For the past week or so, I've been riding my bike almost every day. My parents gave it to me as a birthday gift last summer, but I just recently got the chance to take it for a spin. I'm kind of obsessed with riding my bike now.

While riding through the park, I, being obsessed with Instagram as well, absolutely had to take some photographs with my iPhone. The pictures below are from each of the 6 bike rides I've been on so far, and of course they've been "Instagrammed."


The first time I rode through Potter's Bridge Park, I heard a scratching noise as I passed by a tree and saw something move in the corner of my eye. I turned around and saw this raccoon staring right at me, frozen.


The photo above is from my second ride on the same path, inside Potter's Bridge looking down the White River.


On my third bike ride through the park, the sky was exceptionally beautiful.


This photo, taken on the fourth ride, is of the path I ride on. Immediately after I took this picture, it started to thunder and pour down rain.


My fifth bike ride was probably the worst. I went at a bad time, right around 8 o'clock, and all of the gnats and mosquitoes were out. It would have been okay if I were running, but bugs hitting your face at 20 miles per hour doesn't feel good.


The last bike ride I went on was the longest. I rode through Potter's Bridge Park and Forest Park until I ended up at Morse Park. I had to take a break at a picnic table before I made the adventure back to Potter's Bridge. The lake was so relaxing that I'll definitely be taking that route again.

Dad decided it would be best to add plywood on top of the framework, so we did that today. He cut it to size and I fastened the two sheets to the beams with screws. Then, just in case any water gets trapped on the surface of the plywood, I drilled some holes in it--22 to be exact.

Now we're hot tub ready :)

Grandpa Claud & Grandma Alice

Today, Mom, Dad, and I drove down to North Vernon where Mom grew up. First, we visited Mom's parents' grave site at St. Mary's as well as her cousin's.

St. Mary's School

On our way to visit my great-grandparents' grave, we drove by Mom's old school and church.

Where my great-grandparents are buried

Then, we stopped at her old house. Her father built it over 70 years ago, and he and my grandmother raised 5 children in it! It would have been neat to go inside, but other people live there now. It's nothing like my great-grandparents' old house in North Dakota we visited last summer. This house doesn't look as old as it is-- from the outside at least.

I had been to North Vernon with my parents before, but it's still worth going back and seeing everything again. I've been told stories about my Mom's family and her childhood, and I love seeing where they took place.

Visiting my grandparents' burial site is kind of nostalgic, however. They passed away before I was born, but being that close to them and seeing where they raised my mom makes me feel like I know them.

Today, we came up with a better idea for the framework supports. Instead of using metal supports (along with some untreated wood because we ran out), we opted to do something else. We went back to Lowe's to pick up the same treated lumber we used to build the framework, cut them to size and screwed them in as supports. It looks so much better, and will definitely be sturdier than before!

Here is an updated and final image of the deck, ready for the new hot tub! Hopefully we won't need to change anything before the hot tub is delivered. We'll see...

Last night, Kristen Wiig bid farewell to Saturday Night Live. She is/was by far my favorite SNL cast member.

The final sketch of the night used a loose graduation premise to send Kristen off in style. As Arcade Fire played “She’s a Rainbow,” Wiig danced with each of her cast mates in turn while trying to hold back tears. Finally, SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels had the last dance, and the band transitioned into “Ruby Tuesday.” Mick Jagger, the band, and the cast sang the nostalgic tune together, joined by a few SNL veterans -- Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, and Chris Kattan. It’s tough to watch this touching tribute without tearing up.



Here are Kristen Wiig's most memorable sketches and characters:

Target

Weekend Update: Judy Grimes

Surprise Party

The Lawrence Welk Show

Penelope

Shanna: Basketball Game

Garth & Kat

Paula Deen

Björk

Our 8-year old hot tub hasn't worked for 2 or 3 years, and I finally got my Dad started on fixing it this summer. About a week ago, we went to Royal Spa and talked to their engineers about getting it repaired, but just hauling it to the factory would cost $1,000 in itself. Fixing the cracked pipes (from water freezing in them over the winter) would cost even more. So, we looked at other options. The final decision was to recycle the old hot tub and buy a new one at a discounted price because it was our second purchase.

