a close shave

every year nick has a ritual head shaving. in carefree days of our youth this was a two step process.

step 1. cut a mohawk....enjoy it for awhile...maybe even be ridiculous a bit.

step 2. shave it all off.

step 3. grow it all out for another year.

now that we've entered the time of our lives when we have to be serious and old step 1 gets skipped over (except for maybe a moment at home) and we move on to steps 2 and 3.

we move on and we take pics.

we move on and we take pics and we celebrate my hair being the longest again.

the calm [orange] before [after] the storm

picture from thechicagoist.com

Wednesday night we had a storm. a MASSIVE storm. and we were on the nice calm side of it. it was not nice everywhere.

the tornado sirens went of in the loop for the first time in a LONG time. lightening overwhelmed WGN's weather sensors.

and then the sky got weird. all orange-y. so I took pics. (and am crossing my fingers that these storms stay away this weekend while camping)

blackberries!

for me the summer means fruit.

yes it also means no school, lots of bike rides, beach times, reading time, craft times, but most importantly it means fruit.

smoothies for breakfast, fresh fruit for lunch, fresh fruit for snacks, with yogurt and granola, on oatmeal in the morning, atop my salad, basically: fruit get in my BELLY!

so when the flyer for a market I'd never heard of crosses my path and they have blackberries on sail for $0.99 as opposed to the $3.49 my normal store was advertising...all I have to say is blackberries? YES PLEASE!

so I ventured to this unknown store....and bought 12. considered 20 but bought 12. 4 1/2 pounds of delicious blackberries for $11.88. I left a few out to be enjoyed in their freshness, and froze the rest to be enjoyed as the moment comes.

summer cycling....the first 50 miles

several rides on the trail

no pictures here..too busy riding!

2 picnics with nickface

one trip to a hot dog stand

and one lazy afternoon at the beach

when the power goes out.....I clean.

last friday it rained.

naturally it follows that the power would go out.

naturally it follows that I'd don my headlamp and start cleaning.

first I washed dishes.

then I made my bathroom sparkle.

then I jumped on the el headed downtown for another type of cleaning. where I cleaned up in the game about books against the english major/english teacher claires.

books vs. reality

I've been reading a lot so far this summer and my books seem to be more exciting versions of the life I'm leading.

I read about a girl who sails solo around the world on a 26 foot sailboat...as I finish that I get ready for my sailing adventure

I read about a guy who hikes the Appalachian Trail....and am heading into the woods to go camping next weekend.

I'm not sure if this means I should be concerned about book number three that I dive into or I should start to dream big.

bike maintenance 101

we went to one of my favorite stores (REI) for a class to talk about taking care of one of my favorite things (my bike) I was going to write a post...but someone (claires) already took care of it. so I will give a link instead.

and then a few thoughts...even though I do know what a derailleur is, i still learned things...all the tools that I should carry on rides but seldom do, how I should clean my bike at least a few times a year rather than my zero times in a few (4) years, how to properly tighten my quick releases, and the good old wiggle woggle.