Life is in the details

the difference a day makes (or a few hours)

Wednesday DID end up being a great day that we got to spend with friends at the pool (where the kids snacked continuously, splashed around with their friends, and built pool chair forts) and then joined up after a quick stop home to change and shower/bathe for an AWESOME dinner at our favorite THAI restaurant complete with froufrou drinks (me - Sex on the Beach & Carl - Mojito) and beer (Mike & Jodie).

Yesterday was filled with the aroma of bread rising and baking in my kitchen, fresh air out on the trail (in the form of a solo bike ride - another 24 miles), and sunscreen from an afternoon at the pool (one that was cut short because the kids were cold). So we left and headed to see about signing them up for tennis camp for next week since they informed me that they didn't want to go hiking ("All we do it walk? That's just boring." Were Jessica's approximate words - and Ryan repeated them to me this morning) or bike riding or attend Camp Mommy even though there'd be promise of art projects and chocolate baking projects galore. I was saddened by this sudden turn of events as I was really looking forward to spending time just the three of us with no obligations.... nothing that we HAD to do... the WORLD WAS GONNA BE OUR OYSTER NEXT WEEK!!

I found out it may be the lure of brightly hued candy and cheap plastic toys that won over the hearts of my kids (as the tennis coach is very fond of gifting the kids with loads of the stuff that rots their teeth and has them bouncing off the walls before they can even swallow 4 little teeny Skittles... that and lots of stuff that could only say Made in China on the back).

When we got to the counter to sign up we looked over the list of kids that had already signed up and saw that one of Jessica's best friend was NOT going to be in next week's session (which I then realized that was the real reason behind us being there) so she instantly 180ed her decision and decided she was really wanting to sign up for Camp Mommy after all!! (It's nice to know that friends were the driving force rather than than brightly sugar-coated sweets and landfill material).

Ryan still had the chance to attend but he is really more attached to his sister than he likes to admit. He said that he would rather stay home to be with me but I know that he's really only staying home because Jessica is home and he wants to be wherever she is (either that or he doesn't want to miss anything - and I'm okay with it being a mixture of both). I'm just happy that I am going to get the chance to hang with my kid tribe today and all of next week.

We also got a nice visit from our cousin, Paula, who lives in our neighborhood - yet we don't see as often as we'd like or we should - stopped by to say hello and pick up some gazpacho (our summertime ritual as I always make too much so that I can share some with her). I also sent her on her way with a loaf of challah, and some chocolate chip zucchini cake (which is what was pictured in my previous post even though they look like brownies).

As we were eating our dessert of the aforementioned zucchini cake last night both kids.... BOTH KIDS I tell you - asked me if I would make THIS EXACT cake for their birthday cakes (!!!) (coming up starting in 3 weeks for J). Man, I LOVE these KIDS! They crack me up and delight me! ZUCCHINI cakes!! Ryan won't even eat a vegetable and now he's asking "please, please, please" for a zucchini cake for his birthday. I told them I'd even add some icing and writing on it and you would have though I'd have offered them a toy shopping spree.

Oh and I just have to mention here so that I have it documented before it's <POOF> out of my mind for all of eternity that

• Ryan surprised us on Wednesday by coming in our room earlier than we wanted to be up (that's not the surpise as he does this EVERY day - and it was old LAST month) with his shirt put on all by himself! This was one piece of clothing that he was resistant to doing himself for the longest time - it was the one thing he was holding onto in his clothes dependency on us. Maybe he was trying to hang on to being a "little guy", a coordination issue, or maybe it was a control thing... who cares?! What important to us now and what we're celebrating is that he's doing it on his own now and is SO PROUD of himself!! He now comes into our room insanely earlier than we want but has this cute little grin on his face and then says, "Do you know how I got my shirt on?" To which we smile groggily back and offer high fives!

• Jessica started ordering Ka Prow chicken (SPICY!) at the Thai restaurant last week instead of the delicious chicken friend rice that was her norm (that I would always eat the rice from because it's so insanely good) and I am so stinkin' proud of her! My little foodie!

So TODAY it's figuring out if the kids want to do anything with the overripe bananas sitting on our kitchen counter before they become fruit fly fodder because they always jump at the chance to bake something - ANYTHING when we have some time on our hands, finding the right art project for the two of them, GETTING OUT FOR A BIKE RIDE together, playing games, doing some reading together (Jessica and I are loving The Phantom Tollbooth, which somehow I missed in my own childhood - so glad I get a second chance at it through them. That's one of the best thing about being a parent - that and hugs and kisses in abundance!)

And I'm going to have to find a way to get them out for a hike anyway and GET THEM EXCITED ABOUT IT. I'll talk up the cool birds, trees, and rocks. Make a discovery book for them to track their sightings. But likely I'll say they can take turns using the camera to take photos along the way. Gets 'em every time.

Summertime and the living is easy

Yesterday's pool outing was very fun for kids and momma alike.... got to spend some time with my friend Kate (Hi Kate!!) talking about food and vacations and just soaking up the sun. But I forgot to ask her about her smoothies so that will have to wait until Thursday.

