Scott:recovered

2011-01-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

my posts here have been rather boring, because I am over at wordpress now!

Come check it out, www.scottrecovered.wordpress.com

just in case...

2010-12-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

Just in case you hadn't followed me to my new location, I am still over here at Wordpress!

I couldn't WAIT to blog!

2010-12-09T20:09:00.001-08:00

my new posts are up on my wordpress, scottrecovered :) I don't want to be switching back and forth, but I just can't make up my mind!

one word...

2010-11-23T19:46:00.001-08:00

one word: Wordpress!

another reminder!

2010-11-19T08:20:00.000-08:00

I am still over At

Have a great weekend!

Scott

Once again...

2010-11-14T20:35:00.001-08:00

My new post is up once again at wordpress!

Wordpress Post!

2010-11-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know my post is on my wordpress!

I hope you will follow me over there :)

And if you are tired of these redirecting posts, change your reader! ;-)

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Scott

still over at wordpress!

2010-11-08T19:23:00.000-08:00

So, I don't want to bug you, but I figure I will continue to post links to my wordpress posts here :)

Here is my blog if you missed it!

http://scottrecovered.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/weekend-2/

Scott

Check out my post on wordpress!

2010-11-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

I did my first new post on wordpress! I am not sure I like it yet, but time will tell.

here it is :) My post!
I would be delighted if you followed my blog over there!

Scott

Wordpress??

2010-11-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

I am ~~thinking abou~~t switching my blog over to wordpress. I really like that you can respond to comments over there, and I have seen a lot of people switching so maybe I will like it better?

I am not done with everything yet, but I got all my posts from this blog over there, and I started with some other stuff. I will see how it goes.

Anyways, here it is

http://scottrecovered.wordpress.com/

What do you all think about blogger vs. wordpress??

Scott

giveaway!

2010-11-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! My costume was this: What was yours??

I look so mean! someone who speaks Russian recognized what my badge said, and he I was nervous he would be mad
but he wasn't. Phew!

So, I worked both days this weekend, which wasn't actually that bad. I didn't want to work in the mornings, because that meant no bike rides. But, I made do, I just rode my bike by myself on saturday. Not as fun, for sure, but still got my ride in so I was happy.

Then yesterday, Halloween, I met Annie at Cartel Coffee Lab! Once again, I had an amazing time! Seriously, bloggers are awesome (in the real world too!) The coffee was good too, it was my first time at Cartel, and I loved the atmosphere, and commitment to quality!

And Dana from Happiness is Within is having a giveaway! I just found her blog and I can't believe I just now found it! It is great, and you should definitely check it out if you aren't a reader yet :) She is giving away the book Beautiful You: A Guide to Radical Self-acceptance. From her review it looks like a great book! Be sure to enter, you don't want to miss out!

Today was decent for a monday... School was so-so, and we had to run errands afterwards. I got to text with a friend a lot though, so that was fun :)

I hope you all had a good start to an even better week!

Scott

CoFFeE!!!

2010-10-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hey hey! It has been an awesome week for me, and I hope it has been for all of you as well :) A lot of my week had to do with coffee... I think it is just SO cool that I can get paid to be around other coffee geeks like myself! I love it :)

On Wednesday, I went to see Mitch at the roastery. Basically, this is where he decides what each bean should be roasted like, to get the best flavors out of each coffee. He is very knowledgeable, and I had a great time. We cupped some coffees (the coffee version of a wine tasting you could say) and I think it really helped develop my pallet! I find it so so hard to taste those minute taste details that you hear described, but I think that this cupping helped me recognize them more. I can't wait to do it again! My favorite coffee of the day was the Ethiopian Nekisse. It was simply superb! It didn't even taste like coffee, it smelled like black tea, then when brewed it was an intense blueberry flavor with some black tea hints and just super sweet and balanced. It. Was. To. Die. For! I can't wait to have it again when our new store opens! (funny note too: this coffee was sold at Cafe Grumpy for $12 a cup! I feel lucky to have tried it!) I also learned that we are getting this kick ass espresso machine for our new store!!! I won't bore you with details, but basically it is top of the line and there are only 10 in the US!

(c)

Then thursday we had coffee training, which was basically coffee history and knowledge class. Very interesting, I learned a lot of new things. And of course drank some delicious coffee ;)

Then friday and today I worked! It was SO slow both days :/ It makes the shift go SO slow don't you agree?? I got to leave early today cause we were SO dead, so I went on a bike ride :) It was nice, but windy.

Have a great Halloween! I am working tomorrow, and we are all going to dress up as communist dictators, so I am going to be Stalin ;) Kinda weird I know, but the shift lead working tomorrow is a history buff, and he wanted to so I was like, why not. I will share pictures ;)

Scott

Handwritten post :)

2010-10-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

Emily's Blog is here! Can't link to handwriting too easily ;)

Whoops!

2010-10-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

I realized this morning that I forgot to address all of your wonderful insightful comments on my last post. I want to thank you all for your insight about what to do with my Cousin (the bride at the wedding.) I want to help her, but at the same time there is very little that I can actually do. When I was talking to her parents at dinner sunday night, they were saying that they hoped that being married to my cousin would be a turning point for her, and she would get better. Of course, I don't know what will happen, but I think that for now it is best for me to pray for this new chapter in her life to close the door on ED.

Basically, THANK YOU for all of your advice. You really help keep me down to earth and see both sides of the issue :)

Have a great Monday Loves!

Scott

out of gas...

2010-10-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

I mean this title literally ;) So this morning I am driving to my ride as I always do, and as I get off of the freeway, my car won't shift. Weird. So then I stop at the intersection, and it won't start again! So, I am sitting at the exit of an exit ramp, my car won't move. Luckily, a nice man came along and helped me push my car to a parking lot not too far away. Thank God! So I park it there, lock it up, and ride to the ride. Good news is I still got my ride in(more on that later!) So, when I get back from my ride I try to start the car and it won't start. Great. So, I thought it was the battery, because my fuel gauge still said I had 1/4 of a tank. That is easily close to 100 miles. I tried to ride home, but the car wouldn't lock because all of the locks are electric and I had to stay. (making me think again that it was the battery) So, I wait for my parents to finish their ride, and come to meet me at the car. I assumed it was the battery, but my dad didn't think so. So we got some gas, and sure enough, it worked! I was happy it was so simple, but angry that the gauge said I had a 1/4 tank when it was bone dry! So, I got home :)

True story^^ And that took way too long to explain! Now, a quick little back track through the week in pictures...

leftover pasta with feta and random veggies

AMAZING seared ahi on jicama with avocado and chili sauce. I died. haha ;) This was on my half day from school when I got my bike =D

Saw this while running, and just had to get a picture. Isn't it pretty??

So as I said, I got my bike on Tuesday! It is so freaking cool :) Here are some pics...

The new bike was incredible!!! I rode it for the first time today, and it was like I was connected to it, and it knew what I wanted it to do! I love it =D

And then I cooked a chicken stir fry for dinner, and that is about it.

I hope you are having an absolutely terrific weekend!

Scott

Back from Sedona!

2010-10-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

I will share some photos first, because Sedona is absolutely beautiful!

Isn't it just beautiful!?!?!

The wedding was great! It was right around sunset, we had beautiful weather and really spectacular views. And I got to run around the golf course on Saturday morning :)

this is to symbolize unity

this is all edible!

here are some wedding pics. I didn't edit anything yet (color, etc) so bear with me ;)

So, here are some more pics of the wedding. It was a bit upsetting, because the bride, I will use an M here, had lost some weight since I had last seen her, and I was really worried that she was not ok :( I thought that I maybe am a bit too sensitive to seeing ED where it doesn't really exist. But then tonight we were at her parents' house and she wasn't around, and it came up. They did say she has some eating problems, and it just makes me so sad :( I don't know what to do? I feel like I might want to send her a letter or something, i just don't know though.... What would you do??

So, other than that and a ride this morning, I didn't do much special. I had a nice relaxing break and am ready to work tomorrow!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! :)

Scott

P.S. My bike is on the way! It is supposed to be here middle of next week :) SO EXCITED!

First day on the job!

2010-10-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right! Yesterday was my first day working at Press Coffee!!

Nope, I didn't pour this, but it's pretty right?? (C) Press CFW

So, it was great! It feels good to finally get working after this long long process! I learned a LOT on my first day! I learned how to clean mostly, and clean I did! A lot of things need cleaning that you wouldn't even think of! I also learned how to take orders, brew coffee, etc. It is hard work, but everyone is so nice, and I just enjoy being there! My goal is to work my way up to being able to work on the espresso machine!

Tomorrow, I am leaving for my cousin's wedding in Sedona! I have never been there, but everyone says how beautiful it is, so I think it will be good. I am not excited about missing my bike ride saturday morning, but I am going to running in Sedona, and i hope to have some beautiful sights!

Well, that is pretty much all I have for you, I made a few interesting food items, but I will put those in another post.

I hope that you are all having weeks that are just as Beautiful as you are!

Scott

Sunday 10.10.2010

2010-10-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hello all my fellow bloggers! I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

I was pretty busy this week, but I have some GREAT news! It looks like I got the job at Press Coffee!! I got a call on Monday about availability, and I am scheduled to come in on Wednesday for training and my first shift! I am beyond excited =D

And yesterday was quite an amazing day as well! I went on a bike ride with my team, then I met my dad at this grocery store/cafe called AJ's where he stopped after his ride. I got a Fage Greek yogurt with peach on the side. Haven't had one of these in a while, but they were so so good! We also worked around the house quite a bit, putting hardware on cabinets, and a lot of other stuff. Common theme huh? ;) Then we went to Bicycle Haus to find out about ordering a team bike for next year, as well as get me some shoes because I am was in desperate need for them! So long story short, I love the Bicycle Haus, and I got a great deal on some shoes and ordered a bike for the upcoming season! I am excited because it is going to be the first new bike I have ever had! (except for my first ever road bike...) It is pretty awesome, here is a picture of what it will look like!

So I am really excited to get it! It is supposed to come in around the end of the month...

Then I made cajun salmon last night, which I didn't picture because it looked terrible :( It tasted good, but I cooked the skin side down first, and it made the other side look absolutely terrible :/ At least it tasted good though I guess...

Then today I went on a ride with my dad, which was really nice! The weather was absolutely beautiful both days this weekend! Now I really know why people love it here so much! I won't have any trouble getting used to this ;) On our way home from the ride we stopped by this bakery I had seen, but never been to, called Gallileo. Anyone local should for sure try it, it is at the corner of Hayden and Mountain View, in a little shopping center. I got some amazing bread there!!! Seriously, it makes me want to start baking again, and it reminded me so much of the great bread in Germany!! Here is a snap shot...

so, I ate some of that right there, and put the rest in my pocket to take home :p

Then I found this video of somebody who put a Hayabusa motorcycle engine in a smart car :p

I WANT!!! I know I am a car geek, but don't you think this is cool!?!

Then today included a nice nap, some more work on the house, and a bit of blogging :) Pretty good weekend I think! Nice and relaxing :)

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and got some great relaxation and are prepared for a wonderful week ahead of you :)

Have a great Monday!

Scott

Great weekend!

2010-10-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

So this weekend had a LOT of varying activities! So, we worked a lot, I am tired now, and I hope I can get up in the morning!

First of all, on Friday afternoon, I finally got Killin's postal address and sent him a letter =D

We did a lot of stuff around the house, to help us be able to organise all of our boxes and such...

I built this shelf with my dad to put holiday things and other storage on top, and hang the bikes from underneath it:

ya, we have too many bikes ;)

My dad also cut this hole in our wall :O No worries, it is for a dog door so the dogs can go out whenever they want to!

that is the kitchen as seen from the outside of the house ;)

And I cut the bottom of my portafilter on my espresso machine so I can see what is going on when I pull a shot <-- LOTS of coffee geek talk right there! I'll cut to the chase, here is a video:

Then this morning I had a race! It was the Tour De Scottsdale, and it was different than any other race I had done before. It was open to anyone (no license needed) but it was timed with a chip and everything. Pretty cool! Anyway, there were 1300 riders, and it was a pretty fast race up at the front, but I stayed for quite a while with the fast guys. The race was 70ish miles and the winner finished in around 2h:20min or so, and I got 2h:58 min, so I was pretty happy with that :) There were a BUNCH of crashes though :/ I mean like 4 or 5, and it was pretty much all because of the organizers did stupid things to try to keep us out of the way of traffic! Thankfully, I don't think anyone was seriously hurt though. Here are some pics my mom took of me afterwards with the medal we got for finishing. And you can see my bike rack on my little car ;)

And I hit the Jackpot on Nut butters today!! Three different kinds I have never tried before :p


sorry for the crappy photo, I was tired...

She does this ALL on her own!

And, of course, the dogs got some relaxation even if we didn't! They wanted to be on my blog :)

Well, that was my weekend, all the business and fun I could handle!

How was your weekend?? I hope it was fantastic!

Have a Magnificent Monday my friends =D

Scott

Interview!!!! =D

2010-09-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today was my interview at Press Coffee!!!! It was my first interview ever, so I was a bit nervous. I think it went pretty well, I had my resume and everything ;) They basically just asked how I would deal with a customer who is dissatisfied, and other customer service things. And of course told me that there is more than just coffee making there, I would have to clean, and wash dishes and stuff too, and work my way up so to speak. But, I am SO SO excited to find out if I got the job!! Enough of that for now, I will have to just let you all know when I know!

But, on that same note, I have a picture of the best espresso I have made on the new machine as of yet! Here is a pic :)

Pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

Oh, and I saw this AMAZING video on Arielle's blog the other day! If you don't read her blog, you really should because it is fantastic :) Tons of advice on recovery and body image and just some great stuff. I guess you could call it a vlog though, cause it is video based... Anyway, here is the video I saw on her blog. It is by a British campaign against negative body image. I think the video could mean different things to different people, but for me I saw it as a lot of people who have recovered from an ED bad mouthing ED for all it has done against them. It is a very powerful video, and I hope you enjoy it!! What do you get out of it??

Well, that is pretty much it for today, I don't have much more news! I may talk to you before then, but on Thursday I get to go to the allergist all day long to see what I am allergic to now that I am here in Phoenix. That means skin tests, allergic reactions, lung capacity tests, and just oodles of fun! But I get to miss school so..... wish me luck!

Have a great week!

Scott

I forgot!!

2010-09-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to tell you all that I have a job interview on Monday!!!! It is at Press coffee shop (yes, the one I applied for in August...) Apparently they tried to call and couldn't reach me, and I kept calling and couldn't get the manager. But, long story short, I am interviewing Monday and I am SO excited!!

Wish me luck! And again, enjoy your weekend :)

Scott

Making Progress!

2010-09-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

So, I have been brutally reminded that the moving process is in fact a very slow one! But, progress is being made, as is evidenced by the HUGE number of broken down boxes on our front porch!

So, that has been moving along slowly, and in the meantime, I have been enjoying my car! I posted pictures before, but none of me in my car, so here are some my mom took yesterday :)

I also enjoyed this Jar of goodness on Tuesday morning:

There is something else mixed in, but who really cares? Oats+Almond butter=Delicious! Put it IN the jar of almond butter, and it is out of this world! OIAJ!! Although with it comes the tragedy of another jar of nut butter gone ;)

So, school this week was pretty good :) Spirit week is always entertaining ;) I didn't dress up at all, mainly because most all of my clothes are packed away still (at least the ones that are dress up worthy). So, I just watched, but it was quite funny :)

I'll keep this post short and sweet because nothing else really happened! I'm going to leave you with a fortune cookie fortune I got today with dinner. I think it is perfect for anyone with an ED, or with any self image issues at all! Check it out:

SO true :)

So, learn to befriend yourself, because you are all such amazing people! Have a great weekend :)

Sending my best,

Scott

So, I guess I was a bit too optomistic...

2010-09-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I should have known not to promise you more frequent posting because as you can see it just didn't happen :( I am so so sorry my wonderful readers :( But I think I have a pretty good reason: we moved into our house this weekend! So basically, last week I was all preparing the house to move in, and working on stuff to move in etc. Then this weekend, we opened boxes all day long.... but I actually got quite a bit done...

Set up the tv and stereo with my dad: way harder than it sounds!
Set up the network and computer, all to find out that the Internet isn't connected to the house yet :/
brought stuff from the apartment to the house
set up the pantry :)
set up the espresso equipment! More on that later ;)

So, it doesn't seem like a lot when I list it, but it took fooorrrreeeevvvveeeerrrr!!!

Well, on to other news, school. Well, school has been ok, I mean, I am getting good grades and stuff, and I like my friends there, but some of the classes are just awful. So, that makes school as a whole just kinda feel like it drags me down :( I like my Psychology class, and I like Trigonometry (mainly because my teachers are awesome, especially in Trig) so that is half of my day that is always good.

On the negative side however, is US history and Healthcare Careers. Ok, so the main problem I have with US History is that our teacher teaches us like we are completely below him (ie. no respect)_and it seriously bugs the crap out of me. Just an example for you, every single day when we do the pledge of allegiance, he says "stand up you commies!" Now, I guess that isn't the greatest example, but he is just so rude all the time!!! And it doesn't help matters that he doesn't teach us anything..... And my Healthcare Careers teacher, well she is just crazy. I can't even explain it!

So right now, I am not worried about any classes grade wise, but I just can't wait to get out and away from these horrible teachers I have! Ugh :/ I am looking forward to next semester when I have German and Physics :)

Sorry to be such a downer, I will try my best to rectify that now!

New Espresso machine!!

here she is! With my hand grinder and brand new tamper :)

I like this shot! It is SOOO shiny! And the tamper again :)


and because my mom is absolutely fantastic, Gaggia with her big sister!!

