Biking the bridge, goal clothes, and pasta

Last night, I was still feeling disappointed that I didn't get to finish the course for Tour de Troit. I decided to look for another ride to do, hopefully this fall. And it turns out that Tour de Troit hosts another fall event called "Bike the Bridge" in October:

This is a unique ride, because you get to ride over the Ambassador Bridge (into Canada), which normally doesn't allow cyclists. I ran over the bridge for the Detroit Marathon, and it was awesome--I think biking over it will be really great as well! Then afterward, you go for a 20-mile bike ride around Detroit. This is a much smaller event than Tour de Troit (it's capped at 750 cyclists), but I went ahead and registered Jerry and I for it yesterday.

Between now and October 11th, I'm going to practice changing my tire tubes over and over until I'm good at it. And I'll bring at least three spares for the ride! Now that I know what to expect, I feel confident about the whole thing (although, biking uphill for the bridge is going to be tough!).

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It was kind of cool outside today, and I impulsively decided to try on the goal outfit that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Last time I tried it on, I could button and zip the jeans, but I still had love handles, and I didn't feel confident about wearing them. Today, I put on the jeans and the long-sleeved top, and I was really surprised to see that they both fit well! The jeans were really cozy, fitting just how I like them to (tight, but not in a I'll-have-to-peel-these-off-later kind of way). And I didn't have any love handles sticking out ;)

I tried on a few more pairs of jeans that had been close to fitting before, and I was able to move two of them over to my wearable pile. In about 10-12 more pounds, I should be able to wear ALL of my jeans again! Right now, I need a new outfit to set my sights on, so I went through some pictures, and this is what I chose:

I absolutely love those jeans (they're incredibly comfortable, when they fit); but right now, they're really tight. So, I'm hoping that in a month or so, I'll be able to wear this outfit again. (My friend Stephanie took that picture of me--she did a photoshoot for me when I was at my goal weight.)

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I made a really good new recipe for dinner tonight! I saw this recipe for Chicken Fajita Pasta on Pinterest, and it sounded great. I decided to use mushrooms instead of chicken, though, making it vegetarian (I'm not vegetarian, but I'm pretty picky about meat, and mushrooms just sounded better today). I also used half-and-half instead of heavy cream, and made my own fajita seasoning mix. It was delicious!

It was spicy and creamy, a great combo. And a pretty large portion (just under two cups) was only 411 calories.

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I'm sorry for this, but I'm not going to be able to write a Motivational Monday post tomorrow. At noon, I have to launch the third post that I wrote for Prudential--I wish I could choose when to post it, but they choose that. So anyway, I'll save the Motivational Monday submissions for next week!