Sun Skirt Summer...

I love wearing skirts.
I wear skirts all summer long.
I love riding my bicycle in a skirt.
This Summer has been just lovely
and I am thankful for all the time I have had
to be crafty and hone my sewing skills.
This is my latest triumph,
a modified Amy Butler A-Line skirt
with yet again, beautiful Japanese fabric.
I lowered the waist and raised the hem.
Perfect for a summer ride...

Most of all this Summer
I am thankful for this pause in life
and for all of the time I have had outside
in the absolutely beautiful Summer weather
held in the arms of the Sun.
Always take advantage of the days you have,
no matter the circumstance,
they are the only ones you have.

Now...off for a ride in that Sun...

Sun Summer Lover...

Change is in the air.
It was cool last night,
there is dew on the grass this morning,
the days are getting shorter,
and I feel like I am slowly sinking.
I love Summer you see.
I love Sun you see.
I love being warm you see.
I do not do well with the other three Seasons,
but I will try to focus on the positive...

With the change to the weather come changes to my fair city.
This is good.
Honestly, I rarely go downtown here. I felt more comfortable in SF than I do in downtown Minneapolis. Something about it just is not there for me. I am talking about the center core of downtown, I really like some of the peripheral areas (North Loop, the Mill District). One of the things 'not there' has been good bicycle lanes. Personally, I have hated the bicycle lanes in Downtown Minneapolis since I arrived here. They often do not make sense and seem dangerous to me. There are new changes a'rollin' in and I think they are an improvement. I may actually ride that way more often and I hope other people find themselves doing the same.
Check out this, this, and this.

And H is always looking out for me...
He told me about a new movie that of course I absolutely MUST see.
Again, I love this type of movie and the trailer hooked me in.
What a great Autumn find.
I hate being inside, I am outside as much as I possibly can be,
yup, Summer lover....
But here is another reason to love the cooling temps, and being indoors a bit more.
Oh yeah, and you will note some gorgeous shots of bicycling in the trailer...

Well, it has been a long week and I am struggling to figure out how to stay in this awesome shape I got in this summer with all of this change in the air.
After a rainy cool Friday, I am overjoyed that the sun is shining outside and I can feel the warmth.
Again...Sun, Summer, lover... What can I say?
I'm off for a Saturday ride...
Have a great weekend everyone!

Summer Lovin'...

Summer is my favorite time of year.

I have not been here much,

and I am glad for it.

Because 

I have been soaking in

every

single

moment

of

Sun

and

warmth.

I plan to continue my

Summer Life,

and as time allows may stop in here

for a visit.

A few weeks ago

I planned a night

of enjoying

Summer,

our bicycles,

good food,

and new-to-us entertainment.

Personal Best...

me at Lake Minnetonka (Wayzata side)

It has been a goal of H's for me all Summer to take me out on one of his rides.
It became a goal for me as well, but I was not fixated on it, I just thought it would be great if I could do it.
Well, I did it.

H rolling into town

Yesterday we rolled into the town of Wayzata, landed at the coffee shop where all the cyclists rest and refuel, and I promptly razed my bicycle above my head (sadly not captured on film...)

right after the ceremonial bicycle lifting over my head

When you work hard it is nice to push yourself and reward yourself. My longest rides to date had been around 35 miles, I knew I could do 50, but I was not sure how hard or painful it would be.
After a Summer of riding solo, it was so great to have some company.
And on the longest ride of my life, it was great to have someone as truly supportive as H along with me.

Luckily, it was an absolutely perfect day. Temps in the 70's, clear sky, and no wind (thank you!!!!). I had a fabulous ride out and felt the best I have felt all summer, I was a little nervous on the way home at how I would feel, but gladly I felt great. I had a few areas of discomfort rolling into town, but to be expected - luckily one of these was not my back, which it usually is. I turned to H on the way back into town and said that I never want to get rid of my Trek, it is absolutely hands down the best bicycle I have ever had and it fits like it was custom made for me. A 5o mile ride without a sore back would have been unthinkable to me before this bicycle came into my life.

I owe the experience, my sanity, and the bicycle thanks to H,
but I owe my success to me.

nice to be in the 'country' by the lake

I have worked hard all summer to get back into shape, to attain a new level of fitness, and to be as happy here as I can possibly be. These were all personal goals in the misdt of other transitional goals in my life and I am thankful for the time to accomplish many of my goals, to attain a new focus, and to work towards the next set of goals.

I go back to work tomorrow.
Yes, I did end up getting a job.
I have officially passed the torch o'bike-riding-fun onto Dottie and hope she gains as much from her time off as I have had.

