Biking adventures...

Today was my first day commuting from work on my bike.  I had planned to ride in in the morning, but I didn't have any clear glasses to wear and I didn't want to ride 20 miles with the wind in my eyes.  After driving around for 20 minutes trying to find a store that was open (no easy task at 5:50am), I just decided to drive in to work and then maybe ride home.

I did indeed ride home, but it was quite the adventure.  First of all, I messed around in the parking garage for a good 15 minutes trying to get the hang of my new pedals.  Finally, I figured I had the technique downpat, so I took off.  I got about a mile and a half in to my ride, and I had to stop.  I called Jeremy and told him I didn't think I could make it home - I was on the verge of tears.  I was finding it sooo difficult, and I was absolutely exhausted and convinced I couldn't make it the 20 miles to home.  After further inspection, I discovered that I had been riding with my front brakes locked!  Oh my!  No wonder I was having such a hard time!  With that sorted out, I was back on my merry way.

Fast forward to the first intersection I came to where I had to unclip myself from my pedals...Well, I got my left foot out just fine, but I somehow managed to clip it back in immediately after.  By that time, I had lost most of my momentum, and...well...you all know what happens when you lose enough momentum on a bike - I toppled over.  Yep.  I fell flat on my back at a busy intersection, which I'm sure provided some entertainment to some lucky motorists.  Luckily the only thing I hurt was my pride.  And my poor bike - I hit the pavement so hard that it bent the shifter on an almost 45 degree angle.  Hopefully it's only cosmetic and I'll be able to get it fixed.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.  Jeremy had started riding out by home, and ended up meeting me just past the halfway point, which was nice.  It took us an awfully long time though - with all my mishaps at the beginning, I had given up on trying to make it in under an hour.  Oh well.  Hopefully we'll have better luck next time!!

Another recipe

Oh, and I forgot I wanted to post another delicious recipe for you all to try.  I had a recipe for a vegetarian version of this sandwich, and decided to add meat one day - it turned out fantastic, and Jeremy agrees that it's one of the tastiest sandwiches ever!  Enjoy!

Grilled steak & vegetable sandwich with fresh pesto

1lb flank steak (or any steak really)

sliced cheese - we like provolone

ciabatta rolls

1 green bell pepper (capsicum), cut into 4 large slices (one from each side)

1/2 small onion, sliced

1 portabella mushroom, gills removed

1 zucchini, sliced

a few large handfuls of baby spinach

handful of pine nuts

1/2 handful of parmesan cheese

olive oil

salt & pepper

First, make the pesto by blending the spinach, pine nuts and parmesan cheese in a food processor.  Once well blended, add salt & pepper and drizzle in olive oil until it reaches a spreadable consistency.  Set aside.

Heat the grill.  Season the steak however you please - I like to use a small amount of chipotle powder (very spicy), garlic powder, salt & pepper.  Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill the steak and vegetables until desired doneness.  Allow the steak to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.  Spread the ciabatta generously with the pesto, add a slice of cheese and the grilled and sliced meat & vegetables.  Enjoy!!

A much needed update!

Before people start to throw shoes and other random objects at my head, I thought I had better update this blog of mine.  I know it's been absolutely forever since I wrote on here, and so much has been happening that it's hard for me to wrap my head around everything!  But I'll try, and I apologize if I leave anything out...

As most of you know already, Jeremy's trip was cut short and he's been home for about a month now.  YAY!  It's so wonderful to have him home and to have everything back to normal, although it was an adjustment for me to not hog the entire bed!  

Since Jeremy's been back we've been pretty busy.  The first weekend he got back we went out and bought new bikes!  I've still been running, but wanted to find a way to cross-train and had the brilliant idea to commute to work on a bike a couple of days a week.  Being that it's the end of summer, the bike store was having a big sale, so Jeremy and I both got some pretty sweet roadbikes - I got a Fuji Finest 2.0 and Jeremy got a Fuji Cross Comp.  I guess I ended up with a sweeter bike than Jeremy, because I've been smokin' him on our rides.  Ha!  I haven't ridden it in to work yet, because the bike came with toe clip pedals and I've had a really hard time using them.  Today we put clipless pedals on my bike (clipless meaning I have cleats on the bottom of my shoe, and those cleats snap into the pedal itself) which was an adventure - I toppled over a couple of times because I forgot to unsnap my foot from my pedal!  Oops!  But, now that I have the new pedals on, I'm planning on braving the 20 miles each way and riding in on Wednesday this week.  We'll see how that goes.  Here are a couple of pics of Jeremy and I out on a ride one day -

Getting ready to head out

Me before our ride - yes, I'm wearing spandex from head to toe!

