Sad goodbye to my good little friend

I haven't been around much (my blog, that is).  I must admit, I've been really sad the last few weeks.  My best little friend in the world recently went to kitty heaven and I am really really missing her.  Deze was in my life for the past 17 years. She moved across the province with me, she went camping with me, she saw me through the breakup of a relationship, supported me through doing my Master's degree and assessed and gave fiance the go ahead to not only date me but to move in with us as well.  She was always unconditional even when she wasn't all that interested.  She was loyal and loving. She was playful and peaceful.  Above all else, through thick and thin she was there with me- even at night-every night, sleeping on my stomach.  She was fierce and fearless and gentle and sweet.  I miss her. Alot. Every day.  It's going to take a long time to get used to coming home to a quiet, empty house without her presence after 17 years. I wish I had a beautiful little black and white outfit like hers. She always looked good. She was the bestest most fashionable cat in the WORLD. My world at least.
RIP Deze.  We miss you!!  xoo J

Classic Black and White

WHOA I don't look to impressed in that 2nd photo hey?  LOL  not sure what happened there... anyway...
Big planning meeting day so time to pull out the classics since you know I don't like blazers and they don't really suit me anyway.  I find pants that fit then they are too short. Or they are long enough but too tight in the upper legs. Darn it all anyway. Will be off on vacation for a week and will report live from the secret location soon.  Until then keep wearing your fav clothes :)
xo J

Race Season

Yes, race season is upon us. We just did a race in the US and it was the first time we did that race. It was an awesome one- a 70.3 which is the equivalent to a half ironman (triathlon).  1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike finished with 13.1 mile run.  I did it and had a great day.  Fiance, with his fast little chicken legs placed in the top 3 of his age category so also had an exceptional day.

Not much for fashion updates these days. Life has been all about training. For example on Saturday we rode 240 km (149.1 miles) and then swam a 5km (3.1 mile) race to raise money for MS.  I am not saying this to brag but more to give you a sense of what I am up to outside of fashion (which is faltering these days :)

Hope all is well with all of you. I do pop by your blogs to check in and don't always post comments but am keeping up with you and your HAWT outfits :)
xo J

Black Attack

Why helloo!!! its been awhile!  Since the Diner en Blanc (last post) my training has ramped up and we have been basically getting up, going swimming, going to work, come home to change, go out for our evening workout and then eat and bed.  I have hardly had time to think about outfits-- it's been grab and go and fingers crossed I look good!! LOL  Anyway, life is awesome and I bought a few pairs of shorts I can wear to work since it's finally getting more hot around here!!

Not the greatest photos this time around but can't be perfect all the time right:)

Hope you are all well!!  and ps. I LOVE WEARING ALL BLACK!!  How bout you? Do you feel good in black?

The White Dinner (Diner en Blanc)

Last night I went to the first Diner en Blanc in Victoria. It was amazing!  Do you know about this kind of event?  You have to wear all white, you meet in various locations to then be chaperoned to a pre-determined secret location. Everyone sets up their tables and pulls out their picnic baskets and dines together.  It originated in Paris and has taken off all over the world.

One of my triathlon teammates (above) invited me to this 2 days before the event.  Now, can you imagine the first thing I thought?? "OH GAWD- I have nothing white!!" This, of course was the most stressful for me especially since white is also NOT MY COLOR!!

We ended up setting up the dinner on the grounds of St. Ann's Academy, a national historical site and very beautiful private grounds.  There was beautiful french music playing and balloons everywhere.  People had the most amazing food too!!

Since I was the 'date' my friend organized most of the details and all I had to do was bring the white chairs, an appy and some protein for dinner.

There were amazing outfits there as well.  This is one of my other girlfriends who was sitting at another table with friends.

Of course it was my chance to break out a big beehive hair do.  You can't really see it here but my hair was pretty big. I LOVED IT and would love to wear it like this every day!!

I found this linen jacket at a thrift store when I was madly looking for something white (and cheap) and I ended up finding a really nice designer jacket- however, I was joking that I felt like I should break out a KUNG FU move since it felt more like a karate jacket :)

Yes, I always TOWER over my friends... not easy being TALL.

We ran into our favorite bike shop owner- his shop does all our repairs and hosts many of our triathlon team's parties.

Our little table (below) was the smallest one there- it was 2 tv tables put together with a table cloth over. You had to pack light because you had to park in a central location and then walk with everyone to the secret location (so you had no idea how far you would be walking!!)

If you have an event like this in your city (check the link) I would highly recommend it. It was awesome and so beautiful with all the white.  I will for sure do it again next year and will organize a big group of people to all go together.  Now I have a white outfit too so I am ready to go :)

BY THE WAY: I am very proud of myself-- I did not spill one thing on my outfit!! :)

Happy Weekend. xoxo J

Meeting Day

Ouch. I don't know what happened but my pants felt annoying today. Like too tight! I went into work and then when I sat down my thought was "this is gonna be a LOOONNNGGGG day".  Here's my problem.  As I make my way through the training season, while I get more lean, my muscles get bigger which sometimes means my upper legs get bigger than normal and the muscles want to pop out of my pants like-- rip right through them. WELL. No exactly but you get the idea.   As I have said many a time before. Me and pants have been arguing for years. Sigh.  Sometimes you just can't have it all!!

