All good things must come to an end

For now anyways.

I started this blog a few years back as I took on life in a new city, a new job, and most notably training. Always training for something. Chasing that athletic dream. Being a stranger in a once familiar town training became my focus, my life. I loved being fit and healthy and ready for the challenge. And there were always bigger and better challenges. Until I got hurt.

I am lucky that my injury is only a minor setback. To be cliche: a speed bump on the road of life. But in the meantime priorities and interests have had to change. Adaptation. It's a matter of survival.

I've been sadly absent from here for sometime now. When I have come here it seems foreign. Like I don't speak the language. Like I don't belong. An outcast in my own space. I tried to come here and say the things I wanted to say, but it didn't fit. So I stopped talking. But that didn't feel right either. So I've decided to take my musing to another place.

It's not to say I won't be back. I'm sure I will. But for now you can find me here:

http://kt-did.tumblr.com/

Much love to my supporters along the way. Know that I will continue to peek into your lives like the virtual peeping Tom I am.

-xoxo-

K

Passion

So I was watching So You Think You Can Dance tonight (don't judge, see where I'm going with this) and I kept feeling myself getting a little choked up. Now it could be the foot pain, the puppy inspired frustration, the sleep depravation...but mainly it was just an overwhelming sense of passion.

The dancers out there auditioning and the performances they are giving are amazing. They are fighting and working and pursuing their dreams. They ooze of passion and dreams.

Where's my passion? What have I dropped everything for and worked towards with every iota of my being? What can I not live without?

I want to feel alive and passionate about something like they do. I want to end the day, the week, the year, my life, knowing that I left it all out there and have no regrets.

Passion.

Under the Weather!!

Again.

For reals, can't a girl get a break?

I seem to be coming down with another cold. Or perhaps I never really shook the last one. Who knows, but I am feeling lousy. And I am home alone as usual. And if you know me, you KNOW I do not like being alone when sick. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Perfect excuse to stay inside in my pajamas all weekend. :)

Except tomorrow afternoon. Sniffles and sore throat be darned, I am headed out to a good friend of mine I don't see nearly enough. Matt, who I have known forever, are meeting for a late lunch, possibly a malted beverage, and some shuffle board. And of course, catching up! How is it that we live in the same city, work only miles apart, and we never see each

other?!?

New goal:

Keep in touch with my friends better!

And get on my bike more.

Vote!

Steve in a Speedo is sick and twisted man!

Keep that in mind if you click on the link and head to his site. While I totally recommend it, I would definitely not do it while eating, just after eating, if you are thinking about eating....or really if you get queasy at all. Now if you are looking for a way to supplement your diet, click away!

The short of it is that Steve decided to solicit his readers for the Gnarliest Injury stories and photos they have. While my broken arm, skin graft, multi-surgery debacle of 2005 would have been at the front of the pack, I don't have a picture of it!! So I went with my 2008 Pigman wipe-out. Need a refresher? Check out the whole story here http://trikatie.blogspot.com/2008/08/pigman-race-report.html and http://trikatie.blogspot.com/2008/08/pigman-sequel.htm.

So maybe not the "Gnarliest Injury" but just the same, if you love me (or suffered through any of my injuries with me) vote for me!!

Guess what I got for Christmas?

A violent case of food posioning!

From what? Now that is a fantastic question because no one else got sick. Just lucky ol' me.

Could it be the turkey breast, dumplings or mixed veggies from lunch? I don't think so...everyone else ate the veggies and dumplings, and I felt fine all afternoon.

The salad and white rice for dinner? With the exception of differnt dressings Wyatt and I ate the same thing, so I don't think so...

Later at the holiday party I perused the mixed nuts and dessert tray, had a bite of Jamie's mince meat pie (eww!) and drank 1 1/2 Old Fashions. Hmmm, nothing jumps out there. We headed home round midnight, watched some tv with our house guests, and went to bed feeling fine.

Then around 4am all hell broke loose in my body. It's like I was trying to expel an alien creature from my body by any means possible.

And I still don't feel good. Ick. =X

Death on wheels.

No, I haven't crashed a car lately. Knock on wood. But this might be worse.

But it is pink, and fantastic, and I am so friggin' excited!!!

Oh, and we finished the bathroom (touch ups and all), made it to NYC and back (and had an awesome time), sealed the harwood floors (which I do not recommend taking on in the winter), put up out first Christmas tree (all pink...aww), totaled a car (not fun at all), my foot's still non-functional (can you say surgery) and the besty is coming to visit this weekend!!

It's been a ca-RAZY couple o weeks!

Finally headed home from NYC (and we're both still smiling!). So many stories and adventures to share....

Sweatin' it out at lunch.

Halloween...and everything else!

Wyatt showing off his new Game Bibs before we headed to the Badger game.  I also think he may have been trying to shake the rest of the leaves off the tree so we can rake and be done with it already!

At the game, in our matching bibs.  

It was windy, overcast and chilly, but the Badgers prevailed!

After the game (and a 2+ hour nap) it was time to lion-a-fy myself for the night.  The costume was waaaaaay more work than anticipated, but turned out pretty darn cute.  Even Burton put on his skeleton costume!  

We decided pictures with the pumpkin from Tom and Renee's wedding were in order.  

(Carved pumpkins  make possibly the cutest centerpieces ever.  Who knew.)

Don't worry, I'm a vegetarian. The cow is safe!

Burton with his puppy mullet....business in front and party in the back!

Burton got a haircut....and a cute new Halloween bandana! What a stud!

Costme

So this is what I REALLY want to be for Halloween...only Katie sized. How cute is that!

But is it ok for a girl to dress up as a boy lion? I mean seriously, boy lions have much cuter outfits and hair than girl lions.

