Lululemon Atlanta Warehouse Sale: Day 3

I headed back to the final day of the Lululemon warehouse sale. The prices had dropped and I wanted know what else I could score. I took my sister. There was a 5-minute line. Not too bad. The sale was loud. And really, really picked over. Maybe a 1/3 of what it had been on Friday. There were noticeably fewer racks and boxes.

Took my sis to the lulu sale. They changed the bags to red bags Saturday.
They weren't giving out the black bags they'd used Friday anymore. 

Bras were marked down to $9 and I really wanted some. I rifled through all the boxes and couldn't find ANY my size. So no sports bras for me.

Also noticeable for the sale.
• There were no bags left. None.
• The accessories section was really depleted. There were no scarves or yoga mats. They did mark the hats down to $4 so I grabbed four (three for gifts). There were hardly any headbands. Only black and tan ones. None of the fun colors from the other day.
• There were almost no shorts left.

Sunday price list

The prices were better for Sunday—but you had to really look for a deal. And I saw items I'd paid more for on Friday—and maybe I should have waited. But the selection was definitely better Friday.

I got some really cool stuff on Sunday, so glad I went (and glad I waited on some of it.)

Sunday buys

• 4 run hats (1 for me, 3 for gifts, $4 each) (Race to pace hat in flashback static)
• Purple towel ($9)
• 2 swim bottoms  ($9 each)
• Skirt, $9 (&go Cityfarer Skirt in dark fuel, currently in WMTM for $89)
• dress shirt, $24 (Day trip blouse) (This had pen marks on it that I didn't notice until after I got it home. They came out with a few minutes of stain remover)
• crops, $29 (Palm Stripe Roll Down Wunder Under Crops)
• Quick change vest, $29
• scuba, $39 (Scuba Hoodie III Flashback Static Tender Violet Black Purple)
• down jacket, $39 (for a $178 jacket!)

I think my favorite from this haul was the skirt (I want to wear it to work immediately) and the hats (so soft!).

Wore this hat to run trails Monday.

The final haul
• Two towels
• Two bikini tops, two bottoms ($9 and $19 each)
• 1 headband
• 1 bag
• 4 hats (3 are gifts)
• 2 shorts (one running, one casual)
• 2 dress pants
• 1 dress shirt
• 1 skirt
• 2 outdoor jackets: one down, one rain
• 4 long sleeve jackets or sweaters (define, scuba, tweed sweater, black half zip)
• 1 pair of crops
• 1 vest
• 1 bodysuit

So after both trips I'm all set for next winter. I got lots of jackets. I definitely got too many long sleeve tops—but I'll wear them. I LOVE the rain jacket.

I could have waited on the towel (-$10), the swim tops ($20 total), the polka dot pants ($20), the bodysuit ($40), which totals $90, which really sucks.  (The bodysuit was on $9 flash sale when I was there Sunday, and I was overcharged $20 on Friday anyway).

I'm super happy with my finds. I got some good pieces I'll be happy to wear.

(And my sister got some Ivivva for my nieces :) Never too early to start them on Lulu).

If I could do it again
• I'd still go first thing Friday. (Going with a friend would have been better, but I couldn't find anyone to come with.) I should have spent another hour looking probably.
• I'd take pictures of the tags
• If I lived closer I would have gone on Saturday, but don't live closer. So I tried to go toward the end of the sale. I think many more things were $9 by the end of the day (If I'd had the patience to hang around for hours.)
• I liked going end of the last day towards the end of the sale. Still some steals to be found.

Now, I'm waiting for the online warehouse sale (which was in August of last year). And wondering in what city the next warehouse sale will be. (I have an airline credit, so I might be crazy enough to fly out if it's someplace cool.)

Lululemon Atlanta Warehouse sale

This morning I got up at 4 a.m. to go to the Lululemon warehouse sale. I am officially crazy!

Line at 6:20 a.m.

Line at 7:40

I went early in part to avoid awful Atlanta traffic—it takes 75 minutes to 2 hours to get to Atlanta from my house so I left good and early. I got in line at the sale at 6:20 a.m. and sat down. There were over 100 people already in line. And it just kept getting worse. Probably 500 people in line by 8 a.m.

I went in with the first wave. And just started grabbing things I wanted to try.

What I wanted to get:
• Bag
• Swim
• Hat
• work clothes
• sweater or coats

I pulled a lot of sweaters and long sleeve shirts. I grabbed some swim. Virtually no yoga pants. I grabbed some trousers. And when my arms got too heavy I hit the dressing rooms.

