An Interlude: Calgary

This past weekend, I went with Dave to go visit my in-laws in Calgary. Here's a quick synopsis:

Arrived Thursday night around 9PM-ish local time. It was -37C! I almost died! I've never been this cold.

Friday: In the afternoon, it "warmed" up a bit, enough for some shopping along 17th Ave. I bought a Lululemon bag and a skirt and top from American Apparel. I also discovered a store that I really liked, Purr. There's one on Kensington Ave somewhere as well. Afterwards, we went to Cannery Row for dinner for my father-in-law's birthday.

Saturday: Shopping at Market Mall, my favourite mall in Calgary! My favourite stores are, Jacob, Aritzia, Areosoles, Browns, Lululemon, Nine West, to name a few. A list of my booty:

• A jersey top, a couple of sweaters and a pair of pants from Jacob/Jacob Connections
• A tank top from Lululemon for the gym
• A couple of pairs of shoes from Areosoles
• A skirt and top from Aritzia
• (A bra from the Bay, but that was a necessity!)
  

What I found really amazing was that when I walked into a store like Aritzia and Jacob, they actually had items that not only fit me, but were on SALE! Same with shoes. This never happens when I go shopping in Lotusland (land of petite Asians -- there are probably more females my size, or smaller, and we are all competing for a scarce commodity, ie, the store maybe only carries the item in the smallest size, and there's usually only one, everything else being for larger women. Hence, it's almost impossible for me to find something I like, that will fit me AND is on sale. How on earth do the distributors ever figure out that people in Lotusland need 100 items in larger sizes and only one in the smallest size is beyond me; the stores are constantly filled with size 6-12 on sale, but nary a size 2 or 4 is to be found.). Flabbergasted does not even being to describe my amazement!

So I got a lot of thing either on sale or used my gift card for the purchase, and ended up spending about $300 less than if I had bought everything regular price. Plus I saved the PST! Whoo! Score!

I went with my good friend L, who had moved to Calgary last summer after her wedding, and my sister-in-law J. L & J would always lose me as I went crazy, grabbing a lot of clothing to try on in the change rooms. Ha!

Another thing to be excited about, Market Mall is opening up an Accessorize and there is already an Origins in the Bay. Can you see why this is my favourite mall? Most of the stores I love are here!

So that was a five hour shopping trip. Heh! After a bit of a rest at L's house, we went out for a big group dinner at Smugglers' Inn. Steak, yum! Irene was very happy. =D

Sunday: Our friends L and her hubby R took us to church. Great service. Now we're packed and ready to head home.

I will have to say one thing about the weather. It's darn cold. Before you go snickering about how I'm a West-Coast Wussie (which I am), I also tend to be very temperature sensitive. Literally (no exaggeration), if any one part of me is slightly cold, even if the rest of me is warm, I'm cold, and I'm miserable. Right now my toes are cold, and therefore I am cold. I'm one of these people who stand over a heat register and the heat doesn't bother me. It's very cold here. -3C is NOT warm people! When we flew in, I actually had thermal leggings and socks on to ward off the cold, and wore the same on our foray out to 17th Ave. I'm happiest in the 21C-25C temperature range, so it's tough for me to feel warm all the time.

So please give a sympathetic thought to my hubby Dave, who had to put up with my constant whining, and of course good natured ribbing from his friends because I'm such a big whiner.