Sea Trails-My Huffy is Gone

Biceps bought me a bike years ago from a thrift store.
I loved her. Her name was Molly. She was orange, brown and beautiful.

Molly was the standard of inefficiency. With three gears and a metal frame, she lumbered over curbs and puttered up hills. She forced you to notice your surroundings, albeit slowly…very slowly.

Molly’s logos were starting to fade; but proudly displayed themselves as best as they could. I have always loved the color combo of yellow, gold, orange and brown.

Molly kept log of her miles and kept track of her speed. My favorite thing about her was the 242 original miles she had slowly explored during her life. What stories she could tell…

Her seat was as comfortable as a 2 x 4. The springs had lost their bounce, providing little to no cushion for my bony backside.
But, I loved her.

And then Lady Bike came into my life. There didn’t seem to be enough room on our back porch for these two rivaling bikes. The constant arguing between the new vs. the old upset me somethin’ fierce. I had to make the hard decision to let one of them go. We just couldn’t go on like this anymore.

Goodbye, sweet Sea Trails.
You were a good bike and I will miss your retro paint job, your speedometer and your curvy handlebars.
I will not miss my sore butt or my extremely tired thighs, however.
It was better for all of us this way.

A Naturally Cool Thing to Do

Smack dab in the middle of Austin is a gorgeous natural spring called Barton Springs, which runs through Zilker park. We were brought to this wonderful oasis by some good friends of ours while finishing up this last tour. It was refreshing, to say the least.

I had to be coaxed, prodded and bribed to wear a borrowed bikini in public. I decided to get into the water as quickly as possible. However, the water is frigid. Cold. Icy. Chilly. Polar.
It took me ten minutes just to get my ankles into the water.

The sun had begun to set, cooling off the air around us. I inched my legs further into the water. After about twenty minutes, my knees were in. I was so proud of myself. And then this little cutey pie came up behind me and plunged right in. It’s hard to have a four-year-old show you up.
I finally forced myself to get in up to my waistline. My teeth started chattering. Biceps told me that once I got all the way in, it wasn’t so bad. He has never lied to me before…but….
I decided to stay at the waist line level. Please don’t judge.

Our friend shelled out the $3 to get us into the ‘nicer side’ of Barton Springs-complete with a diving board. There is also a free side to Barton Springs, but that means no diving board, no life guards and no sitting area.
However, you can have your dogs frolic about on the free side, which is honestly pretty cute to watch. And this is coming from a cat-lady.
I recommend this ol swimmin’ hole if you are ever in the Austin area. You won’t be disappointed.

Simple Textured Raven

Remodeling offers odd benefits.
Not only are you equipped with hard callouses that are quite attractive on a lady’s hand, but you get to keep the spoils of your remodeling leftovers.
You can make this modern silhouette quickly and for pennies on the dollar. I like that.

My ‘Raven’ was made from a piece of duroc (some call it hardi-backer: this is the material they line shower walls with).
Duroc has a great texture to it and is oftentimes filled with holes and riddled with crazy patterns. It resembles a piece of rough concrete.

Here’s what you’ll need for you very simple duroc art:
Piece of leftover duroc or hardi-backer
Skilsaw with a masonry blade
Wood Stain-very small amount
Plastic cup, lintless rag, and gloves to apply stain
Marker
Oops paint & foamy brush

Begin by measuring the space on your wall you would like to fill with your purty art. Cut your duroc to fit the space using a masonry blade.
My purty piece measures about 1.5’ by 2.5’.

Fill a plastic cup about halfway with water and dilute your stain, adding about a tablespoon at a time until you are happy with the color.
You need to dilute the stain so that it will flow easily over the duroc.

Use a lintless rag to apply the stain onto your duroc.
I would recommend wearing gloves…or if you are like me, live with the disgusting dirty nail consequences.

Once your stain is dry, use a marker to outline your preferred silhouette.

Paint your creation onto your duroc using oops paint and a foamy brush.
Let your piece of art dry while enjoying a cold beverage.

We hung ‘Raven’ by screwing drywall screws directly through the piece and into the wall. I touched up the screw heads with more black paint, which are now incognito. I am very, very sneaky.
I am also very pleased with my one-of-a-kind ‘Raven’ that cost me less than a latte from you-know-where.
Make your silhouette of anything you fancy; a flower, an owl, a child’s face, your own face…
And use any color of paint your little heart desires to paint your silhouetter; orange, yellow, blue, fuschia…
Get bold. Get crazy. Get creative!