Daisy Blog

A day in Ravenna, Italy

I've always been fortunate to have some amazing friends, especially ones that bring me to Italy.  Barb was working in Italy, so she convinced me to come visit her and then we would spend the weekend in Venice. Thanks to her, my flight is only $91 (I can't even drive to Dallas for that) and our hotel will is covered.  How could I say no?

My flight went well.  Being trapped on the plane for over eight hours, I watched the movie Australia, hoping to do some drooling over Hugh Jackman.  Lame movie, only to be watched if you are trapped in a seat for hours on end. Hugh may be hot, but not enough to make this movie worthwhile.  Oh well.  Part of the $91, what can I expect. 

The first night we stayed at the Marina di Ravenna, which is along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  In the summer, its a party beach town, but since it was not the season yet, it was very peaceful.  Barb and her coworkers and I went out to a restaurant along the port, where they were busy moving giant empty ships.  I ended up with the mixed grill which had about ten different kinds of fish/seafood.  Due to the language barrier, I had no idea what I ate, with the exception of the shrimp, but it was delicious. 

Friday morning Barb went off to finish her last day at the tradeshow.  I started the morning walking on the soft sand beach and dipping my toes into the Adriatic Sea.  Because it’s so early in the season, I shared the beach with one old man who was out walking his dog.  It was so peaceful; I could have stayed there for hours.  Large swaths of beach were covered in seashells waiting to be found at the start of tourist season, a shell collector’s heaven. 

After the beach, I went into the town of Ravenna, which is known for its early Christian and Byzantine mosaics that adorn its cathedrals and monuments, and being the final resting place of Dante.  It was amazing to look at mosaics constructed in 521. I only wish the pictures could express the vividness of the mosaics, so full of color, sparkle and depth. 

It was a gorgeous day, and the town was small enough that I was able to walk to all sites, except one Basilica that was 5km out of town.  If you make it to Ravenna, it was definitely worth stopping at the Basilica San Vitale, the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia, the Battistero Neoniano, Battistero degli Ariani and Dante's tomb.  

Late afternoon, Barb picked me up and we went to Bologna to catch the train to Venice.  Once we arrived we caught the bus to our hotel.  Riding the bus, we met a musical trio who flirted and serenaded us, and even helped get our bags into the hotel.  So far, so good. 

Album: Link to my Ravenna pictures 

 

Spring in Texas

It is spring in Texas, and despite the fact that the drought has kept most of the wildflowers away, its still been beautiful in Austin.  The weather is great, not to hot (at least not yet) with cool evening breezes to lull you to sleep.  I've even had to start mowing the lawn and trimming the trees.

Austin welcomes spring each year with a plethora of activities including SXSW Music festival (1800 bands from around the world come to play and find new fans) and the Austin Rodeo, just to name a few.

I got to check out the Austin Rodeo on Saturday.  Its smaller than the Houston or Calgary rodeo, but still has all the elements.  Animals to pet, gigantic longhorns to look at from a safe distance, Rodeo competitions, concerts, BBQ cook-offs, entertainment, etc.  There was not near as many cowboys wandering around as the Houston rodeo, but since I didn't have Angele with me, or my lasso, no cowboys were roped.  At least not by me.  :-)  I did however find a great deal on a pair of comfy boots.  I also caught the Eli Young band (country rock) in concert.  They were fun to watch and the 3rd & 4th girls in my Girls On the Run group thought it was cool I saw them.   

On Sunday, to escape the madness of SXSW in downtown Austin, my dancing buddies convinced me to go to the Oaks Under the Sun Festival at the Nutty Brown Cafe.  They had two outdoor stages, with different bands performing each hour.  The music was amazing, and did I mention it was free?  The event attracted a bunch of dancers and it was a perfect day.  I think I two-stepped on and off for almost seven hours.  FABULOUS!  My boots are completely covered with dust, and will need some serious polishing, but they are smiling from tip-to-toe. It was so much fun.  I'm definitely putting this event on my calendar for next year. 

Some of my favorite bands during the day were James Intveld, Ricky Brossard & Two Hoots, Dave Insley a& Careless Smokers, Arty Hill, and the Dixons. Some of these were local musicians and some were in town for SXSW and came to play. Austin is totally spoiling me.

