Halloween....RESCUED!!!

Boy, I love Halloween. I love all the little kiddies in costumes. I love handing out candy and seeing the faces light up as the packages of goodies drop into their pillow cases and bags. I love the knowledge that Fall is here with the beautiful changing leaves, sweater weather, and fires in the fireplace. And, I love carving my Halloween pumpkin. Here's where my Halloween nearly went awry!

See...I procrastinated this year. Not on purpose, but I have been busy. I mean, REALLY busy! We've been saying for a month that we want to go to the Apple Orchard and get a big giant pumpkin like last year. Hasn't happened. Our weekends have been full of stuff and we just haven't had the chance. So, as it turns out...Halloween arrived and me....NO PUMPKIN! ARGH! This is terrible. SO, I figure...no big deal. I'll hit the grocery store on the way home and pick one up at the last minute. It doesn't matter how deformed, as long as I get to come home and carve my jack'o'lantern.

First store...not a pumpkin in sight. Apparently, they're all gone. Store #2 - not only is there not a orange vegetable to be found, but the entire store is DECKED OUT IN CHRISTMAS STUFF!!!! I mean, COME ON! Halloween hasn't even happened and their hitting up the next big consumer holiday. (It was Walmart, but still!) Store #3 - yep, you guessed it...NO PUMPKINS! At this point I am sure that my Halloween is going to be sad, sad, sad. Store #4 - Chuck convinces me to go in for one final stop. We pull up out front, and there is a big pumpkin box sitting outside the front door. "Yippeee!" I think. SHOT DOWN! The box is empty! Chuck, the supreme optimist today, decides to go inside to see if there are any stray p-kins sitting inside. A few moments later, my hopes dashed like a mushed pumpkin on Devil's Night, he walks out the front door holding one of the most perfect pumpkins I have ever seen!

Now, the carving job was rushed, so I must admit that it is one of my least successful pumpkins...but, at least I had one. Thanks to the daring-do of my dear hubby. Man, he's a good man!

Anne's Blog

My dear teammate Anne recently started up a blog. I cannot believe that she did not do this earlier. Anne is one of the funniest, and most pleasantly straightforward, people I have ever met. She has an acerbic wit (I mean this in a good way) that is perfectly suited to writing about life. Her blog has become one of my favorite daily hits and I hope that it becomes one of yours as well....here's to Anne! Visit her HERE!

Big News for ME!

I am really excited!

I received notice yesterday that a proposal I had sent in for a 19th century studies conference has been accepted!!!! HOORAY! It looks like I will be traveling to Miami in a few months time to deliver what I hope will be a butt-kickin' presentation!

Of course...now, I have to work on shaving my 45 minute class presentation down to a 20 minute conference paper...boy, that sounds like fun! :P

Big News in Women's Pro Cycling!

Velonews has a great article online today regarding Women's Pro Cycing Teams. It looks like Mara Abbot will be decked out in pink next year, riding for T-Mobile! She had an incredible season on WebCor and it will be fantastic to see her at the Liberty Classic (I hope!) racing for a new team.

There's a lot of movement in Women's racing these days. Our friends at Team Ultralink found themselves without sponsorship at the end of the season (translation: no more Ultralink). Shontelle has moved onwards and upwards by securing a contract with the Colavita/SutterHome team. Good job, girlie!

http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/13575.0.html

So busy....

It has been an insane semester so far. I can't get over how busy I am, despite the fact that I'm doing less than I was doing last year. Strange. I now look back and wonder how I did it all! :) I guess I was teaching less in the classroom (due to online courses), so I had more time to multi-task in front of my computer...but STILL! I haven't seen my husband in days. I know he's there...downstairs...watching TV and feeding the cats, but I'm starting to forget what he looks like as I lock myself away in my office to read, write, make up lectures, grade papers, etc.

Need to find some "Us Time" sometime soon! It stinks to be so busy and not see his cute face as much! :(

Karyn the Crusher Attacks AGAIN!

Man, oh, man....Karyn....you ROCK! I thought last week was kickin' when you placed top ten in your field. Ha! That's nothing compared to TOP 5!!!!!

