Monday, August 23, 2010

Weekend of Celebrations

This past weekend was one fun and special celebration after another!

First, my husband and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on Saturday, August 21, 2010! Wow, time sure flies when you're having fun! Or to use the words of my husband, it doesn't feel like a day over eighteen years! LOL Kidding. Um, right, honey? You were kidding, right? Aww, yeah. He was kidding. ^_^

So how did we spend our day celebrating? We did our usual Saturday morning bike ride up through the reservation in the morning, I took a really long nap on the sofa in the afternoon while he watched football (soccer), and then later we went out to dinner for Thai food ... alone! We had a really nice time eating our favorite foods and talking {without interruption!} or having to clean up the dishes! All thanks to our teenage daughter who held down the fort at home watching over her younger sister and her grandfather. ^_^

Speaking of anniversaries... and biking... Sunday was the one year anniversary for me and my road bike. Okay, so this is kind of a dorky thing to acknowledge or even remember, I admit it. But I've been having fun keeping track of my rides in a log, plus I have an odometer on my cyclocomputer on my bike. It currently says 561 miles and according to my records, I rode 74 miles before my husband installed the cyclocomputer last fall, which means I've ridden nearly 635 miles in the last year! So cool!

That's equivalent to the approximate distance from my town in NJ to places like Myrtle Beach, SC... or Lexington, KY ... or Dayton, OH ... or Detroit, MI ... or even further than Quebec, QC, Canada! So if you live near one of those places I could have ridden my bike all the way to you.

Of course, it would have taken me a year to get there. LOL! ^_^

Here is a photo of me fixing the first of three flat tires I got this summer.

At least I discovered this one before I got very far and didn't have to change it on the side of a busy road. My husband secretly took the picture back in June when he came out of the house to go to work thinking I was at least halfway through my ride already, only to find me sitting in the driveway, my eyes full of tears, fixing the flat. Apparently he thought I was pretty cute all teary eyed tackling the flat all by myself without having come in to ask for his help. And maybe for the fact that I was following instructions how to change a bike flat from a YouTube video on my iPhone that I kept pausing and playing as I got through each step, since I kind of forgot some of the steps. I seem to recall it was a particularly emotional day for me that day, but hey, some days a girl's just gotta cry over spilt milk or flat tires or whatever, right? ^_^

This is me on my bike in the driveway taken by my daughter: Much happier.

I digress. I can't think of a better way to celebrate this little one year milestone with my biking career than to have had a really awesome ride on Saturday. We tried a slightly new route on our normal loop through the local wildlife reservation that included a different hill to climb. I was worried that morning that I wouldn't be able to do it without stopping, but I did it!!! The climb wasn't quite as steep as I thought it would have been based on my perspective from the car or from having ridden it downhill with my friend Ellen last week, but it was long. Every time I climbed my way around a bend, I anticipated the top, but ended up feeling "uh oh" every time there was more climbing to do, thinking to myself, "Can I do it?" Finally, there was one last bend to the top and I was really happy that I did it all in one swoop without having to stop. Phew!

Checking our stats on my cyclocomputer at the end of our ride, I was super charged to learn that we averaged 15.1 mph for the ride, which is really good considering it is a mountain loop. Prior to this ride, we were averaging 14.5 mph for the nearly same loop. I really pushed myself and worked hard on this ride, but what a great improvement! I hope this is my new pace!

Finally, yesterday my husband and I had another evening out alone to attend a friend's wedding. The groom is in my husband's triweekly soccer gang. This was the first time I met the bride. The ceremony was lovely and the reception was a lot of fun. With all that eating and dancing, how could it not? The bride and groom looked so happy together and it was clear they were having such a great time at the reception. In ways that I can't quite pinpoint, their wedding reminded me a lot of our wedding almost exactly seventeen years ago. Or maybe it's just because this wedding took place on the same weekend as ours did all those years ago, that it made me reflect so much about our own. No matter the case, it was wonderful to be a part of this couple's special day and I relished the warm feelings and memories it brought me about our special day.

Special thanks to my dear friend Claudia who took me dress shopping two weeks ago, finding me a sexy evening dress that I love for $50 that was originally $168. Score! Plus she lent me her sassy black strappy heels and sparkly, artsy earrings and matching necklace.