For my Minnesota family and friends, should you ever want to come visit me in Texas, I highly recommend the springtime.  It is an excellent way to thaw out from those crazy cold temperatures you are still sitting in. 

Home Protection

I ask you, what is the point of an alarm system for your house, if the alarm tech turns off all the sensors for the first floor?  And what is the point, if he turns off the chimes so that you don't know that said sensors are not working?  AND the jerk actually decides its not worth hooking up the wires in the panel and just leaves them hanging there loose.  Arrrrrggghhh.  I'm so angry right now.  Thankfully, I figured out that the last alarm tech to my house completely hosed my home security and I had it fixed today.  But it still makes me mad.  I'm working on the complaints to the alarm company but I'm not sure what good it will do.  

If you are wondering what stocks to buy, you might actually want to look at alarm companies (with the exception that I'm angry with mine).  Due to the tough economic times these companies are seeing a huge increase in alarm installations.  Last week, my new alarm tech, put in a security system in a house where they stole a LCD TV and the food in the her fridge.  Nice.  Oh, and there is usually a cop stationed behind the her house clocking speeders, but the robber snuck in when the cops were changing shifts. When the new cop came on, he noticed her broken windows.  Unfortunately, the robber was already gone. Now she has an alarm system installed to protect herself and her groceries.

During the last hurricane in Houston, we had some break-ins down the street.  The cops seemed perturbed that the neighbor down the street who witnessed the scene bothered them to report such an incident.  And those guys came back a few nights later, thankfully the same neighbor was outside watching and scared them away.

Being female and living alone I've always felt vulnerable, so I've been working on my personal back-up plan to alarm malfunctions and law enforcement who don't see my safety as an important.  Its frustrating to have to think of these things, but I would rather be prepared than caught off guard. It seems the only person who can protect me, is me.  

The Du is DONE!

Today I finished my first duathlon. The course consisted of a 2k run, 10 mi bike, 2k run.  The course is short and touted as a women's only duathlon designed for beginners, so I didn't worry to much about it.  Because after all, I finished a marathon a month ago, how hard could it be?  Well??

First, Jodi came over and asked if I've ever transitioned from a bike ride to a run.  Ummm, no.  I hadn't, so when she told me that after getting off the bike you end up running like you have jelly legs, well.... I never thought of that.  Uh, oh.

So we got out and practiced a couple of times to work on the "transistions".  It was more comical than anything else, but Jodi at least figured out she needed to swap out her moutain bike for a road bike, and got one from her neighbor.  That probably saved her.  We saw some mountain bikes really struggling on the course.

When we arrived the night before the race to check out the trail, it felt like we drove over hill after hill.  And we had no hills like that to practice on in our neighborhood.  That got us nervous!  We had no hills like that to practice on in our neighborhood.  

I had a couple last minute stressy's trying to figure out the rules and the transitions.  Thankfully my Tough Cookie buddies were there for tips, encouragement, loaner equipment and help.  I had a few issues, like mounting my bike on the staging rack properly and when to get on my bike in the transition area (apparently its very bad to get on it before you cross the line).  But overall I managed to get my 22 year old bike up and down the 10 miles of hills and never had to walk my bike up the hill, and amazingly my chain never fell off (it sounded close many times).

My transitions went fairly well and my second run was within six seconds of my first run, which I guess is really good, so I was excited about that.  In the end, Jodi and I both wanted to finished in under 90 minutes and we did.  I finished in 1 hour and 21 minutes (41st place) and Jodi (35th place) was two minutes faster.  Race Results        

The race was a success! And I will be starting triathlon training at the beginning of April.      

Getting Oraganized with my To Do list

Are you a person who uses "To-do" lists?  I'm a total list person, and now that I'm home in Austin, I've been trying to get my lists completed. 

One of the first items on my list is to Get Back In Shape

All that fabulous travel, with all those fabulous dinners, drinks, deserts.  It was absolutely delicious.  But not the best for my waistline.  I gained a bunch of weight in the last six years, and I'm going to get it all off, and more.  So far I'm down 20 (whooo hoo) and I have another 20 lbs to go, although that is going to take some serious buckling down to achieve.

