Memorial Day!

The ribs are smoking. The chicken and flat steak are marinating. The ice cream ingredients are chilling. Except for the thunderstorms and torrential downpours coming this way, we're ready for a pic-a-nic!

In Which Clay Tries to Off His Newlywed Bride:

Ok, so maybe he didn't actually try to "off" me, but it did kinda feel like it at the time.

Yesterday Clay had to work. Very sad, but them's the breaks. Dear friend Doug invited me to go to brunch and the zoo with him, though, so I made my plans and went on about my day. I had a lovely brunch at Toast on Market downtown, then we headed to the zoo for Doug to practice with his photography skills. We wandered about the zoo for approximately three hours. It was a lovely time on a BEAUTIFUL day. As we were leaving the zoo, Amy (the red-head one) called to see if I'd like to do a bit of shopping. Amy and I are really good at shopping. So we caroused about Louisville doing shopping. As you probably know, this is FAR more energy than I typically expound on a lazy Saturday. So I finally crawled home to meet Clay around 3:30ish, and I was thrilled to find him resting. I joined him, thinking I was in for a looong summer nap. But no. He was already rested and ready to get up and start his day. It was time for coffee!! He was going to ride his bike to the coffee shop, which would have sounded nice if I hadn't been dog tired. I told him to go on without me. Nap was calling. But then...at the last minute, I popped out of bed and decided to go with him. I really didn't want to, but I have a fear that Clay is going to ride so much more than me that he gets all better than me at riding, then he won't want to ride with me anymore because I'll slow him down. SO I made myself ride along.

The trip from our house to the coffee shop is STRAIGHT UP A HILL. I never realized this before. Just because they call the neighborhood the "HIGHlands", I don't think they had any right to put it on a mountain. Each time we reached the "top" of the hill, I looked up only to see another bigger one in front of us. Clay was getting so far ahead of me that I couldn't even see him. I had my bike in the lowest gear, and was huffing and puffing like I was going to blow a gasket. I wanted to vomit, but I didn't have time because I was trying to catch Clay.

As we topped the last hill, my face was a funny shade of purple, and I'm not sure I was even breathing at all anymore. A fellow cyclist whizzed by me, and yelled back, "New bike??" Gee, what gave me away? Anyway, I made it to the coffee shop without vomiting, and I was SO eagerly looking forward to the trip home. I mean, if we went up all of those hills on the way there, then the trip home should be straight down hill!! I LOVE to go down hills! I'm GOOD at going down hills. Here, though, is where things get tricky. We took a different route home, and it was NOT downhill. It was up more hills, and some flat spots, then up more hills. I do realize this defies common rationality, but I swear, the trip was uphill both ways. I live trapped in an M.C. Escher print.



I did survive, and eventually make it back home. However, once back home, I realized I had somehow lost the ability to walk. It was disconcerting. I kind of stumbled around the house for a while until I mustered up the energy to go to the grocery with Clay. He then took me to a fabulous Mexican dinner to make up for my pain. I ate and ate and felt no guilt, as I had definitely earned it. I slept like a rock last night, and woke up this morning quite sore. But not dead. So I have that going for me.

I think I got a little windy here, but I fear that some of my readers are starting to think Clay is perfect. Obviously, he has a death wish out for me, and all of you loyal readers here should know it. Watch my back for me, ok?

Picture Pages!

I have had numerous requests from all of my blog readers (hi Mom and Andy!) for pictures of Clay on his bike. I was going to take some last night, but since he didn't bike home until ALMOST TEN O'CLOCK, it was too dark to take any. But we won't get into that here. So, without further ado, here is Clay on his new BIKE!


As you can see, he is the very image of style and comfort. But as far as that comfort thing goes, I was actually kinda glad to find out that he had been holding out on me, and he was equally sore in the saddle, so to speak. His soreness falls more back on the bum area, though, so I vote that mine is worse. Ha. I win.

In other news completely, I finally took some very important matters into my own hands. It is no secret that Crocs shoes are very very ugly. However, it is also no secret that they are the single most comfortable shoes ever invented. And you all know how I do hate to be accesorized in anything less than prittypritty. So, I took matters into my own hands and decorated my Crocs up to a new level of pritty-ness! I tried to describe my plans to co-worker and to my dear mom, but I was met with much skepticism. Well, skept no more! I have photo verification that I have the cutest Crocs in the world!


As you can see from this second photo, the ribboned-up version is clearly superior. Duh.

See Granny, I feel that I can "blame" this need to pretty things up on you, and for once, I think that's a VERY good thing I inherited! I bought all sorts of different colors of ribbons, so I can be not only cute, but matching! It's fabulous!

Ok, I think I'm out of exciting news.

Clay did his part!

We received our "economic stimulus" monies from the gub'mint this week, so Clay made haste to the bicycle store. Some of his friends have been touting the glories of biking, and Clay got the bug - bad. Saturday morning we had a nice brunch in historic downtown Jeffersonville, then went straightaway to the bike shop. He bought a very snazzy bike!



When I was home this weekend, I knew this purchase was coming, so I was talking to the Ma'am-George about my options. I hated to invest in a bike myself, particularly since I didn't really know if I would enjoy using it all that much. I had considered just buying a cheap bike, but I also knew that a cheap bike would pretty much ensure that I wouldn't enjoy riding, as they aren't known to be all that comfy. So, Mom was generous enough to loan me her own bike until I can make some choices about what I want.

With both of us fully biked (and helmet-ed!), we set off yesterday on a short adventure through Germantown (our lovely old neighborhood). It was a BLAST!!! It was so much fun that I really couldn't wait to go out again today. However, we had to make a run to Wal-Mart first to load up on such important accessories as chains, bike bags, speedometers, and water bottles.

Off we went today on yet another adventure! We stopped by a friend's house to join him for a ride (thanks, Chuck!), and the three of us set of through the Highlands to view a house for sale that Chuck wanted to peek into. Then we set off again and made it to the coffee shop, where we greatly enjoyed meeting up with more friends and drinking some ice cold tea. After a long respite with tea, we were starving, so we trekked on to meet up with yet more friends for some fabulous bison burgers. WHAT A FUN DAY!!! After dinner, the three of us schlepped out once more in search of home. Well, I was in search of home. I had forgotten just how uncomfortable a bike seat can be, and after two days of riding, I couldn't stand the pain any longer. So, I'm comfortably home now, and Clay is off riding with Chuck a while longer. I wish I could've hung, but in all honesty, I think I was just holding them back anyway.

All in all, a fabulous fun time, and I've certainly already gotten my money's worth out of my free loaner bike! I can't wait to ride again! (as soon as I stop hurting.)

In Which Clay Does Handiwork:

Remember how I said we went to Ikea in Cincinnati before we flew out to Cancun? And we got some new kitchen shelvy type things? Well, we had talked about having a friend intall it all for us, because we aren't very handy. But then Clay realized that HE IS handy!!! I have photo evidence.