Stop All the Calls in the World

A friend took this pic of the alley by my house. All those lilacs on the left are mine. I'm lucky.

Last Friday I got off work, went to the Co-op and then came home and made salmon, rice pilaf with shaved almonds, beet salad, sauteed zucchini and red pepper and we had French bread. it was all lovely. We also watched Woody Allen's Sleeper. I hadn't seen it in years and it did make me laugh several times.

Lickety split.

On Saturday we got up very, very early and jogged over to Regina high school to do a 5K'ish trail race to raise money for our friend's organization. He started a foundation to help cancer survivors with their medical bills. Most of the things done to help cure cancer, can also cause cancer later on and screw up people's teeth and a lot of other things that cost tons of money, and so our friend is trying to help with those costs.

It's a great organization and the race was fun too. It was warm but misting. The Guy and I previewed the course, by slowly running/walking it and got back about 10 minutes before we had to run it. Our friend J. is another bartender at the Dublin. She worked until close and then drank until the race. She showed up reeking of alcohol and we kept making jokes about how we could get drunk for free by huffing her or licking her. She ran the race and did just fine, and then promptly went home to go to bed.

The Guy and our friend A.

The Guy and I went home after the race and got ready to ride our bikes to Riverside to see our friend, S. and his wife. We had lunch at Murphy's and then rode home.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we got home, so we basically just got some Chinese food and watched the movie, Cedar Rapids. it was fine. Nothing too memorable. I did think it was funny that they tried to make Iowa seem like it was some crazy, party state. Actually, the most memorable thing about it, is that it put that song, "Hotline" in my head. It was a amusing for about 5 minutes...

Our favorite bartender, S. and his wife and his phone.

Sunday was a very lazy day for me. I was pretty tired. I did a lot of lying around, reading a book called InZanesville, by Jo Ann Beard. She was in the non-fiction writer's workshop here and is an amazing writer. This is more of a young adult novel, about 14 year old girls trying to grow up in the Quad Cities in the early 70's. I love it so far.

The Guy spent most of the day building up a new road bike for himself. We did swim laps in the afternoon, and then got take-out Indian food and went down to the Dublin to eat it and feed our favorite bartender, S. while he worked. Our friend Bry came down and had a beer, before he and The Guy headed off to play pool and I headed off home to lie around and read my book some more. The end.

Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime

I'm way in the back of the pic, to the left, wearing black.

So, we did a time trial race last night. That's the kind of bike racing one would do in a triathlon. The Guy built me up a time trial bike, but I didn't have the special clothes or helmet. I had only ridden the time trial bike about two times before the race, so I didn't have the gears and stuff all down.

The evening ended up being VERY windy and so cold there were actual wind chill readings. I'm not used to racing in that kind of wind and wasn't used to riding my new bike, so I had a little anxiety about the race in general.

After the starter counted down to zero, I went on my way into the strong wind. It felt ridiculously hard just to pedal, but I was in my easiest gear, so I told myself to breathe deeply and carry on. At one point, after a particularly strong gust of wind as I was going up a small hill, I thought I might have to stop, it was so hard. I just slowed down a little and recovered and kept on keepin'on.

At the halfway turn around point, I finally had a tailwind. I went to change into the bigger (harder) chain ring and discovered that I had really been in it all along. Derrrr. I could have made my life so much easier all the way there, but instead, I had to mash as hard as I could against the wind.

Even with that, my time was better than it was last August, and I was about right in the middle as far as places were concerned for all of the women. In the master's women category, I got first out of two. It meant that I got a $10 gift card to the co-op, and canceled out the $10 registration fee. Score!

Of course The Guy did really well. He was 5th overall and 2nd in his category. Woot!

And When They Split Those Atoms, It's Hotter Than the Sun

Here is a thingamajig that waters crops in Iowa.

Coadster came home this weekend. Hurray! We tried to plan a few fun things for her to do. On Friday night, I grilled salmon for her and steak for Stinky and we had a couple of our friends over. It was a nice dinner and we had a good talk, and Coadster gave us the stuff she brought back from London for us.

The Guy relaxing with his Heidi cat.

Coadster read The Hunger Games most of the day on Saturday. I used to get a little annoyed when she would lie around and watch horrible reality TV shows when she came home to visit. She explained to me that she did so much at school, that coming home was like a vacation and that was how she decompressed. I get that. I don't like the horrible screeching from the people on reality shows in my living room all day, but I understand that's how she veg's-out. This time, it was reading The Hunger Games. She wanted to finish it before she saw the movie that night.

