My New Bike.

I've been doing a lot of research lately. After I decided to do another triathlon, I decided that I needed a bike of my own this time. And far enough in advance that I could actually train on it before the race! I went to a number of bike shops, test rode a number of bikes, got a lot of advice from my dad, an avid cyclist, and did a lot of internet researching before I finally decided on the bike I wanted (thanks to the suggestion of my chiropractor). I didn't need anything too fancy since I've never really biked before (unless spin class counts), but I wanted it to be a good investment. If I was going to spend the money on it, I might as well get something that I like!

I'm picky. Leave it to me to decide on the bike that Trek is no longer making - and no one has in my size anymore. Call me shallow (it wouldn't be the first time), but I wanted the 2007 model, not the 2008 model. Most people would want the brand new model, right? Not me. The only thing Trek changed on the new model was the color - and I wasn't too fond of the black bike. I really liked the blue one. After calling about 10 bike shops, I finally tracked one down ... the only one left in the entire Virginia, Maryland, and DC area. So, on Saturday morning after my run, I headed up to Bethesda to purchase my new bike.

I managed to fit it in my car (thanks to the folding back seat) - but then it was raining most of the weekend, so in my car it stayed. Sunday night I brought it in the house, and finally last night after work I went on my inaugural bike ride. It was great. Even though it was entirely too hot and humid outside, it didn't bother me as much as it does when I'm running since there's a nice breeze when you're on a bike. I kind of feel like a kid again, excited to ride my new shiny bike!

Finally, A New Look ...

After spending way too much time on my this, I've finally come up with a new blog template that I think will work. A little HTML and Google searching goes a long way! The only problem is that now my older posts look funky because of the new format. Oh well, I'm certainly not going to go back and adjust them all (or any for that matter). I'll post something a bit more exciting next time, I promise. For now, I'm just enjoying actually staying home in Virginia for more than a week or two! :)

p.s. I do think it looks a little Baskin-Robbins-esque, but I love ice cream, so that can't really be a bad thing, right?!? ha ha

Elder Josh Lillywhite ...

The day has arrived ... my baby brother Joshua received his mission call. These are the times that I get homesick - when everyone else in my family is there for it and I'm on speakerphone. Its better than nothing though! I started crying before he even opened it because everyone was singing "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" in harmony when they called me ... and then I listened as he opened it and read those words that bring tears to my eyes ...

"You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are called to labor in the Toronto Canada East mission. You will report to the MTC on October 31."

So as Matt or Ryan said (not really sure which, since I was just listening on the phone), "lucky you, you'll get to play hockey with all the missionaries rather than basketball!!" All those years of hockey will come in handy :) Wow. I guess he's not so little any more. I love you Josh - I couldn't be happier for you and I know you will be great!!!!

FHE: Nats Game

What better way to start out the week than with a baseball game for FHE? Every summer we go to a baseball game for ward FHE ... tonight was the Nationals vs. Astros ... the Nats actually won (sorry Jenny). There is just something about a hot sticky summer night at the ballpark that I just can't seem to resist (doesn't that sound appealing?!?) Oh how I can't wait for the Nats' new ballpark to open (next season)!! RFK just, well, leaves much to be desired ... but you do what you can!

A weekend at home?!?

I love having visitors. For one, it means that I get to stay home (which is a big deal for me lately with all the travelling I've been doing), and its just fun to have friends here on my turf. Christine came for a visit from NYC this weekend and we had a great time. We went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants on Friday night and then ran to the movie theater to see the new Harry Potter movie. I guess now I don't have to finish reading book 5! ha ha

Saturday morning we got up early and went to the gym so I could work out with Michael, and so that she could meet him. Then I brought her along to my cousin Chelsea's baby shower for a little while. It was great to see Chelsea - its fun to have family living so close, even if its only for a few months!
Then we headed to Georgetown, where we walked along the waterfront and ate lunch at a restaurant on the water. It was a beautiful day, and perfect for a light summer lunch in the sun. I decided that once I get a bike, I need to take it to Georgetown and ride it down there!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at my house, visiting with a few other friends, playing tennis, and watching "Miss Potter." To top off the Potter weekend, we heard the recently returned Elder Potter speak in my ward in a wonderful meeting today at church. Kind of ironic, I think! After church, I took Christine back to Arlington to catch the bus back to NYC. Thanks for a fun weekend Christine - next time, I'm coming to NYC! Can't wait.

