Warrior Princesses Bike to Work

You know when you see an amazing dress on the rack and you go to try it on and it just doesn't look that good on you?  ...But you like the thought of it so much you buy it any ways.  That's what biking feels like to me.  It's a forced friendship and it's not coming naturally.  But I really want to love it.  I have been wanting to ride my bike to work for ages now, but fear was totally holding me back.  I was scared I would get hit by a car, that I would get lost, and that my ass was just too fat to be pedaling up that massive hill on my way home.  But last week my cycling Aunt accused me of making too many excuses, so I did what anyone would do -I proved her wrong. (which was probably her intention all along.)


I left the house at 7:30 this morning and it was a nice sunny day, but the air was crisp.  I didn't realize how crisp until I was cruising down some big hills and my poor little fingers were absolutely frozen.  I literally had no idea how cold biking makes your fingers.  It was painful.  By the time I finally got to work I was sucking my thumb like an awkward adult just trying to warm it up before frost bite set in (dramatic, yes)


My journey to work was not uneventful.  The part of the trip that I thought would be relatively stress free was not at all.  Tram lines dissecting the road were a perfect wheel sized trench for my tires to get stuck in.  However, I only let it happen once, and then I was tackling all tram lines with aggression.  I proceeded to get lost in the city center while trying to avoid some bigger, unnecessary hills but made it to work with time to spare.  


The ride home was more stressful because it was rush hour, and I'm sure drivers were cursing me and the Duchess as we plodded along.  I felt like such an amateur when Lycra clad bikers were tackling major traffic and zipping by me.  I nearly got hit by a car as I wrangled those damn tram lines again.  But I made it to safely to my last major hurdle, Loxley Road.  Here the traffic slows from city to country, shops fronts are replaced with fields of horses, and the incline gets steadily more intense.   In the beginning I told myself, "I'm alright, it's not as bad as it looks."  But as it soon got to be as bad as it looked, I had to drop a few F bombs in my head and remind myself that I was in fact, "a mother fucking warrior princess." And warrior princesses do not give up and they have super strong, (sexy and toned) thighs and they're fit and bad ass (and have nice asses too).


So did I make it to the top?  You betcha.  By the time I finished I looked more like a purple people eater than a fit and fabulous warrior princess, but what an enlightening feeling reaching the peak was!  I conquered my fears, I cheated death, and the only thing that seemed to be injured besides my ego was my badly bruised beaver (if ya know what I mean).  Not bad for a Monday.


And so I will keep trying to learn to love my two wheeled vehicle.  I will burn calories instead of gas, and feel empowered by the strength of my body and my independence from unreliable transportation.  But honestly, I probably won't do it everyday.

Pancake Tuesday

Well all you Christian folks out there are probably gorging yourselves right now in honor of 

Fat Tuesday.  

I hope you find the baby too if you're into that.  

Anyways I'd like to share a little cultural difference with you today.  

In England, Fat Tuesday is more commonly known as Pancake Tuesday, 

and also known as "Shrove" Tuesday.

Who knows wtf a shrove is?

Anyone?

Me either - so I dictionaried it.

 shrove

n shrove [ʃrouv]

the first day of Shrovetide.

Right....  Shrovetide.  

That clears it up.  

Sometimes I wonder if they actually are speaking English in England.

But thats besides the point, what I really wanted to address is this...

Pancake vs. Crepe

In England, they seem unable to distinguish between pancakes and crepes.

Usually using the term "pancake" to mean either crepes OR pancakes.

So I just wanted to clarify...

This is a pancake...

And this is a crepe...

(forgive the crap photo this was taken when I started my blog...)

OK, glad I have gotten that off my chest.

British people spend all of "Pancake" Tuesday

talking about eating pancakes, but they're actually eating crepes.

Come on England, let's learn the difference.

Anyways, are you giving anything up for Lent?

I'm giving up cheeeeeese!

But I might make a little exception next week when 

my parents and my sister come to visit!

I'm currently working on planning the best itinerary for splitting their time between London and Sheffield for their first ever UK visit.  

I am really excited to show them where I have been living.

Now I'm just trying to think of good Dad friendly activities,

the poor man always ends up shaking his head

 while he sees his credit card bill blow up in front of his face.

Any suggestions?

Come See My Green House!!

Hey Friends,

Check this out.

Nick and I found this little greenhouse at the grocery store for only £25 (score!) 

and we put it together yesterday.

It's not the most classy looking green house ever, but whatever - 

even Martha Stewart had to start somewhere.  

Anyways, come on in!

It's actually quite cozy inside, 

and I let my little seed babies spend their first day out today. tear...

(Momma's got separation anxiety...)  

Until now they've been growing in the kitchen.

I still have to bring them in at night, in case they get too cold, 

but I am so pleased with their progress.

And the fact that it appears I may in deed have a green thumb!

Here are my tomatoes and sweet peppers.

