s a great idea! My lil sis wasn’t quite as excited at the idea but maybe she’ll warm to it…I was hoping to magically find the money to be able to meet with a trainer from there every three weeks or so, to help me stay on track, learn new things, and to eventually re-evaluate my fitness levels. I can’t sign up with the trainer we’ve been working with cause he charges $75/hour and you have to book minimum 2 sessions per week with him, eek! Sooooo can’t afford that! He said other trainers there charge $65/hour and don’t have minimum amounts you have to work with them. I’d rather stay with him cause I’ve been working with him but I’m sure the others are just as good. However, I have decided I can’t afford the expense, boo! But am more than willing to take up his offer of another fitness evaluation in 4 months time. This will give me something to work towards and motivation is always a welcome thing in my world lol

I find I have a tendency to lose motivation, I still have all the reasons I have always had to get in shape buuuuuut my laziness takes over and I forget in the moment why I should work out instead of go to a movie with a friend, oops? lol Adding another reason for why I should work out is good, but what will make the difference is that he will be seeing me in a relatively short amount of time and I want to be able to show him I’ve gotten better, not stayed the same or gotten worse. I think knowing I will be tested will help me to not eat the bad-for-me-food and will also help me get out there and exercise. *crosses fingers*

Oh, and don’t forget that 8km I signed up for…I should really start training for that soon…maybe that should be my motivation? 😉

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Shallow Moment Happening…Right Now!

17 Jan

Ahahahahahaha I just finished jumping up and down, doing a little (ok, big!) butt wiggle of a dance and aaaalmost silently squealing like a little girl!

Guess whose online purchases showed up in the mail todaaaaaay?

Yay for new stuff! 😀

This whole delayed gratification thing? Totally worth it! wOOt! wOOt!

My jacket was waiting on the doorstep when I left my place today to go to work, I took the package with me but left it in my car while I was working, drove me nuts I couldn’t open it right away lol When I was off work I drove to a friend’s house, she has a pair of snow pants that she was willing to let me have (provided they fit of course) because she’d bought a new pair and this pair was still in excellent condition but obviously she doesn’t need two pairs.

Purple and green, awesome combo!

Purple and green, awesome combo!

I was kinda worried, ok, really worried I’d be too fat for them. KR is way tinier than me and even though she was replacing these pants because they were way too big for her I was still worried what was way to big on her would be too small on me. I was all prepared to be mad at myself when I tried them on and they didn’t fit but guess what?? Not only do they fit, they are a bit loose! OMG yay!! Even though she didn’t want any money for the pants no way could I not give her something for them (brand new they would cost around $200 and these were in such good shape she could have easily sold them for $100). She finally said $50 which duh, oh course I said yes to but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna give her a bit more than that cause they are so awesome and she’s doing me such a huuuuge favour.

Then, when I got home waiting for me on my doorstep were my new boots from Aldo, sweeeet! They fit perfectly, super comfy, nice n cozy, I can’t wait to wear them out! 🙂

They are finally all miiiiiine!

They are finally all miiiiiine!

So now I am dying to go to the mountain and try out my new gear, I wanna break in the jacket and snowpants and my snowshoes oh-so-badly but alas, I hafta work tomorrow so no going to the mountain for me. Boo! I’ll be going this coming week on my days off for sure!

The boots however are not meant for snowshoeing, nope, they are meant for fashion so I’m pretty darn sure I’ll be finding a way to wear those suckers, oh I dunno, tomoorrow? lol 😛

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Delayed Gratification

16 Jan

Online shopping teaches us a valuable lesson. It teaches us that sure when you press “purchase” you may get that excited feeling in your tummy because you just bought something awesome but that doesn’t mean you’ll get to enjoy that item right away, not like when you go shopping in a store.

Oh delayed gratification, how you taunt me!

