I just spent all of my Christmas shopping money.

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.