365-2 | Peaches Prattlings

{August 17, 2014} Traveling with animals

It’s interesting.

Today, I packed up the car with some stuff, a cat box, food and two cats. How much do you think they liked that?

I picked up my car and cats to drive to Ann Arbor and then next week I will drive to my next project. Let’s just say they weren’t the happiest creatures; dogs, at least most of them, like going for rides in the car. Not so with cats.

After we wrangled each cat into a carrier, loaded the car and took off. The crying started. Who are we kidding, it started as soon as they were in their crates! After I was on the main highway and knew I was in for a long stretch, I let them out of their carriers and let them roam around, that seemed to help a little.

Peanut thought she needed to be at my feet or on my lap, the lap was fine and after a while she disappeared under one of the seats and didn’t come out until I got to the hotel. Jymy got on my shoulder like she did when she was a kitten and acted like a neck pillow for a while and eventually she sacked out on the passenger seat and slept there the entire trip.

I had no troubles when I got to rest stops or gas stations, they strayed right where they slept and never tried to get out and of course tried to stay in the car when we got to the hotel, go figure.

I’m in a pet friendly Hilton, which is great and I’m looking forward to having them with me on my next project, they’re calming…most of the time.

So…I drove about 9.5, maybe 10 hours today and have about 9 or 10 tomorrow with two cats, hopefully the crying won’t last too long…who wants to trade places with me?

{August 17, 2014} Warrior Dash…Go!

Today, I participated in the Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain, CO and had a blast!

I participated in the Warrior Dash two years ago in Georgia, actually, my first obstacle/mud run. Then, as I’m thinking about it, I’ve participated in 11 obstacle/mud runs over the last two years! WOW! One of the tag lines for The Warrior Dash is “The hardest, most fun you’ll ever have” and it was!

Admittedly, I skipped 4 of the 11 obstacles and I’m ok with that, I’m the only one who has to live with it! The obstacles that I skipped involved steep drops on the other side and I don’t trust what happens with my ankles in those cases. The first one I was already waiting 15 minutes to do because there was a bottle neck and it would have been another 15/20 minutes before I had the opportunity to go. But…it was awesome the way everyone was helping each other, especially on that first obstacle, either push or pull over the top and then the cheering was fantastic!

The last obstacle I skipped was the last one, which i would have enjoyed a lot. It was a cargo net climb and then a slide down into a pool. There wasn’t enough water at one point, so they had to shut down while they pumped water in so it would be safe. It was already a 30 minute delay and it would be another 30 minutes, maybe more, no thanks! Although, it did make the end of the run a little anti-climactic!

I will say, there wasn’t enough mud or barbed wire, like the first one I did, but…it was Colorado and there was SNOW! Before the mud pit, there was about .20 running through snow! What? Too cool!

All in all, it was a fun run, lots of people encouraging each other and just having fun and getting down and dirty, what more could you want!

After the run, it was time for a KILLER veggie burger and yes, you can say that, but only after I finally donated my sneakers, they had seen at least 6 of the mud runs for the last two years and it was time. I guess I’ll be calling RG to hook me up with a new pair of sneaks so i can turn my current ones into mud ones!

Hmmm…what’s next?

https://www.warriordash.com/location/2014-warrior-dash-colorado/

{August 16, 2014} How many things can go wrong on one morning…

Or, as DCM so eloquently put it, wth! Sort of.

First…I drove KLS, RG and myself to the airport for our 10am flights. We drop off the rental car and guess what I forgot to do…put gas in the rental car before turning it in.

Second… As KLS and I are standing in line to drop our bags, I have a duh moment…for the first time since I’ve been on this project, I did not book a 10am flight, I booked a 8:40am flight. What???? Yup, I got to the airport just after my flight left, fun.

I talked to Delta and they got me stand by on the 12:30 flight, sounds good. Whew…I had a 3:30pm appointment to get Annie an oil change! I did make it, by the way.