Recently I bought boots, boots that I have been wanting for months and months. I patiently stalked the boots online, waiting until they were at a sale price I could afford and when they were reduced in price I pounced! I quickly put a pair of those boots in my online shopping cart, hit the checkout button and presto! I became the proud owner of a pair of kick ass boots. Wellll, an owner in name only since they didn’t just magically jump out of my computer screen onto my lap. Nope. They are in transit somewhere, sloooooowly making their way to me. Ok fine, not that slowly, I’m just impatient so the 3-5 business days it will take to get those boots feels like forever. I know I know, first world problems *rolls eyes*

2014-01-15 00.04.52

The other day, I bought a jacket, yup, I was online shopping again. I can vaguely justify this purchase because I have been trying since November to find a jacket and snow pants for snowshoeing and have been having miserable luck with it. I have basically stopped looking in the stores because the jackets they put on sale only seem to be in extra-small size and even then they cost $300 and up. How is that a sale price?? And how is it that everyone is ok with the cost of winter sports gear?? It’s ridiculous! So yeah, every week or so I check online for jackets and snow pants. I haven’t been too rushed because we’ve had a depressing lack of snow on the mountains this year so even if I had all my gear I wouldn’t be able to go snowshoeing yet. The lateness of the snow kinda worked in my favour that way. Well, guess who got snow? Yup, us! WooHoo! Rain in the city, snow in the mountains, finally! Only problem is now I wanna get my ass up to the mountain but can’t cause I don’t have the right clothes to go through the trails on my snowshoes without freezing, or coming out drenched lol.

I found a jacket, my size, on sale, and if I signed up for the email list from the company I’d get an additional discount on my purchase aaaand they were having a “spend x amount of money get free shipping” promotion. The sale price and the free shipping were both ending the next day so I felt mildly pressured to buy! buy! buy! Even though I hated the idea of buying a jacket online I hadn’t tried on it seemed this was going to be the only way I could get one so out came the credit card and boom! I increased my debt load. 😛

I was all excited the next day, thinking how I bought a new jacket blah blah blah but the excitement faded when I realized there was no real point in telling anyone about it since I couldn’t actually describe it except for what I read in the description and saw in the pictures. I can’t talk about how good it fits (hopefully it does!) or how I love the colour (it might not look the same in person) or how warm/waterproof/epic it is cause I haven’t actually had a face-to-jacket experience yet. It’s kinda driving me nuts lol

You know where else you have to cope with delayed gratification? Weight loss. Getting in shape. Changing to a healthy lifestyle. Building muscle. Whatever your plan is, whatever your final goal is, whatever you want to call it…they all teach us about delayed gratification cause duuuude, none of that stuff happens overnight, sadly. 😛

patience

You may change to healthy eating habits and follow them religiously, you may start a work out plan and never deviate from it, you may do or change any or all aspects of your life to achieve whatever changes to your body you want to achieve but the changes won’t happen overnight, they won’t even happen within a month, you just have to trust in what you are doing and wait. Wait for the changes to be visible in the mirror, visible to other people, visible to your critical judgement of your body.

That waiting can be hard. That waiting can invite doubt, skepticism, impatience, it can invite all kinds of things that are hard to battle. You may start to think you are doing something wrong, that you are failing because you don’t see changes yet, you may be tempted to go back to your old way of eating, your old way of not exercising, you may think what does it matter when all those changes you made to your lifestyle aren’t creating change to your body.

This is where patience comes in. The same patience I have to attempt to have so I don’t go nuts about the boots and jacket that are en route to me through the postal system is the same patience I have to try to hold on to when looking at my body and being upset I don’t see changes to it despite having made changes to my eating and/or exercising.

I have to attempt to be realistic about the process. I can’t expect the boots or jacket to show up on my doorstop the next day just like I can’t expect my body to be instantly slimmer and toned because I made changes to my diet and exercise regime last month. The changes that have begun are internal, I’m sure my innards are getting healthier even if my outer body isn’t showing much difference.

