Save my money? That's just silly!

My tax refund came this week...that means one thing! It's time to buy a new bike.

While I love my Sobe colored-Cannondale hardtail,

I am sick of borrowing Dan's bikes when I want to ride something full suspension. Plus, he is 6'7". His bikes don't exactly fit me.

Shopping for bikes is so fun! Here are some top contenders:

GT Sanction 2.0: This is an older model, and I found a really good deal on this bike. Also, Dan has this bike, and I've ridden it quite a few times, so I have a pretty good idea of the feel. At least the feel of it a size or so too big.

Transition Covert: I've ridden this bike around a little (thanks cute scruffy guy from Alki Bike & Board in West Seattle!) and I really like the feel of it. It's definitely more expensive than the Sanction, but the company is based in Ferndale. I love supporting local businesses, though I guess Ferndale isn't technically local to me anymore. Plus, it comes in orange! (picture from here)

Banshee Spitfire: Dan has this bike as well (Does Dan have too many bikes? Possibly.) and I've ridden it both at Northstar andand around Santa Barbara. I like it a lot, and Dan can use his shady business dealings to get me a really good deal on one. (picture from here)

Anyone have any advice? Absolutely hate one of the bikes I'm considering? Any other suggestions?

March Totals

Bike: 101.5 miles, down from 164- It's obvious I've been skipping spin class lately, isn't it? After being cooped up inside all winter, it's so hard to go to an indoor class now that it's been nice out, so I've been running outside. It's not quite nice enough to bike outside yet, since the trails are still under about 2 feet of snow, at minimum. But if I want to be in good enough shape to really enjoy them when summer comes, I'd better get reacquainted with the spin bike.

Run: 29.3 miles- up from 26.1- At least 10 of these miles were done outside! Yay! Giving up on the American River Half and backing off of the running has been good for me, I think; other than the random knee pain I had yesterday while spinning my knee hasn't really been bothering me. I'm still having issues with blisters on my arch. Any suggestions?

Other: 29.7- This includes fun things like snowboarding and cross country skiing, and less fun things like the elliptical.

Weights: 35,145 pounds lifted! I calculated this by multiplying: number of sets x number of reps x pounds and adding them all together. Yes, this means I track all of the weight I lift. It helps me make sure that I'm progressing at a reasonable rate and actually increase the weight I'm lifting. Plus, it's fun to figure out exactly how much weight you're lifting. It adds up pretty fast!

Goals for April:

1. Go swimming!
2. Ride my bike outside
3. Lift weights twice a week (50,000 pounds maybe?)
4. Spend less money
5. Find a place to live
6. Get my back fixed and improve my asthma

I'm addressing two of these goals immediately. I have a chiropractor appointment this afternoon, and my parents are visiting, so my mom and I will be going swimming this weekend. Since it's supposed to snow tonight/tomorrow, I better enjoy this sunshine while it lasts!

Escaping the Wilderness

I left Lake Taco today for the bright lights, big city action of Reno.

Reno? You may ask. Reno has many attractions, but today I was focused on two: REI and Trader Joes.

It's that exciting time of year where my dividend has arrived, and members get 20% off of a regular priced item, so Katie and I hopped in Strawberry and headed to the Biggest Little City in the World. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for (dangerous!), but I definitely ended up finding stuff to buy.

While I had been considering buying a Jet Boil, a similar stove popped up for $23 on Steep & Cheap this week, which I impulse purchased at work, so I ended up using my 20% off discount for some stove accessories for camping this summer.

GSI Outdoors Bugaboo Hiker

And because I just don't fit in when I'm back in the PNW without them, I finally broke down and bought a pair of Keens. Half off!

Keens Whisper Sandals

In an acknowledgement to the fact that winter isn't actually over in Lake Taco, I got some adorable new boots. My grey suede Simple boots that I wear nearly every day (when I'm not wearing snowboots) are starting to look pretty haggard. It's time to give them a break. These boots were also half off.

Simple Shoes Sidecar boots

We moved on to Trader Joes, where I haven't been in five months. Apparently Trader Joes deprivation = Trader Joes spending spree. I bought way too many things to tell you about all of them. Just picture all of the things in Trader Joes; I bought about 1/3 of them. Katie bought an entire box of Two Buck Chuck.

It's a gorgeous evening here in the Wilderness, and as I have less than two weeks left to enjoy the stellar view of Lake Taco out my front window, I think I'm going to drink some coffee on my deck and watch the sunset. I love living in a place so awesome that people come on vacation here. It's really amazing when I think about it.

Non Fitness February Goals

1. Track my spending! I'd been having some issues with mint.com syncing with my bank accounts, and, thus, didn't track for January. I finally did it by hand yesterday, and, wowzers, did I do poorly on my budget.

