ACL 2009....

Tickets have been purchased, and I'm ready. (Well, after I do some serious music research I'll be ready!)


there's more....but this is the exciting stuff....

Rain, rain, go away....

Apparently it's always something here in Chicago. We had some warmer temps forecasted for the weekend, so I had great plans of getting a ride in and cleaning up the yard. Mother Nature, unfortunately, had other plans though.

Saturday morning, I woke up early (without the alarm clock, i might add, and no, I don't know why) and thought about getting up to go out on the Wheelmen ride, but then I noticed how loudly the wind was gusting outside my bedroom window. Prior experience told me that that sound meant crappy riding. So I decided to take it easy and head out for a run after I got a little more sleep. Woke up a little later (wind was still gusting), had some breakfast and coffee, and then got dressed for the run. Walked outside and noticed that it was sort of sprinkling a tiny bit....no big deal I thought. Unfortunately, about a mile into the run, that slight sprinkle turned into a downpour. Ginger and I got soaked. Running in the rain is one thing, running in a downpour is just not fun at all. So we turned around and started heading towards home. Luckily I was smart enough to leave the ipod at home, but unfortunately not smart enough to change out of the white shirt....yeah, I was in my very own wet t-shirt contest. Got home, and of course the rain stopped. I thought about turning around and going back out, but I was soaked, all of my clothes were sticking to me (including my now very see through shirt) and my shoes were sloshing. So we called it quits. It's kind of odd how good a shower feels after coming in from a "Nature shower".

It rained on and off for the rest of the day. So instead of cleaning the yard, I focused on the indoor area. Got the house cleaned and finally tackled my closet as well. I now have a very large bag of clothes that needs to go to Goodwill! I also got a drawer cleaned out, so that I could have one dedicated to all of my Skirts! :) Now I just need more stuff so I can fill it!

Looks like rain is going to be a main staple for the next few days... Looks like I'll be spending more time in my stupid gym... That should bring on some interesting experiences.

Made up words....

I love it when really smart people just start making up words. This came in an e-mail from our president of operations today. It makes me smile. :)

"I have no idea what we are doing, so can’t apply any reasonableness to the below."

Now that's what I call motivation!

The weather is finally getting a little better here (and now I probably jinxed it...) so I decided to head out for a run after work. I've been sore from lifting this week so I wasn't so sure how it would go.... I headed out anyway, but I felt slow. Every step seemed like a lot of work, and I got through the whole thing by just convincing myself to keep running until the end of the next block, over and over again. So when I somehow made it to the end of the run (I made it the whole way!) I ended the workout on the Nike+ system, expecting to hear the bad news of how painfully slow I was. Instead, I heard Lance Armstrong's voice, congratulating me on recording a new personal best time for the mile! Woo hoo! Way to go me.

Thanks Lance, you really know how to re-motivate a girl! :)

New post sometime soon...

So I was about to write a new post about something.... (I actually hadn't quite figured that part out yet.) But Blogger didn't seem to want to allow that... So I guess it will just have to wait until I can type it out on a real keyboard instead of on my blackberry... Maybe I'll actually have an idea by then too :)

New Decorations!

I finally found something to hang above my couch in my living room! Now the only problem is figuring out how I'm going to hang it....stupid stone walls....

Unfortunately this image doesn't really do it justice. For one thing, it's huge! And with the real thing, the red bike really stands out against the black and white background....very fun.

And for those that were wondering, that is Amsterdam, not Venice as the lady at Ikea thought.... Apparently canals automatically equals Venice for some people....

Check Me Out!!

So I tried out my new Nike + setup tonight, and as it turns out....I'm not as slow as I thought! Woo hoo! :)
That one low point came when I accidently pressed the wrong button and paused the workout, and I did start out a little fast. (Ginger was excited too and was pulling a little!) But overall for the running part (3.28 miles!) I averaged somewhere around 9 min/mile! Way to go me!

*disclaimer - I skipped the calibration step, but it did say that most of them are pretty well calibrated right out of the box....but the mileage does match up pretty closely with what Google tells me....

New toy!

So I had to stop at Best Buy after work to pick up a new wireless router. (The laptop with Vista doesn't like the old router) and of course, I couldn't leave with just what I went in for. I realized I needed some new headphones for running, so I headed over to that section. And while there, I picked up one of these:

I had always sort of wanted one, but never had Nike running shoes. But tonight I found an "Action Pocket" for the sensor so that I can use it with any shoe. Score! So now I have a new toy for running, hopefully it helps! I'm sure at first though, it's just going to finally show me how painfully slow I am!

Easter Weekend!

This past weekend was a busy one, full of ups and downs.

Saturday I woke up early, and dressed to head out for a run. I dressed for 40-45 degree temps, but when I got outside I realized it was probably around 30 as I could see my breath. The smart me would have gone right back inside to add a layer, but I didn't, I just kept on going. Got part way in and saw a Golden Retriever that has escaped from it's owner and was running around, so I called it over and I was trying to hold onto the dog while the owner walked over. Before I knew what was happening the dog was attacking Ginger! This was definitely not playing, he was attacking! Definitely not cool! I couldn't get them separated for a while, and when I finally did we couldn't get away because as soon as we tried to move the dog followed. So I just sat Ginger on the ground and knelt down next to her and blocked her until the lady and a neighbor got the other dog under control. After which, the stupid lady walked over, with the dog, to apologize. I wanted to scream at her "Get that dog away from us!" But she was more concerned with making it to her appointment in time, so I let it go. Who would have thought that a Golden Retriever would attack!?!? Ginger was ok though thankfully, and we were able to finish out the run, but as soon as we got home, she laid down and was out for the rest of the day. I'm sure the combination of fear/adrenaline and running wiped her out. It definitely gave me a scare too, but I had to keep moving.