I cleaned the house for most of the day, while The Guy built up my time trial bike (the kind of bike you use in a triathlon). later in the afternoon, The Guy and I took our time trial bikes for a little spin. It was so fun.

That night, The Guy took me and the girls out for dinner at the Altas. we had a nice meal and got a good talk in with my daughters.

My girls at Atlas.

On Sunday, The Guy and I went to our friend E's house to help her get her bike set-up. We came home and got ready to ride. We went out to a road where we will race in about a month and then we were headed to Riverside to see our friend S., when I ran over an aluminum can and it poked a hole in my back tire. It wouldn't hold air, so I walked my bike on the side of the road in the heat of our unseasonably warm Iowa Spring, while The Guy rode as quickly as possible to our friend S.'s house. They came and rescued me and S. drove us back to our place. So, ultimately, the story had a happy ending.

For Long You Live and High You Fly

My hyacinth - complete with garden bugs on it.

When Coadster was very young, she used to get upset and I'd work with her on her breathing to help calm her down. "Okay. Let's try it. Take long, deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth."

Because Coadster is about the most stubborn person I've ever met, she eventually told me, "No! I won't breathe and you can't make me!" I would try really hard not to laugh, while in my head thinking,

"Okay, then. You stop breathing and let me know how that works out for you..."

I'm sure you like looking at photos of my bleeding heart(s).

No one ever learns how to breathe, they just get a slap on the ass, and on they go...Breathing. But like everything, there are ways to screw it up...And if there's a way to screw something up, chances are, I'm really, really good at it.

When I was a patient advocate at the clinic, I helped people breathe their way through uncomfortable procedures. The correct technique can calm a person down and help them manage their pain. The wrong kind of breathing can do just the opposite.

I'm fine if I'm doing moderate exercise at a decent speed, but when I try to keep up with the faster kids and start to push my limits, my breaths become faster and more shallow to match my leg speed. What that does, is keep me from getting the good red blood cells from the bottom of my lungs to my muscles, my legs start to fatigue, I don't get enough carbon dioxide out, it makes me panicky and eventually will cause me to cry and slow WAY down. Once, when Coadster and I were in an accident and I had a severe concussion, I hyperventilated so badly, that it seemed as though I was having a seizure, and the nurse literally made me breathe into a paper bag.

Now that I'm taking myself completely out of my comfort zone for speed in running and biking, I've become all too aware of how badly I breathe during a hard effort. So, now I'm trying to teach myself to breathe better. I am working on taking long, slow breaths that come from the diaphragm and are exhaled completely. I am finally following my own advice. I have no idea how well I'll do during races, when I'm exhausted and not thinking straight and can't remember my own name, let alone how to practice "low" breathing, but I'm going to try. A long, deep breath. In through the nose, and out through the mouth. It seems like such a simple thing...

Life in the Fast Lane

I'm pressed for time...Again.

We had a bike race on Sunday and this is what if looked like.

The Guy got third in his category.

I was 5th from last...Which is much better than last year when I was always the very last. I'm much stronger now, but still not able to keep up with the pack. There was a crazy big hill that did me in. I'm going to start going on group rides with the women racers in town and see if that helps me at all. So many things to work on, so little time...

Love Is All Around, No Need to Waste It.

Here's me after my first bike race of the season.

So, I road raced for the first time in a long time. I only did 3 last year and each one I was either last or second to last and I'm pretty sure I got dropped from the pack first almost every race. Since I've been trying to actually train this season, my goal was to stay with the pack for the entire race. I didn't reach my goal, but I was the last person to get dropped from the pack and I had them in my sights until the very end. I was 10th out of 15. Not bad for me, and I think I can build on it.

Here is The Guy up close and personal after the race.

The Guy was recovering from a cold, so he didn't do as well as he wanted, but it's the first race of the year for most of us, so no one took it all that seriously.

The race was held out in the country by Hills, Ia. It was part VERY hilly gravel and part pavement, with 30 mile per hour winds. My ass was officially kicked by the end of it.

After the race, we went out for Mexican food and came home and took a nap. Even after the nap, I was pretty wrecked. We watched some Mary Tyler Moore episodes. The Guy has the firs two seasons. The Guy and I were talking about for people our age, MTM has to be one of the ultimate nostalgia shows...Along with The Carol Burnett Show and M*A*S*H*.