I went for a bike ride yesterday (24 miles).... my usual "quick" route when I only have time for something "short". And I also biked the kids to their tennis camp and back. I wish we bought Jessi the bike with gears when we bought hers last year because they would definitely come in handy during some inclines that we encounter along the way when we are out and about because she surely feels those and it makes for a less-than-fun time for her. Not sure if I'll go out today again for the same ride... though I might ride to the library to pick up some books on hold. It's all a part of my "Don't drive if you can RIDE" summer manifesto plan.

I did get around to making chocolate chip zucchini bread/cake which was YUMMY delicious (everyone ate their piece yesterday for dessert - and Ryan didn't protest to eating a vegetable. SCORE!)!!! I tried a new recipe that used all whole wheat flour and it tasted great. All I added was a BUNCH of ground cinnamon because I'm good like that I tell ya! I'll be posting the recipe with a couple of additional photos here and at Whole Abundance when I get the chance to type up the recipe (which might be later tonight).

Not sure if I'm going riding today because I might try to get over to Target to get Jessi a few more bathing suits before they put out their winter coats later this week. Sheesh... will you stores stop rushing my summer along please?! We've only just begun. I have many more lazy afternoons at the pool in my future. And first up... meeting up with Jodie, Lauren (Ryan's future wife and the reason he asked Jessica if he could have one of her American Girl dolls yesterday and she said yes and even helped him clear out a bin for accessories), and Jordan today at another of our favorite neighborhood pools!! Summer... BRING IT ON!

Off to get the kiddies sprayed up with sunscreen and then to tennis camp.

Hello Monday

These are garlic scapes from the garden that I really did mean to use a week or two ago when I first saw them but I forgot to cut them off and just remembered to do it TODAY (oops!) when one of them was close to flowering. Hopefully I didn't completely ruin my chances of having nice big garlic bulbs (since leaving these on as long as I did probably took up a lot of the plant's energy rather than using it to increase the bulb size).

Today the kids had a tennis camp for a few hours in the morning and then the afternoon was completely free for us to do fun summer things together... so, of course, we went to the pool! Is there really anything better? The weather was beautiful: sunny and warm - perfect pool weather. Both kids were teaming up together to squirt me and to try to tackle me with their little bodies. It was great fun and although after a while I didn't want to get squirted anymore I was very happy that they were working as a team toward a common goal (because their arguing with each other within 3 minutes of sitting down to eat breakfast in the morning needs to be evened out with SOMETHING, right?!).

I didn't feel like going for a bike ride or a swim or an ANYTHING really while the kids were at camp... I took Saturday and Sunday off due to fatigue and a scheduled day off (except for the small amount of canoeing we did on July 4th, where admittedly Mike did most of the work, and thoroughly impressed me with his mad boat skills... very sexy indeed). But I did manage to do some upper body and core work this morning and am finally feeling like I want to go out for a ride tomorrow so that's the tentative plan while the kids are at tennis tomorrow morning.

This morning I managed to:

• make and cancel some doctors appointments (for a second opinion on Jessica's orthodontia)
• put together my Mom's birthday gift
• reschedule a doctors appointment for Ryan (we had a conflict for his previously scheduled 6-month ear tube check-up which is now going to just have be a 7-month ear tube check since that was the next available one they had), fill out lots of doctors forms to get ready for the upcoming appointments
• send out the letter to the superintendent of public school notifying them that we will NOT be sending Ryan to kindergarten NEXT YEAR and will be having him attend another year of preschool instead  (yes, we've finally made a decision after thinking about it since April, when it was brought to our attention that this might be a good option for us to consider.... so we went ahead and signed him up for next year at the same preschool he's been attending. Lots of discussion, conversations with many teachers/friends/and ones between Mike and I and ALSO some issues at camp last week helped seal the decision for us me (Mike was already there and I just needed to feel completely okay with it). Well we both feel crappy about the whole situation but with the information we have we feel confident that we doing what's best for Ryan. And this is the decision that we will second guess the LEAST. If it went the other way, we'd always wonder if we had made the wrong decision any time some challenge/struggle/issue came up.

 

FOR THE REST OF THIS WEEK:

• I've started looking at buying a Road ID product to wear while out riding for safety. I always go out with my ID and phone but if, G-d forbid, I get hit by a car and thrown from my bike, I want my info to be on my body with all the important phone numbers and allergy info that can help me get the best care possible as soon as possible. I'm likely going to get the traditional wrist one by the end of the week... not sure on the color though... I'm eyeing pink since they don't have aqua or a green that I like.
• Go Lance! I've been watching the Tour de France coverage and am loving that Lance is wearing my FAVORITE number - 22!! COOL! I'm hoping for another win for him. He did great today and moved up to 3rd overall.
• I need to make some chocolate chip zucchini bread because we have a TON of zucchini (not from my own garden.... I don't even see promise of any - which stinks!! - but our friend Sabrina gave us some from hers, along with homemade ketchup!!, and we need to start using it up because not everyone in my house is as crazy about whole wheat pasta with zucchini (cut into matchstick shapes), lemon zest and juice, minced garlic, chopped mint, and a sprinkling of Parmaggiano Regianno (had it for dinner tonight and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! I think I'm going to make some more for myself tomorrow for lunch!!)
• I want to try to make some homemade GNOCCHI. I had some this weekend on our date night (along with some zucchini and yellow squash - notice a theme here?) and it was DELICOUS so I have to try to recreate it.

fine tuning

Completely unrelated-to-this-post vegetable photo courtesy of my garden.... because you have to start with something visual right??

