Lucky number 13: Errandonnées #11-13

My last three errands covered the rest of the categories and took place in more spring-like weather. But the wind, my friends. Nothing comes near to breaking my bike mojo like the wind.

Out like a seriously cranky lion: Errandonnées #6-10

The penultimate day of both March and the Errandonnée saw me go through 4 errands and 4 seasons. If one of the seasons was a really cold summer. I might be stretching the imagery a bit.

Sidelined: Errandonnées #4 & 5

I had to bail on some plan this weekend because 1) the restaurant was closed for a private party and 2) I couldn't go to K's for dinner because I got sick. Blah. Not half-done, and there are only four days left.

However, I did get to wear my wedding dress again and got new shoes, so there's that.

Springing forward: Errandonnées #1 - 3

It's the first day of spring, which means two things: Jour du Macaron and, this year, the Errandonnée. I got off to a good start. I posted the photos on IG, which means I actually documented my controls in real-time, while the blog posts will all be timey-wimey (this one, for example). My goal this year is to hit every category.

Errand the first: commuting. Category: work/volunteering. Distance: 6.1 km. Obs: seasonal temps... But for how long? #errandonnee #bikeTO

A post shared by Andrea M (@aem2_) on Mar 20, 2017 at 3:12pm PDT

I've been thinking I should make another bike-to-work video to the changes along my route (such as new lights and protected/separated bike lanes) this month.

It's baaaack: Errandonnée 2017

It is that time of year again. To see the month of March out, the chasing mailboxes biking challenge I usually manage to finish (if not to finish blogging): the Errandonnée.

There are rules, because rules make it more fun. I will probably be mainly Instagramming this one (did I mention of course I haven't mentioned because I haven't blogged in forever, so now I will say that I finally got a smartphone and an Instagram account. Not in that order.) Perhaps coincidentally, this year's Errandonnée begins on Jour du Macaron. Because that works out nicely.

As a pre-Errandonnée errand in the category of "You carried WHAT on your bike", I had to take Lucy to the vet because she's ... not well. I promise that the carrier was level when we were actually moving, and the tilt is only from getting the phone out of the purse after we got home.

I was framed. Framed, I tell ya! #sickkitty #youcarriedwhatonyourbike?

A post shared by Andrea M (@aem2_) on Mar 16, 2017 at 12:23pm PDT

2016: Still waters running deep

Things have been a little... quiet... on the blog lately. As predicted, school has been kicking my butt time-wise, but I did do some things this past year. I'm going to make a concerted effort in the new year to follow my original goal of blogging on average once a week. Many posts are currently sitting in the drafts folder, but they will see the light of day. Maybe even this year.^*

On with the yearly wrap-up. It was a year. The consensus is that it sucked globally, but personally, it was pretty good. I had 8 months of vacation, followed by 4 months of making up for it in spades. The DC and I celebrated our first anniversary as married adorables and my cat Lucy celebrated her 17th birthday by finally realizing that she has massive arthritis in her hips and so therefore shouldn't be leaping from the sewing table to the ironing board and that she could, in fact, pee on this.

Heartwrenching: Errandonnées #10-12

Yesterday was the last day of the Errandonnée, and I still needed to complete two more errands and ride a bunch more kilometres. And so I did.



The recent rise in temperature has led us to believe we won't need our space heater again, so I strapped it to my Opus to take it to our storage locker. It's an odd shape, with an asymmetric bulge at the back, so I had to balance it at an angle and it was a bit awkward biking with the top right beside the seat. I was worried that the horrible state of road on Ossington would bounce it right off, but that net bungee held it solidly.

I'm sure this will come back to bite us in a month.

Urban weekending: Errandonnées #5-9

This past weekend was very urbany. It included shopping, a quasi-event, and brunch.

Errandonnée month means it's time to get my library card renewed. These days I've mostly been downloading ebooks, which is excellent for borrowing library books for the completely lazy because if you forget to pick them up or return them they just return themselves, no fine accruing. Alas, you still have to renew your card in person, so yesterday I set off up the road. It was one of those days were you feel that Spring is definitely about to happen; 17°C, sunny, and nary a curb snowbank in sight.