I was not prepared for the communal fitting room. It was like a high school locker room all over again. People just changing, no stalls. Women were trying on shirts without bras. (Who doesn't wear a bra when going to try on clothes?!) I was surprised with some of the flabby bodies. There were girls hogging the mirrors. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I did let a lot of pieces go when in the fitting room.

Pro tip: Bring a giant tote bag to put your finds in. Everything is on hangers, so find the hanger bins, ditch the hangers and put your clothes in the bag. You can't bring hangers in to the fitting room or to the cash wrap to check out.

What was in the sale?
A LOT of stuff I recognized from last year's online wearhouse sale. A lot of items from WMTM over the last year. A few foreign pieces, but not much. I'd seen 90% or more of the pieces before.

I spent more than an hour looking around and double checking. I'd say it took me 90 minutes to shop. And most of that was deciding what to keep. (Go to the walls and corners and dump your stuff in a pile and decide what to keep or not.) I did this several times.

In the end, I spent way too much money. Don't tell my husband. I spent $100 more than I thought.

 Mantra tote bag. (Total steal. Lucked out on this one.)

 Tracker shorts in clear mint. (got these on second pass)

Black casual shorts.

Hot pink zip up. Maybe a raspberry define.

Black rain jacket. I love the striped details on the cuffs. This says size 5.
Wonder what country it's from. I've already worn. Love it! 

Black half zip. From earlier this year. Forgot it's name. 

 2 swim tops: hot pink and a black and white reversible top that matches bottoms
 I got last year. Shown with purple towel and bag from the sale. 

Tweed sweater. No one else will have this!

Body suit. I was hoping it was for paddle boarding but I think it's casual wear.
Also they over charged me $20 on this one :( 

Polka dot trousers

black trousers.

My favorites. Tote bag, shorts, rain jacket. 

What I didn't get
• No dresses or skirts for me. They only had that ill fitting dress from last year's warehouse sale and one skirt from current WMTM
• Socks and accessories. I was underwhelmed with the sock, hat and scarf selection.
• Crops and leggings. I just wasn't feeling it.
• I also didn't want to spend $29 on tanks. Get to $19 and we'll talk.
• I tried on two dressy shirts for work, but they didn't fit right and really were too expensive for what they were.
• I was disappointed by the men's stuff. There were two short sleeve shirts in large. Lots of swim and sweaters, but no boxers so my husband didn't get anything :( And I didn't stock up on Christmas gifts either. I wasn't excited about the accessories.

What I didn't get that I'm still thinking about
• Quick change vest
• Scuba in purple
• Scuba in grey
• Run Times legging in stardust

I was out of the sale by 10 a.m. I went home.

I'm kind of hoping for price drops Sunday, because there were things I'd like for cheaper prices. I'd say the prices weren't THAT great. It was nice to have THAT much Lululemon to choose from and to be able to try it on.

Should you go? If you're in Atlanta yes. And I went by myself and was 100% fine. The line was long but bearable. The sale was A LOT but no one was cut throat. No one was even rude. I was never overwhelmed. It was loud, but totally fine.

Spin Class: Redo

I decided to try spin class again. I HATED my first spin class. But it's been two years, so I decided to give it another chance.

The class was fine. I liked that the lights weren't turned off.

The bike was relatively easy to use (and you didn't have to clip in your shoes.) And I liked that the class burned A LOT of calories: 352. (Yesterday's bare class was 206, and I considered it a far better workout.)

What I didn't like.

No arms. It was all legs.

I couldn't hear the instructor. The music was loud. I couldn't hear her mic and I was right in front of her. I missed a lot of the directions. Was she saying to sprint? I think I missed this one a lot. Was she saying to turn the gear up or down? I think she mumbled some too.

She also didn't explain what things were. Bouncing? Jumps? How exactly are you moving from sitting to standing so fast? Why are we doing this?

But what I really didn't like was that ycling hurts my crotch and upper thighs. It feels like getting punched. I couldn't find a way to sit so it didn't hurt. Was my bike wrong? The teacher adjusted me before class so I thought it was right. I guess that's why people wear padded bike shorts.

About four people left the class before it was over. Was it too hard? Did they have a final exam to go to? I don't know.

Verdict: Spin class is officially not for me. I hated the punched in the crotch feeling of the bike. I needed more arm work. (did like this class better than the last one, but found the instructor very mumbly.)

