A Year of Goals in Review...

It’s that time of year when you look back at it and figure out what you really did with it. Often times this can be a bit disappointing in that you don’t always reach those goals that you would have liked to. So here I am almost to year end and reviewing over those goals that I had set for myself at earlier this year.


It looks as though I hit my goals at about 40% of the time but I’ll let you decide. Here’s my goals and here what I did…


1.) Save more money. This I did accomplish but I only managed to save about 65% of the amount that was my saving goal for the year. 15 to 20% of this was due to no new increase in my work wages, in fact my yearly bonuses were down 18%. It was a tough year economically and I must admit that I’m grateful that I have a job. The other part that didn’t help with my saving over the year was my car repairs. But overall, I have enough in savings now for almost 6 months. Not a bad place to be considering how the economy is at current.

2.) Do a half marathon and maybe work towards a full marathon. I did the Salt Lake City Half Marathon in the Spring and then I did the Park City Half Marathon in August. After doing the half marathons I just really do not feel that I have a FULL marathon in me. It’s just too much, and I’m thinking I stick to the half’s or shorter distances. In fact, I’m really finding that I’m enjoying the 5K fun runs. I may try to do more of those in the coming year.

3.) Survive the Slow Salty Dog Tri. Well, we did not do the Slow Salty Dog this year. So this goal did not happen.

4.) Do at least one century bike ride. I didn’t do this. I got as far as a 75 mile bike ride with the intention of riding farther but had bike mechanical issues.

5.) Ride my bike up & over Little Mountain then Big Mountain to East Canyon and then all the way back. The day I attempted this I had a REALLY off day, and later I discovered that I had a rear brake pad that was rubbing BIG time. I made it to the top of Big Mountain and turned around.


And here are some interesting stats from the year….

384.75 miles running

1472 miles cycling

4.5 miles swimming

57 books read --- Oh how I am enjoying my Nook!

By the way..... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy Holidays!

This morning it finally snowed a bit.  I was getting concerned about having a white Christmas.  For the last week it has been rainy and gloomy and there's some snow up in the mountains that you can see in the distance.  But it kind of feels like a snow capped gloom.  So this evening there's a light dusting of the white stuff.  I just hope it holds out until Christmas.  Please, please, please...

Why is it that for some of us Christmas just isn't Christmas unless we have the white stuff?  Have I been conditioned by some marketing company in some northern exposed area of Minnesota or maybe farther up north? Christmas and snow just go in hand for me.  I'm not sure how I would do to be in a southern area where snow just doesn't come.  I think I would probably be buying a bunch of white felt and putting layers out on the front lawn.  I could see the neighbors thinking I was some "Damn Yankie!" that should have stayed up North. 

Next week I'll be using up the last of my vacation days out of necessity-- use them or loose them.  I hope to be spending my time at home relaxing and possibly painting.  If you get the chance check out my "100 Salt Lake City Porches" project that I recently started on my other blog Allgood Art.  I've managed 6 porches so far.  I hope to have all 100 done sometime in November 2011.

But anyway, here's wishing you Happy Holidays to you and yours! May you receive some good presents and hopefully keep your sanity around the family!

A Gift Card Christmas!

This year I've decided to take the easy way out by choosing to give the plastic card no wrap option.  It's partial because things are a bit more financially tight this year and partially that I'm having a hard time deciding what to give some people on my list. 

For the last 7 years I've been giving out my Christmas booklets.  These booklets have had photos of my artwork combined with my poetry and recipes ( favorites that I've created or passed down from Mom, etc.).  The booklets have become too much for me both time wise and financially.  Lat year, I ended up making 100 + of them.  I had a great deal of people that just LOVED them but I just can't continue it.  It's getting to be TOO MUCH. 

So, this year I've had to budget myself and I decided not to put them in the budget.  Sorry Mom!  My list of retail locations this year are Walmart, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Barnes & Noble, Target, Paradise Bakery, Wendy's, and McDonald's.
 
Here's 6 reasons I'm REALLY liking the gift card giving.....

