Bake Sale Success!

Hello, all!

First of all, we would like to thank everyone at Stony Brook for making our Bike&Build Bake Sale a massive success! In total, we were able to raise about $200 for affordable housing, which in my opinion is fantastic. Thanks to all the students, faculty, non-students (those from U of Alabama), friends, etc for buying baked goods and donating time and/or money. You are all awesome.

At this bake sale we had SIX different kinds of cookies! My amazing sister (The Kitchen Politico) donated more than 200 cookies worth of cookie dough to our cause, and these cookies are legit. Seriously. A friend of ours (It's on Fire!)  donated some baked goods as well. All in all, Annamaria and I pressed some buttons on the oven and put the frozen cookie dough in until they smelled delicious; but we are still worn out from this experience, it was sort of overwhelming.

These are the cookies we had:
Molasses (my Grandma's recipe, and just about the best cookies ever)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup
Monster w/ and w/o Toffee (crunchy PB, butterscotch and chocolate chips, M&Ms, and oats; Annamaria's favorite)
Oatmeal Currant (one of my favorites)
Chocolate Chip w/ Pecans
Citrus Sizzlers (lime w/ cayenne pepper, another of my favorites)

(I slept on the floor)

And our friend made Chocolate Loaf Cake, Chocolate Pudding Tarts, and Egg Custard Tarts.

Looks good, right? 

More big news - we both got our bikes this week! We were both up before our mail room was open yesterday, and as soon as they opened their doors we went to get our (enormous) boxes of bike. Annamaria put hers together immediately, I don't know where she found the time - mine is still in pieces: 

This means that we will start training for real, whenever we're free. But we will get our 500 miles in and be pumped for all day bike riding this summer!

Also, in a couple days we will be starting a raffle! We aren't sure how many prizes there will be yet, but there will definitely be one top prize of this awesome Doctor Who themed quilt (made by my mother!) and hopefully a Sonic Screwdriver. 

(We'll have a better photo in a few days)

We are still in the process of setting up this fundraiser, and will keep everyone posted on the progress. Hopefully it will be extremely easy and convenient for everyone involved. If you have any Doctor Who friends, let them know! The raffle will be through Rafflecopter, and it will be set up on this blog in a couple days, if everything runs smoothly. (Also, if you're not a Doctor Who fan, you should become one. Because it's awesome.)

So check back in regularly, because our wheels are really getting rolling (ha)! And we would love a ton of involvement from everyone. 

Geronimo!

Cycling Divas

     For Kathryn and I spring break does not lack of productivity.  During these past few days Kathryn and I have been kicking ass and taking names!  This week while visiting her grandparents and her sisters family Kathryn has been preparing every aspect of our bake sale fundraiser on Tuesday. That means securing a table, getting ingredients, printing our logos and confirming with our volunteer cooks all while keeping her grandparents company.

     My week began when Kathryn and I asked ourselves the question many women before us have asked.  How am  I gonna coup with cycling all day long during my period? (Just lost any male readers...) Luckily I had experience with an answer to this tricky question known as The DivaCup (a magical device which will make you forget you period exist, save you hundreds of dollars and decrease your carbon foot print... yea magical).  Realizing that this same problem would exist for every woman on our ride I immediately emailed The DivaCup company about our dilemma and boy did they come through!  They were stoked about our cause and were so eager to help they have offered to donate at cup for every one in our group...well for the women folk at least.  Problem solved! But that's not all! They also would like us to write a post for their blog about Bike & Build.  We're so grateful for their interest in affordable housing and would like to thank them for their donation!

Also major thanks to all our donors!  Next time we post we'll both have our bikes!

- AM

Spring Break! Woohoo!

Alright! So our Spring Break started today and we are both off on great adventures which are extremely exciting. I am off to Virginia to visit some family, and Annamaria is off to North Carolina to visit a friend of hers. Also, we both were able to order our bikes this week! Woohoo! Hooray! At the moment, though, I'm slightly more inclined to be excited about Spring Break because I'm all about the instant gratification.

