H:  Sal, listen to this.  It’s our deep thought for the day.

S:  [Looking up from cycling news] Ok.

H: Ok, here it is.  ‘If I died today-”

S:  Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.  I don’t like this.  Don’t die!

H: Just listen.  I’m not dying!

S: [Scowls]

H: ‘If I died today, would I really care if my house was clea-’

S:  YES!  Yes I would because if you died I would still have to live in this dump!”

H: [Sigh.] Dude, you are missing the point!

S:  [Grumble]

Anyway, dear readers.

Here’s the point. Depart your messy houses and push forth into the world.  Go light things up.  There is a life to live out there.

xo
H

Besides the whole Crazy Cyclist thing, there have been a lot of other stuff that’s news and noteworthy.

This post is screaming for a list so I’m going to give in. In exchange, I promise pictures at the end.

1. I (hi, I’m Heidi, I’m the Bobo-voicepiece) decided to race bikes. I know you’re thinking, “But you already race bikes.” and technically you are correct. What I mean to say is, I decided that I’m really going to race bikes. Like, I’m going to actually train. I even hired a coach. (!!) I want to be at least a little bit fast if I am going to go out there and get pummeled in road races, criteriums, and time-trials. And so the work begins. For the record, I’m riding and running my little legs off in an effort to fulfill my dreams of becoming a “real” bike racer.
2. Sal has likewise begun preparations for the 2008 racing season. Our weekends are now officially booked out until the end of the year. (No, really.) He’s been out hammering with our team on Saturdays and has already had good showings at The Cherry Pie Road Race (two weeks ago) and the Jack Frost Time Trial (last week). His fitness is looking good and it looks like all his early mornings at the gym might have paid off.
3. We welcomed four new bikes into the family in December. Yes, four. That is not a typo. I got my long-coveted Iro fixed gear and Sal (of course) had to have a fixed gear as well. Sal also finally got the Time Trial Bike of His Dreams (a VeloVie weighing in at 17 pounds) and scored a pretty stellar deal on a new ‘cross frame for next season (Specialized S-Works). If he does not win something big this year I am going to cut off his sponsorship . Building the ‘cross bike will be a six month endeavor… I am looking forward to long nights of debating components and wheel selection. So romantic!
4. I got a few more photography gigs! Real ones. Like… real commercial, assignment work for real clients who have real marketing budgets. Wild. I look forward to further expanding my photography business this year and continue to expand my skills with workshops, classes, and torturous modeling sessions whereby I alienate Sal and other various friends by popping strobes in their faces over and over and over again.
5. I also put a really basic photography website up. Actually, I’m already working on a new site, but I got this one up in a hurry because, you know, a little web presence never hurt anyone. Feel free to check it out! http://swiftimagery.com/ and if you know anyone who needs a photographer – send them my way!
   
6. We’re turning 9! That’s right. Our ninth anniversary is coming up in two weeks. I’d lay money that Romance-a-Thon (our annual anniversary trip) will have something to do with riding bikes.

The sun has been visiting Portland lately and we’re all cracked out on it. I found Sal in the kitchen two weeks ago screaming, “My eyesssssss!!!!” A huge shaft of bright white winter sunlight was pouring in through the window in front of the sink. The groundhog told us there’d be no early spring, but I think he was wrong. I don’t trust vermin anyway.

We’ll be in the Bay Area next week working, but would love to catch up with Cali friends if you’re around. Give us a shout – we’re both pulling the 9-5 thing, but our weeknights are pretty free right now.

Love and Rockets,
BoboKids

Sally in the studio a few nights ago.

Tommy and Sally

Sunrise from the studio window.

Five flights to get to the studio.

After a brief panic relating to the scarcity of extension cords and outlets, we were able to hook up our projector, DVD player, and portable iPod speakers (which we’d brought from home) to pull off the home entertainment achievement of the year.

Projected onto a king-sized flat sheet, Billy Elliot looked positively impressive as he danced his way into our collective hearts as he has before so many times.

Nevermind that it was 20 degrees outside. We huddled together around a roaring campfire wrapped in hats, scarves, jackets, and blankets. We sipped warm holiday beverages, roasted marshmallows, and watched as our wee home projector lit up the surrounding forest.

We may be crazy, but at least we’re having fun!

The sky was impossibly clear.

Sal isn’t miserable, I swear. He just looks that way.

Home sweet 700 square foot cabin!

My mom is a Christmas sucker, for sure.

This is a 12 minute exposure. I opened up the shutter and walked away.
I have no idea what caused that streak of light, but I would kill to find out.

I should be knee-deep in snow, freezing my ass off.

That’s just what Christmas feels like to me.  Trying to pull together my Christmas cheer in warm, blinding sun is something of a challenge.

Not to fear, I got my beloved snow.  Sal and I are in Cle Elum with my family for New Years this year, and we’re back in our favorite Bed and Breakfast – the Iron Horse Inn.  Our “room” is a renovated railroad caboose called the “Southern Pacific”.  It’s cute as a bug and has a two-person spa tub to boot.

Sure, we drove through a totally sketchy mountain pass, with cars spinning out in front of us left and right, to get here.  But it was all worth it!

Here’s a few pictures from this morning:

Brrrr!
(Yay!)

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Bam.

A Christmas video-conference with much-missed family back in the old country.

It was truly amazing…

If this isn’t an Apple ad, I don’t know what is… look at the joy!

We couldn’t believe we actually got it to work.

Fina shares her arancine.