1. No Wrapping paper involved.  No messing with scotch tape and the scissors to try to make the present look presentable.  I would highly recommend this for all of you that are all thumbs.

2. Time Saving!  You can go straight to the shortest line and the store and while waiting in line choose which plastic decorative card you want.  Most stores put them right up by the cashier.  Bonus!  No time spent wrapping presents, or picking up gift bags that are the right size.

3. Pawning off the decision making.  This is probably bad of me, but that way you are leaving the responsibility of the decision on to the giftee.  You can't choose the wrong size, color, or what not.  It's all on them.  I don't know how many times in the past I've gotten what I thought was the perfect gift and the giftee returned it.  It rather hurt my feelings.  (I guess I could add another reason in that it's emotionally more safe to do gift card too.)

4. A Guaranteed Perfect Gift.  By pasting the decision on, outside of making sure it's the favorite store of the person you JUST can't go wrong.  It's a given, and how many times in life does that happen?

5. It's easy to ship!  Put it in an envelope with their Christmas card and voila!  It's done!

6. It's easy to plan you budget.  Figure your total budget for Christmas and divide it among your Christmas list.  Put your prioritize at the top of the list and work your way down.  Increment it out by $5 rounding until you've budget has run out. 

Sorry if you've been down graded to a $5 gift card from McDonald's... please don't take offense, and do not think that it the valuation that I put on our relationship.  You just may have been at the near the bottom of my list? ;-)

Rearranging- Third Times the Charm~!

The weekend project was accomplished.  I managed to get the Christmas tree up.  It only took three attempts of rearranging my living room.  First the rocking chair was moved to my bedroom, and I stood the undecorated tree in that corner.  It just didn't feel right there.  So then, I moved the chair and table with lamp from the other corner.  Nope, that wasn't working out.  There was too much space.  Then, it was the final attempt in front of the window.  I moved furniture just a bit here and there to leave room to open the sliding glass door.  I also had to move my only plant- a snake plant (the only plant I haven't killed!)  So here's where it is this year and I even put a new set of lights on the balcony.  Nice!

Now it feels Christmas-y!

Here's a close up of my musical Christmas tree!

I also decided to move the peacock feather Christmas tree that was a present from Mum to a table other than the dining room table like I usually do.

Peacock Christmas Tree  up close.

Oh,The Christmas Tree Dilemma!

Oh decisions, decisions, decisions! Where to put the Christmas tree this year? I’ve been procrastinating this decision. When you live in a one bedroom apartment space is often an issue. Regardless of where I put it, I’ll end up moving furniture into the bedroom. So will it be this chair and possible table with lamp…

 Or the rocking chair…..Or will I just put it in front of the sliding glass door and not go out on the balcony for a month? Hmmmm…. Decisions, decisions!   It sounds like a weekend project!

Fun in the Snow on Snowshoes!

Early Sunday afternoon while the snow lightly flew along the Wasatch front, I was off enjoying snowshoeing with friends.  Diane, Kym, and myself found ourselves amid a peaceful winter wonderland at a local golf course.  Kym just got new snowshoes that were just begging to be broke in.  Her new snowshoes are yellow with flowers... a little too flamboyant for my taste.  ha-ha!  It felt good to be out and getting a bit of exercise after all the eatting of Thanksgiving.  I ate too much of course!  I was really glad that the chocolate hazelnut torte that I took over to Diane's was a big hit!  I came home with enough to have a bit for breakfast the next morning.  How VERY bad of me!
   
Here's a few quick pictures that were taken during our snowshoe...

Kym with her new snowshoes. 

Diane," Can you hear me now?"

Me, with a chocolate bon-bon in mouth.  Diane didn't want to wait for me to swallow...Hello!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I wanted to wish everyone a very

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

I hope its a wonderful day for you and yours.  Outside of my favorite Holiday of Halloween, Thanksgiving runs a quick second; mostly due to the food.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and the pumpkin pie!  My mouth is just watering at the thought of it all; much to the chagrin of my waistline!  Is there another Holiday that is SO focused on the FOOD?!  I have to THANKFULLY say No!  One more thing to be thankful for.  Though, I will say there's a great deal of candy & cookies involved with Christmas.  Oh boy!  I think I'm definitely going to need to renew my gym membership!   

