Showing posts with label Salt Lake City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salt Lake City. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Trick-or-Treaters, Bike Rides, & A Month End...

I had 2 trick-or-treaters that showed up on my door step last night. It surprised me and I was totally unprepared. All I could offer them were Clift Sports Bars. One of the kids just gave me a look like, “What in the Heck is this?” I offered to give him cherry-flavored sports beans instead. “Beans?! No Lady, that’s okay, “and they walked down the hall to the next door. For two years, I’ve been prepared for kids to visit my apartment door and never had anyone show. It would figure the one year, I’m unprepared I have a couple show. Go figure!


The whole group of riders at the 5th Annual Tricky Treat Costume Ride!



First Place Costume Prize- Minnesota Viking and her trusty steed!
The 5th Annual Tricky Treat Costume Ride this last Saturday was a success and TONS of fun. There were almost 50 riders and 85% of them came in costume. The first prize went to the Minnesota Viking and her faithful steed. Second place was an original costume that referred to himself as the “Antelope Island Road Kill”. He had a broken helmet as well as an arm and buffalo tracks all over. Third place brought in the Groovy Trio. Though, I will say that it almost made me think of Thing One and Thing Two when my friends Diane & Kym stood next to each other. And in fourth place were a copper and robber. After the costume contest we did door prize drawings. Thanks to the donations and help from my wonderful group of friends, there were a little over 25 door prizes for the riders to possibly win. It was very nice because a great deal of the riders went home with something. A BIG THANKS to Doug Jensen, the Levenson’s, Penny Perkins, Curt Griffin, the BCC Club, and my Disneyland friend Sal.

Myself, the "Holy Ghost", & 2nd Place Winner- Antelope Road Kill.


3rd Place Winners- The Groovy Trio- Diane, Stephen, & Kym.


4th Place- Cops & Robbers!




I was just amazed at the variety of costumes. There were two REAL highlights once the ride started. One of the highlights of the ride was a donut stop at a local bike shop (Salt Lake City Bike Company) where we got to play a version of the “Wheel of Fortune” and win tire patch kits, water bottles, or a tire tube. The other highlight happened as all 50 of us waited at a stop light. As we stood with our bikes waiting for the light a group of Japanese tourists were in the cross walk. They stopped and quickly grabbed their cameras. It was a variation of paparazzi! Cameras were flashing and various people standing by us having their picture taken. I was crying because I was laughing SO hard. Sometimes, there’s some truth in stereotypes?


And the month report for October....
I still have 7 more lbs. to lose to my goal weight.

I'm currently working on porch #83,84, & #85.  I seem to be having issues with completely finishing a painting.  I'm hoping to cure that problem soon!

STATS for the Month...
18.5 miles Running
100 miles Cycling
2 hours 3 minutes on elliptical
Read 5 books this month --up to 53 books for the year!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Dentists & End of Month

I’ve been living the last two weeks with hot and cold sensitivity on the upper left side of my mouth. It’s been getting worse and worse. The last week, I’ve managed to lose 2 lbs. because I don’t want to eat due to pain. It’s my own fault. There’s one thing I HATE more than anything else--- going to the dentist’s office! It’s been 2 years since I went last and that was for an awfully painful root canal. I also didn’t care for the dentist that I went to; talk about a cold fish!


I decided I needed to go somewhere because it wasn’t getting any better. But I wanted to go to another dentist; preferably a nice person with some personality. A girlfriend recommended her dentist and we went by her dentist’s office one day. She introduced me to a gal in the office and the next thing I knew I set an appointment. I figured give it a try and everyone in the office I met seemed nice. Besides, I really did need to get my tooth fixed. It’s not an ideal way to lose weight, and I was praying to God that it wasn’t another root canal.


I like the new dentist. He walked in, shook my hand, and talked to me person to person. I felt like he wanted to get to know me before he started in with the dentistry stuff. That was nice for a change. When we got around to the dental talk he managed to be encouraging and positive. The last “cold fish” had made me feel about 2 inches high for not taking better care of my teeth. I also discovered that my body may metabolize Novocain at a faster rate because I had experience episodes in the dentist office where there was pain when there shouldn’t have been. The new dentist said we could try something else and that he had a policy of a no pain approach.


It ended up being a very deep cavity that was causing the problem. Oh BOY, did I luck out! It was pleasantly a no pain session. I didn’t even feel the needle. He was so smooth and gentle. Now for the next step and the next fix on my teeth is a crown. Tomorrow morning, I get to go in for that to be fixed. I’ve just started to get cold sensitivity in that area (the lower left) which the dentist says we need to catch before it becomes a problem. Meanwhile, I can see the dollar signs draining out of my pocket book; another reason I’ve never been fond of the dentist. But if I pay my bill that day his office offers to give a 20% discount. So, I guess it could be worse.


End of Month…

Weight- 8 more lbs. to go thanks to the dental situation.

100 SLC Porches- I’m up to 80 out of the 100. I’m a couple of porch paintings behind. But I’m hoping with the cycling season almost to an end that I’ll be able to catch up a bit.  The photo of the #80 porch painting is above.  It's a watercolor on 11" x 11" Paper.  To view the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches Art Project, click here.

Uncluttering my life- The goodwill is still growing and I’m thinking I need to take that pile to the actual goodwill. But that’s just a thought so far.

Stats for the month-

16.5 miles running
358 miles cycling
1 hour 21 minutes on the elliptical
Read 4 books this month (up to 48 for the year.)

Friday, May 27, 2011

Weighing in Before the Weekend...

Just a quick note before I head off to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend.  May you all have a wonderful weekend!  I hope it's good weather and full of fun where ever you are.  I've all ready have a BBQ cancelled due to the weather prediction of rainy weather here.  I'm really hoping it'll clear enough so I can get out on my bicycle.  Keep you fingers crossed!  I'm trying to think happy thoughts and sunshine.  I hope positive thinking can change the weather but if it doesn't I'm going to end up looking like this mad puppy! Grrr! 
I found myself down another pound this morning when I weigh in.  Yes!  I'm now down a total of 20 lbs.  and I have 12 more to go!  It feels good and I'm really feeling good about my progress.  I'm about 2/3 of the way towards my goal weight. 

Friday, May 20, 2011

A Quick Weigh In & An Art Show...

The scale stuck tightly with the same weight as last week.  I'm still down 19 lbs. and still have 13 more to go.  It's a bit of a stalemate I suppose.  I will admit that with the rainy weather we've been getting a great deal of late I didn't get the exercise I usually do.  I just barely managed to get to the top of the Emigration Canyon ride on Tuesday night before it started getting a bit rainy on the way down.  And it was chilly on top of it!  Last night it was rainy again and I ended up at the gym last night.  I ran 3.25 miles on the treadmill and then "cooled down" on the elliptical for 25 minutes.  The cramp came back but it was after almost 3 miles running.  I ran a mile then did some stretches, and then ran more.  I'm thinking that maybe I just need to do a bit more stretching with my runs in the future.

Tonight is the opening for the 3rd Annual Gallery Roll 2011.  It's a Bike Art Show that takes place at a local bike shop; The Salt Lake City Bike Company in downtown Salt Lake City.  Bike and Art my two favorite things combined.  What fun!  The show is kind of unofficially a part of the Salt Lake City Gallery Stroll, and it's also kind of part of the Salt Lake City Bike to Work Week.  Then, May is national bike month too.  I was in this art show two years ago with my Halloween Bike painting.  This year, I have three of my paintings that were accepted into the show; one oil painting and two watercolors. 
Here's one of them.... 
"Shadow Cycling Chalk Creek Canyon", watercolor on paper.