I biked to the top of a mountain, and other things

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope everyone had as awesome of a weekend as I did, because I had an awesome weekend. It started Friday with new glasses and ended Sunday installing one of the prettiest designs I ever did see (in my humble opinion). 

1. I seriously can't get enough of these babies. Tune in later this week for more info on how you can get a pair of your very own. 2. Friday night was Happy Hour Hangout with Ashten and Amber and it was ah-mazing. This group of girls had so much to offer on all things blogging and my little heart was so happy and full at the end of our session. Read Ashten's recap here and Amber's recap here. 3. Derek and I ventured to Oak Mountain State Park (in Birmingham) for the first time (my first time, not his) and we CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN on our bikes. This picture was taken right at the peak, after a three mile incline.  4. Celebratory stance on some rocks. They don't look that tall but behind me was the drop off of the side of the mountain and I felt pretty tall up there.  5. 16.7 miles of intense trails (my furthest ride yet!) call for intense re-fueling. On hot wings and beer. Duh. 6. On Sunday I decided to make nomz in the form of raspberry oatmeal bars (recipe to come) and it took every fiber in my being to not eat the whole batch right out of the oven.
Other weekend things included grocery shopping, buying a new Camelbak after mine busted (these things are awesome), and tons of homework and studying. I seriously wish every weekend could be as awesome as this one was. Today I'm back to the hospital for another night-time clinical, but last week I got to help deliver a beautiful baby boy into the world, so maybe I'll get lucky again tonight!
PS: I am looking for some wide-angle lens recommendations for my Nikon D5100 and would love any suggestions! I've also decided to get the Nikon 50mm 1.8 but would like to order a wide-angle at the same time. Thanks in advance!
How was your weekend?

Linking up with Rachael and Meg!

Weekend things

Look at me, blogging on a Monday like a big girl. I know last week I was kinda MIA for a few days but that's what a five page case study, care plan, 12 hours of work, 8 hours of clinical, 2 exams and 8 hours of class will do to a person. At least I think that's everything that happened, I'm trying to block most of it from my active memory.

I had Friday off and spent most of the day blog designing and doing a little homework but mostly I relaxed, which I haven't done in a while. Derek and I decided not to do anything big for Valentine's day because we really didn't see the point in going to some fancy restaurant just to wait an hour to be seated when I can cook  perfectly good steak at home.

Except my steak caught on fire while it was cooking. Thankfully it was still eatable but just a little on the "well done side."

Saturday we went mountain biking (yes, again) and I decided that I wanted to have a leisurely ride instead of trying to keep up with Derek. So I put my headphones in and turned on my classical Pandora station and took my time to finish 9ish miles while Derek did about 11.5. It was so, so nice. And I only fell one time and it didn't even hurt that bad so I'm going to say it was a good day.

One of the reasons I love biking so much is because it's absolutely gorgeous to ride around the lake for several hours. There really isn't much I'd rather be doing on a Saturday. Call me crazy.

After we rode, we had an impromptu "date" at the oyster bar down town, where we haven't eaten since summer and it was soo sooo sooo good. I wasn't even embarrassed about the fact that I had mud on my knees and up my back (like a skunk tail) because the food was that good.

Even thought it was February and freezing, there's something about eating some raw oysters and bacon wrapped Mahi that makes it feel like summertime.

Sunday I got to have a lunch date with my awesome Mama, who I haven't seen since Christmas. Even though it was short and sweet, I'm glad I got to spend some time with her.

The rest of the evening was spent at work and today I'm getting ready to go to a night clinical (yay) and do some more studying/school work.

I'm living the life I tell ya.

Linking up with Rachael and Meg!

Another confession + weekend activities

I know I just confessed a lot of things on Friday, but I have another confession. Over the weekend I looked at GOMI (Get off my Internets - essentially a blog bashing website). I mean, I've gone to the URL before and glanced around the home page but this time I actually read what people had to say about bloggers. About bloggers I love to read and bloggers I don't love to read. 
Did I feel good about doing it? No. But it's like a black hole... it just sucks you in and you have no control over it and the next thing you know it's been over an hour and you've read so so many pages and you can't take it back. I'm not going to tell you the specifics of what was said about who, because if there's one thing I did realize while I was on the site, it's that I'm not in to internet bashing. 
You may think I'm hipocrytical since I'm basically telling you I spent the better part of my Friday night reading this site, but even though I occasionally would nod my head in agreement at the idea of what someone was saying, I completely and wholeheartedly disagree with their method of saying it. 
My theory is, if you don't like it, just leave it alone. I, personally, am not a huge fan of chocolate ice cream. But do you see me coming to my blog bashing chocolate ice cream, the makers of it, and the people that eat it? No... I just buy vanilla for me, chocolate for Derek, and get on with my life. I just don't understand why people on the internet can't be more like this.
Sorry for the rant.
The rest of my weekend was pretty pleasant. Saturday I had the WHOLE day to myself to do whatever I wanted. So I went to a movie alone (August: Osage County) (aaaaammmaazing), went grocery shopping, and came home to cook dinner and curl up with a redbox. I know, I am the epitome of excitement.