That afternoon I headed down to Champaign for Sara's bridal shower! It was a very nice afternoon, and what I consider a perfect shower! Just hanging out and chatting and no games! Way to go Isabel! Oh yes, and the cupcakes were definitely a good added bonus! Mmm....delicious! After the shower, I got back in the car to head home. I thought about staying but after not seeing my house much at all last weekend because of the sale and with the morning's events with Ginger, I really just wanted to get home. So all in all, I spent 5 hours in the car for a 4 hour party. Worth it though, I'm super excited for Sara and Bill!

Just a quick side note.....California Pizza Kitchen is ridiculous. I stopped in to pick up a Mediterranean Salad with chicken when I got home Saturday night....imagine my surprise when the total was $18.58 for just a salad! Seriously, who charges $4.00 to add chicken??

Sunday of course was Easter. It had kind of a rocky start....but smoothed out eventually. Started with brunch with Steve's family, where we even got a picture with the Easter Bunny! (Creepiest Easter Bunny I have ever seen by the way). After brunch we hung out with Steve's mom for a bit, then had about an hour to ourselves, and then off to the Anderson's for Easter dinner with my family. So yes, basically it was a day of eating. And it was all topped off by a Cub's win! Way to go Cubs!

I will say that my major accomplishment for the weekend was wearing my new pair of white pants and managing to not get them dirty at all! Yea me! :)

Gotta find a way to smile...

Somedays you just need to find a way to smile.....even if it's just over something silly. Today is one of those days, which is why Sandra provided me with these guys. They look good, but they're almost too cute to eat!

Worst Joke Ever...

I think this may rank up there as one of the worst jokes ever....

Q: What was the geometry student looking for at the beach?
A: A tangent.

Thank you igoogle joke of the day....

Weekend update.....

So I promised you a recap of the weekend, but to tell you the truth, it really wouldn't be all that exciting. So here's a brief summary

Saturday

• At the shop at 8am
• Sold lots of bikes to lots of people
• Didn't sit down all day
• Watched Nick and Rob wrestle after we closed the shop....seriously intense
• Out for dinner with a couple of the guys and the Trek reps....
• Sleep....

Sunday

• At the shop at 8am
• Sold lots of bikes to lots of people - this time in the freezing cold tent
• Didn't sit down all day
• Put away all of the bikes that were left in the tent - including about a million trips into the basement, and handing a million other bikes up into the trailer - all while it was snowing outside
• Out for dinner at Lou Malnati's for some delicious deep dish pizza and beer - all compliments of Trek!
• Finally home for some well deserved sleep! :)

So that was the weekend. It's crazy, busy and fun - but I'm glad that I don't have to do it again until next year.

Today's mission is to get plane tickets for the Tahoe trip. As of now it looks like I have 2 options.

1. Pay $350-$400 for tickets in the back of the plane, and possibly have to do a connection
2. Use 50,000 of my 53,000 FF miles to get a first class ticket on a non-stop roundtrip flight

I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but I'm a little nervous about using almost all of my miles.... So the ticket is on hold. Must make a decision soon!

I realized lately that I know some seriously awesome people. Today I would like to brag about the fact that I know Dan Beaver, my Skirt-Sista Mary's boyfriend. for his 2008-2009 race season he has qualified for:

1. Boston Marathon
2. World Championships in Duathlon
3. World Championships in Half-Iron distance
4. World Championships in Ironman distance

Can you say rockstar???

Not quite right....

Is this what April 6 is supposed to look like? No, I don't think so.....

More later on the busy weekend......I can pretty much sum it up in a few words though, VCS Spring Tent Sale.....

It's a beautiful day....

Coach Dan would probably say "it's a beautiful day!" but in the eyes of any normal, sane person, it isn't.... What a great way to start the VCS "spring" tent sale. This morning we had a lovely mix of rain, sleet and snow.... Fan-freaking-tastic..... Kind of makes you want to go out and buy a bike, right?? My answer would be no, I would rather be on the couch underneath a blanket!

The end of the computrainer season....

Last night was the last computrainer class, and boy was it a good one. Way to go Coach Tom! I will say though, that I now completely understand why the run is at the end of the triathlon, and all of my crazy triathlete friends tend to do long rides on Saturdays and then the long run on Sundays... My legs basically hurt for the entire 90 minutes... Awesome! At least it was a good kind of hurt, the kind that makes you feel awesome when it's all over. The legs were a little heavy so there were no cadences above ~115rpm, but oh well. I still managed to push it through the entire class put out some decent watts numbers. Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed that the weather will start to cooperate so I can actually get out on the road!

I'm also hoping the weather will cooperate for the annual Village CycleSport spring tent sale this weekend! If you are trying to find me this weekend....just go there. I will be working 8-7 both days. Not exactly a relaxing weekend....but parts of it can be fun. I especially like Sunday night when the Trek rep usually hands out prizes and then takes us all out for beer and pizza at Lou Malnati's. Can't go wrong with that! :)