We had some time so KLS and I went to have breakfast. When I went to the bathroom to wash my hands, I walk in and there is a boy, about 13 or so in the rest room. I’m used to little boys in the ladies with their moms, but not a big kid. I focus and realize there are urinals behind him. Yes friends, I had found the men’s room! Seriously?

Can I go back and start the day over? The day is done, it ended on a high note. Here’s to a new day….

{August 14, 2014} My day…

Today was a good day…

Today was pretty simple, I got up, a motivated, had a catch up call with someone helping me to find a new project, answered emails and got work done.

Next, I walked 3.5 miles to a Pure Barre Class, http://purebarre.com, it was an interesting and intense class. After class, I walked to Ginger Deli for some vegetarian summer roles and a beet juice and some Sonic Lunch and some good music.

After lunch and entertainment I went to the post office, obviously to mail something and on the way in, a gentleman commented on my NY Yankees hat and we chatted about being from NYC and living in Ann Arbor.
After the post office, I headed to the shelter to drop off some toiletries and then turned around for the wall back to the hotel.

Got some work done, cleaned up and head out with KNOB and KLS, today is her birthday!! We headed downtown to The Black Pearl, http://www.blackpearlonmain.com,
which is a place we’ve been wanting to go.

We had a great time laughing, sharing stories and enjoying each others company. And there was a piece of cake and singing, what more could you want?

After dinner we walked and window shopped, then headed back to our hotels to relax, have a drink and hang out with some fun people on town for the week.

Lastly it’s time to talk to you and pack because I’m heading to Denver tomorrow to participate in the Warrior Dash on Saturday.

Good night!

{August 13, 2014} I am a truly lucky woman

Today two things happened to make me feel so very special.

The first wonderful thing that happened was when I got back to my hotel room and found a beautiful bouquet of fresh cut flowers and a wonderful card signed by almost everyone who works at Hilton Garden Inn at the front desk, maintenance and kitchen. How incredibly beautiful they are, don’t you agree? Sunflowers are my favorite flowers and Christina remembered that, I am so flattered!

There was also a fantastic card with a sweet and touching note “Hope these brighten your day as much as you do ours! We love you!” How lucky I am to have touched so many people to make them feel this way about me. LOVE

The second thing that happened was I got a package from my dad. It was two books we had been talking about the other day by one of our favorite authors, Jasper Fforde, http://www.jasperfforde.com/index2.html and a bunch of post cards illustrated by Edward Gorey, one of my favorite artists, http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/. Thank you daddy!

Thank you to those who think enough of me to send me such wonderful things!

{August 12, 2014} The Hundred Foot Journey

Tonight, KLS and I went to see The Hundred Foot Journey and it was wonderful.

Helen Mirren stars in this charming movie about a celebrated proprietress of a Michelin Star French restaurant in the French countryside and the Indian family who moves into the restaurant across the lane, One Hundred feet to be exact.

This is the story of passion, food, fire, love, respect, patience, expression, learning, understanding and acceptance. There are noses in the air, people thwarting each other at every turn, discovery, innovation, innovation, innovation, vanity, honesty, creativity among other adjectives that I could share with you.

Bottom line is this is a charming film that will make you go through a range of emotions, the best of which are peace, love and happiness.

To quote the great Julia Childs, “Bon Appetit!”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980648/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{August 11, 2014} I beat my time!

Tonight, I participated in the UA Pipefitters 5k and I bet my time!

The UA Plumbers and Pipefitters have descended upon Ann Arbor over the weekend and tonight, at 6:50pm there was a 5k and of course i had to participate!

The run was sponsored by the Semper Fi Fund, which is a nonprofit, and its program America’s Fund, are set up to provide immediate financial assistance and lifetime support for wounded, critically-ill and injured members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. What an amazing organization! Please read everything about it and what they do and stand for. http://semperfifund.org/

I put on my new running skirt with the sugar skulls and matching armbands and headed out with KLS downtown Ann Arbor in the pouring rain and got ready to run a 5k. The rain got lighter as the minutes passed and just after we started, it stopped! The Marines wouldn’t stand for rain during their run, right DCM?