Thank you for joining me on the journey.
It is really only the beginning...

And for all of you Dutch-bicyle fans,
sorry for all the lycra - but what can I say? I love it.
More Pash love to come...

primal needs...

I think in Summer there is a primal need to be by water.
I physically feel a need to go here as much as I can right now.
I love watching the people out and about soaking in warm summer nights and lazy summer days.

Bicyclist meets moose here
A Black Bike enters the Blogosphere here
Biker benefits here
Amsterdamize is getting techy crazy here and made the movie of the year here
Kronan Flickr group here

And the City of Minneapolis e-mailed me these updates:
Summertime is not just a great time to ride your bicycle – it’s a great time to build a bicycle path! The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board has recently completed the reconstruction of the St Anthony Parkway bike path from the Camden Bridge to Ulysses Street NE. A new trail segment has also been constructed between Ulysses Street and Stinson Boulevard. Read more about the St. Anthony project here

More recently, the Park Board has begun the reconstruction of East River Parkway bicycle path, between Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street SE. Construction is expected to be completed this fall. During construction, this portion of the East River Parkway bicycle path will be closed. Read more about the East River Parkway project here

Meanwhile, the much anticipated Luce Line Trail will begin construction this summer. The missing link into Minneapolis will be completed by mid-2009. The new trail segment will complete a 72-mile path between Minneapolis and Cosmos, Minnesota. The trail project will end at Theo Wirth Parkway, just north of Olson Memorial Highway. When complete, bicyclers will be able to ride between Golden Valley and downtown Minneapolis via Bassett’s Creek Trail and the Cedar Lake Trail. Read more about the Luce Line Trail project here and here .

Finally, another good piece of path news – the number of cyclists on the Midtown Greenway is on the upward trend. Between 2008 and 2007, rates of bicycling have increased 30%. The Midtown Greenway has also set a new record for its highest single day of use. 5,336 bicyclists rode on the Midtown Greenway at Hennepin Avenue on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 [my hyggelig bold]. Read more about the data here .

Happy Riding,
City of Minneapolis Bicycle Program

good things make life better...

Late Summer Nights: Sunny on the way there. Dark on the way home.

we have had a LOVELY string of late SUMMER weather.
I had put on our schedules awhile ago a lecture I wanted to attend.
so I arrived home from work,
put on my favorite cycling skirt,
and off H and I went.

easy peasy parking - dusk to dark

there are many reasons why we rode our bicycles:
1. We live about 4 miles from the destination, an easy peddle on over.
2. Parking at the University is a pain and expensive, not so with a bicycle.
3. I needed to move my body.
4. It is a fun thing to do together, much more fun than sitting in the car.
5. With this gorgeous weather, how could one not want to get out and enjoy it?

I realized later that it was fitting I wore my favorite Japanese fabric skirt.
I want to make more of these skirts,
the waist is a little higher and I shortened the pattern to the perfect length,
both work swell when I feel the need to slip on bicycle shorts underneath
(like on a hot Summer's night going to a lecture when I didn't want sweat stains).

If you haven't noticed on this blog,
I have a thing for art, design, and architecture.
I also have a thing that's been brewing for awhile
for Japan.
I hope to continue to focus on those things here
because they are what make me me,
make my days more interesting,
stretch my brain,
and make the world a better place.

photo: Atelier Bow-Wow "Pony Garden"

Atelier Bow-Wow is my new favorite.
I learned so much at this lecture.
Most of all I appreciate their approach to architecture and space.
What a wonderful thing when the spaces we move in
change our behaviors for the better.
If we all could be so lucky to spend time in one of their spaces,
what a better place the world would be...

bicycles and fashion...

I am loving this video Catalogue by Sally Scott


I never want Summer to end, but I can feel the breezes of Autumn coming up behind me.
What can be positive about losing our long Summer days and warm Summer nights?
Well, new clothes for one.

elements of a successful staycation...

Kick it off with a Happy Hour someplace new.

Ride your bicycles together as much as possible.

Spend every waking hour outside.

Take your pup on adventures.

Then send your pup to daycare
and enjoy a day on the water together.

Visit new places on your motorcycle.

Enjoy watching the Tour. Take yourselves out for a good dinner.

Catch up on reading and inspiration.

Soak in every single bit of SUMMER.
Relax, relax, relax...


Thank you for traveling with me last week.
I hope you enjoyed the European tour
as much as I enjoyed reminiscing and putting it together.
As you can see, we have enjoyed our times abroad.
So many memories, so many good times.
But life has changed a lot for us in the last five years.
Life is different. Very different.
We could chose to let the difference drag us down,
but for our staycation we chose to embrace what we have,
not only at our fingertips,
but what we have learned in our minds and hearts.
In essence,
this staycation for me
was the culmination
of five challenging years in Minneapolis
and learning to be happy
where I am
with what I have
in my everyday.
The girl that moved here,
could not have been the girl that enjoyed a staycation
in Minnesota.
Perhaps a bit of maturity,
but definitely a lot
of working on happiness.