So, I am quite happy with it thus far. It is a learning process, but I am already making some pretty good espresso with it. :) I just find it so cool that I had grind the coffee, and apply the pressure by hand as well! So hands on!

End of coffee geek rant

That is pretty much all I've got for now! I won't show any picture of the house yet, because it is FULL of boxes ;) And I won't promise anything, but I will try my very best to post more often :)

Have a wonderful next couple of days!

Scott

Lack of posting, but GREAT NEWS!!!!!

2010-09-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

I am so so sorry for my lack of postage, I have missed you all and your wonderful comments :/

But.. I have been having a great time and enjoying life!! Everything is going awesome :) And here are just two of the reasons why:

Espresso machine!

There she is! It is a Gaggia Factory, and I am already producing great shots! It has a learning curve, but I am really happy with how well I am doing with it right out of the box! Sorry for the bad photo, I couldn't get the pic off of my camera so I took this with my phone. Better glamour shots and pics of drinks to come!!

CAR!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, you read right, I got a CAR!!!!! Guess what it is... A SMART car!!! So I found it on craigslist on Friday, and it looked great from the get go. It had only 4,000 miles, it is a 2008 model, and a convertible! So, I looked up reviews, and they looked good so we went and test drove it saturday afternoon. It drove REALLY well, and i just loved it! So we talked about financing and stuff (my parents and I) and decided I would buy it! I calculated monthly payments and I think i can afford them with my upcoming (hopefully) job at Press Coffee. (knock on wood!) So, here are the pics from the previous owner. I will be picking it up tonight, I am SO excited!

the inside, suprisingly big for such a teeny tiny car!

Again, not the best pictures, but you get the idea ;) I am SUPER excited =D

So, in other news, I am just about ready to move into the house!! We get possession this wednesday, and we are moving in next saturday! Finally! It seems like forever! But it will be worth it :)

And, because we are getting quite tired of this apartment kitchen, meals have been good, but simplistic. IE, I haven't wanted to post pictures! Really not all that exciting ;)

I hope you are all having a FANTASTIC start to your week!! I will talk to you soon, I promise this time :)

Scott

Best day EVER!!!

2010-09-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

So, today was pretty awesome I must say ;) It all started with some oatmeal...

Sorry, no pic. It was 5:30 in the morning! Great fuel for a ride though, it included a banana and some almond butter. y.u.m!

Then was the ride, and boy was it HOT today! It was like 86 when I left at 6:00 :/ I felt good though, and did my best climbing since I have been out here in Arizona :)

Then I got home, had a toasted bagel with cream cheese, avocado, and ham. It didn't look pretty, but it was tasty! Really, cream cheese and avocado=to die for! Try it...

Then, the highlight of my day, I met up with the wonderful, amazing, fantastic, Annie!!!! We met at LUX, because we both LOVE coffee. It was both of our first blogger meet ups, and I had so much fun! We just sat and talked, and talked, and talked some more :) Bloggers are the most amazing people ever don't you think?? ;) We even got a free latte, cause the barista was cool :] He said "this will be the best latte you have ever had!" and I should have got a picture but I didn't :( Use your imagination;) Thanks so much for a great time Annie!!

So, things are going well at school, I am meeting friends and feeling great :) And, I am so happy because I am bought a new espresso machine! It was on a super sale, and I just couldn't pass it up! Here is a pic of somebody else's that is the same model...

Photos are from Home-Barista, a forum I read :)

Doesn't it look like a tin man?? So cute :) It will make delicious espresso as well, I can't wait for it to come. I promise I will share!!

I also ordered this to go with it. It is a tamper to pack the coffee, doesn't it look cool?

So, I have to go, we are going to go out to eat now, so I am going to have to leave it at that. I hope you all started your 3 day weekend off well, and I hope the rest is fantastic! You deserve a wonderful, fun, relaxing weekend :)

Sending happiness and prayers your way!

Scott

Versatile Blogger Award!

2010-08-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

Much thanks to lucie for the Versatile Blogger Award!! here are the rules:

Rules:

Thank the person who gave you the award.

Share seven things about yourself.

Give this award out to 15 other bloggers that you think are fabulous, interesting and deserving.

ok, so seven things about myself it is then! I'll warn you now, they are 100% random ;)

I have moved 5 times
I saw all of this on my bike ride saturday: a drunk/high man, paramedics, police and... that's it. I'll tell you more in a few ;)
I am going through serious withdrawal from my espresso machine :( It is in storage while we wait for the house to be done. Rest assured, my coffee is still getting made every day, just not with the espresso machine ;) still I miss it :/
I am about to move again!! But this time it is a good thing, just from our temporary apartment into a permanent house :) should be about 2 more weeks!
I feel like I am still on east coast time on the weekends, because I have to wake up so early for bike rides
I don't know exactly what I want to do for a profession, I may want to be a psychologist, psychiatrist, other type of medical doctor, or engineer(but that is the least likely) I must get better at decision making!!
I think I want to go to college in Germany! I at least want to look into it a lot more than i have...

So ya, that's all I could think of now, and sorry Lucie for stealing some of your ideas ;)

Well, not much has happened since we last spoke, so I will tell you a funny story about my ride on Sunday where we met the drunk/high man!

So, we are just riding along and this guy is on the side of the road and is yelling 'HELP ME!!!" so we ended up stopping and he was like passed out on the ground. So a guy in our group called 911 and the paramedics came. They had apparently already met this guy earlier that night! He was yelling, stumbling around, telling us people choked him and that "they shot at me!" and then he proceeded to cry when the police came. Pretty darn funny. So that was my most interesting experience of the week, I will hopefully have more relevant news in the future ;) Now though I will pass on this wonderful award!

So, here are the 15 I pass it on to. There are SO many more who deserve it, but I will stick to the rules and give it to 15. I am confident it will cycle around all of the wonderful blog community :]

Lotta - und wir vermissen dich sehr!!

Killian - Missing you and thinking of you all the time! I hope all is well :)

And I cannot stress enough how much I mean it when I say that you ALL deserve this award! You are all so fantastic and wonderful and a treasure :) Thanks for being you!

Scott

Lack of pics!!

2010-08-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

So, I am a bit upset because the reporter at the barista jam hasn't sent me the pictures she took yet :/ And I am quite bummed because they were really good! Oh well, I will share some of my own ;) Thanks to my parents for taking them!!

an ARRAY of expensive grinders!! Elektra Nino, mazzer electronic, and Compak k10 WBC! I love it!!

A fellow competitor along with a BEAUTIFUL shot of this incredible machine! 4 Group La Marzocco Linea...It was an absolute JOY to work on!

another competitor starting her pour

a picture of me with this machine, about to stop my pull.

me pouring my first latte

I poured my last drink with the help of my future boss and it was my best ever! Unfortunately no pics :/

I didn't win, but I am so glad I went!! It makes me really excited for my interview and (hopefully!) job.

Some foodie pics ok?

Chef spinach salad made by my mom :)

I had this as a snack one day, it was really good!!

grilled steak salad. The steak on this, if I do say so myself, was cooked to perfection! Perfect medium rare :)

Veggie sushi with edamame, yumm! I bought this, because I can't make it ;)

and I used this to hold my soy sauce for dipping because I had no cute little dishes ;)

and my messy table with the dish haha

I guess this is one of the only hot dishes on this post, but it is hot here! A nice burger on a bun. simple. delish.

and finally...oats in a jar!! It was just as good as it looks, possibly better ;)

And a pluot! (with a bite nonetheless! Isn't it so pretty inside?!?!) part plum part apricot...

So, as you can tell, dinners have been a lot of salads. Simple explanation, it has been HOT HOT HOT here!!!! This kitchen gets even hotter, so we cook as little as possible! Here is a pic of the thermometer in the car (measures outside) yesterday after school.

No joke there. That is legit! (haha that sounded ridiculous!) Sorry it is blurry...

Well, other than that, nothing else has really happened! School is school. I think it is easier than the school in Indiana, but... that's ok I guess. I think it will get harder... But I have just been working through the week, staying on track with my work, and we are already over hump day!! I can't believe it, this week is going so fast, but it really makes me happy! I can't wait for the weekend, but I also REALLY want to hear about my interview before then ;)

I hope all is going well for you! We are more than half way through this week my friends! I wish you all a terrific thursday, and hopefully I can talk to you all before the weekend!

Scott

weekend update!

2010-08-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

Don't you love that segment on SNL? It was my favorite until Tina Fey left...

anyways, my weekend was great! But this post is going to be lacking in pictures. The reason? The photographer at the barista jam (more on that later!) hasn't sent me pictures from the jam yet, so I don't want to post without those! So, I figure I will do a post about just the barista jam, sound good?

So, here is my weekend.

Friday: I went to my new team director's house and picked up a kit (AKA uniform)! I am really really excited about this season with this team, because the guys are really nice and down to earth, and I feel like it is just going to be great! I then proceeded to go to bed at like 9:30 so I could get up in time to ride on saturday ;) I also got my Aeropress and Operation Beautiful. The aeropress is really hard to explain, but basically it is a totally new way of brewing coffee. It is similar in volume to an espresso (3-4 oz) but is filtered with paper instead of metal, and is extracted under less pressure. The result I find is a very smooth cup of coffee, and you can adjust it with extra hot water to taste. Here is a pic:

And, I just HAD to buy Operation Beautiful once I heard that the wonderful Rebecca was in it!!!! So, it came in my shipment from amazon with the coffee stuff and I just started reading it, and so far it is SO GOOD!! I read the blog, but I didn't know how they would make it into a book, but let me tell you that it is great!

Saturday: I woke up at 5:00 to ride to the ride that started at 6:00. I ate a bowl of muesli (overnight oats) and had some coffee (while still half asleep), got dressed, and headed out to the ride. The ride was, again, great :] I couldn't tell you where I went, because I just follow the crowd and I have no idea whatsoever! I do know that we were at a place called the towers, but I don't know where that was ;] Regardless of where we were, it was a good ride, yet challenging. I am still not used to the hills here, it is a big change from the Indiana pancake. Then we went out to Tee Pee Mexican restaurant here that is supposed to be famous, but it wasn't all that special I didn't think. And the rest of that night was the Barista Jam, which I pinky promise I will share with you as soon as I get the pictures ;)

Sunday: Today I rode again with a smaller group made up of mostly teammates. It was a rather hilly ride again, and it was SO humid cause it stormed last night. I did pretty well though, didn't get lost, and got home so all is well :) again, all the teammates are just so nice, I really feel like I am in the right place in that regard. I also got to talk to Pascal and some other friends from Germany!! The 9 hour time difference is just awful, it is so hard to talk to them :/ Then we went to IKEA, which was nice, but that store is just TOO BIG! I get so frustrated sometimes... Then we went out to dinner (too hot to cook, didn't want to heat up the kitchen) and I had a grilled chicken sub. It was so good! And I tried some of my dad's roast beef and it was great too. And now we are home, about to watch some tv, and then go to bed for school tomorrow!

Have a magnificent monday!!!

Scott

First WEEK of school

2010-08-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

WOW this week has flown by!! I feel like it was yesterday that I posted about my first day =O Well, good news, I have met some more people =D I talked to some more people in class and I think that is a good start ;)

And the teachers are so much more relaxed! I really like it, especially my Psychology teacher because she is just so funny!

I also want to thank you all for ALL of your encouraging words on my last post, they really helped me :] I love that no matter where I am I always have a ton of blog friends that I can talk to :] Thank you so much, really I mean it!

I will tell you more about my week as I have some time to reflect, but a heads up to what is going on this weekend... I am going to a barista jam!! It is where a bunch of coffee Geeks get together and compete at pulling shots, and latte art, like this!

from Intelligentsia

I am a bit nervous, because it is REALLY likely that I am going to be the youngest one there, but I am also excited because I want to get some job openings and show everyone what I can do! I got fresh roasted coffee from LUX and I'm ready to go ;) Wish me luck!!

Have a wonderful FRIDAY tomorrow!!!

First day of school :/

2010-08-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yep. Today was the first day of school at a new school for me, but I will tell you more about that later. First, Food!!

Surprisingly, I have been making some pretty good dishes in this teeny tiny kitchen in our apartment. By the way, I really miss my gas cooktop!!!

Mixed green salad with strawberries, almonds, pistachios, and topped with shredded chicken and ginger vinaigrette

close up

salmon burger atop spaghetti with yogurt-dill sauce. And yes, that is a hot dog bun toast. Out of bread ;)

Seared sushi grade Ahi tuna on spinach with baguette. GREAT!

This weekend was really great!! My last weekend of summer, and I made it a great one :) The main thing that happened is that I got a new cycling team! Now, It is bittersweet because I can't thank Mario enough for my wonderful experience at M.O.B squad, but at the same time I am glad to be settled with a team I am happy with here in town. I rode on Saturday and met a lot of riders, a lot of which were on the team I was interested in. Then I talked to their team director and rode with him on Sunday and got on the team! I am excited to be a part of team Bicycle Haus :) And, the team director also is into coffee just like me! I talked to him about LUX, it came up somehow, and he knew it! He said I haven't lived here long enough to find out about LUX yet :) AND, he is a foodie! He told me that Pane Bianco, which is right next to LUX is owned by the same guy who started Pizzeria Bianco! (Considered one of the best Neapolitan pizza in the nation!) He seems like an awesome guy :)

Ok, first day of school shall we?

Well, it was pretty good. I like my classes and my teachers. The only thing is the kids are a bit different than I am used to. But I think I will get used to it in time, it has only been a day after all ;)

I don't know, it is probably my problem that I didn't really meet anyone today. I just don't talk much! So therefore, I ate alone and didn't meet many people :/ But, I think that with time it will get better. Any advice? I know I need to talk to people, but I just don't know if we have ANYTHING in common! :\

Well, Wish me luck tomorrow, I am confident I will meet more people :)

Have a fantastic day tomorrow!!!!!!

Scott

Monday 9. August 2010

2010-08-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

So, life in Phoenix/Scottsdale is pretty nice so far! After the air conditioning problems are fixed , it really isn't that bad. But it has been below average a few days we have been here, so...

So bike riding in the summer in Phoenix? Wake up early. I mean early! I got up at 4:45 on saturday to ride, and we got a good ride in with some friends of my dad's. I liked the riding early, cause we got back really early, like 9:45.

And I HAD to get my dad down to LUX coffee. So we went and I tried out Lola, but went to LUX afterwards and got a seriously good shot ;)

We were supposed to get up early (4:30) on sunday, but we slept in and rode later, but it was hot.

I also learned a LOT about racing around Arizona, which was a big relief to me. I found out that my team has a history of riders going to the Jelly Belly pro team, which is like a dream of mine! So I am excited to start racing for my new team and maybe (hopefully) get to Jelly Belly in a few years.

So, unfortunately I have a bit of news on the ED front. I have been looking up nutrition facts :/ Now, I haven't looked up things before we go out so I know what to order, but i have been looking up things once I order to see what's in it. I know it isn't good and I don't need to, but I just fell like I need to :( I think it is a combination of things that is causing me to do this, I mean I am sure it is a big stress t be in a new city, and my sister wanting to eat healthy (which is not AT ALL a bad thing Meagan!) and just wanting to overhear her nutrition facts she is looking up and disguise my looking up nutrition facts like I am "helping" her. It has got to stop...

well, that is all I have for now, my family wants to watch a movie and is being impatient, so I will talk to you later!

Scott

REAL trip report and first days in Phoenix

2010-08-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Novel Ahead

So, I will give you a real trip report, sound good? (of course I will focus on the coffee stops we made because that was the best) ;) I wrote this tuesday but didn't get to post it until today because I needed to get pictures up.

Day 1- we got a late start because it took forevvvver to load the truck. We completely filled the truck! Our driver wasn't sure he was going to fit it all, because he had this stupid picnic bench in the back haha. He is a nice guy though. Anyway, we started driving around 9:30 PM and only got about an hour out to Terra Haute IN. Our hotel in Terra haute sucked! But, it was only one night...

Day 2- I woke up and had oatmeal at the breakfast buffet, and made coffee (I brought my French Press and a hand grinder for my beans). Then we headed out for St. Louis. We got there in about 3 hours and stopped for coffee at Northwest Coffee Roasters. They roast right there in the store! I got a delish espresso, and the fam. enjoyed their drinks as well. Quick note for anyone who happens to be a coffee geek as I am: They had a PID'ed La Marzzoco Linea! It was pretty sweet ;)

Then we headed on to Oklahoma City. We saw the memorial and it is absolutely breathtaking. It is a memorial for the bombing that happened there and pictures speak louder than words so here you go:

Statue of Jesus crying

An artistic blur shot with the zoom of the 9:01 wall

Hotel was great tonight :) Especially after an 11 hour day in the car!

Day 3- We got up, I made my coffee and had breakfast when I realized that I had a coffee shop to go to! (don't worry, I drank the french press later) So we went to Coffee Slingers! It was really good. They had NO drip coffee, so they brewed a fresh French press for my dad, I had a great espresso, and my mom had a latte and my sister an iced chai. Funny, because it was right next to a bike store so we had to go in to that as well!!

Synesso, I like it ;)

Then it was time to drive. We dove about 8 hours and got to Albuquerque at a decent time to have dinner there. The best food of the trip, we went to a sea food restaurant. I got this:

and no, I didn't eat the fin! ;)

This hotel was also nice.

Day 4- we woke up, and I went with my dad to a coffee shop I wanted to go to. Turns out it is closed on Sundays. Fail. So we wasted about an hour trying to find it and it wasn't even open. We went home and had breakfast. I had oats and halfway through the bowl I realized it was missing something, so I went out to the car and grabbed my jar of PB. It was quite funny, because I was in this restaurant with my coffee, a grinder, a jar of PB, all that I brought myself haha ;) Well, it was time to get to the driving. We drove another 8 hours through some beautiful scenery and a bit of traffic. One point in New Mexico, we were at such a high altitude, the temperature was only 57! Well that changed, by the time we got to Phoenix it was 100 at like 7:00.

curvy mountain roads

I love mountains!!