There are lots of workouts I like, or will tolerate. Spin class will not be on my rotation of workouts. I took this class because it was free and I thought it would be a good workout.

If you go:
• Go early and have the instructor help you set up the bike (maybe show you how to use the gears)
• Wear athletic shoes
• Bring a towel and you can set your water bottle down on the bike within arm's distance.
• Ask how to avoid the punched in the crotch feeling because I would like to know.

Fabletics Review: Sheer Crops and Poor Quality

This is my first fabletics order in months.

I've been obsessed with neon lately so I really wanted to order some neon. AND I got a 10% off birthday coupon, so I bought a few things from the March picks. (Ordered at the end of March. I did NOT like a single one of the new April pieces.)

Here are my thoughts.

Salar crop in Wildflower, $44.95

I loved these as soon as I took them out of the bag. I even wore them to my birthday party. So cute. I liked how compressive they were (LOVE THIS.). The print was cute. I love black crops. I love black and white. These had just enough of a print to be fun, but not make my thighs look HUGE (like prints do.) The crops are white on the inside, which means the black is printed on white fabric. I thought the online photo made it look like they had pops of yellow in the middle of the flowers. But it's just a two color crop.

And here's the kicker: Fabletics crops look like CRAP after you wash them. These crops faded a ton with one wash. And got all kinds of pet fur on them from other clothes in the wash. I didn't wear them enough at home for them to get any fur on them, but they came out of the wash super furry.

Here's my worn once crops (see how faded) against
• Worn 50+ times Lululemon crops (left)
• Worn several times Splits50 with a black and white print (right)

All laundered exactly the same: machine cold wash with gentle detergent and line dry.

They look practically grey. They were a slick black brand new.

WTF. I thought since these felt different than my other Fabletics crops they wouldn't have this issue. They were very sporty feeling going in. Coming out of the wash, they looked like I'd worn them for five years. I have 3-year-old crops from Groupon that look better.

After the SECOND time I washed them the black dye faded into the white and there was blue ink on the white flowers around the crotch. WTF. I haven't ever had a crop fade like this. LITERALLY THE WORST CROPS I HAVE EVER PURCHASED.

I called and got store credit. (I had to call and listen to minutes of this guy talking about "pretty" and how quality tested their clothes are. I think NOT for the quality testing. I think this is the first piece in 17 years that I've had bleed in the wash.)

Salar crop in neon yellow, $34.95
These crops are sheer. I was sure they'd be. But the tag popped off while I was trying them on so I guess I'm keeping them.

The color is great. I really like it. It's almost obnoxiously neon. But they're so sheer you can read the size tag through the crops. Even nude underwear show through. Wear a long shirt with this. These are by far the sheerest pants I own. But for $35 not that big of a loss.

Mosa tank in neon yellow, $24.95

I wore this running the other day. The color is great. It has a half layer of mesh in the back under the visible layer. It wasn't too heavy and it was soft. I wasn't sure what it did. Was it supposed to help with sweat and back breakouts?

And my tank wasn't too soaked through after at 3.5 mile trail run.

I ordered an XS, which fit well.  (I'm a 6 in a Lululemon Cool Racerback, small in Nike or Under Armour) but I do like my tanks more fitted. (I've got an athletic build, small chest and hips, and my waist does no cinch in like some girls.)

Malindi bra in neon yellow ($19.95)

This is a cute sports bra. Nothing to write home about. It matches the crops. It bra cups. I'd recommend this one of low impact activities. The description says medium impact, but I wouldn't run in it. (Ordered size small, fits like a small in other brands, small in Lululemon.)

Overall:
1) I usually return 90% of my order. I'm only returning the faded crops for this one. I might have tried to return the sheer yellow crops but apparently I need to keep them.

2) This is why I buy Lululemon. The crops wouldn't fade. And if they did, returns would be easy peasy. I had to have an awkward conversation with someone in India. I did not understand what they were saying.

Still not a fan of Fabletics. I just keep the membership in case there's something I want. (And I have points towards free crap in their rewards program. Still mad that it went from a free outfit as their reward to their clearance crap that no one wants.) And now I have store credit. I could have pushed for a return, but I didn't feel like being that horrible. (Though I should get a refund for craps that poor quality.)

UPDATE
I returned the crops that bled—three weeks later I get an email admitting there was an issue with those crops and sending me a $10 credit.

