Little People

I spent my weekend with quite a few little people.  My nieces and nephew, my cousins' kids (my 2nd cousins?  Cousins once removed?  I can never keep that stuff straight), my aunts (sorry, ladies, but you're a bit on the little side)....it was a pretty amazing weekend.

It was a very fun, emotional, exciting, sad, and important weekend.  My cousin got married on Saturday, which was the impetus behind the travel.  More important, however, was the fact that my sister and my god-daughter were going to be coming into town from out west.  I don't get to see them very often, so the opportunity to do so was awesome.  Finally, my parents are packing up and moving across the nation in a few days, so it was a chance to help them pack up and to say goodbye to my childhood home.  Saying goodbye to the house was actually not as bad as saying goodbye to the city in which I grew up.  Funny, since my friends and I couldn't wait to get the hell out of dodge when we were younger.  I guess that's the way it often is, though...

There was a flood of memories as we drove out of town for the last time.  While my connections to my home town are not completely severed - my brother still lives there and I have quite a few high school friends that have already offered their spare rooms to Chuck and I should we care to visit - it was still like closing a door on my former life.  There were some stifled tears, but, all in all, I realized that it's just a place.  I'm happy that my parents are excited about their new adventure.  And, I'm excited to go and explore their new home at Christmas.

Visiting with my sister and my niece was amazing.  I have been fortunate enough to see my god-daughter - who lives thousands of miles away - several times in her 20 months of life.  While it's not NEARLY enough time spent with her, I feel grateful for every minute and every second that she and I get to bond.  This weekend was a truly fantastic opportunity for us to cuddle, play, sing, talk, and run around together.  She is totally awesome.

This little munchkin is super smart - she knows her colors, counts to five, has an ever growing vocabulary - we discovered a new word this weekend...money...although she pronounces it...maaaahneee - and a smile and laugh that light up the space around her.  I know that I sound like a cheesy, doting Aunt...but, I guess that's exactly what I am.

Though I flew into Michigan, I flew out of Dayton, Ohio...my parents dropped me off there on their way home to the Mitten from the wedding in Cincinnati.  Eloise had just woken up from a nap when we pulled into the airport and she gave me one of those great smiles as soon as she opened her eyes.  In rather unusual fashion, she gave me a kiss when I asked her for a kiss bye-bye...that was my first smooch!  I waved at her as I got out of the van and blew her kisses.  Then, they pulled away and I went inside.  My sister told me that she cried for me after I was gone.  While I was not happy that she was upset - it made my heart sing that she missed me!

In a perfect world, we'd all be near one another...close enough to meet up for dinner or a weekend hike or a round of cards.  But, if we don't have that, I can rest easy knowing that my family has a bond that negates distance.  We truly love one another - and not just because we have to because we are related.  Despite our VAST differences, we have something really special.  Still - if anybody knows of some good jobs for an art historian in Wyoming, Montana, or Colorado...send them my way!!!  ;)

Lancaster Brewery Tour

Over the weekend, I enjoyed a long, windy ride with some awesome friends.  It would have been rather less-than-blog worthy if it had just been a ride.  The wind was strong, consistent, and miserable.  BUT, the ride was punctuated by stops at 5 breweries in the Lancaster, PA area.  We made pit stops at St. Boniface, Stoudt's, JoBoy's, Bube's, and ended up at the Fridge.  Each stop was awesome in it's own right - the beer at Boniface was fantastic, the potato skins at Stoudt's gave us the perfect amount of fuel to get to JoBoy's for a perfect southern lunch of pulled pork BBQ and collard greens, which kept us moving until we got to Bube's, where we were entertained by "The Rugby Guy" before heading on to the Fridge!

Thanks to Alex and Beth for planning and leading a tremendously awesome ride.  So many folks couldn't make it that day and are already planning to attend the Spring edition because they were so jealous of our awesome Facebook photos!!  Here are a few samples...

Training Center

My parents came out to visit this past week.  They came prepared to work very hard and with a van packed with some serious power tools!