(Not much food was pictured because it consisted of fast food grilled chicken sandwiches for me, so not all that exciting.)

And of course the dogs enjoyed the trip ;)

haley with the tongue out

gretchen :)

Mini sleeping like a baby, how cute!

So, I have been in Phoenix 3 days so far, and I like it :) The only problem is our apartment (until the house is finished) had the AC broke our first night there. So we wake up to a 90 degree house, and are like what the heck. So we called the landlord, who called a repair guy, and it got fixed around 4. In the meantime, we stayed in shops and stuff as much as possible. Then while my parents were moving things out of my dad's old apartment into our new one, my sister and I went to the pool by our soon to be house. It was so great to just jump in the water! The night was nice because the AC was fixed. We all slept well. Tuesday we woke up and ran a bunch of errands. One of which was very important!

So I went to a coffee shop on Monday called Press. It is only about 4 miles from our new house, so I would LOVE to work there. I got a application on Monday and returned it tuesday. I met a manager who asked me a few casual questions and said he would pass on my application to his manger. I think it is a good sign! I am so so so excited =D She is going to call me, and I am assuming interview me.

Every time we stopped home it got hotter and hotter in the house. It turned out it was broken again, and the repair man couldn't come to fix it that night. So we packed up our things and went to my dad's apartment, that he still has until the 14th thank god! We slept there in AC and hoped to get it fixed today. Well, we are spending another night here because it isn't fixed! And there is a heat advisory, as it is 110 today and going to get to 114 tomorrow. ~~so ya ,it needs to be fixed ASAP!~~ Fixed!! :}

The highlight of my day today was stopping by LUX coffee bar here in Phoenix. It was hard to find (no sign on the front), but boy was it worth it!! The atmosphere was unique and I liked it. Very artsy, and very focused on incredible coffee and food. Everyone there had Mac computers :) They had a beautiful three group lever machine :) I had a macchiato and it was fantastic. That was one of the best shots of espresso I have had in quite a while! So I bought another ;) This time it was a straight shot and OMG it was delish!! I would say it was the best shot I have had outside of Seattle, and it rivaled those :o

Espresso and mom's latte

Pulling a shot on the San Marco lever

(EDIT) I went again today and got another shot of espresso, and the guy gave me a free one because it was a better pull than the first ;) I got some pics today.

Well, I am off to go to the pool, try to catch up on more blogs, and relax some more ;)

Have a great day all! You deserve it :]

Scott

P.S. if you are in any of these towns, I absolutely recommend you go to these coffee shops. They are the best of the best and they all take their coffee very seriously. It shows in the taste ;]

P.P.S I have a pic TT that I forgot to share, so here it is!

Quite an intense expression!

ROAD TRIP!!!!

2010-08-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

So, I guess I promised you regular posts too early, because I have been driving from Indianapolis to Phoenix since last Thursday! 28 hours later, and 4 nights at hotels later, I am here. Problem is I don't have a computer once my sister leaves to go back to school. But I promise I will try my hardest. Boy is moving a pain!! I can't wait to get into the house (we are in an apartment until september) and get settled.

So, the trip went well. There weren't any real hiccups, so that was good. I have been having more ED thoughts and anxiety around food, but I have managed to not let them change my eating habits. I now that the more I hold out against these thoughts, I will be better off. Change is a real trigger for me, and combined with non activity (car riding for 4 days) just about put me over the top. I am not feeling great, but I know i can get through this.

And I am now trying to get caught up on all of your wonderful blogs! I have fallen behind over the trip and packing and such. I am trying to comment the most I can, and I am reading much more. My sister has an E reader and that is good to read on, but not comment, so i sometimes read on that.

Enjoy life, and enjoy the body you are living it in! You are all so great :)

Scott

Endlich(finally) Germany Report!!

2010-07-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I have promised a report on my trip to Germany...A LONG time ago. I have just been so busy with getting ready to move, visiting friends for that one last goodbye, and seeing family, Blogging has just been pushed to the corner and I haven't gotten to it! I have been reading all of your blogs as often as possible, even if I can't comment :/ It is SOO tough on a phone to comment! Well, better late than never right? Without further ado, here is my trip to Germany!!

wow, where to begin?!?! I guess with my family over there ok? Well, they are technically my exchange hosts, but they were truly like a family to me :) I felt so welcomed by them, and just at home. It was great :)

Some highlights would be...

Chatting wit my host mom. Literally almost every day we would talk for an hour or so while she was cooking dinner about anything. I really liked it, because we had some really interesting discussions, and it also helped my German a ton. Plus, she is SOOOOO nice!!
My host sister is so cute! She is 8 years old, and she really liked us. (me and my sister) She cried the day we left when she got home for school, and said she wished we could stay forever :'( SO cute no?
Watching cycling and the World Cup, and cheering like crazy ;) Funny side note: I once cheered for the USA during a replay haha

also awesome was Berlin!! There is so much to see there: The Alexa, historical things, shopping, coffee, so much fun stuff!! I can't even begin to describe it!

Transportation was amazing!! We used public transportation to get to school, and could ride our bikes to the train, or take the bus. It was so cool! Again, hilights

I bought a ticket that would work for all of berlin, all modes of transportation, all day, for €6.50! That seemed like such a great deal to me.
The drivers there are CRAZY! But somehow also safe... Like the roads are tiny, yet they still drive fast, and they have a bunch of cobblestones and obstacles that are supposed to slow you down, didn't work! But I never saw a crash...weird!

Almost everyone drives a stick. I love it ;)
It may seem like a stereotype, but there really a lot of German cars (Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche) in Germany!

Bikes are ridden everywhere!! It is so awesome, and I saw even the littlest kids riding for transportation :)

Food was also good! The most amazing thing I had was... The bread!!! OMG it is to DIE for! Like seriously, super super fresh, all different sorts, and all so lecker(delicious)! I loved it, especially the dark bread with seeds ;) Here are some other local specialties I ate... Now, ED did have some trouble with most of these, because of the meat that I didn't know about and such, but the point is, I ate it, and I am happy that I did :) Nothing bad happened, I didn't clog an artery, I didn't balloon up, because ED lies!!!!!!!!!!!

Currywurst: Not too special for me, it just tasted like a sausage with ketchup. But good nonetheless.

Döner: A Turkish treat based around this massive kabob of meat that turns and cooks all day long (Lamb and pork I think). They shave off some of it, put it in a special bread wit Tzatziki yogurt sauce sauce, and pile it with veggies. It is really good!!
Chocolate: It is just so much better!! The fact that they don't use wax just makes it melt in your mouth! Especially Dark chocolate ;)
treats: Hanuta, kinder schokolade, and so much more! I won't make you too upset by describing them because you can't buy them in the US :( But if you go there, you need to try some!

The people there are so nice!!!! Really, you think of Europeans as being stand offish for the most part (at least I did) and that is so far from the truth! Yes, they stick to themselves and mind their own business, but if you ask for help, either in English or German, they will help you with anything without a second thought. We even had someone see our group and could see that we were lost, so she asked us where we were going and told us how to get there, all because we looked lost. So yeah, the people are really nice :)

I also learned so so so much more German!! That is one of the main reasons I was there, so I am glad. On the way home to the US, my German teacher told me that I was her shining example of how students can go over to Germany and come back fluent!! I am so proud =D

So yeah, simply put: I love Germany---> Ich liebe Deutschland!!! There is so much more things I did and saw, tons of historical stuff, but it is just too much to write down all at once!! I want to go back, I may want to study there, and I may want to live there! It is that great :) I can't wait to travel even more of Europe as well!! Oh how wonderful!!!

Well, hopefully this begins my "return" to blogging for good. I can't stand to be away from you all for this long!! I am moving next week (Thursday) and I can't believe it! Time flies so so so fast!

Oh yeah! One more thing...

I forgot to tell you that the past two weekends were the state championship Time Trial(TT) and Road race(RR). I raced Juniors at both, and I won the TT, thanks in part to my friend's awesome bike ;) and got 2nd in the RR. I am so happy!! It was a rainy day at the RR on Saturday, with a lot of crashes in the other races (6 or more!!!) but thankfully everyone on the M.O.B squad (my team) and all of the Juniors kept the bikes on two wheels. We also had some really good team placings both races!! :)

Be yourself and love who you are,

Scott

Slacker much??

2010-07-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am a slacker :( But that is coming to an end because I am working on my post about my trip to Germany!! I can't wait to tell you all about it, but I want to make it perfect ;) (well at least pretty darn good!) I am almost done writing and I just need to add pictures to give you the full experience ;)

Typing this post and my Germany one makes me miss blogging, and especially all of you SO SO SO much!! I can't believe I have been gone for so long, and I can't wait to get back to a normal blogging routine. Is there anything you would like to see from the blog when I am done with this Germany post??

I hope all is well with every single one of you!!

Thinking of all of you,

Scott

Yes, I am still here ;)

2010-07-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

I have been quite the invisible blogger lately! Sorry about that! I really miss you guys, but I have been so crazy and tired, and enjoying myself :) Basically though, I am doing well, Germany was awesome, and I want to go back! I will tell you more later, but I have to share some photos!

First of all, my host family was absolutely wonderful. I could talk with my host mom for hours! We would talk while she was cooking about all kinds of stuff and I just loved it!

Tatyana(host sister) and Frau Wien(host mother)

my sister Meagan and my ~~host~~ brother Pascal!

Tatyana :)

Castles and Historical stuff

me in East and West Berlin

Brandenburger Tor

Ampelman!! (google it, it is fun ;)

Deutschland Pride!! / World cup fever!

Victory!!

and a parade of sorts...

And of course, food and drink which were delicious ;)

best coffee in Berlin!

Döner :)

So, those were just the hilights, and I can't wait to tell you even more about my trip! I will admit that I haven't gotten to read as many blogs as I want to, but that should be getting going again soon, I promise :]

I hope you are all doing simply fantastic and are enjoying life. You all deserve it so much!

Bis spater,

Scott

Update

2010-06-27T06:06:00.001-07:00

I don't have a lot of time but I thought I would do a quick update.

I watched the soccer game last night, and USA lost, which was sad :( but it was fun to watch. Oh well, now I am 100% for Germany. GO DEUTSCHLAND!!!!!! They play tonight and it should be a good game.

As far as eating goes, I have been doing well. The bread here is so great and isn't chalenging at all. But we had döner today, and I ate it but it was quite chalenging. It didn't help that I saw them cook it and the giant thing of meat was dripping with fat :/ But, it didn't stop me from eating it, and it was pretty good. And even though I know I have nothing to worry about, it is just a bit unsettling. I just gotta get my mind off of it. Other than that, the sweets and buttered sandwiches are the only problems, but I am dealing. It feels good to get that out there, cause it shows me how irrational I am being...

Well, I guess I will stop this rambling post, and wish you all a great Sunday and rest of your week!

Scott

100th post, and from Hohen-Neundorf!

2010-06-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I am posting my 100th post from Hohen-Neundorf, which is where the school I am going to is. It is so different here!! Everything is smaller ;) And Berlin is so interesting!! I have so much to show you!! we saw the Brandenburg Gate, and the wall, and so many things. And I ate currywurst and chocolate =D It is good :)

Well, I have to go, but I wanted to check in! Talk to you later, and have a magnificant Monday!!

Scott

Germany today!!!!!!

2010-06-18T05:46:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for your insight about what to do about telling my family in Germany about my ED. I think I am going to not tell them unless I feel like I am struggling.

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am! I wanted to post before I left, and I will be taking TONS of pictures, but I don't know if I will be able to post them. I will talk to you in about three weeks!

Have a great time and keep on fighting!!

Scott

whirlwind!

2010-06-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

Boy let me tell you that having your house on the market is tough! Keeping everything clean, leaving at a moment's notice, taking the dogs, yikes! I hope it is over soon...

So my blogging has been lacking a little bit in the picture department. I think part of it had to do with me loosing the Dslr. Well, I didn't loose it, somebody misplaced it and we thought it got stolen during a showing. But... I found it!!! So now I can use it again =D So without further ado, pictures!

So I told you about going to a coffee shop in Cincinnati right? I forgot to put up the pictures! Here is one of me with my two lovely grandmas :) (by the way, the one on the left is the one I bought the larabars and dates and figs for and she loves them! I thought you would get a laugh out of that!)

and here is one of me enjoying an espresso!

ahhhh it was good :)

Then it was back home for me. I won't bore you with my week at home, but basically it was just cleaning the house, being lazy, and riding my bike :) I still kinda get a bit anxious when I have too much free time, but it really is good for me to just sit down for a little while!

The only interesting things that happened were...

The dentist: I had a normal cleaning then two days later got 4 fillings at once! Apparently I have deep grooves in my teeth, and no matter how well I brush I can still get decay in them. Yay.
I had an appt with my psychiatrist. It went well. Better than last time, and I think with school being out I am under a lot less stress. The only other thing we talked about was brought up by me. I am headed to Germany next week more on that later ;) and I don't know if I should tell my host family about my ED. I don't want to, but I think it is a great safety net for me to not restrict you know? It seems like it may be all to easy to restrict otherwise... What would you do?
I went out to lunch with my friend who moved here from Germany about 3 years ago. We talked about some cultural things I am going to encounter. One example that I found interesting is that if I talk about being a cyclist, they will probably bring up doping because it is a big problem in cycling, and he said that they may sound mad but they are just very into the discussion. Same thing with politics, they just love to debate I guess! We also talked about how people will want to talk to me in English, but I am going to have to say something for them to talk to me in German. I really don't want to speak English while I am there, so I can learn more German!

And of course I had some good eats over the week! Here they are in brief...

Tofu coated with curry and red pepper seared and on a sandwich. I seared it because I was too impatient to let it cook!

I am so excited!!

a "kitchen sink" smoothie. In went:frozen mixed fruit (strawberries, mango, grapes, etc.) yogurt, coconut milk, a handful of oats, and lettuce. It was a weird combo, but I wanted the veggies for the day and it didn't taste "lettucey" at all! Is this my first "green monster"?!?!?!?!?!

my first pranabar. I liked it, not my favorite, but I liked it. I am going to have to try some more flavors.

two low fat hot dogs I had for dinner one night.

peacy sunbutter oats in a jar! This is a great combo by the way ;)

snack combo of yogurt, cereal, nuts, and I think coconut and almond milks. I forget :/ I played with the depth of field a bit ;)

my fave larabar =D

Tofu "pizza" sandwich I had for lunch today was made with tofu, pizza spice, and mozzerela melted in the broiler. yummmm......

and today I found this bug dead on the floor and it looked so cool I had to take a picture! Do any of you know what this is??

And I need to tell you all about my Germany trip! I am going to leave next friday to live with Pascal and his family for three weeks near Berlin! =D I am so excited!! It is going to be awesome!!

And tomorrow, I am racing with three friends, so it should be great :) then headed to Cincinnati again! surprise surprise haha

Okay folks, if you read this far, thank you and congratulations!! You made it through one of my most random posts ever!!! I hope you have a fantastic weekend :)

Scott

monday 7 June 2010

2010-06-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

Ahhh It is nice to be back home and to the blog world! I had a nice weekend of racing and grandma visiting :)

Well, saturday I rode and got rained on, so I won't share that because it stunk :/ but I did go to church and worked the cafe and that was fun :)

Sunday, I raced. The course was SOO easy (basically an oval) so it was pretty fast. It was fun, and we had team radios so our coach was talking to us and it was awesome :) I had a little bit of asthma during the race, but it got worse towards the end when it started to speed up. I didn't finish with the pack, but I finished, and there were no crashes, so that was good. And a friend/team-mate RJwon!!!!!!!! That was so awesome :) Here are a few pictures from race day...

we saw this deer on the way into the park

lots of MOB colors in here...(by the way, MOB stands for Motivated Over Bicycling) :)

RJ going for the win!! And he did it!!!

Then we went to Cincinnati to see family. We got to see both of my grandmas and we went out to lunch. I had pasta with chicken and marinara and it was good :) Of course I also had some coffee ;) And the best canolimy grandma had ever had! And she is Italian!! Sorry, no pic... :(

that is about it! I will talk to you later, have a GREAT Tuesday!!

Scott

Quick post

2010-06-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I have had quite a nice relaxing day today :) I just hung out at home and the bike store until lunch when I enjoyed this:

It is a tofu sandwich (on rice bread that I found in the freezer) sprinkled with pizza spices and topped with co jack cheese. I put lettuce on the other side of the bread. Yes the tofu is raw, because I am lazy like that ;)

Then I went to my nutritionist appointment. I stayed at the same weight, which is a good thing. She says I am at the lower end of normal, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to gain a bit more though. The only thing we realised with my eating that needs changing is to make sure that I get enough calories on days when I do longer rides. Overall though a very good appointment :) My N is great!

Then my mom and I were both hungry so we went out to eat at Noodles and Co. I had the curry, even though I had a curry monday night ;) I guess I am in the mood for spicy curries now? It was good :)

Got home and watched the blind side. It was really good!!! I would def. recommend it. And I think Gretchen was pretty relaxed during the movie, but you be the judge...

Isn't she cute?!?!?!?!?!? She looks like a person <3

And, I want to share with you a store my friend opened up! She makes the most beautiful beads and jewlery...like this!

She does custom orders and glass work and even makes bicycle jewlery! You have got to check out her etsy!!

Have a wonderful day tomorrow!!!!

Scott

Freiheit!!!

2010-05-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

I guess I really am quite the German geek, because I titled my post "Freiheit" which means freedom. Freedom from what you ask? School of course!!