Blue Ridge Flying Trapeze: Spring Weather Edition

The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. And I'd REALLY wanted to go to flying trapeze around my birthday so I made the trek up to Blue Ridge this weekend.

I tried a different route. The route going up took 2:40 and didn't have the horrible winding mountain roads that the other route had. So a tiny bit longer and a lot prettier. (I saw lots of butterflies. I really didn't want them to hit my windshield.) This route went up through Gainesville north through Dawsonville.

Again, I did this trek by myself. Because I cannot get anyone to come with me.

I arrived and it was a party. Lots of trapezists from around the country were in town for the owner's birthday. Some were flying, some were off on the lake boating. It was fun chaos. (Also lots of people to work the board.)

I worked on my swing some. I'm still working on the hang straight. I kick back too much and arch too much. Colby told me to swing more with my arms (as opposed to just kicking). I'm working on that.

Set.

I did three swings and then started working on a new trick. It was supposed to be a straddle flip. Haha.

The first time, I let my hands go on the call. Oops.

The second time I didn't straddle. I had the lines between my legs so when I crashed, the lines bruised my thigh!

The third time I let go with my hands again.

At this point, I'm not straddling so decide just to try a layout.

I went again and piked like of a somersault. So not straight body like a layout. I did it once more like this too.

I saw the video and know what I have to work on for next time.

It was so pretty to fly though. Glad I went and glad I got to work on something new.

New Brand: Sweaty Betty

I've heard a lot of great things about Sweaty Betty, a London-based activewear brand. It's know for quality and is really popular across the pond. Betty. Bloggers rave about it. I read about women in head to toe Sweaty Betty in books set in England ("Girl on the Train" for example.) I described it to a friend as the UK's Lululemon.

It's a brand I wanted to try. And then three things happened:

Navasana Reversible 3/4 Yoga Leggings

1) Sweaty Betty kept sending me emails for a GORGEOUS printed crop. That was reversible. I love printed crops but usually wear them once and never again. Because I prefer to wear black. This is the perfect solution. I needed these crops. The print was amazing and bumped it to the top of my want list.
2) Sweaty Betty has a 20% off sale.
3) It was my birthday so I used it as an excuse to buy more things for me.

I ordered these crops March 26th. They shipped March 29th from England. There was no tracking number. I got them April 8. So there's a timeline if you wonder how long they'll take to ship. (I think their website said expect 5-10 business days after you get the shipping email.)

I got these crops in the mail Friday. I opened the package. They sent me a Sweaty Betty shopper, which was nice. The crops were also in a nice grey bag (kind of like a shoe bag.) It was a nice touch.

I've already used the shopper. Since EVERYONE at the gym has adopted the Lulu shopper as their carryall (seriously it's so much more common than it used to be), I used my Sweaty Betty shopper for barre that Saturday.

First thoughts
1) The fabric on the crops was ridiculously luxe and soft. I loved it.
2) The colors were really pretty.

I went ahead and tried the crops on. They looked smaller than what I was expecting. But they stretched and fit perfectly. (I'm a 6 in lulu and a small in SB.)

Small in Sweaty Betty to a size 6 in Lululeemon Wunder Under.
The waist was about an inch smaller.

Overall a 6 in Lulu is about the same as a small in Sweaty Betty

The crops hit me at a nice length.

The pattern didn't line up in the back. But I didn't really care.

I showed them to a coworker, who made a face. I think she thought they were loud and not something she'd wear. But then she said she liked them for me. By the end of the day, she'd changed her mind and said they were amazing.

I liked them so much I wanted to wear them immediately. Only the teal top I had for spinning didn't match. I wore them to barre instead the next day. (I needed to wear them ASAP.) I wore them with a black Lululemon Cool Racer Back. I'd really wanted to match the crops, but I couldn't find a purple that was the right color. And Sweaty Betty didn't have a matching tank on their website.

HARD TO MATCH PRINT? I'm going to try to see what other than black matches these crops. I tried the new Lululemon Cool Racerback in deep zinfandel. It's not an exact match but it matches okay.

Sweaty Betty has eight stores in the U.S. right now, in the NY/NJ area and L.A. So nowhere near me. Though I do want to go to NY this summer.

Might be my favorite new brand. The crops are more comfortable than Werkshop.

And Sweaty Betty prices are about the same as Lululemon. Maybe slightly more. These crops were, with discount, $100. Shipping was free. No sales tax. I did get charged a $3 foreign transaction fee on my credit card. Lulu Wunder Unders are $88, and might be more if they're reversible. So similar in price.

