A confession

this is going to be one of those random, all over the place blogs that won't develop a theme until the very end. so here goes it.

For some reason, my right shift key has been failing me. Maybe it's not my shift key, maybe my right pinky is getting weak. Either way, i'm not a fan. And you, as a reader, probably aren't enjoying it either. already missed a few letters. I'll be more aggressive for now on.

I have something terrible, just terrible to admit. I'm still not sure that I'm comfortable posting it on the internet. Okay, here goes it- a fews weeks ago, I had a lapse of sanity and I did something that I still regret to this day. I downloaded a country album from iTunes. Ahh... it hurts to reread it. Please hear me out. It was a hot summer day, I was getting ready to for a 6 mile journey to my parents' house for a bbq. It was memorial day. I wanted an upbeat summertime album that would keep a smile on my face for the entire run and I downloaded Kenny Chesney's greatest hits. As soon as I hit confirm purchase I started to doubt myself. Did I really just PAY for country music? When the d/l finished, I started my run and it wasn't until I had to skip 3 songs in a row that I started to realize the magnitude of the mistake I had just made. What if someone see's my "recently purchased playlist". What if someone looks over my shoulder when I'm viewing my itunes receipt in my email? Oh god, should I embrace it? Should I try to become "one of them"? Ya know, the country music lovers. Could I learn to love it? NO! NO! No! I'm living with this mistake but I'm not proud of what I've done. If it makes you feel any better, I'm suffering...i'm paying for it. Everytime I shuffle my iPod and Kenny pops in with his melodies of summertime and beer drinkin' I throw up a little in my mouth and aggressively "shake to shuffle" my iPhone with a clenched fist. Today, I told my boss that country had creeped into my playlist. He told me that he is going to reconsider my employment. HA

I've been obsessed with my magic bullet. [insert giggles here]. I've noticed that every time I talk to someone about my "magic bullet" they think I'm talking about some kind of sex toy. No guys, I'm not talking about that (no matter how much you want to believe that I am) I'm talking about smoothie makin'! Over the last 10 years, I've probably watched the infomercial (in it's entirety) about 40 times and was always THIS CLOSE {} to dialing in to buy it, but I always talked myself outta it. Well, I finally caved and bought it (at meijer) and I LOVE IT! It's not that I'm convinced that it's making me super healthy or it's better than eating a sandwich, I just find it insanely convenient. I've purchased A TON of frozen fruits from trader joes (blueberries, blackberries, mangos, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, etc) and stocked them in my freezer. I buy the basics regularly- bananas, yogurt, juice. A few seedy mix-in options have been chia seeds and flax seed. I've been using chia seeds every time because I bought a huge bag and i wanna use it up. They have zero taste and are fun to play with. Usually, when i get home from a workout, I fill up a small bowl with about 1/2 cup of water, then add 2 tsp of seeds to soak. Then I shower as they're plumpin'. 20 mins later I will add them to my smoothie ingrediants and blend or add them to a glass of ice water with lemon and lime for "chia fresca". Good stuff, try it before you knock it.

Matt Costa- Miss Magnolia.
Coconut Records- It's Not You It's Me
The Dodos- Walking
^^ The last 3 songs I listened to as typing this. Pretty much in love with these 3. I listened to them as I was riding today and I just smiled. Not a casual smile, a big goofy smile. A smile that would have motorists think that I might be laughing a joke my imaginary friend told me.

More music confessions:
I *think* I like music if there's a banjo in it. Yeah...I'm just as confused as you are. It just started to become a trend. I'd be listening, singing along, then I'd hear the banjo and I'd wonder is this banjo the reason I love this song? The jury's still out. But I'm not gonna deny, the banjo is coming through my lil iPhone speakers and I'm not complaining.

I taught myself how to play twinkle twinkle little star on my harmonica. It's crappy (it was $2), so I need to go to a music store and by a legit one before I move on to more popular hits like- "will you be there" by Michael Jackson (from Free Willy). If Jesse can learn how to play (AND SAVE Willy!), so can I.

I've been meeting a ton of new people lately and making some great friends. I really feel like I can learn something from every one and there's never a reason to limit the connections I have. It's always an added bonus when you discover something in someone that you never saw before. I especially enjoy getting to know someone who's sense of humor matches mine. It's been funny watching my failed attempts at work to incorporate humor into mundane tasks. I've been testing the waters and fortunately, I have met some great people! I'm also enjoying my hunt for any sign of someone who works out. Slowly people have revealed to me their workout regimens and have even found out that some have bikes (score!). I've also noticed a gym bag in the office of someone I report to on-site and I have big plans of asking him to spill the beans. U can't just leave a gym back in plain sight and not expect me to ask if you workout!

I love working "full time". Everyone told me that I was going to hate life when I "finally had to grow up and get a big girl job". Well, for the first time in my life, I'm in a position where I DON'T have the world on my shoulders and I'm compensated for doing my job...and not expected to do anyone elses. I have not worked a single second from home. I get to work in the morning, enjoy my day and I'm out around 5 (or earlier). Then I have the ENTIRE night off to do whatever I want. I feel so free! I've always worked nights, and I never realized how much it sucks until now.

So, I plan my workouts around the weather and all week I saw that it was supposed to rain on Thursday. I decided that since I needed to get in a quality bike, I should probably go to the lab. Then, i changed my plan to "we'll play it by ear". By the time I got home from work it was "f#$k it, I'm riding outside rain or shine". I got my stuff ready and headed out. Good news- no rain! It was perfect outside. I did my entire workout on the bike path and it was incredible. All of my out-of-the-saddle AC sprints came after stop lights or after losing speed from going over a curb. My zone 5 sets were timed between lights and long flat straight aways. The only time that my bike path workout seemed to be an issue was when I yelled "on your right" to pedestrians (because they were already on the left and there wasn't enough time for them to travel the right) and apparently, for the first time ever, they started going to the right because they WERE aware that you typically pass on the left and I almost ran over a lady. I screamed, she screamed, no body was hurt, and I'm not sure if she cussed me out or not because I was going 30mph (I said zone 4!) and didn't look back. Oh, and I almost ran over a puppy, but Fido survived also. ;) I spent quite a bit of time practicing corning and accelerating in the back of a shopping center parking lot. This is also where I played the "race the car" game that usually turns into "draft off the car" game that fades to "pretend I wasn't racing that car" game.


Okay, here we are at the end and there's still no theme. It's too late to pull it together. I guess we'll just consider this "an update".

Bedtime. Swim tomorrow morning.

Wait, forgot to tell you- there was a rainbow over the river today on my ride. Kinda have a crush on nature lately. Yeah, that's me, over there, hugging the tree. <3