You are really kicking some royal booty out there in Seattle! And, that photo on your site...WOWZA!!! That is quite a descent there! :) Holy crapoly! I can't wait to see what happens next week for you! Rock it out, girl!

Camera Test Part 3!

My latest test for the camera occured yesterday at the Wissahickon Cyclo-Cross Race. This was my first experience of cross racing. Watching...not actually riding! As much fun as it looked, I don't think that I would like racing it. Too much crap to worry about! :) That said, it was a blast watching Sturdies, Sally and Anne, former Sturdy Julie and Kristy Swope race on an incredible course. Not to mention the Elite women - WOW! Amazing skills! Anyway...the camera worked great for high speed shots. AND, I got to use my telephoto, which allowed me to zoom in nice and tight on the grimaces of pain on everyone's face! :) So glad I was there in a photographic capacity! :)

Brian's Show

I tested out the new Canon at Brian Seymour's most recent show at the Tin Angel on Thursday night. As usual, Brian's show was great. It's always so interesting to see him at work everyday and then watch him turn into a rock star on stage! :) I had a lovely dinner with my friend, Whitney and then we headed upstairs to the show. I attempted some shots of him on stage. It was tough as I was not fully prepared for how the camera would function in near darkness...but I think some of the shots came out pretty cool. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the night.

Niece and Nephew

Got to spend some time with my niece and nephew recently. Man, they are cute. I mean, really adorable kids. Here they are...goofing off at the playground. I was testing out my new camera on them! :)

Karyn Rules and that boy drools!

Karyn takes on the cross course again. My Seattle based friend conquers another race...this time finishing 9th out of 32. Pretty rockin' considering it's her 2nd race EVER! She is the bomb! Here she is, passing a guy who looks none to happy to be getting his butt whomped by some chica! Hee hee!
Congrats on a top 10 finish in race #2, Karyn! Keep up the great work...the elite category is calling your name!

Tragedy at the Musee d'Orsay

I started to type up a comment to go with this...but it was coming out of me so negative, I just decided that the link would suffice!

http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=278674&GT1=10450

Century Ride - After All!

My husband is so sweet! As we are heading down to Josh and Michelle's wedding, I say something about how I hope the girls have a nice century ride on Saturday. He says, "We can come back home tonight and you can do the ride tomorrow, if you want!" I say, REALLY? Are you sure that you want to do that! We agree and I got home and to bed before 12:30, up at 7:00 and on the road with the crew by 9:00! It was a BEAUTIFUL day on the road. We had perfect weather (if not a little too warm for October), great company, a fantastic route, and fun taking photos along the way! Here are a few!

The crew for the 4th Annual Sturdy Girl Century Ride

And we're off...heading out through Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill.

Our first rest stop included a rather interesting water fountain...

Sally...one of our fearless leaders!

George...who I'm sure will kill me for putting this on the web. He loves to have his picture taken (ok, not so much) and I had to get a shot of him riding on his birthday. So, here's his pose....goofball! Happy Birthday, George!

Century Photos

George the Birthday Boy!

Beautiful colors of October...see, we have hills in PA!

Dana and the Crew!

Jen and Luly

Liz and Leah
The Climbing Rocket and the Triathlete!
Leah just qulaified for the 2008 World Championship Tri in Vancouver!!!

Wedding!

Last night, we were in Wildwood and Avalon for Josh and Michelle's wedding. It was a fun evening and we had a great time visiting with our friends and celebrating their big day.

Josh and Michelle
Me and Chuck

I make him promise me two things at weddings:

#1 - we have to have a picture taken

#2 - he needs to dance with me at least once

Me and Katie

Good Luck Sturdies!

Good luck to my team heading out for the Sturdy Girl Century tomorrow! I'm sad to be missing it and I hope that you have a safe, happy, flat-free day! The weather is going to be PERFECT, so I'm sure that will make the day start off on a high note. I hope somebody has a camera to catch the gorgeous leaves on a few of those panorama stops that we have. See you all next weekend for the Meet and Greet and MOVIE NIGHT! :)

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to George!