I can't believe 1) that I haven't blogged for over a week :0 and 2) that It is summer! I am so excited to be blogging and not having to rush for school work later :)

so, what has been going on, lets see..... eats shall we?
A sandwich I had some time during the week with fete, Tabbouleh, and turkey.

a bowl of banana oats I believe...

And more oats with Justin's cinnamon PB

So last week consisted of school, finals, and more school. One interesting thing I did: My first mountain bike ride! I had a lot of fun, but I crashed 5 times :p I guess that is part of learning right? I got really dirty!!
It really was a lot more dirt than the photos show. And I now have like 7 bruises all over my knee!

This weekend, I did quite a bit of riding :) We had great weather and it was nice. My dad is home this weekend so I got to ride with him and my mom as well! That was good :) Saturday was just our usual breakfast ride, and sunday I went on a training ride with another team. I got 50 miles in on that ride then I went with my parents and some friends to a little coffee shop for a bit of lunch and I got 90 miles for the day. I was pretty happy with that, because it was SO hot! I was glad to get home.

Then today, I woke up to go on a ride with the family, but we were all tired and didn't want to go so we didn't :) I am glad that I was able to let it go and not worry about it too much. We had a showing at 10:45 so we cleaned every inch of the house and got out of there by 10:40 and just drove around in the car with the dogs. Then the showing service calls us at 11:40 when we are almost home anyway, and tells us that the showing is cancelled because the buyers didn't like the neighbourhood!! I wish they hadn't even called and let us think that they had at least come and we had cleaned meticulously for some purpose! Having your house on the market sucks.

but I got to take my grandma to whole foods!! She had never been so I got her hooked up with all of our blogger goodies ;) Lara bars, bulk nuts and seeds, some chocolate covered almonds, dried figs, Medjool dates, ahh she loved it! And I did too because I got to get all my stuff too!! More Medjools for me ;)

And my cousin had a baby..... at home!!!!!*$)(#*$)#@*&! I think that is so crazy!! Everything went well though, so that is good :)

On to tonight. We went out to a Thai restaurant and I got a jungle curry and I ordered it hot. And it was HOT! I didn't get a picture, but it was chicken and veggies that were lightly cooked and still had some nice crunch to them. It was all sitting in a deceivingly simple broth with herbs that was ~~really~~ insanely spicy!

Then we went for froyo! I must admit that I have not been to a froyo place in forever! There aren't that many here, but there was one right next to the Thai place so I got everyone to go there :) I got a mixture of coconut and taro (which they tell me is a root) topped with cashews, coconut, and pineapple. It was delish!!! A perfect nightie snack :)

And look at the walls! Covered in hearts!!

So that was pretty much it for me! I will talk to you all later, and hopefully more frequently now that school is out :) Keep on loving yourself and enjoy a terrific tuesday!!

Scott

weekend update

2010-05-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a very nice weekend!! The weather here was just beautiful, and I got to ride quite a bit so I am happy J I am doing a lot better now than I was when I wrote my last post, thanks to all of your thoughtful comments and support from you and my family. I appreciate it :]

Friday: My dad got home!!!!! =D I am so glad to see him! He is working at the Louisville office for two weeks so he is coming home on the weekends :] And I enjoyed this coffee and this breakfast!

oatmeal with blackberries, yogurt, and almonds

Saturday: I rode the breakfast ride with my parents and friends. It was nice, I got a good pace going with another guy on the way to breakfast and it was pretty relaxed after that. Fun though. Then I got home, drank some silk chocolate milk (I love that stuff!!!) and showered, had lunch, then I headed off to the café at church. I had a pretty non busy time at the café, but it was nice. Then I went to church. It was a really good service about how our lives are so stressed out and we speed through everything to get to the next thing. It makes me realize how much I do this, and how much I am missing…

Then we went out to dinner with some friends of ours. It was a lot of fun, we just talked there for a long time and I had a great meal.

It was Alaskan halibut, fresh caught and prepared on site, poached with artichokes, summer squash, olives, and I think there was a bit of butter. It was so good! And cooked just right. It was so tender and just fell apart. Ddddrrrroooollllllll…….. ;)

Sunday: I woke up at 5:15 to eat this…

Muesli soaked overnight with Medjool dates and apple juice with a bit of yogurt. I added cashews and a blend of soy nuts and seeds in the morning. It was really good!!!

And go for a ride! I left and couldn’t find my inhaler, so I was a bit worried, but I found it in the car when I got there. This ride is so much fun! I haven’t done it since last season. It is put on by another team, but they don’t mind if we come. It is a really fast ride! It starts at 7 and I get home by 9:30 after doing 50+ miles! I think we averaged like 21 or so including the ride there and back home slowly. I think on the fastest section of the ride we averaged about 24.5mph for probably 10-12 miles. It was such a blast! And I got third place in a sprint ;) I don’t want to sound braggy, but I am pretty proud, and it was so much fun!!!

Then I got home and my parents had a ride planned to the coffee shop, so I was in for that! We ended up having like 20 people and overwhelmed the coffee shop! I had a bagel with cream cheese, because I hardly ever have that. It was so good!! And of course I had an espresso ;]

Then home and relaxing/studying time. We went to Skyline for dinner, and it was pretty good. Nice and easy. I am looking forward to this next week of school because…….. It is the last week!!!! I can’t wait to get out!!!

Have a great Monday! I hope you had just as great of a weekend as I did J

Scott

Whatev...

2010-05-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

I want to thank you all so much for all of your comments. They mean so much to me and keep me going day in and day out. I really can not thank you enough. I will try though ;) Thank You! Thank You!Thank You!Thank You!Thank You!Thank You!Thank You!...........!!!!!!!!!

Soooo today pretty much sucked up until about an hour ago. I have to vent so here ya go. I will try to keep it short, and I have something positive to say in a minute. I promise! :]

Where did it go wrong you ask? Oh about 7 this morning :/ First my mom can't get her car started to go to work, so she takes the other one. No biggie, I was going to ride the bus anyway. I get to school and go to engineering class. We are doing this project where we make custom lego parts on the computer that will fit onto regular legos. We have to make a vehicle of some type. Then we get to print them on the 3D printer! Cool right?!?! In theory...

Dimensioning lego pieces is first and foremost a pain in the ###! And it is crucial when you make custom pieces, otherwise they won't fit the standard ones. The real problem came today, when my part came out of the printer. You see, the parts are built on top of another plastic as a support, and the parts themselves are made out of PVC plastic type stuff. I got my piece today and was trying to break off the extra support material, and my door completely broke. And then it broke again. And again. :/ Apparently the plastic isn't as strong as I thought. I made the doors .025 in thick, which wasn't enough I guess. I asked him if I could print it again after I made it thicker. He said we would have to see if he has time. What?!?!? Ugh, now our whole project is up in the air and we have been working on it for like 6 weeks :/

Then in the last period today I had to turn in this book project we have been working on for the past few weeks. It is a group project, so as my luck seemed to be going today, one of our members didn't bring any of his stuff in. Great. Then when I get the grade back I find out that I got a 10/15 (67%) on my book review. Mind you, this is the same grade that my group member got when he wrote the review, all two paragraphs of it, right before class. I had a whole page and it was well written so I went up to him to ask what was up. He looked at me and told me it had to be typed. NOTHING in the instructions said that, so I asked him "did it say anything about that" and he is like "no, but everything has to be typed now" WHAT!?!?! News to me!! And mind you, I am a good student and am pretty good at knowing what's going on... I guess my teachers like to make up rules they never told us about...

I was looking forward to getting out to go on a ride to just get a break from all this school crap, so I went home, figured out what was wrong with the car, and got ready to drive up to pick my mom up. Then, it rained. And it rained more. And more. So no riding for me. perfect especially when Tuesday we didn't go because it looked like it was going to rain, and it didn't! I am so sick of this stupid weather! Arizona, here I come!!!!!!

I promised a positive to this post, and I am a man of my word ;) Here it is: Right now I am saying screw it. (Thanks Ellie!!) Because you know what? It doesn't really matter. I have so much else I have to be thankful for! I need to try to focus on that more, I really do. And now I get to read your blogs and contemplate all of your deep and interesting thoughts, and get caught up on your days (which were hopefully better than mine!). I am off to do that right now...

Have a fantabulous friday okay?? You all deserve it so much, you are brilliant!!

Scott

Trip report and updates

2010-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Has it really been an entire week since I have blogged?!?! I think it has! I am about due then aren't I!

The important stuff first. I have been struggling a bit lately. I haven't lost any weight, but my eating habits are becoming a bit more ED like :( And I can see it with my own eyes but I don't know what to do! I guess it is a really stressful time for me, with finals and the end of school coming up, my trip to Germany, and moving to Arizona. I am excited for it all, but maybe it is all coming at me a bit too fast? I don't know... But that doesn't make it okay. Why am I going back down this road if I know I don't want to? I don't want to loose all that I have gained! It is just a little bit of a change here and there, but the more I act on these thoughts the worse they will become. And I know that but ugh :/ It makes me feel better just to write that though. It has been bothering me the last couple of days...

So, the rest of my trip right? Here it goes...

On tuesday morning (or was it wednesday.???) I had oats with some of this:

Nom Nom Nom...

I also bought these which I have eaten over the past couple of days. They are my first Raw Revolution bars and I must say they are quite good! They have a bit of a different texture to them, but good nonetheless :]

Some pics from the plane...

You can see the Indianapolis Speedway in this one! Isn't that cool?!?!

And of course the house!~~

the breakfast nook. I LOVE the natural light!!

the kitchen, AKA heart of the house ;] I like the sink being in the island ;}

And here are a few ideas we want to implement for the yard. Right now, it is a blank canvas!!

And lastly, I found this beautiful moth on a taxi parked next to my dad's car!

Then I got back on wednesday night and on friday I headed up to Chicago to race on saturday morning! I feel like a world travler!!

We stayed at my coach's mom's house. She has hosted us for the past three years I have been here, and I am not sure how long before that. She is so sweet! They are a traditional Mexican family so it is always a home-made Mexican feast whenever we come over ;) Tacos, but the kind the Mexicans meant for them to be! They were great :)

Then the race(s) were on saturday. My first race was at 8am for the juniors. I felt well, but I ended up getting caught pulling at the front. That means to block the wind for the rest of the group and use up more energy. I tried to slow down but nobody would pass :/ Anyways, I did fine, but on the last turn I took a bad line and slowed down too much. I wasn't where I needed to for the sprint so I got 7th. I am ok with that though :)

Then the cat 4 race was at 3:45. Two words that you need to know for this race. BIG CRASH. Yep. I mean BIG! The whole race went fine, except I was farther back in the pack than I would have liked. I kept trying to move up then kept getting squished out the back. I think I wasn't aggressive enough... But then with two laps to go, I hear this huge crashing sound. It takes me a second to figure out what is going on, and then there are bikes falling over to my right. From what I am told, some team attacked off the front to start the sprint and they bumped some people and caused a domino effect. All in all there were probably 20+ riders that went down all across the road. I was near the back so I am so thank God I didn't go down. The odds were definitely against me. I slammed on my brakes and locked up the rear wheel for a second, then got it back under control and stopped. As soon as I stopped it was like I re entered the world, cause I was like in a trance/survival mode during the crash. I looked to my right and saw a guy moaning in pain, and a guy running by me screaming "where the f*** is my bike!!" At that point I decided I should really try to help out, I couldn't finish any better anyways. I tried to get the ambulance to come which they finally did. It was a fiasco. I rode over to the finish and saw some guy carrying his bike and his wheel was bent like a taco. Ouch. Not a good day for some. I am so thankful I am safe.

Then sunday I went to Cincinnati to see my cousin that lives in Florida and is the head chef at a restaurant there. My eating problems were noticeable there :( They had lasagne and garlic bread, and I just sat there picking it apart and eating certain parts. It is awful, and I know I am upsetting my family, and myself, but I feel like it is out of my control. Ugh...

So that is the end of my novel of a post. Sorry it is so long, I just had a lot to say I guess! Now I am off to study some more if I am good, but probably read some blogs before I go to bed and maybe watch a bit of tv ;)

Have a terrific Tuesday!!!!

Scott

Terribly stressful day!!

2010-05-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

I am becoming a really inconsistent blogger and I am SO sorry!! I just wanted to let you know I am still here, and doing pretty well :)

I had an ok flight back from Phoenix, I will post a proper post about the trip (with plenty of pictures!!) Soon. But, for all my German readers out there, here is my Märchen (fairy tale)

Tiermädchen und das Pferd
Es war einmal ein Mädchen. Sie wohnte mit ihrem Vater. Sie hieß Tiermädchen, weil sie Tiere mag. Der Vater war ein Bauer, aber Tiermädchen machte die ganze Arbeit. Der Vater war sehr gemein. Er liebte das Obst mehr als seinem Tochter. Also war Tiermädchen immer trauirg.

Eines Tages das Mädchen stritt mit ihrem Vater und rannte im Wald. Sie saß beim Baum und wünschte fur ein Pferd. Wenn sie die Augen ausmachte, sah sie ein Pferd! Dann sagte das Pferd „Hallo!“ Sie konnte mit dem Pferd sprechen! Sie sprachen über ihrem vater und wie böse er war. Sie warren beste Freunden. Sie war sehr froh und ritt das Pferd nach Hause. Der vater war sehr böse, weil er sagte dass Tiermädchen kein Pferd durft. Sie sagte "Vater, es ist kostenlose! Ich hab es gefunden!" Der Vater war noch böse. Dafür musste das Mädchen drei Jahre arbeiten.

Sie arbeitet naturlich mit dem Pferd. Sie saß mit ihr Pferd, und dachte an was sie machen soll. Sie wunschte daß ihrem Vater ärmlich wurde. Mit Obst, er wurde kein geld bekommen! Sie sagte das zu das Pferd. Am nächsten tag, das pferd aß alle das Obst des Vaters. Er hat kein Obst zu verkaufen, also er ärmlich war. Dann das Pferd ein shöner mann wurde. Er sagte "Weil du sehr nett und gut war, ich werde dein Mann sein" Dan veheirateten der Mann und das Mädchen, jetz eine Dame, und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind leben sie noch heute.

I hope you liked it! Let me know ;) It is about a girl who finds she can talk to horses and gets revenge on her mean dad by making him poor. :)

Then tonight I had a meeting for my Germany trip!! I am so excited :] I will again tell you more later!

I am off to race tomorrow in Chicago! I am super excited =D It is a big race for our team and I will race with them. I can't wait! I will tell you for sure :)

Wish me luck and have a great friday and saturday!!!

Scott

I am in Phoenix!

2010-05-10T16:12:00.000-07:00

That ^^ was a cappuccino from a couple days ago I forgot to post. Isn't she pretty? ;]

OK now, a little confession here: I haven't gotten to read any blogs yesterday or today :o I miss you all and I can't wait to read tonight!! So, the reason why... well here was my last two days...

ok. I posted saturday afternoon about my race, which went well. I found out Sunday morning that I won the junior division! :D I am so happy! I didn't know because we raced with the men so I didn't know where I finished compared to the other kids, but I won! End of boasting, sorry about that :(

Ok, then yesterday was Mothers day. I LOVE you Mom!! I really couldn't have made it through this year without you. So we celebrated by going to church and then lunch. I don't know why, but ED has been popping up in my life a little bit more lately. I don't like it. I guess it must be the stress about not knowing about the housing and stuff and the being away from home... it is a lot of stress. But it has got to stop! I have worked too hard to get here and I am not going to let myself slide back down the mountain. I can't. End of story. Keep me responsible please :]

So, as I said I was struggling a bit yesterday. I didn't eat enough for lunch, I had a great salad but not enough carbs. Then at night we went to my aunt and uncles and didn't want anything they had for dinner. By the time I was hungry, the food was put away.

When I got home, I felt bad and I knew i needed to make up for my lack of nutrition through the day, so I had a snackie :] I had an unpictured pb and honey sandwich with this: a mixture of pudding and greek yogurt.

before...

and after mixing!

I added some cereal and nuts and it was great!!

On to today. I woke up at 3:00 AM to leave for Phoenix. You know how flights are, so I won't bore you, but we got here. An hour late, but we are here ;) And I get to see my Dad!!! We had such a busy day today! We went out to eat at souper salad, and it was really good! This was the first time I ate there, and I will have to go back again! I got some vegetable soup, random salad, cornbread, and a baked sweet potato! <3

Then we visited our new house! It is so nice, yet so different from our current house. It has totally different architecture, and it is a bit smaller with different design and I will just have to share some pictures!

Then we visited the school, which was nice. It is really hard to beat the school I am at now though... more on that later...

I am off to pick dad up from work, so I will talk to you later, but I will leave you with a few more pictures...

Breakfast Sunday morning... pb banana oats with mom :]

a bag of potatoes my grandma found under the cabinent. Yes, they are growing something. No, I don[t know how old they are. And Yes, it IS gross!!

We found locally roasted coffee in the airport this morning in Dayton OH. At about 4:45 in the morning!!

a cactus by our community center at the new house. They are so cool, don't they look like they are dying?!?! And my dad says these type are like 200 years old!!

Well, I am off to read your blogs until I have to leave! Talk to you later, have a great tuesday!!

Scott

2010-05-08T18:05:00.001-07:00

I had my race today and I am happy to report that there were no crashes! That is always a good thing :) here are a few pictures from the day..^^^ I can't move the pictures around with my phone :( It went pretty well though. I felt good and raced well, but I couldn't get around the pack to get up to the sprint. I almost got pushed off the road by some guy going up the hill. So I was kinda mad at myself for not getting to the sprint :/ but whatev, I am safe!