2. Stick to my budget. See above.

3. Buy no new clothes in February. That was an area my budget took a hard hit. A big chunk was because I finally broke down and bought a real winter coat, but still. If I absolutely need something (unlikely), I'll be thrifting it up. Better for the environment, too.

4. Limit the amount of mugs that accumulate in my workspace. Right now there are four. Sorry other people in the office who might want to use a mug!

5. Accept more social invitations. I should be less of a lone wolf and do stuff when people from work invite me. While staying within my budget.

We got a new intern at work, and she's mostly going to be mine. Yay! We're having a welcome potluck next week. Anyone have any suggestions for vegetarian/gluten-free/peanut free dishes to make?

The sunshine state

So as much as I absolutely love Seattle, I have pretty much failed at finding a job here. So I am (at least temporarily) moving back to Santa Barbara.


I will definitely miss this...


But I am looking forward to more of this...

Everyone come visit me!

Summer Update

1.) I am still job hunting. I have applied for, on the low end, approximately 15 billion jobs. Out of all of these jobs, I did get a temporary unpaid internship. Woo! Actually, I am really enjoying it because I got to design my own project, which I will hopefully be able to use when I apply to PhD programs. I'm studying food access in an underserved community in south Seattle for ECOSS, an awesome environmental non-profit in the South Park neighborhood. I occasionally blog for them here. Go read it. My other job (the paid one!) is beginning to wrap up. While I'll miss the money and the intellectual thrill, I will not miss looking at the websites of nanotechnology
companies for hours and hours every day.


2.) My roommate got a dog. Her name is Harper Lee. She is adorable, even if she does whine when I am trying to sleep inappropriately late and she ate my favorite sunglasses. Her major life skills: being adorable to strangers, flopping, pulling the stuffing out of stuffed toys, eating peanut butter, wanting to eat land-otters (cats), sitting, snarfeling peoples' hair, and having allergies. Kelly and I also started a mini-container garden. Then we ignored it for like 2 months and everything died. Oh, well, we did get to make a couple of drinks with the mint.

3.) I just got back from the Third Annual Better Lover's Camping Trip. This year we went to Lake Wenatchee State Park. The weekend was filled with Date, Do, or Dump, the Alphabet Game, wizard staffs, and campfires. There was no actual book club book discussion because BLMVP and book chooser E-Thomps wasn't able to make it. Also, none of us had finished it. While the weather was not great, E-Schu and I decided to go swimming anyway. This is me running into the lake with the dogs. Don't be fooled by the sun; it was windy and cold. Michelle even came up from Portland and surprised us. She found us singing kareoke in a bar because, "It looked like the kind of place you guys would go to." I suffered minor facial lacerations and my beloved Chacos fell apart. The soles just peeled right off! Thank goodness for REI and its life time warranty. Free new Chacos!

4.) I graduated from Grad School! Luckily, I graduated into a wonderful job market, and I was immediately innudated with high paying job offers. Ha ha! Just kidding. Whatever. I don't have to start paying my loans until....October. In celebration, I went to Mammoth Lakes, California to enjoy the scenery, visit Yosemite, and do some mountain biking. Unfortunately, there was too much snow to do a whole lot of biking (they were still skiing in the bike park!) but I did manage to do a little. I only had to ride through one or two snow drifts. Yosemite was absolutely beautiful, but I wished we'd stuck to the less crowded east side of the park. Nothing like enjoying nature's wonders with 2,000 or so strangers. We did see a bear though. Everything is better when you see a bear. Unless it eats you. My favorite things about Mammoth Lakes were the Base Camp Cafe, eating 2 pounds of strawberries per day, the Mammoth Brewing Company ($7 growlers full of beer!), and the geology. Here are some pictures from the trip:

This week in my life

In two days, I will be wearing a similar outfit, complete with silly gold hood:




















In six days, I will be wearing a swimsuit, sitting in a hot tub looking at this:















Hopefully, the snow will be melted enough for me to do some biking.

I know it's a little blury, but....

Woo hoo!

I am so ready to be done with grad school

Don't get me wrong, I love learning.

In fact, if I was getting paid for grad school and not living in the land of the fake boobs and terrible coffee, I think I could do it forever.

But I have 22 weeks left, and I am so ready to be done. I think part of the problem that I keep finding awesome jobs that are hiring RIGHT NOW, and awesome apartments that are renting RIGHT NOW, and awesome, cheap Le Creuset kitchen ware for sale on ebay RIGHT NOW and I want all of these things.

Grrrr.

Debt

So I got my financial aid letter today. Because the degree I am completing is part of a professional program, I am not eligible for grants or work study. Reccommended loan amount (for my first year):

$46,449

Ack!