Here's our dorky after-race self-portrait.

On Sunday, we took our time getting going and then drove to the trails we will be racing on next week. We did about 10 miles of the course. The Guy felt pretty good, but my legs were still dead from the bike race the day before.

In the evening, The Guy went to play pool with his friend Bry and Stinky and I were finally going to watch the movie, Tangled together. Of course, 20 minutes into it, one of Stinky's friends showed up and off she went. I went ahead and finished watching the movie by myself. I thought it was pretty damn cute.

I Used to Hurry a Lot. I Used to Worry a Lot.

Here's me "pretending" to look cold. It was actually windy and freezing that day.

Here is a quick overview blog post. Coadster is now in London. She is afraid to fly, so I was worried for her, but it sounds like she did just fine.

Here is a picture of me pointing to a bald eagle flying overhead.

Last weekend, The Guy and I ran the full 25K course of the race we're doing on St Patrick's Day. At least the last 5 miles of it are very technical trail running. After I was really tired, it was a big challenge to lift my legs enough to get over all of the roots and rocks on the trail. I did run the whole thing, but it REALLY kicked my ass.

The Guy showing off his new drink holster. I think he's ready for his spaghetti western now.

Saturday night we went out for dinner to a new place in town called Moon Raker's. Our friend E. met us, and we had good food, a great talk and a few drinks. I was pretty migrainey all weekend, so we went home early.

Me all splattered with road muck.

On Sunday we rode out on a gravel road course outside of Hills, Ia. It was cold and snowy and muddy, but it was a nice short ride.

That night, I made tilapia reubens for the first time. I don't think the tilapia had a strong enough taste to compete with everything else in the sandwich, but it was still good and it was worth a shot...

And She'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun...

Archie adorably gnawing on me while I read my book on Sunday morning.

Oh, how I love my weekends. On Friday The Guy and I went to the store after work to buy running shoes. We have that 25K race coming up in a few weeks and we want to have our shoes worn in for a couple of weeks first. I haven't had new running shoes in 3 years, and some of those years, I was putting in about 30-40 miles a week on them. I suppose it's about time.

We went for Thai food after the store, and then home to watch The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I loved the book when I was younger. The film version is much different, but still really good. Alan Arkin is amazing as a deaf/mute. His face is so expressive.

Our favorite bartender S. giving The Guy a good, swift kick in the tuckus.

On Saturday, I woke up and lazed about for a bit and read my new book, The Tiger's Wife. I do love it so far. it takes place in what I believe is the former Yugoslavia, and possibly Hungary. It is full of folktales and stories about the Bosnian conflict.

I ran my 6.4 mile route finally and then came home and made lunch before we took a nice little nap. We woke up in time to get ready for G. and The Guy's ex to come over for dinner. I made tortellini with a creamy pesto sauce, shrimp and veggie scampi over fettucini, The Guy made the salad and we had some good bread with it. It was a lovely evening.

The Guy in a playground jail.

On Sunday morning, I lazed some more. The Guy went running and when he came back I was in the spare/reading/office/cats/Coadster's room, reading my book by the sunniest window. He brought me a tray with everything I needed to make my tea and I had the most wonderfully relaxing morning.

Here's me in the same playground jail.

In the afternoon, The Guy and I rode our bikes to Riverside. The weather was warm but very windy. I've at least been feeling stronger on the bike this year. last year, it would have killed me to ride that far in the wind.

We made it to our friend S's house and got to see all the work he and his wife have been doing on their place, then we wandered over to a place called the Icehouse to eat a late lunch and play some pool.

The shadows of ourselves riding home against the fields.

In the evening, we had cereal for dinner and watched Woody Allen's, Bananas. I hadn't seen that movie in forever. Some of the sight gags were so ridiculous that I actually did laugh out loud.

Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good

Archie thought he'd hide in Coadster's laundry bag and go back to college with her.

So, I know I didn't get around to writing about last weekend, but you can just imagine it was more, wonderful life, I'm so happy and active, blah, blah, blah. And now I can go into the same details about this weekend.

Archie "helping" The Guy put a desk together.

On Friday I got off work at 3, because it was nice out and I wanted to go running, while it was still light outside. It was heavenly.

I came home and Coadster got home from college about the same time, The Guy got home from work. I made us some salmon, and potato pancakes and steamed asparagus and we had some crusty bread from the Co-op. Coadster loves salmon, and it's not something she'll make on her own, at school.

