Let me tell you about my new bike

I was waiting to get some sexier style photos of my new bike before I wrote about it but I don't want the moment to get away from me and the chance that I'll find myself with free time to ride just isn't that likely. With all that said you might wonder why do I have a new bike if I don't have any time to ride it? Well three reasons, one - my husband thought I deserved a "gift" for having his baby, two - my husband is more than a little obsessed with hand-built custom bike frames and three - my husband knows exactly what I like and what I like is a SWEETPEA.

For fear of getting it all wrong I won't go into too much about Sweetpea. But here's what I know. Natalie Ramsland makes bikes for women. She designs, fits and builds them. She's a crafter!
She knows what she's doing and she's really good at it. That my friends is the total extent of my custom frame building knowledge. I am guilty of letting Richard teach me very little and yes, I still let him change my flat tires. Luckily I don't get very many. Man, if I were to get out and ride like in groups, how dorky would I look if I had to ask one of the other riders if they could please fix my flat? OK, put that on the to do list.

Anyway, one day, a while ago, I was looking around the internet at stuff. You know how it gets. One minute you're reading about Dooce's latest trip to Target and the next you're looking at custom bike frames. I really can't recall how I got there but I landed on the Sweetpea site and sent the link to Richard. He's been known to refer to yours truly as "Sweetpea" and if you know me you know that I totally suit that nickname, and if you disagree then I'll punch you in the stomach. So, I thought it was cool. More than cool. I think I shot off one of those cooky emails to her asking if she needed a graphic designer. You never know, one of these days that tactic just might pay off. I loved everything about this Sweetpea. I loved the idea of building special bikes. I loved that they were all individual, all handmade. Once upon a time I made stuff like that too. I worked hard at crafting something special and it always seemed more special when I knew who I was creating for. I think that Natalie is one of the luckiest people I know.

So that was a couple years ago. Then came Emmett. Our beautiful baby boy who some of you know did not want to come out. Actually, it took him a while to decide to be born too. My pregnancy, while something we worked very hard for a very long time for, was hard. Not the hardest but hard. Delivery was rough and Emmett ended up staying in the hospital for 2 weeks.
Richard and I stayed by him as much as we could but were forced to go home every night. I think in the end this is why Richard thought I needed a "gift". As if having the most supportive partner and by far the most adorable baby in the world wasn't enough. He secretly squirreled money away and consulted with Natalie on a bike just for me.

We stopped in Portland last month on our drive south to pick up the frame and fork at the Sweetpea headquarters. Natalie generously indulged our desire to hang out with her for a little while. We talked about inspiration and crafting. She inspired me.

So, I've only been out on it once so far but we think that the Emmetty one is ready for a trailer which means our lives are about to go two-wheel, is that even a phrase? As luck would have it we just so happen to live in sunny California where it will probably always be a good day for a bike ride.

So thank you Natalie for what you do, for following your dream. And thank you dear Richard for doing the same. For finding me, for Emmett and for being the extreme bike geek that you are.

Here are a the few photos that I have:








More to come.

thats not it

I didn't mean to say that I don't like talking about kids or to kids. I was thinking about it last night. What I mean to say is that I don't like the high pitched sound that comes out of me when I'm trying to be "friendly" and when kids are in the mix it seems like that high pitched sounds gets amplified and morphed into over enthusiastic high pitched baby talk and I always say the wrong thing. I think I've mentioned that before. It's the group thing, I think, that scares me the most. I'm much better in a one on one situation.

All that said, I put aside my stupidity for a little while this morning and took Emmett to "the little gym" in Morgan Hill. This was our very first mommy and me play date. There were a lot of kids and a lot of moms and despite my uncanny ability to take the fun out of everything, it was fun.

It started with a lot of free form playing on mats and stuff. Most of the kids were older than Emmett, there was one other baby, Grayson, who is 6.5 months old so we hung out with him while his mom chased his 2 year old big brother, Emmett! How do like that, another Emmetty one.

After a while the gym teacher gathered the group for some songs, dancing and parachute adventures! I remember this one from my childhood. Emmett seemed delighted to be among people and especially the kids. He even learned a new trick, uneven bars! No I'm just kidding, he did a very nice assisted somersault.

I guess, I am going to have to face facts and realize that this kind of thing is my future. We can't just sit in the corner and watch the world go by. I hope for his sake that he's better at joining in that I am. I was invited by the other Emmett's mom to a stroller workout tomorrow. Stroller workout? I'm scared.