Here's a recent painting I did of my mom's cat.  I thought it was appropiate because she often refers to her spoiled and some what chubby cat by the name of Butterball.  Here's Buddy better known as Butterball...


"Mom's 10 lb. Butterball", oil on canvasboard 11" x 14".

Now try not to eat TOO much!

Best Laid Plans…?

I was on the phone on Sunday evening with a friend, and as we chatted we both spoke of those best laid plans. As the Robert Burns’ titled poem To a Mouse goes,

”…in proving foresight may be in vain;

The best laid schemes of Mice and Men oft go awry,

And leave us nothing but grief and pain…”

These few lines of the poem VERY much described my Saturday evening. I HAD to laugh about the evening because otherwise I would have been drowned in frustration.


It all started about three weeks ago when I started planning the evening. I had managed to get a hold of some half price tickets (8 of them prepaid) to a local Mystery Dinner Theater, and I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate my birthday and have a fun girl’s night out. I sent out emails to various female friends to join in the fun. Right away, I had eight, possibly nine gals going to the show with me.

As the day arrived closer and I sent out reminders, I had a couple of the gals drop out. I contacted a couple of other friends, and it looked as though I would have all the tickets taken. Then, one of the other gals had to leave early for the Thanksgiving Holiday and she dropped. I found a replacement for her ticket. Then, another friend made the mistake that it was taking place on a Friday night but this was all to take place on a Saturday night. But I was okay, I found someone to take her ticket. It was getting rather frustrating but it was still manageable.

I was getting so excited and really looking forward to celebrating my birthday in a new way. Then Saturday afternoon arrived; at 3 pm one of the gals called and she had a nasty cold. Then, 4pm arrived and another gal called that she had a migraine. I was okay with just having 6 of us going to the dinner theater. I wasn’t about to run around and locate 2 more people at the last minute to make sure all of the tickets were used.


At about 45 minutes before the doors opened to the show I went and picked up Mary, the Popette, from her place. The weather was a steady down pour and I ran to the door with umbrella in hand to escort her to my parked car. With both of us excitedly chatting and buckled in I started to drive to the interstate.


Three blocks before the interstate, disaster struck! The battery light came on in my car and the temperature gauge rose to the big red “H”. The car was getting very hard to steer. I pulled over to a 7-11 parking lot and wrestled with the steering wheel to get the car pulled into a stall. Then, the car just died! That was it! No More!


With heaviness in my throat, I looked at the Popette and let her know that we wouldn’t be making the show tonight. I started calling everyone to let them know to go on without me to the show. Two of the gals did make it to the show. One of the other gals turned around because the weather was getting nasty. The rain had turned to snow by this time. Another didn’t want to attend if I wasn’t there.

AAA was called and I called a cab for the Popette. The cab arrived, and the Popette gave me a present wrapped in an old yellow sock. She’s always wrapping presents in ways “normal” people would not think of. She told me to call me when I got home and to open it later. The tow driver came and got my car on the truck. I pointed out that there was a missing belt in the engine; must have broken. He agreed and asked me where I wanted to be towed. I chose the 2nd closest AAA approved garage because it was closer to my place and my work.



Car was dropped off at the garage which didn’t have Sunday hours (of course!).  A key was put in the drop box, and then the tow driver dropped off a snow soaked me to my place. The good news of the night is that all the mileage for the tow and dropping me off were all within the 5 free miles I had on my AAA. Yeah! I got in my door peeled off a layer of wet and opened my birthday present from the Popette. The present contained —an “I Don’t Do Happy” pin, a sliver spoon with a can of instant Suisse Mocha coffee, and a raw potato. A potato? WTF?  Oh, she keeps my life interesting... not that it's not interesting enough but I will admit she does supply a bit of comic relief that I needed!

Win/Win-- Art, Wine, & More...