Yesterday I went for a bike fit at my neighborhood bike shop. It appears I was eligible for one since I bought my road bike there but didn't know this until I mentioned that I felt too spread out on my bike and I wondered aloud if I should have gotten a frame size smaller. So I brought my bike in and they put it up on an indoor trainer and had me get on and pedal for a little and watched my form, measured things, and then starting moving things around, watched me pedal some more, and moved some more things around.

Here's what was done:

• moved my seat up a whopping 1/2 inch!! I knew it needed to be raised, I just didn't know how much! (this will make a HUGE difference)
• moved my seat forward
• moved the cleats up on my cycling shoes (this is the one I'm most skeptical about because of my neuroma/hot spot issues but I'm going to keep an open mind and give it a go)
• inserted something in my breaks and then adjusted them so that my hands could reach them better (this will especially helpful when I'm riding in the drops because before I could barely reach them at all and would have ended up shifting instead of breaking or going up on the hoods to stop)

I'll probably try to get out today and go for a light ride just to test these things out and get the blood moving in my legs today. But I'm dragging today... not so much physically - I'm not nearly as sore as I thought I'd be from the run part yesterday, but it's more of a mental thing today. I think it would be WAY easier if had someone to go riding with today (someone of my same ability and gender would be ideal!)!!

Other things today: need to return some books to the library so they don't send any nasty-grams my way; send out a waiver form for a photo that's going to be published that's been on my desk for way too long; get in touch with our babysitter to see if we can switch days this weekend; cut off the garlic scapes that are probably sucking the life out of the garlic bulbs at this point; find a way to get a grouchy person to turn their frown upside down and maybe even do a double two-way apology (this involves me); read more Guns, Germs, & Steel today - I want to FINISH this book already!!! It's not that it's bad.... no it's really a very interesting read but I have a big stack of other books that I want to read and I'm tired of holding this very heavy book in my hands.

Off to fit in a ride because if I don't do it now, I'm not going to ever do it.

my own personal mini-triathlon "race" report

My point-and-shoot is in the shop which is sad because it's been there since Saturday and I haven't gotten my dSLR out of my (newly cleaned) closet yet. I should, but I just haven't.

Above are delicious french fillet green beans that we picked from the garden! I didn't even expect them to be there... I was just weeding along (why does kudzu grow so darn fast and try to hide? Well I know the answer but, geez, could they pick someone else's garden please?)... and POW! I saw all these little green beans hiding under the leaves. COOL! Most of these went right into the mouths of Jessica and I (Ryan eyed them skeptically) and then I think a few - as in 4 or 5 - found their end in a salad. Delish! Speaking of yummy yums, I just finished lunch of steamed artichoke with yogurt-mayo aioli and some roasted potato lemon goat cheese pizza (or flatbread, I guess since the was no sauce of any kind involved). Total heaven!!! I tried to type while eating the artichokes leaf by leaf but it's incredibly hard to do so. Really! Have you ever tried it? Not pretty.

Today I got up and said TODAY IS GOING TO BE THE DAY I DO MY OWN TRI! I've been thinking about it for a few weeks and today just felt like the day. Of course it was NOTHING like a real tri in that I could map my own distances, start when I wanted to, and make my own rules.

But therein lies the beauty - it was perfect for me! Since that's how I roll.

So I started out by taking laying everything out that I thought I would need throughout the morning (using my house as home base for transitions and such). I put on my swimsuit and heart rate monitor, put my towel/goggles/swim cap in a backpack along with my bike lock, a water bottle, a workout book turned to the page of a beginner workout that I planned to do - because since these are my rules and I just started swimming again last week I thought I wouldn't try to swim continuously as you'd need to do in a real tri. No, I broke it up into sets, which was just fine by me! My rules!!).

I got a bike jersey and filled it with some stuff to eat in the pockets (a Clif Mojo in a non-melty flavor that had almonds and was PERFECT!! - Mixed Nuts flavor I think - and a Clif Shot Bloks), my two water bottles filled with ice and water (stored in the 'fridge), and a pair of bike shorts, as well as put my orthotics and a pair of socks in the shoes, as well as sunscreen nearby since the swim would take place in an indoor pool.

I cleaned my old hipster Camelbak that I used when I was running alot and training for the 2000 before-kids marathon. Good thing I took the time to clean it out because even though the bladder part was cleaned out, the straw tube was a little on the nasty side. Thank you Mike for finding the Camelbak cleaning kit that I bought you a bunch of years back (that was never opened). It came in VERY HANDY today! I didn't want to die of some mold in my drinking water a few days from now. No, I would rather die of exhaustion and completed this tri of mine.... or something mildly story-worthy occurrence. So that was filled up and ready to go along with my sneakers and some old non-running shorts to run in.

