Cycle update

So this is an update on the riding to and from work these days. We are short a person in our group so I get to bike in the dark. Yippee!!! I do have e pretty good reflective backpack and enough lights on my bike to resemble a small Christmas tree. 2 on the sides of my backpack and one on the back of the bike, and 1 headlight sort of thing. The jacket I have now is black but hopefully all of this stuff will make me visible no matter what color my jacket is. If you have ever driven in Atlanta you would probably agree that nothing can save you from the moronic drivers. I really want to get a new backpack. The one I have as nice but really stiff and fitting in my daily stuff get to be a pain sometimes. More money to REI. Damn it!! But I will try and return the pack to dicks. Will see how well that turns out.

I would like to say it is getting easier, but it isn’t. If anything it is getting harder for some reason. That is why I am getting my thyroid and vitamin levels checked tomorrow. Hopefully I just need some vitamins. Hopefully. It seems like I hit my 30’s and my body is falling apart or something. Ohy.

On the food front…….it might be a good idea to bring a morning snack. I eat before I leave the house but I am usually hungry again a bit after I get to work. I don’t want to eat a big breakfast before I get on the bike, so I think a morning snack should help. My morning meal these days is usually a slice of rye bread with pimento cheese and a small glass of milk or juice. So far I have been cramp free on my morning rides. Nice.

 And a shout out to IKEA for their thermos drink thingy. This thing will keep my coffee HOT well past lunch time. Burned my tongue this morning. Ouch.  For $6 you can’t beat the quality for the price anywhere.

Thanksgiving recap

I had a pretty good Thanksgiving. I hope everyone else did as well. Since most of my family was doing something else, the rest of us met up at S&S cafeteria. it was actually pretty good. And no cleaning up after it either. Score!!  I make it a point to not eat leftovers from thanksgiving. one meal of goin crazy and thats it. I even got to eat some pumpkin pie. Well, 1/2 of it that is. I was too full to finish it anyways. Sigh. I have been slacking on my fruits and veggies lately so I really need to get back in that balance. I need to get my thyroid checked because my hair is seriously falling out, nails are so brittle I break one almost every day, skin is dry, and have tingling in my fingertips. Yes apparently when I hit my 30's everything started falling apart. Grrrr. It is our normal tradition to hit a bar in little 5 points after thanksgiving stuff but since we met up at noon, nothing was open. I think we tried every place in the city. My brother, his girlfriend, and myself, just opted to get something at the liqueur store and call it a day. Beer!!!!

I did get in some biking each day other than Thursday. I cleaned up my apartment yesterday so I will be counting that as exercise, oh yes. I did manage to get my brother to bike with me on Friday. he ran the 1/2 marathon thanksgiving morning and thought he would run while I biked. That lasted all of 10 minutes before he was whining like baby. The awesome peeps at Intown Bikes pumped up his tires for free. I got my brother to bike the Beltline or AKA the-super-annoying-moronic-walkers-take-up-the-whole-damn-road. He got to see why it annoys the hell out of me to ride on it when there are a good bit of people walking. Hey morons......when someone says "on your left" DO NOT move to your left. That is where I am RETARD!!!!! Its not rocket science!!! I digress.

I did not go shopping on Friday (like I was going to get up for that madness anyways. riiiiight.) I killed my credit card the weekend before at REI. Got some awesome stuff. Will post a pic. Oh I did check out Lulu lemon for the first time. I must say.....I am not all that impressed. They had SOME cute stuff but it was soo expensive I really didn't bother with anything. I am more of a fan of Lucy. Perhaps lemon will have better stuff in the spring.

That is pretty much it for right now. I need a nap. And a vacation, which I will be going on Dec 6-10th. Heading to Chicago with my mom. Ohy. I can see right now I will be leaving her at the mall or store most of the time to find the best Chicago pizza and beer. Add some garrets popcorn and we are set.

Cheers!!!

Pink? Moi? I don't do pink.

I hate spending money on new pants for winter. I thought about the compression calf sleeves so I could wear them with my capris. Enter REI, again. I found some in my size......and they are pink. HOT NEON pink. And for those who know me......I don't do pink. But since they are so bright I thought it could only help when I ride home at night so I bought them. I don't really have much calf pain but my right calf gets really tight, which is why I have that annoying plantar faciatis in my right foot. But these things are awesome. I will be buying another pair. Either in black or neon yellow to match my jacket. I did get some strange looks this morning when riding to work. But oh well, I am actually biking to work not standing at the corner every morning at the cross-walk with my Starbucks. Mmmmmm Starbucks. Ok, I would put it in my Thermos and take it with me. Oh yes.

I will post a pic of the calf sleeves later today. Hope everyone is well. Cheers!!!

A new name

         


         Yes, I changed the title of my blog. I thought it was more "me". I live in Atlanta so fried chicken is a staple guys. Really. That is just how we roll.

On another note, I just wanted to write down a thought yesterday that I noticed after dinner with my friend Nichole. Since I have been biking to and from work I have noticed that when I splurge, I don't feel any guilt anymore. At all. Although I need to balance out my everyday meals, I don't feel one ounce of guilt for eating 2 chili cheese dogs and an order of onion rings for dinner last night (actually ordered 2 onion rings but couldn't eat the 2nd one). Although it made me feel kinda ick physically, didn't beat myself up over eating it. Mostly because I biked home 30 minutes before eating it.

