*one* & *the other*

one is leisurely and fun & the other is hurried and uncomfortable

**

one makes my skin tan and lush & the other makes my skin pink and wind-burned
**
one makes me feel strong and able & the other makes me feel weak and out-of-shape
**
one usually lasts hours & the other lasts only just about an hour
**
one i love & the other i don't care for
**
"one" is summer riding & "the other" is winter riding
***********************************************
****************************************
******************************
**********************
***************
**********
****
**
Tomas & I went for a bike ride Sunday.
It. Was. So. Cold.
I wore:
double pants,
double shirts,
double hoodies,
fuzzy gloves,
and my
"wind-stopper"
hat
**********
i
so
miss the
days
of my
fingerless
yellow
bike gloves,
neon tank top,
and
my LIVESTRONG bracelet
*************
oh, Summer...miss you.
*************
i might just have to resort to
indoor activities:
running on the tread,
salsa-dancing lessons,
and
ZUMBA
********
*******
******
*****
****
***
**
*
What are your plans to stay
active this winter season coming up?
***
***
any motivation to keep at it??
**
**
**
for me,
it's New Year's Eve
**
*
**
*
**
...you know it's right around the corner...

two guys, a girl, three bikes, an oversized globe, airplanes in the night sky, & *south*fla* on the brain

last night,

the boyf & i picked up Damian at

9:30pm

a did a little

night-bike-riding

i wore all black and no helmet.

stupid.

it. was. dark.

these are the boys taken with my camera's *twilight* setting

[i love light squiggles]

my *twilight* handlebars

**

at this point,

i was

wondering

where

we

were

going.
**

here.

[i had never seen it with the fountains on. a real treat.]

i wish you guys coulda felt

the warm nighttime breeze

blowing the

soft mist of the sprinklers

on our face as we rode around it.

yeah. i'm headed there.

it's official.

**

think it was on my brain much??
**

i took that pic of Tomas, above.

&

of Damian, below.

**

these next two

of me

were taken

with much more

staging,

by

*the boyf*::

*
[whoa...creepy zombie monkey on the right]

**

from Flushing Meadows Park,

we rode over the highway...

[mucho traffic]

...and found a bench over looking LaGuardia Airport

were we could take a break

and watch planes come in.

**
our view of the airport:

**

squiggly moon,

and

squiggly airplane:

...i could really use a wish right now

***

HaPPy WEdNeS.

*weekend log*

[and i don't mean the kind you leave in the toilet on sunday morning]

***

***

*

***

***

uh!

so...topic:

~what made up my weekend~

*

Yes,

there was some

pool-swimming

involved,

as hoped for

in my last post.

*

that was a major plus from my weekend.

*

there was,

however,

a whole

lot of

lowlights from the weekend as well!

Ugh!

Were there ever!

a ton of chores,

my dad's pathetic & childish behavior,

my just-about-ready-to-break down car,

tears, tears, and more tears

after being berated by my

overworked-overstressed-overheated

mother,

and

some drama on our bike ride

involving a raving lunatic woman

blowing her coast guard whistle in

the boyf's ear

[won't go into it]

*

FUCK ALL THOSE THINGS!

*

here are

some pictures

of the highlights:

[tee hee hee!] a bunch of lovin' from *the babies*

[oh, & my make-up done by *bitt*]

above,

i'm smoochin' Alejandro on top of the box,

and

a little jealous Carmen Sandiego is lookin' at the smooch
*

above,

Carmen & me

[try to notice the sweet honey,

and not the overtaking shnoz]

*

below,

Ale-Ale-jandro & me

[look away from the sideburns!]
*

the babies were taking

Saturday afternoon

naps:

above,

Carmen Sandiego,

sleeping like she tends to sleep,

in her brother's bed.

*

below,

Alejandro

in his sister's bed.

*

***

*
oh,

another

highlight from

my weekend:

*yay*

after two years of

being on WeightWatchers

for, like, the

gazillionth

time,

it's clicked.

*

~i'm a Lifetime Member of WeightWatchers~

[no more paying to get weighed = more money for clothes]

[woo hoo!]

*

got my

little

*golden key charm*

and all.

*

in truth,

i only needed

to lose

between 12 & 15 pounds,

but it's taken me

two friggin' years to do it.

*

i credit it to my adopted

hobbies of biking & running

[*magic formula*]

and

also

getting smarter everyday

about food & portions & why and when I eat.

*

i recommend WW to anybody.

*

***

*
another [kind of] highlight:

the new clothesline my mother installed

in the backyard

in her words:

"we need to start budgetin', gurls.

if we can save a few hundred dolluhs

two munths of thuh yea-uh,

we should dew it."

[my attempt at conveying her 'New Yawk' accent]
*

i consider it a highlight because i love

the old-school, back in the day,

1960s Summer concrete

backyard feel to it,

even if it does take

3x longer than throwin' the cothes

in the dryer.

Whatev.

*

***

*

another

total highlight

from the weekend:

the super Shish-Kebobs we grilled

oh, yeah.

chopped veggies...

...and fruit!

secret *added* ingredient?

puh

puh

puh

peaches!

kebabbed with beef

*

oh, dear.

looked

so sexy

on the

grill!

they did, they did.

