Tour de France......here I come

So this is my most recent "big ticket" purchase.

I just bought me a bike. I actually don't get to pick it up until later this week, but I am excited to get out and do some riding.

It was fun going bike shopping and test drive all of the different bikes.

This is the one that I ended up going with, and I LOVE it!!

I actually was a little worried to get on the first one and take it for a spin, but you know what they say...."It's like riding a bike," right? So I jumped right on and I did okay until I tried to stop. It has been years since I have ridden a bike and on the bikes I have ridden in the past I really had to squeeze the brakes pretty good to stop......not so much on these new, fancy bikes I found out. I put the brakes on a little to hard and had a slight stumble. Luckily I recovered well and caught my balance, but felt a little silly in front of the friend I was with. Hello, my name is Trisha, I am 34 years old and don't know how to ride a bike.

There are soooo many great places to ride in the area. I am looking forward to some fun rides and maybe I will also burn a few calories in the process.

A Much Needed Laugh On A Cold Rainy Day

Trisha's Top 10 . . . . .

. . . . . favorite inventions, that is.

So in no particular order..... Here are some things that either make my life easier or much more enjoyable. (Drum roll is optional........)

10. Yoplait Smoothie Mix/Blender Bottles

This stuff is yumm-meee!! I love that it is a fast, nutritious breakfast that I can make and take to work with me since I never make time to eat breakfast at my house before work. (See #6 for one of those reasons). Each package is suppose to make 2 servings, so I open the package and split it up, putting the 2nd serving in a zip-loc bag for the next day. I also make it with more milk (about 2 cups), after blending in the blender, I pour it into one of my fabulous BLENDER BOTTLES and VOILA I am off to work.

9. Swiffer Duster

When I was younger, among other chores, we had "Saturday's Work" to do before we could play or do anything else on the weekends. With 4 kids in the family, we rotated between Vacuum, Dust, Bathrooms, & Kitchen. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOATHE dusting!! I would always volunteer to trade any of my sisters their jobs if I got stuck with dusting that week. No question.....I would much rather clean a bathroom than dust. Hence my love affair began upon discovering the SWIFFER DUSTER.

I STILL hate dusting, but at least now I do dust, once in a while, thanks to favorite invention #9.

8. Velcro Rollers

I was born with fabulous hair!! Okay, so it took me a couple of years for it to really show, but I think that I might have had the thickest hair of all my sisters until........the summer of '86. At the age of 9, I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I had a tumor at the base of my spine. One month after being diagnosed I had a Grand-Mal Seizure. Anyway.....because of my seizure and after further testing, they decided that in addition to radiating my spine they would also radiate my head. Normally, when a cancer patient loses their hair, it is said to come back thicker, darker and curlier. However......lucky me......due to the radiation to my head, instead of coming back in thicker, MY hair is MUCH thinner and SUPER FINE.

Sorry for the novel, but the point of my story here is that these rollers (and some serious backcoming/ratting.....whatever the kids are calling it these days) are often the only way that I can get any volume out what CANCER chose to leave me for hair. I think I had more hair just in my bangs back then than I do on my whole head now.

(This picture was taken right before all of my hair fell out).

7. JVC Marshmallow Ear Buds

I don't know if I have really small ears or what, but most ear phones/ear buds hurt my ears after wearing them longer than 5 minutes......UNTIL I found these little beauties!!! Love, love, love the marshmallows!!!! Rice krispie treats aren't bad either.

6. Eddie Bauer Down Pillow for Side Sleepers

I LOVE my sleep!!!! My mom has said that from the day I was born I always needed my sleep. I am pretty picky about pillows and can sympathize with GOLDILOCKS who knew exactly what she wanted.....not too soft, and not too hard, but JUST RIGHT.

5. Pilot PRECISE V5 (Extra Fine) Rollingball Pens

I am VERY picky about pens. The finer the tip, the better. I like the needlepoint, liquid ink pens. These little numbers are currently my favorites. I find that I tend to have better hand writing when I am using a pen I like writing with.

4. YOSHIDA'S Gourmet Sauce

I was introduced to this tasty condiment many years ago and it has been a staple in my house ever since. I get it at Costco and then poor it into a small plastic clear squirter bottle (like the red & yellow ketchup/mustard bottles you see at picnics). This sauce is fabulous for chicken/rice bowls, stir-fry veggies, etc.

3. Keyless Entry on Cars

If I had a quarter for every time I called a locksmith because I had locked my keys in the car, I wouldn't be able to retire, travel the world or do a whole lot for that matter, but I would have quite a quarter collection, maybe even a roll of quarters. However, my last two cars have been equipped with keyless entry, and because I only lock my car when my keys are in my hand, I haven't called a locksmith since.

2. NIVEA Lip Care Products

I have always had dry/chappy lips (I know.....I should probably be drinking more water but we can save that topic for a whole separate post). Anyway, I have tried Blitex, Carmex, Chapstick, Burt's Bees, Softlips, Mary Kay Satin Lips, Avon......you name it, I have probably tried it. Some moisturize pretty well, but taste nasty. Some taste good, but don't seem to moisturize worth a darn. This is my new favorite.

1. George Foreman Grill

Although these are listed in no particular order, I put this one at #1 for a reason. It has probably been on my favorite list for the longest. I love that I can go from frozen boneless, skinless chicken to a delectible dinner in less than 10 minutes with this baby. And it does soooo much more than just chicken.

So there you have my list of faves.....Now feel free to share some of your favorite inventions.

Boston Marathon

My dad ran the St. George marathon in October in hopes of qualifying to run in Boston....and of course he did it!

So for Christmas, my parents gave me an all-expense paid trip to Boston for the Marathon in April '11.

My parents are so fabulous!! It is so much fun to spend time with them. It was not a long trip, and we didn't do anything too exciting, but we had a great time.

We stayed at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, right across the Charles River from Boston. It was a great hotel, but I could have done without the emergency evacuation.

On Sunday morning about 5:30-6 an extremely loud alarm began blaring in our room ..... "ATTENTION.....THIS IS AN EMERGENCY...PLEASE EVACUATE YOUR ROOM IMMEDIATELY." It just kept repeating itself over and over and over again. We were all gathered in the lobby watching firefighters wander in and out, not seeming to be in too much of a hurry for what seemed to be a LONG time. Apparently, someone decided to smoke a cigarette in their room, thus setting off the fire alarm. They FINALLY let us all go back to our rooms.

In addition to the view by the river, our hotel was right by the subway and across the street from a mall with several restaurants, including a Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Changs, Calfornia Pizza Kitchen, etc. This is where we ate most of our meals and did some

shopping.

Although I don't think I would like to live in that big or busy of a city, I am a big fan of the mass transportation that is much more extensive than UTA Trax/Front Runner

(It kind of reminded me of NYC). With 27,000 runners and all that came to support them, the city was VERY congested. We either walked, took a taxi or rode the subway most

everywhere we went.

My dad was not scheduled to start until 10:40 and we were able to track him on the iphone and also received text messages we he passed different mile markers. On the morning of the marathon, my mom and I took the subway into Boston and got off at a mall that was right by the finish line. We went to breakfast and did some shopping, and then headed over to meet my dad. He did great!