So I hopped on Mike's bike to ride to the pool to do a 1000 yard swim then rode back to my house, ditched the back pack, put my phone and ID on my road bike, changed into my bike gear, went to the bathroom, and off I went on my ride. I rode 24 miles then came back home and tried to change as quickly as possible (and also went to the bathroom again - are there bathrooms at real transition areas at triathlons or is it like a marathon where you find the nearest tree?)

Does anyone notice anything obvious missing from the above "getting ready list" that might be useful that I overlooked?

Like maybe for the run? Hint: I took out old, non-runner shorts?!!

Lemme help you..... how about underwear?

Yeah, good thing my house was home base for transitions because I was able to just grab a pair from my drawer... but if was this was the real thing I would have been a little bit more free than I like to be on a run (note to self: get out my old RUNNING shorts if I plan to run instead of my favorite 13+ year old shorts that are my favorite to sleep in; also hipster Camelbak = total overkill, one water bottle would have sufficed).

So nothing except perhaps sensible bike-run brick workouts could have prepared me for how my legs were going to feel for those first 5-8 minutes or so of running after the biking portion. Holy cow! Who took my legs and made them completely unable to do their job and feel so floaty and unattached at the same time? I did what was more akin to run/walking - but I cut myself some slack given that I haven't actually run in the past 19 months - well not any more than what is required during family games of hide and seek in our house when Ryan starts counting way too fast and I fear that he will find me before I have found a sufficient place to hide. So I gave myself a time goal instead of distance for the run which ended up being 30 minutes.

So the total ended up being: 1000 yard swim, 24 mile bike, 30 minute run (which for me would NOT have been a 5k - definitely not in this haven't-run-in-years-shape!!)

I was just glad that I didn't collapse or break something during the run. LOL! Walking down the stairs feels infinitely better than Monday after my long ride.... we'll see how tomorrow goes, though, as I'm preparing to have the worst shin splints in recent memory. I told Mike that I fully expect him to carry me around caveman style tomorrow and he said that cavemen dragged their women around - which doesn't sound so good to me - so we arranged for a baby-bjorn mommy-bjorn situation if needed.

But so what did I think? It was very fun - no, I loved it!! And I can EASILY see myself getting hooked and doing this for real! I feel great and so invigorated (while at the same time feeling like a nap wouldn't be such a bad choice either). I have SO earned that massage that I have schedule for Friday (Thank you kidlets and Mike for that Mother's Day present!!) I think I should design a shirt for this occasion!! Or at least go and put a "tri" magnet on my car. LOL!!!

Out with the old; in with the new

While I was cleaning out my closet, I came upon many number of interesting things of which I have mentioned over the past few days. One thing that I haven't talked about yet were some recipes from classes that I had taken at an amazing cooking school from when we lived in Maryland and ALSO a huge mass of skinny pieces of paper that were neatly tucked away in a clear page protector. On those papers were the weekly menu planning notes that I had scribbbled and jotted down to use as a guide in feeding my family. The recipes are now neatly tucked away in my two recipe binders (ones for "tried-and-trues" or at least "tried and pretty good/we'd eat this again") and the papers (from magnetic pads that I keep on my 'fridge) which I used to write my shopping lists on the front of are in a stack on my desk. On the back of these papers were the dinner menus for the week. Why I found it necessary to keep these lists, some of which date back to 2006, is beyond me, but I am going to take this as a sign to look over the details of our lives, because these are the very meals that provided us sustenance and around which we gathered each night to tell our stories of the day and reconnect with one another after being in our own seperateness for a good portion of those days. I'm going to take some time this week to look over these notes and take inventory of the meals we used to eat back then. There might be some inspiration of some long-forgotten meal that we love. Or it may show a large contrast in how our eating has changed. Either way, it's sure to make for some interesting reading. And I think this would be the pefect sort of "every day" thing to document more permanently in our family scrapbook albums. I know treasure when I see it.

In other clear-out-the-clutter news I am swapping some magazine subscriptions. There are some I would prefer to clear out to make room for ones that I find myself buying at the store over the past year. just more fine tuning to make my life more streamlined.

Magazines I'm cancelling:

• Women's Running (I've tried to cancel this before - like MONTHS ago!! - but it keeps coming. Can't run anymore due to neuromas so every time I get this I feel bad that I can't do it so this has to go! But I'm sure it would be VERY inspiring for those runners out there! In fact, I give my issues to my friend, Anne, who's a runner and she loves it! Maybe after I have that foot surgery that I need I'll re-subscribe to it along with a triathlon magazine.)
• Cooking Light (this is a great magazine for those looking to educate themselves on eating better and cooking more healthfully, and even those starting out on the path to better eating and it's one that I subscribed to for close to 8 or so years. Lately I've been eating a whole lot less meat - most of my meals are vegetarian lately - and a majority of the meals in the magazine are centered around meat as the showcase with sides as, well sides.... so it's no longer as good a fit for me as it once was)
• Yoga Journal (great magazine, but I don't find myself dying to read it as I used to when I was doing lots of yoga more regularly)

