Lovely Weekend

What a lovely weekend.

This marks the first time my Girl Scout Troop has gone Camping, and it was wonderful.  A few hiccups here and there, as to be expected, and we may have had more leaders than girls, but ultimately it was a great 23 hours (yes, not even a day) filled with nice weather, good food, fun times & good experiences for all.

AAannd, I should really learn to use my camera in the dark, because all my non-flash photos are just horrendous.

After rushing out of the camp, driving, getting lost, and finding my way to NU (yes I DROVE in Boston!) I then rushed out to Alewife to go gleaning.  Cue the getting lost again :(  Did you know there are so many no left turns in Boston?  As a biker I guess I just ignore them, or taking side roads, so when I was on the streets from a driver's point of view it was so confusing!  I'd barely made it off of campus before I realized I was in a turn lane, turned, did a U-turn, tried to turn left, couldn't, turned right, went down Gainsborough-->Hemenway, tried to turn left on Mass Ave again, couldn't, went straight, did a U-turn and THEN was able to get back on Mass Ave so that I could sit...at lights, for the next 35 minutes, making me 20 minutes late...

Luckily my boss and the other volunteers were in good spirits, and we were shortly on our way to Lunenburg for apples, peppers & kale!  Delicious!

I met some great people, got paparazzi-ed by TWO photographers (one from the Globe! perhaps more to come on that) and was able to grab some delicious looking veggies for myself.

The apples, Jonagolds, were absolutely amazing, I'm not normally a fan of green apples, but these were crisp, sweet but a bit tart, and tantalizingly juicy.  I was also gifted a reject melon by a fellow gleaner, and I thought it'd be the best ever since it smelled so good, but after cutting it and tasting, and re-tasting, I had to throw it away.  Just not very good at all, like a weird cross between honeydew and cantaloupe, with the worst of both highlighted.  Oh well!

Gleaned: Melon, Pepper, Apples, Kale.
Not pictured, squash of undetermined variety.

I then made Kale Chips for my second attempt.  After the disappointing last venture, I was convinced by fellow gleaner's enthusiasm to give it another shot, and I must say they are oddly addicting and quite tasty!  I think my mess up from the last time was not getting them crispy enough, or adding enough salt.  We all have a soft spot for crunchy salty bite-sized pieces no?

Crunchy, Captivating Kale Chips!

I then took a trip to target with my fellow intern, because when you have a car you MUST stock up on toilet paper.  Unfortunately I forgot to buy towels, salt & butter.  Darn!

Now it's back to the grind, although I haven't managed to do any HW yet...I'll try again now!

So NOT a Lazy Week

This week was far from lazy.

My mother was in town.  I had a paper due.  I'm taking my Girl Scout Troop camping this weekend (first time!).  Pressure is on at work with us trying to get a press release out the door AND I'm starting to venture into grant-writing.  Eek!

So, it's been a while since I've posted, and I've learned some exciting info about my new bicicleta.  Here's the stitch:

1) I went to Back Bay Bicycles a few weeks ago to look at waterproof gloves.  The weather (at that point) was turning and I knew my hands would be feeling the cold!

2) I was also on the hunt for PEDALS!  I'd been doing some online research (you should know I am an intense research-before-you-buy person) and determined that I wanted cages (perhaps VO's half clips) and new pedals since my foot had already slipped off, and one pedal's plastic component was breaking+uncomfortable.

3) I bought some gloves!  Only approved for 40 degrees, but supposedly waterproof and we shall see how they do...  Haven't needed them since purchasing since it's been just balmy lately.  I think gloves have been jinxing me lately since after I bought gardening gloves I haven't gotten to go gleaning at all :(

4) Their pedals were PRICEY!  And no half clips.  So I decided to wait.

5) BUT, while I was there I solicited some advice.  It is my goal to convert this bike into a fixie, so I asked what type of wheel I should be getting.  Unfortunately the shop guy there busted my dream and told me I needed a rear-facing rear dropout.  Now, since I did EXTENSIVE research before purchasing my bike, I knew this wasn't true, but held my tongue anyway since I'm really not in any place to argue with a bike mechanic.

6) Luckily the fellow was still nice, he played around with my gears some, which had been having trouble shifting (and in fact still are), and also told me that the bike was probably from 1976-1978.  Wow info!

A few days after this trip, I was on an all day biking+shopping trip with a friend, and I convinced her to stop at the Cambridge Antique Market with me.  Did you know they have lots of bike parts in the basement?  I was able to pick up some pedals with attached clips and straps for $30.  A tad rusty but I'm very happy with them so far and have been able to get my foot in!

Took forever for me to muscle off the old pedals, but I think they are doing well, and I haven't noticed any difficulty with me getting my foot in or out.  Even better is that the straps are cloth and not leather!  (I also periodically go through and anti-leather phase, despite the fact that my favorite purse is leather, but never fear, I did weigh costs and benefits for quite a while before that purchase).

Pics to come!

EDIT:

And I forgot to mention!  Tonight I went to the Food for Free Party Under the Harvest Moon, their annual fundraiser, with my employers.  It was a darling event, with free food, open bar, silent auction & live music.  I had TONS of delicious food: a veggie burger slider, chocolate mousse tart, lemon cookie, bean & rice burrito (and one is in my fridge now too!), curried coconut crab soup (delicious though I don't think the crab is necessary), gorgonzola stuffed apricot+probably more that I'm forgetting.

Also got to meet Ton & Ray Magniozzi from Car Talk!  I remember my parents listening to that ever Saturday (?) on the radio, so I was lucky enough to get an autograph for my mom.  Also snapped a few pics of my boss posing with them for her Car Talk obsessed niece, cute!

Say hello to...

My NEW BIKE!

A beauty, no?

She's an undetermined make and year, I'll probably do some more research on that later, but she rides well.  10 speed I think (not really use to gears, and also don't really care).  Fairly light, odd handlebars but working brakes, and a slight bit tall for me, but a decent price (I think), so she will do!

Here's the plan:

Paint, perhaps dark forest green and keep the lugs silver?

New handlebars, I'm thinking drop bars, nicely wrapped with gel inserts!

Take off rear brake and gears, this girl is going fixie!

Rear rack has an undetermined fate at this time, handy, and looks fine now, maybe it will get a paint job too.

Here are the issues:

Where can I paint?  It's getting cold, plus I live in a dorm!  Not sure if the park across the street is open to me hanging my bike from a tree and spraying it. (Professional job is FAR too much money)

Need to learn a bunch more about bikes!  What size tires do I want, what size handlebar will fit?  What is the best bargain fixed wheel to buy?

Nonetheless I'm super excited to start on this project in my spare time (haha what a joke!)