Winter Rescue

We've been having some really nice, warmer, weather lately and it seems like we're finally (fingers crossed) getting to the end of winter.  Although it is a little warmer it has still been ridiculously dry and my skin and hair has been suffering for it.  I feel like I've just barely gotten to a point where my hair no longer feels like straw and my hands no longer feel like they're going to crack and start bleeding (ew) so after a lot of trial and error I thought I would share what worked to save me from this horrid dry climate.

The product that has probably made the biggest difference for me lately has been the Ultra Repair Concentrate from First Aid Beauty.  This (very thick) cream can be used anywhere you have dry skin but I've been using it as a night cream for my face.  I simply slather a bunch of it on my face, go to bed, and then I wake up with smoother, healthier looking skin.  It hasn't caused me to break out at all I've actually been breaking out less and it healed up a pretty nasty acne scar almost overnight.  It's a little bit too much for an all-over day cream but you could definitely use it just where you needed it if you had dry skin around your nose or something.

A body moisturizer fave is of course the body butters from The Body Shop.  I do find them a little greasy so I don't reach for it all the time (although I have a bunch) but they are excellent for dry or scaly legs and feet. (Also if you can still manage to get your hands on a cranberry scented one I highly recommend it sooooo good)

Also at The Body Shop I picked up this mango scented Beautifying Oil.  I originally got this with my hair in mind and it does a great job of making my ends look shiny and not dry and broken although I would be careful because if you have fine hair this might weigh it down and look greasy if you use too much.  I've also used the oil on my body when I'm feeling lazy because it is much quicker to put all over than a body butter and because it's a dry oil it's not greasy and dries quite quickly (although not as moisturizing).

The Blistex Lip Medex is pure a simple a great lip balm.  I've tried many other but nothing's as good as this; it works quickly and it works well and that's really all I could ask from it.

I don't know if it's because I wear gloves to skate all the time or if it's because I work in a coffee shop and wash my hands a lot but they are always, always extremely dry.  The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector is not the most glamorous or nice smelling hand cream but it works extremely well.  Instead of having to apply hand cream constantly I can use this once and my hands will be gross and scaly no more!

We're almost there guys, it's almost spring and then it will be summer, just a few more months.  Let me know if you have any products that really work for you because I'll take all the help I can get when it comes to dry skin, I hate that feeling. 

The last and most important competition of the season for me is this week so no matter what happens next weeks post will be the review of that (fingers crossed it's an upbeat post).

New Years Goals

Don't let the picture fool you, we got dressed up and spent our New Years Eve playing Taboo on the living room floor but I was completely ok with it.  I really don't feel the need to go party somewhere and get trashed (no judgement to people who do though) and NYE has never been a really big deal for my family.

There's something hopeful about the start of a new year, it's full of possibility and a lot of us use the start of a new year to make changes in our lives.  I've never been big on making or keeping resolutions but since goal setting is such a big part of sport I feel more comfortable making some goals for 2015.

This year I want to find things that make me happy and pursue them and discard things or people that do the opposite.  I also want to make a decision.  Not any decision but a specific one that I don't really want to talk about on the blog (you know since I haven't made the decision yet).

What about you? Do you make resolutions?

National Qualifier 2014

The first competition that actually counted for something this season happened at the beginning of December.  I know that it’s the end of December now but after I got back from racing my life has been a whirlwind of training exams and practice races; this is the first chance I’ve had to breathe and it’s because I’m currently sitting in an airport waiting for my flight home for Christmas.

Pictures courtesy of my aunt who came to watch some races

If you’ve read my previous National Qualifier post you’ll know that it’s important for me to do well at that competition so that I can qualify for National Team Trials and the Canadian Open completion.  I’ve skated Canadian Open the past two years and have previously managed to qualify for it without too much trouble.  This year however, everything did not go as planned.  Qualifier wasn’t a terrible competition; I had some good races, and some not so good races, and a little bad luck like with any meet but unfortunately this time the best that I could do wasn’t good enough to qualify me for the next competition.  Obviously I’m disappointed because I want to keep working my way up the ranking lists instead of down them but I’m using this small setback to re-evaluate some things and to consider my options moving forward.

big outside pass

On a happier note I’m going to be taking a bit more time for myself over the next few weeks so hopefully I can try to get back into a routine of writing a blog post once a week!  Mostly I’m just excited to get a bit of a break from skating and school and spend some time with my famjam over Christmas (even if it’s only for a week).