To get active, I've run a marathon, I'm starting triathlon training and I'm trying to get out dancing at least once a week.  Getting more active has been fun, introduced me to a bunch of great friends and its going to help me get my body back too. If I can keep up losing 2-4 lbs a month, I can reach my goal by end of the year.

Prepping for my first duathalon

Next week I will try my first duathalon.  Its a small one hosted by Tough Cookies.  I'm excited, because my friend Jodi and I are going to do it together and regardless of what happens, I'm sure we will make it an adventure.  Here is the description:

Tough Cookie Women's Duathlon: A beginner-friendly, women-only sprint distance duathlon. The 2K run/10 mile bike/2K run course takes you through the scenic country side of Copperas Cove, TX. Entry fee includes a great race t-shirt, a fabulous goody-bag, free massage beautiful unique finisher medals.

Sounds friendly doesn't it?  But yet, I'm still a bit worried.  "Transitions" are completely foreign to me, and while I can competently ride a bike, its not the most graceful thing you've ever seen.  Although, at 5'11" its hard for me to look graceful in any sport. Oh, and did I mention my bike is 22 years old?

Since I just finished a marathon a month ago, I feel I'm in physical shape for this race. It will just be the comical aspect of me getting on my bike, wobbling until I get going and figuring out what gear to be in.  And praying the entire time I don't mess up the gears, by going into a hard gear when I need easy one and vice versa.  If I don't crash into any of the other riders, it will be a success.

Hopefully this goes well, because I've signed up to train for a mini triathalon (sprint or olympic distance, which are MUCH shorter than Ironmans/full triathalons).  Training starts at the end of the month, and I'll again get to workout with my Tough Cookie running buddies, who I've missed.

I will focus on learning efficient swimming and biking techniques, as well as keep up with my running.  I can do all three, but like I said earlier, I'm not very graceful.  Hopefully the cross training will make me fitter and help me lose more weight.  I'm down 19 lbs so far and I have 21 more that I want to go.  So here goes.....

More suspicious ice cream trucks.....

So I feel better this week learning I'm not the only one suspicious of ice cream trucks. Looks like last July, another a WAshington D.C. neighborhood had some similar concerns.  See post from their neighborhood blog below:

This is my neighborhood!  I hear this truck all the time.  I never see anyone buying anything from it.

Title: CapHill Residents Suspect Late-Night Ice Cream Truck
Link: http://dcist.com/2008/07/14/residents_suspect_latenight_ice_cre.php

Could it be that the spooky ice cream truck was getting too much attention in that neighborhood, and has moved to Texas?  Could there be a gang of ice cream trucks driven by villans? I'm not sure, but either way, its CREEPY! 

Zilker Park Kite Festival

Today the weather in Austin cooperated for the Zilker Kite Festival (yesterday there were winds gusting at 30-40 mph) it was sunny and bright, with nice steady breezes.  The festival has been held annually since 1929 to celebrate the beauty of the homemade kite. 

My kite's last flight was over the Pacific Ocean about ten years ago.  So I dug it out to join the others in flight.  Since I was down there myself, it was a bit tough to get it in the air, but I had it flying for awhile.  But enjoyed watching everyone else more, and let another family fly kite when theirs broke.   

Zilker park is central so its a great place for a festival, but I'm not sure its the best place for a kite festival.  The giant power lines going through the park look ominious and there are hundreds of kite eating trees, who look like they've been enjoying their latest catch.  But thousands showed up and everyone seemed to have a good time. There were home made kites of every shape and size, including lots of homemade kites, and even some giant kites over 50 feet long. I missed the kite ballet and kite battles, but there were tons of family activities taking place including making your own kite.  

The only negative aspect of the day was the horrible shuttle system.  Either they had no clue how many people they were going to have, or they didn't have the money to afford enough busses.  But if you took the shuttle you had to wait at least 1.5 hours (either way).  After waiting forever at the downtown shuttle lot, I walked the thirty blocks to the park.  The wait back wasn't any better.  So next year, I would park closer and bike in or walk in. 

The kite festival was a fun Austin tradition and a great way welcome in spring.