Shopping Spree

UPDATE: After spending hours of labour and $200 accessorizing my bike, I took it out for a short spin yesterday, biking my daughter to daycare in her fancy-pants bike trailer. She hates the trailer - actually, she hates the HELMET, trying to pry it off her tiny head the whole time and screaming the whole way there. Being a self-conscious cyclist, I'm not a fan of having so much attention called to us, but she doesn't yet understand the importance of discretion. The good news is that everything fits properly - the fenders, bike rack, and panniers have the proper clearance so they're not rubbing against the tires or restricting the movement of my pedalling. The bad news is that the bike is noticeably heavier. Even when I took the trailer off to carry the bike up and down the front steps, I could tell it felt heavier than before. This is understandable, but for some reason my crazy little brain didn't expect that. In relation to the whole bike, I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference, but starting with a light bike to begin with, it appears that it did! So I'll have to see how noticeable the weight difference is over 8 km sans bike trailer when I start going to school with it next week.

Now for something completely different . . .

Ahhh, the inevitable back-to-school shopping! Normally this involves backpacks and pencil crayons and rulers, but for me, it was far more sinister - a whole wardrobe of business-casual clothes. I already find it difficult to find clothes that fit properly, are flattering, and in my price range, and added to that was my desire to find clothes (at least work pants) that I can bicycle to school in. So, perhaps more accurately, you could say I was looking for business-casual-cycling clothes.

I've always been impressed with my friend (the public school teacher)'s clothes, and every time I ask her where she got that sweater or those pair of pants, she always says Ricki's. I went to the one in the Kingsway Garden Mall and was helped out by Desiree, who was fun and helpful and awesome, and blew a huge wad of cash getting pants, blouses, tops, a vest, and even some accessories (I now have a fashion scarf, ladies and gentlemen - a fashion scarf - and I'm not even a gay man). I feel the need to state two things here: I don't care much for fashion, and I HATE shopping. So this whole shopping spree might sound like a great time to a lot of people, but it was a special kind of torture for me. I stood in front of full-length mirrors under unflattering fluorescent lights, noting that I should have washed my hair and worn makeup and for the love of God, what possessed me to wear that horizontal-striped t-shirt today?? I vowed in the dressing room to burn it immediately upon returning home.

The good news is that I was able to fit into clothes they stocked and not have to go to a specialty fatty store. I also found some fantastically flattering, well-fitting, and comfortable pants that I will be able to cycle in - though I may have to tuck the remarkably wide cuffs into my socks lest they get caught in the bike chain (and we all know how sexy that'll look). I just hope I'll remember to un-tuck them before I walk into the counselling centre every morning.

My worry is that I may have spent a lot of money on clothes that will no longer fit before the winter's out. If I do successfully lose weight over the coming months, it won't take long for these now-flattering clothes to look bulky, ill-fitted, and unflattering on me as I change shape. But what is a girl to do? I needed work clothes, and I need them now. Maybe I'll consider the investment worth it when I'll be able to hold up these pants as an example of how big I used to be, once I'm smaller. We'll see.

The point is, I'm getting closer and closer to the start of the internship, and getting more and more prepared to become a bike-commuter. I'm already excited and nervous about it all!