Hmmm.... what to do today???

Total miles commuted today:  0
Total miles hiked today:  4

Today's quote:

Don't blend in. Stand out

- Unknown

Done and done!!

OK, so I *know* what I should do today, but getting my sorry butt outta bed is another story.  It's so warm in bed.  My hubs has been out running for almost 2 hours now (training for his marathon next month).  I should be training for my half marathon next month, but my motivation wanes.   I think in about 10 min. I'll drag my lazy butt out of bed, put on the loaded backpack and hit the treadmill for a couple hours of "hiking." 

Here's the problem:  it's the weekend, it's cold outside, it's warm in bed and I'm lazy.  I've become quite the lazy bag of bones as of late.  I can't seem to find the motivation to do much of anything lately.  I will ride my bike to work, do a little running (maybe), and sorta take care of my responsibilities around the house- but not much else.  I don't have any motivation to do much of anything anymore.  I wonder if it's just the winter blahs that are finally catching up with me.
Seems we get a taste of Spring with a day or two of glorious warmth- then we get hit with winter again and we're stuck inside on a cold and dreary day.  Enough of that already!!!  It's supposed to be in the 80's a couple days this week.  Woo hoo!!!  Then it's back to the low 50's for the weekend again.  Boo!!!

I like the quote, tho:   Don't blend in.  Stand out.

I try to do that as much as humanly possible.  I need to conform to be professional in my job, but at every chance I get (my VFF's for instance), I try to stand out.
I can't stand being "one of many."  I crave the differences, the uniqueness, the kooky!  The older I get, the more I want to take the path less traveled than the others.  I want to to live freely, be different and bold.  I just need to figure out how to do that and still stay married to a straight-laced guy.  It may become tricky in the years to come. ;)

Have a great Sunday!!  I think I see the sun trying to come out:  oh what a glorious moment!!

Added:
I went ahead and hiked on the treadmill at 9% for 4 miles with my 25 lb pack on.  I was slow, but it doesn't matter how fast I go.  I'll be going slower on our trip, so anything over 1.5 miles per hour is fast. ;)
I thought we'd be carrying around 40 lbs each on the hike, but I've now decided I'm going to pare down the necessary items and only carry around 25 or 30 max.  The heaviest part will be the food and water we'll have to carry.  The clothes and sleeping stuff will be light.  1.2 lbs for each sleeping mat, 4 lbs for the tent,  less than a pound for each sleeping bag liner, about 6 lbs for the "kitchen."  I'm guessing about 5 lbs worth of clothing.  It's the food and water that will weigh the most.  I'll be working on that in the next 8 weeks.  We'll have a filter to clean water, so we won't have to carry quite so much with us as we can pump and filter along the way.
I've got lots of prep to do, because 25 lbs in my pack is more than enough!!!

Miles commuted in the last 3 days:  0
How do I feel about that?  Very sad.

Today's quote: 

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.  ~John F. Kennedy

Today I had hoped to get in a nice, long ride.... BUT we are under a wind advisory (winds sustained at 25-40 mph), and the cold front moved in early and it started raining.  It's currently 40 outside and raining.  Boo to winter not being dead yet.  I guess I caused this myself... I DID go out and buy some tomato plants this morning, so I am to blame.  Soooorrry...

Hit the farmer's market this morning.  It's still not the best growing season yet, so there were still some slim pickins, but it's getting better and better each week.  I can't wait for the full growing season to get me all the yummy fresh fruits and vegetables.  Woo hoo!!!

I'm so incredibly sick and thoroughly exhausted with winter and the damn cold.  I hate this place lately.  I would rather live in the blistering heat than this damn cold.  ugh.  So so so so so so sick of it all (can you tell I'm having one of "those" days yet?).

Enough bitching... I shall focus on the positive.  I'm going to plant my very first garden this year.  I have books to guide me, plants that want to be grown, and an acre of land that is just begging to be used.  I can't wait!!!!  Today I'm going to read all about what I need, and then tomorrow (when it warms up a couple degrees) I shall head off to the store to buy my supplies.  I want to live like people did in the olden days; growing my own food and controlling how it's grown and what is put in/on it.  I'm so excited.  I just hope I don't kill everything.  I have an extremely large black thumb.  I'm kinda like the crypt-keeper of gardens.  Here's to not killing plants!!!

