glamorous

Taking a self-imposed lunch break (at home, on my day off)...

Yogurt

Green Tea

Tom & Jerry

When this is over, I am going to start some serious spring cleaning.

Even though it feels like freaking winter. Sometimes I am able to sneak in a quick ride after work on Wednesday. Last night, I met Bill at HH and we rode all the interior stuff before his "real" ride... the trails were perfect. I wanted more, but had to call it a day at just under an hour.

I'll take what I can get.

all zen & sh*t

My Monday was pretty great.

Sorry.

I love my job (and I mean that...no sarcastic undertones).

Seriously.

There is something very satisfying about seeing the whole day mapped out in front of me.

It's always, "Ohhh, what chair am I in today?? What do I get to do?" (not, "What do I have to do?")

I love flipping through my fat stack of charts.

I love setting up my instruments and organizing set-ups for more complicated procedures.

I love staying on time and hearing a patient say, "That was so much easier than I thought it would be."

I burnt my grilled cheese when I came home for lunch, but it was still awesome. What is up with all this positivity??

friday ride with BP

"How long you want to go out for?" "Hour and a half...have to take it easy, big ride tomorrow." ride ride ride pedal pedal pedal ride ride ride Nearing the final stretch home, I say, "At the stop sign, I'm gonna keep going." "How much longer you going to be out?" "Just going up Ravine Road and heading back." "I'll go with you." ride ride ride pedal pedal pedal Approaching Ravine Road (a moderate one mile climb...good for hill repeats), I say, "I think I'm going to keep going. Spooky tunnels, short loop back..." "I'll go with you." I'm thinking, how bout your big ride tomorrow, BP? Awfully windy out here today... So, we wrap up our ride & he says something about me taking some strong pulls in the wind. (cha-ching) Seriously- He says it's going to be easy, but I must admit it's never easy for me. His easy is never my easy... And that works because I really have no business riding anything called "easy" right now... Good, solid ride. Sick of being cold, though. You know what? I hope my dad does a mountain bike race this season, I really do. oh, and the big news: My son's dangling front tooth finally came out. Jesus. Christ. There he was, standing by my bed, all bug eyed at 2 AM, "MOM!!" Don't DO that. Going to have a freaking heart attack before I am thirty-six. "It's OUT!!"

oh, hell yes...

my goodness...the COLOR!

oh, the lime was for something else, don't worry...

gooey gooey gooey

Fruity Pebbles, while vile and disgusting as an actual breakfast food, are entirely acceptable and delicious as a dessert.

Just ask the kid in the above pics.

(and the grownups who assisted in this very colorful project)

melt a 1/4C butter in a non-stick pot on med/low heat

add a package of mini-marshmallows

When all gooey & incorporated, add 5C Fruity Pebbles

mmmmm stir, stir, stir

pour it/form it in a square baking dish, just like Rice Krispy Treats, you know?

(except these are like crack)

Nothing to see here...Just had NINETY gall stones removed

Wishing you a speedy, smooth recovery, my friend...Miss you!

slow week

Last week, I worked only one day, as our office was closed to patients. Our DC trip left me exhausted, yet mentally recharged. This week, a nasty stomach bug knocked me out for two solid days. No work. Wednesday found me (finally) back in the office, dragging my ass, but happy to be up & about. Wednesday also found me leaving said office after 3 short hours to pick up my son from the sitter, also stricken with a bug. Sigh. So my week was over. Just like that. Today I had every opportunity to suit up and ride. Or run. Or something. Instead, I filled in yet another page of my sketchbook and drank lots of green tea. My dad took me & my son to the bookstore and for coffee. The fine coating of snow was gone by noon... On days off, I have three hours to do my thing while my kid is at school. My thing today was a whole lot of nothing. Sometimes it feels so good to be so lazy. Hair addendum: I merely got a trim. I did not chop/lop/cut it all off. I also insisted that my awesome stylist NOT comply when I beg her to chop/lop/cut it all off come the humid summer months ahead. slow week here at Hardtales...all about hair & puke & livin like a sloth :)

bike

yes,

still riding.

too pretty to throw away

broken glass

Santa Maria Novella lotion bottle (now a vessel for bath salt) corks!

make it stop

Sleep puke sleep puke sleep puke. I stayed at work for six minutes, spent the rest of the day on the bathroom floor, brushing my teeth, and curled up under the red feathery blanket. awesome, right? I didn't have energy for bad tv or gossip magazines. I took a Zofran, which helped a little...so much that I decided to eat a pile of plain bowtie pasta. Which promptly came up. My fingers hurt and my ribs hurt and my eyeballs hurt and my back hurts. it has to be twenty four hours, nothing more, right? it's almost over, right? unrelated (geez, I hope): I'm keeping it local and racing with my boyfriend's team. I am excited to be excited about mountain bike racing again. The Darkside has been so good to me, but this (almost 36 year-old) padawan is putting cross on the back burner (for now). Thanks, C3...seriously, proud to have been a part of it.

who fails gym?

Saturday found me frantically trying to get an appointment for a haircut. "Does Kathleen have any cancellations??" I asked desperately. "No, sorry...she's totally booked." "Put me on standby." I'm glad it didn't work out. I would have gone in there & begged her to lop it all off. Super-short. Again. I'm sick sick sick of short hair and have been trying to grow it out (again) since pretty much right after I chopped it all off last spring. The awkward stage is in full effect right now. I know...it's just hair. It's not my identity. I'm just sick of it...that's all. It's been a weird weekend. Great ride at French Creek. Sushi. Hung out with friends at Victory (have you tried the Headwaters yet? it's nice). Naps. Laziness. Started reading Harry Potter with my son...we are on Chapter Six and he is digging his first "big kid book with all words and hardly any pictures." Probably going to finish my book tonight (Patti Smith's Just Kids). Feel like maybe I am fighting off a bug...which maybe explains why I am in a funk. After two beers (two Victory beers...and one was a Golden Monkey), I admitted to my very athletic friends that I had gym class every day during my senior year and twice on Thursdays in order to graduate. Who fails gym? This girl. I love when Jeffrey Steingarten is a judge on Iron Chef America.