As much of an update as I can write before I have to move on to something else

Coming to you now from the dinning room table. More comfortable than the floor but not entirely ergonomic.

We're coming up on our third week in Gilroy, has it only been 3 weeks? It seems like months already. I'd like to say that we are fitting in with the surroundings but some days I just feel like a big Canadian Moose stomping around in a field of fluffy bunny rabbits. I haven't had any social outings yet so whenever I go to a store or restaurant I have to tell people our life story.

"We just moved here, you know!" I'll say, and the polite service provider/pseudo-friend will smile in a welcoming yet not really that interested sort of way. How many months can you say you've "just" done something? 2,3,6 a year? I don't feel like I could say that I JUST had a baby but then again he's only 7 months old.

Our days have not really settled into any sort of routine yet. There is one thing we do almost daily and that is going to the dog park. Apart from that we kind of make it up. Some days I think that my brain can't find a place to land and so it chooses not to decide on anything. On those days it's not unlikely to find me staring at the TV. I think I feel like with the dog and Emmett and the apartment full of boxes and each one needing something and me being the only one to provide it gets a little overwhelming and I just check out. Other days, I get up and seems to manage it all quite well. We go for a walk, get some shopping done, laundry, cooking even naps seem to happen effortlessly. Not having a support system around me, I think, is getting into my psyche more than the reality of it. I mean, yeah it would be nice to have someone to have lunch with or walk with but I think it's the potential crisis moment that worries me.

I guess that's what change is all about it. Getting used to something else, finding new pathways to safety and friendship and contentment. Anyway, I think that for 3 weeks things are just as they should be - kind of scary but generally okay.

Richard is loving his job. He rides the 12 miles or so to work most days, since we're a one car family now. He arrived home last week with a giant pile of Specialized gear. I actually think that he thinks he's died and gone to bike heaven. He doesn't talk about it much because I think he feels a little guilty but I can tell that he has found his happy place and that is what it's all about, right?

The Emmetty one is making a play for the cutest baby in the world, he has my vote anyway.

He's learned to sit up quite well and will attempt a hands and knees rocking thing but falls back on the old roll to your destination maneuver. He's become very engaged with the world around him. He LOVES Chester and Marta. Chester seems to be investigating him more than Marta. I have a feeling that has more to do with the grabbing a fist-full and pulling fur than anything else.



Richard and I took Emmett to the Monterey Bay Aquarium over the weekend, just another perk to living in the Bay Area, there's awesome stuff to do and see here! I think that Emmett found the crowds of people more interesting than the fish but who's to say really. I'm anxious to take him back in the next year or so and see how his interests develop.

Emmett has also become a very big eater. He's still primarily nursing but will also eat a full serving each of apples, peas and rice during the day. When we sit down for a spoon fed meal and I get the food in front of him he eagerly opens his mouth wide and seems to really enjoy the action of eating and the food. I keep meaning to write this in his baby journal but I am very proud, in my own sort of cooky way, to say that Emmett's first meal of apples was in Santa Cruz near the beach. I hope he thinks that's cool when he's old enough.

I joined a Mommy and Me Meetup group and have RSVPed for some gatherings/playtimes but haven't gone to a single one yet. I think I'm a little more anti-social than the average mom. Yes, I want to get out there and meet people but I suck at the whole being a pleasant person thing and I'm not really into talking about kids unless it's my kid and even then, I like to let him speak for himself. Plus, what if they don't like me...

Tomorrow is a kids' gym thing and I have planned to go, we'll see.

So one of the many joys of living in an apartment that looks on to the parking area is that you get the guy who thinks his motorcycle is only cool if it's making more noise than a 747 making more noise than a 747 right in front of your house while the baby sleeps - not anymore!

Sending big hugs out to all who read this, I miss you.



I just love this photo

Kids' Parties

Hey this is a shout-out to my 26 readers.

If you are like me you don't go for the Chucky Cheese pizza party or the McDonalds party room which is what they did back in my day. If you want to throw a party for your kids and need some ideas, tips and well just good advice I recommend visiting my friend Megan's column on About.com. Megan is so great at creating a fun atmosphere with themes and crafts.

