Where's Whitney?

So friends, it has been a crazy busy month here in NYC... I went to Paraguay/Argentina with my mom and grandmother to visit our aunt and uncle (my uncle works for the U.S. embassy in Paraguay), had volleyball games every Thursday and two on Saturday's along with the occasional practice, planned a church activity within a week of when it was supposed to be and actually pulled it off (thanks activities committee!), and on top of it all it's been mid-term time at FIT. Whoa! Let me take a breather here....

Anyways, with all of this going on I was chatting with my big sis H who always seems to know a good thing or two that can give me brief entertainment and a break from whatever else I may be doing (a.k.a. she's a good procrastinator... love ya sis).  So sometime last week she had me take a quiz on findyourspot.com. They questions they asked were varied some were the typical "What kind of weather do you prefer?" kind but others were more random like "Is it important that you are within close distance to a hospital?" ... hmmm hadn't ever thought of that one before. Anyways, when you get done with all of the questions they give you the top 24 places that coincide with your preferences as indicated by the quiz. Here were my top 5:

1. Fort Collins, Colorado

2. Ogden, Utah

3. Provo-Orem, Utah

4. Missoula, Montana

5. Billings, Montana

Needless to say I was distraught with my results. Clearly Provo-Orem is not a city, they are two very distinct entities as one houses BYU and the other UVSC ( I know, I know it's UVU now...). And Montana? Really? The Colorado one doesn't seem too bad, but then there's Ogden, Utah. Ogden is the place I tell everyone I grew up because no one has ever heard of my real hometown of Roy. Not gonna lie, I love it there... maybe the quiz wasn't so flawed after all. I guess I belong back west of the Mississippi. Adios New York!

Guilty Pleasure...

Okay, so I know that when you read the title you automatically thought you'd be reading about some kind of food, or chocolate, or attractive man or something but surprisingly none of these are correct.

No my guilty pleasure has to do with gear... outdoor gear. I'm pretty much a geek when it comes to this sort of thing. I love when things are described as having tape-sealed seams or as being moisture wicking. Sick I know but I love it. There is one website in particular that I tend to hold high above the rest in terms of the online outdoor retailing world, the gem I am speaking of is backcountry.com. Now as much as I love looking at the many things they have to offer, I rarely, if ever, can bring myself to actually purchase something. (This is probably a good thing seeing as I am a student, and therefore don't have much of a disposable income) 

Now here comes the kicker. Backcountry.com is such a great institution that it runs a discount site by the name of SteepandCheap. SteepandCheap runs one amazing deal on premium outdoor gear and apparel  at a time. The product is always at least 50% off and is sold via the site until that product is gone. As soon as that deal is over, another amazing one begins. So it is to a gear-obsessed nerds advantage to continually check the site to see the current deal. See how this can be habit forming?

Anyway, I have known about the site for about a year - it is on my bookmark bar for easy access - and I had yet to cave into making a purchase... until today. Today I caved. I bought a Lole down jacket. I know, I know... it seems frivilous. But I couldn't pass the 78 dollar deal on a formerly 258 dollar jacket. Yeah, sounds too good to be true, right? Well here is my purchase. Needless to say I am very excited.

So I know deep down you have a weakness for outdoor gear too. Lucky for you SteapandCheap isn't the only of its kind. Check out these other websites for deals that'll make you want to wear your Chaco's to work.

Tramdock.com

WhiskeyMilitia.com

Chainlove.com

xoxo