Damn it's cold here. But not that bad.

I've just spent the last 3 nights in Whitehorse on a work trip. I was not feeling very optimistic coming up here. Of course I was confident that the work part of the trip would be ok (and it was), but I was not sure how I would cope with being in a small town so far north in the winter.

So I packed my warmest sweaters. I bought new winter boots. And I brought mittens that are good to -30. The temperatures while i was here fluctuated between -26 and -30. Now keep in mind that I spent most of my time indoors. Outside time was limited to smoke breaks and a bit of time outdoors in the evenings shopping downtown.

It is dry here. Which actually made the cold a little more bearable. In Toronto, when it goes cold it is damp. You feel it deep in your bones and you can not get warm no matter how man layers you wear. Here, as long as I bundled up I was fine. The exposed skin on my face hurt a little bit after about 5-10 minutes outside, but I was never outdoors any longer then that.

In the end, I'm actually really happy I got to come here and see this northern part of our country. It is beautiful. And the people are so friendly.

I don't have too many photos, but here are a few to share:

From my hotel lobby. I stayed at the Best Western Gold Rush Inn. I'm not going to write a whole review on it, but let's just say it is exactly what you would expect from a Best Western. A clean bed and a clean bathroom, and friendly staff. Nothing else.

Main Street at night is beautiful. The trees are coated in ice and when they hang the lights off of them it is stunning. I would never be able to capture it with any sort of justice using my iPhone. But I tried.

And I got myself a gift! Earrings made from the ivory of wooly mammoth tusks! My understanding is that when the mammoths died they were preserved under the permafrost and are found during mining.

I would love to come back To Whitehorse in the summer time and see the midnight sun. I was a little disappointed that I did not get to see the northern lights while I was here. Activity was low this week and it was cloudy at night.

So all that is left to do now is pack up my suitcase and head to the airport. Happy to have insisted but certainly ready to go back to Toronto where he forecast for this weekend says plus 10 degrees!

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I'm afraid of sourdough

I actually love sourdough bread. One of the yummiest things I can think of from my childhood is a big piece of that crusty bread with cheese and kielbasa. I also really enjoy baking things; so if you think about it, it should be a logical idea that I would make sourdough bread occasionally. Nope.

Every once in a while I get the idea in my head that I will. I go online and look up a recipe. You can't just throw ingredients in a bowl and expect sourdough bread to come of it. You need sourdough starter. As I read through how to make that I get so queasy and grossed out that I abandon the idea completely.

Do you KNOW how sourdough starter is made? Let me explain...

First you mix yeast, milk, water, and flour. Then you let it sit for a day on the counter. (Ok... Kinda ick but I can handle that.) on the second day you mix more flour and milk and water and add it to your mixture. Only then can we refrigerate this beast. Every day you go in and mix it up.... All the while it is gaining in volume. (Starting to really creep me out here!) after I think 4 days, you are supposed to give away half of your nasty yeasty mixture to a friend and keep your other half.

So from there you can make sourdough bread. It doesn't sound THAT bad, and I could probably handle it if it wasn't for the next part. You don't use it all... Oh no... You let this jar live in your fridge, and once a week you FEED it more milk/water/flour mixture. You have something in your fridge... Essentially going bad... That you FEED so it continues to grow. How are other people not completely repulsed by this idea?

Science is gross.

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A case for low-contact roller derby

I love roller derby. I've been playing for almost two years now. I have found though that people who get involved fall into one of two camps: those who say roller derby saved their soul and those who say roller derby destroyed their soul. I started at one end of that spectrum and gradually shifted to the other. It was incredibly painful to fall out of love with something that had done so much good for me at one point.

Roller derby is a community-oriented sport, in the sense that it becomes your community. To be truly great at this sport, it also becomes your lifestyle. This became a problem for me. I have so many other things going on in my life that are equally, if not more, important. I wanted to play this awesome sport, but I no longer wanted to dedicate as much time and energy to it.