*

***

*

finally,

the highlight that took place

sunday night

was

our bike ride

into Manhattan.

{{deep sigh; smile}}
*

we pulled up to Astoria Park

and

parked right under the Triborough bridge:

*

below,

Tomas & Damian

[you know them in more detail from this post]

unloadin' my bike from the

back o' Damian's truck:

*

view from our potty stop:

*

while on the bridge:

"Bronx, Keep Left.

Manhattan, Keep Right."

[we'll be keepin' RIGHT]
*

the boyf.

breakin'.

*

yes.

motto for biking.

motto for life.

*

this shot, above, is pretty much us chillaxin' at the half way point, three hours in.

yeah. the ride took us about 5 hours.

started @ 4 pm; ended around 9-ish.

the pic above was taken @ 7:01pm.

;)

*

***

*

*weekend log*

COMPLETE.

*

*

over and out.

7/4 *2010* - LGRaB Summer Games - 4th entry (totally!) - decorate yo' bike

well,

*hey hey*

ya'll!

*

hope your *fourth* was fab!

mine was.

i got a little post HERE today to show you some fun snaps i got:

*

these were the cupcakes my sister did a great job on.
they tasted yum.
**
**
a *watermelon*mani*::
*
open up my jean vest
*
UO high-waisted shorts, worn in this post
white sandals & tank,
jean vest,
*watermelon*mani*
**
**
****
**
**
now...
about
the LGRaB Summer Games:
[I'm part of them.]
*
i successfully completed Part I of them by
saying 'hi' to a cyclist
[via this post]
&
going on a group ride with family & friends
[via this post]
*
*
*
Part II proved more challenging being that I subbed
5 days a week in June &
had a 4-night a week June class whose workload murdered me
[i don't know how i managed an A+]
*
i pulled through *last minute* by
purchasing and reading a book about cycling
[via this post]
however...
...i missed the end of Part II deadline
for the Part II prizes,
&
posted a completed second challenge of
test riding a different type of bike than you normally ride
[via this post]
for Part II *late*
*
problem:
i was unsatisfied with the content of this post since
the bike i test-rode was not an actual bike,
but
a totally awesome & uber-enjoyable moped.
[did i lose anyone yet?]
*
sooooooooo...
to make up for that unsatisfying second entry
for Part II of the LGRaB Summer Games,
I have posted HERE
a second second entry that in fact DOES
qualify as fair-game content for the Games.
[can you tell my type-A personality gets me a little crazy?]
*
Is it a week late?
yes.
...but, does is appropriately apply?
oh, yeah.
*
i decorated my bike:
in *4th-o-July* patriotic garland
...and *R*W*&*B*balloons*:::
how fun, right?

the ribbon, from afar,
looked like it had white stars on it,

but,

in fact,

it was snowflakes...

*

...all good.

**

**

i had my sister take

some pics:

while i was waiting for

*the boyf*

to get a move on,

i rode around my neighborhood for about ten minutes,

*4th-o-July*

spirit

floatin' behind my bike

and all:

here's a quick clip, thanks to Bitt:

it may be a late entry, but it was a worthwhile activity

*

*decorating my bike proved delightful*

[...and now I can fully dive into Part III of the Games, and explore some new territory.]

Hee hee hee har har har!

***

***

after my lovely, relaxin' *fourth* morn,

we headed to the boyf's place, where his mom filled our

early-afternoon bellies with chicken adobo & white rice & superlyduperlysweet mangos

***

then, we layed down...

...at 1:31 pm...

...and passed the f**k out.

***

***

only to wake up three-hours later,

& head off to our friends' BBQ.

***

***

awesomeness x 10.

***

***

Happy Monday.

LGRaB Summer Games -4th entry (maybe) - test ride a different type of *bike* than you normally ride

it was not my birthday this past weekend,

but it might as well have been.

**

one of the bulleted challenges

in Part II

of the

LGRaB Summer Games

was:

*test ride a different type of bike then you normally ride*

well, the bike i test drove on Monday wasn't exactly one of the types of bikes i think Dottie & Trisha had in mind...

oh, yes, dearie pies,

momma rode a moped!!
i swear, i couldn't have been happier about it!
**
$20/hour each!
**
[we rented last year for the first time
on this same first week of July...it was the
mini-vacay excursion that got me hooked]
the boyf

took the lead,

and

caught me in the side-view.

**

pulled over in a parking lot

to show off muh skillz

*what what*

he's too cool to show excitement,
or,
he was mad serious about that
rain cloud approaching us in the distance
notice how dry the dash is here:
...and
then
how
*not*
dry
it
is
HERE: **
first,
there was
drizzle: we took cover under a gas station,
and
filled-up while we were there.
[btw...fill-up = $1.50] then came the *big guns*we called 'the guy' and told him we were stranded, waiting for the hurricane to pass:listen to *the boyf* here,
and watch him do the telephone pee-pee dance:

thunder, lightning...the works!
**
then...
suddenly...
clear skies,
rainbow.
funny how that works.
*yay*yay*yay*

**

so...i don't know if this post counts towards Part II of the LGRaB Summer Games [if it does, it's late by a couple of days anyway...whoops!!]...

...but, it was great.

The whole thing. Great.

**

Happy Wednesday.