We were lucky to have the best streak of Summer weather
Minnesota has provided in over a year.
SUNSHINE EVERY DAY.
Warmth every day.
Thank goodness for Sunshine and warmth,
it does a mind and body good.
It truly was a Summer vacation.

We needed this time,
and we very much enjoyed it
and spending time together.
Would I want to do it all the time?
No.
I want to go back to Europe.
I want to explore new places.
I want to someday be closer to the people we were and want to be
than the people we have been forced to become.
But, despite all the challenges,
life is good, we have learned a lot, and we know what makes happiness.
For this year,
the staycation was just what we needed.
We now move forward into the future
refreshed
and we continue
to work hard to enjoy the now...

meditative solitude...

Yesterday after I got home from my volunteer gig
I instantly hopped on the Trek for a late afternoon ride.
The weather was perfect,
sunny,
warm,
dry.
I knew it was one of the fleeting days of my Summer
and I knew it was one of my last daytime sojourns.

The beauty of my Summer
has been having the bicycle trails to myself.
It has been extremely therapeutic
and restful
to the mind
and to the body.

I smell the fresh pine of the trees,
I hear nothing but the cadence of my pedals,
The Sun shines down on me time and again
and I am in near complete solitude
for miles.

I've been in a groove lately with the Trek.
Analogies like...
flying
meditating
feeling like I am in lotus pose...
come to mind when I crank in the zone down the Greenway
alone.

The Trek and I will roll 900 this week.
(My goal for the year is 1000)
You get to rely on someone when you've been through a lot with them.
You appreciate their reliability,
their poise,
their grace,
the experiences they share,
their ability to quiet your mind,
the knowledge they impart,
and their ability to warm your heart.
They take you places far away
and bring you safely back home again.
Next to being with these guys

there is no place I would rather have been
these last few months
than with the Trek.

If ever I need to rest my mind
warm my heart
take a moment in a busy day,
my Summer is where I will meditate.

health and happiness...

I have been taking some time to take care for myself.

When you are 41,
you shouldn't mess around.
Take care of who you are 
in 
every 
aspect
of 
the 
word.

honesty...

myhyggelig is a place I come to
for meditation
for positivity
for recording my thoughts and interests
for sharing.
I always try to stay positive at myhyggelig.
I am going to preface this post by saying that one could see this post as spewing negativity, but I see it more as honesty.
We all have to work through things in our life and face our own challenges.
I've been mulling over how to go about this post for quite awhile, so here goes...

It's hard to put this all into words. But I felt I should share with anyone considering the option of a Dutch-style bicycle on limited funds. I think it is important to really consider what you will use it for and to be honest with yourself above all about your expectations and reality.
I have been thinking about the Pash quite a bit this summer.
I've always known she was an extravagance, and I think I feel a little guilt because of that. I've always had a little nagging concern in my quest for the ever beautiful 'Dutch-style' bicycle, a concern that the extravagance was not practical. And it's not, at least not in my current reality.

In my quest to obtain the beautiful, I knew, and admitted right up until buying the Pash that there were some things I was compromising - mainly weight and a bike to really get me around town efficiently.

After taking the Pash further afield this summer, I do not really like her for long rides. Maybe it's the lycra lovin' gal in me, the years spent with sportier bicycles, or the American in me who has the need to get places quickly, but for rides further than 4-5 miles the Pash just is not my bicycle of choice. I knew I would feel this way when I got her, but I had hoped I wouldn't.

I love taking her on crafty expeditions (2 miles rt), or to the co-op on occasion (3 miles rt), or perhaps my local superstore when necessary (2 miles rt), but that's about all that is within Pash distance from where I live. I'm not fortunate to live in Stockholm where riding the Kronan seemed like it would get me most places I wanted to go. Here in Minneapolis I feel like I live just about a mile too far out to get to some places I might want to go. Downtown is certainly doable, but I feel like these bicycles work best when your trips are 3 miles or less (each way). Easy, peasy, hop on, hop off, no sweat, no muss. For going to the movies, the bars, the restaurants (all out of a 3 mile radius from my home), I want to look elegant on my Pash, but inside I wish I was riding something more like this...

