Wordle This!

Check this out! It's a website where you can enter text or a blog address and it will arrange the type into a layout. You can change typefaces (although, there really aren't any classics), change colors and other layout options. Here are a couple that I did from my blog... I love that they all focus on Jefferson! http://wordle.net/

85 years....

I am working on planning decorations and menus for my Grandma's 85th birthday party, which will be celebrated on Thanksgiving weekend. She LOVES purple, so that is the theme: Purple Thanksgiving. Above are some images I am using as inspiration for the party. Yay!

RAGBRAI in Jefferson!

Jefferson, Iowa is my hometown and on Monday night Jefferson was an overnight town for RAGBRAI, (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). I arrived early Monday morning to help my parents prepare for the 40+ guests that would be staying at our house, shortly after their support drivers began to arrive. My parents house was en route into Jefferson; I spent several hours enjoying the beautiful day and watching riders go by.

I cannot begin to describe the enjoyment I found in getting to know the riders that stayed with us. We had several middle-aged women from Iowa, a couple from Fremont, NE, four riders from Colorado, a group of men from Aurora, IL, a bus from around the country, including New Jersey, Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc. and a couple riders from good old KC. It was so interesting talking to the riders, some were RAGBRAI virgins, others had done it for years, one thing that everyone mentioned was "Iowa hospitality." At our house, some of the riders dubbed me "the hostess with the mostess," which suited me just fine! I miss Iowa and love it dearly.

RAGBRAI is such an great event, because it's not a race, but instead a simple bike ride with 10,000+ friends. You see all kinds of people on RAGBRAI, young and old, athletic and determined, from all regions of the country and world. This experience has really inspired me ride next year, even if it's only a couple of days. I can't wait to start training...

Images above (clockwise starting in upper left corner): Riders leaving Jefferson, riders in the rain around Scranton, Nate Guess from Band KounterTop performing downtown, riders leaving Jefferson (next two), crowd in downtown Jefferson enjoying the concerts (center)

Here are some videos that I thought were interesting:

Lance Armstrong in Ames with thoughts on RAGBRAI & Iowa

Video of riders entering & leaving Jefferson

Six Random Things

Megan tagged me to write six random things about myself. At first I was reluctant, but I haven't posted in a LONG time and this proved to be surprisingly easy! I could probably even do 6 more!

Here's the list:

1. I just updated my flower favorites, they are as follows:

1. Calla Lilies (white, green, orange, and yellow)
   
2. Orchids (white and green are my fav)
   
3. Spider Mums (green, white, and yellow)
   
4. Orange Poppies
   
5. Hydrangeas (green and ivory)

2. Clarendon is my favorite typeface and I tend to overuse it. I absolutely loath Curlz and Comic Sans and cringe anytime I see it.

3. My biggest pet peeve (even more than improper font usage) are fork bitters. You know the type, people that insist on biting their fork, scraping their teeth against their fork and making all sorts of complaints about "food being too hot". Yikes! That sound is worse to me than fingernails on a chalkboard.

4. In high-school I was a two-time Teenage Champion at the Iowa State Fair Farm Bureau Cookout Contest. I can grill a mean chicken breast...

5. I love spreadsheets. In college I created a spreadsheet that would automatically update my GPA ever time I received a grade on a test, project, or paper. It was pretty sweet.

6. In middle school I had bucket/bottle calves, hogs, and a breeding heifer. I didn't live on a farm, but we had an acreage about 2 miles away from our house on the opposite edge of town. In the summer I would ride my bike to the acreage to feed them and carry hot milk bottles in a backpack. I have many, many fond memories from that experience and would never change a thing.

Those are six random things about me, tell me yours. Here are the rules:

• Link the person who tagged you
• Post the rules on your blog
• Write six random things about yourself
• Tag six people at the end of your post
• Let each person know he or she's been tagged by leaving a comment on his or her blog
• Let the tagger know when your entry is up

I don't know six people who blog, so Dayle, it's all you baby!