I'm going to take a nap now and dream of sunny, calm skies.  It's a pipe dream, but I'm still going to do it: and you can't stop me!! 

Oh yeah!!!

Miles commuted today:  6
Quote of the day:

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man.  Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish.  Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.  ~Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

Today was a great day.  First of all, it's Wednesday so the week is more than half over.  Second, it's almost Friday.  Third:  do you really need a third?  You shouldn't!
Had a good commute today.  I was running late this morning (dang snooze button), so had to bust out my morning commute.  Made it in 17 minutes.  That's not much faster than usual, but on such a short commute, 3-4 minutes faster is impressive (for me at least).  I'm so glad I have a private bathroom at work to freshen up in.  Makes getting to work and changing a most pleasant experience. 

Dare I say that spring is here- perhaps it's staying around???  I can only hope.

Had 3 eclairs today.  WAY overboard, but I'm still having the "crap cravings."  It'll pass.  I hope...

Can it be spring? For real this time???

Miles commuted today:  13

Today's quote: 

Wind makes you stronger.  Not really.  Wind makes you angrier.

Now don't get me wrong, I do love the signs of autumn.  The pine cones, the dried grass, the falling leaves.

But dammit- I'm DONE with it.

This picture was taken in my yard.  Only 30 feet away you see...

                                                                        THIS ---------->

It's SOOOOOO great to see spring here.  Today was GLORIOUS!!!!  It was windy as shit, but it was 70, so who really cares?   I commuted to work today for the first time in a few weeks.  The ride to work was a painful battle against a strong southerly wind.  It took me 25 stinkin' minutes to get to work.  Yowza!  Of course, it's the first time I've been on my bike in 3 weeks, so that might have wee bit to do with it....perhaps.

On the way home I decided to take the long way home and go around the lake.  I made it 10 miles and then I had just had enough.  Don't know how strong the wind was blowing, but I'm going to guess somewhere in the range of... a billion mph.  C'est la vie!


Here are some shots from the garden.  I can't tell you how much I love to see the signs of spring.  Two days ago the yellow flowers were covered in snow, and today they are basking in the sun's delicious warmth.
Even my turtle in the garden gives the thumbs up for the arrival of spring.

Oops... had an eclair for dessert.  Hmmm... don't think that's really staying on the organic path there, but whatcha gonna do?  The last two days I've been having "crap cravings."  I've been trying to curb them, but it's difficult.  I had an organic cupcake yesterday, and a oh-so-not organic eclair today.  It's OK- I still have to eat like a normal person.
Tomorrow is another day.

WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!?!

Dadgum weather!!!  Yesterday it was 70 and absolutely gorgeous.  Today it's in the 30's and we have 6 inches of snow on the ground.  This "wing" or "sprinter" if you will (spring + winter) is just ridiculous.  On the first day of Spring we have snow- and it keeps on coming.  It's insane... INSANE I tell you!

So to celebrate the first day of spring I did a 9 mile dreadful treadmill run, followed by a 6 minute bone rattling ice bath soak (to help with recovery) followed by a delightful 30 minute hot tub soak outside with the blowing flakes.  It was glorious!!!

And I just vowed to myself that for the last 9 weeks of school I will commute to work every day in order to prepare for Freewheel.  I guess my first couple commutes are going to be cold until this mess melts outside.  It's so silly...

To protest this late winter blast, I'm going to drag my tired ol' stumps to the fridge, wrap my fingers around a Dos Equis and pretend that the white powder outside is really sand, and that the CFL bulbs in the living room are the sun's bright rays of glorious sunshine.

It's nice to live in my little world...

The organic eating is going well.  I gained 2 lbs on vacation, yet I have NO idea how that happened.  I ate REALLY well, stayed within my calories/portions and didn't overindulge in anything.  I did have one ice cream cone, but that was all.  It's a little frustrating, but nothing that I'm not used to.  It's so much easier to control my food intake when I'm at home and know exactly what's going in my mouth.  Even tho I ate seemingly well, I still wasn't certain about what I was eating.  You just have to do your best when you can't control things.  It'll all work out in the end.  And if I don't lose any more weight, I''m going to be OK with that because I know that the food I'm putting in my body is good, whole food that is much healthier and better for me in the long run.  

