*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...

*fall*jog*

...and the consensus: I miss my spring/summer jog.

the leaves were beautiful, but that's about it.

*

the colder air hurts my lungs when i breathe in...like, stings them cold,

and something happened yesterday while jogging that's never happened to me before:

my butt cheeks were itching like mad!
*

i don't mean to be graphic, but

those chubby cheeks of mine were on fire!

*

i looked it up,

and most likely it was a combination of

a long stretch of inactivity and not moisturizing before setting out in the cold

[found information on it here and here]

*

okay...on another note...I feel mentally exhausted.

fall/winter does that to my brain...hibernates it like a grizzly,

but i'm sad,

because i feel an intense lack of inspiration.

Arg!

*

i'm so frustrated!

*

i think i'll go for a run.

??

:/

happy Sat, cats.

the one thing to paint is the one thing on your mind

yesterday night

sister & i painted pumpkins.

*

there was only one thing i wanted to paint:

me & all *three* of *my*babies*

*

i'm really so proud of it.

*

*

you have Alejandro,

my little *mama's boy*::

***

crazy Carmen,

and her *infamous*goofball*face*::

***

...and finally,

by beloved *neena*girl*, my Dinah,

who i lost last weekend::

[i think i might want to paint a halo over her head.

what do you think??]

*

sorry that i've been m.i.a. from my blog,

but yesterday was the first day since saturday,

when we lost her,

that i didn't cry.

*

i've been taking it really slow, and really hard.

*

thank you for your patience with me, common passer-byers of my blog.

*

check out the *before* sketch::

i got the idea from this image that i googled.

***

[the faces, however, were all customized by me]
***

***

***

***

more

that

made up

my

yesterday

was:

a snoozing-snoozing Carmen,

that i took a cue from

in the form of two naps over an hour long.

[my cold's been demanding this of me]

{{cough,cough, sniff}}
***

***

oh, and because we both had off,

and

i was not feeling to hot,

the boyf made me soup [we call it 'zoop']

plenty of veggies,
the boyf loves a good zoop

don't forget the nooooooooodles

***

zoop&tea // tea&zoop

these have been my drugs of choice during my time of achy body-achy spirit.

***

thanks for reading.

Friday.

*GRAB*a*FRUiT* Monday

look at this *white*peach* Tomas's mom

grabbed for me this weekend:

i love that after a quick washing,

*fruit* is ready to go go go!

***

today,

for the start of my

KARRR-RAZE-EEEE

on-the-go

*Mon-Tues-Wed*,

i packed my

lunch with

a pear & red grapes.

***

***

**

**

*

*

did you *grab*a*fruit* today??

which one(s)??!!

***

***

**

**

*

*

[P.S. -- subbing assignment: Kindergarten.

survival-mode Monday]

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.

*my first RUN ever*

i ran my first RUN ever on sunday.

***

here's the planner-collage i made

that was inspired by it:

*
*
*

i love reading about other people's successes and triumphs.

[DUH! I read blogs!]

it causes me to be

more motivated to reach my goals,

more optimistic in my attitude,

and therefore more likely to succeed myself.
*

***

***

here are pics i took from my Blackberry while

on the run/walk

over the

BrOOkLyn BRiDGe

& back:

#718

*

the fountain in

City Hall Park

where i

stretched out

my quads & hamstrings.

*

i spotted the

'KEEN' sisters

in the crowd
*

a helicopter

circled above us,

checkin' out the scene
*

"follow the sound of the bagpipes,"

the announcer guy told us.

*

over

the BrOOkLyn BRiDGe

*

5K runnin' feet

*

look up & forward,

interchangeably.

*

boob shot!

i'm in full action-mode.

*

[don't know why this pic is distorted]

*

toward the end of the 3.1 miles,

the sky was clearing up,

and

boo ya!

skyline
*

oh, yeah: and *this* guy woke me up on time, drove me to Brooklyn, waited the 32 minutes and 55 seconds it took me to run the 5K, greeted me with a hug and kiss at the finish, bought me an after-the-race orange juice, drove us back home, and then proceeded to help me get a BBQ together to entertain friends [pics of which will be coming tomorrow].

what a *great guy* excelling in his boyfriend duties.

keep up the good work, hombre!

***

sunday was truly a great day.

***

may your Tuesday today be a great day, too.

***

now...what's the next 5K i'm signin' up for...???...

*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.