Happy 21st NiBo!

My little NiBo is all grow'd up. Today he turned 21, I wonder what kind of trouble the sibling adventures hold in store now that we are all 21+

Here's a photo montage in celebration! Happy Birthday Bud! 

Happy Birthday NiBo!!

Remember Monday...

You know, Monday, the day of the no choice snow day. Where we had about 11" of snow on the ground. Well you wouldn't know it by the weekend we had.

The weather we had on Friday was amazeballs. So much so that I went out on a limb and bought some rollerblades. Sure I might get weird looks through town but I don't care. I'm a kid of the 90's and I grew up with rollerblades, and it's more fun than running and a good exercise too.

The weather was even so nice, the cover came off the bike and out of the shed for a ride around town

If Saturday had been more like Friday, that would have been ideal. With several and I mean several layers, the Rural Renegades geared up, braved the cold and wind and headed to the big city for the annual Blessing of the Bikes. Tons of bikes were there this year even though the weather was less than ideal. They even had to start the blessing early because the parking lot was filling up so much! 

Here's a few pics from the day...

It's a fun event that I look forward to every year, it's the official start of the riding season.

The Birthday I Gained My Age in Pounds

Holy sweets and foods batman! This birthday was my 27th, and I think I gained 27lbs, not kidding! It has been a busy birthday weekend and I am pooped! I even kind of did an around the world food tour for my birthday.

Thursday: My friends are moving to Hawaii. I know how terrible for them, so we had a going away/Heather's birthday dinner at the Mexican restaurant. They were made aware of my birthday and I had to wear a sombrero, but there was free dessert.

Friday: February 8th! The real deal, as of 7:29am I am officially 27.  Holy moly sweets. There were donuts, cookies, cupcakes and MONKEY BREAD! Lunch out was a slight disaster but we made it work (stupid Panera and your redic lines, but BK is there) Then after work I got my haircut (hello layers) and then we had Chinese (I was mad craving some eggrolls) I was then serenaded by the man who clears the tables and boxes up your food (um amazing voice, everyone stared) but there was free desert ;) (are you keeping up with how the lbs can really add up?!)

Look at the beautiful tulips from OL :D

A.Drama really knows how to decorate a cake! 

Saturday: I worked all day then had a dinner date, pizza, more food..yum, with some friends and then we went bowling. I suck at bowling but man it is a cheap and entertaining way to spend your evening with friends. NiBo was present too, he took the pic. Then it was back home for a little TV and off to bed, early morning headed to Chi!!

Sunday: Birthday weekend tradition. Head to Chicago for the Auto Show! We made a pit stop in Page Turner land for some 50's style breakfast and then headed up 55 to McCormick Place. Luckily we didn't get lost and traffic wasn't too bad on the way up or back. Gpa couldn't go but wanted us to make sure we picked up brochures for him to check out. I checked out all the cars that are on my possibly buy list and narrowed it down to just a few. I have a few months to research and talk myself out of it. But we had a great day! NiBo ran into a few rodents while were at the Kia booth, luckily they were kind enough to pose for a picture. We did quite a bit of walking around so hopefully that helped to shed some of the monkey bread and donuts away.

The new 2014 Corvette Stingray

I don't feel any wiser and luckily didn't go grey or wrinkly overnight. I look forward to what the rest of the year brings, hopefully some nice changes that have been long over due for such a nice lady such as myself.

Just a shout out to everyone who wished me a happy birthday or helped to make my day special. And thanks to you blog reader for stopping by today!

Dear Self, Get It Together!

I am tired of being overweight I really am. Here it is Wednesday already and I haven’t been to the gym….yet. My goal is to get to the gym 3 days a week in the Sunday-Saturday range, so I’m still on track for that to happen. I took yesterday off, because, well just because; I needed a break from work. I’ve been working some overtime again to make some extra money. I did accomplish cleaning out my closets with all the junk that I don’t wear anymore with the plan of having a big ol yard sale in the spring. Is there such a thing as Winter cleaning? I’ve heard of Spring cleaning…but anyway. Yesterday A.Drama came over and helped me go through my closet and was very helpful in telling me things that were ugly and needed to go. (I bribed her to help with lunch and Reese’s, it wasn’t free of charge)

But back to work today and I had to come clean to ‘Jillian’ that I hadn’t been to the gym yet this week. She was less than impressed, even though I told her I had cleaned up my whole room. Her response and I quote “I guess maybe your clean house is your priority this year.  ;)  though I thought it was YOU.”  Ouch, and to add insult to injury she reminded me that I have a comfy warm gym to travel to while she ran outside yesterday morning in the negative weather.

So what’s my deal? After we got done cleaning yesterday it was about 5 and I was a little tired. I had the intention of taking a little nap, opps I slept until 9?!?! What the crap. I swear I have some sort of sleeping disorder and if it doesn’t exist I’m calling it the Rip Van Winkle. But none the less, enjoying sleep is not a great reason to not go to the gym. Once I’m at the gym I'm not angry or thinking I’m going to die or anything, so what’s the mental hold up here. I want to get fit, I have the time, I have the capability, I just can’t figure out what the holdup is. Is there some kind of underlying fear of failure? I’ve been watching The Biggest Loser and there is always something underlying causing the inability, I’m still trying to figure out mine I guess.

Have you ever had to overcome yourself to help get to a goal?