After we ate, The Guy and Coadster and I watched, His Girl Friday. Neither Coadster or I had ever seen it before. We both found it quite entertaining. People in movies in the 40's were so quick with the witty banter, that's for sure...

My friend E. and I at the halfway point of our 10 mile run.

On Saturday I woke up and finally finished reading my book. I made French toast for breakfast and did some other general, lazing around. Both the girls went to the Quad Cities to watch a show choir competition and The Guy headed out on a bike ride.

We decided we'd go to Solon, but then extended our ride to the Sutliff Bridge. We stopped at the bar there for some greasy food and a soda, to keep us fueled enough to ride back. It was over a 50 mile bike ride - the longest I've gone since RAGBRAI.

The Guy and E. running down my favorite part of the trail.

Saturday evening we went to our friends' A. and Britt's house for dinner. We drank red wine and she made a butternut squash and portabella mushroom lasagna. It was really good. We stayed and talked and ate and drank until a little after 11. So late for us.

The Guy and I at the end of our 10 miler. We think we're hilarious...As usual.

On Sunday, I was a bit tired (I'm sure it wasn't because of the wine or anything...). I started my new book - Ann Pathett's State of Wonder. It's really good so far.

Coadster went back to school about the same time The Guy, E. and I all went to some trails by Solon for E.'s first 10 mile run. It was a beautiful day, but the trails were a bit on the mushy side. E. finished the whole run and were both very proud of her.

In the evening, we went out to play pool for free with E. I was exhausted, so my game wasn't the best. Luckily for me, both The Guy and E. scratched on the 8 ball, so I lamely one two games.

I've Got No Deeds to do. No Promises to Keep.

Here is Archie lying on (oozing over) our hot water heater.

My weekend was wonderful. On Friday night, I made pan seared sea scallops, steamed asparagus, salad and sourdough bread and then we watched Bull Durham. It was perfect.

On Saturday I got up and went running right away. It was supposed to snow/rain all day, and I thought I'd try to get a jump on it. I ended up running a little over 8 miles, but The Guy ran for at least 11 miles. Pretty amazing. We ate lunch and then made it to the pool, where we swam laps. We had to hurry and get home and take showers so we could meet my friend K. and her husband at the Dublin at 6. We had a drink and then went to a restaurant called Basta for dinner and had a really good meal and conversation.

On Sunday, We got up and I got to work. I painted as much of the quarter round as I could before I went to run. At noon, we got on our bikes to meet our friend, Bry and his girlfriend at a coffee shop in North Liberty. We had a nice visit, and then they headed home and we rode further. We got 34.5 miles in altogether.

I picked up Stinky from work and got us some take-out Chinese food. We ate quickly and then headed to the Hilltop to watched the Superbowl with some friends. I wasn't all that interested in the game, but The Guy and I did shoot a couple of games of pool and I talked to some folks and we still got home around 9. Not too shabby, I'd say.

Turning Into My Soul

Hmmmm...

I'm not one much for labels. They only seem to cover one part of a person, but The Guy likes to tell me I'm an endurance athlete. I think that's pretty accurate, in many different ways.

I've lived most of my life, having to endure things. I'm not particularly patient, but I am diligent and if there is one thing I can do, it's endure. When I was younger, I endured the death of my mom, and the indentured servitude of my abusive legal guardians, my "lost" angry years, an abusive marriage (since I thought that's what I deserved) and the four years I spent reading, journaling and working on my self-esteem issues and insecurities, so that I would never again think I deserved an abusive relationship.

I counted down the hours and days until Stinky regained consciousness from her meningitis, and the minutes that seemed like hours for the tornado to slam into our basementless house and move on.

Here is a lone boxcar.

So, now that I know I can do it and I try to actively keep as much bad stuff out of my life as I can control, I don't worry so much about being happy and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead, I count the minutes of my brutal trainer work-out or the miles of my relaxing after work run. Every once in a while, I regret the time I wasted in bad situations in the past, but mostly, I'm too busy "enduring" the fun and athletic life I've worked so hard to create.

It's Begginning to Not Look a Lot Like Christmas

Here is an icy, snowy creek.

So, yeah. I hear there's some kind of big holiday coming up here...Oh yeah. Christmas. It just doesn't feel like it to me this year. I think a lot of it is that there isn't any snow. Last year about this time, we got a good, old fashioned snow storm and it suddenly got all seasonal.

