Lucas and I don't usually work out together. He goes to his gym; I do to mine. We like to bike together, but that requires a good chunk of time. It was a nice evening after work, and we weren't feeling super energetic. Instead of hopping on our bikes, we went for a stroll around our neighborhood. We're in a very residential area that was not built on a perfect grid. We wandered up this street and over to that one and before we knew it we stumbled upon Pearson Park. Tucked away, I had no idea it existed. It's set back off the street beyond a little walking bridge. There's a great covered shelter with two nice, newer looking playgrounds, a basketball court and a path around the area. While I have no current need for a park, I anticipate needing one eventually.
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Being a new homeowner in West Des Moines, I'm excited to get to know my new town. My last two residences were in Des Moines and Urbandale. While I've lived in the metro 4.5 years now, there are too many roads and paths to know them all. Today was such a beautiful day, we decided to get to know a few new ones. Lucas and I hopped on our bikes for a quick 3 mile ride to Raccoon River Park. A quick check of the local trail map gave us a decent idea of easiest way to get there. We don't like riding on the roads if we don't have to. Luckily, we only rode on a few back streets for a couple blocks before connecting with the Jordan Creek Trail. I've never been on this trail and didn't know where it connected. We started in Fairmeadows Park on 22nd and Vine and rode the trail all the way to the north side of the park. The trail isn't perfectly marked so I was concerned we'd get lost, but we didn't. It was a beautiful day for discovering a new trail and relaxing at the beach.
Today's the perfect day to hop on a bike and check out some urban chicken coops! This is probably not a typical thought for most of us. It was never a thought for me until I randomly found out about the inaugural Urban Tour de Cluck bike ride. The ride was hosted by Urban Community Concepts, whose mission is to connect resources to help other organizations build stronger communities. As someone always excited about learning new things and doing new things, I figured this ride would be great. And it was. For $15, you had six hours to bike (or drive) to a dozen homes with chicken coops. We got a late start on the day so we only made it to seven. To be honest, at the beginning of the ride, I thought this could get repetitive. Boy, was I wrong. Each family had such an interesting and unique story about why they first got chickens, their experiences - good and bad - raising them and their plans for the future. Each chicken coop was so unique, too, all from reclaimed materials (double sustainability points). I learned a lot about chickens from the different breeds to their psychology. It was interesting that half of the families we talked with starting raising chickens because of their child/teenager. It (almost) makes me want to raise chickens of our own. But even if I really wanted to, I also found out on the ride that West Des Moines (where we just bought a house) doesn't allow any chickens. Des Moines allows 30 and Windsor Heights allows two. Maybe that'll change one day... My bum is a little sore (from the first ride of the year) and my arms a little sunburn (thanks to my Irish roots), but overall, it was a really fun, informative day. I love getting to know more about what's going on in my community! I'm no racing maniac, but I've got a few finishes under my belt. None of them was a first place though until today. The key to success? Be on a team with people faster than you! My gym, Fitness World West, played host for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society indoor triathlon. There was both individual and team divisions. I swam, Tim biked, and Dawn ran. I've competed in one indoor triathlon previously. It's hard to gauge your competitors when having multiple heats even for the same division. Without knowing were we stood in the competition, we each did our best and took first place in the team division. This was no Ironman, but first place is first place. Plus, this was my first time donating to LLS.
Trying to eat healthy but have a sweet tooth? Lucas went to the grocery store alone and came home with this little gem pictured on the left. You read that correctly: it's a cookie dough protein energy bar. Using cookie dough and protein in the same sentence is amazing. It tastes exactly like an ice cream sandwich minus the cold. It probably has more fat than it should, but it also has a lot of protein.
I was eating this at my desk when my coworker walked by, did a double take, and politely asked if I was eating a candy bar. I said no, it's a protein bar. She said she had to ask because I always eat healthy. I appreciate her perception of my eating habits but admitted that I do in fact eat entire candy bars from time to time. This just wasn't one of them. Thank you Aldi for yet another yummy product. Thanks to the Irish blood pumping through my veins, I have a hell of a time trying to get tan. I've got one for you: Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest skinned of them all? Jessica, of course! I've considered moving to India where I have on good authority that it's better to be lighter skinned. Or if I went back in time to any decade before the 1990s, I'd be golden (well, not literally golden, but you know what I mean).
I jumped in my first tanning booth at the ripe age of 15 before a high school dance and with my mother's hand-written permission. I've gone in spurts ever since. I haven't fake baked in a year though, when I last did a two-month stint before my wedding. Surprisingly, I was still a spray tan virgin. When the luckiest girl I know won a free spray tanning party, I had to get in on the action. Amy with Emberglow Custom Spray Tanning brought her mobile station to my friend's house. It took less than 10 minutes to spray each of us. Immediately after stepping out of the pop-up booth the tan looked perfect. I was even able to put my clothes on right away. The next morning I rinsed off in the shower. I stepped out to see a wonderfully bronzed body. Upon further examination, though, I saw a streak of white skin on my forearms and my hands looked rather spotty. Considering all the other places - like my face - that could have been striped, this wasn't so bad. And it paid off because I had four people at work notice my golden glow (and not the imperfections). Wish I could have said I was just in the tropics, but they saw me in the office yesterday. So instead I thanked them and admitted my tan was sprayed on. I definitely will do it again. The next time I'll know to pay closer attention to my forearms and hands. Last week might have been our last stretch of beautiful weather. The cooler air sure did move in this week, which messes up my workout schedule. I've gotten into a really good groove of rotating workouts throughout the week since July when I started my triathlon training. For example, yesterday I was supposed to do an outdoor three-mile run. When I left work though, a brisk wind convinced me that was not going to happen. (I'm a huge baby when it comes to the cold.) So what's a good alternative? P90X, duh.
