Red Mittens Around Toronto

It is very cold in Toronto today, -5 cold in fact. I woke up early this morning to work my volunteer shift at an Arts Centre. I was shocked by how cold it was! I’ve been looking at Vancouver weather and see temperatures like 8 and 10 degrees, I guess I thought it would be that warm here too! It is nowhere close to that. I hope that mild weather continues when we are out there. Anyway, while I was at the Arts centre, I caught a glimpse of red mittens on a few people. Before now I haven’t seen many pairs of them out and about.

This afternoon I was in Bloor West Village getting my hair cut and also saw red mittens around. As far as Olympic spirit goes, I think that may be all we are going to see in Toronto. I’m surprised there isn’t a bit more of a display of support for our Canada athletes. Maybe things will start to pop up next weekend.

A trip to Zellers showed their shipments of red mittens had come in. They had bins and bins of them. As I was walking into the store, someone was walking out with 2 pairs of them. Looks like they are still in demand. I’m thinking if it is 10 degrees in Vancouver next weekend, it will be too warm to wear mittens.

photo from hbc website.

Welcome to 2010

To all of my readers, loyal and new, I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year. I can't believe we are finally here at 2010, the year of our Vancouver Olympics.  For me this journey started in October 2008 with Phase 1 of tickets.  2010 seemed so far away, a year and a half at that point.  It felt like it would take forever to come.  Now we are just over a month away from the Opening Ceremony on February 12th (I'm still trying to get a ticket for this but coming to terms with the fact it may not happen).  It's kind of unbelievable to me.  I've had so much fun during this time leading up to the Olympics, I'm not sure I want it to end, even though I am very anxious to go to Vancouver and experience the Olympics in my home country.

I have been very fortunate for the experiences I have had.  Who knew when I started this blog it would lead to such incredible things like being considered for a CTV Olympic promo spot, be interviewed for a Washington Post article, invited by Inside Vancouver to blog for them about my journey, asked to contribute to a Visual Art project, and be invited to ride along with the GM guys in the Torch Relay.  It has been an unbelievable time for me.  Never in a million years would I ever have expected any of this to happen.

Along the way the support of family, friends and co-workers has been amazing.  They are also one of the reasons why this has been so much fun for me.  They are genuinely interested in my blogs and thrilled when all of these exciting opportunities are given to me.  It makes me so sad that they won't be in Vancouver with me to see all of this come to fruition.  I know they will be keeping up on our daily adventures though my blogs and photos.

Adding to the experience are the people that I have met so far.  Fellow bloggers like Andrea from 2010VanFan; Olympic fans that are as excited about Vancouver 2010 as I am, and various people from Twitter.  It is like we are our own special group, looking forward to this in a way that some others don't understand.  I started this blog because I had so much excitement and enthusiasm about Vancouver 2010, I needed a place to put it.  I also thought it would be a good way to meet others like me, if there were any out there.  I have met more people than I ever thought I would and I love to see that others are as big Olympic fans as I am.

I could go on but I was trying to keep this one short.  May 2010 bring wonderful things to all of you.  It is going to be a great year for Canada. :)

Wishing you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2010. Go Canada!

Remember the Olympic Spirit challenge Canada.  I'm looking for images of displays of Olympic Spirit from all across Canada.  For more information check out the previous posts I've done: the one that started it all and the display I found in Brampton, ON.

Building an Olympic Worthy Wardrobe

The rental condo is booked, the flights are paid for and I have more tickets to Olympic events than I ever imagined possible. There is the unfortunate task of having to pay for everything but that is being dealt with. Now that all those things have been taken care of, I can focus on the really important things like what the heck am I going to wear? It’s the Olympic Games! Having never been to an Olympics before I’m not really sure what the apparel etiquette is going to be. It’s like I’m going in completely blind! It’s an important job, cheering on my country; I want to make sure I do them proud.

After much research, I decided to start with a red zip hoody from the Roots Canada Collection. This decision caused massive panic a few months ago when I discovered this item was on sale and in short supply at Roots stores. This Notashopaholic would not be deterred. I raced out that day to claim my red hoody, my first acquisition of Canada paraphernalia. It is now sitting comfortably in my closet just waiting for its debut at the Vancouver 2010 Games. Since then Roots has debuted their new Canada Collection from which I picked up the Canada toque and a T shirt.

Also accompanying me on my journey will be my Lug Eco Shopper bag. With Vancouver being the eco conscious city that it is, this bag, in Crimson of course, will be a fashionable and environmentally friendly accessory. It’s convenient because it rolls into a small pouch for easier carrying when not being used. Besides you never know when I’ll need a bag for all the Olympic/Vancouver souvenirs I’m sure to acquire.

In September, I made my way to my local Bay store to check out the official Vancouver 2010 gear. I have to admit that I didn’t really have high hopes for their collection. I wasn’t too crazy about the stuff I saw for the 2008 Olympics. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the Vancouver 2010 items the HBC crew came up with. The collection includes a good variety of t-shirts, hoodys, accessories and outer wear in various colours and prints. There are separate collections for Men, Women and Children as well as unisex items.

I added the HBC Canada zip hoody in White to my growing Olympic wardrobe and seriously debated about getting Black. Think I’ll hold off on that one for a bit. Some accessories may be in store for me in the near future. I had my mom pick up a pair of the red mittens. At first I said I didn’t want them and then in true Christina fashion, I changed my mind. I am the proud owner of a pair of these hard to find accessories and I will take them everywhere with me while in Vancouver. The HBC collection is sold at Bay and Zellers stores across Canada and as well as online.

Now that my Canada apparel is taken care of, I still need to figure out footwear, do fashionable waterproof shoes/boots exist? I want to be ready for the Vancouver climate. Outerwear is a big puzzle as well. Will it be cold, will it be mild? Does is actually rain as much as people say? How warm do I need to dress? This is a lot of work people. See the stress an Olympics causes? Anyone else would cave to the pressure, but not me. I`ll be there decked out in full Canada red and white.

Christina Wallaert

A version of this post also appears on Inside Vancouver, official blog of Tourism Vancouver.