That it what prompted a few equally disillusioned friends and I to form a LOCO team in our city. LOCO is low-contact and low-commitment.

Low-contact means "no big hits". There is still pushing, but nobody is going to wind up and knock you down as hard as they can. I like this because it means a few less bruises and forces people to focus on positional blocking, which I am pretty good at.

Low-commitment means I can come and go as I please. It's about showing up to practice and skating with my friends having a good time. Sure once we grow attendance will matter if we play a bout, but bouting is not the most important part for me. It is more of a treat. If I was in this for the bouts I would choose a more competitive team. If I need to take some time away to focus on non-derby life it doesn't matter. If I want to show up only every other week - that's cool too. As long as my abilities on the track don't slip to a point where I'm endangering myself or other people then it's ok. Our main goal is a good time when we get together. Not a trophy or a high ranking.

That's not to say we don't care. We have an awesome coach who is training us to be great. We work on strategy and skills and keeping ourselves in shape. We work on getting better. But we all know that we don't want the level of work and commitment that comes with being an all star team.

My hope is that this recreational level of roller derby continues to grow. There are tons of articles written about what needs to be done to have roller derby more widely recognized as a legitimate sport so all I will say on that is that having super relaxed rec teams like this are definitely a step in the right direction.

Tonight LOCO teams from across southern Ontario are facing off for their year end tournament, Elle Grande LOCO. Good luck to London, Kitchener, Brantford, Sarnia, Toronto, and Stratford. Remember why we are all here, and that every tough there is a trophy to be won, this is a celebration of our love for this sport.

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The warmest hobo

Its the time of year again where the hours of day light is shorter, the temperatures are lower, and my pride in my appearance plummets to uncomfortable lows.

9 months out of the year I really love fashion. I dedicate a lot of time to trying to make he latest trends work for my body and pulling together go-to outfits that make me look pulled together. It's fun and I really enjoy the process of finding new clothes and dressing myself. And when I have an outfit that is just right, my hair, makeup, and accessories get just a little more love to help polish off the look.

Spring is so freeing. The super cute shoes all come out of the closet, the lighter fabrics make their appearance. The skirts! The dresses! I'm like a flower waiting to bloom!

Summer comes and brings with it so many new fashion possibilities. Summer is all about colour and I can't help but smile when I look at all the fun things I wore this summer. Bright green jeans with a hot pink blazer! Neon blue fit an flare dress covered in red cherries!

Then it's time for fall. Fall fashion is m absolute favorite. Leggings, cardigans, boots, light easy layers. Fall provides hands down the most flattering fashions for me. Some days are just warm enough to pull off a summer dress if you pair it with leggings and a cardigan. I get the most mileage out of my clothes in September and October.

But then winter comes. Suddenly the leggings aren't warm enough and you have to consider pants. The little cardigan just won't keep me warm either so I have to switch to a heavier sweater. As the days get shorter, the morning sunlight disappears and I'm getting ready for work while it is still dark outside. When you wake up in the cold and dark it gets increasingly difficult to care. One day you decide to wear a pair of jeans. Then a few days later it is jeans and a hoody. Getting deeper into winter you care less about looking good and more about just staying warm and being cozy. Wearing heavier layers you don't notice that you have gained a couple pounds. Your skin gets dry from the harsh temperatures and windy days; maybe you try a new product to moisturizer but hat just gives you super oily skin and you break out.

One day around mid March I will start thing about all the spring fashions I am starting to see in magazines. And I will look in the mirror and wonder what the fuck happened to me. Somehow over the winter I have started to look like a hobo.

Maybe with this insight I can prevent this cycle this year. I'm headed to Whitehorse for work trip in a few weeks. I'm struggling to find outfits that are business appropriate but will keep me super warm during times I have to go outside. (Mostly to and from vehicles.) Really thought, I just want to wear track pants an a wool sweater from December through February.

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The great couch hunt ended

The search for a couch ended with the marriage still in tact.

 Look how we got it home.