Has anyone else noticed that essentially all women's athletic shoes have SO MUCH pink on them? Out of all the women's Nike shoes in Academy these were the three pairs that didn't have a lot of pink. It's ridiculous. don't they know that not all of us are obsessed with pink things? Or neon for that matter?

My grocery haul consisted of lots of fresh goodies for my clean eating journey. I will confess that I didn't do to great at the end of last week but I was on point this weekend.
Sunday Derek and I got up and went to our favorite mountain biking trail and it wasn't pretty. The day was pretty, the ride was a different story. Usually when we bike, I am pretty slow and there is a chance that I may take a small tumble but nothing serious. 

Before the ride - I had no idea what was coming.
Yesterday, I took three hard falls. One of them was off a bridge and I cried and cried and no one came to my rescue so I had to limp/ride/walk the last mile of the trail all alone. It was pitiful. But even though I'm bruised and banged up pretty bad and I have a bent brake lever on my bike, I don't think it will stop me from riding again.
Oh yeah, I also finished up on Juliette's beautiful (in my opinion) new blog design. If you're interested in getting one yourself, head over to my design site for some more info!
How was your weekend?

My first mountain biking adventure

I can't believe I survived 8 miles on a mountain bike trail!

Swayback Bridge Trail in Wetumpka, AL

 

As I mentioned Monday, I went on my first mountain biking adventure on Saturday. When we left to get the bikes I was a mix of emotions. Was I going to like it? Was I going to be good? Will I fall? But mostly I was excited. Excited to be trying something new, something that Derek enjoys and something that we can hopefully begin to do together on a regular basis.

 

A little after mile 2

 

The answers to those questions, yes I did like it, no I'm not very good (yet), and yes I did fall. A lot. My first fall wasn't bad. Derek thought it was pretty funny though. I let him know that it was not okay to laugh at me. I knew that he knew he stepped in doo doo when he said "Hey, you wanna stop and take  a picture?" Boy knows the way to my heart...

 

The trail went right along the edge of Lake Jordan for a while

 

At this point Derek is in front of me yelling "Don't fall here, or you'll go in the lake!" Thanks babe, lots of help.

 

We rode for a total of approximately 8 miles. The longest trail would have been about 12 miles but we didn't finish the second loop because I was tired and both of our booties hurt like heck. Derek was surprised I even finished 8 miles, since this was a pretty tough trail. We rode through several parts of the trail with names like "Devil's Driveway," "Bastards loop," "The Elevator," and "The zipper."

 

Devil's Driveway

 

Then there were options for crazy people experienced bikers to ride on these kinds of things:

Logs that were flattened with a chain saw. No thanks.

 

 To the left of that big curve was another log that had been flattened. It was all of 8 inches wide.

 

My knees after the ride.

 

Even though my heart ended up in my stomach on most down hills, and I fell several times, aaand I think I now have some mild poison ivy, this is something I could definitely see myself getting used to and doing on a regular basis. I'm proud of myself for getting back on after falling and not getting too discouraged (there were definitely some moments of frustration) and never quitting. It's a great form of physical activity (just ask my legs) and it's fun. And this is technically the first thing I get to cross off my 101 in 1001 list which is even better, since I wasn't planning or expecting to do it so soon.

 

To view the full list of 101 goals in 1001 days, click here.



 

Linking up with Shanna and Robin.

On Mondays we write about our weekends

Hey there Blog Land and happy Monday! Per usual, the weekend started with Friday night, which consisted of getting off work, eating a sandwich, slipping into my jammies by 9 and in bed by 10. I know, I need to calm down.

Saturday started off with the usual game of "I don't know, what do you want to do?" and we finally decided to go get some lunch and do some shopping for our upcoming trip to 'dega. While at lunch, Derek got a call from a friend (who he had called earlier) giving us permission to borrow his bikes. We were going mountain biking! I wouldn't call Derek a professional but he definitely has experience (he rode BMX for years and has been mountain biking for a while too). My experience consists of riding my Academy bike to the pool and back when I was 16. Needless to say I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

In the end, I survived. Check back in later this week for a more detailed account of our 8 mile ride. After the ride, we ventured over to the Jordan Dam just because we felt like it.

They only had one turbine open, but the water was still pretty high.

 

Sunday we stayed around the house most of the day, doing yard work and some cleaning. We eventually made it back into town to get the things we needed for camping. And ended the night grilling out and being lazy. All in all, it was a pretty laid back, uninteresting weekend.

 

Linking up for:

Weekend Shenanigans

This Weekend I...

Mingle Monday