Another Lengthy - But Exciting - 'Catch-Up' Post

One of our goals is to blog more frequently, because then we wouldn't have to write such long blog posts and write about so many different things at the same time. So, in other words, this will be another 'catch-up' post like the last one.

October 19th was our 3 year anniversary. We celebrated by going out to our favorite restaurant. Shortly after we got married Michelle made a book for me with 101 reasons why she loves me. Ever since then, making a list of reasons why I love her has been something I've been meaning to do so on our anniversary I finally gave her a list of 101 reasons why I love her. I also included a quote by Dr. Seuss that I stumbled upon that accurately describes how happy I have been since meeting Michelle: "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

Shortly after our anniversary was Halloween. The very first time Michelle and I saw each other was on Halloween, 2006, in a preparation class for the Washington Seminar program we were about to embark on. That makes it very convenient to calculate how long ago we saw each other for the first time (4 years ago on Halloween). We had a very fun Halloween here in DC. The weekend before Halloween we went on a walking haunted ghost tour through Old Town Alexandria with another couple we are friends with. Our guide was very much an enthusiast of ghost stories and made the tour very interesting. His firm belief in the stories he was telling us made it fun, but Michelle and I were a little skeptical of some of the stories. Nevertheless, it was very informative and educational (there is a lot of Revolutionary War and Civil War history in Alexandria) and a great thing to do for Halloween. This is a picture of us in front of one of the buildings that one of the ghost stories was about. Thanks again Mike and Chelsea for inviting us to go with you guys on the haunted ghost tour!

On the weekend of Halloween, we helped setup and run the ward chili cook-off and trunk-or-treat. We had a great time manning the ring toss table and giving out prizes to all the kids who played the game. We also tried several different home-made chilis and of course ate lots of candy. This photo is courtesy of Chance, who you can always count on to take a great picture when you really want one. Having visited Peru over the summer, we decided to dress up as Peruvians for Halloween.

In other news, I am still biking my commute to work three times a week. Since each day's commute is 30 miles, it takes a long time to get fully accustomed to the additional day's worth of mileage. In other words, it was difficult to go from two to three days a week and it is taking me longer than I expected to move up from three to four days a week. Currently, I am biking about 90 miles a week (15 miles each way=30 mile round trip, three times a week). Since moving up to four times a week would thus be going from 90 to 120 miles a week and is quite a big jump, last week I bike in 3.5 times a week. Basically, I rode to and from work 3 times and and I also rode in an additional day but took my bike on the Metro home. This was a good stepping stone to increase my weekly mileage to a little over 100 miles; and now I think I am ready to try riding in 4 times this week. I will let you know how it goes. Also, I am not planning on letting the winter season slow me down. I have bought some really good winter gear and so far, I haven’t let the cold or precipitation prevent me from even missing one day of riding. I have ridden in in the high 30’s once, and it wasn’t much of a problem at all, so I am optimistic that I will be able to ride in through the entire winter (except for when there is ice or snow).

All this biking I've been doing has helped me get to a new milestone in my quest to eat healthier and lose weight. Since I started to improve me eating habits and exercise more, I have now lost 50 pounds! I am at a weight that I never even thought would be possible when I started all of this a year and a half ago. I think I am actually at my old high school weight, which is pretty cool considering how much weight I had gained. The following is a picture of me from last summer, right before I started dieting and exercising (on the left with Honest Abe), followed by a recent picture of me celebrating Michelle's birthday at Six Flags: