When It Rains It Technically Always Pours

Usually when I think of the term when it rains it pours I think of bad things getting worse over time. But, this weekend was awesome, and today somehow was pretty darn tootin close to being awesome as well. Since most sensible things follow a linear train of thought, I'll start from the beginning of the weekend.

Friday was actually really rough. So it probably shouldn't be included in a raining and pouring positive post, but I guess that goes to show that the rest of the weekend went well because I forgot Friday sucked until just now. Work went okay, but after work I tried to find a local bike shop to finally get fitted for my bike. Of course the address wasn't in my gps, and I couldn't remember where the street was, so I drove 20 minutes on the street I thought it was before getting frustrated and going home (only to Google map it and find out I was on the right street, but going the wrong direction >__< ). Then mom wanted to bug me, but whatevs, it was off to my g/f house after.

Saturday was actually semi-rough, and I'm starting to see a real pattern her. I promise one of these days during the weekend wasn't bad. Just go to a farm and grab some reins so you can hold your horses. So I was supposed to volunteer with some BB people, but again, my gps didn't have the address. So I woke up early and got in my car for nothing, also frustrating. But after that I just edited my book, worked on someone else's book, edited an article, wrote up some letters for BB and then played video games. That was were the cool awesome goodness started.

Sunday I went to church with the g/f and then we decided to celebrate Valentines Day this weekend instead of after the 14th. So we went out to eat at a restaurant named Gordon Biersch Brewery in Tyson's Corner. Took me back to my AmeriDays in Milwaukee when all we did was tour breweries. The food was awesome for the most part, but came at a pretty penny. Here's the beer I had (also yummy) and the food and the menu (cause you love the front of menus!!!)

Oh yeah, look at that waist of phone memory

Missy's main entree, California Cobb flat bread pizza with house-made cheese. Not too shabby. Conversation upon her receiving her pizza. Missy: Why does it look like a salad. Me: You know Cobb is a type of salad right? Missy: Ooohhhh

Southwest Egg rolls - it was aight...but they thought they were slick...saying you get 4 egg rolls...pish this is two egg rolls cut in half...can't trick me you swindlers!!

The beer I got. Actually really good. Description below, it was the Marzen

My entree. Lobster and crab cake sandwich. Actually pretty darn good. I was debating if the crab meat was fake since it was only 16 bucks...no way to know for sure though. 

So to make Sunday even better, we decided to go to Coldstone and the movies!! I'm not a pirate so I didn't take any pictures of the movie we saw, but it was the Hansel and Gretel movie. PS...this movie is super violent and not like the fairy tale at all! Lol but it was still okay. Here's a picture of the wonderful Coldstone Hot stone thingy. Soooo good. It's A warm cookie with warm cookie dough with vanilla ice cream with Oreo pieces on top. Yeah, my mouth just got a little moist thinking of it again. The picture does NOT do it justice at all. 

To make sunday even even better, Missy's roommate's boyfriend John gave me a 200 dollar pair of Oakley sunglasses for when I go bike riding. Definitely a need for the trip. Never in 30 years would I even think about buying a pair of glasses as high quality as Oakley, but God moves in mysterious ways. So thank the Lord for wonderful people! I always think of donations to my trip as monetary help, but I never imagined someone would donate materials I need. Here's a picture of the snazzy things, though I dare not wear them until I'm on the road.

Crazy shades came with a second pair of lenses, replacement nose thingies, a cleaning kit, a big carrying kit, a small carrying kit, and a taste sample of how people with money live. Whodathunkit. Then Missy gave me a really nice thermal and a long sleeve shirt and some sweet coupons (she def stole my idea)

To wrap up this wonderful slew of two days, today was awesome. Work was cool, but the weather was amazing! So warm I could have rode my bike today with just a T-shirt and shorts and been okay. I ended up being hot and wanting to take off layers for the first time since I started training!! Then my workout was crazy crucial in the gym, and the ride home was even easier in this mild weather. Boy am I excited for constant warm weather. Welp, this post has already gone too long, so as a reward here's a video of me swinging on a vine and falling into a creek.Video Figured it went with the theme of raining and pouring and such. Anywho, thanks for listening with your eyes!