Magazines I'm subscribing to (which kinda seem obvious if you've been following along so I won't even supply an explanation):

• Bicycling
• Vegetarian Times

getting the boot

These are the boots that I found during my closet cleaning expedition that are from when I went to Alexander Muss High School in Israel for two months when I was a junior in high school. They have my maiden name on the inside still and probably haven't been worn since then. This was April - June 1992. Yes, NINETEEN NINETY TWO!! Why I still have them in my closet and have taken them with me along more than 4 adult moves and countless college moves is beyond me. Maybe they had this nostalgic value or maybe I thought I'd use them at some point or maybe I just forget they were there. Whatever it was, I parted with them last week and will hang on to my photos and journals and memories instead of smells and dust.

And another thing.....goodbye June. You've been good to me. I've had fun with you. You're a month full of anticipation and endless possibilities and FREEDOM. We lived it up, that's for sure. See you next year.

long ride, check.

I woke up today feeling great (and earlier than I would have liked, but whatever). The weather was incredible too so today's goal became to ride farther than my last long ride of 50.9 miles. I thought that 60  sounded like a nice round number so I headed out on the trail with 2 water bottles (filled this time with fruit punch Accelerade at half strength because the time I tried full strength felt like I was drinking someone else's throwup - not FUN I can assure you), some "food" provisions (a chocolate outrage Gu gel, a strawberry Clif Shot gel, a Clif Mojo Sweet and Salty Bar in Peanut Butter Pretzel or something like that - the Mojo bar is DELICIOUS!!! and totally hits my cravings for sweet and salty at the same time, though the peanut butter was a little melty - nothing too terrible, but I will try another flavor next time and see how it goes), and all the usual stuff I normally ride with (ID, phone, HRM, etc.). Then I as I was riding I thought, why not do a metric century (62 miles)? So I did. Actually I ended up riding 66 miles total because although at 45 miles I was feeling tired.... at 60 I was feeling great so kept going. I think I would have kept riding if the thought of eating a real meal and taking a shower didn't sound so enticing.

The fun part is that, besides not getting a flat tire, I was able to explore some routes that I haven't yet ventured out on and I've come to doscover that I really like seeing new terrain. And I'm also not built for speed. LOL! I don't really care how fast I get somewhere the first time. It's more about the adventure.(Getting a flat  is still something I fear because I haven't made it to the bike shop for them to show me how to do it yet and although I've watched some videos on YouTube on how to do it I still would not even be able to get my front brakes disengaged to get my tire off. Embarrassing I know. I think in about a week and a half there's another free "basic bike maintenance class" at my local bike shop and I'm NOT GOING TO HAVE IT ON MY CALENDAR AND THEN FORGET ABOUT IT this time!!!

Along the way today I saw a baby bunny, a doe, a regular sized deer, and 3 horses. I wish I had my camera for the amazing kitchen gardens and community garden that I passed along the way. There really is nothing like getting out there and exploring your world on a bicycle.

[Note: Since I'm usually the whole foods/natural girl I realize there's a bit of a disconnect between putting some powder stuff - that I don't consider food at all- in my water for optimum performance and living that whole foods lifestyle. I'm trying to find a way to rectify this. I would eventually like to make my own energy gels and drink mixes so that I can still train effectively and still adhere to how I want to live (on previous occasions I have used some whole grain pretzels - still a processed food - but I need to be able to wear the food against my body and not have it completely melt when warm - as things tend to get when out in the hot sun and in my jersey pocket for 2-5 hours - and be able to eat easily with one hand while potentially riding at high speeds). In the meantime while I am starting out on this food journey and perfecting things, I'm going to use what I have in the house and work towards finding and using the best stuff available.]

weekend get-together

Friday night with our friends with fun. And we had way to much food. See those yummy looking vegetable kebabs up there? We didn't even touch them. We had lots of starters. And wine (BV Pinot Noir and a Sauvignon Blanc by I can't remember which vineyard)...which I do enjoy drinking and doing tastings of but that don't do seem to like me... they don't offer much in the way of sleep goodness for me (it's more like wine-guarantee disturbed sleep pattern syndrome).

I had fruit platter brimming with strawberries, watermelon, and the juiciest canteloupe I've had in a long time. I also had a cheese platter with some aged cheddar, mild brie, and herbed goat cheese with a baguette (that was gone in a snap. Note to self: buy 3 next time) and some crackers along with crisp grapes. I also served a peach chutney that I tasted at Whole Foods on Thursday though I opted for the plain one instead of the spicy one and I should have gone with the latter. I didn't know if our friends would have like it but it turns out they do like spicy food and I though that the spicy one went much better with the cheddar.

