Joey Never Met a Bike That He Didn't Wanna Ride.

Maybe I'll just get a new orange cat to keep Archie in line.

So, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. Really. It was that good. This will be mostly a photo post, detailing the loveliness.

Friday morning, Coadster took The Guy and I out for breakfast before they both went to work. I got home, putzed around the house, went running, mowed the lawn, packed, ran errands and read my book - The Help, for a bit.

The Guy got home from work and we packed up and took off for Galena. We got there around 8. Since we were both exhausted, we decided to just eat at the Irish hotel - where we were staying and take it easy. The food was okay there, nothing too exceptional, but not bad.

The Guy tasting different kinds of balsamic vinegar.

We woke up the next morning and watched a bit of the Tour de France. They were at the mountain stage. I have so much more of an appreciation for how badly that hurts, after trying to race a bicycle up big hills. Those men are beasts.

We went to downtown Galena after that. We walked around, checked out stores, climbed stairs, had lunch, made a reservation for dinner and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for our first bike ride.

We rode out along the countryside of Galena and it was gorgeous. At one point, we discovered this cute little country store type place in an old train station. We stopped to drink a beer and meet the owner and talk to some of the locals there. It was great. We took off from there, scaled some more hills, got a little lost, found our way back home and then got ready for dinner at the hotel.

We ate at an Italian restaurant that everyone suggested and it was very nice. Then we took a little stroll along the river under the almost full moon. Stinky called from camp and told us she loved us. What a perfect way to end my birthday.

On Sunday, we went out earlier for a bike ride, since it was so hot. We rode much the same loop as the day before, but we started out by the falls and then back out to it to end again.

The hills were pretty tough, but they never seem to look as bad in pictures. It still makes me laugh that people think Iowa or near Iowa is flat.

When we finished our route, we were hot, sweaty and tired. We went back to the downtown area for one last walk around and a later lunch before we headed back to Iowa City.

We made it back to our air conditionless home and unpacked, took care of a few things, then ordered a pizza and settled in to watch Jaws. The perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

When We Were at School Our Games Were Simple

G. on the stripper pole for her bday.

So, this weekend panned out differently than I thought. Besides cleaning and running, I didn't get much other house stuff done. The temps were a lot colder than I thought they'd be, so I didn't want to switch out the storm windows for screens quite yet. I might just have to do it during the week since it's supposed to get up into the 70's in a few days.

On Saturday, I woke up in kind of a mood. I have no idea why. Sometimes I just get all Irish that way. Anyway, I decided to get over myself and went on a nice long run and took a bath. I felt a million times better then.

Coadster worked all day and then babysat for a friend of mine who wanted to attend G.'s birthday. Stinky spent the night at a friend's house. Her friend's mom used to work with me at the clinic, so I trusted her to keep a watchful eye on the girls.

Here are G. and I trying to scrunch down and make the girl crush feel taller.

Saturday night was a lot of fun. We all went to a bar called Firewater where G.'s work friend's band was playing. The band was WAY too loud for the space, so it was hard to talk, but we finally went down to the Dublin.

I got to talk to a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time and that was great. At one point, Mr. B. texted me. My girl crush told me I should ignore, ignore, ignore. Of course, that just made him call me. I didn't have my phone by me, but when I finally checked it, there were a bunch of missed calls from him and a voicemail that I should call him when I got home. I didn't. I just don't have time for games and bullshit. Instead, I put my energy on my real friends who are wonderful and consistent and don't play stupid games.

I stayed out even a little after midnight. Crazy! But then some of my friends were ready to go, and I was even more than ready to take off, so I gave a few people rides home and made my way home as well.