And I just ate dinner and guess what? I just ate out with family and they had a "diet" menue with the cals listed and everything. Well, I got something that wasn't on that menu!!! I am not gonna lie, I am quite proud of myself ;) It was kind of a spur of the moment decision, I was about to get salmon from that "diet" menu, but it sounded so plain and I just went with the better dish! It was supposed to have ginger, which I didn't taste but hey, it was pretty good anyway :) And I ate it all. Yep, all :) YAY!
Next however, we went to ice cream and I couldn't bring myself to do that, but I still think I had a great day fighting on the E.D front today :)

Have a great weekend all, I will talk to you all later!

Scott

Race tomorrow!!!!

2010-05-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hello bloggies!

I don't have a lot of time to post, I had a CRAZY day!! I had to mow the lawn, start packing, get all my homework for next week, it was busy! I am going to go next week (Monday through Wednesday) to AZ to visit my dad and see the new house :) It should be fun and a nice break from school. I hope to be able to stay pretty well up on my school work so I don't have too much to make up.

So the title :) ^^ I am racing tomorrow!! I am excited :) It is supposed to be cool (45 ish degrees) in the morning. It is down-town Indianapolis in a park and it should be pretty good. I am all ready to go :] I will report asap after the race ;)

well, I don't have much to say so I will read what you all did! I will talk to you later and hopefully get to blog from the phone some quickie posts (like these last few have been :/ sorry about that!)

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Scott

Thank you

2010-05-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

I don't have time for a very long post tonight, but I just wanted to let you all know how much your comments mean to me. Every single one of them. You are all so kind and insightful, and I get something out of every single comment to better prepare me to continue this fight against ED. For that, I thank you :]

Today, I didn't do much. Another free day in band. Yes, that is 4 in a row, 6 hours of free time in band class. What a lazy teacher right? Well I got a lot done though so I'm not complaining ;) Then in German we are writing our Märchen (fairy tale) so that was a fun class. I promise to share it with any of you that know German ;)

Then tonight I rode the training ride :] It was so fun! We had so many people there that I know! Graham was there, and B and his dad and J and it was great! Unfortunately I didn't feel great because I had a cold and asthma (not a good mix) but it was fun. I did well enough, stayed with the pack, and felt good about it.

Tomorrow I have a busy day :/ as long as it doesn't rain I will ride my bike to school, then after school to work, then to church, and get home at 8:45. That is almost a 13 hour day!! We will see though...

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Scott

Monday 3. April 2010

2010-05-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! I hope you all had a nice Monday :]

My day went pretty well. I guess it started a trend when I had a sub in math :] It was still ~~kinda~~ really boring, but at least we didn't have to deal with Ms. #### that is so awful!! Then we watched a tv show in second period called Intervention. Have any of you seen it? It is pretty good in my opinion. This episode was about a crack cocaine addict and a heroin addict. They always have an intervention at the end (hence the name of the show) and both of these people had been sober since 2007, so it ended on a positive note.

Then in third period (band), we had a a free day! Third one in a row! :p I just sat around and talked and memorised some stuff for German class.

Then German was fun as usual ;) we always do so much in each and every day! Today we talked about another fairy tale and started working on our own.

After school today, I planned on going on a bike ride. So I got ready and left the house by about 5:30 to get up to the starting point by 6:15. My mom was going to drive but I wanted to be sure I got there on time. I am paranoid about being late, but I am always early! Anyway so I got there and no sooner than I did, a storm blew in :( We were deciding wether or not to ride and there was a huge cool down so we decided to leave. It was a good decision because we got a royal downpour a few minutes later. So I was glad to have gone home.

This however, brought with it a minor problem: I had already eaten my bar to ride :/ I know it shouldn't really matter if I ride or not after eating it, but it is such a routine for me. I have a hard time going above and beyond my usual meal plan (I use this term loosely, I don't have a MP so to speak, more of a pattern of eating that is possibly a bit more rigid than the average person). So, the ride home was a bit stressful because of this, but I decided to ride indoors instead. I am happy to say that I didn't ride indoors for very long at all. Way less than I would have outside because it is so boring. I think that earlier on in my recovery I would have done way more on the spin bike and this change in schedule would have bothered me tremendously. But it is OK. Will an extra few hundred calories kill me or make me a slower cyclist? NO!! ED lies, I tell you what, are SO irrational, and each and every time I notice this, the happier and more independent of my ED I feel.

On to some eats to finish up this post...

A snack some day. Aren't these tiny carrots? So long and skinny! with blue corn tortilla chips

A cup of yogurt-filled to the brim :)

A smoothie I made tonight. I always seem to make too much. So I get to have some tomorrow ;]

Make tomorrow a great day! I promise to give it my all :]

Scott

second post in two consecutive days!!

2010-05-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that I am posting two consecutive days‽ <-- haha I love that!!
I can't believe it either!!

So my day today consisted of

Riding in the car (thanks for the ride Paul!)
eating
racing

yeah. It was fine, the drive was nice, but the race sucked :/

We got to the race in plenty of time to warm up and stuff, so that was good. It was a two hour drive to get there! I got registered and they gave me this cool little timing chip to wear around my ankle, it was so neat! I think cycling is behind the curve on this, because I know running races have it all the time, but not many of my bike races have them... but anyway, the weather was fine and I got warmed up nice and stuff.

Then the race started and everything went downhill :(

I got a bad position on the line. There were probably about 80 people because it was a combined cat 4&5 race (I am a 4 and the lower the number the better, 5 being the lowest). I got started about mid pack or so then after the first turn the whole front of the pack slams on their brakes! Huge bike racing etiquette nono right there! when you want to slow down just pull off the front of the pack don't hit your brakes gosh!! So whatever, I sat in and what do you know... it happened again!! And when I say slam I mean it! I about crashed into the guy in front of me and I smelt burning brake pads - it was serious. But there wasn't a crash or a turn or anything! They were braking for NOTHING!! These were some really inexperienced riders (we call them squirrelly in bike lingo) Then I slowed down and left some room between me and the pack until I could get to the front of the group after the first lap or so. I tried to avoid what I like to call "the accordion effect" then...

Hello asthma :( How nice of you to join me! Right about this time I started to feel my chest tighten up. Great. Fabulous. Wonderful!! So I went around one more lap to see if it would go away so that I could at least finish the race. No go. It only got worse throughout the lap :( Then I was going around a corner and I see a couple of bikes off of the road. I figure that he may have had a flat or something. It was a crash! I knew this would happen with such a squirrelly group! How awful! I just continued on though because there were people there helping him already. I ended up pulling off after 2 out of the 5 laps because of my stupid asthma. Crap :/

So that was my race. 4 hours round trip in the car for this :/ But I have found a positive in all of this! I am racing next weekend and I am going to be sure to get a better starting position at the line. That will make a huge difference!! And another HUGE positive: I am safe. The most important thing :)

So, some details on the crash shall we? His bike was trashed! He said the day probably cost him $2,000 in parts!! His handlebars were made of carbon fibre and were completely ripped apart. They looked like straw or something and you could just bend them around. He also broke his brand new shifter. Then his wheel got broken, which was a brand new zipp (read: $1000) and he was really upset. I felt sorry for the guy because there was nothing he could do to avoid it, the guy just went down right in front of him :/ He wasn't too hurt though, just some pretty bad road rash...

I will talk to you all tomorrow! I am going to help my sister move some furniture up to her new house on campus :)

Enjoy your day tomorrow!! Make the best of it :]

Scott

The end of a long week...

2010-04-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

WOW has it been a long week!! I wish I could say that I have a boatload of pictures to share with you, but I don't :( I am so sorry!! I really must get back to a regular nightly posting routine because I absolutely love it!! Your comments brighten my day and I just don't want to go without that. So I am going to try next week to do my best to post more than only Monday and Friday!!

So, because I have neglected my blog for the entire week, here are a few highlights of my week :]

I have been talking to Megan over the past week while she is being admitted to IP. Such a sweet girl, and she really could use all of your support.
I got to ride Tuesday and Thursday on the training ride!! Ya, it is pretty much the norm, but after this past weekend I was a bit worried! This weekend looks like it will be a bit better but with a bit of rain still :/
School was CRAZY!! Tests galore and ugh I am so glad to be through with this week!
Finished my German project over the Indianapolis 500, in (English and German!) for my exchange trip (I can't wait to see you Pascal, Ich freue mich sehr viel daran!!)
Got my skype working again so I was able to talk to my dad in AZ, and I am right now too!! (I keep missing Maddi! Darn time difference...)
got my Lego project mostly painted for IED (intro to engineering and design) We are making a School bus with custom parts on a 3D printer!! I will tell you more when it is finished ;)

So that is pretty much all I did this week. Insert a bunch of ~~school garbage~~ important school work and you have my week! Now the fun part, my weekend!

Tomorrow I am planning on racing in the late afternoon as long as it doesn't rain (crosses fingers pleasepleaseplease!) hehe I am going to see my sister on Sunday in her new house on campus!! She is taking my furniture to put in there because it isn't furnished ;]

I am off to read your posts and try to get caught up! I will leave you with a random picture I took today...

Can you believe it‽ <-- (I just remembered that symbol, it is called an Interrobang isn't it great‽) Edible grass for Easter baskets! And it is from Germany!!

Have a great Saturday everyone :)

Scott

Finally time to blog!!

2010-04-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Wow! As I said in my last post, I have been so busy!! First I will fill you in on some of the food I have been eating ;)

Breakfast Saturday morning was oats in a jar of organic pb... with banana

Snack was a chocolate milk with a side of cereal. It has been a long time since I had this, and it was great!

Yesterday was rainy...

From 25

But this lunch warmed up my day!

I made a "tofu pizza sandwich" It had tofu, red bell peppers, provolone cheese, and pizza spices all on a sandwich thin. It was yummy ;)

Made potato pancakes with leftover roast beef for dinner...

Ok, so that was the food highlights :) Onto the weekend shall we?

Saturday was rainy in the morning, and I had a band competition. It was SO boring :/ And I rather ~~hate~~ dislike my band teacher, I am not going to go there, I'll just skip over that part of my day sound good? ;)

When I got home, I rode the spin bike (boring) and then went to my (second?) cousin's baseball game

There he is batting! After this we went over to his parents' (my cousin's) house. We had dinner there, and it was ok, but I felt a bit weird because they had a lot of prepared salads and stuff like pasta salad and potato salad. They are a fear food I guess because I don't know what is in them? I dunno, but I managed and it was fun :)

Sunday, my mom and I went to church and I worked in the cafe second hour. There were only two of us so it was super busy, especially because it was raining... We got through the day though. When I got home, I called T and he came over after I had my "tofu pizza sandwich" And we played pool and stuff. My mom made cookies and I ate one too! =D It was a lot of fun :]

So that was my weekend! I am looking forward to tomorrow because I will get to ride again. I didn't get to ride at all this weekend, so this will be the first day since Thursday!!! hehe I sound like an addict or something ;] But yeah, I really want to ride...

well, I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!!

Scott

Lack of propper postage

2010-04-25T18:53:00.001-07:00

i truly appoligize about my recent absence from the blog world. Between selling our house, buying a new one, and only one computer in the house, it is quite busy! I will post a real post tomorrow with pictures and everything! you have my word!!

scott

Lucie's Bars!!!!

2010-04-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

I sure am glad to have arrived at the weekend!! I have had a crazy week :/

Without further ado, a bar review!!

~so it has been taken me way too long to get a review posted on Lucie's bars :( But better late than never right? Here are the first three that I have tried...

First off, a few general things that apply to all the bars: The texture is very similar to a larabar, but with a bit more chewiness in my opinion.

"Peaches and Cream"

Ingredients are: Dried peaches, raw cashews, Ghiradelli white chocolate chips, ginger, and nothing else!

I really loved the texture of this bar. The dried peaches had a really chewy texture that I loved. The ginger adds a nice bit of zest to it, but it isn't spicy. It is more of a "hmmm... what is that?" kind of a thing ;) And the white chocolate chips add to the effect by providing that nice creaminess... yum!

"Strawberry Shortcake"

Ingredients: Dried strawberries, cashews, vanilla extract, and nothing else! This really does taste like a strawberry shortcake! I can really taste the vanilla, and I had no Idea you could even buy dried strawberries!! It really is great.

"I Like it So What?"
(Sorry, but I can't find a pic or the ingredients of this one) My favorite! It sounds weird at first with the balsamic, but trust me it is a fantastic addition. It brings out the sweetness of all the fruit and it doesn't taste "vinegary" at all. I guess it adds some sort of a richness? I can't put my finger on it but is my favorite of the bars I have tried :) There isn't one predominant flavor so to speak, but all together it tastes fantastic!

Pistachios and Rainbows

A bar inspired by Maya, how wonderful! And it is!! The ingredients are: Dried cherries, pistachios, rainbow sprinkles, and nothing else! they all pair really well together. You get the tart sweetness from the cherries and the wonderful pistachio flavor that I cannot describe :) And the rainbow sprinkles make it look pretty, and they add a nice crunch!

Don't you love this^^^!?!?! Read it closely, not the nutrition (even though it is fabulous) but look at the inspiration and motivation on there!! I love it!!

And to make it all better, all of the profits go to NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) to battle eating disorders!! Talk about a snack with a conscience! And what's better than buying from a person you know to support a cause with personal meaning to you?!

So check out her Etsy shop. It looks like she is not selling right now, but you'll wanna be ready when she comes back!!

Scott

Do I have a lot to tell you!!

2010-04-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

It feels like it has been so long since I blogged! I think it was last friday!!!

I got some great riding in over the past week or so :) The weather has been fantastic!

X2 hehe

I can't remember when this was, but I LOVE these things! Have you ever had them? They are 100% juice frozen into popsicles! Such a great idea!! They are great on a hot day when you come in from outside

Then Saturday, I had a race =D It was awesome! I did cat 3's because I knew I would have team-mates in that race so I did it instead of the cat 4's. It was pretty tough, fast, but I stayed with the group the whole time! There were two crashes in the last two laps, and the last one was with probably less than a km to go, so I just coasted in and made sure my team-mates were ok. I I happy to say that my team-mates and I made it out unscathed. It was scary though!! The first crash wasn't bad, it was just some people got tangled up at the top of the hill. They were going slow when they went down, so they were all fine. The last one, not so much :/ The back of a race is always dangerous when you are on the last lap headed for the finish. I didn't think I could make it to the front of the pack in time, so I sort of slowed up a bit and made sure I had enough room to get around any crashes. It turns out I needed it! All of a sudden, I hear a crash, and then this guy flips upside down and starts sliding over the pavement into the dirt on the side of the road. Mind you, we were probably going 26-30 Mph, so it was a pretty bad crash. After that I slowed down and made sure my coach (who was racing also) was ok because he was near the front of the pack. It turns out the guy who crashed hit him when he tried to pass and almost made my coach crash too!! Scary stuff... Anyway, here are some pics of the race!!

lined up at the start line

From Scott:recovered

A bit of turning action

and look at this picture of me!! Haha look at my face ;) (I am in the yellow)

Then I got my new phone!! I love it! I can do so much of anything you could possibly think of! There is also a built in GPS and stuff. There is more than I have even discovered yet! I also had a great time with my grandma :) She was so funny :)

Then yesterday and today have been pretty normal at school so lets just get onto the after school stuff shall we??

yesterday's breakfast: OIAJ (oats in a jar) with banana in a DCD jar!

Yesterday after school, I worked on my bike some, but the hi-light of my day wastalking with T on facebook! I told him about my blog and everything and it was so nice :) He is the first person outside of family I have told about my ED and it felt so good!! He was really understanding and nice and all, so thank you T :)

Then tonight, I went out on a training ride and Graham was there again :) I talked before about how he is just such a nice guy. It was a great ride tonight, we stayed together as a group of 50+ for the entire 30 miles! That is really unusual. It was so much fun though, and Graham led me out (blocks the wind for me to get up to speed then sprint around him right at the end) for the sprint and I almost won :) It was fun :)

I'll end up with a pic of some lindt extra dark chocolate 80% cacao

well that is all for me! Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

Scott

Quickie Post

2010-04-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

The Good

I got a new phone! The Droid, and let me tell you it is a blogging powerhouse!! As well of other things of course :) It saved me from being lost three times today alone!!
Sold the house!! And I am friends with the kid who bought it! It is crazy!!! I can't wait to talk with him...
I got to see my grandma
I had a great race on Saturday. I didn't place well, but I felt good and I kept out of the crashes so that is always good :)
Supposed to skype with Maddi tonight
I ate this

That would be a hot date with almond butter :)

The Bad

I have massive amounts of school work --> stress
I miss my dad );
House hunting is redic stressful :/
I have been so busy I haven't been able to read blogs :( I really miss you guys and I can't wait to get back on track. The new phone should help... ;)

The Ugly

I put the screen cover on my phone so badly :( It makes this awesome phone look not so hot. I think I might get a new one that is made for the phone specifically so it fits better...

Beautiful Award!! =D

2010-04-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

I am SO happy to be back! I missed blogging so much it is quite sad ;) I got (mostly) caught up with reading today though!! And I found out that...

I got the Beautiful Award from spectacular Lucie!!!!!

1) What physical features do you love about yourself?

I love what my body can do for me. I am constantly amazed by how adaptive and amazing the human body is. For example, I love my legs because they allow me to bicycle. I love my eyes because they allow me to see. I love my ears because they allow me to hear beautiful music. Get the pattern ;)

2) How do you personally take care of yourself?

I try to nourish my body in the right way as we all do. I also try to get in adequate exercise while allowing myself to recover as well. I keep my spirit healthy through going to church, merge, and small group.

3) What are you looking forward to?

I am looking forward to racing this weekend, riding tomorrow, seeing who you all give the award to, LIFE!!

4) Who has aided your recovery the most?

I don't think I can really say one person helped me the most because everyone helped me so much! My biggest support came from my family: Meagan, Mom, and Dad. But there are so many people that have aided my recovery: My therapist, my nutritionist, everyone. And all of YOU :) your blogs (and some blogs that are no more) have helped me so much!!

