Endless Pasta Bowl Test

My husband and I have been married for three years.  We have gone to Olive Garden, once a year for most of our relationship.  Why?  Not for the free cheese, which they offer constantly.  "Would you like some cheese with your Coke?"  No, no I wouldn't.  We go for the annual Endless Pasta Bowl.

Most years, I am pretty sure we had 3 bowls a piece and a bajillion bread sticks .

The first year we were working on dieting we had two bowls a piece and half a bajillion bread sticks.

This year I had 1 bowl and one bread stick.  I was no where near finishing mine.

My husband had 1 bowl and 3 bread sticks.

We are definitely doing better about portion control. Our weight is less, we eat less and eat in more.

The Endless Pasta Bowl, oddly, has become a measure of our success.

I suppose the ultimate goal is to not go for the "Endless Pasta".

We are a far way from both of our goal fitness and weight.

With that said I am very proud of us and our progress.  Even if it is slow, it is forward.

Even measured by pasta.

Source

Fall Color Tour - Cycle with the Scouts

Source

In 2012 my family suffered it's first close death in over 30 years.  All 6 of my grandparents are still alive. but we lost my Uncle David unexpectedly at 52.  Now I have a lot of aunt's and uncles.  If you don't count the married in ones the total is 7.  Of the 7, David was the one I was least close with.  He was my uncle and I loved him, I find it disingenuous to talk about him like I knew him well.  But I if I had to make a list, there were three things I knew about my uncle David.

1.  He enjoyed Sci Fi.  He gave me the Chronicles of Amber series when I was in high school.  This was my first real introduction into science fiction and fantasy.  I loved them and I have not left the genre since.

2.  He enjoyed riding his bike.  He had a steel road bike that he rode around town and to work.  Even when his kids were little he would bike with them in seats and trailers behind him.

3.  He enjoyed Scouting.  He was never in scouts himself.  However, when he had two twin boys something about scouting seemed to appeal to him.  he was a Scout Master and kept his kids involved all the way through Eagle Scout.  Camping, gadgets, problem solving, all things that appealed to him.

You can see why the The Fall Color Tour - Cycle with the Scouts. is appealing for those of us in the family that cycle.  I wrote a blog about it last year but  due to circumstances I am not ready to talk about yet, I did not ride it.

My Aunt T has not confirmed the distance yet.  If her and my Aunt Sue go off on their own ( I doubt it) I will gladly stick to the 25.  If not then they will want to do the 50 again this year.  I still have not gone over 32 miles and I have ridden maybe 5 times this year?  So that means I need a plan.

I doubt there will be anyway that I will be ready in one month for the hills.  Even if I suffer and slow everyone down, I can at least get as ready as possible.

I spliced together a couple of century plans, stopped at a dollar store and bought a white board, and voila!  a plan.

Disregard the penmanship

Not sure about the back to back days, I've never done that before, but it's only 10 miles so that's not to bad.  I plan on taking a spin class so the days might change.  I plan on considering that my fast ride.

Hopefully I survive the training and the ride.  Fingers crossed!

Madame De Stael The First Modern Woman

I had never heard of Madame De Stael before I ran into this book at Half Price.  I've been going through a biography/autobiography phase, slowly over the last couple of years.  It's been all women, which has not been intentional.  After this book, I think I am going to find a good biography of Napoleon.

Madame DeStael  lived, and was influential during the time of the French Revolution, Napoleons take over and the re institution of the monarchy.    She was educated, intelligent, a prolific writer and manic depressive.  Even though it is stated often through the biography that she is plain and does not dress well,  men fall at her feet wherever she goes.

This biographer had a very specific interpretation of Madame De Stael, her motivations and her life.  I am interested in finding another biography about her to hear another biographers perspective.  My main complaint with the writing is that she used the same descriptions and rationalizations multiple times.  Once an author says points out a rationalization once or twice, I can start seeing the pattern and making the conclusion myself.  I don't need it pointed out to me every single time.

If you enjoy biographies this is definitely worth reading.  I read it over two days because it was very hard to put down.  I was always wondering the new way she was going to tick off Napoleon or what her next exploit/romantic conquest was going to be.

4/5

Thinking, feeling and such 7.29

Thinking about:  Indoor Cycling tomorrow.  Last Thursday was a great class.  I am upset I have to miss this weeks Thursday class but I am going Wednesday or Friday morning instead. Still disappointing, the Thursday instructor was awesome.

Feeling:  Pretty awesome.  I had  great birthday (that I will blog about later), and am feeling really content and thankful for my life.

Watching: Pretty Little Liars .  I am mostly embarrassed to admit it.  I am almost through the first season, so no spoilers!  It's good fluff, and not as heavy as Greys anatomy.

Reading: Dead Weight the second book in the Lizzy Gardner series.  It was an enjoyable read for the most part.  One of the storylines was....awkward.  I am hoping they drop it in the third book.

Looking forward to:  Wolves of Midwinter .  Anne Rice has been pimping it pretty hard on her facebook.  Every time she talks about it I almost go out to Amazon to buy it and then I remember that it doesn't come out until October .

Making me happy:  The Afghan my mom made me.  She had me pick one out of a book like 15 years ago.  I picked the hardest one.  15 years later she gave it to me for my birthday.  It's beautiful and it's a perfect summer, air conditioning cover up.

Thanks again to Lindsay @ Running with Tongs  for the inspiration.

Lunch In The Park

We love our local parks.  We use the trails for dog walks, geo caching and bike rides.  We go there occasionally for breakfast lunch and dinner.  We really enjoy being out by the water, the trees and fresh air.  Bella likes it because she gets new smells and can claim new fiefdoms. Here is last Sunday's trip.

Thanks to Ni Hao Yall for hosting Sunday Snapshot!