Another . . .

. . . beautiful day, although still not the summer weather we deserve at this time of year.

The morning started as most of my work mornings start, let Sophie out,
clean the litter box, make a cup of coffee, pick up the back yard and then
take Sophie out for a run/walk . . . but for some reason I ran out of time
for taking Sophie out for the run/walk and I have no reason why that
happened. Does that happen to you? You have a routine, you follow it and
yet somehow, something grabs some time. I don't recall what happened this
morning, but there wasn't time left. So off to work on my bike.

So far in 2014 I have biked over 1,400 miles. Here is a graph of miles per month. Honestly it feels like so much more.

My friend Tricia and I got a pretty early jump on the bike season and started biking in March, while there was still snow on the ground.

While I did bike to work a couple of days in April, it wasn't until May that the weather started more consistently cooperating or I got into the commuting habit. Honestly, this is more dependant on me getting in the habit of biking to work than the weather cooperating! Like any new task or process, biking to work takes some time to develop the habit. For me, just packing my bag takes some getting use to, making sure that I have everything that I need.

At this point in the season, the entire process goes pretty smoothly, but early in the year, everything takes longer. I am extremely lucky because we have showers and a small locker room at work. I have the necessary shower supplies in my locker and this year I also leave a basic amount of make-up at work.

A couple of lessons I have learned -

• keep an extra pair of underwear at work,
• if you wonder whether it is too warm to bike to work in work clothes, it probably is . . . don't chance it and wear biking clothes,
• in case you absolutely FAIL and forget an important article of clothes I have a dress and sweater hanging behind my door in my office
• leave a light weight jacket at work, although it is generally warmer when you bike home, that isn't always the case, I have had several times when my commute to work in the morning was beautiful while my bike ride home was cold and windy.

From May through August I have biked to work 65% of the work days including every day of August! ;-)

Work, well it is work. . . .

After work I headed to a stretch class called 'Refine your Spine' - a super
relaxing and much needed stretch class primarily on the roller.

So absolutely relaxing.

Speaking of relaxing, what do you suppose this guy is thinking relaxing over the ledge watching cars, bikes and people go by? It is some sort of artistic creation looking out over the third floor of a building near my Pilates Studio.

Back on my bike and not only did I get stopped at one railroad crossing, I got stopped at two railroad crossings!

Enjoy the moments!

 

 

 

 

 

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I biked . . .

. . . to work and back today. First bike commute this week. Ahhhhhh!

The morning bike ride to work was a great 30 minute commute. The ride home was even better, if that is possible. Relaxing on my way home, a beautiful Thursday afternoon, my last work day for the week, what could be better? Plus I stopped at the Pilates Spa and attended a 1 hour class. The only thing I didn't do was run today.

Backing up to the morning. It was a late evening last night because of Concerts on the Square, I didn't get home until 10:15 and it was 11:00 before I was asleep. For me getting somewhere around 8 hours of sleep is instrumental on how I feel. This week I have not been getting great nights of sleep, which tends to wear on you as the week goes on.

 

Getting ready to bike home after Pilates

Miles biked this year through the end of July 1224. I am hoping to top 2000 miles this year, which should be doable based on past history.

Less words than yesterday . . .

Enjoy the moments!

 

 

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Life gets . . .

. . . in the way!

I don't know about you, but this summer is flying by. Does time really go faster as you get older? Or are you just more aware of all the things you want to accomplish and feel like there is not enough time to get it done?

My goal, my want, my dream is to post about life, work, running, biking, gardening, cooking each and every day. How hard can that be? A few words typed onto a screen, a few pictures from the day. Obviously I am a bit lackadaisical regarding that goal. I say I want to blog every day, yet I don't. No one is stopping me. Most evenings I should be able to devote 1\2 hour to writing and publishing a post. Seriously what is up? Kids are out of the house and Todd is retired as of July 1 and is doing quite a good job doing work around the house. Enough complaining . . . .

Saturday morning started with a little 2 mile run with Sophie, then I biked to a 1 hr Pilates class. Honestly the rest of the day was relaxing, pulling weeds, watering the gardens, doing a little cleaning.

