A Lot of Love

A little reminder to myself of this love of mine. My new desktop background. Ahhh, the love that flows through my body when I see this handsome one. And oh how I miss him!

The man that belongs to the two human legs in the background isn't so bad either. ;)

Here is a reminder as to why I'm not there right now.

Luke's Second Post: The Other Halves

Yay! Guest post numero TWO from dearest Luke. He has a lot to share and its pretty cute if I do say so myself. Go on now, read it.

Greetings all from the other side of the world (aka home). I thought you all would like to know what’s been going on here while Rachel is in the UK. She’s been gone almost 3 weeks already! Wow, it has gone by pretty fast but on the other hand to she can’t come back soon enough because I miss her and worry about her. Caboose and I are glad she’s having a good time though!

Caboose and I have been getting along pretty well. It is nice to have each other for the company. It hasn’t just been the two of us the whole time though. My sister Beth stayed with us for about a week after her apartment lease was up while she finished up teaching school. It was nice when she was here because, I have to admit, she took good care of us making supper, doing dishes, etc.

Caboose and I have had a few of our own adventures in the last couple weeks…

We took a ride one Saturday afternoon to a race track that I was going to race at that Sunday night. Caboose was either shocked or amazed. Or maybe he was meowing and I caught the photo at the right time. Needless to say, my race wasn’t the best. It started with a broken throttle cable, which led to missing one of my heat races while changing the cable, and a fair performance. It was fun though. It was my first flat track of the year so I wasn’t planning on setting the world on fire. Now that I have a race and some practice under my belt, hopefully this weekend will be better! Caboose was pretty amazed by the race track and can’t wait to get his own bike and gear!

We also took a trip home for the Memorial Day holiday. Caboose stayed with Rachel's Mom and Dad and I went to my parents to work on my bikes and hang out with my family.

Cell phone quality pictures...gotta love 'em.

It’s been going pretty well at the apartment so far. There has really only been one little incident... Before Rachel left, she had a plant that was looking pretty tough. It needed to be replanted and probably didn’t need the extra water I gave it. Long story short, it didn’t make it. I gave it a proper burial and went to Walgreens and found us a new plant! I had no intentions of buying seeds at Walgreens. I went there for milk, saw they had seeds, and found one that looked good! I wanted to surprise Rachel with a new beautiful flowering plant but that plan didn’t work (yet).

I was amazed when the sprouts came up! I was a little unsure at first but, as you can see, I had nothing to worry about. The seeds are growing like wildfire! It will be pretty sweet once it flowers.

I have to throw in this last pic just because caboose is in it! (We all know how much he is loved around here.)

Well that pretty much sums up the last few weeks in the States. All is good on the home front and I will try and keep you updated. Until then, we (Caboose and I) will be here waiting and missing Rachel. It’s not the same without her here. We love her with all our hearts and pray for her safe return.

Love you honey! (Sniffle sniffle) ;)

Days Before Travelling to the UK

The two weeks leading up to my trip to the UK was bittersweet. Luke and I spent a lot of time with both our families and with each other (obviously). I felt like I could cry at any moment because I was thinking of recent events and how much I would miss each one of them while in the UK. I took a lot of pictures at this time, not necessarily with the thought that I could have them while I was here, but because Marissa had just given me her camera and I hadn't used it much before so I wanted the practice. The weather was also beautiful and we couldn't resist being outside. Its fun for me to look through the pictures while I'm here because the memories are so sweet. :)

Thank God for pictures!

Free Time with a YZ250

Luke and I had some free time while at his parents' house one day so he decided to give his new bike a spin. He's pretty excited about it so I am too.

Isn't he so cute?! I love a man with a dirt bike. Ok not really, just this one.

"Rawwrrr. Check out my sweet muscles."

More motocross and flat track stories from the summer to come!



Project Complete: Vino Seat Cover

My scooter seat cover is fixed! I bought my Yamaha Vino scooter last fall and lets just say it needed a few cosmetic repairs, including a ripped seat. Rather than paying over what I'm guessing would be $100, I decided to recover it myself. Or with the help of others I should say. :) My plan was to purchase vinyl and sew the cover myself, then staple it on top of the existing cover. Simple as pie...

I expected to find vinyl from a fabric store for at least $10/yd. I decided to try my luck while at WalMart one day and luck was on my side! I found a piece of blue vinyl for $4/yd! Its not made for outdoor weather and will more than likely crack after it sits in the sunlight too long, but I figured I could try out my seat-cover-sewing skills on a $4 piece of fabric and if it didn't work I wouldn't be out too much money. I also purchased some heavy duty thread and sewing needle to poke through the thick fabric, which of course my mom advised me on.

Days of procrastination, two muslin patterns, a borrowed light-duty stapler, a trip to Ace Hardware for staples, one blue vinyl seat cover, a few gripes with Luke and no hard feelings
later, my seat cover is finished! What a beauty. Luke was oh so kind enough (for real, he didn't complain and I have to admit there were many many opportunities for him to do so) to help me staple the seat cover to the seat. He puts new seat covers on his dirt bikes all the time so he's kind of a pro like that. He did most of the work when it came to stapling because I'm pretty sure I was at my wits end and feared my cover wasn't good enough and a new one would need to be made.

