Let it Snow......

It's snowing, not here on the ground where I am at but pretty darn close. It has been freezing and some days the temp has been in the low 30's :o( We aren't used to this and I don't like it. One thing I don't like is being cold :o( brrrrrrr!!


Before I start my update about the happenings of the last few days I'd like to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!!!

Welcome to 32 :o)

I still can't believe that Christmas is next week. We are so not ready and I'll be one of those people running around like a chicken with my head cut off shopping at the last minute.

Saturday, December 13th - 30 mile ride in Sunol
I had the best ride yet and I'm not sure it'll ever happen again...LOL!! Our team rode in Sunol and although the hills weren't crazy steep like Three Bears last weekend it was still a tough ride. You just slowly kept going up and up and up and up and no joke I thought I'd never be done.

I started out in my group as usual and the first couple of miles were pretty much flat. Once we were going to start going up Coach Beth told us to find a gear that we felt we could keep for 5+ miles, we'd be in that gear for approx. 40-50 minutes. It was all going to be up from there, yikes. Let me just say that after Three Bears I was worried about the ride, my knee and the fact that I had had Chinese food for dinner, not the best choice dinner.

Anyway, I found a gear that I felt comfortable and started pedalling. I passed a couple of people and then passed a few others. Coach Beth and Mentor Amy said I had a great cadence going and that I looked great. This was an out and back so Coach Beth said to go at our own pace and if we got ahead no biggie there was no way of getting lost. Okie dokie, here I go then.

I eventually passed up my whole group and then eventually I lost my whole group. The only good thing about this was that I was feeling great and was moving on up. The bad part though was that I ended up all alone. The mind started messing with me and at one point I wanted to cry. It seemed I was never going to finish climbing, the 14 mile turnaround seemed so far away even though I was at mile 12. At every corner I thought I was done climbing, but NOPE!! I kept on going. In my head I said...keep on going going going :o) you are doing great, you've pedaled this far KEEP PEDALING. I finally saw the water stop and was super happy. The only bad thing is that while I was talking myself into getting up that darn hill I was also freaking myself out because I knew I had to come down it :o( I am terrified of downhills.

I got to the water stop, filled up my water bottles and ate some food. I decided I would wait for my group and decent with them. I waited 25 minutes and they weren't there so Coach Cyd told me to go back down alone :o( I was waiting to long and getting cold. Okie dokie, here I go. I eventually saw my team coming up and later found out they had a flat tire so they had had to stop to fix it. I knew I wasn't that far in front but bummer I had to go back alone.

Once again big bummer I was alone but in the end I was kind of glad I was. I was so scared going down that at some turns I almost came to a complete stop which is a big NO NO, you can fall over doing that. I eventually made it down. I think I forgot to breath though, haa, haa.

It was a physically challenging day but also emotionally and mentally. I did it though and I was so darn proud of myself. I still had some knee pain but I just powered through it. It wasn't as bad as last week but it was still there. Still need to get the darn pedals checked out but haven't had time.

YIPEE!! I did 30 miles :o)

Saturday evening we had Rocky's company Holiday Party. It was held at the Scottish Rite Temple in Oakland so at least it was close by. We had a great time hanging out with his co-workers. They had dinner, did some raffles, had a dj and even had a booth to take photos. We didn't dance but people watched, that's always fun :o) We did take pictures which turned out cute. I'll have to scan it and post it.

Sunday, December 7th - Crazy Day of Shopping!
I had planned on taking my bike in to the shop to get the pedals checked but Christmas took over our day. We got up fairly early to clean our house and once we were done with that we got ready and headed out of the house.

First stop was a Christmas tree lot to get our tree. We usually get a 5-6 foot tree but because of space this year we decided to go with something smaller. We usually get a Noble Fir because I feel like the leaves are a little more sturdy for the ornaments. We went to a lot in Castro Valley which is where we got our tree last year and a 4 foot Noble Fir tree was $68.....YIKES!!!! That seemed quite pricey so we left and headed to another lot. I had seen a lot not far from my work so we headed there. We got a very pretty tree, between 4-5 ft and guess what? It was only $37 with tax...woohoo. I can't believe that going just a few miles down the road made such a big difference.

The next few stops were Target, Whole Foods and the mall. We managed to start our Christmas shopping and got a few gifts. We still need to go back and finish though :o( OY!!!

We invited Olivia and Cousin Rodney over for dinner on Sunday night for a very yummy crab dinner. Crab is my all time favorite and I try to eat it as much as I can when it's in season. When we went to Whole Foods to buy it we were very happy to find that it had gone down in price quite a bit :o) so we even got an extra crab to eat the next day.

Olivia brought some salad and Rodney steamed clams, we had quite the spread. We had WAY too much fun.

4 eaten crabs and clams

Rodney even got us to decorate our tree so it turned into a tree trimming party. Rodney supervised while Rocky and Olivia decorated the tree. I helped by unraveling all the lights and getting all the ornaments out. I love our tree and it looks pretty. Thanks Olivia for helping us out. Thanks Rodney for getting us to decorate it. It'd probably still be bare if we hadn't of done it then.


This week is filled with holiday/birthday dinners all week. I am gonna have a Santa belly before Christmas even arrives :o)