I love when the snow clings to the branches

The holiday is almost over, and my… how fast it has past! Tonight is a casual dinner with the Froggy family, and tomorrow is our last day on the slopes. This will be followed by our so-long-for-now meal, and packing, before getting the train back to Paris on Sunday. It will be nice to be back in our own place again, and to get 2010 off to a real start, but I will be sorry to leave here. This is another home for me.

That aside, I have today’s Five on Friday. As I mentioned last week, I’m not geographically well placed right now for shopping, and so I pre-bought for today’s Five. I believe I have reached and all time low (in the best sense of the phrase). I managed two items for the credit crunching cost of €4.90.

Again these items are from Mim. Some of the bargains in there were too good to pass-up, and others had me deciding whether I should reliquish my place in the queue to buy-up even more. Due to the whole ten minutes I had to get the job done, I decided to guard my place, and fight-off the other bargain-hunters vying for my spot in-line.

Today's Stash - Ear-rings and bracelets

Yes… that price tag reads €2 reduced to €1. That’s 50c joy per ear! The bracelets were €3.90 and there are six of them.

Mim Bracelets- I love black beads

Clear grey is so pretty

These are very much in keeping with my current colour scheme, but they will add some interest to my outfits. They are on elasticated bands so it makes them very wearable.

Mim Ear-rings

I thought these were so pretty, I could hardly believe the price tag. For €1 I should have bought more than one pair. They are just my style. They are also very light so I can wear them without distorting my earlobes. Since they aren’t gold, I’ll only be able to wear them for short periods. I’m one of those weird people who has fussy skin, but I’ll be able to wear them enough enough.

Next week (even though I have another item up my sleeve), I’ll be out and about on the streets of Paris hoping to soak-up some of the awesome sale prices in the Soldes (sales). I can’t believe I wasn’t there on the the first day (the sixth of January) to get in for some of the designer stuff. I’ll be trying my luck with American Gal early in the week. I’ll be keeping you all posted.

I have lost faith in the weather person. They predict amazing weather, and then when you wake-up it’s raining, and when they predict snow, suddenly the sky is clear. I feel they rarely have it right.  This makes planning a day on the slopes a tad difficult. For example on Wednesday, I thought I’d sleep late, and let the snow fall outside, until the Frog burst in, and opened the shutters. The light that flooded the room was blinding, and the sky was SO blue. Next thing I knew I was hurridly chugging down some soup before throwing on the snow-gear, and heading to buy the ski-pass for the afternoon.

View from the Slopes

It was an amazing day. A little cold for my Australian bones, but with a clear sky like that (after two weeks of bad weather), there was no way I was letting it pass me by. I even convinced the Frog that work was for squares, and that he could make up the time later.

I’m so pleased with my effort on my snowboard. I’ve pushed myself to the red slopes, and it’s paying off. I’m more confident, and I just get on with it. I’m even starting to pick-up a bit more speed. I had a few tumbles, sure, but that’s the name of the game when starting to snowboard.

Continuing with the snow theme, I have a few more things that I think look HOT on the slopes.

Sunnies vs goggles…

Goggles all the way. I mean when else can you wear them? Plus they stick to your head, and hold your beanie in place. I wore sunnies the other day, when I went skiing with the family, and decided that my black sunnies worked better with my old ski outfit. Big mistake. The temperatures plummeted to -20°C, the arms of my sunnies allowed wind to enter the beanie, and I have been recovering from Frozen Ear ever since. I kid you not my friends. My right ear froze and has been sore, swollen and red, it’s just starting to mend itself now.

Photo Cred - Roxy Broadway Goggles

I have these same goggles in pink. They were a gift a few years ago, and I love them. I have the Black ones on my wish list for a few reasons. 1) to avoid clashing, 2) to avoid making silly decisions which could result in point 3, 3) to avoid Frozen Ear, 4) because I know this shape works on my face and 5) I like black.

This next item is hardly a “fashion” item, but I almost passed-out when I saw them in Citadium before Christmas. I don’t think there are snowboard bindings out there which could be more ME.

Photo Cred - Burton Lena Bindings

Yes… that is zipper detail. I told you all before that I’m a sucker for eyelets and metallic zippers. I just hope these bindings are still around when it comes time to change mine.

Photo Cred - Burton Starr Vest

I am totally loving this vest from Burton. It’s made with a wool fleece, for extra dryness,and warmth. The details are so cute (yes more metallic zippers), and the available colours are delish. I think the hood is adorable.  This has SO just been added to my wish list.