Sophie relaxing on the deck after her run.

Recipe challenge update: I continue to work on making recipes from Jenna's blog, Eat,Live, Run - here. Slowly but surely I cook. So far I have made 46 new recipes including tonight's dinner zesty crock pot chicken and potato stew. (Green beans added from our garden) Do you realize how hard it is to cook new recipes all the time? Will I complete my challenge before year end? Who knows, but almost each and every recipe has been great. At a minimum I will have expanded my go to meals and I have used a variety of new ingredients!

Stew on the 27th of July! Not your normal summer dinner? Well, the weather was anything but 'normal' today. I don't think it could make up its mind. Sun, clouds, wind, rain, wind, clouds, sun. Back and forth all day long.

This is what it looked like when we came off the water.

Windy days generally mean great jet ski weather. I think I was a little hesitant to head out on the lake because the temp's were only in the mid 70's, not the warmest weather to get wet. But we did anyway and we were rewarded with white cap weather and hardly a boat on the water. Because of the cool air temp's the splashing water was a bit of welcome warmth, albeit short lived. Because as soon as you got wet the winds chilled you down. But we were constantly getting soaked, so it was a balanced day on the water!

I want to write about my biking and running and Pilates - but in an effort to keep this short and because other than a quick spin around the neighborhood on my bike I did neither of the other two activities today. And after all, I want my blog to be about today, and maybe just a little of yesterday because that is when I started this post!

Enjoy the moments!

 

 

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Catching . . .

. . . up! Oh what a beautiful morning!

Easter Sunday - ahhhhhh! The morning started with choir practice at 8:00 to prepare for singing at both the 9:00 and 10:30 services. In addition to choir responsibilities, Todd and I also ushered at the 10:30 service. Busy morning and a busy week for church. I don't usually sing in the choir, but the Pastor asked a few individuals to sing with the choir to boost the ranks for the Palm Sunday Passion musical and Holy Week. This entailed weekly practice with a Palm Passion service on Palm Sunday, singing on Good Friday and singing again on Easter Sunday. Last Thursday was my last practice :-). Don't get me wrong, I love to sing, but the mix of choir members isn't really a group I want to hang with. There are some VERY nice people, but then there are also the whiners and complainers. You know the type, nothing ever makes them happy. I don't like to be around people like that and since it is my choice, I don't have to!

Here is a picture of my church sanctuary this morning! Yup, those are the 10 commandments, front and center! Sort of imposing! Flowers in front of the alter, towels on the alter (offered for 'The Road Home' program, a homeless program my church and I are involved with) and a paper flower cross made by the Sunday school children on the side.

Since our oldest son Joe, was spending Easter with his girlfriend's family and Charlie stayed in Eau Claire, it was just Todd and I. When we got home from church, Todd asked, do you think it is OK to run the power washer on Easter? my response, Sure, I don't see why not! So we got busy cleaning the screen porch and outside furniture. With the warmer temp's finally arriving in Madison, the porch is a wonderful place to sit, but a winters worth of grim needs to be cleaned off of screen, floors and furniture before you want to use it.

Todd handled the power washer, while I scrubbed the furniture. I am sitting on the porch as I type this and it is nice to sit on the chairs without a beach towel, which I used to keep the grim off of me!

Now for the 'catch up' portion.

Running: I have been running 2 miles in the morning with Sophie usually 4-5 days a week and did venture out for 4 miles on Friday morning.

Biking: Tricia and I did a 27 mile ride on Friday, passing through Paoli. Little did I know that we would bike to Paoli (15 miles) on Saturday too!

On to Saturday, Todd, Joe, Chelsea and I decided to do a short ride to Paoli. From our starting point, it is a nice 15 mile ride, nothing challenging, but a great lunch destination. I asked Tricia if she wanted to join us and she said sure. When we got into Paoli, we stopped at one of the many unique shops in Paoli, this one is called 'Cluck'. They specialize in chicken feed and collectibles. I found this great print and can't wait to get it framed and hung, photo bombing chickens!

