Post-Partum De(com)pression

The ride has been over now for more than a week, but its spirit is still dancing around inside of me.

I haven't had any work to speak of since I've been back, so it's given me lots of time to reflect and think about what to do next.

With the economy the way it is, and with California's budget in crisis, it's clear funding for organizations that do HIV/AIDS prevention and education services, as well as those that provide direct services to people with HIV/AIDS, are going to take big hits. So, I'm starting to think about creative ways to raise more money for next year.

It's ironic, because, of course, everyone has less money, so it makes it all the harder to raise. But I'm not about to roll over and give up. While I have the time, I'm going to research and try to come up with new ideas. We don't have our rider numbers yet-- we won't have them until sometime this fall-- but as soon as we do, I'll get a page up and start the ball rolling.

I've also started on my thank-you notes to send to my donors. It's really hard to express in a couple of sentences, without sounding overly dramatic, how important those donations are. There are so many good causes out there, but somehow I've attached myself to this one, and I think my friends realize how important it is to me, and for that I'm grateful.

Also, while I have the time, I'm going to do a little experimenting in the kitchen. Friends have asked me to cook for the dinner they are having for out of town guests the day before they get married, so I'm going to play around with some recipes. They are not expecting a huge crowd for that dinner-- maybe 20 or 30-- so it should be relatively easy, but I want to make it very special. Thom and Jeff are very special people, and they deserve nothing less.

Tonight, I'm going to make beans and rice with chicken sausage for dinner. Not exactly a low-cal meal, but it's healthy and certainly better than grazing on snack food. We do that way too much and we're trying to turn over a new leaf. If we can each lose 15 pounds in the next year, it will make cycling up steep hills so much easier.