This year, we haven't seen any of that. The nice thing, is that it's pretty warm for this time of year and there isn't ice all over the streets and sidewalks, so I've been able to run and bike outside for the most part.

I have most of my shopping done and plans for Christmas Eve and so I suppose Christmas will be here, whether it seems like it outside or not.

Laughing and a Running. Hey, hey.

Another snapped derailleur from the mud.

This weekend was so great. You'd think I'd get tired of all of these wonderful weekends, but I'm so busy appreciating them, that it hasn't happened yet.

A carnival ride Wintering at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.

On Friday night, The Guy took me out for Thai food and then we went home and watched Christmas in Connecticut. We both love those cheesy old movies, but like I said to the guy, the characters all seem like they're totally drunk during the entire move.

Archie wearing my wool gator.

On Saturday, we did a bunch of things around the house. Nothing all that very exciting, but nice to have done. We rode out to the Fairgrounds around 11:30 to ride bikes in the mud and to take them over the fly-over thing and I wanted to get better and faster at trudging up a muddy hill with my bike too.

It turned out that the mud was too much for my derailleur and it snapped again. The Guy rode his bike home and drove back to pick me up. The Guy also put a new derailleur on for me. There's really nothing better than a handy man, is there?

Heading to Augusta's.

In the afternoon, we went to swim laps with our friend JH. It was the first time since I trained for the triathlon in September that I had done any swimming at all. I was surprised at how strong I still felt. Of course, seeing myself in a swim suit in December in Iowa wasn't much fun, but it was good motivation for me to get busy with my Winter training, at least.

In the evening, we stopped at the Dublin to see our favorite bartender, S. His hot wife was there and a few other friends, so we had a nice talk with everyone until we realized it was time to eat and we headed to Mickey's. The Guy was good and he had black bean soup and a salad, but I had cheese fries. Apparently, cheese fries can make me forget all about Winter training.

The best Bloody Mary I've ever had. Merry Christmas to me.

On Sunday, we got up and got more stuff done on the house. We taped and primed the spare bedroom. Now, all we have to do is paint.

We took off for Oxford, Ia. on our bikes. It was a 50 mile ride, and the longest we've ridden in months. the weather was amazing. Almost 50 degrees in December. Crazy. We had a great ride and I still felt pretty strong on the bike. I hope I can keep all this up over the Winter.

We got to Oxford in time for brunch. Mimosa's and Bloody Mary's were on sale and one of their entrees was poached eggs over crab cakes, covered in hollandaise sauce. Yes, you read that right...Oh, and did I mention that the Bloody Mary's had a slice of the best bacon I've ever had in them too? I don't eat much meat, but if I'm going to, I choose perfectly cooked bacon, dipped in Bloody Mary. Yum.

This the amazing brunch we had.

We rode home and made it, right before it got dark. We had just enough time to get the spare bedroom back together before Coadster and her boyfriend came home. We all watched Good Morning Vietnam together. I hadn't seen it since it was out in theaters in the 80's. I was surprised at how well it held up. Both Coadster and her boyfriend were laughing out loud at some of it.

Sooooo, good food, fun older movies, great work-outs, a couple of drinks, awesome friends, several laughs and time with the family. My recipe for a perfect weekend.

Pushing the Barriers, Planting the Seeds

Cara sucia.

So, cyclocross season is officially over for me this year. The Guy is going to race in nationals in Wisconsin in January, but I'm done until next Fall.

According to the national rankings, I was 185th out of 346 in the 45+ master's women's category. Although, the woman in 117th place in the standings was 71 years old. (How awesome is she?)

It's not like I came anywhere near the front of the pack at any point, but I started the season being dead-ass last in my first couple of races and did better and better as it progressed. I think the hardest part, was not to give up after my first couple of last places.

After Jingle Cross, a woman in her early twenties called me an inspiration. I laughed and joked that I was inspiring, because if someone as old as me can do this, anyone could. She stopped me and said, "No. You're inspirational because you always look like you're having so much fun and you are so supportive of the other women riders." Having someone say that to me, felt better than actually winning a race.

And Clouds are Shrouding Us In Moments Unforgettable

Yeah. It's been a while, but I guess I'll just write about last weekend.

On Friday evening, we went to The Guy's employee Christmas party at the press box above Kinnick Stadium. It was really nice. They had an open bar for most of it and served excellent poached salmon and potato cakes and salad.