5) What was the very last thing you ate?

Funny you ask, I am eating yogurt with raisins, flax, honey and granola right now! ;)

6) What is one material thing you are dying to have right now?

I am not really dying to have anything, but I guess if I had to choose it would be a new bike

and a new coffee grinder

7) If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

hmmm Anywhere in Europe! I am going to Germany in the summer, and I would love to go to Italy, Russia, Sweden, all of them!! And Asian countries and... I guess I just want to travel a lot ;)

8) What is/was your biggest fear food, and how will/did you conquer it?

My biggest fear food was Butter. I still struggle with it a little bit, I don't like to use a lot, but I can use it :) I guess I got over it by just eating it. I know it sounds cliché, but that was kinda it. I hated it when I was forced to use butter on anything for a long time. My mom would put it on my bread or on my potatoes and I absolutely hated it (but now I thank her for it so much!) But after some time I realized that it wasn't evil and it wouldn't kill me etc. I would be just fine.

9) What are your dreams for after ED?

My dream is just to impact the lives of others in a positive way. I don't really know how I am going to do that yet, but I am sure it will all work out. I would LOVE it to be by me being a professional bicycle racer though!

10) What advice would you give to someone concerning eating disorders?

Don't give up. It is a long journey, but there is an end, we just can't see it some times. I would also tell them that there is always more support for you than you could ever imagine. People care for us so much, even when we fail to care for ourselves. And finally, God has a plan and is with you. That is the biggest thing, God is with you and will bring you through this. :)

Unfortunately, I can only pass this award along to ten of you :( You all deserve it so much!!! But I guess that is just how these things work :/

So here it is: I present Devan, Aimee, Ellie, Maddi, Amanda, Alexandra, Alexis, Killian, Stef, and Amanda and YOU!!! with the Beautiful award because you are all such wonderful, strong people and I love you all :) Post your answers to the questions on your blog and pass it along to 10 more bloggers :)

Have a terrific thursday!!

Scott

Withdrawl!!

2010-04-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

...from blogging :(

I haven't gotten to really read many blogs at all for the past 2 days, let alone comment =( I am really missing you all!! Yesterday I went out to dinner with my parents and some friends then didn't get home until late, and today I didn't get home until 9:45 after the ride and dinner. The restaurant tonight took 2 hours!! I was kinda angry :/ The ride was good though, and my day today was also pretty good.

So that is all I have time for tonight :( I gotta go to bed so I can go to school tomorrow :/ This school thing is really getting in the way!! I Will read some more before I go to bed though on my phone :)

Hope you all are having and awesome week, and I wish you all a wonderful wednesday!!

Scott

2010-04-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

My was that a fast weekend!! I had a great time :) But first here are a few photos that I wanted to share on Friday.

Here is Gretchen while she is alert...

and when she is asleep on me! (confession: I slept a bit too!)

And here is a photo that I just had to share! I took a bite of my hot date

(Medjool date with peanut butter inside melted to perfection in the micro) and look inside!!

Yuuuuummmm

Onto this weekend shall we? Well I begrudgingly woke up at 6:40 on saturday morning to go on a bike ride with my parents. We went on the breakfast ride! It was pretty fun, and Meagan met us there to have breakfast. She was sort of forced too, because we had a showing in the morning ;) It was kinda sad though, because it was my dad's last one since he is moving :( After I got home, I mowed the lawn...

We got home and somebody else was pulling into the driveway for a showing, so we rode around some more. We ended up having 5 showings yesterday!!! That is crazy!!!

I also worked at church, but I made sure I could go to service :) It was baptism weekend!! We only had 11 baptisms at our service, but the entire church had over 100 baptisms this weekend!! It is incredible! I was so excited too, because I found out that the kid I had helped last year in vacation bible school over the summer was getting baptized. I did special needs help last year, and I was assigned to E because he has aspergers syndrome (a mild form of autism) and it was so cool to see him get baptized after spending the week with him last summer...

For dinner, we went out for dinner with me, my sister, my parents, and some friends of the family, who happen to also be our realtors! We went out to Stone Creek and it was really good! I got the blackened mahi mahi, and it was cooked perfectly. It had a cilantro aioli with it that I didn't care for, but I guess that might have just been me ;) It also came with veggies and a baked potato.

Oh, I almost forgot! They have the best bread!! It comes fresh out of the oven and omg is it good!

This morning we had a late ride, and I slept in until 8:30! I had banana chocolate oats, and enjoyed them as per the usual. Then I helped my dad pack his car to be transported to Arizona. He decided to ship the car rather than drive it all the way, so now he gets to stay with us longer =D

So, the ride. I decided to ride the mountain bike because it was going to be a slower ride anyways. We had like a "progressive ride" hehe. A group started at a friend's house farther north, then met us at our house and we met another group at another friend's house. We went to Zionsville, and I was expecting to have to get lunch because it was almost noon. But I was happily surprised when I remembered that they only serve breakfast on sundays!! So I ate my second bowl of oatmeal for the day, along with a macchiato. Oatmeal is so versatile!! I had it with raisins and cinnamon. SOO much different than the chocolate bowl of earlier!! And we met friends there that we never even expected to! Fun :)

We continued riding, and ended up getting 50 miles. Way more than I thought I would get on the mountain bike, but it was fun, and easy enough :)

When I got home, it was 3:00, so I didn't want lunch, but I wanted a hearty snack. A smoothie seemed in order:

frozen mixed fruit, yogurt, milk, whey protein, flax, and maybe something else I can't remember ;p

Here is a closeup on the straw. Gotta love mickey mouse!!

Dinner tonight was my own concoction of lentils, tofu, and brown rice. I started with orange and green lentils, and I thought it would be really photogenic, but I guess I was wrong :/

But if I take a photo, I intend to share it!! I seasoned it with curry powder and cayenne pepper. I swear it tasted better than it looks ;p

Now I am spending a nice relaxing weekend with my sister Meagan watching TV :] I am not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow :/ It'll be ok though :)

Have a magnificent Monday!!

Scott

Friday 9-April-2010

2010-04-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This is going to be a quickie post because my family is mad and doesn't want me to blog tonight :/ We are watching American Idol and they think because I don't want to watch it that I have nervous energy and they just want me to relax. Whatev...

So, yesterday right? The main thing we did was ride the Nebo ride that night. It was fun, but SO cold! It was 84 degrees on wednesday, then only 45 when we rode thursday evening! Ouch... It was okay though. When I got back from the ride, I tried to drink my ensure plus but it was frozen!! My mom had frozen it to get it cold, but forgot to take it out ;) After the ride, we had dinner with our bike friends because it was the last thursday ride for my dad before he leaves for Scottsdale AZ :( When we got there, I went to the bathroom and thawed my ensure under hot water ;) It worked!! It was really cold though :/ It was fun, we went to Red Robin and my sister met us there. I got the veggie burger, my usual :)

When I got home, I talked with Maddi again! It was awesome, and I met her younger sister Naiomi! (I think that is how it is spelled??) And she got to meet my sister too! It was a lot of fun :)

No rides today! I know, surprising, but I needed a day to relax and recover. So I slept in! I didn't get up until quarter till 9 :O It was kinda weird though, because breakfast was so late. I had banana oats with sunflower seed butter. Then we just hung out around the house until lunch, and we headed to the bike line to work.

After work, we went with my cousins and parents to some bbq place. It was pretty good, I had pulled chicken on rice with spicy sauce on the side. Then we went out to Maggie Moos and I had a little bit of my dad's low-fat chocolate chip ice cream.

Well, I have pictures to share with you, but they are going to have to wait tomorrow :/ My parents are going to want me back watching tv!

Have a wonderful Saturday!!

Scott

Thursday Already!?!?

2010-04-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

hello readers! ;] I hope you are all having a great week!! Can you believe it is already Thursday? It is my spring break and it is almost half over :(

Yesterday I woke up early and went on a bike ride with my dad and a friend. I rode my mountain bike!! First we drove the van to a repair shop to get the rear brakes done, and rode from the shop. It was fun, we went to Zionsville for coffee and breakfast (I had a second bowl of oats) :] Then we headed back to our friend's work at bike line, and we test rode a bike another friend had there that he is selling. My dad and I loved it! It is so smooth over rough road, but also so stiff and transfers power really well. Now I want to buy it! We rode home around 10:30 and the car wasn't ready yet so we just went home and had lunch and showered.

After lunch we started to ride back up to the repair shop and it started to rain :/ We were in normal street clothes, not bike clothes, because we were going to drive back over to Bike Line to work after we picked up the car. Long story short, we rode there and got soaked to the bone :/ Of course that brings along with it road grime and dirt and all around gross! Then I got to the bike shop and I had forgotten to pack normal shoes! So I was working in my bike shoes, which have carbon soles (read: SUPER stiff!) And my feet hurt :( We finally dried off though and I built a few bikes, so it ended well :)

I had an appointment with my psychologist at 4:00. We wanted to meet with her (Dr. H) because of how much stress moving and selling the house can bring. The way we always do it is I go in first and talk about anything I need to and then my parents come in. It went really well! We talked about ways to cope with the change of a move and things like that, and how I felt about everything. I also talked about how I might want to be a psychologist, but I am afraid that it may be a desire not of me, but of my eating disorder. Dr. H really eased my stress about that, because she pointed out that even in my ED, I never really had a problem with letting other people's problems get to me; or in other words, I feel pressure to be the "caretaker." She also said how it took her 4 changes in major to figure out what she wanted to do, so it is never too late to change your mind.

We also talked about blogging! My parents were a bit concerned that I was spending too much time surrounded by ED thoughts and such. I told them how I really feel like for me the blog community is a support group. We all help each other through struggles and congratulate each other when we overcome something. I think it is somewhat like a journal that we share with everybody else, you know? I am so thankful for all of the help all of you have given me through your comments. It helps me so much :) We left the office in a good mood, and my parents now really understand why I blog =D It was great!

Then last night, I went to church (Merge) and we had a game night because not many people are here with spring break and all. We played dodge-ball and I got nailed in the face :( My glasses got all bent and messed up, all from a foam covered ball!! I don't even know who threw it... But I got the glasses bent back into shape and I just hung out the rest of the time. Not the best Merge you could say!

My night was great though! I Skyped with Maddi and it was awesome!! She is such a great person and we just talked and talked for a long time about all kinds of stuff :)

That was my Wednesday, pretty good overall I think :)

Today, I had Blueberry plum oatmeal with almond butter. Yummmmm

We have a showing (of the house) at 11-12:30, so I don't really know what I am going to do today! I am going to do a training ride later, and it is going to be cold!! The high today is only in the low 50's, and yesterday it got up to 80 :/ It should be fun though.

I will talk to you all later!! Have a great Thursday!

Scott

Whirlwind

2010-04-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

How do you like the new colors? My sister said that the coffee beans were hard to read over, so I changed it a nice blue gradient. I made the space for pictures bigger also. How do you like?

This morning I had an uninteresting bowl of cereal ( I missed my oats today!) And headed downtown for breakfast #2 with my dad and a friend. Our friend shows up with a frankenstein bike at least I call it that ;) It is a mountain bike frame with a mountain bike rear wheel, and a road front wheel. It has the weirdest handlebars that are so tiny, and has a hydraulic rear brake! It was quite funny, but I guess just for bike geeks ;) I SOOO wished I had ridden my mountain bike because the roads were awful! So rough...

We went to this really cool bagel shop. They have SO many sandwiches!! I ended up just getting a pumpernickel bagel with veggie cream cheese. It was delish! And I love this shop/restaurant because everyone knows my dad and friend, because they come in all the time. I just love it when you go to a place where you can talk to the owners and stuff...

When we got home, we quickly showered and ate lunch. I had this weird concoction I thought of with chopped ham and onion as a sandwich filling. It was pretty god, but not great, and uber messy! Then before we knew it, the mobile vet showed up! Yep, we have a mobile vet here!! They just drive up and park in the driveway and give the dogs their shots right there. It is so much easier and less stressful for the dogs, let alone us!

My dad had to drop off his snow tires to a guy who bought them (no needing those in AZ!!) and went to his dr. appt. I just read in the lobby. We got home, and at around 5:15 we left for another ride. I wanted to do the usual training ride, but we ended up doing this ride my parents wanted to do that we used to do a lot. Again I wished I had ridden my mountain bike... It starts at our friends' house and it is ok, but the roads are just awful!! And some of the people there get on my last nerve! J.K. is just a total BS'er and I just can't stand it. He is so competitive and ugh!! To make things worse, the wind had gusts up to 40mph!!!! It was crazy, but warm so I'll take that. But we got home safely and that is all that matters. We agreed though that we needn't do that ride again! After the ride, they always have desert and I was a bit nervous about it, because I need food after a ride, but I still have some trouble with "desert" foods. But my mom prompted me to plan ahead and I packed a mini sandwich and a banana. I ate that and drank some chocolate milk :) Did you know that chocolate milk is one of the best recovery drinks?? That is what they tell me... And I'll go with it, it tastes hella good!

So pretty much my day :) Off to read as many of your posts as I can before I go to bed!!

Scott

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend :)

2010-04-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hello my favourite readers!

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter! I spent the weekend in Cincinnati with family. It was pretty fun, but I didn't get to comment on any of your blogs :( My Grandma doesn't have a computer! And my chances of getting a wifi signal in a senior community with my sister's laptop are slim to none... So here I am now! I got to read some of your posts, but I had a busy day today too! But first I will start with the weekend...

On Saturday, we went on a bike ride. You know how in my last post I was going through this huge process to decide if I wanted to ride with my team or my family? Well I ended up riding with my family because it looked like it was going to rain later :/ Then that brought up the decision of which bike to ride. I wanted to ride the new mountain bike, but I also didn't and ughh! After a half hour I just chose the singlespeed road bike and went with it. I had fun though and we got home just before the rain got bad! I got home and had this:

Toasted english muffin with

a perfectly poached egg and
cilantro on top of swiss cheese.

Then it was out the door for me and the family on our way out to Cincinnati.

We got to my grandma's house, and she was feeling much better, so we were all happy :) My grandma is so funny! She goes to the fridge and gets out a regular coke (she is diabetic) and starts drinking it. My mom asks her why she is drinking regular coke, and she says "I used to be a sugar diabetic" Ya, she "used" to be diabetic. Her sugar is around normal now so she wants to drink reg. coke again. Whatev. She is 88 years old she can do what she wants! ;)

She is so funny! I love her <3

Then we went out to dinner at skyline. I got their Greek chicken salad and it is always good :)

Then we went out to the grocery to buy stuff for Easter, and we went into half price books as well. I had never been in there, but it is amazing! I got two magazines all for a dollar :) that was my entertainment for the weekend! My sister convinced my mom to buy this for her at kroger:

Hehehehe :)

When I got back to grandma's house, I had greek yogurt with mango chopped up. I am not really sure I like mango. It has such a weird flavor don't you think?

On Easter morning, we went to church with my grandma on my mom's side. Then we went over to my aunt and uncle's house for brunch. It was kinda redic. because we were supposed to eat at 11:30, but we didn't eat until 12:30! That side of the family is always slow, never in a rush. We all have our quarks though! The brunch was okay, I ate a lot of the fruit salad we made. It was so good! We also had an egg casserole and some french toast. I had a bit of each.

Then it was on to my dad's brother's to see the other side of the family. We ate there again, and I had some ham and a roll and some of the vegetables that were there. It was nice, we got to see my cousins that I haven't seen for quite a while :) it was a nice time and we all had fun.

Then we drove home, and I slept most of the way ;) here is a pic of how the dogs liked to lay on me!

From Scott:recovered

Then today, it was such a beautiful morning!! I slept in until 8:15 and my sister was awake before me *shock!* I had a breakfast of unpictured oats with strawberry and flax :)

My sister headed off to classes at around 10:00, so me and my dad went on a bike ride! :) It was so much fun, just the two of us. we went to the coffee shop and had a nice lunch together. It was great!

When we got home, we worked at the bike line for 2 hours, they said they needed help. We brought mini as a "shop dog!" She didn't really like it :/ Here is a picture of her on my grandma's couch though :)

Dinner tonight was whole wheat pasta a la sally :) My mom made a topping for the pasta out of veggies and boca crumbles. It was Great! Thanks mom :)

I saw this when I looked out the window so I just had to take a picture!!

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter!!

Scott

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T08:08:00.001-07:00

I am about to head out of town and I just wanted to wish you all a happy Easter!! Hope you all have something fun planned :)

Scott

HOT HOT HOT!!!

2010-04-02T13:26:00.000-07:00

It was seriously hot here today and yesterday!! We set a record at 82 yesterday and are going to get up to 84 today :) I am loving this! Good practice for Arizona no??

Yesterday I went on a bike ride again after finishing my last day of school before spring break!! Yep it is spring break now =D The ride was the Nebo ride again, and it was amazing as usual! ;) It ended up having like 110 people! It is crazy!! We started in 4 separate groups so it was manageable though. And I saw a guy with a new bike with electronic shifting on it (di2)! I guess I should explain right? hehe. well it is shifting, but instead of cables, there are electronic motors that shift. I don't know if it is that great, but it costs $4,000 just for the shifting!!!! It was the first bike with it I had seen on the road so I was quite excited ;) . The weather was incredible, it was like 75, but the winds were at 17 from the south :/ We started out north, so that was awesome. we went like 30+ mph with the wind at our backs and it was amazing! Then we turned south.... It was SOOO windy! We had a big enough group that we went quite a bit faster than I thought we would in the wind. stayed with the front of the group up until I got stuck at a street they all crossed because of traffic :( Oh well, I felt great and it was so much fun!!