Well, two days ago, our old hot tub was taken away. That left one problem: a giant hole in the deck where it sat. Here is what the deck looked like right after our old hot tub was lifted out and taken away:



Yesterday, Dad and I bought the treated lumber to build the framework that will sit in the hole. The new hot tub will sit on top of that, making it even with the deck. We screwed all the pieces together on top of the deck, then pushed it into the empty square. Moving the assembled framework was probably the hardest part. One 2 x 12 x 8 is heavy, but when you attach 9 of them together, it's nearly impossible to lift.



Dad is thinking about buying more 2 x 12 x 8 lumber to make the framework sturdier. That will be the next step. Otherwise, now it's just a matter of waiting for the new hot tub to be finished and delivered.

I stumbled across this video on uberhumor.com--even though it's not humorous--and Arthur's story is very inspiring.

Has anyone ever told you that you can't do something, or have you ever thought one of your goals was impossible? If so, prove them and/or yourself wrong.

...it's good for your wallet, too!

For the past two days, my mom and I have been cleaning out the garage. Some of the things we found had been sitting on the shelves for over 20 years! It was basically leftover scraps from when our house was built. We took all of the metal junk we found to a scrap yard.

Yesterday my parents took a couple boxes of junk to the scrap yard and received 11 bucks for it all, but today they gave us 78 for just three boxes! Apparently copper is where the money is. If you have any insulated copper wire from when your house was built, don't let it just sit around for 20 years. Take it to the scrap yard. They'll recycle it, and you'll get paid for it! Any metal at all, you will be compensated for.

Tonight, Desperate Housewives aired its 2-hour finale. I'm sad that the show had to come to an end, but it was good while it lasted and had a good run.

I remember watching the very first episode--Mary Alice Young's tragic demise and meeting the desperate housewives for the first time. I've watched and enjoyed every episode since then. It's hard to believe I've been watching DH since I was 14 years old. Every Sunday night, I would look forward to seeing what the ladies of Wisteria Lane were up to next. I would always want an episode to last longer than it did.



Tonight was no different. I wish the series could last longer. I wish it didn't have to be over, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

Here is a summary of the final episode:

SPOILER ALERT!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!

There were basically two episodes back to back: Here are some key events from the two parts:

Part 1:

• Karen (Mrs. McCluskey) confesses killing Gaby's stepfather in court after overhearing Gaby and Carlos talking about Gaby taking the blame for Alejandro's murder. 
• The DA decides not to press charges against Karen because of her condition, and the charges against Bree are dropped.

It's May, so college graduations are happening everywhere. Today, Megan and I went to Michael's graduation at Butler. There were 879 other graduates! It made for a long ceremony, but seeing him walk across the stage was worth the wait. Now he's officially a Doctor of Pharmacy!


After the ceremony and taking lots of pictures, we went to Formosa, a new seafood buffet. I ate entirely too much, then we went our separate ways until dinner.

The dinner destination was Scotty's Brewhouse. I had been there once before, but this time the food was exceptional this time. The dill chips are indescribably delicious. I could eat baskets of them.



The rest of the night was spent celebrating at Jacki's while eating ice cream cake--yum--and having a couple celebratory drinks. I played Flip Cup for the first time ever, and my team won--ha ha.

The whole day was a happy occasion. Hopefully next year it will be my turn to walk across the graduation stage.

Tis the season to plant a garden, and today I helped my mom do just that. Over the past week, I've helped her unload bags of garden soil and get the rototiller started, but she's done most of the work. Today, we planted green beans, tomatoes, green peppers, cabbage, zucchini, spinach, cucumbers, and marigolds (to keep the rabbits away). Hopefully it turns out better than last year. She even took it one step further to keep the little critters out. She sprayed coyote urine around perimeter of the garden, which is apparently supposed to deter a rabbit invasion.

