Dana Burland

This post is specifically for my sister , who voiced disappointment that there was nothing new here to distract her from her freelance project, and for Toy , who challenged my overuse of explanation marks in previous posts. Tori, I'd love to tone down the excitement, but how can I when the highlight of my day is poking laundry lint with a pitchfork? Life around these parts has been pretty quiet lately, only punctuated with a few moments of excitement. Top of the list is Evan's last day of high school ! He so distraught to be done with more than a decade of schooling around here that he cried hysterically and could only be consoled by a Coney Island chocolate milk shake. Tori and I were also so upset that we had to have milk shakes as well. Another recent highlight was Regan's second wedding shower last weekend. The median age was 65, so you know it was a blast. My great aunts, grandma and other assorted female relatives put on a great party at a semi-awkward Chine...

This past weekend I spent up north with my family participating in the 20th annual Zoo-De-Mack bike bash . On Saturday we rode the 51 mile course from Harbor Springs to Mackinac City . The red line at the top of the mitt traces our route (click the photo to enlarge). Although it was a bit cold and wet (mid 40's, I rode with my winter jacket on!), the ride was just as gorgeous as last year —incredible hills, tunnel of trees , bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan and sand dunes. My dad, sister, brother and I all rode mostly together in a spirited peloton , trying to catch one another. Our homemade " flair " this year was in motorcycle theme (notice the excitement over the rhinestone arm-bands). Not pictured are the leopard print and skull bandannas on the bikes. The bandannas actually came into use this year—as leg warmers and Kleenex. It was great to see Evan experience his first ZDM; although some of the hills were tough, he often passed me on them! I know he lo...

Ain't nothin' wrong with a quick connection to  The Sound of Music.  Lately I've been asked to share a couple links; a certain up and coming runner needed to know my trick to figuring out distance of workouts and after getting turned on to an awesome website for buying shoes, I figured I should share that too. This got me thinking about sites I visit often, thus I've created installment #1 of a few of my favorite things: 1. Map My Run This is a great site to calculate how far you run (or will run). Plug in an address, draw your route and the site figures your millage. I haven't explored this site as much as I should, but I know there are some other great features like finding races in your community and comparing your runs against others. Apparently there's some connection you can make with the program to iTunes or an iTouch, too. The same company makes Map My Ride , a similar site for biking. 2. Augusten Burroughs blog I have a slight addiction to ...

One of my favorite things to do when I'm home in the summer is to walk through Cranbrook . The buildings are so detailed and the grounds are absolutely gorgeous when all the flowers bloom. Evan, his friend Sam and I went exploring there today. We walked through the campus and through some of the gardens. The weather was perfect and the fountains were on; it was fantastic! Too many things were too pretty, and I have way too many photos to share, but here are a few of my favorites. From the left is of the fountain by the art museum, near the botanical garden and of us in front of a cherry blossom tree. Among our explorations we wandered across a mysterious shack in the woods. It was a tiny wooden building with a wall of windows.

I might not be writing, but someone is reading! My health and fitness blogs have been growing cobwebs for awhile; for the past few months, I've been contributing more to the sunken imprint in my couch than to the blogging world. Although I've been "on vacation", my email inbox continues to grow—with male enhancement spam and messages from unheard of royalty who promise they will wire me their sick relative's millions if I respond with my Social Security number. And sometimes I received cool emails like I did a few weeks ago. I was invited to participate in an America's Wellness Challenge webinar for this morning. I was pretty pleased to sit in my pajamas with a bowl of oatmeal while a dermatologist , registered dietitian and licensed naturopathic doctor presented about wellness. What I found the most interesting was Life Supplemented 's (webinar host company) wellness scorecard . The quick questionare ranked your overall wellness in four categories...

Yay, first post! I made this blog to keep in touch with all six people who are wondering what's going on with me. Within the next eight months I'll be jet-setting all over the Midwest; I hope to fill this blog with stories, photos and maybe videos of my travels. Right now I'm trying to " get my ducks in a row " for the start of my internship in Pennsylvania. I'm extremely excited for this new opportunity! I'll leave for the 11-week program at the beginning of June. Part of the Zoo-De-Mac ride last year through the Tunnel of Trees ! Between now and then I have a few other adventures. In two weeks my whole family will head up north for our second Zoo-De-Mac bike race. My brother, Evan will be joining us by bike this year, too. Check back for photos. I can't wait to see this blog grow with new experiences. I hope this serves as a successful way to share all my excitement with you.