I didn't loose any weight this week according to the scale, but my clothes keep getting more and more loose each time I put them on. Yay!!! I will take it.

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!! I am off to the bike shop to see if they can out a saddle thingy on the back of my bike. I don't have the tools  here to do that. Boo.

Cheers!!

A shopping diva........not it!!!

Since the holidays are right around the corner I was thinking of what I really wanted for Christmas, like the ultimate gift. And I am sure that most chicks would be thinking of something from Coach, whatever jewelry store, clothing boutique, yadda yadda yadda, shopping divas. But alas I am not like the shopaholic that my mom is (and perhaps a few friends, still love you guys though lol). The place that would have me jumping up and down like a chick in front of a 50% off sale at Coach would be a sweet gift certificate to REI. Yes, I am an outdoor gear slut. Don't hate. Yes, I own a kayak, bike, surfboard, and some nice snorkel gear. So when my mom makes for the Michael Koors store, I make a b-line for the athletic wear. Yeah I like nice clothes and such, but at this point I would rather have a new bike than a Chanel bag. I really just want the things to help me reach a healthy point in my life again. And that is what I really NEED, it just so happens that it is also what I want as well.

I can't remember where I read this but here is the quote: "You will never have enough of what you don't really need".

While I am at it...does anyone know of anything that will keep my face warm when I bike but is still breathable? I really don't to pass out because the CO2 can't get out of the thing. Ideas?


Cheers all!!

Resorting to BAD habits

I have always been one of those people that gets to learn things the hard way. I have adopted the code of not resorting to bad habits, mostly in the dating field. If you break up with someone, there is usually a very good reason why, so you really shouldn't go back there. Or even if someone ends things with you, the same rule applies. Why on earth would you want to go back to that anyways? There are lots of reason why we do......boredom, loneliness, or just not having anything better to do at that particular time. You go back, and regret it later, when you knew you should never have gone back there in the first place. Now this can apply to girls AND guys. Don't get your boxers in a wedge in some place uncomfortable now.

Now this post isn't about me breaking my code and hitting up a previous asshat. I would like to think I have learned SOMETHING from my college days. Ohy. This is about resorting to eating junk food. Yes, slightly more boring but still important. I brought my lunch today but instead resorted to eating a Reuben and fries. And 30 minutes later I really feel like a slug. Eating this junk makes me feel like crap. No I don't feel guilty about eating it, just physically feel icky. And this happens a lot when I eat junk. If I eat small portions and add in healthy foods, I am usually good. I think this is going to be a slow learning process to find balance here in the food world. I don't like feeling like crap, but sometimes there are just some things that sound better to eat at the time. I am kinda glad it is raining today because trying to bike home after that lunch would have not been a good experience. But back on the bike again tomorrow.

Does anyone bike in the rain?

Finding Balance

I am not one for sugar-coating things. And loosing weight is a pain in the ass. It is hard and it sucks. I have joined and quit WeightWatchers more times than I can remember. yes, the program is good and it works if you can stick to it. And that is my problem.......sticking to it. But you cant keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect to see different results. So perhaps it is time to just find balance. To keep the portions small of anything other than fruits and veggies, and have larger portions of the healthy stuff (like fruits and veggies). I said in my last post that my eating lately has been super crappy. I was not even sure when the last time was that I actually have any fresh fruits and veggies. So that is the plan. I will still write down what I eat in my WW book though. I do like their food journal better than any others out there.

So for breakfast I had:

1/2 cream cheese croissant- about the size of my palm
1 cup 2% milk   target was out of 1%
1 small apple
2eggs, sliver of butter
coffee


It is really nice outside today so I am going to go riding on the bike and then run to Dick's or REI for some riding stuff. I need some lights for my bike since I will be riding home in the dark until spring. And yes I will be looking for a ski mask. My face freezes in the cold when riding. Just call me the "biking bandit"!!! Cheers!!

A month reviewed

So I have been biking to work for about a month now. And some days I forget where I parked my car. I should probably look down the hill to make sure it is still there. Hey, I live in midtown Atlanta, nothing would surprise me. But I digress. The biking is going well. It is still hard and I am still WAY out of shape. But I have no plans on stopping. I did pick up some compression tights to wear under my normal workout pants so my legs would not get cold. And they better be worth the cash that Nike took from me. I also need to find a ski mask or something because my face is what really gets cold (any suggestions on this would be great). Yes indeed. It is getting a tiny bit easier though. And I mean a TINY bit. It is always entertaining to cuss out the morons that swerve/drive in the bike lane though. I think some of those cursings would make any Irish sailor proud. I do feel it is my civic duty to enlighten people when they are driving like morons. I rode home when it was dark last night and it wasn't bad. I will need some lights on my bike though. The park is pretty much empty at night and kinda creepy. Will need lights.

On the weight loss front......I am still loosing weight but it has slowed a bit due to my terrible eating habits. I have been eating junk and a good bit of processed foods and it make me feel sluggish. I also think it puts my in a bad mood as well. I will test that theory and take this week for a processed-free food week and see how I feel.

On the dating front.......nada. I think my time would be better spent getting to a healthy place. At least for a while. I honestly don't have the time or patience for bullshit right now.

So that is it for today.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those effected by hurricane Sandy.