So if there's a kid in your life who deserves a great party and what kid doesn't? Check it out.
Kids' Parties.

a new day

Me: how was your day?
Richard: OK

Me: where did you get that jacket?
Richard: Oh it's just something I got at work



this can only be the beginning

"G" is for Gilroy

Still coming to you from the floor of our apartment but I am now surrounded by our things. I'm pretty sure that someone broke in to our POD and added a bunch of extra stuff because I'm looking around and thinking ... "WHY? Oh why did we bring THAT!" Things were so much easier when it was just me and the floor and a few suitcases. Now I have stuff to deal with. It feels like I've been dealing with this stuff for a while now. I was going on the theory that we would get down here and get to experience the fantasy that is a clean slate but all this stuff followed us here and the slate my friends is littered with crap. You don't even know how much I got rid of either. It was a lot!

So anyway, even with all that is our junk we don't have a computer desk. Luckily there is an IKEA in Palo Alto, I think it's right next to Stanford, they probably have cat walk. Hey that's my first Stanford joke and I don't even know what it means. All kidding aside, we will be going to IKEA, seriously! Unpacking boxes is about as much fun a waiting for the dentist or paying bills so I'm avoiding it for now. My excuse is that we need storage solutions so until I get my IKEA on it's all staying in the box, especially Richard's stuff.

With that said you must be wondering how I am filling the days if I'm not working on unpacking boxes (I am unpacking boxes just in a very choosy way). I'll tell you, today I took Emmett and we headed out with the camera to explore the blocks around us and maybe get to know a neighbor or two. Our first stop was the ACE hardware at the strip mall across the street. There's also 3 or 4 nail and hair salons, two liqueur stores (and one across the street) a dollar store, a pet store, an Irish pub, a Thai restaurant, and Italian restaurant, a bunch of little sandwich shops, and a oil change place. It's quite the strip mall. I stopped to get some WD40 for the creaky doors that wake little boys when you're checking on them. I'll fix that!

This is what we found behind the strip mall

From what I can tell these are Italian plum trees. I found out that this area used to be called the Valley of Heart's Delight. Isn't that so Lucy Maud? I think I'll save that for another post.

Onward from there we stopped at the coffee shop. They have ok coffee there. It's a local place run and owned by two women. I got a cold drink because it's bloody hot here today.

This is the view from the coffee shop looking toward the apt complex that we live in.


From there we headed over to the cemetery to meet our neighbors. Our bedroom windows look out over these graves so I felt like I should introduce ourselves. I think cemeteries are a good way to get a feel for the area. The names of the families that reside in this place. Some of the graves were very old and some, brand new. It was a nice quite place with shade.





with nothing but boxes waiting for us at home we decided to keep going around the block, which turned into a 5 block radius and a very warm walk.

Here are some of the trees and plants along the way








(yes that is a pomegranate growing in someone's front yard)

We didn't meet anyone on our walk. I tried to help an old lady with her shopping bags but she ignored us like we didn't exist in her world. We saw a few people digging through trash for recyclables which seems to be a sort of career here. There were a few people in bikes. Gilroy, well this area in general, seems to have a strict no helmet culture. It's rare to see a helmet. Even at Specialized, I saw one girl riding home from work with her helmet strapped to the handlebar. It's scary to think about all those potential head injuries.



I'll leave you with a photo of the pool on this early November day. I miss the changing season, I feel like I've been set back in time, back to the middle of summer. It never really lasts long but those few gorgeous autumn weeks when the sun shines and the trees glow in red and yellow. I was really looking forward to that. I wanted to get Emmett all dressed up in sweaters and blankets. Ok... I wanted to get all dressed up in sweaters and blankets. Oh well, soon the wind will pick up, blow all those leaves to the ground and the sky will turn a nondescript gray color and then ... the snow and ice. OK - this isn't so bad.

On the way to California - Part lll

Coming to you from the floor of our Gilroy estate. A town house sandwiched between two other town houses. No yard, no garage, no color. Safe to say I am looking forward to getting our furniture and boxes on Friday. I think that having our things around will help the mood around these parts.

Anyway, when I blogged last we were in Grants Pass Oregon, a cute little timber town in the southern part of the state with a slight meth problem, but what town doesn't these days?







After my Grandfather passing that morning there was no question that we had to visit the old forest. So we skedaddled out of town and headed down the Redwood highway in to California. This drive was surprisingly similar to the drive south from Prince George to Williams Lake. Dense forest, big trucks, birch trees, that sort of thing. It wasn't long though before that all changed and we found ourselves driving through a forest of giants. The Redwood forest. We drove through a grove that was nothing less than magical. We did sort of wonder if there were ewoks lurking about but we didn't see any, just the way they like it...