Over the past couple weeks we've really been getting into a lot of cycling stuff. Before, we (I, at least) were more the kind of people who liked to go on bike rides and ride to class, but didn't really know anything more about cycling in the 'real world' (Annamaria knows how to work on bikes and I know vaguely how to change a flat). But we've been reading up on some of this stuff and it's gotten us super pumped! Not to say that we aren't intimidated; there is so much gear to have and know about, and frankly, the cycling community is enormous. 

Luckily, our Bike&Build route has its own website which has so far been incredibly entertaining and helpful. Who knew that going on a 15-20 mile ride without eating on the way would be bad for you? Would anyone have guessed that wearing spandex and cycling for 8 hours a day would create issues with your 'saddle area'? And wait... I really don't want saddlesores.* So the four fearless leaders of our B&B trip created this website to help us all with the transition from non-continuous-cycling life to continuous-cycling life (Thank you, fearless leaders!). You know when you're walking toward someone directly in your path, and neither one of you knows which one is going to move? That's kind of how some of their tips feel, because sometimes it's more like "Some people think this is good, but others think that is good. Just try them both." so you're kind of back where you started. But all in all, it's a lot of really great information! Annamaria and I didn't really know where to run first. 

But we decided on our LBS (local bike shop). Like Annamaria said in her last post, the bike shop right across from Stony Brook said they would give us a gear discount! Once we get back from Spring Break we'll pick up the most needed gear and be ready and rolling (ha) in no time! Another thing we'll be able to do is start our sweat equity, which is our time volunteering at a local affordable housing construction site. Sweat equity gets us to the point where we won't feel out of place on a build site when we join people across America on build sites (good idea, eh?). 

Also, we have been getting more exposed to some of the cycling magazines and websites out there, which only make us more excited. A new magazine started earlier in March, called Bunyan Velo, which is available to read free online. While only one issue has so far been published, it's enough to make Annamaria and I head out on our bikes for who knows where with a sleeping bag and some food. The entire issue is dedicated to stories of cyclists who have gotten on their bikes to go wherever the wind takes them. These cyclists write about their trips through Mexico, around the Great Lakes, or simply their love of winter riding. 

So basically, we are super pumped for everything that's happened so far, and we would like to send our super big thanks to everyone who has donated to our cause so far! If you haven't donated (or even if you have) and find that you've got some extra cash, we would be extremely grateful if you chose to give to affordable housing through either of us (Annamaria or Kathryn)!

* Everybody should know all of these things. 

Progress

     This past week was our first week with a training routine and I have to say, I quite enjoyed it!  I cannot say the same for Kathryn however.  Being in charge of training has meant having to survive prolonged death stares from Kathryn which seem to say “some day when you least expect it, bad things will come”.

Case in point:

     In order to give her a way to get back at me and in light of the fact that most of what I eat consists of Nutella I have decided that Kathryn will be in charge of Nutrition.  Not that she is much better at eating right… Anyhow for those Doctor Who fans out there, Kathryn and I are working on organizing a raffle with the grand prize of a Doctor Who wall hanging brought to you by Kathryn’s mom!  I’ve seen some of her work, including a Weasley sweater she made for Kathryn, and it’s amazing!  It will take some time to make but we’ll be sure to post the final product and details of the raffle.  We’re also looking for prize donations from local businesses in order to have a Stony Brook raffle as well.

     Speaking of local businesses, Campus Bicycle, the bike shop across the street from Stony Brook University has been kind enough to give us a gear discount!  (I’ve been put in charge of gear too btw)  We are so thankful, and can’t wait to check out their stock.

Since we have not perfected our own bike tricks yet I leave you with this video:

I want to ride my bicycle!

Greetings everyone!

First of all, if you haven't donated yet, why not? You should really get on that, it's an amazing thing to do and all the cool people are doing it. (Donate to Kathryn, or to Annamaria)

Annamaria's last post surprised me (seriously, I had no idea this was happening) by saying that we would start really working out this week (8:30am!!). Monday and Tuesday I used some of those stationary bikes that the gym has, and Stony Brook just opened up a new fancy-pants fitness center with new fancy-pants equipment, so these bikes are more like video games. Seriously, you can steer these bikes and catch dragons while you're pedaling in place. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I remember stationary bikes being, but still not the time of my life. On Wednesday we had a rest day (yay!) but tomorrow it's gym time again at 8:30am.

