New Bike

YEEE HAWWW!

I have to admit I have mixed feeling about my new Cervelo P2C. Part of me feels like I don't deserve such a nice bike. It was uber expensive. I have spent A LOT of money on this sport. A disturbing amount of money. Between bikes, wetsuits, heart rate monitors....I don't dare tally up the $. It is a lot of house payments.

Most of the purchases I have made are necessary. The bike??? I am questioning. This is my bike for the next ???? forever! I just need to upgrade the wheels and buy a set of racing wheels. I will do that in 2010. I plan to ride the 2009 season on the wheels that came with it. I just can not justify spending another $1500 on race wheels. The bike will fly. I am sure of it.

I plan to take off another 10 pounds this winter. That will put me at my ideal weight. Riding lighter will certainly up my speed. My goal is to average at least 20 mph. I also plan on taking spin classes this winter. According to the bike shop guy spinning will help me with my pedaling. I need help in that department. Technically, if I work hard this winter I should be placing next year. Maybe not at the big races, but at some of the small ones.

She is all mine now. No going back. I am the proud owner of P2C!

Yep! I am a bad blogger. I am back again. From a long hibernation. This should be expected. Why you ask? Because I don't do well with the change of the seasons AT ALL. I remember one October several years back where my husband and I pretty much slept through most of October.

No,I did not sleep through October this year. I actually began the process of working out again. I have dropped another 5 pounds. I need to drop another 15 before we go to Costa Rica. I have been good this week. Watching my points. Drinking my water. Working out almost every day.

I am contemplating spinning. It sounds fun. It sounds like it is a great workout. The only problem is that I would have to leave my house by 5 am. Yikes. That is early.

I will try to be a better blogger from this point forward. I promise!

Friends!

Friends. I can not discuss how important friends are to me. I am what some would call a social butterfly. I need people. I love people. I have to be in the presence of people.

This past weekend is the start of the fall craftshow season. I will not be writing much about training for tris because.... I won't be doing much of it. I am going to come clean on that. My goal is swim once a week. I know, how pathetic.

Anyway, I have some great. I mean totally amazing friends that I have made on the craftshow circuit. There is a group of women who I totally love. The are the Faerie ladies. I met them about 3 years ago at the Little Falls craftshow. These gals are special. They make Faerie houses. I mean who doesn't need a house for the faeries! I know I did and do and will for as long as I live. Above is a house that I adore!

Then, then there is Rosalee and her husband Milton. God do we love these people. I have to say that Rosalee is one of the best story tellers on the planet. Damn, does that girl have some stories. She also loves our lotion. Next to her is her good friend Carolyn. The man next to them is Carolyn's husband, whose name escapes me. I hope he forgives me.

I see most of my crafter friends once or twice a year. We go far to long without communicating, but when we do see each other it is so much fun. I can not thank them enough for their friendship!!

XOXOXO to all my crafter friends! I love YOUs!

What a Week!!!

Geesh...what a week and weekend. If they all were so crazy I don't think I could make it. A LOT has been going on, I mean a ton. This week I will catch you up on some thoughts on good press, craftshows, friendship and soap. I think I will blog as much as I can this week because I have a lot of things to talk about.

Last week was a complete blur. We worked our little, well some of us have not so little, butts off to get ready for a big craftshow in Little Falls, MN. Then I was interviewed by the Green Bay Press Gazette as one of their career profiles. That is a whole nuther story in itself.

I will start with our craftshow.

It is our first big show of the craftshow season. I love, love it. Minnesota people are just so nice. The weather was gorgeous. The people were happy. We sold a ton of Goods. Nothing like making a little money and eating your first footlong corndog of the year!!! Yee Haw!!!

It was great seeing customers that have been buying from us for about three years now. They become your friends after that amount of time. It has always amazed me how people really connect with us. They love our stuff and we love them dearly.

Their is one particular women from Duluth who buys at least 10 candles from us every year. She is such a treat. She brings her friends and cajouls them into buying candles. It is so much fun talking to her about what has happened since last year! I love our customers. A big shout out to Good Earth customers, we LOVE you!

Costa Rica...here we come!!!

It has been about 5 years since DH and I have been on a vacation. The last vacation was a monumental vacation. A month in Europe. 8 countries and 18 cities. It was one of the best trips of my life and let's just say I have been on a few.

We decided it was time to check out the tropics. Michael was kind enough to give me free reign to pick the location. That is why I love the man so. :) I started looking into the Dominican Republic, then found Puerto Rico. From Puerto Rico I thought maybe Belize. No, the beaches were not quite what I was looking for. I took a short tour of Nicaragua. He freaked on that location. I finally ended up on the Northern Coast of Costa Rica. Playa Grande!!!!

Oh Playa Grande. For those of you who know me. You know that I am a beach freak. I could not go on vacation in a tropical location without a beach and a good one at that. I am absolutely crazy in love with beaches and water. This beach is extra special in that the endangered leather back sea turtles come to nest here. Can you believe they can grow up to 7 feet!? OMG. That is one huge turtle. Here is a picture of the beach.