Somehow, the evening escaped us without a full length photo, but here we are at the wedding last night:



This weekend of celebrations was another valuable reminder that Life is good.




I hope you had a great weekend, too. Anything exciting going on?

23 comments:

  1. Mine was interesting my washing machine went out last week so I got to bundle all the cloths up and take them to moms... and 8 hours later I had a whole clean wonderfully smelling closet LOL.

    Over labor day though I shall be in VEGAS!!! so I think this weekend will be full of packing.

    Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!!! That's so awesome that you two have been together! CONGRATS and here's to many, many more!

    Oh and congrats on the biking that's a HUGE milestone!!

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  2. I'm glad you had so a good weekend, and congrats on all the miles! LOL

    I had a really great weekend as well, went for a road trip. It was awesome, went to the desert and everything!

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  3. Yay!! Congrats... wishing you many more years of happiness, love and health.

    You looked beautiful, as you should since you are ;)

    Well, my family decided we would BBQ at the beach regardless of the rainstorm, so that's what we did on Sunday O_o They're psycho and I'm just a mess that I stayed. It was fun though. We were the only ones at the beach, the kids enjoyed having the park to themselves :) I won't be doing that again though, today was killer.

    Exciting coming up? Cheesecake Factory :D Can't wait!

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  4. Happy anniversary(ies)!

    You look beautiful!

    Not such a good weekend last weekend, but this weekend, I'm getting together with a small group of Co Cal bloggers, so I'm looking forward to that!

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  5. Happy Belated Anniversary! AND Happy Anniversary for you and your bike! *G* You could have visited me, that would have been awesome. (I am 3 hours from Myrtle Beach, SC.) Your new dress is lovely and a gorgeous color. You and your hubby look so happy together.

    Our weekend went pretty well, if not boring. *g* We ordered the kids curriculum and it will be here Wednesday and Chris has been helping the kids train for the upcoming tournament. Even I got to go after them with the Blocker-FUN! *g*

    I hope you're having a wonderful start to the week!

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  6. Congrats, Christine, on your wedding anniversary. And on doing so well with your biking. Many more great years to come!

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  7. Yay, to 17 years! My husband and I have been together for 17 years :). We've had our ups and downs, and I've learned some valuable insight into our relationship...we have a good thing, and I am happy. And I'm glad that you and your husband share that happiness too. You gotta have the other or life just isn't the same.

    I had a very exciting and special weekend too. I met Lea and Mary over in Canada on Saturday. Two wonderfully kind and smart ladies. I keep meaning to post about it, but I feel like I haven't had time.

    Hugs!

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  8. Sarai...
    Oh the dreaded washing machine crisis! Thank goodness for mom! I bet she fed you, too. ;)

    Vegas! Woohoo! You know what they say about what happens in Vegas... well if it's good, I wanna know about it! LOL!

    Thanks for the anniversary wishes. :)

    Hilda...
    I love road trips! So glad you enjoyed yours. I didn't even realize there were desserts in Venezuela. My South American geography isn't so sharp. :(

    Mariana...
    Thanks for the sweet anniversary wishes and the compliments. You're so kind. :)

    Omgosh, Mariana! It was raining all day on Sunday! and you were at the beach?!? ... although having a beach to yourself in Jersey might just be worth it.

    I started starving myself yesterday so I can enjoy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory later this week. I can't wait, too! :)

    Lori...
    Thank you for the wishes and compliments.
    One of these days, I am going to go to one of those So Cal blogger get togethers. Mark my words! In the meantime, I'll just be happy you all are having fun together! :)

    Brandy...
    Thank you for the Happy, Happy's! :)
    I checked google maps. You and I live 708.8 miles apart, door to door. I have a few more rides to do to get to that on my odometer, but I'll get there!

    Glad you had fun going after the kids with the Blocker. LOL!

    Jace...
    Thank you!! : )

    Dru...
    Thank you!! :)

    Amy...
    Seventeen years is definitely celebration worthy. Actually, every year is special and deserves recognition. :)

    I'm so happy for you, Lea and Mary! It's always great to meet fellow bloggers in person. The friendships we forge online are very real... meeting in person is like icing on the cake! I can't wait to hear about it!

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  9. Happy Anniversary to you and your sweetie!
    isn't it nice to have an evening to yourself once in awhile?

