the Weekend

I managed to survive my very first mountain bike ride! I had such a great time and think the ride was a great way to introduce me to riding on something besides pavement.

The ride took place in Mission Trails (http://www.mtrp.org/), which is a huge 5,800 acre regional park, and was sponsored by San Diego Mountain Biking Association (http://sdmba.com). There were three groups: Advanced, Intermediate, and Mellow. Andy signed us both up for the Mellow group but if he had gone without me, would have probably gone with the Advanced group (yikes!). There were about 15 of us in the group and everyone was relatively new to mountain biking.

Andy has warned me that every time he's gone out riding in CA, it's like going to a fancy bicycle showroom. And I don't know that much about bikes at all, I've only picked up on things because of Andy but I noticed that he may actually be onto something. Even in our mellow group, everyone had forks and suspension which are nice to have riding off road, but not necessary especially if you're just a beginner (those things alone can cost thousands of dollars, not to mention the frames can cost just as much).

I decided to ride one of Andy's bikes known as the Salsa. I felt pretty comfortable on the bike during most of the ride. There were definitely parts that I feel were NOT mellow and were maybe a bit more on the intermediate side but that's when I would just hop off my bike and walk it. There were other parts though that sort of snuck up on me and when you're at a certain speed, you can't really stop because if you do, you'll eat it all over the trail so you just have to hold onto your handle bars with a death grip and ride on through. This is how I went down/through some spots that I was a little uncomfortable with.

We rode around the trails for about an hour and a half on a loop that was about 6-8 miles. Afterwards we met up with all the other groups and had FREE Chipotle and beer from Stone Brewery. Overall, it was a great evening and I even saw a rattlesnake on the trail!

We exchanged contact info with a few people from the ride in hopes of getting together in the future. One of the guys got in touch with us Saturday and offered us free tickets to the Padres game. Andy and I had just been talking about how it'd be fun to check out one of the games so we were both really excited. We get to the game only to find out we're by first base, 14 rows from the field. Pretty awesome!

It was Pride weekend last weekend, so Andy and I woke up, made some strawberry and chocolate pancakes, and rode bikes down to Hillcrest. We met up with some of his friends and hung out on the street, watching the parade. There were some crazy floats and lots of people hanging out having a great time!

Bikes

I've been playing around with Andy's fancy 50D and will probably never be able to shoot with any lesser camera again. The quality on that thing is unbelievable! If you click on any one of the pictures in any of my posts, you can get a larger version of the picture and see what I'm talking about.

This is the condo/townhouse Andy and I are currently living in. It's in University

Heights which is a fun area with lots to do and see. Across the street is a park with a playground, a dog park, and a killer overlook all in one. People are always over there hanging out, doing group exercise classes, or playing with their dogs. During the summers they have a free concert every Friday night. It gets really crowded in the neighborhood but Andy and I just hang out on the balcony and can see/hear everything. Best seats on the block!

The dogs also love the balcony and can be seen doing this pretty much all day.

Andy entered us in a mountain bike 'race' tomorrow evening. I've ridden my fair share of bikes but never anywhere off road and quite frankly it scares me. On the other hand, mountain biking is Andy's absolute favorite thing to do and he's been trying to get me out there with him for a while. This race sounds like fun and we signed up for the beginners race which is actually more like a group ride. It's sponsored by Chipotle and Stone Brewery so there is a burrito and a beer waiting for everyone at the end and that's pretty much enough motivation to get me on a bike!

Here are a few of Andy's bikes and their scary components.

We're going to see Harry Potter this evening which I'm really excited about!

If you don't hear from me anymore, it means the mountain bike race wasn't such a good idea.

San Diego, finally!

I thought it'd be a neat idea to start a blog for my family and friends so they would be able to keep up with me now that I'm 2,500 miles away. I figure this would be easier than sending a ton of individual emails and pictures. Don't worry, I'll still call!

So far, everything has been going great. It started out exceptionally well considering right when I landed late Friday night in San Diego, Andy asked me if I'd like to accompany him on a work trip for 60 days in Europe. I told him even though I just got back from from overseas, OF COURSE I'd be willing to go again! He would be traveling around Germany, Spain, Bahrain, Turkey, the Netherlands, Italy, and the UK. There is still a really slight chance that his company may not win the contract but I'm really hoping everything works out! We would be leaving Aug. 3 and getting back Sept. 31 so it's coming up really soon!

In other news, it has actually been hot here in San Diego. We broke down and had to turn the AC on the other evening! It is still really nice in the mornings until about 10am (low 70's) and in the evenings around 7 it starts to get chilly. But during the middle of the day it gets pretty warm.

While Andy's at work, I've been making it out to the beaches. It's unbelievable how many different ones there are out here. I was going to one this morning and ended up getting a little lost but found another really pretty one. The nice thing is, they're all only about 10 minutes away. According to Andy, there are some really beautiful beaches up north near Solana. I think I'll venture up that way soon (I also hear they have great outlet malls with a Le Creuset store!) but it's a good 20-30 minutes. Other than that, I've been running around trying to keep myself busy.

I cooked some dinner the other night for Andy and I, it was delicious.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi (courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa)

It's REALLY easy and tastes like an authentic Italian meal

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• Kosher salt
• 3/4 pound linguine
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
• 1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 lemon, zest grated
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
• 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Here's Elbe, doing what she does best: laying around

The condo has a little balcony that overlooks a small park. It's nice to sit on and the dogs love to sunbathe on it as well.

This is a cool looking picture Andy took one evening on the balcony.

I'm trying to find Andy's other waterproof point and shoot camera so I can take it to the beach and take pictures. So that's pretty much it for now!