Bike, food, and charity: Errandonnée #4

Danielle has been going to the weekly charity lunch at the Palais Royale for a while and thanks to the errandonnée (and being on leave) I finally got off my duff and went. I even finished my Mathilde top for the occasion.



The Palais hosts this lunch every Wednesday, unless notified. For a minimum donation of $15, you get to eat good food in art deco splendour. It's quite stripped down: you pick up the food buffet style, there are no linens, and you bus your own table, but it's a good place to hang out with friends and I'll be back for sure.

It's fairly easy to ride to but I have to complain about the utter lack of bike parking, even though it's right on the Martin Goodman trail. We really shouldn't have to ask for it.



As I left, it started sprinkling rain, but I made it home before I got too wet. Rain, not snow! Exciting!

Errandonée tally
Social Call: Charity lunch at Palais Royale (7 km)

Total Mileage: 18.8 km/11.8 mi
Total Categories used: 4

Gracefully Saved: Errandonée #1

The Errandonée started on Friday, but I didn't get started until today. I celebrated by dragging the DC out of bed so we could catch an early table for brunch at Saving Grace. He was thrilled, so say the least.

Errandonnée 2016: The triple double letter score is back!

It's ba-ack! The Errandonnée, one of my favourite times of year, sponsored by MG of Chasing Mailboxes DC.

I'm a much more successful errandoneure than coffeeneure, although this year the work category will be a bit trickier to complete.

Basic rules: Starting March 4, do 12 errands in 9 different categories in 12 days, going at least 3.34 km (2 miles) per errand, for a total of 50.1 km (30 miles). This year, you can even run as well as biking should that be your thing.

I've been a total hermit this year, so this will give me the impetus to get off my tush and do stuff. And maybe even catch up on all the blogging. Bring it.

Where it began...: Coffeeneuring #1

I married my favourite person in the world today. It was really lovely, and I'll write a blog post about it when I get the pictures back, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to coffeeneur. And post some teaser pics.

We rented the tandem, which the DC decorated; I feel we got the true @Coffeeneur experience. Just a short jaunt around City Hall, then to the restaurant, then to Grange Park to shiver while we had some photos taken. People along the way kept congratulating us.

Must have been the flowers.

After we returned the bike, we crossed the street to the Red Room, where we had our first date. We even sat at the same table. I had a very large, very welcome hot chocolate. Plus they gave us free wine!



So this year's coffee bikeventure started off on a really high note.

Mileage: 3.2 km/2 miles (or thereabouts, but cut me some slack cuz I'm the bride.)

The fourth time's the charm...

As a slight change of pace from all this sewing and stuff, it is time again for...

The last time I managed to complete a Coffeeneuring challenge was four years ago. This time? It's on.

Coffeeneuring is basically riding a bike and drinking coffee (or coffee-like drinks), with rules. This year there is a theme within a theme... theme, which is to add an additional theme as you see fit, such as ride all the bikes you own. I've been doing this unofficially for years, which is to go to new-to-me coffee shops and have a different drink each time. I will have more success than in past years because a) I plan to not get sick and b) I can go any day of the week!

It starts the day of my wedding, and how nice of everybody (including the City) to go all out and celebrate little old us.

Lucky number thirteen, and there's an end: Errandonnées #12 - 13

I was not planning to be finished the Errandonnée yesterday. Today was warm, and I thought I would go out and wash my bike, which it desperately needs, and go to the library, but the lure of the jammies was too great and I actually sewed some stuff and ran some internal errands. So here are my final entries.

Careful the things you say: Errandonnées #9 - 11

Pi Day is also the first day of this year's March Break. My usual modus operandi for the holiday is to laze around at the beginning, then rush around like a madwoman near the end trying to get stuff done. I thought I'd try a different strategy this time.

It sort of worked. I totally lazed this morning, then, realizing I would have to get a move on if I wanted to get some errands in before going to see a movie. Now, normally, I would have probably let the errands go in favour of not getting dressed, but... Errandonnée!

The Errandonnée: good for my social life and for Getting Stuff Done.

