Burning... {calories, and my eyes, mouth, & nose}

I love pancakes.

I truly do. Tonight, as I was driving home from work (the lengthy, strenuous, one-and-a-half-minute drive), I was trying to decide what sounded good for dinner. And then it hit me:

Pancakes. With an egg sandwich.

So I made it, ate it, and stepped outside into the garage. I had plans to jump on my bike and pedal over to my "gym," called Nautilus.

A couple of weeks ago, I found out that Nautilus is closing their doors at the end of June. I am heartbroken. I have worked out at this place since I was fifteen years old. I really, really love it. Over the years, more and more of my friends and family obtained a membership at Gold's Gym. It was the one-on-one training, almost-private work out, and quality of exercise that kept me loyal to Nautilus. The workout at Nautilus is all about strength-training-- setting the weights high, training VERY slow, and only completing 5-8 reps until failure of the muscles. The harder you work, the less you have to do.

There is a middle-aged man who has devoted his entire life to this place, and is very good at what he does. He is so knowledgeable, and has always pushed me really hard. He has a very dry sense of humor in which I feel right at home with. He has always helped me work on form, technique, and perseverance. It has been wonderful.

During the warmer months, when it works out, I love to bike there. It's about a 3-4 mile bike there and back, so it's a great warm up.

Due to their closing, I may have to succumb to "what everyone else is doing" and join Gold's. Some perks are that Gold's has classes to help me keep up on my cardio and keep me disciplined. Yet, I am not looking forward to big crowds, a packed gym, and an unfamiliar workout style. I know I will adapt easily, but until then, I'm still sad Nautilus is closing.

I made salsa last night. It was my first time ever making it, so I found an easy blender recipe. I ran to the grocery store to get some of the ingredients and as I stepped outside to take the bags to my car, I was met with a huge downpour of rain. Just my luck. And really, why was I surprised? It has been raining intermittently over the past 4 weeks. I have truly never seen so much rain. I'm sure my dad could tell you the exact amount that we have received to the centimeter, as he monitors this as well as watches any storm, big or small, that rolls in on the radar online.

Anyway, back to the salsa. So, it called for a jalapeno pepper. Fun. I love spicy & hot. But I think I got a little too close for comfort. It said to remove the seeds.

Whenever I try something new, I am one of two ways. I either buckle under pressure and seek out help from every source I can find, making sure I do every step correctly, OR I adopt a fiercely independent attitude, refusing to even think of asking for help and trying everything new without a qualm in mind.

Last night was the latter, so I cut right into the jalapeno pepper. After a few failed attempts to remove the seeds with my knife (cutting and anything tactile is really not my strong suit), I discovered that the seeds are much easier to get rid of with my finger. So I started taking out all the seeds by swishing my finger along the insides of the pepper.

After chopping up many vegetables, blending it, and taste-testing it, I put it in a container and into the refrigerator. But I noticed that my mouth was starting to burn. And my nose.

It's then that I realized what I had done. I had basically bathed my hands and fingers in the jalapeno pepper, and then touched my face.

The story gets even better when I tried to take my contacts out that night for bed. And then put them in my eyes the next morning. I thought my eyes might burst into flames.

Nonetheless, the salsa is made, and I now know in the future the proper way to handle a jalapeno.

Love you all!

T