Guadalupe Peak: Texas' highpoint and #9 state highpoint for us

On Tuesday we hiked up Guadalupe Peak in far SW Texas.  We are kinda into "highpointing" as many states as we can.  TX was #9 for us.  There are some state highpoints that we will NEVER do because I:
1) don't do ice picks or ice axes and crevasse training
2) refuse to wear crampons and
3) will not climb anything that requires climbing ropes/gear/helmets

That would rule out the following states:
Alaska- Mt. McKinley
Idaho- Borah Peak
Montana- Granite Peak
Oregon- Mt. Hood
Washington- Mt. Ranier
Wyoming- Gannett Peak

Sooooo... of the 44 states that I'm willing to do, we've  done 9.  That only leaves 35 left.  And we've already climbed 3 of the 10 most difficult in the country.

Enjoy some pics from our adventure.

Mountain goats on the way up

On the way up.  Still smiling.

Hitting the first of many snow patches.  There was one spot near the summit that was downright dangerous.  I had a mild panic attack before continuing on..  It was scary.

We thought we were at the summit, but then we rounded a corner and saw the REAL summit far in the distance.  That's kind of a ball-buster.  Oh well- we continued to climb upward. 

This is a view from about 2/3 of the way up.  It was a gorgeous day to view the landscape below.  It was breathtaking.  I had to force myself to continue moving upward.

We made it to the top in about 3.5 hours.  We made it down in about 3 hours.  The top was amazing!!! 

It was a great adventure!!  I always love making it to the top, but I'm finding that the more of these I do, the more afraid of heights I'm getting.  I've had mild panic attacks the last 2 times we've done this.  I get some irrational fear of falling and I just can't go on.  I don't know what it is, but it stops me in my tracks and I freeze with fear.  Luckily my husband knows to talk me through it and I can continue (except for Arizona, in which I didn't continue on and had to wait below the summit for him to summit). 

Getting old and fearful sucks!

Spring Break, baby!

The biker chick says:

Winter is almost over.  The days will get longer and the degrees will go higher.  Hang in there, friends.  Perfect commuting weather is right around the corner!

The organic hippie chick says:

Just keep at it!  It's harder to find things to eat at restaurants that fit into the organic lifestyle, but there are always options.  Be a picky customer.  Ask for things to be prepared how YOU like.  You can be choosy when it's the food that's going into your body!

So I lost another pound.  Woo hoo!!!  Down 4 lbs.  Gotta love that.  Now if I could just get myself on that dang treadmill more I might actually drop even more poundage.  ;)
The organic eating is coming along nicely- the commuting... well, not so much.  I didn't commute ONE day last week.  Boo on me!  Y'know- I'm just sick and tired of winter.  This week wasn't so bad, but it had thunderstorms, 30-40mph winds, and was just icky.  I can't wait for the weather to cooperate and get nicer.  I dream of warmer days.  But speaking of warmer days- guess what I discovered when I came home from work yesterday?  FLOWERS!!!  You heard me!  I looked over and saw some beautiful flowers in bloom.  Soooo, I went outside and spend an hour and a half gardening yesterday.  I raked up all the dead leaves, cleaned out the flower beds, trimmed back the dead leaves and branches, and got the garden/yard ready for spring.  My heart is happy knowing it's just RIGHT around the corner.  Woot!!!

I'm so glad Spring Break is here.  Teachers get a break so we don't wind up choking the children.  It's a  good thing.  I'm ready for some relaxation and rest.   I need it!!!!

Take care!

Lessons from the stomach

My stomach taught me two lessons today:

1.  I still can't eat bananas.  They make my stomach upset.
2.  You shouldn't eat two organic, grass-fed hormone and nitrate-free hot dogs in one sitting.