After the first grove you pop out that the ocean. We stopped and got some sightseeing advice and a map from the visitors center and then set out to see more big trees and picnic on the ocean cliffs. We couldn't really take any trails or hikes because of the car full of animals even though we did run into a lovely hippy with a dog named Stoneylove who didn't seem to care about the "no dogs on the trails" rule. Oh well.







Our drive took us a short distance to Eureka CA. We decided to stay the night there and continue on the Redwood Highway south in the morning. The hotel in Eureka was by far the worst room on the trip. It's not really a non-smoking room if the people on either side of you are smoking and possibly the maid while she was cleaning our room. It stunk! And why do hotels think it's ok to provide you with a crib but not a sheet for the crib? Would they provide you with a bed that doesn't have sheets? I'm just saying. Come on!



We had a crappy buffet of whatever was left in the cooler and some stuff Richard picked up at Safeway and went to bed.



The next morning was the beginning of day 4 and we had all had enough of the car. There was a little testiness on my part. I really just needed a real breakfast and the option of drinking my whole cup of coffee before it went cold in the cup holder of the car. The universe must have heard our desire for solace and directed us to find the natural food co-op. Richard and I toured the isles, drinking our coffees and loading up on goodies like sweet potato corn chips, fresh salsa and cookies. I had roasted organic veggies for breakfast and all was good again.

We thought that we were done with the giant trees and I was sad about that. I really wanted more. As we drove down the 101 we happened upon something called "Avenue of the Giants" our second chance to experience the redwoods. We stopped a few more times for short walks into the forest, a tear or two was shed for my lovely grandfather who's spirit is much like an old tree.










We filled ourselves with Giant tree energy and coasted down the 101, with one more stop at the ocean before heading toward San Francisco.







The GPS took us over the Golden Gate (through the $6 toll) and into the heart of the city. We drove up the steepest road ever! I thought the car might tip backwards but it didn't - phew!





Of course our day of traveling took us in to the city at rush hour. So for what should have been a 45 minute drive to San Jose took us about 2 hours. We arrived in Gilroy just after 6:30 pm to find, upon our first searches, no pet-friendly hotels apart from the first crappy place we had to leave on our house-hunting trip. When in doubt, go to the grocery store, that what we always say. So, we went to Trader Joe's for nourishment and called around to a few other places. By this point I was having a pretty hard time coming to terms with the whole fact that we had just moved. So while I prepared myself for a horrid night of sleeping in the car, Richard, who thankfully has a more hearty and positive soul than I, found a hotel. Yes we did have an apartment to go to but we arrived too late to pick up the keys and we didn't have any of our creature comforts, like internet and a bed, so we opted for one more hotel room. In the morning we took our time, packed up and headed over to our new place.
It was a sunny and warm day and we had arrived to our new life in California.

On the way to California - part ll

After a rough night of not really sleeping we roused oursleves out of bed to pouring Portland rain. I waisted 6 dollars on crappy espresso, and stopped for some diapers and a new baby blanket since the other one sort of landed in the cat littler box. If I could post photos you'd see why. The car practically explodes with stuff when you open the door.

We did have one major errand to run while in Portland. A visit with Sweetpea bikes to pick up my custom frame! A gift from Richard. I can't wait to post photos from this visit. Natalie, who is Sweetpea, is one of those people you just want to be friends with. We talked for a while in her shop and left with the frame, a hat and a t-shirt. I wish we were moving to Portland but I have a feeling we'd turn into sweetpea stickers.

It wasn't long before we were on the road heading south. Past Salem, past Eugene and into uncharted territory. Seems
Like we couldn't have picked a better time of year to do this drive. The landscape is abundant with majectic rolling green hills surrounded by mountains coated in fall colors. We saw enormous grassy fields filled with wooly cream colored sheep.

We thought that we might push on through to Eureka but upon arriving in Grants Pass the call of a king size bed and a TV remote was strong and we stopped for the night.

We ate chicken tacos for dinner and fell asleep early while watching The Devil Wears Prada.

Emmett was up few times in the night. We have been running to get him when he cries or wakes at night so we don't disturb the other hotel guests. I have a feeling we're going to have a few rough nights in store when we finally get into our apartment.

I woke this morning to a call from my mother. She called to tell me that my grandfather had passed away about around 6am. He wasn't doing very well and I had been to see him a few days ago with my sister. He held and kissed my hand. There was a sense that this would be our last visit. It was bittersweet. He was 91 and he will be missed. Today we'll visit the old-growth Redwoods as we pass into California. I'm sure that standing among the beauty of thos big trees will be a good place to remember a grandfather and to say goodbye.


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