Summer Recipes

http://www.self.com/health/recipes/2007/06/0605sausagepizza

I made this pizza on Sunday and it was delicious, and super easy! I love grilling, so when I saw this recipe in Self magazine, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Boy am I glad I did. I didn't have the yellow cherry tomatoes, so in addition to the red tomatoes, I also used red, orange, and yellow peppers. Other alterations I made to the recipe - half white flour and half wheat flour for the dough, and both fresh and grated mozzarella (and a little pepperjack that I had on hand).

Jenny made this watermelon sorbet - it was also soooo good! (and surely healthier than ice cream...)

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/40185/

I love summertime food!

Independence Day: DETROIT

Having the 4th of July on a Wednesday this year kind of threw things off. I decided awhile ago that I wanted to go somewhere for the 4th, since I have been in DC for the last six 4th of July celebrations. Not that I don't love watching the fireworks over the monuments of our nation's capitol, because I really do (and I did miss it), but I just wanted to try something new. So, Detroit it was. I hadn't been to Comerica Park yet, and I didn't think that I'd actually go to Detroit on a 'vacation' so when I found $88 roundtrip tickets, Jenny and I jumped on it. We left bright and early (or before bright...) and drove to Baltimore and hopped on a plane ... there were a surprising amount of people flying on the 4th of July! Go figure - I thought we were the only crazy ones that would do that. Apparently not. We arrived in Detroit about 10:30am, got our rental car, checked into the hotel, and headed downtown for the Comerica Taste Fest. And a pretend tour of the Ford factory ...
The Taste Fest was basically a street festival of restaurants around the Detroit area. We sampled some of Detroit's finest cuisine - and had our first sample of sweet potato pie as well as sweet potato ice cream (hmmm ... I don't think I'll be having that again). They did have the best tamales I have had in a long time (I don't know that Detroit is known for its Mexican food, but it sure was good)! Of course half the fun of those festivals is the people watching ... and there were certainly some interesting things going on! After the taste fest, it started to sprinkle a bit (it was very cloudy and overcast), so we decided to go see a movie - inside, out of the rain (and since weather.com had predicted thunderstorms off and on throughout the day, we hoped they were on their way now, not during the game!), so we went to see the new Die Hard movie. When we came out of the theather - sunshine. :)

We drove to the Detroit temple - which is a smaller temple that shares the parking lot with the stake center next door - of course it was closed since it was a holiday, but we wanted to see it anyway - and we had some time to kill, so it was a nice little detour.

There was a spot on the street across from the stadium to park in, but we weren't sure if it was legit or not. The other parking lots we'd seen were $15 or $20 so it didn't seem like we could just park there for free. I asked the man sitting on his truck in front of us, and he said it was no big deal, it was in front of a courthouse and they were closed for the day ... so we took our chances ... we were very scared after the game about the prospect of not having a car, but luckily it was still there and we didn't even pay for it. Comerica Park. Awesome. I didn't really know what to expect, but if I had any expectations, they were far exceeded. Its like a little piece of heaven in the less-than-desirable city of Detroit. We immediately knew we were going to like it when we walked up and saw the sign in front -

It was a beautiful sight :) The outside of the ballpark was great, and everyone was donning their Tigers gear. It kind of reminded me of Fenway, with the brick walls and flags surrounding the park. We walked around to the other side to pick up our tickets and then headed in. Inside was fabulous too ... there were all kinds of things to do ... a kid's paradise. Batting cages, shops, a carousel, and even a ferris wheel with baseball-shaped seats!









We walked around for a little while since we had some time to kill before the game, so we did a little exploring and found some fun things at Comerica Park.