Oil paintings displayed in the living room.  Some of these were from the Tale of Two Mains show I did in March.

Last week I had my little private art show that I referred to as Art, Wine & More.  Overall it was a Win/Win situation, and a BIG thanks to all of those who showed.  A box was filled with non-perishable foods and I ended up selling 6 paintings which 10% of the proceeds is going to the Utah Food Bank. 

Watercolor paintings and a couple of new oils were displayed in another room.

I held the event on both Thursday and Friday.  Thursday night I had a couple of people in attendance, and I was kind of getting concerned but I know that I had a few people that had mentioned they were coming on Friday night. 

Look at all of these Food Donations!

Friday night arrived and I had a co-worker that came over shortly after work.  The co-worker purchased a painting.  Then, a friend arrived early and shortly after that my water color teacher, Colleen, showed up.  It rather kept up steady with people arriving and leaving until about the last hour.  It was during this last hour that a group of friends and myself just hung out in the living room and chatted.  While we chatted we enjoyed sipping beverages and sampling food.  It was a very fun and relaxed atmosphere. 

I ended up having about 13 people overall visit on Friday night.  At the end of Friday night, 4 water color paintings and 2 oil paintings had sold.  AND the Food Donation Box was practically filled. Wow~! Thus, I'm calling it a Win/Win situation.  I even managed to talk a couple of friends into taking some fudge home.   Can you say," I don't need that fudge on my hips!"

***- Oh and Mom- the first picture-- that's the chair I was talking about.  The one that you re-upholstered which I just LOVE! 

Preparing for ART, WINE, & MORE...

This Thursday and Friday night, I’m doing a little private art showing that I’ve come to refer as ART, WINE, and MORE. I started taking water color painting classes in August and I’ve built up a new supply of paintings to show. With that in mind, I thought I would do a little showing of my new works of art. You can view some of my art works on my blog at ALLGOOD ART (http://allgoodart.blogspot.com/)

"Sisters on a Sunny Sunday Afternoon"- water color on yupo- 9" x 12"

I, also, thought it would be nice to combine the showing with a charity. With the coming holidays and the demands needed for food. I chose the charity of the local Utah Food Bank. I’m encouraging friends to come with a can of food and I’ll give them $1 off (up to $3) a purchase of a painting. I think this is a good way to combine some fun, and help out a charity.

"Tower Against the Sky"- water color on yupo - 9" x 12"

I will be serving wine, desserts, and hor d’oeuvres for everyone to enjoy while they view the art. With that in mind, I’ve been busy up late the last few nights making sweet things to serve at this showing. One night I was up late making three different flavors of fudge; peanut butter chocolate, dark chocolate with cherry, and milk chocolate with pecans. Last night, I put together a candy cluster that contains white chocolate, dried cranberries, chopped almonds, and caramel. I tested one this morning for breakfast, and OMG! It was AMAZING! I am really hoping that I have a good amount of friends coming because otherwise I’m going to be in trouble of gaining a bunch of weight from eating leftovers. 

Running with the Dogs & Chasing Tail...

A BEAU-ti-ful Saturday morning with highs predicted to be in the low 70's.  It was hard to believe that it was the first Saturday in November.  It was a perfect day for the Squatter's Chasing Tail 5K Run at Wheeler Farm.  A fun event where it helps raise funds for Therapy Animals of Utah. 



Wheeler Farm's large barn and pretty Fall color in the background as people & dogs moved towards the start of the run.


I couldn't help but introduce myself and pet a few of the furry friends prior to the 5K.  All of them people and dogs would be running along with me on the 5K.  Some of the four legged friends got along well, and others caused some barking and growls but those were few.  There were all sizes of furry friends from the very small to the larger breed of dog. 

All breeds of dogs and sizes.

Look at this cute little one!

Twins even! And check out the Fall color!

I was loving it!  All the benefits of being around all these dogs with NONE of the clean up.  I picked up my goody bag and was a little disappointed that the tech shirt this year was orange.  ORANGE??!!  The runners got orange shirts the volunteers got green shirts. 

