So I know I got my lovely little road bike over a year ago but I seem to just now be getting into using it on a regular basis.

It all started with Bike to Work Week and has gone from there. I discovered that not only do I enjoy riding my bike for exercise, I also really enjoy using it to commute to work.

I went to commute to work on Tuesday morning and made it all of two blocks when my tire went completely flat. Lovely. That night I pumped up the tire so I could ride to work the next day and the next day it was completely flat yet again.

I knew that my bike needed a tune-up so this was a good opportunity to take it in. Don’t forget my bike was only $100, so at this point I started freaking out that it might not be worth it to fix up my cheap bike. While the bike was getting diagnosed and fixed at the bike shop yesterday I did some googlingand number crunching and seriously, seriously considering buying a new road bike with my savings.

By the way, become a fan of the blog on Facebook. I promise I don’t just put updated blog posts on there – I also ask for advice and stuff!

Carolina John was clearly speaking to the devil on one shoulder

I hemmed and I hawed and finally decided to see how my bike performed after the tune-up. I mean, I know my bike isn’t great, but for the amount I’m biking right now – and for training for my sprint triathlon – it works.

Not only did the bike shop fix up my tire for me he also moved my handlebars up which he said would be way more comfortable, re-taped my handlebars since the tape was coming off, loosened an axle which would make it easier to peddle and did all the other normal tune-up stuff.

I also bought a bike lock so I can start using my bike to commute the measly 1-mile to the grocery store or 2-miles to the yoga studio. I live in a very central location and there is no need for me to drive everywhere!

My bike was looking pretty good after the tune-up, so I’ve decided to keep it around for the summer. If I enjoy this triathlon thing as much as I think I’m going to, a new road bike is in my sights this fall/winter (hopefully one on sale!)

In the meantime, I really want to work on being more of a bike commuter. My goal is to bike TO work 3-4 times per week and bike home twice a week (I will take the bus up the hill the other two times).

And if I can successfully do this bike commuter thing more often my reward just might be a new road bike!!

Oh, and I guess now that I have a bike lock I should move my bike out of our tiny entryway, hey? I think Eric would like that

Are you a bike commuter? Would you ever want to be?

Time for another wedding update! Wedding updates thus far include:

• Announcing our venue and date
• Asking my bridesmaids

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One of the first things I did after narrowing down the area where we wanted our wedding was hire a wedding planner. I’ve gotten mixed responses to this, some people think it’s fabulous, others don’t have the budget for it (or as I like to say, don’t make the budget for it) and others prefer to plan their own wedding.

I just want to make one thing super clear, and this is based on my experience so far: Just because you have a wedding planner does not mean you can’t/don’t plan your own wedding.

I am very much planning my own wedding! Every single decision is mine (and Erics) (and my moms) and the wedding planner does not make decisions – she offers advice and input. So far, I’ve been using her to help me with budget and get price quotes from local vendors. Since we are having a destination wedding having someone actually IN the area we’re getting married to contact vendors directly has been amazing.

Closer to the date she will do a log of the legwork around the big day like picking up and delivering the cake and flowers to the venue, helping us decorate, and helping us with logistics (i.e. telling people when it’s time to walk down the aisle or find a missing tie) so me, my mom and my bridesmaids don’t have to be stressing out over those little logistical issues that are bound to happen.

She’s also great for advice! Neither Eric nor I have planned a wedding before. My mom hasn’t planned a wedding in 30+ years. Neither of us have planned any sort of event in an area we don’t actually live in. We have questions – lots of questions – she’s a very helpful, un-biased, third-party source.

I guess one thing that irks me is when people say “oh I wish I could have afforded a wedding planner…” We have a budget we are sticking to! I’ve made room in the budget for our wedding planner. I’m giving up other things like flowers as centerpieces and fancy decorations in order to fit the wedding planner into the budget. When planning a wedding it’s all about priorities and in my opinion if someone wanted a wedding planner bad enough they’d make it a priority – that’s what I’ve done and so far it’s been the best decision ever!

No, she’s not planning my wedding for me (although that is a service she offers of course) but she is helping me A LOT along the way!

Do you/did you have a wedding planner when you planned your wedding? If your not married yet, do you plan on having one?

{Source, Source}

You know what’s a really awkward topic sometimes? Money. You know what’s even more awkward sometimes? Being a young 20-something who actually has money. Eric and I do pretty well for ourselves. We have quite a bit of money in savings. Pay our credit cards almost in full every month and never miss a bill payment. We’ve also had help along the way.

Last night I was having dinner with some friends and they were talking about their student loan payments and how atrocious they are. I felt a little awkward because, well, I don’t have any student loans. I am incredibly lucky to have parents who put me through university so I wouldn’t have to bare the brunt of student loans for many years afterwards.

I know that very few people can call themselves this lucky and I am incredibly grateful to my parents for doing this for me. I also know a lot of people’s parents couldn’t do this for them, even if they wanted to. My parents could. It’s not like they broke the bank paying for my college tuition – they had the money to do it.

Anyways, sometimes I feel really awkward about this and I hate bringing it up. But when people wonder why I don’t have any student loans to pay it’s time to fess’ up and I must admit, it feels very spoiled-brat-ish to say “Oh, well, my parents paid for my schooling…”

So here I am, putting it out there to the world (or my blog readers. Ha!) and stating that my parents put me through college and no, I don’t have any student loans. I’ve hinted at it before, and maybe even mentioned it briefly once or twice, on the blog but I’ve never put it out there like this before because I’m always worried about the ‘spoiled-brat’ ‘wow must be nice’ kind of backlash I might get.

I should also add that my parents had absolutely NO influence over what I went to school for or where I went. They were wonderful in the fact that even though they backed me financially, I made my own decisions about where and what, and they respected that.

What’s a topic you feel awkward talking about?