No such thing.

For a while now I’ve been wanting to pick up this super lightweight down jacket from Patagonia. Call me crazy, I mean it’s not exactly fashionable but let me tell you, living in the Northwest this baby will come in handy. Also, I’ve been wanting to take up hiking as a hobby (gasp) and camping (gasp again) so it’ll definitely get some use.

With all this said, my wonderful husband surprised me with one for my birthday this week. Unfortunately when I put the X-Small jacket on we both burst into laughter — I looked like the Michelin “marshmallow” man — with sleeves so long my hands disappeared and the shoulders were so large I looked like I was going to play football. So after a good laugh we headed down to the Patagonia store to return and hopefully exchange for something else. Since they don’t have petites (sigh) I decided to try the little girls section. Surprisingly, they had the exact same jacket ( with no flower decals or fancy colors) so I tried on the XL and it fit perfect. Usually the arms would be too short but it worked great so I am now the proud owner of a little girls XL down jacket for $100 less than the women’s jacket!

So while it may not be fashionable on the streets, I’ll be the envy of all other campers on the trails!

Where do you get your outdoor gear?

It’s time to find your inner snow bunny! Winter is here and most of us will be seeing some snow at some point. Even if you don’t have the skills, it’s still important to have the right gear! Petite snow pants and jackets can be tough to find and the last thing you want to worry about is bringing your pants to the tailor before you hit the slopes so here are some great options below. Athleta has some great pants available in petite sizes, Sun And Ski Sports also has great pants plus jackets in petite sizes and Peter Glenn has a nice selection too.

Here are a few great options.

Marker Women’s Pop Regular Rise Insulated Petite Pants  – $139.00

AFRC Tech Petite Soft Shell Ski Pants – $119.00

Snow Cruiser Pant from Athleta – $148.00

Obermeyer Women’s Aiden Petite Jacket  – $223.93

I was recently introduced to an online retail store for all things fashion called Def-Shop.com. The site features many different brands for both men and women with everything from winter jackets to dresses. I did my research and came up with two great brands for women that would be petite friendly called ONLY and Fresh Made so I thought I’d share!

Fresh Made has some great basic tee’s and edgy jackets. Here are a few of my favorites.

From left to right – Fresh Made Doubleface Jacket, Fresh Made Monochrome Jacket, and Fresh Made Nadia Longsleeve

ONLY is a brand with everything ranging from great basic cardigans to fun one-of-a-kind printed dresses. Take a look at some of my favorites below.

From left to right: Only Taffy Long Cardigan, Only Volume Avi Longsleeve, Only Rosa Give AOP Tube Scarf, Only Rosa Give AOP Dress

Under Armour recently sent me a pair of their Charge RC running shoes. Now I wouldn’t exactly call myself the next Prefontaine but I certainly wont pass up a great shoe and having a shoe like the Charge RC definitely made my workout more enjoyable and if anything else, at least I looked good.

Yesterday was chilly but the sun was shinning so I headed out on a run through the neighborhood. The shoe was super light so it didn’t feel like I was lugging around unnecessary weight which was great. I would say the shoe fits fairly true to size since I ordered my regular size 6 and it fit perfectly (they go down to a size 5). Overall, the shoe feels very natural and almost barefoot like (without looking like you’re wearing those weird looking “toe shoes”) but still provides a great layer of cushion and support.

You can check out all the details of the shoe here and I’ve posted a video below with more information as well (because lets face it, I really don’t know all the scientific details) all I know for sure is that they’re super comfortable and make me look like I know what I’m doing in the gym…

A+ for Under Armour!

Happy running petites!