I have never done P90X, and until two days again, I didn't even know my husband was in possession of the fat-burning, muscle-carving, badass-making workout DVDs. Out of the 12 workouts, I randomly picked the one-hour plyometric workout. The second sentence the trainer said in the video was something to the effect that this particular workout is the mother of all the routines in P90X. Instead of ejecting the disc, I decided to give it a go. I survived the madness for 30 minutes before switching to abs. I was able to keep up with the 15-minute ab video pretty well until these side crunchy V-ups... ha! Thinking I gave a good first showing, I went to bed an accomplished P90Xer. Then I woke up today. The burn sure did set in over night. My quads and hammies reminded me every time I stood up or sat down that I was too big of a baby to run outside in 50 degree weather but thought I was tough enough for P90X. I have such fond memories of going to the dent... oh wait, no I don't. Don't get me wrong. I don't freak out at the dentist's office, but it's usually not something I get excited for. It's usually quick and painless, and I've been cavity-free since I was a kid. I was definitely not looking forward to this particular appointment. It's been two years since I'd visited the tooth doc.
My whole life I was very good about going every six months. But then I moved to Des Moines and tried to keep my dentist in Chicago. That didn't work. Then when I got dropped from my parents' insurance I tried to save some money by not getting my own dental insurance. Then I got a new job, with dental insurance, and just got lazy for six months to set up an appointment here in Des Moines. I asked for recommendations from my lovely Facebook friends and then did some research to make sure the dentist was covered by both Lucas' and my insurance (because we're difficult and each have our own). Davidson Family Dentistry in Urbandale fit the bill. I gave them a call and they happened to have two cancellations and got us both in this week. I thought skipping the dentist for two years was bad; well, Lucas has gone at least 10 years. He walked out with one cavity! I walked out with more than that. My next trip back will be next month to get my first filling in about 18 years. Dr. Davidson and the hygienist Anne were both great. They explained everything to me. They took digital x-rays and digital pictures of my teeth and showed me those on the monitor attached to my chair. Once they were done showing me the important stuff, scenic pictures of far away places took over the monitor. Classical music played in the background too. All in all, it was a great experience I like to think I know what's going on in my community. Sure, I've only been here 3.5 years and keeping tabs on what 500,000 people are doing isn't easy, but you gotta try. That's why I attended the Young Professionals Connection Volunteerism Fair at Jasper Winery Tuesday night. About 25 non-profits set up tables around the winery to talk to people about their organizations and ways to get involved. I'd heard of most of them, all of them in fact, except one: Dream Team Des Moines.
This organization had not one, not two, but four very enthusiastic dedicated volunteers manning their table. They gave Lucas and I great information about how they change teenagers' lives one pedal at a time. Each year in March they round up 50 or so at-risk teens to start training for RAGBRAI. If the teen finishes RAGBRAI, they get to keep the bike, helmet and gear they were decked out with from Bike World. It sounds like a great way to get kids active, set a goal, put in the work and accomplish their goal. Volunteers can sign up to be mentors - training with the kids weekly, chaperoning events, being good examples, and building lasting relationships. There are other opportunities too, like video and photography, administrative needs, and of course, monetary donations are always welcomed. Even though I've got three sprint triathlons under my belt, I'm not sure I can commit to tackling RAGBRAI. Lucas was more than excited though since he's done RAGBRAI. He signed up for their mailing list and looks forward to the possibility of getting involved next spring. It will never cease to amaze me how many awesome things are going on in our community. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check in with the 499,996 other people in Des Moines... I love free stuff. Free movies at the park, free parking on the weekends, winning tickets to go to a concert for free. I love free stuff which is why I don't like to complain about it. However, the past few weeks at work have been rough. See, we get free unlimited coffee at the office, which I love... usually. Out of the 6-8 flavors of coffee we brew, I only like one. So when we ran out of the Colombian a few weeks ago, we've been brewing all the bad coffee that no one likes. So instead of feeling really bad for complaining about how not good something free is, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
I picked up this Bolthouse Farms drink at the local gourmet grocer aka Aldi. It has only 130 calories, 7 grams of protein and 30% of your daily value of calcium. Sounded too good to taste good. I was wrong. It is deliciously sweet - almost too sweet for me that early in the morning. But it was a much needed change that I enjoyed. Sometimes, especially in the morning, it's the little things. |