HOW THEY HELD UP
I wore these to HIIT Barre. Which is a barre class on caffeine and steroids. It's those hard barre moves with LOTS of jumping. I sweat so much in this class. My hair looks like I've been swimming. I just drip sweat. So I usually wear black crops to  this class. I thought since these were lined in black they'd fare okay. They were great. Soft throughout. They didn't show crotch sweat. They weren't terribly sweaty like some crops might be. I'd say they wick sweat well.

I've worn them twice. I love them. They're just so soft. The fabric is great. The colors are beautiful.
And I can't wait until my next Sweaty Betty purchase. LOVE.

Apple Watch Achievements

I'm slowly working on Apple Watch Achievements—the badges the Apple Watch gives you for fitness related goals.

This week I got badges for
• 100 days of meeting my move goal. (I've had my watch for four months, so this is meeting the move goal of burning a preset number of active calories. It was set at 520 when I first got the watch.)

• Perfect month all activities.
I met all of my goals every day for the month of March.

Walk goal
• Stand and walk around for a few minutes every hour for 12 hours. (By far the easiest goal to achieve, but possibly the most annoying. The watch gives you reminders to stand if you're napping or have had a really productive hour at work. So I get up and walk around for 2-3 minutes and it still doesn't give me the hour. However, randomly changing clothes is usually enough movement to get me the goal for the hour.)

• Exercise for 30 minutes.
It tracks your movement with the heart rate monitor. It usually counts walking to my car as exercise. It will count a brisk walk as exercise. If you're doing yoga or something sedentary, put the watch in exercise mode to get these minutes. I can usually make this goal. On my off days, I'll have to do like 15 minutes on the exercise bike to get this goal.

• Move goal
The move goal is where you burn a pre-set amount of active calories. Most days I burn about 538 active calories, but on my off days I can't burn this many calories. So, I started setting my move goal to 250 calories. So I can make my move goal every day. And my goal is really to double it every day. It took me a few months to figure this out.

The Apple Watch is really stingy with active calories. It tells me I burn 76 calories for running an 8 minute mile on trails. I get 300 active calories for most one-hour exercise classes (that advertise 500 plus) and way less for something like pilates.

The move goals is the hardest Apple Watch goal to meet. I've found that if you turn workout mode on a select a workout—it does burn more calories than not having it one (since it samples your heart rate more often) but it wears the battery down faster too.

The only way I got this goal was to lower my goal so that I still met it even on recovery days. I still burn around 2,000 calories every day.

Set a new record for calories burned. 
This one took me FOUR MONTHS TO GET. During that first 10 days I had the watch, I was super active. (And it was still figuring me out the watch, so it wasn't calibrated to me yet.) So I burned 778 calories during the first 10 days. It was a normal day. I went on a 4 mile run. Didn't do much else. I burned 361 calories for that run. I've been on that run many times since. I burn 238 calories for it now. So it's hard to set a record when it gives me 35 % fewer calories for the same workout. Do I need to workout for two hours? (It gives me about 280 calories for 90 minutes of intense gymnastics.) It tracks this based on heart rate and your weight. I'm a very muscly 133. I've been 133 and a whole pant size bigger and flabbier. There is a difference between those bodies. Do they both burn calories the same?

I finally got it Thursday. I did a noon yoga class, which burned 181 calories and then a 30-minute outside run (268) so that was 449 calories. And I must have walked around a lot, because I burned 808 for the day.

Goals
I still need to quadruple my daily move goal. (So burn 1,000 active calories). I really just want to set my move goal to 100 and then quadruple it that way. #cheating. I don't know how I'd burn 1,000 calories. Some days I can walk to all my meetings, go on a four mile run, walk the dog and still barely get in 500 active calories for the day.

Someone the other day asked me if I liked my Apple Watch.
Honestly, sometimes I hate it.
• The move notifications are really annoying.
• I hate getting notifications on my watch. I turned off calendar reminders. I have to remember to put my watch on airplane mode during a fitness class, because there's nothing worse than getting a text from your boss in the middle of an interval. Or a nothing text from a friend buzzing on my wrist when I'm napping.  I'm probably weird in this regard. I don't like most of the smart features. I have enough chaos in my life. I need less notifications.
• The watch is cool. I like the feature where you can ping your phone. I like always having a running watch on. I still think I might like a non-smart fitness watch with heart rate monitor.