I just spent all of my Christmas shopping money. November 19, 2006
I just spent all of my Christmas shopping money. On myself. The explaination requires a bit of a back story…. Many years ago when I was an undergradute in the Geology program at the University of Rochester I got to go on an amazing adventure. I spent a few summers in the Canadian Arctic helping one of the professors collect rock samples. I had/got to live in a tent and sleeping bag for the entire season. Before I could go, I had to purchase adequate outdoor gear so that I would survive the summer. Outdoor gear isn’t cheap, especially on the budget of a work-study college student. I think I spent every penny I had equipping myself to go. At the time, the Mountain Hardwear jacket i purchased was one of the most expensive things I ever bought myself. And I loved it. And that was the birth of my love for technical outerwear.
Yellow jacket in action
This love affair continued throughout college as I was constanly reading catalogs and doing a lot of camping. After moving to the bay area, I was excited to be in the heart of outdoor gear universe. Minutes from my house are a North Face outlet store, and REI, a Marmot store (that has killer sales), a Sierra Designs Warehouse (which has since moved) and a Mountain Harwear warehouse. And though the warehouse has a sale once or twice a year, they don’t have a store. but oh, the sale. I had stumbled across the sale in the past, but nothing compared to this weekend.
It was an early wake-up call from abby that broke the news: The Mountain Harwear sale was starting in 15 minutes. It was nothing like the previous sales I had been to there. There were tons of jackets, tents, and most of all, tons of people. I swear, the deals were even better than ever (nothing like getting a $100 jacket for $15). I shopped like I have never shopped before. I was after a tent and a new waterproof jacket. I got that covered about 3 times over. It was seriously the best shopping i have ever had, and I am certain that I will be bragging about my purcheses in future posts.
If I haven’t bored the crap out of you by talking about camping gear on my primarily crafty blog, click through the photo to see the details.
What is the definition of techincal outdoorwear?
Nice haul. I washed my stuff and most of the dirt came out. The morons took the black marker to some of the shirts though and the damn ink bleed through.
I am so jealous! For it to really be the best shopping you have ever experienced, it must have been amazing…Are you sure it was better than the going out of business sale at SuperK?
I almost cried that I wasn’t there….
That is quite a pile of jackets.. I dont think I can bring myself to photo my pile… We were such consumers
I love shopping.
I love that I got three phone calls about the sale on Saturday.
Okay, so I happened upon your blog and I just got into knitting, so I bookmarked it. Little did I know I was bookmarking the page of a fellow URer! This my need to come out of lurking and introduce myself.
My name’s Rachel, I’m a newbie to knitting, and I really like your blog. :o)
–Rachel
I probably would’ve had fun - I need some new, good raingear!
Jealous. So very jealous… How does one get to be in the know about this sale?
Yes, but did you get a tent??? I LOVE a good sale, too - I got my Mtn. Hardwear rainjacket for $10. But my coup d’etat was my wedding dress - orig. $1,900, I got it for a hundred bucks. Yep. So what if I already had one???? I couldn’t pass it up! And yes, I wore the $100 one.