Just Not A Morning Person

I tried, for about a week to wake up early enough to work out in the morning. It just did not go well. I enjoy my sleep too much. But with a little "pep talk" from my friend Jillian (that's what I'm calling her because she is up to the task of the though love I need, just like Jillian Michaels) I've been to the gym three times this past week. I'm once again working on my couch to 5k app. Jillian keeps telling me to stick with it and by the end I will be able to actually be a runner. She also keeps telling me that runners come in all shapes and sizes. To keep me motivated she harps on me non stop, I will even try to hide from her if I didn't go to the gym, she turns the shame on...it works. She showed me her before and after pictures and all she did was start running and watch what she ate. Jillian is one of the crazy people who gets up at like 4am to go run. Maybe one day I'll be that crazy, don't hold your breath.

I finally got to try out my new running shoes that I had bought oh about a year ago when I last decided I was going to be a runner. I really hope I stick it out. I have 2 races coming up in April, a 5k and a 10k, then the Warrior Dash in June. There is also talk of a Hawaii trip in the fall, so I definitely want to be hula ready by then. It's like a 100some days until Summer too.... plenty of time to get in shape...right?

The gym is so much fun! Red face is hot and attractive right? May you all have a happy work out! Make sure you get your workout in... you don't want Jillian calling you up and yelling at you! 

A Morning Person I am Not... yet

This past week I have been on a quest, a quest to become a morning person. So far I have failed miserably. It's not for a lack of trying. I even moved my alarm clock all the way across the room in an effort to get my arse out of bed.

I have googled "How to become a morning person" several times, hoping for some assistance. They are kind of helpful I suppose. But one suggested I buy a $200 wake up light to help. While they look awesome and I do miss the morning sun, I can't justify $200 dollar for an alarm clock when I can't even get my cheap one to do its job. Alot of them say to sleep in your workout clothes to make it easier. And they keep saying don't hit the snooze button... oh well why didn't I think of that!? Um hello I wouldn't be googling this if I could stop hitting the button. I'm going to keep trying though, one day it will sink in.

I made this mistake of telling some co-workers about my secret covert operation. One of whom is already a morning runner and gets up like 4:30 AM! to run multiple miles!! As they asked about my progress and the excuses came flying out of my mouth even I was embarrassed and knew I was grasping at the bottom of the barrel for excuses and it was sad. I finally just stopped and said, I have no excuse. I don't have any excuses but I'm going to keep setting my alarm for 5:15 and hope that one day it just hits me and I get up and stay up.

But in some good news, my Weight Watchers journey is still going strong. I'm down 11.4lbs. Progress is progress no matter how slow. Although it's difficult at times that it's not coming off faster, at least it's coming off. I'm getting down to the zero barrier to get my butt in gear so I don't look like a donkey's ass at the races I have signed up for.

Crash, Boom, Bang!

... also know as how we spent our New Years. Now that a few day's have passed and everything has been worked out and everyone is officially alright, here is the story of how we began 2013, in with a bang! 

Shortly before noon I get a call from NiBo frantic saying he just had an accident and wrecked his car.. it's pretty bad he said." Without hesitation I fly out the door still in my pj's and try to make my way towards where he was at. I wasn't speeding at all because the back roads were slick... but I still managed to go in the ditch and mess my car up too. 

Simon's first boo-boo

Thankfully NiBo is ok, just a little scraped up and sore, and a little bit of chemical burn from the airbag. The probe was not so lucky. Sadly we had to say goodbye to the '94 Ford Probe. Affectionately know as 'Herman' when he was mine, 'Taz' by A.Drama and NiBo knew him as 'Frank' short for Frankenstein (because at this point there were several swapped parts and nuts and bolts holding a few pieces together)

Herman came into our lives the fall before my 16th birthday, back in 2001. But this wasn't the first rodeo for Herman, back in 2004 he was totaled after a Jeep Cherokee got a probe in the rear-end (haha, get it?!) but with a few repairs he was back on the road. In 2007 when I upgraded the torch was passed to A.Drama, then on down the line to NiBo. 

My first accessory was a purple fuzzy steering wheel cover, which you can kinda see in the first picture. My upgrades to Herman included an upgraded bitchin' new stereo (it was a CD player, no need for a stock cassette) another convenience upgrade was a remote starter. I've never been lucky enough to have a garage so this feature came in very handy for several years. When I was in high school gas prices were not nearly as high as they are now and every Friday or Saturday night everyone would just cruise up and down main and make the loop. It's kinda sad that kids these days don't get to experience that. 

I have so many great memories of cruising main with my girlfriends blasting Backstreet boys and singing at the top of our lungs or stopping through McDonalds to get fries or through DQ to get a cone. Those days are gone and I basically just use my car now for travel back and forth to work, don't really have the leisure time money to spend just to go drive around and listen to music. It's kind of bittersweet losing the first car. But I'm glad Herman 'Frank' went out with his boots on and his legacy got to be experience by all my siblings. I chose good when I picked the shiny red Probe with the pop up headlights, that's badass when you're 16.

You were good to us Herman, may your belts never squeak and your oil never more leak. You will be missed (especially by NiBo since he is in a borrowed car now) Thank you for the great memories and may you enjoy that big parking garage in the sky! 

16 and can finally drive alone! February 8th, 2002

Cruisin' the town 

Herman weathered a good storm or two 

October 19, 2001 - January 1, 2013