Photo Cred - Roxy HelicopterPants

These Roxy Pants going by the name of Helicopter, have just come to my attention. I believe them to be super cute, and needing immediate purchase. The cut appears to be slimmer than most snowboard pants, and so I could get away with them for skiing too.

Here are some more photos of me snowboarding. I’m still fairly new at this so please try not to laugh too hard

In action on the slopes

More boarding

And if you have made it this far, I’m really going out on a limb here. This is short movie I put together of my moves. As I said, I’m no Pro. If it looks like I’m going slowly, it’s because I am. The Frog was filming with my point-and-shoot, so in order for him to get decent shots, I couldn’t go at my new speed (which is just a notch up from this).

Given my current location, and daily activites… I’ve decided a snow special is in order.

I always get a bit of a kick out of checking out what people are wearing on the slopes. I adore seeing older people dressed very retro, in full piece ski-suits that were once very bright and are now somewhat faded. But then I love seeing a dude on a snowboard that has carried off the carefree rider in the latest gear. I also love that most people tend to be more colourful when it comes to their snow gear.

My first snow-sport experience was being fixed onto a pair of borrowed skis, with a borrowed jacket and pants and practically pushed down a shallow slope in what was left of the snow in a resort closed for the summer. Come the winter, when it seemed learning to ski was going to be inevitable, I was damned if I was going to be clad in the left-overs of the Froggy family or daggy rental gear. I invested in the funkiest low-cost ski gear I could lay my hands on. Ah!.. Decathlon producing sports gear for the masses. For under €100 I managed to pick-up some ski pants and a decent jacket to match, suitable for starting my skiing career.

This gear has been serving me for about five years now, and it’s held up well (except for where the legs are cut from my numerous debutant falls). Now it’s time for this stuff to be replaced. The jacket has stains (I have no idea what from) which refuse to come out, and the pants get filled with snow in the afore mentioned cuts. It’s not urgent though as I have a smokin’ outfit for snowboarding.

This is me in my snowboarding gear. B by Burton Jacket and pants, Roxy goggles and beanie, Decathlon "Quechua" polar fleece, borrowed Racer gloves.

This outfit has been going strong for two years, and I still love it. This is a B by Burton creation. I saw it online when I first got obsessed with wanting to snowboard, and I knew I had to have it. The Frog ended up getting it for me the season after (after much searching on his part). The quality is amazing and I would recommend Burton products to anyone. The stuff is much warmer than my ski stuff. It’s also pretty heavy, but that’s because it is made from quality materials, and packed with special features. There are special hidden pockets, a magnetic storm flap, powder skirt, piping, handwarmer pockets and more. It’s also durable. I have had many thrills and spills in this gear, and it has shown zero sign of wear and tear. It has seen me through the ugly “real” beginners stage, and is progressing with me as I get more and more confident. I could only want the pants to be a bit smaller, and the jacket to be a bit longer (buying it out of season left us with not too many options for sizes… and it’s not Burton’s fault that I have a really long torso).

Although Burton is mostly for snowboarding I’m actually eyeing-off another one of their jackets for skiing. I know a lot of people think that skiers look stupid when they are dressed in boarding wear, but so far (for me) skiing gear is falling short of the boarding garb.

I’ve also been so impressed with my Roxy Goggles. They are anti-fog, and while the orange lens can take some getting used to, my eyes water less with the cold. This design is also cool for a small face like mine. The beanie in the pic above was another gift from my Mum, and while I’m not the biggest fan of red and pink together (it takes me back to a fashion faux-pas when I was seven), the pink stitching on the red helped me to unite the red detail on my boarding boots with, the pink on my board. Ha! I’m obsessed I know!

Here are some the designs for the season which I’m loving.

Photo cred -Roxy Chalet Jacket

I think this jacket is a bit of fun. The colours are warm, and the fur trim on the hood is so cute.

Photo Cred - Burton Chase Pants

I love the cut of these Burton Snowboard pants. Loads more colours to choose from too.

Photo Cred - Burton Veda Gloves

So in love with these gloves from Burton. I’m a sucker for eyelets and metallic zippers.

That’s all for today folks. I’ll get around to a second part in this snow special in the next few days. This girl had an awesome afternoon snowboarding, and now it’s time for bed.