bike thoughts

I'm in the market for a bicycle.

For the last two days, I marched home the 2.8 miles from work and it made me feel really good about myself. I'm inclined to get a bike so that I can ride to and from work all summer, which will allow me to actually get outside for any length of time since I'll be holed up inside for the next month, and also let me get into that hot Esther Williams bathing suit as mentioned here.
I'm really digging something along the lines ofwhich is a Schwinn and from Target at only about $160. There's room to clamp on a little basket back there too, which will be nice to keep my purse in. Or milk. Or a puppy named Eli (short for Elliot) as mentioned here.

All the Electra bikes ever created are really beautiful but seem to be about $400-600, which is pricey, but this will be my primary source of transportation on a daily basis between the hours of 8:30am - 5pm.I really like this Electra Townie because the colors remind me of my Dad for some reason, circa 1978. Also has a basket option. Also a 7-speed, which would be nice even though my commute is basically level the whole way.
Then there are the Velorbis beauties, a veritable Porsche of bicycles. At $1295.00 a pop, this baby must ride beautifully-- and the wicker basket is included (or at least it had better be fist shake). Clearly I'm in no position to fork out $1300 for a bike, and I'm not sure I would do even if I could afford it, but it sure is pretty to look at.

I went on the Walmart website just for kicks to see what was available, and just when I thought I'd given my heart to a retro-styled bicycle, I saw this:Do you understand what this is?

It is a cherry red, adult-sized tricycle with a basket large enough to carry two 25-lb bulldogs (according to one review). ARE YOU KIDDING ME ABOUT THIS? Schwinn, $250. The downside is that they aren't available in stores-- you have to order it online. I'm hesitant to go for it without having test driven one, but this option is just delightful. A tricycle, you guys.

Thoughts? Which direction should I go? Can you recommend any good bike vendors in the greater Orem area? Is it worth it to chance a blind purchase on an adult-sized trike, or will the novelty wear off PDQ?

a sad tale

As mentioned yesterday, it was a gray, drizzling, London-y day. When 4:45pm rolled around and Ames was at work and I just couldn't bear the thought of staying late at work like I had intended to, I decided to make like a Londoner and walk 2.8 miles home. I totally felt like



Then I lost all control and ate 100,000 Homestyle Chicken Go-Wraps and French Fries. I felt actually really great about it because 1. they are delicious 2. I was with good/funny/the best kind of friends 3. the ranch dressing part is really good 4. I'm still within points count for the week.

This morning I woke up and got on the scale. Then I felt like:



Moral: if you are not very hungry, self, and you plan on getting that hot bod you want, quit overeating or you will never be able to reward yourself with the perfect Esther Williams bathing suit.

sundry

The outfit I'm wearing today would probably be better suited for late winter with all my layers and ankle boots, but it's May and it should be spring and too warm for me to wear all this. But it's not.

Damn volcano.

At least it's a cute outfit-- even though it's better for late winter-- and I like the gray, drizzling weather because it reminds me of Rochester or of England, which are two places I would rather be right now.I took this picture when it was very gray and drizzling. I'd like to live there in the gray drizzle for a while.

The only problem (as if it's a problem) with gray drizzling is that it's like my body just knows when I wake up in the morning if it's gray and drizzling outside, even though we're holed up in our little basement cave apartment and you really can't tell the difference between a gray day and a drizzly day without going outside. But I have a sense for gray drizzle days, which may be nothing more than the fact my sinuses can predict the weather and I get all foggy and headachy when it's gray out. So I guess my body does just know. But I mean, the problem is that my favorite thing about gray drizzling days is staying at home, curled up in a snuggie and watching TV or reading books. It doesn't matter which, especially if Mr. Ames is right there all snuggly too.

I'm making spreadsheets and drinking Diet Coke.

My voicemail light is blinking, and I'm avoiding it.

I'd really like to have the Shoga sushi lunch special for spicy tuna and rainbow rolls, but no matter how delicious the rainbow roll is, the crab legs sticking out of the ends always terrify me and my imagination runs wild.

I'm so glad my summer camp has a lot of scholarships and subsidies to offer because I'm reading all the applications we've received so far and I want to award everyone something-- and so far, I can!

I've lost 2 more lbs. I'm aiming for 2 even more before Saturday.

But for real, can I have that puppy to snuggle today a gray and drizzling day?

hello, new friend

Oh hello, Maggie Gyllenhaal. Your dress is perfect, and so is your blazer, especially the shoulders. Also, so are your shoes and hair. Please be my friend?

let me show you about my mom, a day after mother's day

This is my mom, Diane.

Here's what she looked like in college, when she was my age:

Maybe I look more like her than I might have thought?

She had cool recital dresses to sing songs in.

Check out these shoes, please. Also, she still does that with her hands.

She sings jingles like for My Little Pony, and used to sing back-up for people like Aretha Franklin (who still owes her money).
She married her BFF Andy, who is my dad, and they attend cool parties together that I throw.
She was pretty happy when I married my BFF Ames because all I ever wanted was to marry my BFF like she married hers.
She was pretty glad when I graduated from college.
She taught me how to love Disneyland.
She especially loves dogs like Sprout, and places like Maine.
Once she got to play my mom onstage all summer and it was my most cherished theatre experience of my life.
I love you, Mom. Please dress like Cher more frequently.

un-anecdotal

I've been trying really hard all week to figure out some clever little funny thing to blog about that doesn't involve the weight loss thing. This blog is not a weight loss blog. I do not want it to become a weight loss blog. There is more to me than my weight loss (though you wouldn't be able to tell, since it looks like I'm falling out of habit again-- and I'm about to blog about weight loss again, even though it was my goal to not do that thing).

But okay. You got me. This week, there kind of has been nothing more to me than my weight loss, aside from the fact that I've decided to keep my dark hair after all and not go caramel colored.

Tres exciting, aren't I.
So far, the Weight Watchers has been everything everyone has always promised me it would be. I opted for the online track because I
1) don't have time to attend meetings to weigh in.
2) want to do this for me and not because I have to check in with someone about my progress.
3) talk to Ames (and everyone else) about it ALL THE TIME, so it's like I'm checking up with him (and everyone else) about it anyway (ALL THE TIME).
4) am checking in with someone about it anyway since I'm keeping track on my blog.

So the big confession is: I've actually adjusted my goal, based on the fact that I actually adjusted my starting weight since I actually ate my weight in Polish food last weekend in celebration of my Dad's birthday. This is not an exaggeration. If you are Polish, and you decide to eat Polish food with your Polish family, it is requisite to eat your weight in perogies. There is no other option. Particularly if you lack self control around Polish food-- like I do.

I weighed myself Sunday night (admittedly, after dinner) and weighed 171 lbs. YIKES. But this is the number I typed into my stats on Weight Watchers the next day, and my goal is to lose 31. 140 lbs. I haven't been so thin since my intense BYU Folk Dance days. But it's doable. And I'm excited. And as you'll see on the sidebar, I've kick-started by losing 6 lbs already (almost all of it perogie weight) and I've got no intention of slowing down. GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT.

In other news, I really want a puppy. This puppy, in fact:

Of course we can't have a puppy in this apartment, and we won't be able to move to another apartment where we could have a puppy until September or something, which means this puppy will probably never be our puppy, but I can dream.