Today started out with this bowl of deliciousness. Oats with a banana whipped in wit Dark chocolate dreams pb and a bit of unsweet cocoa to make it just a tad bit chocolatier! Yum :)

Then our friend came over who I hadn't seen in ages. We rode over to the coffee shop, and it was great. A nice easy ride, and it was nice to catch up with our friend again. I rode his bike for a minute and Oh. My. GOSH!! It is amazing! It just does exactly what you want it to do when you are riding it. It's insane... Here is a pic of what it looks like.

Then I got home and saw that my bars from Lucie arrived!!!!

(pictured by one of my mom's many Easter decorations!)

I have been waiting forever after she had to resend them. I swear the postman ate them! I will let you know when I eat one for sure :)

Then me and my dad headed up to the bike line to pick up a new mountain bike! It is called the Kona Kaboom. what a weird name no? It is a single speed (one gear) and our friend was selling it for really cheap so we couldn't pass it up. My mom agreed too, so we went for it :) I rode it around today and it is so much fun! It is my first mountain bike so I am excited :)

well I am off to the Good Friday service at church so I will catch you later! Hope you are all having a wonderful day today :)

Scott

Finally Pics =D

2010-03-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends! ;]

First, my day yesterday... Along with some pics!! I promised so here they are ;]

chocolate banana oats made with dark chocolate

dreams pb and overripe banana...

me with the dogs after their day at the salon!

aren't they cute!?!?

So I went to school, and suffered through another math class :/ Then in band, I did a playing test, and it was pass fail and he failed me! What a jerk!!!! Other than those minor mishaps, I had an amazing day =D After school I went on the Nebo training ride, which was amazing as usual :] we had probably 50 people there, and it was a ton of fun. I ended up winning one of the sprints =D there are three on the course and I won one after getting extremely annoyed with another rider who had extremely bad etiquette. I beat him though, so it is all good ;)

Today was also a pretty good day, I had a late start so I got my homework done in that time before class. I had no tests or quizes today, so that was nice. I even had some time in last period to read some blogs!!! Our school computers block the pictures though :( I don't understand, we can go to youtube, but we can't go to blogger or see any pictures on blogs?!?!?! Whatev...

Then tonight I had church =) It was about baptism, and what it symbolizes. I was baptised when I was a baby, but I think I might want to again now that i am older and know what it means. And I feel like after going through an ED, my relationship with god has grown tremendously. I think it kind of "broke" me so that I could be made whole with christ. I want to proclaim that through baptism... I have to decide soon though....

I think tonight it really hit me that I won't be here next year :/ I am excited about the new things in Arizona, but I don't want to leave here. I LOVE my church here, and we have the most amazing youth group. I have really connected with my small group, and all of our pastors and stuff. I just don't see how I can find something as good as what I have here. I guess some of what I have here is partly because I have grown in my faith, and I have just been able to get more out of what we have. I am just going to have to have faith that everything will be great in Arizona, and that I will find a church there that is just as good for me. God has a reason for this, I just need to find it..

So that(those) was my day(s)! Tomorrow is my last day before spring break!!!! I can't wait :) I hope all of you are having a great week :) Promise me you will all have a terrific Thursday!!

Scott

hookah?!?!?!

2010-03-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

It is Monday :/ I am actually quite happy though because spring break starts on Friday!! I am not going to do much of anything, but I am still excited ;)

So I will update you on yesterday sound good? I left you when I walked out the door for the showings. From there we headed to what we thought was an espresso bar, but it turned out to be a hookah bar that serves espresso! What?!?!?!?! We were planning on sitting in there to drink the coffee, but it was just too weird! So we took it to go ;]

Next stop was the bike store (BGI) to pick up some brake pads. They are Yellow! I guess I am probably the only person that thinks this is cool, but oh well hehe. It matches my team colors!

Then we got home and I had a Boca burger for dinner. With avocado ;) I am really getting bad about posting pics. I am sorry =(

Today was pretty good. I woke up and made a delicious bowl of banana sunflower seed butter oatmeal. I didn't have any oats yesterday and I missed them! Like a long lost friend lol ;) I got to start off my school day in first period with reading your lovely blogs =D I hate our school computers though, because I can't go to your site directly to leave comments, and I can't see pictures :( It is a travesty! I enjoyed all your posts though and it was a great way to start off my school day!

Then in SRT I got a lot of homework done, and had a pretty easy rest of the day. So kinda boring but nice at the same time I guess...

I got home and went up to the allergist. I did fine with my shot, and I saw a friend from school there so that was nice. She is in German also and said our student teacher is leaving tomorrow. Can it be!?!?!?! She is fine as a person, but I miss Frau B. !! (my real teacher) I hope she is right!

I also finished reading regaining your self today, and I really reccomend it. It is so interesting to see an eating disorder from the perspective of the therapist. I also found it so interesting because it makes me realise how great my therapist is. Most importantly though is that I feel like I understand myself a lot more now. I understand what could have caused my ED, and why I unconsciously chose to deal with anxiety in that way. It also helps me to keep an eye on the symptoms and triggers for a relapse. Basically I feel like I gained someting for myself from reading this book :) I am planning on discussing it with my therapist at our next meeting. I definitely recommend it to all of you who are further along in recovery, and I didn't find it triggering at all.

While I was reading it^^ in chem class today, the girl I talked to you about earlier looked at it and was like "what are you reading?" ummmm so I showed her and she just read it and didn't say anything :/ I dunno what to think! I guess I should have talked more, but hmm..... Maybe she will ask me about it again if she reads it or something? idk

Welll, that is it for me tonight. I am off to read some more of your blogs and watch some 24 while enjoying some yogurt :]

Have a terrific Tuesday!!!!

Scott

P.S. I promise to get pics tomorrow! Sorry :}

catching up...

2010-03-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of catching up to do!

I will start with friday. I went to the best resturaunt ever!! It was this Italian place, and our friends know the owner. He was a really funny Italian guy who grew up in New York and was just great to be around. The food was great, and we ended up staying for like 3 hours after we ate just talking. By the end of the night, the whole kitchen staff was sitting around our table. So much fun! I had the tilapia.

I started out my Saturday with a bike ride. It was really cold! 30 degrees in March!?!? And windy, but I had a good time :) there was just three of us.
Then last night was my sisters 21st birthday!! I went up to Purdue, about an hour drive, to celebrate and have dinner. I had fish tacos at Don Pablos, and they were pretty good, except for the minuscule amount of fish they put in :( Then my sister's friends (all 26 of them!) sang happy birthday to her and I was in the bathroom=( She got some pictures though! Then I took her and friends out to a bar and drove home. She called this afternoon and said she was doing fine :)

Love you Meagan!!!!!! <3

Then I got to skype with the wonderful Maggie :) It is so nice to actually talk with our blog friends!

Today it is really rainy :/ It is so depressing because it feels like it is night because it is so dark. I guess there is more motivation to do homework then! We went to church this morning, which was really good. It was all about how each and every one of us has a purpose to serve to bring god's dreams into a reality. They include,

caretaker of creation
herald of peace
catylist for community
agent of healing
rescuer of the poor
runner of reconciliation
ambasador of christ
spokesperson for God
dispenser of grace
models of holiness

Number four really resonates with me because it reassures me that my desire to become a therapist or psychology is a good thing. It can be a way for me to help be an agent of healing and help people bring people to god. So that is one more thing I have to consider when I think about my career choices...

Now I had lunch of a grilled ham and cheese, and am working on a puzzle with my mom.

The house selling is going really well! We put the house on the market on Thursday, had two showings yesterday, and two showings scheduled today. Then our friend (and relator) calls and says we have an offer! What!?!? So we will find out about that in a few minutes. But I am really thankful things are going so well because it has only been 3 days =D

So that was my weekend, well most of it. I will talk to you all tonight or tomorrow!

Scott

Oh, and I think I finally got that video from church up online. The service was from Feb 20th! It is about how to find good things in your life god is doing, even during the hardest struggles. I think you'll like it :) here it is! Now I have to go for the showing! talk to you later and wish me luck ;] nevermind, I am this close, but it isn't working :( I will get it asap :]

Happy (almost) Friday

2010-03-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hi lovelies!!

I am sorry if I missed some of your posts. I tried to get them into a word doc so I could read them away from the computer, and I had them all copied and pasted and it crashed :( I went back to my reader and everything was marked as read! So terribly sorry if I missed your post :(

Well the weather was rainy today :( I hate that! Luckily, all of my classes had no windows today, so I didn't have to see the awful weather! I usually hate not having windows in my classes, but when the weather sucks, I don't mind it so much ;]

The only major thing I did at school was I took a chemistry test, and I think I did pretty well. I was planning on telling B about my ED like I said I was going to, but with the test, I didn't even have any time, and she didn't ask :/ I don't know what to think, I mean I guess it is easier not to say anything, but I was ready to. I really like the idea of busting the myths and taboo around ED's before I move! We'll see what happens...

After school, I had a German club event! It was so fun, we just played card games and made these things called Scherenschnitte, where you cut out an ornate shape out of a piece of paper. It is harder than it looks!

Here is mine

I have been a bit confused latley about my future and career options. I thought I had it figured out. I want to be a psychologist / therapist. Now I am reading that book I told you about, Rediscovering Your Self (great by the way, I defiantly recommend), I read about how the "caretaker" role is very often a part of the ED identity. Dr. Sacker (the author) talks about how his approach to recovery is replacing the ED identity with that of yourself. I This made me wonder if in fact my desire to help others in the field of psychology could possibly just be another aspect of my ED. I mean, I never really wanted to do this in the past, but I am more mature now, and maybe it is the right occupation for me? I don't know right now. On one hand, I don't see how wanting to help people could ever be a bad thing, but on the other hand, I can see how it could be my ED playing a role in my thought process here. What do you all think? I would love to hear your input on this one...

one more pic for you all! My mom bought these strawberries yesterday and they are THE BIGGEST strawberries I have EVER seen!!

here it is in all of it's glory! hehehe

And here is one for perspective.

Look at it next to the keys and the spoon!!

Goodbye for now!

Wishing all of you a fantastic Friday!!

Scott

2010-03-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Hope you are having a great day today! I sure did :]

So math was blah, we just did review and worked on problems with partners. It was cool though becasue I got to talk with a friend, and drank my coffee! Health was ok too, we just finished up the presentations. I guess I am biased, but I think ours was the best ;) we got a 91% so I am pretty happy!

In band, we had a different teacher who usually teaches the better band. It completley showed how incapeable our normal teacher is! We got through more than we would in like a week with the normal teacher!

German was fun too (as usual). We got to watch a lot of our movie. It is about a kid who's mom woke up from a coma and germany had reunited while she was asleep. So they are trying to keep her from realizing that there is no more DDR(East Germany) because if she gets too stressed or excited she could have another heart attack. It is interesting and funny at times, plus our normal teacher taught us vocab, so that was good. So much better pronunciation!

Tonight was church, and we did an entire service of worship! It was so awesome, we just sang and reflected on our lives the whole time :) I have to share a few of my favorite worsip songs on here, but I am too tired tonight! haha

I want to thank you so much for all of your advice on my question from yesterday. I thought about it, and I mean, why not tell her? She is a friend, and I am going to be moving anyways, so ~~I don't really care what everyone thinks~~ (not that I should anyways...) So I am going to tell her tomorrow. I am a bit nervous (ok quite a lot) because I have never really told anyone at all. The only people who know about my ED are my doctors, parents, and sister, and of course you guys! And anyone else that does know, my parents told them, like my coach (to make sure I was eating while I was riding and stuff) so I have never had to do it myself. I have nothing to be ashamed of so I am going to go ahead and go for it I guess :) wish me luck!

P.S. Lucie, to answer your question, no my bars haven't come yet, but I am patiently waiting! :) I will post a pic when they get here! And ALL of you should check out lucie's bars! She's got bars named after some of our fellow bloggers =D So check it out!

Nebo ride and a tricky question

2010-03-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

First I will update you all on yesterday sound good? The only major thing that happened in school was I gave my presentation in health over ED's! I was nervous, especially because my partner was really upset from her class before :/ It went really well though and i think we portrayed the disease in a very clear light so I was really happy :) And I got my homework done in band so it was a good day for me =D

Then I got home from school, and I found an email from the owner of the bike shop I interviewed at. He said he wanted me to work there, and he would pay $8 an hour. Great!! But then I realized that I will be moving over the summer :/ So I told him I would love to work for him until then, but I would understand if it wouldn't work out...

So today, I had extra time in engineering today and I got to look up some cycling teams in Arizona. I found quite a few, and one that is a U23 team (under 23 years old) that is sponsored and looks so awesome. I am going to apply tomorrow :]

Lunch was a tofu and avocado sammie! Yummy!!

In Chemistry I got a quiz back and I did OK (79) I was pretty happy because chem is SO hard!! The only really interesting thing that happened was that my friend B saw me eating a few food should taste good chips left over from my lunch, and asked what they were. I told her what they were and let her have one. Then we got talking about trader joes and stuff, and she asked me how I got to like eating so healthy. I was like "....um...... It is a long story." She wanted me to tell her but I don't know what to say! I told her I would think about it. Ya, awkward, but i didn't know what to do! I can't just be like "oh yeah, I had an eating disorder for the past year and a half" and then just stop talking! What would you do?

Then NEBO training ride tonight! (Nebo Ridge is the name of the bike shop it starts from.) I felt so awesome today! I rode with G again, and it was so much fun! I ended up in the front group of like 12, and we started out with around 50 riders. I was so happy because I think they all had to be at least cat 2-3. It was exhilarating!! I got another comment from one of my teammates. He said that I have made some major gains (performance) over the past two years. WOW! He is such a strong rider, so for him to say that, I was really happy :]

overall today was a good day for me. I hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

Scott

Monday...

2010-03-22T18:58:00.001-07:00

Hello my friends! I missed you! I will start out with a few pics of my bike! I absolutley adore these weels! They have ceramic bearings and they are SO light!! I weighed my bike today and it weighs 16.8 pounds. I figure it is ok to mention bike weight right? ;]

Well, after I posted saturday night, I watched the hangover again with my aunt and uncle and sister. My aunt and uncle had never seen it before, and I think the best part was seeing their reactions! It was hilarious ;]

Then yesterday, I went out to first watch for breakfast. I had an omlette with mushrooms peppers, and salsa. Along with fruit and an english muffin. Yummy!

The ride home was pretty good. I drove my sister and we listened to a book on tape. I don't know the name though :/

So today at school, it was pretty uneventful. I got all my homework done in band (free day!!) so more me time tonight :) German was funny though! This kid in my class wrote on his paper that he would only make his handwriting better whan our student teacher makes hers better (she has illegible handwriting). It was just so funny to see him stand up like that! And then later she asked the question "what did Alex do" about some story we read. He said he didn't know, then finally he said "Sara" The whole class cracked up! I guess you had to be there, but it was funny...

So this afternoon wasn't so great for me :/ I got into an argument with my mom about what to make for dinner. I wanted to make rissotto with scallops and spinach. It has been forever since I have made rissotto! Well, she didn't think that sounded good, she wanted rissotto with as a side with a stir fry, and that didn't sound like a good pairing to me at all. I don't know, but we kept bouncing ideas back and forth and we finally ended up making these chicken burgers. They were ok, but I didn't really feel great about eating them :/ I don't have any idea why, They weren't bad or anything, I guess I just didn't like that it was prepared and had cheese in it. Irrational I know :( Then I went to the groccery. I bought the essentials and some extras ;] including cilantro. I love cilantro but I haven't had it for a long time!

So that was my so-so day. Kinda boring, but that was it. I feel like I was going to post something else, but I don't remember? Huh..... I will post if I remember.

Have a great Tuesday ok? You deserve it!!

Scott

Race Report =D

2010-03-20T18:58:00.002-07:00

This morning we left around 8:00 for Cincinnati. We packed my bike last night and we packed everything else this morning (including our dogs!) and headed out.

We got to my grandma's at like 10:00. She isn't really feeling well at all :( My dad and I left for my race at around 11:00 to get there in time to warm up and stuff. We got there in plenty of time and I got checked in. Later I found out that nobody was in the junior category, so I would be racing with the cat 4's. (see explanation here) I guess I am happy though because the field was big (about 30) and I felt great! It was 40 miles instead of 30 though :/

So the race started right on time (amazing!) and wasn't too crazy. I stayed with the pack the whole time and ended up getting an 8th place finish or so. I am so proud because last year, I dropped off the pack on the second lap. I was so sick and at a low weight and my mom and sister who came to watch were so worried for me. It makes me so sad to hear what ED made my family go through, and how much it scared them :(

So race details =D The first lap was kinda stressful because the turns were insane! The downhills were so fast and they went right into turns. You can't brake because it throws you off your line, which could make you go off the road :O so that isn't good, and if you do brake everyone else gets way ahead. So I got used to it though and like I said, I stayed with the pack for the whole race :] I got up to 38 mph on a downhill though =D so exhilarating!! I love it! I tried to sprint at the end but I didn't have it in me to win, but I am happy with my first race of the season and my first cat 4 race ever :]

then over to my aunt and uncle to have a birthday party. It was fun, and the food was ok. I even had a bit of cake! We had carrot cake and chocolate... yum..

I wasn't planning on blogging tonight (it seems as though everyone is taking a break right now am I right?), but I ended up staying with my other aunt and uncle who have a computer. yesss!! So here I am. Going to first watch for breakfast tomorrow. I can't wait because the menu looks so great!

enjoy your Sunday!! You deserve it!

Scott

l missed you!

2010-03-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

TGIF!!! I am so glad it is the weekend you have no idea!! This is the first time I have really been able to sit down and blog for the past two days :O I missed you all so much, really :( I tried to read as much of your posts as I could but I have just been so extremely busy! I guess I will catch yall up a bit ok?