I learned the lesson the hard way.  I ate dinner and bought some high quality hot dogs.  I made my own french fries by cutting up a potato into strips, spraying them with Pam and sprinkling various herbs and spices on them.  They turned out YUMMY!!  I threw two hot dogs in the pot to cook up.  I had planned on eating ONE and taking the other one for lunch tomorrow.  Well, it was so delicious, I decided to eat it for dinner as well.  BIG mistake.  I ate the second one and then regretted it shortly thereafter.
THEN, I decided that I'd try to eat a banana again to see if I'd gotten over my "allergy" to them.  Ummmm... nope.  I made a really delicious chocolate banana milkshake (one cup milk, one banana, some chocolate syrup, packet of stevia sweetener and some ice.  It was delicious, but the bananas made my stomach hurt. 
I got on the treadmill for a short run and 40 minutes later and things got ugly. I got sick and had a stomach ache the remainder of the night.  It was NOT pretty. 
It was ugly, but I learned a valuable lesson.  Do NOT eat two beef hot dogs when you really haven't eaten beef in awhile.  And then don't drink a milkshake with a banana in it when you're still allergic to bananas. 

Frustrating day.

BUT... I lost another pound- so it can't all be bad, right?  Only 17 more to go...

I lost some weight!

The Organic chick says:

Fat free and sugar free isn't good for you.  It makes you crave the fats and sugars more.  All the chemicals they put in the food to keep the calories down doesn't keep you thin or healthy at all.  It only makes the dependence stronger.  Eat REAL foods and enjoy the REAL taste of it!

 The commuter chick says:

Today we had some thunderstorms with some lightning and creepy clouds.  I made an executive decision to drive the car.  No need to ride a moving lightning rod and ruin a perfectly good life.

After eating organically for a week, I jumped on the scale today and I lost 2 lbs.  Not much, and only 1/10th of what I need to lose- but it's a start in the right direction.  :)

I guess putting only good stuff in your body does good things.  I didn't really eat any sweets, but I also didn't watch my portions closely at all.  I just only ate natural, organic things.  I like the direction this is going.  This big girl riding a bike is hoping to get a little smaller with the changes I've made. 
Funny thing is:  I haven't missed the sweets that much.  When I was eating like crap, I'd crave it all the time.  Now that I'm not eating the HFCS, the aspartame, and the other crap- I don't crave it.  I'd almost rather have an apple or a piece of granola instead of a candy bar or a bowl of ice cream.  I've read that the aspartame and the other chemicals we eat actually make you crave the sweets even more.  I can see that.  I hope that I'm detoxifying my body and moving it in a whole new direction.  Now c'mon 18 more pounds so mama can wear that bikini in public again this summer without frightening all the little children at the beach. 


Today would have been a good day to ride- if I were riding home right now (in the evening).  When I left work we were under some major thunderstorms and the rain was emptying from the sky like the contents of my bladder after 92 oz of water.  It was crazy!  I'm glad that I decided to drive instead of ride.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 70's and beautiful.  Sounds like a bike ride around the lake after work is in order.  Gotta get my biking butt and legs in training for Freewheel- it'll be here before I know it. 

Ta ta!

I'm officially organic

This week I started on a new adventure in my life.  I'm officially an all-organic eater.  I hadn't initially planned on becoming this way- but I've just learned far too much about our food system and how our food is produced and what is added to it.  It's really scary.  REALLY scary!!  I have made a decision to only eat organic (as much as possible) and to only put natural things into my body.

I hope to achieve a 90/10 ratio.  90% of the time I'll eat organic and natural, and 10% of the time I can eat the things in life that are so yummy to eat (cake, Nutella, ice cream, etc).  It can be done, but will involve some sacrifice and some re-learning old habits.  I'm excited about this journey.  I want to see what my body can do when I only fill it with the right things.