Update later!

Green beans, tomatoes, and marigolds

Green peppers, cabbage, spinach, zucchini, and cucumbers

P.S. That random cinder block? It's to stop the water dripping from the barn gutter from making a giant puddle.

Today, I had some spare time on my hands, so I decided to spend it doing something crafty.

I had ordered a bunch of carpet samples for a school project about two weeks ago, but I didn't know the "samples" would come in 24" x 24" actual carpet tiles. I ordered 38 samples thinking they would be little 4x4's. Not the case, so I have a lot left.

Before

So, I cut up two of the carpet tiles into pieces and glued them onto two other carpet tiles to make a rug to put by the back door. Sure, I could have sent them back to the company I ordered them from to be recycled, but what's the fun in that? Check out the finished product below:

After

Pretty snazzy, eh?

© 2012 Marvel LLC. All Rights Reserved

Tonight, I saw The Avengers in IMAX 3D. It is easily one of the best super hero movies I've seen in a long time. Between the action sequences and hilarious moments of well thought out humor, this movie doesn't disappoint. I haven't seen Captain America, Thor, or either of the Iron Man movies, but now I'm definitely going to rent them after seeing The Avengers. I mean, how could I not want to?

The Avengers opened with the largest box office numbers ever grossing $200.3 million in the United States alone.Who wants to bet that Scarlett Johansson will ink a movie deal for Black Widow after this movie's giant weekend numbers?

Overall Score: 100%

Here is the official synopsis from Yahoo! Movies:


If you want a more detailed plot (watch out for spoilers), look here or watch the trailer below.

Amy, Mary, Katie, and I left for Chicago around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and made it to our hotel before dark after making a few stops along the way. The scenery along the drive was beautiful as usual.

The scenery along the highway

The hotel we stayed at was interesting for many reasons. First of all, when we got there, there were people on strike outside of the front entrance. We didn't know why they were on strike or if they even had anything to do with the Congress Plaza Hotel until we stumbled upon it while Googling how long ago the hotel was built. Apparently they've been on strike since 2003 because of unfair wages.

Our hotel room had a small floor plan, but high ceilings made it feel so much larger. I loved the historic feeling of it and its imperfections. It opened for business in 1893 and is rumored to be haunted. Amy swore she heard a cat meow in the bathroom. Random, I know.

Anyways, the first night we went looking for a an inexpensive, high-quality pub and ended up at Exchequer. We had some appetizers and amaretto sours, then went back to the hotel to relax before going to be.

The next day, we rode the subway for the first time ever and went to the Cubs vs. Dodgers game. The subway car was so crowded that we could barely move two inches without touching someone else headed to the Cubs game. For a first-time subway experience, it wasn't bad at all.

The view from our seats

After the game, we ate at Which Wich -- which was really good by the way -- then we walked up and down Michigan Avenue. We went to Millennium Park and saw The Bean as well as many other sculptures and gardens.

Beautiful Chicago

Marilyn Sculpture

Underneath The Bean

That night, we played cards and watched New Moon on TV because we were so tired from walking around. Not bringing tennis shoes was a mistake.

The third day, we slept in a bit, had lunch at Panda Express, and walked to Garret Popcorn Shop to pick up some Caramel Crisp. We had planned on going to Willis Tower to see the view from the top of the city's tallest building, however, the weather had a different idea. A giant storm cloud showed up on the radar, so we decided it would be best to go back home.



On our way home, we stopped at Fair Oaks Farms for some ice cream. By then, the rain had stopped and the temperature had risen about 20 degrees. It's crazy what a difference driving a couple hours south can make.

Ultimately, our road trip to Chicago was a success and a lot of fun!