Spring (?)

We're finally getting a break from winter it's sunny and 10°C today which has me a little hopeful that it might be spring? Fingers crossed (although knowing Calgary it will probably be -20 again by next week).  I've been stressing out a little because of skating and school stuff so today I went on a nice long walk in the sunshine to kind of de-stress; there's no way I could just sit inside and translate old english all day, the blue skies were calling me! I really wish I had brought my camera with me but I wasn't thinking so I took some pictures on my iPhone but they're just not the same.

Casual windy no makeup selfie

I guess Calgary's kind of pretty

There's really nothing like a walk and some fresh air to make everything ok (a great 8tracks playlist doesn't hurt either) but I guess I shouldn't put off homework forever so if you need me I'll be studying and simultaneously praying that this sun doesn't go away.

December in Pictures

Happy New Years everybody! A deeper more articulate post about the past year and the year to come might come later but until then here's the past month in pictures. 

It got real cold in Calgary

Like frozen eyelashes cold

Fun times with friends before going home for Christmas (and going home forever for one of us)

Calgary's kind of pretty I guess

Bit of a change in weather from Calgary to Vancouver

All settled in to watch Doctor Who with my dad because that's what we do when we're together

Our Christmas tree this year, after gifts

Which brings us to New Year's Eve!

Home for the Holidays

Training has been going a bit better lately but since we were reaching the end of another four week build I was looking forward to getting a bit of a break and seeing my parents for more than a few days at a time.  This year is the first Christmas that we're spending at our Parents' new house which is a little different but also meant that we only had about a one hour flight from Calgary to Vancouver instead of the five hour flight to Ottawa.

Thinking that this would be an easy trip we got to the airport early only to find out that our flight had been cancelled for no reason, none that they told us anyways, and so we had to cab all the way back home and then try to travel again the next day (luckily being the emotional wreck that I am I cried so they gave us vouchers for free cab rides).  The next day after being put on standby and delayed we finally got on a plane and made it to the Vancouver airport.

I was expecting rain and warm (compared to Calgary) weather but it actually snowed after we arrived! Although it's mostly gone now since it rained today.

Almost looks like Calgary (although significantly warmer)

We went to the Vancouver Symphony's Christmas concert which was good and also served to remind me that I wasted my musical talent by not doing anything musical since high school.

Sneaky crooked, blurry picture from the balcony

Selfie because I got to try out my new Revlon lip balm stain (in Crush)
(Don't get to wear makeup much when you train six times a week so I had to document the moment)

Even though I'm technically on holiday I still have training to do so of course I had to travel to the Richmond Olympic Oval to get some weights done.  I feel like I'm just travelling from one Olympic Oval to another.

Don't actually get to skate but kind of cool seeing all the banners from the last Olympics when the next ones are just around the corner

Stay tuned for more Christmas-y posts or about how I manage training away from the training centre (because I still don't know how that's going to go) or maybe something completely different, anything could happen.

How to Avoid Freezing to Death

It seems that winter in fully upon us now, there's snow on the ground, the Christmas decorations are up, Christmas songs are playing in all the stores, oh, and it's also REALLY EFFING COLD.  I don't know how it is where you are but where I am we've been having temperatures like -28°C and windchills of like -39°C (I really wish I was joking).  So here is my foolproof way to avoid freezing to death:

1. Stay inside. Don't even open the curtains just sit on your couch with blankets and hot chocolate and never leave it.  Don't even go outside for food, that's why deliverymen exist.
2. If you really have to leave the couch to go to school or something (and let's be honest if it's not for an exam is it really worth it?) bundle up and then run directly from the warmth of your house to your car, and I mean RUN, if you don't have time to feel the cold maybe you can pretend that it doesn't exist.
3. Don't have a car? Layers. Wear two pairs of mitts, wear more than one hat.  Wearing jeans to school? Wear sweatpants over top. Wearing leggings? Add some sweatpants. Already wearing sweatpants? Add more sweatpants. -30 is not the time to be cute and stylish it's all just about surviving.

That's all I've got.  I've been trying my very best to use friends for rides and then just staying at the university all day, it doesn't even matter that I've got hours and hours between classes/training.  If it's cold where you are try not to be outside for very long and cover your pretty faces! Frostbite is real and it hurts.

20 days to Christmas!!