Not only Stuff, but Stuff That I've Been Meaning To Do For A Good Long While. Like take about $50 in rolled nickels and dimes to the bank (partially exchanged for $25 in loonies).

Turns out $50 in tiny coins is a lot heavier than twice $25 in loonies.

Warmer... warmer... oops! colder... warmer...: Errandonnées #5 - 8

This week, it was all one errand per day; in the past I would did individual daily posts, but I'm going to lump them all together.

This post is a bit picture-heavy. You're welcome.

Monday on the way home from school, I realized I had just enough time to go renew my library card. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was actually too warm to wear my earwarmers. Delightful!

In which PhysicsGirls acquires too many shoes: Errandonnées #2-4

Saturday... was warm. Well, warm-er. As in, close to freezing. It was very exciting. I've been going around saying "+1!"



What do I do when it is almost-but-not-quite +1? Errandonnée on my bike without a face mask. And buy shoes, apparently. It was glorious.

I am officially tired of winter: Errandonnée #1

Another year, another Errandonnée from MG at chasing mailboxes. 12 errands, 12 days. Starting today. As usual, I'm going to try to hit all the categories. Kind of looking forward to "You carried WHAT on your bike?" You've got until the 16th to fit them all in, should you wish to play along at home.

Even though there's only one errand here, this post is a bit long. However, it has it all: biking, ranting, craftiness, and science. Yay errandonnée!

It's been solidly in the negative teens to twenties for months. Yesterday, we had a brief lift up into merely freezing, only for it to plunge back down just in time to start off this year's errandonnée with yet another bitterly cold ride to work.

A year in the life: 2014 retrospective

...sort of. I was going to do Gillian's 5 things roundup, but then I decided to steal Oonaballoona's collage idea and grey out the makes that didn't work out so well. And then I thought: since this blog isn't just about the stuff I make, usually, why not do an entire year in review? I've done some fun stuff this year, and I haven't gotten around to blogging it all yet, but this would be a good way of remembering where I went and what I did.

So that's what you're getting, with some reflections along the way, minus the pancakes. You can see all my makes at Crazy Stuff I Do; most of the event posts are In Progress^TM.

The biggest thing to celebrate is a year a successful cohabitation with the DC! I'm still not sure what I did to deserve him, and I'm very excited to announce that Lucy has stopped hissing at him. Plus? He brings me tea and does the dishes. Often. And unasked. He's all-around awesome and I'm a lucky lady.

Ahem. On with the remembrances. Do you need me to tell you it's probably going to be a long post?

Having some Coffeeneuring with my UFOs

I wound up taking a bit of an unplanned break from the internet over the summer which has lasted until nowish, and I've gotten a wee bit behind in my blogging (and blog-reading, in case you've been missing my scintillating comments). However, it's officially autumn now^* which means, for me, anyway, a bit of a new start. Of course, the beginning of school means I don't actually have time to catch up on my blog, but I'm going to make a concerted effort. Really. Expect several timey-wimey posts in the future. Or past.

Anyway, I've been Tweed Riding and Dining in White and OWOPing, and I'm still Sewing for a Change and making pancakes, and I will post that stuff this week, but I want to tell you about some new challenges that are coming up (or currently happening).

MG at Chasing Mailboxes has issued the fourth annual Coffeeneuring Challenge: 7 weeks, 7 different coffee shops. I didn't finish last year because I got derailed by sickness, but I'm determined to succeed this year.

As in previous years, I'm going to visit new-to-me cafes in different parts of the city.

I've been spectacularly bad about participating in sewing challenges these past few months. And by spectacularly bad I mean sometimes I finished items but didn't take pictures in time, but mostly I just didn't get things sewn. But All Style and All Substance's Anti-UFO Challenge is something I need to take part in. Three words: Wall of Shame.



I have a few items that are cut and ready to be sewn, but I'm not going to start any of those until I have finished all the bits and bobs currently waiting for me. Most of them are things needing buttons and so forth, but significantly this means I will finish poor Steg and the Spring Steppes sweater that has been a year and a half in the making.

No, really. Look at the determined look on my face.

^*Technically, summer doesn't officially end until this evening, but I'm calling it anyway.