An Adventure Through the Rain

Yesterday I was sick all day in bed, so today Mitch and I decided it was a good idea to venture out of the apartment.  Even if it meant trekking through the rain.  When we left it was just drizzling so we took our awesome pink umbrella and got on the bus, intending to go thrifting.  Took the bus to 86th st. and got out to walk from there.  As we got we realized the drizzle had turned into a downpour.  Turning this into a real adventure we made our way out into the rain.  Of course we were not prepared for the rain, I had on flip flops and Mitch had on his toe shoes so our feet were soaking wet.

Too bad that when we got to our destination it was a huge disappointment.  We went to the goodwill on 2nd avenue and 88th st.  I was expecting a normal thrift store experience.  Instead, everything was about 10 times as expensive as they should have been.  They had rain boots, which I was thinking of getting for the walk home for $15!!!  I might pay that for new rain boots but certainly not used boots.  Crazy right?  There are fantastic thrift stores in Cambridge so I desperately want to find a great one here.  There must be too, this is NYC.  That’s my new project, find a great thrift store.

Crazy Lost Bike Ride

Yesterday I got slightly lost during my bike ride and ended up at Battery Park.  To be fair I was planning on following the bike path to the southern end of Manhattan but got off track when I found out there was a ton of road work and lots and lots of detours.  It was crazy.
It started off fun, got to 42nd st. and took a picture from the Hudson River bike path:

Then I hit the detours.  I was riding through the financial district.  Me on my beautiful and whimsical blue bike and lots and lots of people in suits.  All of a sudden I see this:

Yeah, the statue of Liberty.  I was at Battery Park.  No idea how I got there.  I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find my way back but I did see a bike rental place up ahead so I figured, OK just keep going forward.  Eventually the path must exist again and I’ll just follow it uptown. 

South Street Seaport!  The river’s right here, the bike path must be as well.  And it was!  So I start going forward.  This part of the bike path is horrendous.  The part that runs along the Hudson is beautiful, smooth, with plenty of room to pass other people.  This part is narrow, it’s very unclear which way to go, ugly, smelly, and bumpy.  Then when I reach the Brooklyn Bridge it starts going off onto the street and eventually leads me out onto 1st ave. which was terrifying. 

I decided to just head towards Central Park and take Central Park West home.  Central Park West is lovely to ride on so that part of the ride was great.  I got home, mapped out my route online and realized I had gone 20 miles.  That is just crazy!  I started riding my bike to try and lose weight but now I am amazed at what my body is able to do. 

New Bike Path Excitingness

I went for a bike ride on Friday and decided to head uptown on the bike path instead of downtown like I usually do.  It was such a good idea.  The bike path between about 110th st. and 125th. st. is beautiful.  There are no barriers between the path and the river, so there’s gorgeous scenery and smells.  It was such an amazing ride.

My Route: (about 11 miles)

Here are some pictures from the ride:

My Beautiful Bike:

On the bike rack in the park by 125th st.  I didn’t actually realize that the path extends past this point, but I’m excited to try one day when it’s nice out.

A Seagull:

The rocks separating the path from the river:

Pretty right?  It’s funny that the majority of my pictures of riding around Manhattan are so scenic.  

Also, when coming home I encountered this ridiculously long and steep hill.  But I actually made it up the entire way, which impressed me at least:

Renaissance Costume

I love making costumes for Renaissance fairs, nerd conventions, parties, really any occasion.  This time I wanted to make a bodice that laced up the back and a puffy skirt.  I went to Mood to look for fabric, but couldn’t find any stiff fabric that wasn’t crazy expensive.  Then I decided to just go downstairs and check in the upholstery section.  And voila, I found this fabric on sale.  Sure it’s probably for a sofa and not at all Renaissance appropriate but it’s so much fun!!!  The bodice was a pain to make, and the back didn’t come out like I wanted because I didn’t use enough boning.  But it worked for the day.  I’ll be able to fix it up before wearing it again.

The skirt was just cheap fabric that I bought a ton of since it was so cheap.  I pulled it together at the last minute so it’s not the best but it worked.  It was also super comfy which is important when walking around for six hours in the sweltering heat.  Also, got the umbrella half to keep the sun off of my freshly painted face and half cuz it was just so pretty.

16.65 Miles!!!

Today I rode the furthest I’ve ever rode in my life.  16 1/2 miles.  I rode along the west side highway bike path and then to Credit Suisse to visit Mitchell.  The last mile or so was ridiculous though.  I thought I was going to die.  It was a beautiful ride for the most part though.

My beautiful new bike with the basket I just put on it.

Scenic pictures from the ride.

My Route:

So Proud of Myself

Slight warning, this post is a little bit TMI so if you’re squeamish you might want to skip ahead…

 

So last night I was all pumped up to go for an epic bike ride today on my brand new bike.  Unfortunately my period thought that last night would be a wonderful time to stop by.  Normally getting one’s period doesn’t hamper activity, but I haven’t gotten mine in over 4 MONTHS.  It has been tortuous.  This is how I’ve looked for the past month:

This was me all day:

Period cramps suck.  But when you haven’t had your period in 4 months they come with a vengeance and are unbearable.  So I decided to put my bike ride on hold for the day and just rest until they go away.

Then Mitch came home, we had supper and I took a few more Tylenol.  I was feeling surprisingly ok and needed a new book to read so we decided to take a leisurely bike ride to the bookstore.  We couldn’t find the first one so we crossed Central Park to go to the one we knew of.  When we got back I tracked our route and it turns out that we rode for 6 miles!!!  That’s my second longest trip in one go yet! And on a day when all I wanted to do was lie in bed and complain.  Hopefully tomorrow I feel a bit better and can go out during the day for awhile!

Here’s our route for today:

We did ride on the car road through Central Park which was slightly scary.  Otherwise everything was fine. 

Renaissance Fair Part Two

Every year at the Renaissance fair there are people dressed up as completely random things that are in no way related to the period of the renaissance, or even to a surrounding time period.  This year was especially fun.

There were these two guys (and random girl) who were dressed up as Sith lords.  They claimed they were vikings from Norway.   You be the judge:

Sith:

Viking:

Renaissance People:

Also, every year there are multiple events featuring “Queen Elizabeth” and “Robin Hood” even though Queen Elizabeth is from the 1500s and the Robin Hood story is based in the 1100s.  But whatever, that’s not the annoying part (or at least, not the only annoying part).  What is, is that these events are ridiculously boring.  Every year we try and let the people we’re with know that they shouldn’t waste their time and every year they insist upon it.

Mitch and I knew better, so after some of our “friends” got mad at me for trying to have fun we went and rode the camel!!