Trainer Time

Wow...it's amazing how little time you have in a day when you actually have to go to work, come home, do homework, grade exams, eat dinner, and still want to ride a bike. If I take the time right after work, I feel like I should be home reading for grad class or grading exams. If I stay home and do those things after work, I have to get on the trainer while watching TV and sweat my butt off in the living room. I shouldn't really complain...I mean, I had an entire summer of riding my bike 6 or 7 days a week. Now, I just have to figure out how to do all that I want to do in each day. Nothing like time management to get you to utilize every minute of a 24 hour day (she says while wasting 5 minutes writing on her blog!)!

I have decided that Tuesdays are my come home fast from work days. If I time it right, I can be home by 11:30...on and off my bike before 2 pm and showered and working on school stuff before Chuck even leaves work. Plus, I'll have time to actually clean my house, get ready for the HALLOWEEN PARTY, and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. Sounds like a rockin' plan to me!

Weekend Update

So, I started my ride yesterday thinking #1 - not such a good idea to run 3 miles the day before a ride when I haven't run in about a year, and #2 - 60 miles won't be so bad. Turns out that 60 miles swiftly became 96 miles! :P 96 wonderful miles with Sally, Luly, and Marianna, but 96 miles nonetheless! It was a beautiful day and we saw some wonderful sights while previewing the course of the Sturdy Girl Century next weekend. I didn't have my camera with me, so I can't show a photo of the trees beginning to change, but I assure you they were fantastic. We also crossed paths with a rather large male deer, who leaped across the road in front of us. But my favorite encounter of the day was this one...

Riding through Wissahickon park, we (Marianna, Luly and I) pass a male cyclist. Keep in mind that all three of us are dressed in our kits from head to toe. Jersey, Shorts, Socks...the whole nine yards.

Rider says, "You guys on a racing team?"
We reply, "Yes."
He asks, "Which one?"

hmmmm....

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever you are!

Hmmm....don't mind me, just looking around for my motivation! Wow...it's amazing how my mind checked out the second I crossed the finish line at the Rodale race. I still want to get on the bike, but my Seasonal Affective Disorder (honest to God, I have this!) has already started to kick in. All I want to do is sleep and eat. I feel like a bear preparing for hibernation. I swear, it's a terrible thing. When I do find myself pulling on my shorts and shoes, I get suddenly happy and ready to ride...but it's the drive to pull my butt up off of the couch that kills me.

I did ride today, between my class this morning, dentists appointment and return to work for a department meeting, I did an hour on the bike doing intervals. The other thing that kills me is that the fall in our area means one major thing...WIND! Whether you're trying to rake leaves or trying to bust your butt around the river at 21 mph, the wind seems to be coming at you from every conceivable angle...and always STRONGLY coming at you! Alas, I should consider this a great training tool, but it really just makes me feel like I'm constantly going uphill in the wrong gear.

All in all, I actually had a nice ride today. It's still summery in terms of weather - 85+ degrees out and sunny. I'm looking forward to the more seasonally appropriate weather that we are supposed to get this weekend...more like the lower 70s. I love it when it gets cool enough at night to leave the windows open and make a fire in our chiminea! :) Bring on the Fall, baby!

Karyn's Big Race!

Karyn did her first 'Cross race EVER this weekend! That is one tough sport, but she's such a beast, she rocked it out! I'm posting one of her pics here, but check out her blog to read the whole story and see more photos!

Nice job, Karyn!!! Can't wait to see you kick some major booty at your next race!

A Beautiful Day for A Ride!

Today is the first day of Autumn. You wouldn't have known it to look outside. It was a gorgeous day. A perfect blue sky without a single cloud, a warm 80 degrees with a lovely breeze to keep you from getting too steamy. It was perfect. Thank goodness I spent 5 hours on a bike with my friends, enjoying the day! I love days like this one. We started out from Manayunk and headed out past Graterford Prison and eventually back into town. We made our way down some beautiful, quiet, tree-lined roads and up some nice climbs as we wound our way through several PA counties. All the time, enjoying the opportunity to chat with one another about the changes from summer to fall. Many of us are back to school, teaching at high schools and colleges. Others are working nine to five, but feeling the impact of our shortening days. All in all, we realize how great it is that we have days like today to enjoy.