1000 Miles!

I reached 1000 miles on my bike today! Pretty lame that I didn't reach that milestone earlier since I've had my bike for 5 months now, but I really have loved riding it and haven't regretted my decision to by my Harley even once. I seriously still smile each time I ride... the wind, the power, the sound. I think all I need now is some of those screamin' eagle pipes :-)

Listener Appreciation Concert

Each year a couple of the local country stations band together and put on a free country concert for their listeners. They hold the concerts at the beautiful Idaho Center outdoor amphitheater. Sara Evans was the main singer this year, with an opener by One Flew South and James Otto. I had tried for a couple of months to win tickets (you can't buy them - you can only win them), and was stoked when Jessica got a pair of last minute tickets (thanks Megan!) and asked me to go with her. The weather was beautiful, the atmosphere was super cool, and the music was amazing. I had a blast singing along to the songs with the over 11,000 other fans in attendance.

Blogging Absense Excuse

So it's basically been forever since I've posted anything on here, which is totally unlike me. But I do have a good excuse! The last couple weeks have been spent moving practically the entire contents of my house into my garage for my most recent remodeling project - I got new floors! I absolutely LOVE them. I now have beautiful walnut hardwood in my entryway, living room, dining room, and kitchen, and a new tan carpet throughout the rest of my house. It is SO much better than the ugly old gray carpet I had before (and it was pink in my bedroom!). I couldn't be happier with it all turned out. I've got a couple other small house projects up my sleeves, but once those are done, I'll definitely be having a house re-warming party :-)

A view of the living room and dining room without carpet!

The family room with the dining room and kitchen in the background.

Steals and Deals

As if I don't already spend enough time on the internet, I have two cool new sites that I have to check frequently throughout the day - SteepandCheap and WhiskeyMilitia. Both of these sites only sell one item at a time, but at a huge discount off the regular price. SteepandCheap is targeted toward sporting goods, whereas WhiskeyMilitia has a different variety of clothing, watches, etc. I just bought my first item off of WhiskeyMilitia - this super cute sweater for 60% off the regular price! Oh, and just in case you're a Google Reader user (which if you're not I HIGHLY recommend that you start using it), you still have to check the site because reader doesn't update as quickly as the items change.

Oh, and I think I'm the last person on the planet to jump on the CraigsList bandwagon (I know, weird that I haven't done this earlier, huh). I have sold a couple things on CraigsList before, but my sweet mom actually did all the legwork for me (posting, corresponding with those interested, etc.) Well, Saturday I bought a couple of new bar stools and decided to sell my old ones. I posted them on line yesterday and just a few hours later got an email from someone who wanted to buy them! They picked them up today and now I'm a little bit richer :-) So then I was hooked. I posted three more items today and hope the money keeps rolling in!

Football Season Begins!

Hooray! One thing that I love about fall is football, especially Boise State football! I think it is so cool how the entire community rallies together to support our Broncos (tonight's game had over 32,000 people in attendance!). I wanted to get season tickets this year, but only the really expensive tickets were available when my name came up on the waiting list, and I couldn't justify the cost. Oh well, maybe next year. So I was bummed thinking I might not make it to a game this season when I got a text earlier this week about tonight's game. A girl in another ward has cancer, and as a fundraiser, that ward put together a service project. The first 150 people to show up to the Boise State game tonight got a free ticket to see the game in exchange for helping to clean the stadium after the game. Of course I was in! The game was great. Not only did we crush ISU, but it was fun to see our new team in action. Cleaning the stadium afterwards took FOREVER! It would have gone a lot faster if there really were 150 people to show up (I think we had closer to 50) and if everyone who did show up stayed the entire time to finish cleaning. Jessica, Jenny, and I stuck it out till the end, and didn't get home till 1:00am, but it was worth it. We had a blast! Go Orange, Go Big Blue, Fight, Fight, BSU!

Peroneal Tendonitis

So remember this post? Where I was so excited that I ran three miles? Yeah, well, I haven't run since. That evening, the bottom outside of my left foot really started hurting. It doesn't hurt when I sit or stand, but each step I take is painful. Needless to say, since it hurt so bad to walk, I didn't want to try running at all. I tried to keep off my foot as much as possible and took ibuprofen to help with the pain, but nothing seemed to help. Well, I started getting nervous that all my hard work training would go down the drain if I didn't start running again soon, so I called the podiatrist. Turns out I have peroneal tendonitis. There isn't much cushion on the bottom of your foot just below this tendon, and I think that running with really old shoes at the gym was the cause. Ugh! I knew that I needed new shoes, but good shoes are just so expensive! Oh well. Anyway, I get to wear this funky little gauze patch on my foot that is a kind of topical anti-inflammatory. I also got inserts for my shoes that should help cushion the tendon a little better. The good news is that the doctor told me I could start running again... hope the pain goes away soon so that it doesn't hurt so bad to run!

Paying to Park... at Work!

I love almost everything about my job. I love the people I work with, the work I do, and the 5 weeks of vacation I get each year. I love that there's a Rec Center on campus so that I can work out on my lunch break, and I love how the beautiful Boise River runs along the entire north side of campus. At this time of year, I love how alive campus is, with all the students returning to school, and I absolutely LOVE Boise State football. One thing I don't love about my job is that I have to pay to park at my work. Yep, that's right, I can't park in any of the lots at Boise State without a paid parking permit (or paying by the hour, which is fiscally irresponsible when you work all day, every day, all year long). I have my parking permit fees deducted over the course of the year from my paycheck so I don't feel it as much, but it still totals $296 for the year. The thing that really stinks is that as a staff member I actually have to pay MORE than the students pay to park in the same lots! So I was just curious, does anyone else have to pay to park where they work, or is it just me?