Hope you had a super day. What clothing item do YOU fight with on a regular basis? Or do you?

xox J

All sports no Fashion

All sports no fashion these days. Sorry about this :)

At the last minute (Thursday night) fiance and I choose to jump in and register for this epic 270 km bike ride that we just rode on Saturday (June 22).  There were 60 people (50 men and 8 women) from all across Canada and the US on this epic ride that took us up island and all through very remote and hilly countryside- bear and caribou territory and little-to-no houses for at least 50% of the ride.  The volunteers were incredible and they set up support stations approximately every 40- 60 km with water, healthy food and bike repair guys.

I must say I am very impressed with myself to be able to ride 270km and feel good at the end. I was strong and happy the whole time which meant I managed my nutrition and hydration properly and had consistent energy for the whole ride.  We left at 6:30am and ended up breaking into a few groups of riders.  The strongest fastest guys did it in 8.5 hours. My training partner (on the far right) and I rode with 5 men from Alberta and we all finished it in 9 hours and 57 minutes.  Being amongst the 8 women on the ride I felt kinda like a superhero riding back into town knowing I had just conquered something that is known to be an extremed challenge.   I got home. Ate a HUGE steak and went straight to bed (YES I DID SHOWER FIRST :).

A Little Crash and Burn

Kids. Don't try this at home.  I am going against the rules here based on what the fashion bloggers layout as the way to keep a successful blog.  My photos don't match and my post is not about fashion. So there. I am not a real fashion blogger anyway :)

CRASH AND BURN. This weekend I started out competing in my first race of the season and I didn't make it past the swim.  Very disappointing indeed. What happened?  I swam about 50 m out and started having real breathing problems- as though someone was standing on my chest and I could only take really laboured, shallow breaths.  I had the choice of flagging down one of the kayakers on duty, or breast stroking the 1.9 km into shore. And of course, if you know me there was NO WAY I was getting a ride into shore!

Got to shore and walked up to transition barely able to breath. Sat down by my bike. Put my sunglasses on so no one could see me have my quick little cry.  Dried off. Packed up my stuff and luckily had a little pocket camera in the car so got to take photos of my teammates and cheer them on as they came across the finish line.  Of course each one of them was surprised to see me there all cleaned up and they asked what happened.  That's the worst thing- people ask because they care but then you have to either try to change the subject or tell your story again.

Anyway, I had my pity party and then pulled up my BIG GIRL BRITCHES and am focused on the next race coming up.  My coach told me its good to have a broken rear view mirror and I asked him what he was talking about. He said " if your rear view mirror is broken then you can't see what's behind you- you can only look ahead".  I think that was one of the highlights of the day- was hearing an analogy like that. Oh, and that fiance placed 3rd even after not being able to run for almost 8 months previous.  Amazing!!

Long post. Some unplugged Jodi thoughts. Welcome to my world :)
PS the last photo was taken to send to fiances' uncles in the UK-- they sent the sheep poo home for me as a gift so I wanted to send them a photo.  I cracked open the package to help me drown my sorrow :)

XENA girl Crusch

I have a race this weekend, and I am always inspired by my hero (secret girl crush)- Caroline Steffen (also known as XENA). She is a top triathlete and I actually photographed her last year at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.  She is the one athlete that I can compare myself to in terms of body: height and overall shape.  Most of the fast women are these little 5 ft things with bodies like 13yr old boys (no offense to anyone) but my body is NOT like that and not the typical triathletes body.  Finding someone like Caroline to be inspired by is awesome for me.  Not to mention I think she is gorgeous and a nice, humble person (I got to meet her last year)-how cool!

Saturday is race prep so I will organize all my stuff, go and pick up the race package and then fiance and I always make homemade sushi as our pre-race dinner.  Will stay off my feet as much as possible too. This is my first triathlon of the season. Wish me luck!

Happy Weekend. xox J

Planned Obsolescence

Good early morning! I am up and out early this morning and came into work for 7am to get stuff done since I'm not at the pool.  Its one of those days where I'll be at my desk all day so just grabbed something comfortable and have that "I don't care what I'm wearing" attitude.  Sitting at my desk all day requires something comfortable so this is one of the go-to's.

I have also made a pact with myself that I won't be buying anymore new clothes this summer since I have a closet full of stuff and really don't NEED more.  Instead I am investing in getting a new camera- woot woot!.  I think the key trick for clothing is buying items that are classic and timeless so they last and you always look fashionable- not like those people wearing shoes that are so obviously not in fashion (don't you LOVE that planned obsolescence (worth watching this little 3 min video).

Have a super day!!