At the start- orange shirts for runners and green shirts for volunteers.

I got near the back of the mass start and slowly built up my speed as the run went along.  I was pleasantly surprised when I reached the 1 mile water mark and the gal with the stop watched who was calling out the time said," 11:23!"  I was zooming right along!  Nice!  I crossed the finish line while it said 37:48 and I was pleased!  It's only 9 seconds short off a full minute quicker than my run time of last year.  Slowly but surely I'm getting faster!   

I thought this little boy was just adorable!  He was wearing Dad's coat!

A Whimp in the Making...

Twice a week in the early mornings, I've been going to the gym with my friend Diane.  We usually start out on the dredmill or the elliptical for about 30 to 45 minutes of cardio.  Then we head over to the weight machines for some strength training.  I REALLY hate doing this but I do it because I should and I have a friend with me.  (Maybe not the most motivating reasons, but still... I'm hanging in there at 5:30am twice a week!) 

So Monday, I do real well on the weight machines.  BUT come Thursday morning... FOr-GETita-Boud-it!  It's like my muscles have been zapped on Wednesday night and I'm like a TOTAL Whimp!  I can barely manage 1 rep of 10 at the lightest weight, and on my nemesis machine-- this machine where you are doing a variation of a chest press while sitting up.  Well, on that machine I just pull the pin and let it sit in my lap. What's up with that?  Is it a form of Thursday-itis? Or am I just the making of a Whimp on Thursday mornings! 

The 4th Annual Tricky Treat Costume Ride...

The 4th Annual Tricky Treat Costume Bike Ride was wonderful!  I was concerned about the possibility of rain but it held off till much later in the afternoon.  There was a good turn out too!  There was 23 adults, a grandson, and a dog; all dressed out in costumes for the bike ride.  It was VERY hard deciding who was going home with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th place costume prizes.  Here's some photos of the ride...

A Shot Gun Wedding!??!

Pochantas and a Ninja

Diane- Little Red that hit a chicken coop-- must have been on her bike!

Little Mr. Buzz Lightyear and his Grandpa Builder Bob

Yabba-dabba-Do! The Flinstones!

Was it the Hockey Player?  A possibility for the Shot Gun Wedding?!

And here's the whole group!

Look out Ghost Busters-- A White & Black Ghost!

And here's me the Killer Bee on my bike during the ride!

Top 10 Reasons Why Trick-or-Treating is Better Than Sex

A co-worker who knows how much I love Halloween put this on my desk yesterday and I thought I would share this with all of you.  I think it's cute and rather humorous!  I'll try to have some pictures with a write up about my Tricky Treat Costume Bike Ride early next week.

Also, I want to wish everyone a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  I hope you manage to get some good candy and have fun!

Halloween Bike Ride, an oil painting I did based on photos from earlier Tricky Treat Bike Rides.

Here's the Top 10 Reasons:
Why Trick-or-Treating is Better than Sex.... 

10. You are guaranteed to get at least a little something in the sack.


9. If you get tired, wait ten minutes and go back at it again.

8. The stranger you look, the easier it is to get some.

7. You don’t have to compliment the person who gave it to you.

6. The person you are with doesn’t fantasize you’re something else, you already are.

5. If you get a stomach ache, it won’t last nine months.

4. If you wear leather and chains, no one thinks you’re kinky.

3. Doesn’t matter if kids hear you moaning and groaning.

2. Less guilt the next morning.

AND the number ...
1. If you don’t get what you want at one place, you can always go next door to get some more

Ground Hog Day Lessons?

This morning I was talking with a fellow co-worker and he mentioned that it felt like Ground Hog Day. I had to rather agree with him today; especially when I woke up to snow being on the ground. Today had that strange feeling of dejas vous about it and sometimes I tend to wonder if I might be locked up in the same day. Days seem to blend in together and I seem to be lost in time.

(Photo: Snow on the tree this morning outside my window.)