I got to meet a lot of the people The Guy talks about and now can put a face to the names when he tells me work stories. I also got to meet the physical therapist who helped The Guy recover from his accident. I told her she was a miracle worker, but she said it was all due to The Guy working so hard.

The Guy's boss and her husband went to the same high school I did, and her husband is friends with my brother-in-law's brother. I guess as they were leaving, The Guy's boss' husband turned to her and said, "Hey, you know who she is? She's the runner girl we used to always see when we lived on the the East side of town." I suppose there are worse things to be known for...

Heidi is quite happily sitting in her box.

On Saturday, I woke up feeling kind of wonky and icky. I wasn't sick, just, you know, a little funky and out of sorts. I got some stuff done around the house and did some sitting around. I'm sure the gloomy, rainy weather didn't help my mood at all. I did warn the guy not to take anything personally if I was a bit cranky.

In the afternoon, we got a little break from the rain, but it was still slick out. We decided to go for a bike ride. Because moving is about the best thing I can do for myself when I am at all wonky. Of course, it can also be dangerous. Like, say, when I'm riding my bike in the slippery grass and turn onto a slipperier wet, wood bridge and crash my bike. Nice!

The quarter round The Guy cut for the spare bedroom.

I felt better emotionally after our bike ride, which is what I was hoping for. So, we decided to have a drink at the Dublin, since our favorite bartender S. was working. I showed him my new sore on my shin, from the accident and he said it looked like an exclamation point. I had to agree. My injury seemed way more important with such strong punctuation. After our drink, The Guy and I went to Graze, where we had a lovely dinner and talked about training for next Spring. We went home and watched Super 8 after dinner. It got a little schmaltzy at the end, but the kids in the movie were about the same age we were in 1979, so that part was really fun.

Some hummus and beet salad with blue cheese dressing and walnuts.

Part of our talk about training, had to do with our eating habits. We both love food and I will never be one of those people who starves myself in order to get in shape. So, instead, I try to make good healthy food. This weekend I cooked up sweet potatoes, beets, tofu, made hummus and cut up a bunch of veggies. I figure, the easier it is to eat good food, the more I will eat it instead of getting into Stinky's chips or poptarts or whatever. So far, it's worked pretty well. When I got hungry, I just threw some sweet potatoes in the microwave or dipped carrots and zucchini in the hummus and it was all very nice.

Getting ready to head back out on the bikes.

Sunday was a much better day. The Guy cut all the quarter round for the spare bedroom while I cooked up a storm. Then in the afternoon, we went on a bike ride. It was cold outside and there were tons of deer out there (since it's now shotgun deer hunting season here) but it was so nice to ride our bikes to Solon and back (about 30 miles). We stopped at the Solon Station for one quick beer before we rode back. Our feet were freezing by the time we got home, but we were both really, really happy.

Just Another Day for You and Me in Paradise.

Archie "helping" me make the bed.

Thank the gods, this weekend was so much better than last. On Friday, I made a quick meal of miso soup, salad and steamed shrimp gyoza with spicy plum sauce. We ate we drank a couple of cocktails and then we watched the newer Tron movie. It was okay. It was very 80's and the music sounded a lot like a porn soundtrack to me - not that any of those are necessarily bad things, just observations...

The back end of the mountain bike trails at Sugarbottom.

Our original plan this weekend was to work with our friend Joanne to sand and refinish the floors in Coadster's old room. At the last minute, we found out that G. would be staying with us on Sunday night and not just during the day today. I didn't think that strong smell would work well with G.'s excruciating headache, so we're putting it off for another week.

The Guy coming out of the pine woods on the course.

The best part about that, is that the weather was beautiful here for November and we got to go out and play both days. We took our cyclocross bikes out on the mountain bike trails and had a blast. It was so fun riding through the woods and next to the lake and trying to figure out how to maneuver through hills and rocks and roots and not crash. It was such a great stress reliever after last week.

My handlebars at the brink of the bridge.

On Saturday night, we went out for one drink and then had Indian food. When we got home, we settled in on the couch and watched. E.T The Guy had never seen it before. After it was over, I asked him if it was cheesy enough for him. He agreed that it was pretty cheesy.

The Guy trying to figure out how to take photos and send them from his new phone.

On Sunday we went out for Mexican food as a late lunch after our bike ride and then home. I picked up G. and The Guy made some potato leek soup, while G. slept.

G, is doing much better, if only we could get rid of that nasty headache she still has....