Another Bridal Showcase and Mother Nature's paddle

This showcase was good, but the food was lacking. Normally they have plenty of good caterers, but there was mainly cake at this one. And is it just me, or is Famous Daves NOT an appropriate wedding caterer? RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT ALERT RANT
If you put fast food at your wedding, what's the point in getting a caterer? Might as well just hit up Subway and buy 5 dollar foot longs for everyone. Or Micky D's and buy like 50, 20 piece nuggets. Or just jump in front of a bus! Okay, maybe not jumping in front of a bus, but for real. Famous Dave's is good, but screams a harpy-like "you don't matter, guests, so you get fast food for my reception."

Okay, enough of the rant. I apologize if Famous Dave's is your favorite spot and you were thinking of hooking up some BBQ at your next wedding. In hindsight,that rant was unnecessary, and yes I could delete it, but obviously I'm not.

BTW here are the pictures from the showcase, check here if you want to know the names for everything.

B&B update! I made it to my February fundraising goals a bit early! Thank you once again to everyone who has donated so far! You're awesome. Isn't it wonderful to be a part of building a better world? If you haven't donated and still want to donate, click the smiley face =) to be a part of this awesome adventure.

Mother Nature spanks hard. Definitely did not realize how hard it is to bike while it's currently snowing until I tried to for the first time. I'd been out in the cold, but there's nothing like having ice pellets biting at your eyes and nose while flying down a hill with no control because snow isn't the best surface to stop on. As one fellow bike and builder said to me, safety is sexy, so I guess I won't be biking during snow storms anymore. Because if there's one thing I absolutely have to  be, it's sexy. And if I have to be safe to be sexy, than gosh darn it I guess I'll be safe. That means no more rides at 4 in the morning because last time I almost got hit by a drunk driver. Though Alcohol was probably involved with his drunk driving spin out  I guess I should still be safer by only driving when there are cars on the road for the drunk driver to hit instead of lonely me on my bike. Really though, i"ll be safe.

PS, if you have an odd mind like me, and you're ever thinking of using aluminum foil as insulation for your cold weather endeavors, don't! Especially not as hand warmers. I literally thought I would lose my fingers after 5 minutes of being out in the cold with the foil wrapped around my appendages.

You may be over there laughing up a storm, saying, "Oh Jeremie, didn't you know that would make you colder?" Obviously not. I know metal retains cold, but for my defense, I figured my body heat would stay inside since foil is such a great heat trapper. But I forgot mother nature is much colder than I am warm, so that's why it didn't work. Easy mistake for anyone to make...right? I also did a foot wrap with foil, so here's a pic of that for your amusement.

Welp that's all for now. As usual, thanks for listening with your eyes.

Nothing like the first time

So I've worked yet another Bridal showcase and the hunt has still been a failure. If you're wondering which hunt I'm referring to, it's because I never mentioned it until now. Come to think of it, I didn't even really think about it until just now, but that doesn't make the event any less of a tasteful disaster. Ever since I went to that wedding with my buddy Becca, I haven't experienced a wedding cake as awesome as the one there. So three Bridal showcases later, I'm still looking. This showcase had bland cake, but awesome food. Makes me want to get married just to have some catered yum yum. Then again, I could always just find my royal look alike and pose as a king or prince until caterers work to fulfill my every need. Anywho, here are pictures of the yum yums from this time around. Go to my Facebook Album to see the names of everything

As you can see, not as many desserts and yes I am disappointed in that. The event will be happening in VA again so there's hope it will turn out with a better array of pastries for my pallet.

Random pictures of the GF and GF roommate...and other junk...oh and yes that woman's dress is covering the table she's sitting inside of...cool right?

On an ongoing side note, I'm almost at my January goal for affordable housing fundraising! Just 50 more bucks. You, yes you young reader can help make that goal so reached I won't even have a corny metaphor to place with it. So donate away by clicking here, and make a family in need a happy and homed family.  Enjoy this bicycle art.

Welp, that's it for now. As usual, thanks for listening with your eyes. Be blessed!