I can honestly say that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Sal’s mom so happy.

It’s quite a process to produce these little numbers, so I took some process shots last night during phase one:

These are the rice balls, pre-breading.

Sal tries his hand at crafting the balls.  It’s harder than it looks.
He got yelled at by the Master Ball Crafter.  (A lot).

Fina doesn’t look too impressed with Sally’s output.

It’s a lonely road being the only Master Ball-Maker in the house.

Angelo is pretty good at it, but he stopped at two.

After the balls are constructed, they’re bathed in a flour and water mixture.
This helps the breading stick.

From the flour and water mixture bath, straight into the pre-sifted breadcrumbs.

I’m pretty sure this is right before Sal quit.
For the record, I made four balls after I stopped shooting, and I did not get yelled at.
Rose and Sal have started calling me the golden child.

Guess what’s for Christmas Eve dinner?
(We were all laughing because the little crabbies were squirming. So evil!)

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T-Minus 11 days ’til Christmas.

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I love the cold, and the gray, and the rain, and the snow… and all the required bundling.  I can finally say this with confidence and happiness. This is who I am!  This is how it is!

Cyclocross is over.  And while we mourn its passing, we are getting a much-needed break from the long Sundays spent setting up, preparing, racing, taking down, and cleaning.  I upgraded from beginner to B category for my last race and totally killed it.  It was at the United States Grand Prix race (a national level event) which occurred on the Sunday of the “Storm of the Decade”

It was epic.  The full race report is here.

We put up Christmas lights three weeks before Thanksgiving, but we are still managing to lag on getting the cards out (we hope you’ll think they’re worth the wait!).  The tree is decked and protein bars are baking in the over.  I decorated my Old Dutch bike with a string of battery-powered Christmas lights and have been spreading holiday joy all over the great city of Portland.

We’re excited to see friends and family over the next few weeks.  (We’ll be in San Jose for a few days over Christmas and then up in Cle Elum to see my parents, the People of the Mountain, for New Years Eve.)

I’ve had the chance to shoot a couple of holiday parties this December and I’ve had a blast.  I even brought Sal to one in Seattle and made him be my lackey.

He kept shouting, “I’m your key grip!!”  and I kept saying, “But there’s no key light!”
To which he’d respond, “Yeah, but I’m your key grip!”

I have to say, he’s the best non-key-grip-key-grip I’ve ever had the chance to work with.

Now that cyclocross is over, we should be back to our regularly scheduled programming here at BoboBytes.  Sal’s sister Rose totally called me out on my delinquency while we were visiting over Thanksgiving.

Speaking of visiting over Thanksgiving… I’ll leave you with some photos.  Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

What can I say… he’s Sicilian.

Sal’s Uncle Tony was in town and we celebrated his 80th birthday with a pizza party.

Sal’s dad Angelo is adorable.

Sal in front of the brick oven that he and his father built in the backyard.

Pizza is serious business. DO NOT get in the way of these two.

Our friend Kimmy.  Ain’t she pretty?

Kimmy’s daughter Kaya (my best friend in the whole wide world )
She’s making a “Scaciatta Mask with Sausage Cigar”

This is Pinootz.  I have no idea how to spell that.  It’s a nickname (it suits her).
She’s four feet of pure fun.

These guys are classic.  (Especially Massino, on the left.)

They roasted black olives off the front tree.

Kaya delivers her custom-made pizza to the oven.

Sal’s mom, Fina, fries the panelli.  These are made from chickpea-flour.
OMYGOD.  They are soooooo good.

Yum.

Happy Birthday, ZioNino!

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Cyclocross season is in full swing and we’re racing every Sunday from here ’til December.  I’ll be taking a break in a week to attend a marketing seminar in L.A., but other than that it’s all ‘cross, all the time.

I joined Sal’s team, Portland Velo, for the cyclocross season and placed 4th in my first race out at Barlow last weekend in horrific conditions.

Unfortunately, the true bike racers got the best of me this past weekend at Alpenrose on a fast and dry course that put the sizzle in my quads and send me home crying.

Sal is killing it as usual and you can catch all our race reports and photography highlights over at Everyday Athlete.

If you don’t hear from us before December, at least you’ll know why.

Feeling adventurous?  Come visit us on a Sunday and experience ‘cross fever for yourself.  You will not believe the way these crazy, nutcase people party.  For real!

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely fall rain!  I am overjoyed with the wet weather and have finally given into the fact that I am a true Northwesterner.  Bring me rain and wind.  Pumpkin pie and lentil soup.  I love this time of year!!

xo
Heidi

There is never enough time in New York City. Never.

My inner gypsy is on a tear.
I love traveling.
That’s the long and short of it.

I’m staying at my Great Aunt Mary’s Harlem apartment right now and flying out to LA first thing in the morning to reunite with my long-lost Sally-pants. Between now and then I am cramming in as much fun as I can possibly muster.

Last night I returned to Brooklyn for a gallery party with India and her partners. Post-party we returned to my “favorite place in New York” – Abilene on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. (I told the amazing bartender how “this barstool is my favorite place in New York” about 15 times while he and India tried to figure out how I could stay in NYC a little longer).

Tonight is a gallery opening on the west side followed by some kind of sure-to-be-ridiculous gastronomic extravaganza. I’ll be hurting in the morning but these are the prices that must be paid, people.

I’m happy to be headed west again but I must admit that a tiny part of my heart will break when I say goodbye to this city tomorrow.

Love and Kisses,
Heidi

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