Ever since riding 25 miles a few weeks ago on the Trestle Trail, I've been wanting to bike to work. Well, today, a Sunday, Lucas and a biked from our condo in Urbandale to my office in the East Village. It was an extremely scenic and pretty flat 8 miles. We went over a bridge and through the woods, past the Tai Village and Polar Bear fields until you see the Principal Building and know you're almost there. I hope to actually ride to work this week...
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Having lunch with the hubby on a beautiful Friday afternoon on a rooftop is a pretty unbeatable way to end the week. The only way to top it is to meet up after work for a bottle of wine listening to jazz at Gray's Lake. It was my first time at the bi-monthly Friday evening event called unWINEd. Today was my first time eating at Lucca in the East Village. I went there for lunch with a few co-workers after our original plan of eating at the Continental a few doors down didn't pan out because it was packed. I'd heard great things about Lucca so I was excited to make it in there. I was surprised to walk in to a very contemporary, minimalist, and almost sterile narrow corridor. We ordered at the bar and paid up front, grabbed our seats and had our food brought out to us. The menu had few choices and nothing original to offer me. My ham and cheese sandwich was just fine. Unfortunately, I won't be going out of my way to eat here again. After work I headed out to Zoo Brew with a few friends. My last time at the event was two years ago so I was excited to get back this summer. This was my first time riding the train. For $2.50, you get to ride around on this cool train for a whopping 4 minutes. OK, so I didn't time the ride, but it was over almost as quickly as it began. We didn't even get to see any animals. The most exciting parts were the tunnel and the drunk people waving and dancing at us.
I haven't been car shopping in nearly five years. Hanz, my 2002 Honda Civic, has treated me well in our time together. However, he's getting old and cranky on me. I'm so tired of putting money into him when I ain't gonna get none of that back. The latest development is his need for a new a/c computer chip which, according to Firestone, is going to run me $850-$900.
So tonight we headed out to CarMax to test drive a Hyundai Sonata. We've been researching cars just a bit the past few days, and we both like the Sonata for it's body, fuel efficiency, affordability, and safety features even though neither of us had ever driven one. We took this 2012 Sonata GLS out for a spin around Urbandale and Grimes. It rode pretty smooth and was pretty quiet. The a/c seemed to have a small whistle, but at least it has a/c. We wouldn't get this exact car, so hopefully we find another one that's perfect (or near-perfect) for us. A baker finds out she has a special power, helps save the world (sort of), and gets the guy. I finished up the quick read Wicked Appetite today. I was looking for a fun summer read when I picked this book up, and it fulfilled that need. I believe it's the first in a series of books, so will I read the rest of them? No. The best part of the book was the hot super human guy who keeps the baker from being killed while she helps him defeat evil.
Lucas and I road-tripped it to Wisconsin this weekend. My cousins were having a high school graduation party. Turns out Lucas, the biggest Packers fan I know, had never been to Wisconsin before. How is that possible? Every 30 or so minutes he'd say, "I could live here," or "I could retire here." Who knows where life will take us, maybe even to Wisconsin.
The party was a great chance to introduce Lucas to some of my cousins. It was nice to see them and see my dad hanging with his brothers. While we were there, we also stopped by my mom's cousins' house who happen to have their own vineyard and make award-winning wine in their basement. Shakin' Rock will be available to the public in a few years, but for now you gotta know someone who know's someone to get your hands on a bottle. It only sounds cool that you make your own wine if it's good... and it was great. Glad they sent us home with a few bottles. Thanks guys! Thanks to a kind co-worker who picks gooseberries in his backyard, I had my first experience eating them. He warned me they would be tart... holy moly! The tartness oozed from them. I could smell it immediately. I ate about four of them and couldn't eat anymore. I hear they are good in gooseberry pie.
Be careful what comes with the territory when you marry a sci-fi nerd. From Star Wars to Star Trek, and every science-fiction, post-apocolyptic, zombie movie in between, I'm being forced to watch them. Lucas knows I am far from a trekkie, yet he's hoping one day soon I'll excitedly flip on the television to an old re-rerun of Star Trek or even to the newer series Continuum.
This particular time I was introduced to the TV show Defiance. After watching the pilot episode, here's a bit what I know (in a really long run-on sentence): The main character, who is a badass with a soft side, and an alien girl he "adopted" after killing her parents travel across a decimated United States in search of nothing except to survive only to find themselves helping save the community who inhabits the former-St. Louis area that's now called Defiance. I believe there are seven species living together in harmony in Defiance, while they are brutally murdering each other around the rest of the country even though it's been 15 years since the original war. Today I took on buttermilk bran muffins. I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some ingredients I had never cooked with before including buttermilk and all-bran. It was actually quite simple to mix it all together. I tweaked the the recipe from muffins to loafs. (I decided not to register for cupcake pans for the wedding because I never make cupcakes. Fail.) After baking 25 minutes in our new stoneware loaf pan, they turned out perfect. The cinnamon and raisins made what could be boring bran muffins very tasty. They are rich in protein and fiber which makes for a good mid-morning Hope they are a hit at our work luncheon tomorrow!
One for the Money and Two for the Dough are part of the Stephanie Plum series written by New York Times best-selling author Janet Evanovich. I've read a few of those books and think Evanovich is a great writer who creates easy to read and entertaining stories. I was looking for something a little different than Stephanie Plum's mishap adventures to read so I picked up another book she wrote, Wicked Appetite. The book takes place in Salem, Mass. and is set around a magical set of stones, an Unmentional, a monkey, and the deadly sin of gluttony. It's not life-changing, but it should be a great summer read.
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