So I'm currently accepting any ideas on what to do with all of these veggies besides stick 'em in a bowl with some pasta in a light lemon butter wine sauce. I was thinking that maybe a few of them mixed up with some chickpeas and basil would make a good veggie bean dip with some carrots or whole wheat pita chips for dipping. I could also chop them up a bit more and do a stir fry with them too with some tofu for me and chicken for everyone else over some rice. Though I'm tempted just to throw them in a pot with some stock and herbs, put the stick blender in and give it a whirl for a restorative soup.

family bike ride

I tried to sign up for a spinning class this morning with my favorite spinning instructor even though it was beautiful out because I felt like it'd be good to be in and out in an hour instead of having a super long ride (since I've been doing that during the week this week and will be doing that next week since the kids are in camp for one more week) but apparently so did everyone else. Except they got a spot and I was too late. But no worries. We opted for a family bike ride instead.

I love all our Camelbaks filled and lined up on the kitchen counter ready to go! And this was Mike's new Camelbak Rougue's maiden voyage. I got him a bike-specific Camelbak from the kids for Father's Day (and we also got the same one for my father-in-law for Father's Day as he enjoys riding his bicycle too).... and I'm happy to report that Mike loved it! I wish I bought the same one for myself that I picked out for him because it has enough room for snacks, ID, keys, phone, and other assorted things.

So here was our setup as we headed out on our ride this morning.

It was wonderful out there today. Perfect temperature. We went along some roads that are quiet and open and not very populated by other bikers (unlike the trail would have been today)... it was one that we usually only traverse via our car. So it was great to travel by our own power and get to see the terrain and surrounding more up close and personal. I think that's what I love most about riding our bikes (besides the freedom/WEEEEEEE! factor). There was a headwind on the way back (and also a monster hill) which put a cramp in the going part of the ride. Jessica, who doesn't have any gears to switch into when things look hilly ahead and she became frustrated at how hard it was and started to cry, so we dismounted and walked a little bit until we got over the hill and told her that she was doing great and praised for being so tough and having gone so far already... and telling her that the only way we were able to get over the hill was switch to easier gears. Headwinds just stink. Plus Mike and I were nice and relaxed because we weren't climbing and running and swinging at the park. We were sitting back recharging there under the shade of the canopy, while the kids were probably putting out the most energy of the trip on that playground in full sun. So I have to say, that we all did great. And this is only the beginning of the summer... so by the end, I expect the kids will have more endurance than they do right now. We just want to make it fun and enjoyable right now so that they will still want to GO on family bike rides.

So the kids are getting their weekly "screen time" now with Ryan playing Mario Kart on the Wii and Jessica on the computer going between American Girl and Webkinz. They've been looking forward to getting some screen time since they haven't been able to do this for over two weeks. We run a pretty tight ship here. ;-P

I'm looking forward to date night tonight, although Mike and I aren't sure what we're doing yet. It could end up in another Barnes and Noble visit as it often seems to turn out that way because we're not sure what else to do. There are no movies out that we want to see (we saw Year One last week - Michael Sera is great... I'm really looking forward to Paper Heart coming out at the beginning of August).

Mike's going to head to a Beer Festival tomorrow with some of his friends (whew! thank goodness for that because that almost turned into our date night activity for this evening during which I would have paid a pretty large price to get in just to be the designated driver and watch Mike microbrew tastings - and there are over 50 beer vendors so that would have been a lot of tagging along.) And I'm going to probably go out for a long ride of some sort if it's nice out and I wake up early enough.... though I'm not pushing the early part too heavily since I haven't been sleeping too well. I go to sleep plenty early but then I wake up in the middle of the night and then end up staying up for 1.5 hours for no apparent reason singing lyrics to Green Day or Miley Cyrus (ughh!!!) and thinking of things I want to do, people I've been meaning to email but haven't gotten around to doing yet. You know... general stuff that isn't condusive to sleeping. So we'll just have to see what tomorrow holds... though I'm going to do my best to fit in a solo ride.

Until then I will stalk any UPS truck that passes by house in hopes of snagging some Amazon boxes I'm expecting.

biking, cleaning, and friends for dinner

Above is a window display that caught my eye when we were visiting NYC, which reminds me that I haven't posted about the rest of the trip... or that I haven't posted much in general. AGAIN! But to my credit I have to add that my goal for this summer was to not sit at the computer as I did last summer (doing work on classes that ended up not turning into much) but, instead, to ride my bike as much as possible... and TO THAT I have been very successful. Props to me for that.

Which reminds me of a quote that I read this week that I can't for the LIFE of me find (or for the life of Google Desktop or even Google) find... but it was something to the effect that when you ask people if they'd rather be rich or happy, most people say they'd rather be happy. But then they spend most of their lives trying to be rich. So I'm opting for the happy and actually trying to live it. Being intentional with my time. That and I'm not back in the habit of writing daily again. Work in progress, I tell ya. Work in progress! :-)

