Fighting off the winter blahs...

Some girls combat blahs and boredom with shopping and new clothes, others with shoes... I'd like to present a similar, yet alternate reality...

To combat the occasional winter blahs (and to get off my couch and stop watching the Olympics... We have DVR for a reason) I decided that new ski pants were the way to go. I have decided that bitter chocolate colored ski pants were just the ticket to encourage motivation. I'd like to be able to say I'm the type of person that doesn't get hung up on new clothes, but, really, I'm just not that cool. I love new clothes. And even better, I love them even more when they get me off the couch and outside.

Unfortunately, this has been a bad week for the foot. It has good days and bad days. It's had a few bad ones. But the motivation to try out my new pants was so great, I enjoyed an hour and a half of stylish, although painful, blue sky, skiing. I was so confident in my new pant's ability to make me a better skier (like new shoes when you were 5 made you faster... this will come up later) I even tried telemarking the moguls. This was disastrous. New pants do NOT make you a better skier. Lesson learned.

If new ski pants aren't in the budget this week, I recommend taking your dog shoe shopping for some winter entertainment. After skiing, it was bath day for Bear. As I am sick of trying to squeeze the now svelte 66 pound wonder dog up over the lip of the tub and through the narrow opening in the glass shower door, we went to the dog-wash. The wash was uneventful. The dog is clean. But, some stylish new dog boots caught my eye. Any of you with a furry yeti for a dog in a very snowy climate know that ice balls between the toes suck. You spend half your ski picking them out. And his current boots fall off. A lot. They're poorly designed.

So, with the excitement of a 5 year old getting his first pair of velcro Roos, Bear went shoe shopping after his bath. We tried on three different sets. Who knew there were stores that let your dogs try on shoes? We found out that he is very different sizes in the front and back, thus contributing to the falling off of his previous set. Fortunately, the genius woman who runs the store sells the shoes in pairs not quads. Bear even tried them out. I'm not sure they made him faster, but they did attract a very hot little Samoyed and made him prance like a pony.

And if new ski pants and canine shoe shopping wasn't enough, we then became official California residents. Very few things are more entertaining than a trip to your local DMV. Almost $1000 later after smog tests, expensive California insurance, expensive California registration, and expensive California drivers' licenses, we are Californians.

Honestly, though, the horror of dropping $1000 on the Subie was padded by a short drive down a dirt road in the Owens Valley for a delightful short-sleeved dog walk with the snowy peaks of the Sierra looming overhead.

There are apparently many ways to fight off the winter blahs. I stand by the tried and true. Shopping for new clothes and shoes, not matter what kind of clothes, or who the shoes are for. :)