When I've taken the Pash on my longer treks I feel anything but glamorous when I get to my destination. This summer I've been so sweaty on occasions when I got home I had to immediately take a shower and change clothes - not great if I was actually arriving at an elegant restaurant in a cute dress and shoes (darn humidity!). I wear helmets when I ride with cars, and my hair looks a frightful mess when I take the darn thing off (it's a love hate relationship with the helmet issue too). Sometimes my bad back gets ornery and sore. These things make me sad and frustrated. I don't feel like those girls in those pictures... I admit, sometimes I do, and I LOVE that about the Pash. But, on longer trips, not so much...

I still love the Pash, but I just had to get this out.
Sometimes I feel I treat her more as a work of art that I admire (she still sleeps in front of the fireplace), than as a bicycle I can kick around town in. I'm not sure what is a bigger obstacle, the Pash, or the way I sometimes think about her. I admire the quality and all of the fine accessories on the Pash, that's why I got her. But for a small gal like me taking her further a field does not seem like the romantic picture I had in my head.

My last frustration is that we can't quite get the gearing lined up. It took me forever to get the seat right, and I'm still not 100% sure I've got it. And now the gears keep getting mucked up. On top of that sometimes the skirt guard and/or the fenders are rubbing against the tires. H does not enjoy working on the Pash - she's just too frustrating for him, so I have to sweet talk him into some shop time. We tackled these two issues (gearing and rubbing) a couple of weeks ago, things seemed good, but now again they are off. I wonder sometimes if this bicycle is as quality as I had hoped it would be. I've ridden the Trek over 700 miles this summer, the Pash probably under 100, and I don't have anywhere near the issues on the Trek. This frustrates me.

I love all of my bicycle children, but sometimes I do not love them all equally and at the same time. I do play favorites.
Sometimes I feel like I need three bicycles, which given my current state of employment is silliness!
1. Fast lovin' lycra bicycle for long, long rides (this by far is the best bicycle investment I have ever made. this bicycle has saved my life this summer. saved it, 100%.)
2. Pash for close-by neighborhood rides
3. Urban hip for mid-length city rides, such as going out for a beer downtown.

That said. I still love these Dutch-style bicycles. In fact, on my fast lovin' lycra ride today my heart skipped a beat when I had my first Batavus siting in Minneapolis. Two beautiful people, looking elegant on their beautiful bicycles as they passed underneath me on the path below mine. My instant thought? I want a bicycle like that! Oh wait...I have one. :) So, I'm keeping her, I will always have her, and we love our little trips together. She tests me, she puts me at ease, and most of the time she makes me smile.

Dutch-style bicycle Friends - what are your thoughts? Do you have moments like these? How far do you ride your steady steads? How do you feel about your purchases after having them for awhile? Do you feel you need three bicycles like me?

Using my time wisely

This has been my project since before I moved. It started as a wedding present (I was going to do his and hers), but they got married in December, instead of next summer...so, my husband wants it (he has a slick smooth head and needs some help in this cold, cold climate). Anyhow, it is a lot of work. I got the pattern and the yarn from my favorite knitting store - Studio Knit; I miss being able to stop down for help, but I'm slowly making my way through and learning from my mistakes. I moved on to the dpns earlier than I probably needed to, but there is no going back now. Maybe by summer I will be finished. I already have my next project picked out - more about that later.

The hat interestingly enough is a pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas - a company from Minnesota (how weird is that? I had no idea when I picked it out I would be living here). Anyhow, the needles are SIZE 2!!!!! I deserve a fat needle project after this one. In case you are curious, the pattern is called "Whimsical Hats" - I'm doing the longest one, I suspect it will be at least 20" long in the end.

lazy daze...

I love extended Summer Holiday Weekends...
Blue sky above, warmth all around, sunshine on my face
Bicycle rides alone and together
Walks with the boys near lakes
Buying and planting flowers, veggies, and herbs
Pastries shared in the backyard on a quiet Sunday morning
White wine with friends late at night devising ways to do good with a lottery win
Picnics near culture and a river
Cheese...really, really good cheese
Quiet moments to read in a lawn chair...
I am refueled, refreshed, reenergized
Thank you Summer!

chugga chugga choo choo...

I have to say,
there is something impressive
about hearing a train horn in the distance
knowing your loved one is on it
and then feeling the power of the engine as it approaches.
Let Summer Begin!

In unrelated news...
Come on America...let's learn from others. Good article here.
Going to Europe this summer? Read this.

going Local...

All summer I have wanted to cycle down to The Local for a fine pint.
What better day to do it than a late summer night at the beginning of a Holiday weekend?
Oh it is good to have a bicycle, my man at my side, warm sun in front of me, and a gentle breeze blowing me along.
Something about this place...it's just hyggelig any time of year!