Kyoo 197 - Christmas in July

Sometimes radio ad jingles get stuck in my head.  I'll hum a radio station tune while I'm biking to work,  sing a random phone number while I'm brushing my teeth, and play through a business slogan on repeat like some desperate running mantra.

But what does this have to do with Christmas in July?

Everything.

I can still hear it in my head like in was yesterday:  "dun dun dun dun dun duuuuunnn, Christmas in July! DUN!"

It sounds different than it looks typed...

I can't remember what the first part is, hence all the "duns", but that radio jingle has stuck with me for well over a decade.  I think it was for a sale at some furniture store.  Ernie's in Ceresco maybe?  Their big summer sale.  But in college, after many years of influence from this incessant earworm, and maybe also stemming from my love of Christmas music, I gave in to Christmas in July.

Nothing big.

But I can listen to Christmas music all July.  Which makes me happy.  And I can use it as an excuse for just about anything.  Pancakes for dinner?  Yes.  Christmas in July!  Name brand is 2 cents cheaper than store brand?  Of course.  Christmas in July!  Make and decorate sugar cookies?  Why not?? Christmas in July!

It's so fun.

One of my more creative pieces.  Hot tamales, a bit of tootsie roll, an M&M, and of course, frosting.

 

It's Rudolph, can't you tell?  I thought it'd be cool to put each of the reindeer on their own cookie and then draw little lines to connect them all to a big cookie with Santa and his sleigh.  And then I realized how much effort that would take and just made this:

It's a Bob Marley cookie.  Annnnd....

...also easier than the reindeer and Santa's sleigh idea.

Wish I could claim them all but...

...I had helpers.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable Christmas in July.

And I still have that jingle stuck in my head...

Have a great day :)

Kyoo 196 - Gatorbait Triathlon

I did a little triathloning for the first time last Saturday.  It went a little something like this:

There was a little bit of nervous Kyooyoo posing for cheesy pictures while waiting for the start in make-shift swimwear...

I had no idea how to dress "cool" for my first triathlon...except shell out a lot of $$ for those fancy suits....which isn't really an option on my current "pay-off-the-condo" budget.

There was a struggle with a stubborn swim cap...

There was some swimming.  Into people.  Spot the buoy.  Over people.  Spot the buoy.  Swim around the giant yellow floating buoy.  Into more people.  Spot another buoy.  Over more people.  Spot the big yellow finish arch.  More swimming...

...until finally...

...there was a race to the first transition (and a chance to finally remove that annoying swim cap)!

There was some shoe-tying and shirt-changing in the elusive transition area and an eager rush to the bike mount.  So eager in fact that I forgot to put on my padded bike shorts...

So there was an un-enjoyable and mostly painful bike ride.  Despite the pain, I did make it up "heart-break hill".  The challenging incline half-way through the course that about 60% of the other athletes had to walk their bike up...

There was another quick transition (4th fastest T2 time out of all 300 competitors!)...and some running.

Yes, I passed that girl.  And tons of other people, of course...

There were happy body-marked-bicep poses...

There were "serious" body-marked-bicep poses...

There were ridiculous body-marked-bicep poses with friends...

There were body-marked-bicep poses with the bike...

And then there was relieved (and stinky) Kyooyoo when it was all said and done.  Or swam, biked, and ran.  (At least it's not another body-marked-bicep pose... :)

And some video!

And for the record, I thought Sidekick was taking pictures...hence why I kept striking random "Victory!" poses during the video...

In conclusion, I've decided that I am a fan of triathlons.  They're a lot more high-maintenance than running races but so much more exciting!  I didn't do too bad either.  I placed 2nd in my age group and 19th overall.  I was quite pleased.  Especially since I ended up having to work until 10 the night before (not planned), carbo-loaded on crazy bread from Little Caesars (not ideal), and was on a mountain bike amongst all the fancy tri and road bikes (not fast).

Have a great day :)