Thoughts???

Dinner

Let me tell you a little something about this picture.  It may not look like much, but to me it was.  I was my first ever attempt to make spaghetti and (turkey) meatballs. From scratch.

Ok the meatballs were from scratch, the sauce not so much.  But lets not split hairs here people.  I tried really hard.  I hand mixed, made and rolled those stupid turkey meatballs.

Since Wyatt was suppose to be home early from his clinic tonight I decided to make dinner.  From scratch.  Now I don't do this very often, because, well it's hard and I'm not very good at it.  And it never works out.  So home early from the clinic tonight I took to mean 8:15-8:30'ish (as he didn't get home from the clinic the night before until after 9).  Cool.  I can work with that.

So at like 7, when I got home from work, errands, etc, I started cooking.  From 7 to 8:30 I cooked.  And read recipes.  And tried really f'ing hard.

At 8:15 or so it was done'ish and staying warm.  Around 8:45 I started to wonder what the deal was.  9:15ish he strolls in the door.

I guess having beers with the boys trumps your girlfriend cooking dinner. 

Fuck that.

A hard day's work at Devil's Lake....

I.AM.SO.EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Shopaholics!!

You know what comes with house expenses? A budget. You know what I am bad at doing? Budgeting.

For example. I really want a Pottery Barn bedroom set. Like REALLY want. Pottery Barn is not in my budget. My budget is much more like middle of the range Steinhafle furniture. Sigh.

It stinks to have champagne taste with a PBR budget. I am sure many of you can relate as this dilemma applies as much to my tri gear as anything else. I want the $50 CEP compression socks, but the $20 Wigwam "compression socks" are in the budget. I want Zipp 404's with a PowerTap hub, but hand me down American Classics are in the budget. I want to race Escape from Alcatraz, but High Cliff is in the budget. Double sigh.

When I can across the website Ruelala.com I thought it had to be too good to be true. Designer gear at like half price? No friggin' way. Well it's true. The website is "invite only" so I am posting my invite link for all interested parties.

Check it, shop it, LOVE IT!

Now if only a site like this existed to tri goods and Pottery Barn furniture....

MMM, pie!

What do you do when you have reached an all time high frustration level?  When life seems to have handed you more than you can deal with?  You bake!!

After a fantastic trip to the farmer's market, I had all sort of goodies to play with, including a bag of delicious Macintosh apples.  Fall + Apples = APPLE PIE!

Now don't let the fact that I have never made an apple pie unsupervised before second guess my pie baking skilz.  I didn't.  Secretly I believed myself to be quite the gourmet.  And so it begins.

First step crust.  Wait.  I've never made crust before.  Ok, first step, locate a cook book and a recipe...then mix.  

It was about this time that I realized I didn't actually own a a pie pan.  Really?  Really.  Luckily Wyatt was willing to save my pie making dreams and borrow one from his parents who are nearby.

And just in case my crust was a bust, ha, Wyatt's mom also sent this:

hmmm....do you think she doubted my crazy mad cookin' skilz?

Then it was time to peel the apples.  Oh so many apples.  But don't worry, PBR came to help.

After peeling like a kajillion apples, it was time to get a lil saucy!  All those tediously peeled and sliced apples went into the cinnamony sugary yum waiting in the bowl nearby. 

After saucin' the apples the went into my crust and awaited a top.

At which point I realized I didn't actually own a rolling pin.  

I SWEAR I DID!  I am not normally this unprepared.  

But luckily my Klean Kanteen doubled as a rolling pin. 

All crusted up and into the oven it goes.

Voila! 35-40mins later you have pie!

It tasted better than I looked.  I would say that my first unsupervised apple pie adventure was a success!  I'm feeling good about it.  :)

Saris Gala

click here for event details and registration info

This Friday is the annual Saris Gala benefiting the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin. Every fall Saris teams up with the BFW and hosts a fundraising event to help support their efforts. There's delicious food and beverages, a silent and LIVE auction, and an array of speakers. Joining us this year is our keynote speaker Taylor Phinney, as well as Axel Merckx and Gary Fisher (just to name a few others).

So come on out, grab some food, have a drink. mingle with other cycling enthusiasts and help raise money for an amazing cause!!

The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin is a nonprofit organization that through advocacy, education and coordination is working to Make Wisconsin a Better Place to Bike.

Something to think about

So you know how a year or so ago there was the big panic over plastic water bottles and BPA? And the solution was a boom of metal bottles (Sigg, Klean Kanteen, etc)? Well turns out, not all of them are so BPA free, http://mysigg.com/bulletin/august2008.html.

The skinny on the link is that the Sigg bottles manufactured before August 08 have a BPA liner to them. This is a fact they chose not to disclose until they started to tout that their new bottles were BPA free and more eco-friendly.....hmmm. Obviously this didn't go over so well. So what's the answer? You, the owner of a pre-August 08 Sigg bottle, can pay to send them your old bottle which they will replace with a different BPA free bottle. So basically, the concumer can pay for Sigg's dishonesty...or omission...or whatever you want to call it.

Read the lastest letter, http://mysigg.com/bulletin/, and the details of the "Voluntary Exchange," http://mysigg.com/bulletin/exchange_program.html, and let me know what you think.

In his mind he's a Kenyan!

Here's all 5lbs of my dog Burton stretching before going for a run...

Apparently when they set out on their 3m jaunt the plan was to run the first half and walk the second half because presumably a little guy like Burton couldn't keep up for a full 3m run. At the half way point the pace slowed to a walk, at which point Burton apparently threw Wyatt his best "hurry up fatty" look (his description, NOT mine) and took off running again. All the way home.

Upon getting home only one of the two was worn out....can you guess who?