Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Woooooooooonderful.

Had a blissful weekend, for sure.

I started out having a fantastic salad with the girls - I believe eating together as friends every now and then is so important.  The clouds were puffy and big and we laid down on the ground and basked in the sun in the courtyard.  I got a chance to ride a fixed gear bike and was stunned with how smooth and good it felt on my joints, which have been giving me problems lately.  Which is really frustrating because I currently only have one bike, Juliet, the Kona Jake and I'm building up the Purple Parmount, of which I will do an extended post on later.  I lost my mountain bikes, so I need one of those, and now I want a fixed gear.  *sigh*  My wants definitely exceed my needs, or my abilities to ride all those bikes.  It doesn't change the fact that I definitely want all of those. Bikes are too beautiful.

Friday was also this month's Dead Baby ride. The ride was SO much fun!  We started off at the Canterbury Ales and Eats, which was a new place for me.  I really loved it.  It had shuffleboard, pool tables, and great ambiance.  Granted, like usual, there were a lot of us, so it was pretty crowded, but I loved the place. 



I got to ride with Mobius folks there, where one of them was riding a tall bike (something like the picture below) which was neat because a lot of folks on the streets stopped and stared/smiled/some cars went by and honked. 


Like usual, I met a lot of wonderful people and had great conversations and just had a blast in general.  The sense of family and camaraderie and genuine joy Dead Babies get out of coming together once a month to ride bikes and hang out is really amazing.

I ended up going home a little early and had a great rest-of-the evening with Ryan chilling at home.

This is Ryan, showing his sensitive side.

The rest of the weekend was just as awesome, we had amazing weather here in Seattle - just gorgeous. I got some great summer shirts and a scarf insanely cheap, since it's summer I was drawn more to the reds and lighter colors, which was nice. There was a lot of relaxing and then I took advantage of the day by jumping on my bike and riding around a bit.  I ended up reading in the park, lying on the grass, watching the sun go down and went home to curl up in bed super early.  Sooooooo nice.

Sunday was just as wonderful.  I was super industrious at home, got up early and cleaned house and rearranged a bit (something I love doing) I also got a new spiffy camera...of which I will be using to take lots of pictures when I go back down to Kansas later on this week.  The ride was gorgeous, weather perfect, and the breeze just right.  I then introduced Ryan to the Crumpet Shop - DELICIOUS! :)  We wandered around in Pike Place Market until the water taxi arrived and went on over to Alki.  A beautiful meandering ride around the 'coast' and then we got to Atlas Road.  Which is a hill.  And by hill, I mean it goes up up up up up up up. *pant pant* up up up up up.  It was worth it once I caught my breath again.  We went to ABR, another bike shop, and hung out there for a while.  I had a good time - I got to try to put together a spare hub, which I sort-of did.  It was like a puzzle.  Super fun.  And I got to look at lots of fun pictures, and bikes (got to love bikes).  Then the benefit of going all that up - the down was beaaaaaaaaaaaaautiful!  So much fun.  I broke 30 mph, which for me on that bike is pretty darn good.  I cheated and got on the bus when we got back into downtown because I didn't want to climb up another hill to go home.  Lazy bones I have.

I love weekends like these.  Woooooooooonderful.  Simply wonderful.


Monday, May 3, 2010

MOBIUS in "The Stranger" ------------- it mentions my new bike!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobiuscycle/4562048073/

The Stranger


Taylor Hurley, bike stylist

Taylor Nichole Hurley, aka Niki, builds dream bikes at Mobius Cycle. After one too many times getting hit by a car as a messenger, Hurley, an experienced mechanic, decided to focus on her downtown bicycle boutique full-time. Mobius is known in the bike-geek world for hot, stylized fixies and steel road cycles that withstand daily use (and abuse). The bike she was plotting when I dropped in: a frosty purple vintage road frame on hand-built wheels with purple spokes, silver nipples, and matte white phosphorescent rims that glow purple in the dark.


It's a bit tricky to find the shop at first (official hours are late afternoon to late evening, details at http://www.mobiuscycle.com/), with its alleyway entrance and four floors to climb, but the huge loft space inside is like a secret world. You'll find a rack of hand-screen-printed Mobius T-shirts (one design has the namesake strip, another a 1973 compact Leica CL camera above the word "grain"). Some messengers might be winding down with pool and air hockey after a long day while an artist weaves cashmere underwear on a giant loom—the shop shares space with an array of artist studios. Hurley is also a professional photographer, a skill she honed to catalog her creations—find her bike-porn shots at www.flickr.com/mobiuscycle. But Hurley's bicycles aren't just sexy in appearance. "A junky bike will abuse your body, and your body will acclimate to the abuse," she explains. "When you ride a good bike that's solid under your body, and the wheels sing and the frame sings, you realize how good it can be." JESSE VERNON

What cookies taught me.

I'm going to ignore the fact that I've not posted in forever because there was a lot of life changes that happened.....so that's that.

I've really come to realize in the last few weeks what "quality time" means.  It's a phrase that's thrown around a whole lot, but has lost a lot of meaning in general conversation.  What does quality time mean? 

Mostly defined as: time devoted to somebody or something: time spent with friends or family in enjoyable activities that enhance the relationship.  OR Time during which one focuses on or dedicates oneself to a person or activity.

I like: time devoted exclusively to nurturing a cherished person or activity.
 
I like that - devotion in exclusivity - nurturing a _cherished_ person or activity - and I like including myself in that "person" catagory.  Time is so fleeting, so quickly gone.  The years have passed so quickly recently and they're only going to seem to go by faster as I get older.  I've realized I want each moment of my life to have meaning - for every day to be spent doing things of quality, even if it's relaxing with friends.  Time should have meaning, we're given so much of it and most of it is wasted on zoning out mindlessly, or 'killing' it.  I want to learn something with every interaction I have during my life - even if it's a reminder that naps are good for the soul or rice flour is sweeter than regular flour or a reminder that balloons stick to hair through static energy or that the wind is icky when biking against it. I want each thing I do to have purpose, to honestly pay attention to it, to devote myself to really cherishing those things around me that are beautiful and add meaning to my life, to enjoy the beautiful things that come out of my interactions with others, the world around me, and myself. 

Yesterday I watched a woman make cookies.  It was the most beautiful thing I'd seen in a long time.  Simple and silly when I say it like that, but it's true.  I was happy, drinking tea at the hearth of a place that felt like home, watching cookies being made, talking to friends, playing with balloons now and then, watching the wind whip the pink blossoms of the flowers outside and I was simply happy.

Watching her mix cookie dough in a blue ceramic bowl was so serene, homey, calming, uplifting, exemplifying togetherness, love of food, and hard work, dedication to having something be done right that I was for the first time in a long time - in the moment.  And then those moments of amazing, learning things, sharing knowledge and passion for baking or balloons or board games continued most of the weekend. 

Who knew that cookies could teach so much?