New Food/Drink Excursions

So in a need to oust ourselves from routine it's time to scale back the Great Dane habit (esp considering that's where we go after frisbee....) and find another delicious combination of food and drink for the summer. This will preferably include enough outdoor seating to accommodate our last minute plans. So, in the quest for suggestions here are some of our other favorites, including a new combo we tried last night.

Brass Ring - Good for drinks, haven't eaten there but they have a nice outdoor patio (plus, you also have the High Noon and Brink Lounge right there)

Ale Asylum - A standby for after classes at MATC but the whole fact that I graduated cuts back on the feasibility for me living on the West Side.

Capital Brewery - Excellent beer, and they have live music on the weekends, but alas, no food. Last night though we ate at Hubbard Ave Diner first and then went over, great food there but having to change venues cuts back on the relaxed night out.

UW Memorial Union - Not my first choice but their Thursday night music through the summer makes it an appealing choice for outdoor seating, free entertainment and endless people watching.

With that we need to begin broadening our horizons before we fall into the abyss of sameness by ordering the same thing everytime we go to the same bar/restaurant.

Hiking at Governor Dodge

I've been trying to get out of town for some hiking/camping for awhile and finally got part of that in this week. I went out to Governor Dodge on one of those warmer days we had (minus the threatening rain clouds which waited until the exact minute I started my car and drove out of the park to actually do anything) to take advantage of the nice weather and a day off from my internship. I hiked the Lost Canyon loop, about 8 miles, but added on a few extra bits to see Stephens Falls and the Cave. There was hardly anyone out there either, guess a weekday in early May is a good time to have the trails to yourself. It took me just over 3 hours to hike, I stopped to admire the scenery occasionally but was enjoying the groove of hiking.

The trees are all in various stages of budding out with little tiny leaves. The oak leaves look red and velvety, nothing like they look once they're mature. The hickorys look like they're flowering when their buds open, they also start out reddish and turn green. A few scattered apple and cherry trees are in the park, sometimes I could smell them before I could see them. Perfect timing to catch them in bloom.

All kinds of woodland flowers are in bloom, large patches of may apples seemed to be everywhere. Lots of tooth wort and woodland anemones too, some smaller patches of blood root and down near Stephens Falls lots of patches of wild ginger. Pictures will be in my Picassa Web Album soon, the link is on the right bar. Pictures from earlier this spring in my parents yard are there too!

My Brilliant Idea to go Running

Yes, I had a brilliant idea yesterday after my blog post. I was going to go running. Now this wouldn't seem like too bizzare of an idea for me, I ran cross-country in HS for all 4 years, ski all winter and train in the off season. Except once I stopped running with other people or as part of a training plan I realized I really didn't like it. Now add that to the fact that running uses your muscles differently than skiing and you have a rather painful early season experience. I've run a few times so far this spring but have done next to nothing (and when I mean next to nothing, I mean I've done a few sit ups and push ups a couple times) for the last 2 weeks or so. Got home from work yesterday, stretched out, and went out to run for 20 min. The idea of exercising felt good, but that was about it. I think my entire body rebelled against the run. Of course by the time I got back, ate (a delicious salad by the way, like the one's I made for dinner at Cana Dulce last summer) and showered I was feeling pretty good. I do need to start getting out more...to do something... After not training at all last summer I've seen how much even a little bit helps.

As an update on yesterday, I did start looking for yoga classes, and hit a bit of a dead end. I'm thinking about joining a gym so I can use a pool to swim laps too. Now that makes things more complicated...

I Need to Go Camping!

Yes, like the title says, I need to go camping. Or backpacking, or a road trip, or something! I feel like I'm being cooped up in the city and need to get out for awhile. I'm not doing enough at work right now to be engaged and feel that I actually have something meaningful to do. It seems to be more of a way to pass the time and accomplish little bits. So logically, you would say, I would have a lot of time to do other projects either at home or for the ski team. Well, logically I would agree with you. Except somehow that is just not happening, at all, period. I have accomplished next to nothing in the last month and it's getting irritating. I almost have too much time, and at awkward times. I don't have these perfect little open chunks that can be filled in, I have spans of time that need to be scheduled. I and don't schedule enough in that time, so I end up not doing anything efficiently and wasting much of the time I had. So I should set goals you say? I agree, unfortunately the projects that I deem the most important and are at the top of my list are projects that have to wait for things out of my control. A wee bit frustrating. I have one class over for the semester and the weather starting to warm up so I think I'm going to get my butt moving and start exercising again, I really don't want to know how out of shape I am...hmmm, this could be painful at first. I also need to find a new yoga class since the one I had finally found last winter ended up changing times so I couldn't go and then ended. Excellent, I have a new goal, find a yoga class!

