Hard to believe! It’s been a long month since my dad was here…and he’s been on the bike the whole time. Leslie said he plans to be there Sunday morning.
I hope he bikes through “Top-Of-The-World”. The roads weren’t showing up well but if you go to the map you can zoom in and imagine what route he might take to Phoenix…
What’s going on in my life:
Running Stuff:
1. Sunday: Go! St Louis Halloween 10K. Probably not wearing a costume exactly, just a Halloween t-shirt and socks. Oh, and shorts. Just that the shorts won’t be Halloween themed.
2. Next Sunday: Rock and Roll Half Marathon. After this, then I’ll get another medal for running two Rock and Roll events in one year (Phoenix in January), woo hoo! Also Jen and a variety of people I know are running it! I might even have convinced Chris to come cheer along the course.
3. November 6: St Louis Track Club Half Marathon (it was super cheap to enter, maybe I’m mildly insane.)
4. November 20: St Louis Track Club Marathon Relay (STL people, I need one or two more runners to make a team of four! Email, tweet, or comment if you are interested!!)
Blog World Stuff:
1. I signed up for a “foodie pen pal” at the Lean Green Bean. I sent my package to my “pen pal” today and actually received mine in person the other day. I’ll explain it all on October 30, but it’s basically a food “care package” of your favorite stuff.
2. I’m participating in a bake sale at Running Ricig’s blog on October 30 to raise money for charity. I’ll be donating a loaf of my “world famous” pumpkin bread.
3. I volunteered to be a cookbook tester for “Melt: the Art of Macaroni and Cheese.” Basically I will get a recipe or two and try them out at home. This seemed like a no-brainer—I love macaroni and cheese, especially cheese, and I’ll get a credit in the cookbook.
4. I sent a little package to Jordan at Food, Sweat, and Beers today as well. I might be getting something from her in a few days as well. I’ll probably tell you about this later too.
Other fun stuff:
1. Chris’s cousin is getting married in the Bronx and we are going, yay! I have new shoes and new earrings, but a dress I’ve worn before. Not in the Bronx though.
2. Mark and Julia’s Pumpkin Party is coming soon. I mention this simply because of my great love of all things pumpkin.
3. Ben Folds concert with the St Louis Symphony.
4. Chamber Project St Louis has two more concerts coming up, November 3 and 4. Come out to see us play, St Louis readers. I’m only on the second half this time, playing a Mozart Piano Quartet, which means I will be less stressed out and more likely to be able to say hello.
5. I’m getting MARRIED on January 2. (Oh, you already knew that? Hmm.)
Today in my workout with Mike he really pushed me. He told me he had decided ahead of time to make me work really hard rather than us just standing around chatting between reps. This meant lots of sprinting.
It turns out I can run over 9 mph for about 20 seconds. Afterwards I thought I was going to either pass out or throw up for the next ten to fifteen minutes. But nonetheless, I ran for 20 seconds over 9 mph.
The faster I run, the better my form is, evidently.
If I keep this up I’ll be having lots more pictures in the air.
In other gym news, there’s a really tall middle aged man who calls me "shortie". I find it hilarious. He tends to workout when I am there and says "Hey, shortie, how’s it going?" every time. Mike didn’t understand it, but today the man came over to explain, it’s because I’m short in comparison to him. I had explained this to Mike previously, but now he really understands. (If you don’t know me in real life, you should know that I am 5’11", pretty tall for a woman.)
I feel like a true gym rat now that I have a nickname!
Next step: friends.
Today we booked our limo for the wedding day. I’d never been in a stretch limo before (did not go to prom, there was a youth orchestra conflict) so that was an experience.
This Friday I am playing for Winter Opera’s Gala. I did this last year as well, but this year I will playing with my friends (and colleagues) Jen and Tony. I am concertmaster for the orchestra for Winter Opera so I have a personal interest in the group. Gina Galati is doing a wonderful job running the group and trying to increase the exposure. It’s similar to what we are doing with Chamber Project St Louis—taking a quality product and then trying to grow your audience. So many people think they don’t like classical music when they really do!
It’s a masquerade ball.
We rehearsed tonight for the Gala after teaching, and then I ran over to the Tin Can to meet with Chris. He had run into our upstairs neighbors there (duplex) and we ended up planning to have a joint party in November. After the July Fourth party, Chris and I agreed not to have a big party again, but what can we say? We love entertaining. We decided to do a backyard party with a fire pit of sorts and chili. I will have to enlist my friend Laura to make this amazing cornbread she makes. I’ll just have an evite though, rather than a printed invitation (still dreaming about my rehearsal dinner invites, though I’m waiting on a few details before ordering them.) Our upstairs neighbors are very nice and seem like fun people—it’s funny how rarely we see them!
I have developed a small obsession with invitations and stationery. The other day of course I showed you my (our) wedding invitations. Since then I spent several hours (I mean, like 12 to 15 hours) browsing etsy, pretending I was looking for ideas for my sister Leslie for her upcoming wedding (next October, it looks like). Of course, we don’t have the same taste, so that was a completely pointless exercise, except that I love looking at invitations! I love the concept of having something printed especially for you, and I’m the sort of person who SAVES all that stuff. Seriously. If I have attended your wedding, birthday party, funeral, whatever, you can guarantee that somewhere in my house or at my mom’s house, there is a box that contains your invitation, thank you card, birthday card, place card, you name it, I’ve got it.
This means three things. One: I am already over budget on my stationery. Two: I am still planning more printed items (well, programs and place cards are required, right?? place cards in some form actually are required by our venue). Three: I realized I can send out printed invitations for the rehearsal dinner as well! In a totally different theme if I want! It took a little convincing for Chris to get on the same page, but I believe he realized pretty quickly I was a woman obsessed and it was a losing battle. I’ve found a set I LOVE, though he is not totally convinced of them. I think he’ll like them when all is said and done and they are a lovely contrast (yet of course we’ll maintain the color scheme) to our main invitation set.
We’ll see what I decide for sure. Watch this space! (Hahahaha. Like you really care!)
I haven’t mentioned my dad’s bike trip lately, and a lot of people ask me about it. Yes, he’s still on the bike. He was in Texas for a LONG time (since September 20, according to twitter)…in fact, still is in Texas, though he is now very close to New Mexico. There he plans to visit a cousin for a few days and then continue on to Phoenix, where my sister Leslie lives. I think that might be the end of the road for him, but I’m not sure.
(Previous blog posts in case you missed them: Bike Trip, From South Carolina to Phoenix by bike, Cross Country Solo Bike Trip)
Some of my favorite tweets from him:
Other things people have asked:
Did he train for this? Well, yes. He’s been riding bike his whole life, and has been doing long trips for many years now. Before this however, his longest trip was for a week.
Where does he stay the night? He camps. He has a little tent and sleeping bag with him.
Will he ride back? No, most likely he will take a plane.
How will he get his bike back? Ship it. Or check it on the plane. Evidently there are boxes you can put a bike in.
Any other questions? Ask in the comments and I will answer, or perhaps my dad will 🙂
If he were riding this cross country there would be far more room for luggage…