When Last We Left Our Intrepid Heroine...

I got for Christmas. This one:



and I'm finally out and about on it a bit.  I'm nervous as hell, lemme tell you.  NERVOUS.  She's bigger than my last bike, and has a fair amount of power, but I love her.  (Her name's Rook, in case anyone wants to know.)

(God, this is sooooooo disjointed.)

I've taken the basic rider's course, and did pretty well.  Slow speed stuff makes me wibbly, but I'm getting better.  I took her to the gas station to fill up and got in and out okay, although it took me a lot longer than it should have to actually feel like I had enough room to make the turn, and the subsequent right hand turn to get home. 

Liam has been out riding with me, and we've got headsets, so he's been wonderful about keeping me focused and steady.  :-)

The only thing that makes me nervous is that he's a much better rider than I am and he's way more comfy on his bike.  See:  Much better rider.  :-)  He's apologized for seeming like a hard ass about getting me out and around, and if I feel like he's pushing me to go faster or on bigger roads than I feel ready for, I'm supposed to tell him. 

This is going to become my commuter bike, although that's a bit off in the future.  Getting to work is one thing, since traffic is pretty light at 0600, but 1630 is a whole different animal and the idea of stop and go on an overpass makes me want to barf. 

Headsets are charging, and we'll be heading out again after dinner to make the inner loop, and whatnot.  We'll see how it goes.

The living room floors are coming along nicely.  My hands are fairly blistered, but those heal.



The darker floors are going to help with the fact that all of the walls soar to the second story and the space is...HUGE.

So, I'd been thinking about repainting the master bath.  I was thinking...silvery grey walls, with black cabinets and chrome/silver accents.

Evidently, what I *really* want is purple-blue or blue-purple, with bright white.  Or a mushroom-y grey brown, but I think that's loosing ground steadily.

*headdesk*

This first color is called Magic Spell, by Behr.  For some reason, it's coming across horribly grey, and it's not...it's very very vibrant.



This is another purply-blue, called Merlin by Valspar.  This is a little closer to the true color palette, but wow, it's just not as deep.  Of course, this is computer monitor, so I guess I should hush.


The final color I swatched is called Creek Bend, by Bahr.  I was hoping it was more grey and less mud, but...not so much.  If you look at it on the screen, it looks EXACTLY like the color on the walls already, but...not so much.  On the wall, it's MUCH more grey-brown, like, well...creek mud.




Here's a shot of them swatched on the wall.  From left to right, it's Magic Spell, Creek Bend and then Merlin.  This first wall gets a lot of natural light from the large window just to the right of the tub.  The second wall is in the small commode room and gets a lot less light.