School, bleargh

One of the most irritating things I experience during my week is driving across town on in beltline traffic during rush hour. Every Monday and Wednesday I leave work early to drive across town to go to class. Now, many of you would say how good school, is you're learning valuable skills, getting a degree will help you succeed in the world, etc etc etc. I agree with all of this, except when it comes to classes like last night. So I do the aforementioned drive across town, arrive at school with just enough time to finish (who am I kidding, start and finish) my homework in th 20 min left before class. I show up at class, and it's a food day. What does this mean? The first 20-30 min are a social hour. Then , around 6ish class starts, but wait! Apparantly we aren't really having class today, because our guest speaker last week covered what our teacher was going to teach us! (you know, like a teacher is supposed to) So instead, we played vocab bingo.... yes it was fascinating and I learned so much. So what happens at 6:30? Only one hour after our 2 1/2 hour class starts? Yup, we get let out early. Now many of you would see this as a vicorty, short class! Free time! But me? I just wasted my time and money driving across town for nothing. Sweet. All I can say is I better start looking for a sponsor to cover my gas.

Barriques

I feel the need to write a post solely about Barriques. They have become my most frequented coffee shop in Madison even though they are not my favorite. Now this is not to say I don't like them, it is quite a wonderful mix of coffee shop, cafe, wine cellar and deli, I'm just saying I have a softer spot for other coffee shops (Ground Zero, Electric Earth for somewhere with WiFi and Lazy Janes for pure awesomeness, but that's another post entirely). Barriques is always there when you need it. They are located all around Madison, on the Square, Monroe St, Old Sauk, Fitchburg, Middleton, really it's wherever you need an amazing coffee shop. Where they are located, is unique. The square and Monroe St not so much, but Old Sauk and Fitchburg are my two favorite locations. The Westside has very few choices for local coffee shops that Barriques has found their perfect niche. They serve Fair Trade coffee, Rishi teas, bake their own bakery, and source as much of their deli items as possible from local sources.

They have quite a few tables and almost always a rustic feel so that you can sit and work on your computer with out feeling like you are in a cubicle. They normally draw people taking their lunch break from work, those that work from home or on the road and need a new location to focus (this being my reasoning) or people having casual meetings. Much more enjoyable than some of the coffee shops downtown which draw countless numbers of students grouped around a table nursing their fancy drinks while they stress over homework.

Besides, where can you go to work after dinner that you can get WiFi and a glass of wine that isn't your own living room?

Twittering Away my Time

My consistency of updating is rather sporadic at best, I'm well aware of that. With the amount of time I'm spending on my computer doing nothing while pretending to work I've realized I should find something at least entertaining to do with my time. So, here is the first of a few updates regarding what I've been doing.

- I've started Twittering, quite possibly the best way to both waste time and stay up to date with who, or whatever you want. There are countless apps to download for you desktop, web browser, phone, etc and I just decided to download TweetDeck. It's an app for Windows and allows you to group your friends or types of Tweets into different columns so that you can manage your types of Tweets to follow them better. This will also give some some chance to stay up to date with what is actually happening in the news, because we all know that I can easily not pay attention.

- I also just moved into a new apartment. I decided it was time to move out of downtown, as much as I love downtown Madison I really don't spend enough time there to justify the amount of driving I do to other parts of town. Now I have a balcony (I can put plants on it!) that looks over a huge courtyard with lots of greenspace, trees and a pool! While I still hear people in the hall or the pipes when an apartment next door turns the shower on, I no longer have to listen to the radio at 7:00am just because the neighbors want to hear it. I'm still moving furniture around and haven't actually put everything away yet. The "Master Plan" has not quite revealed itself yet.

So here's to some more frequent posts!