We also have eggplant, strawberries, mint, basil, and tomatillos growing now.

And here are my little carrots.

They got attacked by some weird green fly thing,

 but I went on a crazy fly slaughter and killed them all....

with my bare hands.

Ahem.... anyways my carrots seem to be growing pretty well now, 

and there are no more flies brave enough to hang out around here.

So yeah I've become a crazy gardening lady. 

But I'm just so excited to eat something that I have grown.

I've got so much more to plant in the next few months that

Nick is worried we are going to run out of room.

But there is a plot of land behind our house that is totally overgrown and unused

so I am plotting to make a little vegetable plot there.  

(Overuse of the word plot?)

Nick is also worried (notice a trend here?)

 that this is trespassing, but seriously, what are they gonna do?

Arrest us for growing corn?

If they do....

 I'll have to sacrifice one of my phallic vegetables to a place where the sun doesn't shine.  

So be it.  

Hope you had a fabulous weekend.

Vegan Blueberry Pancake Monster

Lately I've been more seriously dabbling in a bit of veganism.  

I feel like all the junk food I eat is based around animal products, 

so in order to get healthier I thought why not purchase a few vegan cook books.

The real problem with this is Nick is pretty much anti-vegan.  

I think it is a dude thing.  

So usually I pick the most unhealthy vegan man friendly recipe 

from the cook book AND then we end up de -veganizing it.

The other weekend for example, I made pancakes from Veganomicon and used

butter to grease the pan.

Vegan Fail. 

Now, I think I still need to try more recipes from this cookbook to give it a fair review,

 but so far I am finding learning to veganize food challenging.  

Like when I made these blueberry pancakes the other day.

This was the runniest pancake batter I've ever seen,

 spread thin like a crepe if you ask me...

Then it turned into this green little blobby pancake monster... 

that just so happened to match my nail polish.

But after a few more tries I was able to get it to come out like this...

And I have to say, even though it is messy, 

and not the most attractive blueberry pancake ever, 

it was certainly scrum-diddily-umptious.  

Blueberry Corn Pancakes from Veganomicon  

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/4 cup plain soy milk 
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla - I subbed this for almond extract because we were out of vanilla, and it gave them a lovely marzipan flavor.
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (we used frozen, just microwaved them before adding them to the batter)

In a large bowl sift together dry ingredients.  Mix together wet ingredients in another bowl, then add wet to dry - being careful not to over mix and gently folding in the blueberries.  

The instructions say to use a quarter of a cup of batter and cook over medium high heat, but I found it was best to just make one big pan sized pancake and fold it up like a crepe.  

Have you guys tried any vegan cooking?  

What were your results?

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Let me start by saying that I think the fact that I read this book is a little embarrassing.  Self help books remind me of something that 40ish downward spiraling divorced people read while eating ben and jerry's and sipping on a little too much vino.  I, for one, am only 24, and though I sometimes feel like I'm in the middle of my own downward spiral (helllllllllo quarter life crisis drama queen), I'm not currently shoving ben and jerrys down my pie hole.  And perhaps talking about -admitting, in fact, that I have these sad and depressing moments - is a little too much airing of the ole dirty laundry..... Whatever.  It's not like it hasn't been done before around here right?  Right.  


Oh hi this is me - the creeper with the dirty eyebrows reading self help in the corner by my glitter wall.  

Now that I have written that little confession of sorts can I tell you how great this book has been?  I finished it last week, and I'll be honest it's not a real page turner, but it is interesting and I think within the pages lies the best advice I have ever been given.  Lot's of the advice sometimes seems super tricky to enact, but you know if you did what the author said that your life would be fricking fabulous and you'd smile more and you'd be prettier and skinnier and your husband and parents and siblings and children (future children in my case) and dog and cat and maybe even your gold fish - they would all like you more.  And if they didn't - well you'd be so damn pleased with your jolly EFFECTIVE self that you wouldn't really care all that much.  


I didn't start really trying to perform what I learned in this book as I went.  But once I finished it, I immediately went to the front and started reading it again.  This time I am going to try to use the book more as a tool, rather than a straight read.  Right now, I am 5 days into the author's recommended 30 days of Proactivity.  And let me tell you, it is going down a treat.  


So good in fact, that I question why I was ever embarrassed in the first place.  I mean, surely people who read these types of books are just looking to improve themselves - and what is more noble than that?  My 5 days of proactivity so far have provided me with multiple new friends, a better relationship with my husband, and issues at my job are now being addressed by my boss.  If all this can happen in 5 days, I am excited for what the next 25 more days will hold.  


I would highly recommend this book to anyone who ever talks to a person ever.  Even if the only person you talk to is yourself, actually ESPECIALLY if the only person you talk to is yourself.  

Friends, do you think you are effective?

I feel so effective right now.

ps.  Finishing this book was also on my Day Zero, 

which is back up and running fyi, so I can cross it off!  Woo hoo.