Yesterday I had a normal day at school and had my training ride again =D It is such a Release for me during a hectic week... I did pretty well but I dropped of the pack, but overall it was great :) I had fun and got reconnected with some friends I hadn't seen in a while...

So Graham I hadn't seen for quite a while and he was at the ride :] He is such a great guy. He is so incredibly fast and a great cyclist, but so humble and nice. He is only a year older than me, but he is a cat 1-2. (There are 5 categories, and you start at 5 and move up. I am a 4 and 1 is just below pro) I really look up to him because he is so grounded in life. So I had a great ride and then went out with some friends and my parents for dinner, which took forever, but it was good. I had a fish sandwich.

When I got home, I commented on Graham's facebook saying it was nice to ride with him tonight. He posted "Hey man. i was really impressed today. you smashed that ride with me. attacking and pulling through looked really smooth. You have deff. put on some muscle. whatever you are doing keep it up.”

He is just so awesome and this made my day!!

On to today. Today was soooo looonnnngggg. I went to school early so I could get some homework done that I forgot to bring home last night. I got there at 7 and got everything done so that was good. Then I had engineering, which was fine then in SRT we had a convo, where all of the school goes to the gym to hear about something. I hate them because I don't have time to do homework, and then to top it all off you can't even hear what they are saying because the sound is so horrible :/ I brought my chemistry to study though so that was good...

Then a chemistry test which was so hard! I think I did ok though... And English was ok, but my teacher seemed to be in a bad mood. He is usually very cool...

Then I got picked up by my dad and went straight to the allergist. He packed me some fruit and a bar though so I was set =D Thanks dad!! Then I got my shot, waited the half hour, and went to the bike shop. My dad and I volunteered for their spring sale because they sponsor my team. We got there right on time at 4:30 and worked until 8:15. I was helping with food and I brought a lot of food to the tent with all the bikes in it to the shop and back and forth a lot. It was fun though but I am tired now!

Tomorrow I am headed to Cincinnati with the family. My family just got out of the hospital so we are going to go and see her. I also have a race nearby :] I am so excited to start the season off! I have a feeling it is going to be a great season for me. I am a bit nervous though, but I guess that is always a good thing to be just a bit nervous... wish me luck!

Enjoy your weekend :] I'll be reading on my phone buy my grandma has no computer :( So not much commenting for me :( I will talk to you all on on Sunday night :]

Scott

wednesday 17 mar 2010

2010-03-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Hello happy Wednesday!!

I wrote this post below in a lot of short sessions, so It will be a bit scattered. Bear with me ;]

I am such a rebel today!! I read some blogs during 1st period after I got my project done ;] shhhh. Don't tell!!

Today's school day was pretty ok. I just got so tired by the end of the day :/ and I only went to bed a half hour later than the night before! But first period went well, we had time to work on our "stress analysis" in engineering. Basically we take some parts of a product we made, and the program we use can test their strength! It is so cool in a really geeky way ;] Then in SRT I got all of my homework done so no homework for me tonight =D Then in chemistry, we got to work on our work that is going to be due next class so I got a lot done there. Then English was so awesome, because we had the most awesome sub ever!!! He comes in and is just so laid back and stuff, NOT like a normal sub at all! He then proceeded to give us all candy bars! Just to be nice :] then we worked on our second rough draft of a paper we are doing. So my productive day at school ended on a nice note :]

I got out of the school and Oh. My . Gosh! The weather is so beautiful!! I absolutely love it ;] I got home and it was almost 60 degrees! So I went outside and did a bit of homework on the deck while listening to some music and took Gretchen on a run. It was so fun and I refuse to give up this weather. I simply refuse ;]

Tonight my dad is bringing something home from Costco, but I have to leave for church so I had a tofu stir fry. It was so good, I made a tahini miso sauce with a bit of rice whine vinegar. And it used up the leftover rice from last night.

On my way up to church there was a MASSIVE wreck on the main road to the church. I tried to go around it like three ways, and I finally got there, but it took like 20 minutes and it should have taken 5! I really want to find out what happened but there is no news today.

church was so great tonight. It was about how we can worship in so many ways. I learned so much about how I can praise god through not only the usual ways, like singing, but also through things I never before would have thought of before. We can worship by saying to god something simple like "thank you for getting to work today." It can be as simple as that. I really want to work on this more.

I got home and our friends were over to put the house on the market. I guess it is final now :/ I still don't know what to think about it. I mean I wouldn't want to move if I didn't have to, but I am looking forward to it for the adventure of it you know? It will be a change, but I am confident that I can get used to it.

So that is pretty much I got for tonight. I want to apologize for not commenting on your posts tonight :( I was so busy! Don't worry though, I am reading them before I go to bed tonight :]

Stay strong an have a great Thursday! We are more than half of the way through the week!!

a new realization

2010-03-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

I just want to thank you all so much for all your insightful and uplifting comments :] It is really interesting to hear what you all have to say about complete recovery. I have really learned a lot from you guys! After reading these comments, I really feel that it is possible to fully recovery from an ED. If nothing else, this realization is so encouraging that we do not have to live with this demon inside of us for the rest of our lives! And I will never find out if it is possible for me if I do not try it for myself. So that is what I want to do, what I must do. This is what I am going to do :)

Book Update: I read the beginnings of both books from my last post, and I really like Regaining Yourself, but Inside Out is a bit upsetting :( I just want to warn you that it may be triggering to some.

Today was awesome!! Nothing really special happened, but I was just so happy from reading all of your posts that I read throughout the day ;] I had math, ugh :/ but I got a lot of homework done, so that was good. Then I had health with a sub and we watched the. most. boring. video. EVER!! it was about fad diets, and was just a woman talking on the tv. borrrrringggg!!! Then we had band, which wasn't too bad. German was better than usual because we actually had our real teacher. Frau B ist sehr nett und cool! (das ist fuer dir Alexis ;)

Then the highlight of my day, the training ride =D It was so beautiful, and I felt so good! After being weak a lot of last year from ED, and continual discouragement because of it, I felt so awesome to be able to keep up today! We had a really fast ride and I ended up taking a flying sprint up the right side when the road opened up near the sprint point =D I think I may have one, but there wasn't really a "finish line" so to speak. Either way, it was such an accomplishment for me, and further encouragement that ED LIES because he never would have let me believe that I would be faster if I gained weight. Rigggghtttt... i gained XX pounds over the past year and a half and am faster, stronger, and feel better than ever! Take that ED!! Also on the ride, one of the guys I really look up to (he is amazingly fast) told me good ride and that it looked like I gained some muscle over the winter :] I was so proud, and I took it for what he meant it to be (a compliment), and not what ED thought it was (something to put me down) So it was quite awesome and I am so happy, and thankful for you and my family and all my other support, because I know all of you have helped me see things like this!!

Dinner was nothing to post about. Some take out chinese for the fam while I had a boca burger with a bit of chinese. good though!

So that was my day! This week is going by so fast no?

Have a great wednesday! You more than deserve it!!

Love you all!

Scott

That was pretty much my day,

Monday and weekend wrapup

2010-03-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, no post yesterday :O hehe, I don't know why, I guess I just wasn't that busy? So here is a recap of my day yesterday and of Saturday night!

I had a nice relaxing day with my sister. We watched The Italian Job, which I had not seen in a while. I really liked it though! My sister said that it is the only "guy" movie that she likes ;] We were thinking about waiting for my parents, but luckily we didn't. They went out for dinner on the south side of Indy, so like an hour away. They had fun though so that was nice. I had a really nice time talking with her :) we talked about a lot of stuff, like my blog, blogs I read, and how I am doing right now. She is really curious about how this disease works. She asked me if I would consider myself to have an ED or not anymore. I really couldn't think of an answer to this. I feel like I have much fewer ED thoughts, but I do sometimes have them. The difference is that now i can differentiate between ED thoughts and those that are my own. I feel like it is in some ways a battle that I must continue, and not let myself forget that I am vulnerable, but I really want to think that I won't have to have that fear of a relapse in the back of my mind for the rest of my life. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that an ED is like an illness that you can get over, or is it more of a thing like alcoholism, where it is an ongoing struggle?

So the weather turned out to be nicer than I thought it would be, but I just didn't feel like riding :/ But I had a great time at my church group :] we did a service project, cleaning up a used clothes sale at the fairgrounds. I was glad I hadn't worked out before because it was a hard! We ended up having to take everything we loaded into the truck back out again at the church and upstairs. I had fun though :)

I got home and took Gretchen on a really short run. It was really windy and cold out :/ I think she enjoyed it more than I did :]

Then I went out with my sister. She needed to buy some books for school. I looked on the computer while she was looking and I found a book that I really wanted to read, Goodbye ED Hello Me, but they didn't have i in stock, or at least I couldn't find it :/ I am going to try and find it at the library though. Then we went and rented Precious. have any of you seen this movie? I really liked it, I'll tell you more in a bit :] Lastly we stopped at Chipotle to pick up dinner. I was a bit nervous because I don't ever go there, and I wasn't really sure about the nutrition. I was looking up the nutrition facts in the car and stuff, I don't know why, but I was just really nervous :/ I got there and it was all fine. You see them make everything and tell them what you want. I did find something really weird in the nutrition facts though. The hard tacos had less calories and fat than the soft. I would have never believed this before: Proof that ED LIES!! I ended up getting a rice bowl with pork (carneasada?), peppers and onions, lettuce, and green tomatillo salsa. I wanted guacamole, but my sister paid already and they said it cost more :( I was really proud of myself because after so much worry about the cals and stuff, I didn't look up what I ate or anything =D

Then we watched Precious. It is such a sad movie, but it is really inspiring at the same time. Precious is a 16 year old girl who can't read and is pregnant with her seco0nd child by her father. Her mother is abusive, and her life is a mess. The movie chronicles her time in a school for people that can't go to regular school. She overcomes her obstacles in life, and it is a so awesome to see her stand up for herself, after having such a tough life that would make most just lash out with anger. I recommend it :]

I am typing this in SRT, which I am not really sure is allowed, but my teacher is pretty cool and I don't think she cares ;] Or she doesn't notice... If she does I will say I am doing homework ;]

After school now, and the teacher didn't catch me!

after school today I got picked up to go to the dermatologist, and my sister went with me and we were playing with the chair when the doctor came in ;] I swear though, they really prescribe stuff on a whim. It is like, you say you have x, and they are like, oh here's x. I guess it makes for a quick appt though! Then we went to the library, and I tried to find that book, but it wasn't there :( I did find Inside Out by Madia Shivack and Regaining Your Self by Ira M. Sacker. I started Inside Out in the car, and it is really interesting. It is a collection of drawings a girl drew while in IP after meals. Have any of you read any of these books?

I cooked my tofu when I got home today. I marinated it in tahini, miso, a packet of raw sugar, and some water to loosen it up a bit. Then I grilled it to get it nice and crispy :) Here's a pic!! I had a little simple and it is amazing :) Sorry, it is not too photogenic, especially in it's plastic container ;]

I am so looking forward to tomorrow. Why you ask? It is the start of the training ride, and it is supposed to get to almost 60 degrees!! Finally the season for me to go out to the training ride, struggle to stay at the back of the pack on my bad nights and hopefully sprint to the front on the good days :] No really, it is a lot of fun and I can't wait to get back out there with friends and a huge pack. The ride averaged 50 people last year every ride with some over 100! I am so excited. I hope I can find a ride like this in Arizona :/ I am sure I will :]

Sorry for the long post, I guess I had a lot to say today :] I missed posting yesterday!

Have a great Tuesday, because you deserve it!!

Scott

Happy Saturday

2010-03-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Happy saturday to all of you! I am a bit bummed because it is rainy :/ but I guess it is the spring and I should get used to it! Note to self: it is sunny 340 days of the year in arizona =D

started out the day with a press coffee. I am really missing my espresso on the weekend :( I think I will survive through the week with the aid of my French press ;] I also took this picture of mini

Isn't she cute!?

I got to talk to Pascal today! I just love talking to him :) Pascal is just so funny! He told me to give my sister a hug for him ;] I will have to do a post on the three weeks he was here...

Then I worked on my bike with my dad. We got a lot done so I am ready for race season! We replaced the brake and shift cables, and we also put on some better handlebars that my dad had off of his bike. I am so lucky, I get the best hand-me-downs from my dad ;] He loves to buy new parts, so I get the "old" ones that are perfectly good and I love it!

I worked in the cafe at church today, and we must have been busy because we went through 3 gallons of milk. It wasn't too hectic though...? The service was so good today. It was about why we should share Christ with everyone in our lives. It made me understand a deep desire within myself to bring people to Christ. I realized the reason behind it is that I have seen what God has done in my own life, freeing me from my ED, and I know that everyone deserves to be saved in the same way. I want to help that to happen in any way that I can...

For dinner I am having a Boca burger. For some reason i thought it would be good with a bit of sunflower butter and... It IS!! A little bit of sweetness with my Boca yum ;] Maybe it is weird, but I like it!

Night snack was a mixture of regular and goat's milk yogurts.

Now I am going to have a nice night with my sister :] Have a great Sunday!

Scott

P.S. I was talking to my sister about my blog and she asked me about my post on friday, and the thing I said about the font. Apparently you can't see it except on my computer :( So no I am not crazy and my handwriting isn't like printing ;]

Friday 12 March

2010-03-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hello all! We are finally to the weekend!!! :]

Today, I had a pretty good day at school. I had a free day in band, so I got my math homework done and got caught up on some of your blogs ;] German was ok, we had a pretty easy quiz but my teacher is just SO annoying! It was so funny though today ;] She always says the word fünf like frünf and it is extremely aggravating. She is a teacher, so she should have correct pronunciation!! So today someone asked her, "I have a quick question, I am confused because I have always learned it as fünf, but you pronounce it frünf. which is right?" I tried my hardest to not crack up! I guess it was just the way she said it, it was so funny!

When I got home today, I had a quick snack and headed out with my dad. We found a local company recommended by the people that make my espresso machine to fix it. He said that he has a few of the same machine there, so maybe he can get some spares from them. So we dropped it off there and then stopped by the bike shop to pick up a few parts for the upcoming season. I am seriously impressed with this repair company. They called us back to let us know what it needs before we even got home! I should get it back by Friday...

I made "mush" again for dinner with my mom. My dad wanted to go out, but I just felt so bad to leave the dogs alone for another time. They had already been alone for three times today. I think they are glad ;] Then I headed home to the grocery to pick up ice cream for my parents. I ended up doing a mini grocery run, and I bought what I wanted! Mainly a block of tofu for some lunches next week!

This weekend is supposed to be rainy :( so o riding for me. I can deal though. Maybe I can talk to you all on my new found skype! My address is scott.gramke and I'd love to talk!!

Kinda random post, sorry about that ;] off to watch some 24! Do any of you watch that? Don't tell me what happens though, we are like way behind and watching it on the dvr.

Have a great Saturday morning and I'll talk to you later!!

Scott

FIRE!!

2010-03-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

It is almost Friday my friends!!

I got up this morning and thought I wanted an espresso instead of a press this morning, because I just roasted a fresh batch of espresso blend I want to try. I turned on the machine to warm up and i started making my sandwich right by it. After about 4 or 5 minutes, I heard something short out, and then the front panel caught on fire inside!! I panicked and started blowing on it. Didn't work. So I poured water on it, SO STUPID! It didn't make it worse but it definatley could have. Then I searched for some baking soda, and finally I blew it again and it went out. I guess it was probably like 45 second, but but felt like forever! I told my dad, and obviously didn't get any espresso ); I am just glad I am safe and it happened while I was right by it. My dad took it apart while I was at school for me, and it doesn't look too bad, only one switch is burnt out, and I am pretty sure we can get it repaired. I for sure do not have any money to buy a new one now...

By the way, I am typing this on my new keyboard for my dad's really old pda. I know it is really 1999, but I have no money for a laptop and I don't want to type at the computer all the time. So it is a cheap solution. I got it for just $3.50 plus 9 bucks shipping. I figured it was worth a try then!

So ( I say that a lot don't I?) today was quite good! I had engineering first period and I got a lot of homework done because I was dne ahead of time.

Side note: I am watching this show now that is about lunch meat production, and it is a bit gross, but kinda interesting ;]

Thn I had SRT (our school's innovative name for study hall) am got some more homework done. So NO homework for me tonight! =D

Then I had lunch, a turkey sandwich with swiss laughing cow and lettuce. Along with a plum, I haven't had one of these in forever! And I love them! Talked to my friends, and overall a lunch :) Then I went upstairs to my locker, asked a guy how chemistry was, and he said they had a quiz! Yikes! I think I did well though, so all is well :] English was nice, and I went to the lab and ended up looking up parts for my espresso machine ;] Didn't feel like working.

Then I got home, tried to get this keyboard set up (success! I can type letters like these Ö) and inspect the damage on the espresso machine. It isn't too bad, and I think it can get repaired. *crosses fingers*

I just ate dinner cooked by my mom is making salmon cakes with broccoli. We had peaches on the side, and bread. Nice and simple and delicious.

On to some seriousness. It looks as though I will be moving in the future. I am not sure when, but my dad is starting his job in April. I am sure I am staying here though to sell the house, and finish up the school year. I also have my trip to Germany like half paid for by now, so I will be going there for sure to see Pascal :] I am not sure how I really feel about the move, I mean I'll be moving away from friends, and most importantly family. :/ I have really gotten to like this living close to family. Especially because my grandparents are getting older and stuff. I don't want to be away from them for the last years of their lives... But then again, I am looking forward to a new experience, and I know everything happens for a reason. Plus, riding all year long ;] I know everything happens for a reason and it will all work out.

Have a great Friday!! You deserve it :] Can't wait for the weekend!!

Scott

P.S. How do you like the new font?? It actually kinda looks like my handwriting, but a bit neater ;]