Here we are outside of the Paoli Pub. There are 'nicer' 'artsy' places to eat, but we prefer a beer and food at the pub and the food is really good!

Side note: I have biked 139 miles in March and April - not as much as many avid bikers, but I don't really consider March and April prime biking months, so am pretty happy with that mileage.

Recipes: Cooking my way through Jenna's blog: eat, live, run  HERE.  l have been really focusing on making some recipes the last couple of weeks. Last time I posted, I had my next recipe selected, Chicken Paprika with homemade dumplings, here. This was the first time I've ever made dumplings and they turned out great. The dish was wonderful, rich and creamy. Will be making again. And it was quick and easy.

We had a causal get together at church a couple of weeks ago. Wasn't sure what to being, but I knew it would be something from Jenna's blog! I decided on Grilled Brie with Honey and Trail mix, here. Again, Brie is something I haven't ever made. I have eaten it, but just never made anything with it. This was well received, everyone enjoyed it and again, easy peasy!

Next up was Spinach feta turkey burgers, here on Sunday. I know I sound like a broken record, but they were so good. Turkey burgers can be a little dry, but with the spinach and feta cheese in the burger, that provided a little moisture and they were great. Not much to look at, especially when you compare it to the rich dark color of a beef burger - but it can hold its own in a taste test.

Tuesday brought us Pork Chops with Grilled Nectarines, Caramelized Onions and Gorgonzola Cheese, here. Sounded and looked fancy but it was really quick and you just can't go wrong with the combination of Grilled Nectarines, Caramelized Onions and Gorgonzola Cheese, oh and the pork.

Last Thursday I wanted to make Red beans and rice, here. I started with soaking the beans Thursday evening and then in between running and biking on Friday, I headed to the store to pick up the ingredient I didn't have on hand, specifically ham hocks. Another thing I have never used in cooking! Like chili, the red beans and rice gets better each and every day it is warmed up.

Hoping you all had a wonderful Easter.
Enjoy the moments.

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A coffee . . .

. . . break! The wonderful spring weather that we are experiencing this weekend somehow feels like a pause, a short coffee break. While I would love to think it is going to continue, this long, brutal winter has taught me to have modest expectations for spring. But with the spring temp's this weekend, the goal is to get out there and enjoy it! Or enjoy it in the house, since the sun is starting to shine through my kitchen windows!

Early morning run with Sophie, followed by a Pilates 1 hour super stretch class. We stretched just about everything, including hands and fingers!

Home again, brought both of us outside. Todd cleaned the garage floor with the hose and I raked some of our front flower beds. I know there is still snow on the ground but the tulips and jonquil's are poking up and I know they would they appreciat getting the heavy wet leaves cleared away.

At 2:30 I headed out for a meet up at a local bicycle store for a women's bike ride. Easy ride around Lake Monona on a 45 degree day sounded great. Afterwards a few of us stopped for beer and some food. (Yup, that is me with my bike backwards!!!)

Sunday was supposed to be 60 degrees, with 20+ mph winds. A few of us had joined the local Trek bicycle club and this morning was an impromptu first ride. We met at Trek West and headed out this morning for a 20 mile ride. The ride didn't quite go as planned but it was still good great. My fried and I actually turned around and only did 10 miles. We had dropped a friend and waited for her, but after 5+ minutes and she didn't show up, we decided to turn around and make sure she was OK. As it turned out, we stopped at Barriques, a local coffee shop and called her. She had turned around and was glad to head over for some coffee.

10+ windy hilly miles earned us a coffee stop! Lesson learned, have a plan ahead of time, if some one gets dropped from a group ride. And we realized we NEED to bike on the west side of Madison more frequently, since there are WAY more hills on that side of town!

When I got home Todd was working on his bike. So with a little prodding we headed out in the afternoon and did the Lake Monona loop, 13 miles.

3 bike rides over the last weekend in March feels like a pretty good accomplishment.

Here is Lake Monona, still covered in ice, but not for long!

Enjoy the moments! Both warm and cold!

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