Once upon a time, not so long ago, I was talking with my supervisor/mentor/superwoman, Jerri and I said to her, “It’s like I’m energized by my own life.” She told me I should blog that. I think there’s an unfinished draft in there … somewhere.

There are SO! MANY! amazing things going on in my life. House shopping! Mentoring! Ad2 Reno reorganizing! Writing! Bike rides! Live tweeting the raddest blogger event! Hanging out with my superawesome family! Not to mention all of the growing, learning and amazing work* I do at my job.

But at some point, the law of diminishing returns comes into play and the energy I put in to the awesome starts taking away from the energy that comes out. And that = tired Becca.

So um, that’s it I guess. Because, right now I can’t and/or really don’t want to put any of it down. So tell me, friends. How do you balance it all? How do you make room for everything in your live that’s important to you?

* Amazing, as in the work is awesome and fun. NOT amazing, as in I produce amazing work. I mean I do – but that’s not what I mean here. Just, shhhhh.

You would think I’d have learned this by now, but for some reason I NEED to keep reminding myself that the time when I least feel like doing something is when I need to do it the most (writing and riding alike).  So, here we are.

First, I have to give myself public props for riding on my first day back to work, and not just because I said I would.  It felt good.  And I knew it would be THAT much more difficult if I didn’t just jump right in and do it.  So I did (and then because of heavy loads in need of transportation, I didn’t ride the next two days), and again on Friday.

In talking with Brad, I’ve noticed that lately, I don’t even have to think about it.  I’d be fooling myself to say that it’s become routine or habit for me already.  But I’m at least able to appreciate how easy it’s been to just get up and get on my bike (hah–all three times).  It does kind of make me wonder though, why it’s been so hard for me to capture any of this in my blog?  Often something will happen (or not happen) and I think, what a great blog post this will make, but the post never comes.  Maybe I am just THAT busy, but I don’t want to cop out with excuses.

That said, the other blog-worthy things that happened (or didn’t happen) since my last post:

We (Brad and I–my family wasn’t so excited about mountain biking) totally missed out on a mountain biking adventure we were trying to sign up for in Curacao.  I was BUMMED.  I have never been mountain biking before and was really exciting at the prospect of doing it for the first time on a tropical island.**

We did do an awesome kayak day in Aruba though, which was super rad.  I had also never kayaked before (although seeing people do it in the Truckee River sufficiently freaked me out about it).  Kayaking on a nice mellow beach though, I was prepared to handle.  I even volunteered to go first (YES, that is impressive and I’ll thank you to not disagree with me).

IweBrad kicked ass at kayaking.  When I wasn’t showering him with my paddle.  At least we didn’t tip over like my bro and sis (sorry guys ).

Anyway, it was fun.  And almost started to make up for the amount of delicious cruise food I ate the rest of the week. ***

The other noteworthy thing that happened this week is we FINALLY adjusted the seat on my bike so my knees will stop hurting (thank you Jeff Moser for helping to diagnose) and it’s a bajillion times better.

Now that school has started (not for me, but for my boo, who is in class until 7 on Monday and Wednesday) and daylight saving hasn’t ended quite yet, I might do some solo exploring on my bike.  Even though, it’s Monday, my workday has ended and yet, I’m sitting at my desk writing this … um, I guess that means peace out til next time! ****

**AND SUBSEQUENTLY BLOGGING ABOUT IT!!!

*** oh, btw, if you were wondering, the cruise was AWESOME

**** and if you made it all the way down here, thanks!  Now go do something more fun, please! (apparently it’s a footnote kind of day)

see? she won't even stop playing long enough for me to take a picture (yes, that is a pink baseball mit and a purple ball)

So, I didn’t get much activity while in Vegas, but I was pretty quick to get back to riding to work.  Although I haven’t been so good about riding otherwise (neither has the boyfriend).  Wait, that’s not true.  We DID go on one long ride to Michael’s so we could buy paints to decorate our watering can (we’re crafty).  This is what happens when you don’t ride for several weeks:

lots-o-dust

So, to any of my local friends reading this: GET A BIKE!  Then we can ride together and be merry.  Go, right now, to the Reno Bike Project and buy one. (But please, for the love of everything that is holy–or unholy–wear a damn helmet.  And if you need to know why, please check out my friend David LaPlante’s blog post, “An Ode to Helmet Hair and the Vanity of the Fools. Don’t be a dumbass, wear a helmet.” Srsly.

