WiseArts

Haven’t posted for a while, and here’s why!
June 6th - 8th, I did the MS150! It’s a 150-mile bike tour ridden in two days. 75 miles on Saturday and again on Sunday. It was definitely one of the most challenging physical endeavors I’ve ever undertaken. I didn’t do much training for the event - the longest ride I attempted beforehand was 40 miles. I was incredibly sore at the end, but I surprised myself by making pretty good time on both days. I averaged about 15mph on Saturday and 17mph on Sunday. And to top it off, I was riding a mountain bike! I’m really hoping to get a new road bike for next year. I signed up to do it again in ‘09!

In order to carry more stuff with me on the ride, I made this “box” that attaches to the top bar of my bike with velcro. The commercial version of this is called a “Bento Box” and it can be had very cheaply, but by the time I decided I wanted one, it was too near the date of the event to order and get it shipped in time. So I made my own! It is constructed from pieces of plastic canvas sandwiched between layers of heavy black canvas fabric. I added a vinyl top that attaches with Velcro for quick access. Once it’s all sewn together, it’s quite stiff and once attached to the bike, it can hold a slew of energy bars, a cell phone, tools… any small items you need on the road. Mine had a tendency to lean to the right a bit, so I think I need to adjust the way the Velcro is sewn on. Overall, it worked very well though!

After the MS150, my husband and I went on a trip to the Chicago area for the week! We visited family who live in the area, went to the science museum, ate tons of Chinese food and did a lot of shopping. One of my favorite shopping spots is Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights. There’s a great Japanese bookstore there that carries Japanese craft books. I bought a handful of crafty books and magazines that looked inspiring! I’ll definitely feature some of them here in the future.

Soooo, I’ve been busy, but I’m back in action now and should be posting regularly as before!

Yay! I finally got a new camera! After much comparing of features and prices, I decided on the Canon EOS Rebel XSi! It weighs in with a whoppin’ 12.2 megapixels! It has a 3in LCD screen! It’s lightweight and quick on the draw! I’m so excited to have so much more resolution to work with. My old camera was only 3.1mp, so this is a big leap for me! I can’t wait to get better acquainted with all its features.

I used to get kinda mad at my husband for “stealing” my old camera, but he can just hang on to it now. haha I’m hoping I’ll have some time to take nice outdoor photos soon.

In other news… my iPod died! It’s a 40gb 4th gen iPod, and it was giving me the “sad iPod” icon and a URL for Apple service. It wouldn’t connect to PC or play any songs. I sure as heck wasn’t going to send it in for service. I found a post somewhere about loose cables inside causing this problem, and that a proper slam could bring the iPod back to life. It couldn’t get any worse, so I bashed it on my desk a few times. Sure enough, it’s back to its old self again! So I saved a couple hundred bucks there by not getting a new iPod. haha More money for new camera lenses!

I had to take a quick break to share these adorable Matryoshka cards I found while browsing Japanese blogs. It’s available for purchase at Rakuten in different varieties including snow, silver, and gold.

Rakuten does ship internationally, so a person who doesn’t live in Japan could purchase them. But, I was thinking it would be fun to use this idea and try to make some in my own style. Isn’t the little “window” in the envelope the icing on the cake!? So cute!

BTW, this brand (Analo), has lots of other cool things at Rakuten such as printed tape and adorable cookware! Love printed tape. Their specialty is interior decor and zakka.