This week the kids were in camp so I tackled a few projects I had been avoiding in full for far too long: my closet situation. I didn't even bother taking a before (though maybe Mike has one just for days when he wants a good laugh).... but I will have an after for you. I declared earlier in the week that my goal for the week was to be able to step foot into my closet. Nay, to be able to walk into it. And being the overachiever that I tend to be, I am happy to report that I was able to do just that by Monday evening. Okay, so maybe I set the bar too low. But the goal was really to clean out the closet in it's ENTIRETY (not shoving things away so I couldn't find it or sticking it another junk drawer) but to really go through the contents and get rid of stuff that was just taking space and make room for things I really DID want there and I'm happy to say that I just finished all of that today! (I got rid of a bunch of shoes that I haven't worn in over 4 years, I found a Sony Walkman as well as many books on TAPE, a Sony Discman, and lots of other bits of nostalgia that a History of Electronics Museum might want to snatch up to put on display.) In the process we ended up putting our VCR in storage getting rid of lots of accompanying VCR tapes - and will hopefully find a good home for the machine soon.... which helps de-clutter our room. So the closet spread to our room... and then to the rest of the house: namely the coat closet I couldn't leave well enough alone and tackled that earlier in the week too!) and a shelf in the living room or family room or whatever the heck the name of that room is (the little shelf we have in there is now for many of the new cooperative games that we bought).

So in my new Zen-like environment I think I will be able to think and breathe more easily. Less clutter = more peace. I think I am turning into Mike.

This week also was about trying to do some swimming and bike workouts in the same day just to see how much I could exhaust myself. I think I did an excellent job. You'd think I was training for a triathlon or something with these workouts and the books that I've purchased recently on the subject (but which haven't arrived). I may even stage my own little personal mini-triathlon soon. Like maybe next week. So stay tuned. Today it was supposed to rain. It felt like rain. It looked like rain. So I took a spinning class with my friend, who've I've recently gotten hooked on indoor cycling (YAY!!) and you know what? IT DIDN'T RAIN!!! Grrrr! But it was hot and humid and it wouldn't have been any fun to be out there today. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Hopes of going kayaking/canoeing have failed miserably since the nearby lake has been covered in algae and people aren't able to use the facilities until that's cleared up. So kayaking is on hold until further notice.

I visited the bike shop yesterday with plans of finally ordering a bike that I've thinking about for the last two months (or more - can't remember at this point). But I ended up trying out a few and leaving the store sans bike order and more confused than when I entered. But one of the guys at the store is interested in buying my mountain bike so I'm hopeful about that. If I bring one more bike into this house (read: garage) Mike is going to have a fit unless I get rid of one. And that's the one I'm looking to replace anyhow. So I'm torn between:

• Surly Cross Check
• Salsa Casseroll
• Surly Long Haul Trucker
• and just to make it more confusing... a Rivendell Betty Fox that I've never seen in person, or ridden, or done much research on but that I found online last night towards bed time that I think looks amazing!

The kids are home from camp, they just showered/bathed so they are all clean and we're expecting our dinner guests any moment now so I'm off to get things ready. Wine, cheese, bread, fruit, kebabs, dessert, and WEEKEND....... HERE WE COME!!!!

Destination: American Girl

Our visit to American Girl was filled with smiles and delight. And way too much food. I wish we could have borrowed some stomachs our had some friends along to share our two meals. Who do they think they are feeding? Cows?

But more about the food in a moment. The place is just so CUTE!

I loved the shape of lamp shades.

Wish I had those hanging from the ceilings in my house (different color, thank you very much). If I had my choice they'd be aqua, if Jessica had her choice they'd be light blue, Mike would choose, I'm quite certain, either a beautiful beige (or else Yankees themed?), and Ryan would likely want some shade of blue as well.

When you are brought to your table it looks like this.

Hello!!! Details!! How adorable is it that the napkin holder is ALSO a ponytail holder that you get to take home with you! Love that!

And continuing the matchiness are the flowers, menu, and what looks like a present that is....

a box full of conversation starters. I'm a big fan of these. Don't know why but they are cool and way up on my list of "things I dig."

Jessica was one very excited and joyful American Girl Fan. I didn't ask her to smile at all for the opening picture... she was just beaming naturally!! These are the times when paying an outrageous amount of money for food that you can't possible eat was worth every penny! And the American Girl doll that was lucky enough to be chosen for this adventure was Jennifer (not sure why little Jessica didn't make the cut, but that's how things go sometimes).

Our waiter (who after meeting him said, "Wow! He was so nice, everyone is so nice. It's perfect here!") brought us over these cute little cinnamon buns to our table as our starter (sort of like some restaurants bring over bread after you've just been seated.

Okay so they didn't look very good but they WERE yummy.

Jessica had to make sure that Jennifer was doing okay through our first meal together at a restaurant, let alone THE American Girl Cafe. We had just gotten Jennifer's ears pierced (to match Jessica).

This little bad boy above is going to need to be mucho cropped before getting printed out or used for anything but I wanted to share it before I played around with it in PS and made a scrapbook layout with it.

The first course was also a fixed offer and brought to the table after we had finished our cinnamon buns. After eating this we truly had all we really needed in the way of food. But then you first have to decide on what to eat for lunch (course 2 - or 3 if you consider the buns).

Jessi was able to eat one bite of her mini-cheeseburger and her fruit cup but that was IT!

