Life is like riding a bicycle...

This is how I'm feeling today....
I've been waiting to hear back about some possibly life-changing news, and if I think about it too much I'm just going to freak myself out.  I am trying to stay centered & balanced.  I walked to work today and listened to a book on my iPod.  I am going to yoga tonight.  I need to breathe.  I need to keep moving.

I know that if this news isn't what I hope it will be, that I will still be okay.  Life will take me down another road, and surprise me all over again (as it always does).  Although I'm on shaky ground now, it will be stable again.  I have faith in that. 

I will hopefully be able to be less vague by tomorrow, but I'll let you know!  :)  In the meantime I'm going to keep myself busy!
<3

Messenger Bag & Salsa

You guys must be thinking "Gosh, Beth has gone bonkers! What's with these posts lately?" - but that's okay. I'm all about the random posts the last few days, and here's yet another! :)

The other day I was on the Clymb website (kind of a deal-of-the-day site for people who like to bike, rock climb, camp, snowboard/ski, etc), because I saw that they had messenger bags up there. My current bag is on it's last leg, but I guess that's what you get when you buy a bag made out of old billboards. Sure, its green - but not built to last! Then I came across this beauty of a bag! This isn't the color that I got (I couldn't find mine on their site), but this is the style. The TimBuk2 Classic Messenger Bag (in size large). It's so magical, and I LOVE it! I rode my bike into work today for the first time since last fall, and it hugged my back just the way a bag should. Mine is silver grey and turquoise, and it holds all of my belongings perfectly, is waterproof, and very heavy-duty. They normally go for around $120-ish, but I got this puppy for $45 off the Clymb site! AWESOME!


Then last night after tap class, my derby buddy Cat A Combs and I went to the grocery store to pick up some grub. I was looking for some good salsa, and came across this gem. Raspberry Chipotle Salsa.....whaaaa??? I quickly plopped it in my cart so that I couldn't change my mind. It sweet and smoky and OH so good!! You can check out more of Mrs. Renfero's awesome salsas here!

Breakfast & Biking!

Mmmm breakfast. My favorite meal of the day. Yesterday morning I had some Kona Coffee (hazelnut flavor - yum), scrambled up an egg & topped it with salsa, and a slice of my mom's zucchini bread. (She said she had to make it because she found a 3-foot long zucchini in the garden. 1-foot of which she gave to me. I may have to make some bread myself!)

I don't have coffee every morning, but yesterday it just felt right.

Over the weekend I went on a bike ride to enjoy the last of the glorious summer days that we have left this year! Amy (my awesome neighbor) came with me, and we had a lovely time.

I love feeling the wind in my (pink) hair.

Amy - such a ham! Love her!
Oh, and my sunglasses matched her bike. I totally didn't plan that though. :)

Bikes & the City!

Yahhooooo! What a wonderful 4th of July present to me! Yes, I know gifts aren't traditionally given on Independence Day (except, you know, the gift of being an independent nation... um... nevermind) - but I have been featured on one of my FAVORITE bloggies - Bikes and the City!

I randomly sent in a coupla panda shots (you know, self portraits while ridin' my bike around town), and Mel was sweet enough to include them in her post here.

So thanks SO much to Bikes and the City for the schweet props!! My face hurts I'm smiling so much right now....

...pics of my awesome 4th of July weekend coming soon!

Hobos & Hillbillies - Crusier Ride

Yesterday was a shitty awful day for me - hence no post!
It's hard finding motivation to do anything when you're feeling down in the dumps. Luckily my boss was nice enough to let me take off early from work so that I could get some rest - I have just been really stressed out lately trying to find balance in my life. Luckily Derby practice was kickass last night (although ridiculously hard), and got my endorphins flowing again. I feel much more like myself today!

Anyway, in an effort to get into a better mood, my friend Katy & I went on the cruiser ride this week. The theme was "Hobos & Hillbillies" which is slightly more difficult than you'd think to come up with a proper costume. We didn't stay too late on the ride (the bars were just WAY too crowded), but we still had an awesome time. I sure do love group bike rides during the summer - so much fun!

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Rush Hour in the Netherlands

I had to re-post this video - I found it via the A Cup of Jo blog!

This is what an average Wednesday morning commute looks like in the Netherlands. Over 33% of the population commutes by bicycle. Pretty awesome, eh? Do you think the U.S.A. will ever be able to give up our love affair with oil, build more bike lanes, and join the rest of the world? I really truly hope so.... I would love it if our rush hour looked like this!

Ending to a cruddy Monday...