Here are my rules:
1.  Anything I eat has to have 6 ingredients or less (which until I started shopping in a health food store was kinda tough).
2.  I will only eat organic fruits/veggies.
3.  I will only eat organic dairy (including raw milk).  My goal is to cut out dairy almost entirely by the end of the year.  That will take some adjusting so I'm giving myself until the end of the year to do this.
4.  I will eat when I'm hungry and learn to control my emotional eating.
5.  If I choose to eat meat, it MUST be grass fed, no hormone or antibiotic, and no nitrate meat from a local farmer.  I will likely not eat meat much at all (I don't now), but I won't rule it out entirely.  A good burger is yummy sometimes.
6.  If it's on the ingredient list and I can't pronounce it- it doesn't go down the hatch.  Natural and artificial flavors are out, too.  That is code for (chemicals we don't tell you about).

I think my poor husband thinks I've gone over the edge, but it's what I do.  I get on kicks fairly often. I'm really hoping this won't just be another fad or kick, and I don't think it will  I want this to stick around.  I don't want to be dying prematurely from the inside out.  I want to be healthy.  I want to only put things in my body that God would recognize. 

Join me on this journey... I hope it's fun and educational (and yummy along the way).

It was warm today... well, sorta.

It was 64 today.  Normally I'd be all hopped up on endorphins and excitement.  Not so much.  It was cloudy and crazy windy.  So tell me how 64 can feel like 44?  I can't explain it...

Went to the farmer's market today to load up on local, natural goodness.  Yummers!!  Bought some raw milk (sooo yummy and not scary at all), some natural cheese, an all natural pizza crust, and some delicious tomatoes. Purchasing raw milk in OK is illegal unless you go to the farm to get the milk directly from the farmer.  That's silly!  It's OK to buy it from the farmer, but if he brings it someplace and sells it it's not OK??? If he gets caught, he'll be arrested and charged a $2500 fine.  Crazy!!

 

I wish I had ridden my bike.  The weather just kinda sucked.  I don't mind colder, but colder and crazy windy drives me bananas.  Why does it always have to be so windy?!?!?!?!?!?

Got home from my errands and sat in the hot tub.  Enjoyed the hot tub, and apparently so much so that I fell asleep.  Let me say that again:  I FELL ASLEEP IN THE HOT TUB!!!  That is NOT good.  That's a pretty dumb way to die.  Doofus!

Big girls apparently DON'T ride bikes- not when it's cold anyway...

I'm outta here- 'night!

The ultimate SUB!

Suburban Utility Bike, that is...

If I had an extra 300 clams laying around, I would SO be buying this kit to make my commuter into an SUB! 
It's a bird... it's a plane... it's the Xtracycle.

Get your hanky, because you're going to need it.

Let the drooling begin...

 

Oh wait, it gets better...

 

MMmm hmmmm... but wait-

it gets even better...

 

I've got it bad.  Bikes are like porn to me... seriously.  I look at them all the time.  I fantasize about what it would be like to own them and ride them around town.  I wish I had more money so I could buy more and add them to my collection.  I dream about them at night.  At least I don't think about them when I'm making love to my husband.... yet.

One day the Xtracycle will be mine.  It WILL be mine.  I could make my current commuter into an Xtracycle with the conversion kit.  It would turn my bike into a hauling machine.  Vrrrmmm vrrrmm vrrmmm vrrrmmmm (that's me revving my bike engine- whatever sound that makes).

Until we meet again in my dreams, Xtracycle...

March means Spring!!!

Today's tip:

Some days it's easier to just jump in the car.  If you jump on your bike instead, you won't be sorry you took the extra time and prep to pedal yourself to your destination.

Oh, yes it does!!!!!!  Even tho the outside doesn't quite agree with me, but I know for a fact that March means spring is right around the corner.  I'm SOOO happy it's here because March means April is around the corner and if April is almost here, then summer is not far behind. 
So my reasoning is a little far-fetched, but I have to hold onto something here.  It's all I've got at this point. 

Today I started Weight Watchers again.  For the second time in 5 years.  Last time I lost 32 lbs and kept it off for about a year.  Then I gained about 13 extra pounds back and am hoping to lose about 20 this time.  My weight is a constant, irritating struggle.  Even tho I can run 5 miles, bike for miles on end, ride to work and the like- I'm still overweight and need to get it back under control.  Much easier said than done.  Let's see how this pans out this time... let the frustration begin!
Damn the skinny bitches of the world who are tiny and don't have to work at it.  I'm so jealous...