DC adventure (part II)

Taking three days to do nothing but have fun with a willing six year-old is easier than you think...

We didn't have to drive far or spend tons of money.

The Hotel Rouge made my son feel like a rockstar...our base camp was fabulous, roomy, and clean.

This is a rundown of our impromptu getaway (other than a hotel reservation, we didn't plan anything or stick to any kind of agenda):

We saw tons of interesting stuff and explored the city on foot under blue skies and warm sunshine.

We treated ourselves to simple indulgences like Spanish tapas, good beer, and excellent gelato.

We ate dessert before dinner.

We took a six year-old on his first train ride.

We got close enough to the White House on St.Patrick's Day to see the green fountain ("Leprechauns peed in it & turned the water green," I told my son...pee jokes never get old).

We searched for 4-leaf clovers, but found a patch of forget-me-nots instead (my favorite).

We marveled at baby lion cubs wrestling and playfully enjoying an 80 degree March morning (the National Zoo kicks ass).

We stared at the gorillas, awestruck, for nearly 30 minutes (seriously, the National Zoo kicks ass...and it's free).

We found a comic shop.

We visited two museums (Air & Space and the Museum of Natural History).

We wandered around the sculpture garden outside of the Hirschorn.

We touched a piece of Mars.

We walked down a really long broken escalator to the Metro and I pulled a calf muscle.

We celebrated St. Patty's Day in Georgetown (hibiscus margarita for me).

We bought cheesy souvenirs.

We saw a nine year-old elephant beat the crap out of a giant tractor tire.

We were underwhelmed by the Hope Diamond, but totally impressed with lava rocks, dinosaur bones and watermelon tourmalines.

We stayed up late.

We didn't wear jackets.

We slept like babies.

We had non-stop fun.

DC adventure

DC was the perfect escape...

what a great, great trip.

all over the place

little totems. They are all over the place in our home. Like a bad habit. I can't stop. On picture frame ledges, window sills, stacks of books... wherever they will fit. The gathering pictured above is in the pink bathroom downstairs.

The orange lucky cat traveled in my jacket pocket all the way to Bend, Oregon & back (I'm pretty sure the orange one signifies safe travel, or at least that's what I told myself because I am terrified of flying). Oregon was my first trip alone on a plane... The tiny skull accompanied a pair of custom painted purple Vans (Dios de los Muertos tribute shoes, too pretty to wear)... Crystal Mickey was a gift from my cousins at the conclusion of our family Disney trip...the one where I escaped to Florida with my mom, the year before I got pregnant. I'm not a Disneyphile by any stretch of the imagination... Still, it was one of the best vacations and the most fun I've had with my mom. Ever. Mickey probably fell into the sink and lost his ear when I cleaned the bathroom mirror. See...that's why these little treasures are all over the place. At least they have stories.

to be six

The accident was maybe a bit more serious than I let on...

My son is fine, but I think he is still processing what happened.

In the woods with my parents today, it was really nice to see him cut loose and just enjoy playing outside...I love all the kid stuff (running, jumping, skipping, jumping some more, throwing, climbing, battling, chasing, hiding, conspiring, jumping even more, climbing even higher), all the boy stuff.

I keep saying it to myself again & again & again...thank god he's okay.

skinny tires

the rain stopped. one thing I can do today is ride my bike... hopefully without ten layers of clothing and serious gloves. last night, I slept better than I have in over a week (in that, I actually slept for several consecutive blissfully uninterrupted hours...yes). Oh, this never fails to elicit a chuckle (or five) when I am feeling down. Please enjoy!

break

honestly, I'm just too angry/hurt/consumed to post much of anything right now... when the dust settles, I'll be back. Or when I get a good night's sleep. Whichever comes first. thanks...

legendary

"Mom, do you like skateboarding?" "Oh, yeah." "Because you used to skateboard?" "Yep." "But, you weren't, like, a professional." "Right." "But, you were a legend." "Huh?" "Like legendary. Because it was such a long, long, long, long time ago. Riiiight?"

bunker?

We built a fort on the bridge upstairs.

After my son filled it with carefully chosen supplies, it looked more like a bunker.

First aid, provisions, books, and of course, toys...we are ready for anything.

an accident

After work, I rode until the sun went down & headed home to shower & wait for my son. Most Wednesdays, he hangs out with his dad after school until the evening. Jeff walked in just after 8pm, holding our son, covered in glass & blood. For a split second, I thought they were joking or something... it was surreal. A deer railed into the car about a mile from home. I don't remember much between changing quickly from my pajamas into jeans & sneaks & carefully moving glass away from his face. "Try not to touch your eyes...please don't rub your eyes." He kept saying his eyes were stinging. Tiny little glass shards all over his clothes and face and hair... I saw the car in the driveway and thought I was going to be sick...so mangled and ruined from a deer. Honestly, I don't know how he kept driving like that, with the airbags blown & glass everywhere. There are pieces of car & glass all over the house. Immediately, I took my son to the ER, where he was calm and brave and cooperative. Everybody is okay, but it really shook me to see my kid like that. I didn't sleep.

present

You know how my work day started this morning? My friend Amy gave me a present... a little bicycle dish. For no reason, other than she saw it & thought of me. How sweet... It's the perfect size to catch my rings or some safety pins or one of the five zillion chapsticks I carry in my pocket daily.