Literally, cruddy - eh? No, I didn't poop my pants. We got a freak torrential downpour of rain right before I left work today, and since I don't have any sort of fenders on my road bike I got totally douched with mud. At least the trail wasn't totally submerged, and I was still able to stay off any main roads.... but it made for one dirty lil' me!

Haha! I look like I have hairy monkey feet or something! Luckily it was just mud, and I got it all washed off....

After which I promptly rode my bike to the liquor store and bought myself a $7 bottle of wine to drown my sorrows in!

OH - and I almost forgot to tell ya! I dyed my hair last night. I got some awesome bleach stuff (Nice & Easy "True Blonde"), and amazingly it didn't turn my hair bright neon orange, but blonde! I had to leave it on for a while, but it looks like it worked like a charm. It may take another try to get all of the black out (I'm amazed it got out as much as it did), but I'm pretty darn happy with how it looks. I'm thinking about dying it purple in the near future.... it'd match with so much of what I already own (including my rollerskates)!

Hangin' out at the cafe

A coupla weekends ago I wanted to be a stereotypical blogger, and post something while enjoying a cup o' joe at Cafe Europa. Of course their internet connection was down, so that totally didn't happen! Haha!

Instead, Geneva and I just hung out, drank some delicious coffee (I got a toasted marshmallow soy latte - YUM!), and had some lovely conversation. She attempted to study, and I attempted to read - it was a great way to kill a few hours.

Afterward we rode our bikes (Geneva on her awesome one) to Wash Park and did a lap. It was a beautiful day, and some great hang out time!

First Farmer's Market of the Year

Finally, the day I've been waiting for all winter has arrived! The first day of the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market. I hopped right on my cruiser and headed down yesterday morning to enjoy the beautiful weather, and all the sights/smells/tastes to experience. Some of these vendors I've actually been dreaming about throughout the cold months - I missed my 13" tortillas (a huge stack for $6 that you could get in flavors such as jalapeño cheddar, or sun dried tomato basil), the Grateful Bread company (that concocts the most delicious 14-grain bread), and of course, the flowers, the puppies, the people, the pastries! Oh my!

Oh, those wonderful tortillas! I use them for breakfast burritos, as a thin pizza crust, a delicious snack to dip.... UGH - they are amazing.

Mmmmm..... I do love jam (and all of the other things that are available to taste)!

Ah, yes - the Greatful Bread Company! Now, I'm not a hippie anymore (I went through a bit of a phase in middle school....but who didn't?), but this bread is really amazing. Last summer I asked the woman in the booth "so what kind of ingredients do you use"? She goes "Um, you know, flour, yeast, grains, all the usual stuff you use to make bread!" - I laughed so hard! She thought it was common sense, but it's amazing how many additives we've figured out to put into bread - she sticks to the original ingredients, and it's some of the best bread ever baked (in my opinion)... funny how that works, ain't it?

More flowers....

I happened to walk up to the Kettle Corn booth the moment they were pouring out another batch! I was super excited that I could capture this photo. The people at the booth were super fun too - they saw my Rocky Mountain Rollergirl shirt, and they got so excited for me that I made the league. We chatted for a bit, they were a lot of fun.

Herbs, glorious herbs!

Of course, PUPPIES! Oh golly - I love those little guys. The pups were out and about everywhere I looked. I had to snap a few pics of the cuties....

I came across these super yummy looking empinadas on my stroll, that were so pretty looking that I couldn't NOT give them a try. And Guava Cream Cheese? Yes please! I don't know how they get the shell to be so flaky and not dry out at the same time - it was absolutely delicious. The guava wasn't too tart, it was a very mild sweetness, and the cheese complimented it perfectly. YUM!

I can't wait until we finally have our own tomatoes growing in our backyard garden, but these will have to do for now! Not that I'm complaining of course.... Farmer's Market tomatoes taste SO much better than grocery store ones... I had to buy a couple!

The people at this spice booth encouraged everyone to give a sniff to each of the bags. They smelled so delicious that I found myself dwindling by the booth for a while, and sniffing a lot of them.

My favorite kind of flowers!

This bistro sets up a tent every year, at which they cook up a GINORMOUS skillet of Paella. I have always wanted to try it, but unfortunately they make a full-meat version that I can't enjoy while at the same time staying a vegetarian. Such a dilemma! Ah well, I can least appreciate how wonderful it smells, and how awesome it looks! Luckily my friend Ryan shared his secret family recipe for Paella that I have yet to make at home.... and that I can easily make vegetarian (or more specifically, pescetarian)!

I loaded up all my goodies into my bike basket, turned my iPod onto the "Great Lake Swimmers", and had a beautiful ride home, where I quickly cooked up a pizza for lunch (made with my newly acquired sundried tomato basil tortillas)!