Jeremy about to die after our 20 mile ride.  He tried so hard, but just couldn't keep up with my speed demon of a bike!

On Saturday, August 23rd I spent the day/night celebrating my friend, Melyssa's up-coming wedding.  First was her bridal shower and then later that night about 10 of her friends (including me) hit DC for her bachelorette party.  It was such a fun day and an awesome night - we had a giant stretch limo chauffeuring us around for the night, and we had an absolute blast clowning around in the limo and dancing at a bunch of clubs.  Their wedding is in October down in South Carolina - I'm sure that it will also be a fantastic time!

Melyssa & I at her shower

All the girls in front of our sweet limo before hitting DC

Melyssa & I

The next weekend I went out with my friend Katie on Friday night and had a great time in DC, as showcased in this photo -

Me, Katie and Bethany

Then, on Monday (last weekend was the Labor Day long weekend) Marianne offered us tickets to go see Jimmy Buffett play at a concert venue here in Virginia.  Of course, Jeremy will never turn down Buffett tickets, and we convinced the Gibbs' new au pair, Kylie (who is from Melbourne!) and Katie to join us.  We had such a fun day - we got to the venue at about 2pm, set up a canopy and hung out, drinking margarita's and grilling all afternoon.  Jimmy Buffett concerts always bring out some crazy people, so we had a great time looking at all the mayhem and enjoying a hot, summer's day with cool drinks.  Tuesday was pretty miserable for me at work (Jeremy had the day off, the lucky boy!), but it was definitely worth it.  The best part was that Kylie had never heard of Jimmy Buffett and was a little (read: very!) apprehensive about coming, but I think she had an awesome time!  She may even be a Parrothead for life!

We had an inflatable pineapple "face frame" that made the rounds during the day....

The girls - Kylie, Katie, and me

All of us with our pineapple cups!

Inside the concert

  

After so many shenanigans, this weekend Jeremy and I have just been relaxing.  On Friday night, I took Jeremy out on a "date".  Ok, I didn't really take him out, but I did plan everything and surprised him.  To start the night we went to a cigar bar in DC for a drink.  I had also stopped off after work and bought Jeremy a couple of cigars - he loves to smoke cigars, but does it very rarely, so I thought it would be a nice treat.  Then, after an appetizer and a couple of cocktails, we headed to the Blue Duck Tavern for dinner.  The Blue Duck Tavern is constantly rated as one of the best restaurants in DC, and it certainly didn't disappoint!  I had the duck breast, which also came with a crispy duck leg, and succotash.  Jeremy ordered the braised beef rib and the Tavern's famous french fries (cut extra thick and super crunchy).  Both dishes were amazing - it was definitely one of the best restaurant meals I've ever had.  If only it wasn't so expensive - I'd eat there every weekend if I could!

Yesterday we were supposed to run a 5km race but DC was hit by the remnants Hurricane Hanna and it was raining buckets and windy.  The race still went ahead as planned, but we decided that running in a tropical storm really didn't sound like a good time and so we skipped it.  I wish we had gone ahead with it, though, as the rain stopped about 10 minutes before the race was scheduled to start.  Oh well.

And I think that's just about it!  The next few weeks will also be very hectic - my bestest friend in the whole world, Kate, will be visiting for a couple of weeks and we have some fun things planned.  I'll be meeting her out in Las Vegas on Friday, then we'll be back in DC Tuesday, and then it's up to New York City on Wednesday.  It will be a fun week for me, but not so fun for Jeremy.  But that's ok - we've decided that when my little bro comes over to visit Jeremy will take him to Las Vegas and they can have a boys weekend.  Oh dear...