The Tigers were playing the Cleveland Indians that night, so that combined with the fact that it was the 4th of July lead to a full ballpark. So full, in fact, that our seats that were just a few rows from the top, were taken! So we sat closer to the front of our section, in a row that was (luckily) mostly empty. We thought for sure a family would come and kick us out of our seats, but that never happened. We definitley had some good entertainment both on and off the field ... I have a video of the lady sitting in front of us who danced and cheered more than anyone I have ever seen at a game ... I can't get it to download right now though.
About halfway through the game, three guys came and sat next to us, since the row was still free. They stayed, then went to the bar, then came back. A few minutes after they returned, the one sitting by me (well, there was one empty seat between us) turns to me and says "hey how old are you?" I asked how old he thought I was and he said "that's why I'm asking, my friend and I have a bet going..." I told him to guess, and he said "20?" I laughed and said no. "21?" Nope. "22?" Sorry ... "how old are you??" I told him 27 and he was surprised, and then also sad that he'd lost the bet. I asked how old he was ... I guessed 23, and he said "I love you!!" He was 22, but typically "gets 17" ... sounds familiar! ha ha Anyway, we talked off and on throughout the rest of the game (more off than on) and he introduced himself - Kenny. He'd actually just finished a two-month internship in DC last week. He asked how long we were in town, and was kind of disappointed to find out that we were leaving first thing in the morning. Kind of funny.
The game was great. We ate quite possibly the largest nacho concoction I have ever had in my life, enjoyed the ambiance, and the Tigers won, despite a threat by the Indians. Everyone was happy - Detroit fans are loyal and cheered for the home team. After the game the grounds crew prepared for the fireworks. About this time, Kenny leans over to me and says "hey if you need someone to hold your hand during the fireworks, just let me know." Um ... ok ... I said "yeah I might get scared" and he said "well in the case, you should just move your purse so I can come sit next to you." I should have just done it - it would have been funny - and then he probably would have won another bet with his friends. ha ha The fireworks were pretty lame, but I must say it couldn't have been a better backdrop for the fireworks - as the announcer said at the game "thanks for celebrating America's birthday with America's favorite pastime." I couldn't agree more!

Skydiving: Take 1

A few months ago I somehow got into my head that I wanted to go skydiving ... I mentioned it to a few friends and we all decided to do it. Initially it was supposed to be our 'reward' for finishing the triathlon, but we couldn't do it until this weekend.

We got up this morning and were out the door a little after 6am, to make the drive down to West Point, VA. We arrived around 9am, checked in, signed our lives away on a million waiver forms, and paid an arm and a leg to jump out of an airplane with a random man strapped to us. We sat through a little orientation instructional lecture (which consisted of us sitting in camping/plastic chairs in a circle inside of the non-air conditioned airport hangar). And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Apparently waiting is my lot in life these days.

The skys were cloudy. We knew that wind and rain would stop us from skydiving, but no one told us (even when we called a couple days ago) that if it was cloudy we couldn't go. We kept waiting. When they told us the plane was on its way and we would dive around 1pm, we went to Subway for some lunch, and then came back and waited some more. Luckily (or unluckily, however you choose to view it!) we were surrounded by about 20-25 of the most random people I have ever met in my life. These skydivers are a class of their own, and they are like family to each other - they go and spend every weekend together hanging around the little airport hangar diving during the day and drinking at night. I don't even want to try to repeat some of the stories because they would just not make much sense and it truly was one of those "you had to be there to believe it" experiences.

The airplane arrived. That's about when I started to get nervous and that lovely pit in my stomach. Ben, Jenny, and I were on the first plane, so we waited as our instructors got jumpsuits for us, strapped us into our harnesses, and gave us some tips, as the videographers are madly taking pictures and video interviews of us. Then we learned that the pilot was actually not going to take us. Apparently there were some strong winds, and visibility was only about 4,000 feet (we were going to jump at 13,500 ft). So ... the crazy skydivers hopped into the plane for a "drop and pop" jump - they all jumped out and pretty much opened their parachutes right away since there was no time for free falling at that level. It was fun to watch them jump, but at the same time, kind of rubbed it in more that we were not going to get to do it!

So after all of that, around 3pm, we decided that we needed to get going since it wasn't going to happen. We'd already been there for over 6 hrs and it started raining ... so we got our money back and had to take a raincheck. Too bad the first time I think we can all go again is in August!! I was really looking forward to skydiving! Although with the luck I've been having lately, maybe its not such a bad thing...