I almost believe that maybe I’m destined to live over and over the same day until I learn what ever I am supposed to learn. I’m just hoping that my learning curve kicks in sooner than later. Lately, it seems that I’ve been running into some strange problems during these Ground Hog Days.

I’ve played “Furniture Jenga” twice in the last week. Yep, they didn’t come to clean the carpets the first time! So I got to move my furniture twice. It all started when I called my apartment manager the day before to warn that there were two wet oil paintings hanging on the wall in the bedroom. I just told her that they needed to be careful around them. She passed the message on to the assistant manager since she was on vacation the next day. Well, it’s sort of like passing the word down the line…you know where the word starts as one thing and as it’s passed down from one person to another the word slowly gets changed. Thus, I guess the carpet cleaners were afraid to show. But yesterday, I finally got the issue worked out and now I have cleaned carpets. Can I say lesson #1 learned? Watch what you say because you never know how it may be taken.


Problem #2 has been occurring at work. I arranged for a shipment to be picked up last Thursday from a supplier. The freight company showed up to pick it up on Thursday but the supplier didn’t have it ready to be shipped. Friday the supplier was closed for some strange reason. The weekend, of course, everyone was closed. Then, the freight company was TOO busy to pick up the shipment on Monday. Finally, after calling everyone and their mother on Tuesday the shipment was picked up and is on its way. The whole time my boss was over my shoulder and wringing his hands. The lesson learned this time? Hmmm… Try to follow up more often on things to ensure results?


The third problem happened last night, while I was unaware and enjoying a local haunted house with friends. My yahoo email account was hacked into with a virus. OUCH! I’m currently emailing with Yahoo Email to get it straightened out. I apologize to all of you who may have received an email virus. A warning out to all of you that if you should happen to receive an email from me with nothing in the subject line, DO NOT OPEN IT! Lesson learned on this one? I’m SO glad I keep most of my pass words underneath my keyboard! :)


That’s all for problems though if any of you are good in with the weather gods I ask for you to put in a request for good weather for this Saturday’s Tricky Treat Bike Ride. Otherwise, I have all these prizes that I’ve put together that I won’t know what to do with. Darn it! I just may have to claim them all for myself. :)

Furniture Jenga~!

Last night after coming home from my water color painting class, I rolled up my sleeves and started in on a game of Furniture Jenga. Why you might ask? Am I, perhaps, insane? Or maybe this is part of a new workout theory? Or is it just that I don’t get enough excitement that I need to be plying stacks of furniture into my kitchen just for fun of it? NO! All this game of Furniture Jenga was in preparation for having my carpets cleaned.


So here I am last night looking at my pint sized kitchen and trying to figure how to fit as much of my living room furniture, and possibly some of my bedroom into that space. Now let me preface that my living room is a living room as well it serves as a dining room too. It was a vertical jigsaw puzzle that needed to be solved and just may prove how much of a warped mind I might have.

I started first with the bulky loveseat on its side. Nope! Not going to work. After a few more gruntingly laborious attempts, the loveseat ended up on its back facing up. It left plenty of room for stacking chairs, tables, pillows (why does there always seem to be an excess of pillows?), and what not. Next, my dining room bistro set, then an end table, and then … well, you get the picture. I arranged a few times over and ended up putting some of the more “weather proof” items on my ¼ pint sized balcony.

I went to bed last night with a small sense of accomplishment that I had only my futon, an alarm clock, and my cell phone out in the carpeted areas. After getting ready for work in the morning, I dragged the wooden futon frame into the bathroom. It fit just barely, and left just enough room for the futon mattress. It had maybe taken me 10 minutes top to move the futon frame into the bathroom. The futon mattress, however, was a whole different beast all together. It was like trying to move a huge dead body. (Not that I would actually know how to handle a dead body.)  It took me a total of 30 minutes to wrestle that darn mattress into a slim place between the futon frame and the bathroom door.  Whew!  What a relief!

It was after this wrestling match with the futon mattress I looked down and discovered I shouldn’t have worn my black work clothes to do this job. Being that I already running a bit late I tried to just slap some of the dust off of my black clothes. As I’m heading towards the door, I remember my lunch that happens to be in the refrig in the kitchen. Oooopps! In the refrig that I can not open the door to because there’s a huge stack of furniture in front of. Darn!