The original seat had a chunk of foam missing from the front but we fixed it by shoving a plastic grocery bag into it. Now that's a cheap and green fix I was pretty excited about! Check out the pretty lady in all her glory.

She wouldn't look so nice or run so well if it wasn't for my bike-pro Luke! Vroom vroom, I'm ready for some rain-free weather!

A New Addition!

Luke's sister Katie and her hubby Cory had their baby. He's here! Tyson Lee was born Friday, May 20.

Check out that proud uncle! Luke and I went home this weekend to meet him. He's so adorable! Neither of us have seen a baby only two days old before, except for our sisters but that's not the same thing.

We are glad we got to meet you, Tyson Lee! You're so handsome!

The Halffer!

We did it! We ran the Halffer on May 1 and we all survived. It was cold, rainy, snowy and windy. Not the greatest day for a race but we made it anyways. The best part, my aunt Steph qualified for Boston with only a few seconds to spare!

I'm proud of all of us and am glad we could run our first 13.1 mi together!

Probably not the cutest picture of all of us but that's not the point now, is it. :)

Bring on the next Halffer!

Project Complete: Painted Frames

Two Project Completes in a row! I know. I'm just that far behind.

Back to the birthday weekend. Saturday was Katie's baby shower and Beth's birthday. We spent the day with Luke's family playing games, eating delicious food, and enjoying conversation, then ate supper at a supper club.

Sunday was my big day. April 17 to be exact. Luckily I only had to blow out one candle. Let it be known, however, that (according to my mom) it was an Advent candle. What?? Mom made a delicious homemade chocolate cake - from scratch! Along with homemade chocolate frosting. It was delectable.

Earlier in the day my mom, Luke and I finally painted the pictures frames that were in the trunk of my for two years! They are frames my mom had around the house or in the basement. We maybe bought one at a thrift store but we couldn't remember. They were originally gold, which I really liked, but when I first brought them to my apartment they looked too big and bold for the small space, which is why I loaded them into my trunk. I hoped I could paint them someday and also get glass cut to make them into real picture frames. Well, this was my lucky day. We painted them and I got glass cut. They are ready to go! Have I mentinoed I love how they turned out?!

We scrounged around for paint and mixed our own. This special concoction was made of brown, purple and white. It turned out just as I had imagined it would. I wanted something light greyish but with color to it.

After finishing the frames (and because it was such fun and turned out to be pretty darn easy), I thought it would be fun to go to the yard waste to look for a big ol' stump. More on that project later. Our yard waste visit was successful! There were plenty of large chunks of wood to choose from so we chose the piece below. Unfortunately, while running back to the car to join my patiently waiting family I stepped in a giant mud swamp-mess with my cute new shoes! Oh the drama. No worries, they washed up just fine and I survived.

For supper, we had T-bone steaks! Yuuuuuumm. Grilled to perfection by my dad.

The next day Dad and I installed his bicycle computer. What a weekend!

Have you noticed anything peculiar about all my projects? Well, my mom has. She pointed out to me that she is involved in all my projects! She helped me (start) with the big, huge yarn balls, the scarf was for her, she wrapped the knitted baby sweater, and now this! I say the reason she helps me with all of them is because she is so good at it. Who better of a person to help you do things than your mother?! I do love my mom. :)

Thank you Mom and Luke for helping me with these beauties. Your help is much appreciated and I obviously could not have finished this project in such little time without you. Can't forget Dad! He took care of Caboose while we painted. :) I'll post more pictures of the frames when they are on my walls, which will be another project in itself.

15 Days to the Halffer!

Before our 12 mile run last weekend. Its fuzzy but something about it is just cute.

Happy weekend to all!

Port Washington, WI

Luke and I went to Port Washington, WI last week. Its a cute little harbor town on Lake Michigan, complete with a lighthouse. The weather was a little overcast for most of the day but it didn't bring us down! It was a nice little getaway for the day.

We stopped at a Yamaha dealer when we first got to town to look at a dirt bike for Luke. We at lunch at Newport Shores, a cute little cafe restaurant in the marina by the lighthouse, where we had some delicious lake perch and stuffed shrimp. Here's a picture of the restaurant, but it looks a little ghetto... Don't be discouraged! The food was delicious and it was a quiet little pit stop.

Luke and I walked out the long, narrow path to the lighthouse, enjoying the ducks, loons, rocks, water, a few boats in the marina, and peacefulness along the way. All while bundled up in every layer possible that we could find in the car. It gets chilly out there on the water!



On the way home we had to stop at a gas station to stretch our legs and a little beef jerky for fuel. By this time the sun was shining in full force!

We may or may not have stopped at McDonalds for chocolate shakes too...

It was a great day trip and great weekend. Bring on the next road trip! Next time I'll be sure to have fully charged batteries in the camera so we don't have to resort to using cell phone cameras. Ooops.