    Our 6 year Anniversary is coming up on Sept 4 and we have a babysitter in place. I don't know what we will do but it will be relaxing, darnit!

    So nice to see your beautiful pics!

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  10. Happy anniversary, Christine! And yes, it's good to remind ourselves that life is good :)

    You look great in all the pictures and your husband is so sweet :D lucky you! :)

    I'm glad you had a great time :)

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  11. Oh by the way, you could have come to me!!! I like 2 hours away from Qc, so it would have actually taken you less time! Probably 10 months instead of a full year :P

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  12. Happy Anniversary!!! Beautiful photo of you and your husband!!! I can't express to you how proud i am of you!! One year ago you started riding.. .and how long has it been since you started running? I have been so busy this summer, I've been out of the loop coming here, but as summmr turns the corner, I'll have more time to catch up. Wishing you a lovely week!

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  13. Happy (belated) anniversary - wedding and cycling :) Sounds like a lovely weekend. And I love that photo of you and your husband! You look gorgeous!

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  14. You are both gorgeous and you look great together.

    Life is good--and better when we stop to appreciate all the good in it. Thank you for the reminder, Christine!

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  15. Happy Anniversary!
    I'm glad to have read your post, because I would have totally forgotten my own anniversary of sorts. The day after tomorrow we've been together for ten years with my husband. Husband he has been only under a year, so we have also that celebration day coming later this autumn. Now I have to think what to bake for him as a surprise :) And maybe we should go out to dinner like you did...
    So, yet again - Happy Anniversary to you! I love special days :)

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  16. It sounds like you had an amazing weekend. Congrats on the successful marriage! I don't think bike riding is dorky at all. I did laugh when you said that you were getting instructions from youtube though! The wedding photo looks great. Definitely something for the mantlepiece at home!

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  17. Congratulations on your 17th anniversary!! :-D

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  18. Happy belated anniversary! What a great weekend you had. So happy for you and your hubby. Wonderful pictures!

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  19. What a pretty couple! Happy belated anniversary again Christine.

    I think you need to teach my bf on how to fix a flat tire because he had 0% knowledge and didn't trust himself to do it. LOL. But seriously you rock! such inspiring photos you've got.

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  20. Happy belated anniversary, Christine. :)

    I like the pics, especially the last one. You and your husband make a great couple. :)

    And so *g* that you got the instructions on fixing the flat from youtube! :D

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  21. I'm so behind in responding to all of your lovely comments. I'm so sorry!

    Michelle : Happy Anniversary to your and your husband on Sept. 4! I'm glad you guys already have a sitter lined up. Even if you just go out for coffee and dessert for an hour... it's so important to have even that short time alone to focus on each other.


    nath : Thanks for the anniversary wishes and yes! My husband and I are very lucky indeed. We make a great couple, if I may say so myself! ^_^

    How cool that I could have ridden my bike to you! 10 months instead of a full year is definitely more appealing! LOL!


    doodlegirl : Thank you! Yes, I've only been riding for one year. I'm so glad I really enjoy the sport.

    The anniversary of my running "career" isn't until November, if you can believe it! I think Nov. 4 was the first day of the running class I took last year.


    orannia : Thanks for the wishes and compliments! :)

    azteclady : Thank you my dear! Husband and I are great together. :)

    As much as I like talking about myself and all the good things I'm doing, places I'm going, etc... I do share these things as a way to remind myself and others about all the joys in life that we often take for granted... and maybe inspire others to make or find joy if they're in a tough spot at the time. I hope it's working. :)

    Maija : Happy 10 year anniversary to you and your guy. And how SWEET that you're still a newlywed (even though you've been together for a decade)!!! Did you bake him a surprise?

    firepages : Thank you, sweetie! :) Yeah... looking up directions to change a bike tire on YouTube is rather funny, isn't it? Although also very resourceful! :D

    Tracy : Thanks for the anniversary wishes! :D

    Leslie : Thank you! Glad you liked the pics!

    Natalie : Thank you! Tell your bf to look up how to change a bike flat on YouTube. That's how I learned. :P Although my husband did show me first last year when I first got my bike.. but if you don't do it yourself, you forget the little steps.


    Taja : Thanks for the anniversary wishes! We are pretty cute, aren't we! ; )

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  22. Thanks! Yep, I baked him a surprise and we went out to eat a nice dinner. It was a really nice day :)

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