REI

Living out in oregon is turning me into a little outdoorsy girl. who knew? not me, that's for sure. i'm lovin' it though! a fellow teacher in my school was talking to me about biking to work, which i've thought about before moving out to oregon, and by golly it's going to happen! :) yes! i am actually really excited about this. i did a practice bike ride yesterday to see if i would die or not, and i am happy to announce that i am still alive! so my ride will take me about 30ish minutes and the drive by car would take me about 15ish minutes. ah, so saving money on gas, the environment, and getting some sweet exercise really gets me motivated to try this out.

So thankfully REI, the awesome outdoors store which many people know about but eugene actually has their own store, has a plethora of bike helmets and other fun gear to help me. unfortunately, i didn't get a helmet on sale because i have a flippin weird, odd shaped head. :) but i refuse to commute by bike that far without a helmet. people can get messed up badly if you don't wear one. so my fashion sense dies a little bit, remember how i'm not naturally an outdoorsy person, but i don't care anymore. i want to be safe. but i did get two SWEET deals during the labor day sale they are doing. i purchased bike lights, it's illegal to ride in the dark without them in eugene, and a rain jacket because it rains like it is it's job. the deal on that shocked the guy who checked me out. so this jacket is orginially $200! i mean, really, people buy jackets for that much money?!?! i threw up a little bit in the store when i saw the original price. they reduced it and then if that number ended in 83 you received 50% off of that price! AH, i was rejoicing. i ended up getting this jacket for $65, which still makes me throw up, but it was a major drop in price. with all the biking i am intending to do i thought i might never get a jacket of that quality at that price anytime soon. it's apparently REI's most sought after jacket. go me, go clearances! here's hoping this jacket last 50 years, haha. :)

i've kinda wanted to get into cycling so this might be the beginning of that adventure for me. baby steps first. i don't even have a road bike and those cost a butt-load of money...eek...everything costs money. so i'm excited for this new adventure. it sure beats running! :)