I wasn't able to eat much more of my strawberry spinach salad (sans roasted chicken) with GOAT CHEESE (yum!! my fave! How did they know?)!

Wish I would have thought to save the lemon bread/cake that came with it. It was so good but I was way to full to even eat a third of the salad (and besides dessert was coming!)

The mini-flowerpot was filled with a chocolate mousse (wish Mike was with us. I totally would have given this to him. And he could have had Jessica's too - she proclaimed it too chocolatey - Mike thinks there's no such thing. I thought it was too moussey and not worth the space in my belly.... no.... I was saving room for the yummy flower cookie with cinnamon sugar(?), and the yummy heart cake with icing and a chocolate drizzle.

After that and a bathroom break where we realized that these people really DID think of everything.....

That's Jennifer hanging out on this

so we could attend to some restroom issues without holding or putting her down on the floor. Brilliant people. Brilliant!!!

Then it was off to do some shopping.

We saw the new Rebecca doll (who's Jewish and from NYC!)
 
And even has her own Shabbat set with challah and candleholders!

as well as around at the other historical characters and the regular ones too.

Jessi had a wishlist a mile long from which she was trying to decide what to get.

I thought about getting this skirt in one of the larger sizes and then decided against it.

We had a wonderful time together and I'm so grateful for Mike since it was he who thought this be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience to share together and he was the one who made the reservations for us! So a big {mwah} goes out to him (and tomorrow, being Fathers Day, will be the day we celebrate him for all the laughter and smiles that he brings to our days)!

After the American Girl store it was off to Apple and the Yankees store. But those adventures will have to wait for another day. Since Saturday is the new Friday around here I need to go get my challah in the oven.

The rainy weather has derailed our morning plans of going for a bike ride and mini canoe adventure.

where to begin? O, where to begin?

I'm not even going to try to play catch up.

I'm not going to tell you about how I've let my garden go completely and as I went to pick weeds (which was mandatory after I went out to the back to throw some stuff on the compost bin and saw the AWFUL STATE of things back there).

I'm not going to tell you about how Twitter/Facebook microblog entries have been replacing longer posts over here.

I'm also not going to tell you about a cute little layout/teacher's gift that I started, and was so happy to be scrapbooking again, until my computer freaked out for as small of a reason as I don't have enough space. Computers can be so sentimental sometimes. Yes, I know I have too much friggin' stuff on here and that I need to clean it (perpetually) but I wasn't ready to do that as fully as it wanted me to just then and so being a hungry computer that it is - IT ATE IT! And it is never to be seen again. Too bad for me (AND for Jessica's wonderful teacher. Target gift certificate to the rescue!!)

And I'm certainly not going to tell you that I was starting to get downright ripped looking (okay, that may be an exagerration but I WAS able to see some arm muscle indentations in a certain angle of light) but then stopped doing STS because of the weather cooperating in a most-fun cycling season (but I have started up with the abs again; weight training to be determined - GRRRRR!).

But I will tell you that I need to start doing this more. If even for the simple fact that it clears stuff out of this head of mine. It gets it down. It documents my days and thoughts and anything else I feel like rambling on about. So today I've decided that I need this. That it makes me feel good.... better. So back to the blog I am.... even if I have nothing exciting to say. Because days are like that ya know. And that's okay. And that's worth documenting too. The whole lot of it is good because it's me, it's real, and I'm sure you can relate to some of it!! And this way I can avoid the need of creating an entirely new "blog neglect apology" category for my posts here.

And I will also tell you about our weekend to NY. We went up for Mike's cousin's wedding and the related festivities on Thursday. We made nice time too - only 5 1/2 hours (and less than that on our way back). We got to see some family which is always fun for us and the kids.... and we were able to witness two people who love each other very much take their wedding vows (and party the night away). And if there's ever something life- and love-affirming it's a wedding!!! It makes me all gushy feeling about Mike and our own wedding day even if most of the weekend we felt like slugging each other (which wasn't the WHOLE weekend but maybe a couple of days, and maybe we took turns) but I'm blaming it on NYC and all the traffic and the driving and there being five gazillion billion more people living/working there than there should be. Overpopulation and traffic is known to drive people INSANE and it did a number on us for those 4 days we were there.

I. AM. SO. HAPPY. TO. BE. HOME.

Really. SO HAPPY!

Like as in kiss the ground happy. Gaze at the sky and the clouds and thank G-d happy. Go down the aisles at Wegman's and kiss the fruit happy.

More weekend details and photos to come. I'm going to milk this weekend's festivities for at least a few days or else I will just post about going for a bike ride with Ryan every morning (which I may end up doing anyway).

I need to go read a bedtime story to the kids and get them to bed.

Is now in the biggest Apple store I've ever seen!!!! Seriously.... Wow!!!

Is at American Girl - jessi's doll just got her ears pierced and now we're in line for lunch :-)

Is ready to take on 5th Avenue - lunch at American Girl and then lots of window shopping

Is on Long Island

Loves the leaving Brooklyn/fuggedaboudit sign though I know I'm spelling it wrong

Is en route to NY for Mike's cousin's wedding on Sat - just stopped for lunch.