24 Jan
MLK Bike Riding
Monday morning, MLK day, I woke up grouchy. Or rather, I went from being completely fine one moment to snapping at That Husband the next.
“Why are you being like this? I can’t help you unless I understand what you want,” he patiently told me.
“I don’t KNOW what I want.
In the end what I wanted was to be out of the house. Lack of funds means we don’t get out much, and over time I’d let my frustration build up instead of talking through things with him.
So we went on a bike ride, absolutely one of my favorite things to do together. Even if he wears jeans and uses a giant clip to give his pants a peg-leg look.
First we felt lost, then we argued, then all we could find was this really ugly overpass. Coppell was starting to look really ugly and boring to me.
Ewwww
I practiced taking pictures while riding my bike. I’m not sure why that is a skill I wanted to master, but something tells me it could come in handy one day. I believe I took this shot while moving my camera in the opposite direction that I was moving, and it was the only one that had anything in focus. Interesting.
I was starting to think that the only things we would see on this excursion would be muddy ponds and abandoned baseball fields. But then, we found the nature preserve! I don’t think I understood why nature preserves, national parks, or city parks are so important until this very moment. I may sound very melodramatic, but even though it was the dead of winter and all the trees and plants were brown and leafless, this little preserve was like a little haven for me. No concrete, no pavement, no noise (except for the sounds of laughing children playing on swings nearby).
Our time in the preserve was rather uneventful, really just a chance to hold hands and wander together. We laughed at the placement of the placement of this sign. Not found at the beginning of our walk, like you would expect, but about halfway through.
Today we will end with two animations I created. I’m a huge fan of the timer setting on my camera, which can be set up to take 15 shots in a row. You will see that we weren’t very good at timing our jumps for the camera. 
If you look really close you can see TH’s awesome clip job on his right pant leg.
Our tushies were sore the next day but it was worth it. I think we will be heading back to this spot once Spring comes around again.
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
haha… love the animations! wish my camera took that many pics in a row!
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1That is seriously adorable. I love bike riding and I LOVE your animations!! I laughed out loud at the first one. Amazing. I want one just like it someday.
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2I totally understand the low on funds thing and how a case of cabin fever can come about by staying in (to save money)…the bike ride looks so fun! Sadly, as a city girl, I never learned how to ride a bike…one of my many defects!! You look so cute in your bike pants!
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3I love the animatios you created! Please make it more often
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Jenna Reply:
January 26th, 2009 at 5:24 am
No problem Zu! I’m just happy your brother was willing to do them with me.
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As a broke college student, I totally understand your sense of cabin fever. I’m so jealous you can go for bike rides, it’s below freezing here. A walk from the car to the door is at least an exercise in speed, if nothing else
I like that it seems you two can have fun doing anything. Love the animations!
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5P.S. So annoyed that I can’t delete that comment. I signed up for wordpress out of curiosity, but I’m not intending on using it right now. Should have logged out, but I’ll be back to commenting as “kaitlyn” @ upturned.barbie tomorrow
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6I’m so envious about TH going wandering aimlessly around with you; I wish I could convince mine to do that.
On another note, your creativeness never ceases to amaze me - I really hope there’s a That Wife animation tutorial coming soon.
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7I love the animations! You guys look so happy.
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8Those animations are so cool! I need to have a go at that.
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9I have GOT to get a camera that can do timer thingys so I can do animations! Sooooo adorable.
PS - I wonder if there was something in the air today? We were also all weird and moody and snappish. (despite being halfway around the world)
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10When I lived in Germany, we’d use a clothespin to clip our pants a well. I think it works well and is inexpensive!
That’s pretty sweet that your camera takes multiple shots at once!
I have to admit that I am slightly jealous - I can’t go biking the middle of winter. Especially since it’s so bloody cold, there’s rocks, sand, snow and ice everywhere and people aren’t looking out for you as they are driving. So I guess I wait and dream of spring.
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