Also, surely everyone has noticed (or remember that she told you last time) that Annamaria and I have reached the $1,000 needed to order our Bike&Build bikes! This is super exciting and we are biting at the reins to get started. But first we need to go to our Giant bike dealer and get sized so we won't be in huge amounts of unnecessary pain by getting a bike that's too big or too small. We were all pumped to go on Tuesday but, get this, our Giant dealer is closed on Tuesdays (ONLY on Tuesdays), so we are going to go on Thursday instead. Then we'll send Bokoo Bikes our sizes and they'll send us our bikes and everything will be peachy!

Even though we have >$1,000 now, that's only about one-third of the way to our $4,500 goal. For the past month or so we've been brainstorming a lot about possible fundraising ideas, and here's a sample of the ideas we've come up with: Bake sale! Yes, a bake sale. Everybody loves cupcakes and cookies, and bake sales bring in some pretty sufficient funds for organizations on the Stony Brook campus. Raffle! (If you are part of a company that would like to donate something for us to raffle, e-mail us.) Stony Brook students, you know all those things that you hate to do? Like going outside to get food, waiting for the bus to take you grocery shopping, maybe even taking out the trash? For a small donation of $3-5 we will do these things for you! Just e-mail us or comment to get our attention.

Lastly, most of you probably know (or... I don't know... do you?) that March is Women's History Month! A whole month dedicated to remembering the contributions of women worldwide, which Annamaria and I think is worth a mention. Both Annamaria and I were blown away last week by a PBS documentary "Makers: Women Who Make America" and I have made it my personal mission to share it with everyone I know (or don't). As many people often forget, it was less than a century ago when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granted women the right to vote (Woohoo!), but activists still had their work cut out for them  fighting discrimination and speaking out against domestic violence. In this documentary, activists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, and law enforcement officers talk about what the Movement was like during the last half of the 20th century.

As always if you have any comments, questions, or answers feel free to contact us!

Our Training Schedule/What Kathy Doesn't Know

     If you haven't noticed our awesome new fundraising thermometers, Kathryn and I have both hit the $1,000 mark. Much thanks to our family and friends!  This means that we will soon be sent our bikes and that we can now bring our affordable housing awareness to the road.  It will be my first time riding a modern road bike and Kathy's first time teaching me her ways, so in order to represent Bike & Build accordingly Kathy and I have a lot of training ahead of us.

     Luckily Bike & Build helps us outline a training schedule. Starting this month and into April we will be starting by biking 10 miles about 3 times a week.  Seeing as we don't have our bikes quite yet however we will be following our usual routine: eating and watching T.V. Just kidding.  Kathy might not know this yet but we will be going to the gym 3 times a week as an attempt to make up for our lack of bikes.  We usually try and go to the gym at least a few times a week but from now on it is set in stone and our work outs will be geared more towards biking (no pun intended).  Our campus recreation center just got some new simulated spin bikes so we'll be sure to give them a go. If anyone has some good cross-training advice we'd love to hear it.  Of course nothing is like the real thing so once our bikes are out of their boxes it's go time!
   
      In May we are expected to try our first 65 mile ride and our average ride should be 20 miles.  Hopefully by this time we will be gear masters and eating miles for breakfast.  If not we better get crackin.  We have to ride 500 miles total before June and my total (and I think Kathy's) so far is zero.  This will soon change however, starting Monday our new routine begins!
   
     Our schedule for this coming week (Kathy definitely doesn't know about this):

Monday: 3:45pm Tae kwon do (counts as gym)

Tuesday: 8:30am Gym- 30 min stationary bike, 30 min weights

Wednesday: Rest Day - (Kathy has no class so she can work out all day while I rest)

Thursday: 8:30am Gym - 40 min swim

Friday:  Rest Day