However, I WILL be going for a ride tonight, however, to go see Veer, a bicycling documentary that will benefit the Bike Project.  They are going to have a bike valet. That.  Is.  Awesome.  So, hopefully more frequent, longer distance bike rides in the future.

In other, completely unrelated news, we have an awesome garden coming along in our planter box:

basil to the left, chives, lettuce, more chives and tomatoes on the upper right. yeaaahhh.

And a pretty little watering can to go with:

we're crafty.

and lastly, my niece is awesome.  Just an FYI.

LEGO FINGERS!!!

Challenge for next week: go on the Scheels Tuesday night bike ride.

Exhibit A – I once had to spend a Friday afternoon by myself at work:

This is super sad.  I really, really hate being alone.  Maybe it’s because I am home alone so often, but I really do not appreciate my alone time as I should.  I don’t have kids, or many responsibilities for that matter, so I really just haven’t come to appreciate being alone.  I am sure in a few years or so, I’ll really love my me time, but for now, I want to be surrounded.  Maybe it’s a need to feel loved?  Maybe it’s because I was NEVER alone as a kid and as a result never fostered that imagination gene, but I really don’t think I am very good company.

No wonder I tagged that entry with the word “pathetic.”

I would like to express my newfound okay-ness with spending time alone.  After having an overwhelming amount of house guests two weekends in a row, I look forward to my next weekend alone.  That is not to say I will be happy to have Brad away for 10-hour workdays on Saturday and Sunday.  This is also not to say that I don’t LOVE having house guests.  I really, really do.  There is something special about people coming to Reno to see my life, our life, in our cute little home nestled just southwest of downtown.

Last weekend, for Brad’s graduation, among many of Brad’s family members in town, my dad stayed in our guest room.  On top of this, my sister was also moving out of the dorms and into a new place.  It was a busy weekend.

This weekend, my good friend Margarita stayed with us, while my mom stayed at the Atlantis.  Now, while my sister is moving out of her new place and into a different new place, she’s crashing with us.  [Leah, if you're reading this, which you're probably not, I <3 having you stay with us and please don't hurry out!]

As I said, I love having anyone (within limits) stay with us.  But that was pretty condensed, I’ve got to say.  Since I have to work on Saturday, I look forward to a Sunday of housework, laundry, solo bike rides, tv and absolutely no feeling sorry for myself.  And maybe even a little gardening if we have a finished planter box by then:

Planter box we** are building

**I use the term “we” loosely because all I’ve done is hand Brad screws or hold things steady while he saws/drills things.

my faja and his girlfriend, karen

Oh right, and Brad graduated from UNR on Saturday, which was nice.  It’s graduation, y’know.  REALLY hot day, forever long ceremony.  It was crazy how hot it was this weekend, actually!  Luckily we were in the shade, but it was way too hot for May.  I’m glad it’s back to 83 today   Anyway, he just happened to be like 10th from the last person called.  Out of almost 2,000 people.  We barbecued, drank beer, got a little sunburned in the backyard.  Good times.

So anyway, for some reason, we just did not make it out to ride our bikes.  We did however make it to the hardware store to buy supplies for my new planter box (!!)  We are very excited to start growing stuff   Brad figures we’ll start with some herbs and then plant some onions, garlic, shallots, etc. in the fall.

My dad had my car Monday morning so I was forced to ride to work.  Which is definitely a good thing because I am confident I would not have done so otherwise.  Definitely also contributed to my riding this morning as well.  Today, I VOLUNTARILY went a different way which involved two very large hills.  Okay, not “very large” but pretty big for me.  In the morning.  Before food.  And coffee.  Go me.

Dad and Karen come back from Calif. tonight, so probably no ride, but hopefully we’ll do our “long” ride one day soon.    Brad, if you are reading this, note the sad face!  Kidding!

As stated in my previous entry, I resolved to bike to work the entire week, save Friday.  And here we are on Thursday and I did it!  Even today, which is a half-day.  I’m not gonna lie, I am pretty darn impressed with myself.  Not that it’s a tough or long ride.  It’s relatively short and easy.

As stated in another previous entry:

I definitely need to be on my bike a lot more to have better stories to tell.  Now, the learning part is mostly taken care of.  I can ride the bike.  Now I need to start experiencing life from my bike.

Yes, I just block-quoted my own blog post.

Hopefully after Brad is done with school we can go on some more after-work rides.  I really want to try the trail along the river that goes all the way to Vista.  Anyway, I suppose that’s it for now … yay for a fun weekend of graduating, BBQing, family visiting and hopefully a little bike riding!

Soon Dad … I promise.