So I’m writing a note to self—No black dress clothes to move furniture in and have a back up plan for lunch because you are an idiot and won’t be able to open the buried refrig door.  On a positive note, I know what’s for dinner tonight!  Of course, that’s after I un-bury it!  DOH!

Like Christmas in October!

It’s not that far away from my favorite holiday—Halloween! I’m like a big kid the night before Christmas when it comes to Halloween. I love the decorations; black cats, pumpkins, bats, and scarecrows. But my absolute favorite thing to do is dressing up. I find it really amusing going dressed up in full costume to a neighbor’s or friend’s and engage in small talk; knowing that they have no clue that it’s me that they are talking to. The aspect of the candy, well, let’s just say I try NOT to partake of this part; for as the saying goes,” a moment on the lips and forever upon the hips.” But I will admit to being a bit partial to candy corn.

Myself as Ragged Ann and Doug as Genie last year doing the door prize drawings.

This holiday really has become special in the last few years as I’ve been “hosting” a Tricky Treat Costume Ride for my bike club. It's a wonderful way to combine costumes and cycling together!  This year will be the fourth ride that I’ve done. I always hold this bike ride the last Saturday before Halloween. It’s kind of become a fun social event. Prizes awarded to best costumes and door prizes too.

Jay as the Tin Man strutting off in his costume.



Last year's Wizard of Oz Costumed Trio

There’s a costume contest before the bike ride. Everyone is invited to “strut” their costumed-self in front of group. There are prizes for the top four best costumes. The crowd judges by clapping and cheering for whom they think is best. It seems that the competition is getting stiffer every year as the costumes are getting more elaborate.



Doug, as the Head Hunter, and myself as a Clown in 2008.

It seems to me that it’s getting more fun each and every year. Last year there were about 25 people that attended. But one person, Doug, a fellow bike club member, had initially set the bar high when it came to being in costume. He has shown up as a pirate, a head hunter, and last year as a Genie. To put it in a mild manner, he REALLY gets into this dressing up in a costume. In fact, I remember jaws dropping when he pulled up in his vehicle as the Head Hunter.


Doug, as the Pirate in 2007!



Here's the group picture from last year.

After the costume contest, there’s a drawing for “door prizes”. Everyone that shows up gets a raffle ticket and then everyone that dresses up in costume gets an extra ticket. So everyone has two chances to win some fun prizes to take home. I will admit that most of the prizes are bike related but then you have to remember that it is a Halloween bike ride.

Debbie, a pumpkin, and myself as a Black & White Cruella in 2007.

And so, as I’m putting the last touches together for this event I’m finding myself getting more and more excited about it. Just like that little kid the night before Christmas!

Love Your Body 10K Run & Big Bad Voodoo Daddy!

What an amazing weekend I had!  On Saturday morning I woke up early and ran the Love Your Body 10K run that's put on by Wasatch Woman at the wonderful venue of Thanksgiving Point.  I joined 1800 other women to run through the amazing gardens and I would have probably had a better running time... But DARN IT!  I HAD to take some pictures along the way.  It was just too beautiful not to.  Here are some photos from the run...

Then, I came home shower/changed and biked over to Liberty Park to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy for FREE!  It was the High Road for Human Rights Musical Festival.  Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played a set at 2pm then came back at 6pm and played another set.  I got to hang out with friends and catch a great deal of interesting people watching. And I tell you even on my worst day-- I never considered some of the outfits these people wore out in public.  It was ANYTHING GOES!   I was just waiting for the grampa with the plaid pants and striped shirt to show up at any minute because he would have fit right in~!    Here's some pictures of the concert...



If you look really close in the center, there's a guy with a tye dye shirt and patch quilt pants with a reggae hat on. OMG!



Another band that played in between Big Bad Voodoo Daddy sets.  And I thought Scaw music was dead? NOT! (But maybe it should be?)