Something else I have to remember is to stop being so hard on myself when I don’t see those changes right away. I am impatient. I want to wake up tomorrow and look exactly how I want to look even though I know that is impossible, I’m sick of working at it, fighting for it, I want the results to be here already. When I look in the mirror and see the results aren’t here yet I start to call myself names, put myself down, think poorly of myself. I judge myself more harshly then anyone else ever could, I know all the right buttons to push, all the best mean comments to make, all the areas I am most sensitive about to criticize. I am my worst critic. I am my meanest judge. I am my biggest doubter.

And I have to stop that.

I have to trust that I will get there, that one day I will look in a mirror and like what I see, or at least not hate it. Just like I know the boots and jacket will eventually arrive I have to have faith that the changes I am working for will eventually be visible. Otherwise I’ll spend my whole adult life hating my body and that is just a waste of my time. 😛

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Oh Lovely Shoes!

27 Oct

Shooooooes! Gotta love em! Well, to be fair, I suppose you don’t have to, but why wouldn’t you want to? 😉

Its amazing all the different types of shoes that are out there, they are all so specialized. It makes sense, you don’t want to wear a cute pair of flats on a hiking trail and who would want to pair hiking boots with a dress?

One thing every single pair of shoes has in common though is the shoes ability to be an evil s.o.b. that makes your feet hurt so badly you want to cry…or at least makes your feet want to cry. 😛

I wore these Friday evening as part of my halloween costume…

so evil...but so cute...but sooooo Evil!

so evil…but so cute…but sooooo Evil!

…and my feet still haven’t forgiven me lol. Now normally I would put that down to needing to break the shoes in but this is the second time I have worn them and what a coincidence it is also the second time they have killed my feet. Ouch! Don’t they look so cute and innocent? They are like that dinosaur in the first Jurassic Park movie that starts off all cute then sprays Nedry in the face…

I can’t help but still think of that dino as cute, I mean, c’mon, he killed the bad guy, and he is cute in his own way. 🙂 Sorta like the shoes…only my shoes have yet to spray poison in my face then eat me, thank goodness! lol

I bought the heels when in L.A. this past August, I still miss being there! I bought them at Payless, ridiculous to go in there I suppose since I could just shop at Payless here but the exchange rate was good and so were the sales! lol The actual brand is American Eagle, I never buy AE shoes from the website or the actual AE store because I generally don’t trust shoes that are from a clothing brand but apparently when the shoe is being sold in Payless I don’t mind as much lol Oh my random logic. They were super comfy in the store, as all heels seem to be, but they quickly proved they were lying both times I wore them out. They tricked me! Sneaky brats! 😛

A second pair of new shoes I am currently in love with, and I mean in love with to the point that when I was moving them from one spot to another I hugged them…yes, I’m that girl! Oh, and no, they haven’t been worn outside yet so not like I was hugging ickyness from the out of doors ground, ugh, what kind of girl do you take me for? 😛

My new boots!

My new boots!

These lovely gems are for snowshoeing this winter, yay! Snowshoeing is going to be my outdoor winter sport, you know, once winter actually gets here (not that I am trying to rush it!) They are waterproof, have a good amount of flexibility and stability, were on sale and I like how they look. All great reasons to buy them! 🙂 I haven’t had a chance to break them in yet, I am hoping they are less painful then the heels! Oh please oh please be less painful! Pleeeeeease! I have decided to use them on a hike sometime this week, see how they are when being worn and not just admired because they are so purdy. I bought them from Sportchek and they are Salomon brand, which to be honest means nothing to me, shrug. I asked a bunch of questions to the semi competent sales guy and decided on these ones…here’s hoping I picked a good pair! 🙂

hmm, is it weird I like my hiking/snowshoe boots more then my cute heels? Man, where have my priorities gone?! Ack!

you like workout boots more than cute heels? you weirdo!!

you like workout boots more than cute heels? you weirdo!!

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