The goal for the week was two fold - Mom and I were going to repaint the guest room upstairs and Dad and Chuck were going to work on the Training Center!  Unfortunately, the guest room is in need of some professional help due to a paint problem that is far too big for us to deal with.  We've actually had a guy come out and give us a quote on scraping the entire ceiling, taping, plastering, and painting.  It's a bit more $$ than we would have spent to do it ourselves, but the amount of labor that we would have put into it would have been immense.  So, to have someone do it for us seems like a grand idea.  He'll be here, hopefully, before the end of the month.  Then, I can paint the walls.  :)

So, the Training Center became the focus of the week's endeavors.  We really didn't need to do much: demo a bit of installed shelving, insulate the walls, put up wall panels, put up ceiling panels, frame out the loft, put up trim, etc., :/  In other words, we had our work seriously cut out for us!

And yet...we managed to get the room to the point of near completion!  The only things left to do are to put up a bit of trim, decide on the flooring situation, and install the new light.  Considering what this place looked like two weeks ago, I nearly CRIED when we finished our last day of work.

I cannot thank my parents enough.  My dad is amazing - he works harder than anyone I know and refused to stop until he was satisfied with what we'd gotten done.  My mom has an eye for balance and perfection that is rare.  And her eye on the job was imperative!  Not to mention that she helped me make some ADORABLE new curtains for our bedroom makeover that is in the works!!  :)

Here are some photos of the nearly finished training center:

Hillbilly Hustle Video

I know that this is way delayed, but it's been a busy, busy week.  I'll post about the week later...with photos of the amazing Training Center that my parents helped us build this week.  But...for now...here is a video from the Hillbilly Hustle.  Enjoy...

Maybe A "Mudbagger?"

So, I went out to the Hillbilly Hustle yesterday to attempt cross race #2.  The course was pretty ideal for me...because I didn't have to get on and off the bike very much.  It was flat with a lot of twisty sections, but not what you would call technical for cylcocross.  Apparently, the Hustle has a reputation for being fast, and I don't think that this year was any different.

I raced with the Cat 4 women this week (I was in a 3/4 field last week).  I admit that I had some issues with racing in a solid Cat 4 field...I spoke with "The G" at length about it before signing up because I feared that I *should* be racing with the Cat 3s.  It's a weird thing to deal with.  I mean, yes, I am a Cat 2 on the road, but that doesn't have any real bearing on my ability to race cross.  Anyone who saw me on lap 3 of Whirlybird would know that I was DYING.  And I was dying because of all of the on and off the bike stuff that we were forced to do there.  After all, if someone is a Cat 2 in cross, should they line up next to Laura Van Gilder and Georgia Bronzini at the Liberty Classic??  I would think not.  So...I was advised to race the category that appears on my license (FYI: Cat 4), until I've got a bit more experience.  Apparently, this still makes me a sandbagger.  While this may very well be true, I prefer the term "mudbagger" (in a PURELY NON-Urban Dictionary kind of way...geez, how I HATE the Urban Dictionary) because it was the mud and lack of run ups or dismounts that led to me having such a good race.

The course, as I said, was flat and FAST.  There was Mt. Doom right at the beginning - which was a giant pile of dirt that we had to power up and over.  After that, we headed into the swamp.  The trail turned from grass to mud to standing muddy water (hiding big tree roots) and 6 inch deep mud and muck.  This was actually where I managed to make up time and create distance.  My awesome Michelin Mud tires cut through that stuff so nicely, it was awesome.  My bike sounded like someone had made the chain out of wood (crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch), but it kept working, so I kept riding.  Each lap through the mud caused more ghost shifting that would take a bit longer each lap to work out, but alas, Spanky held herself together.

There were two sections for dismounting - a set of barriers and a single barrier later in the race.  Everything else was ride-able and pretty fast.  There was a twisty turn-y section through some woods that was way fun and a few more sections of mud and muck.

I knew that the first time up Mt. Doom and through the swamp was going to be pivotal - so I busted my butt at the start to move up as far to the front as I could.  As we approached Mt. Doom, I let a little gap form between me and the rider in front of me and crested the top 4th wheel.  I followed the same three through the mud section and came out of it 2nd wheel, having made up some time in the mud.  By the time we hit the barriers, I was in first.  I maintained that position for the remainder of the race, really killing it on the flats and in the mud to pull away from the field.  So, while there was no sand for me to bag, there was definitely some mud in my first cyclocross win!  I got a nice fleece jacket out of the deal and got to share the podium with Melanie Glenn and Suzanne Huelster (who unfortunately missed the podium presentation AND had spanked my butt well and good at Whirlybird, I might add).

I'm certainly not going to become a serious crosser.  I'm just having a good time and having some fun.  I hope to get the chance to race a few more times this season - maybe at Beacon in a Halloween costume?