We are going to spend 10 days there. It almost seems to be good to be true. The best part about the trip is that it is pretty much free. Thank you Capital One for all those points/miles. You will never know that happiness your credit card company has brought me!!

I will post more about Playa Grande SOON!

Manitowoc Triathlon

Manitowoc Triathlon 8/23/08

Swim 1/4 Mile Bike 16 Mile Run 3.1 Mile

Time: 1:28:36. Swim 7:15 Bike 53:29 Run 27:54

4th in my age class and 23rd in women. I lost 3rd by 40ish seconds. If only...I won't do that to myself. I did good! :)

The best part of the tri....my father came to watch me.



Gah...I love that man. I would not be the women I am today without my father. I can not tell any of you how much he has impacted my life. He is just simply the best. He has faced a lot in his life. Yet he still smiles every single day. What a man!!!

State Fair, ISOCAN and the Manitowoc Tri

OH Jeez...it has been some time hasn't it. A lot has happened since I last blogged. We have been to State Fair and back. It was a great time as always. We have so many awesome customers that we just love to see at State Fair. All the vendors are like family to us and we get to eat TONS of bad food. I mean really bad food. Sausages, cream puffs, pizza, ice cream, beer...I could go on...but I won't. Ya'll might think I have absolutely no self control.

I got to meet some lovely soapers at the ISOCAN gathering in Naperville, IL. I was just down there this past weekend. I managed to drive through Chicago without crashing the Volvo. Some of you may or may not know that I totaled a car this winter and crashed the Volvo in July. Ugh...bad car karma.

The highlight of my trip was meeting one of the kindest women in the whole wide world. My friend Tina, from Faerie Made. Gahhhh...I love the girl. She is sweeter than I could have ever imagined. I cried when I had to go home. Here we are together!!!


I also got to met Jen. Oh...she is one awesome chicky chic. To think she lives in Minnesota and we have never connected. Here she is!! What a cutie.


So...I have a triathlon this weekend in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. I am excited because my papa is coming to watch, a long with my biggest supporter, Michael, my dear husband!!!!

I have one tragedy to report out on. My wetsuit. My lovely new wetsuit has several small rips in it. I put it on once, once I say. I am taking it back. Hopefully, they will give me a new one. Gah...of course that would happen to me. I called the shop I bought it from and they told me to bring it back. I swear I have no finger nails to pierce it. The dive shop I called to ask about wetsuit cement said it has to be a defect because they don't just rip. Even though they feel like they would.

I will report out on the wetsuit saga and the race on Sunday! I think I am ready. One more big bike ride tonight and I plan to kick some major whoop ass on Saturday! YEE HAWWW!!!

Cheers Everyone!!!

I have been trying for the last week to work out as hard as I can because....dondunda...we are leaving for State Fair. The Good Earth needs to make a little money so I can buy a power meter this winter for my bike. I have been dreamily looking at them on the internet. I think my husband needs a new bike before I buy a power meter. Then again, the house will need heat this winter too. A heat bill or a power meter? Those are my choices.

I went for several swims in Lake Michigan this past weekend. The water has finally warmed to a cool 63 degrees. Last year we started swimming around July 4th. We are about 3 weeks late. I am trying to get used to waves and open water. I struggled swimming at the Door County triathlon. Green Bay is a big body of water, not to be underestimated. The strong swimmers bawked at us weaker swimmers. Man those were big seas. I will show them someday! Someday!

That leads me to thoughts that I should take a couple private swim lessons again. I think I know who I want to go to. It is just a matter of deciding if I should go this fall or wait until January. I would like to become a better swimmer. I think maybe this fall, November?

My next triathlon is August 23rd, Manitowoc. I am stoked. I bought a wet suit for this event because it will be in Lake Michigan! Could be chilly!

I will post more once I get back from State Fair.

Chow!

Hmmm...

I haven't been here in a good long time. I think I have something more interesting to post about. Soap has gotten old to me. At least talking about it. I still love it, use and make it. I am sure I will talk about it. I think talking about my quest to become a super athlete is just a little more interesting.

Where to begin...I have always run. I have been running since high school. It is something I have always done. It is something I will continue to do. I was in need of something more. Then one day I was chatting with a women who had done a few triathlons. I found it fascinating. I started thinking... hey...maybe this is something that I could do. I started reading blogs. I started reading websites. I bought a bike. I began biking. Then I started swimming. Yikes...swimming is hard. I took some lessons. Now, I am fully 100% committed to them all. I love each and everyone of them in their own way!

Here I am a year later. My first triathlon under my belt. I loved every freakin second of it. I am signed up for another one in August. I think I have found my sport. NOT that I am an athlete or anything, please don't ever think that I am an athlete. Just let me tell you how much fun it is.

I absolutely love to run, bike and swim. I love to eat so this helps me stay slimmer. I love the folks who participate. Nothing like being around a bunch of super healthy, nature lovers. It is great. I am so glad I found something to keep me busy. Like working full-time, running a business and remodeling an old farmhouse isn't enough.

Here I am at my first tri!









Let us begin our journey together!!!