I started the run off strong, but the humidity kind of got to me. I ran the first 1.3 miles, then walked about .2 miles, finding out that I had one of my best times for a mile 11 minutes! Then I started running again and when I finally crossed the finish line…40:49, I beat my time from last week by almost one minute! What? Awesome! It can only get better from here! I am stoked! I finished and beat my time! Who rocks? ME!

http://www.uapprun5k.com/

{August 10, 2014} Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Tonight I went on a movie date…with myself!

I took myself to dinner and then went to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I may be a little biased, but you could probably save your money and go see a matinee or wait for the DVD. I admit, I had fun, there were some very funny parts, but overall, wasn’t my favorite.

First…the movie starts off in the Spring and then all of a sudden they are in the snow, huh? Is Megan Fox a bad actress or was it just a bad role for her or written and/or directed poorly for her? I’ve only seen her in two other movies, both Transformers movies and one thing I have said for a long time, it became hard to concentrate on anything she says once she got her lips done. It was a little hard to take her seriously when she was riding her bicycle and helmet with lots of stickers, yes she is an adult.

Will Arnett was his normal cheesy self, I used to like William Fitchner so much when I first saw him on Grace Under Fire, Tony Shaloub was Splinter, the ginormous rat Sensei, Whoopie Goldberg was the news producer, nothing crazy.

I didn’t watch the show when it was on tv or see the original movie, so i don’t have anything to compare it to, I do know who the characters are, which is a good thing. As long as you suspend all your belief and just watch for some entertainment, you’re good.

You got the back story for this version, that part was fun to watch, the turtles growing and to see their personalities, each individual and funny, but all loving pizza and Pizza Hut being a sponsor was fun to see because KAB is a General Manager for a Pizza Hut, how cool. I will say there were two COWABUNGAs! That much I know from the tv show, Cowabunga.

Ok, I totally sound like I’m dogging the movie and I apologize, it wasn’t horrible and you know I love movies and movies from tv shows or cartoons, and if you’re looking for a mindless movie to kill some time, go for it. Yeah, that’s about it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291150/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{August 9, 2014} What a weekend…so far!

I’ve had a busy weekend and it’s only been two days!

Last night and today i went to new places, experienced new things and met new people, how could it be bad?

Last night, after my dinner plans got cancelled, I needed to find some food and Lauren, at the front desk, recommended I go to Saline, a ten minute drive down the road, so off I went. When I got there, the Saline Summerfest, http://salinesummerfest.org/, was going on.

A few of the streets were blocked off, there were about twenty vendors, food tents and live music, what a treat! I walked around and looked at all the booths, bought myself a little bracelet [the one with the tree of life on it], listened to some music and then went in search of food.

I ended up at Mangiamo Italian Grill and sat down at the end of the bar and ordered some dinner. Just as I was finishing, a woman sat down at the corner of the bar and we started talking. Her name is SG and she is a very fun and funny chick. We are the same height and when we exchanged names I asked if she ever gets called by my name and she said all the time, it’s crazy! I have that happen to me all the time too!

I think we talked for almost two hours; about our kids, jobs, traveling, everything and at the end, realized that we wanted to exchange numbers and maybe get together as long as I’m still here! I think she, KLS and I will have a great time!

I left the restaurant when they closed and headed back to the hotel, chatted with Sean and Johnathan for a long time, then came up stairs to talk to you guys.

This morning came way too early and the phone ringing at 10:30, but it was time to get up, lots to do. I decided to head to Dexter, MI for Dexter Daze, http://www.dexterdaze.org/, their two day community celebration: music, food, vendor, magicians, fun.

I got there about 12:30 and heard music coming from the gazebo and started walking. I went into a lot of booths and talk to some of the artists as I was going through.I ended up at this one booth where the artist was selling necklaces, bracelets and rings. Some were hematite, some were magnetic, to help with arthritis, circulation, etc.

We started talking and then the next thing you know, I’m in the tent, hanging out talking to Rob about his work, travel, kids, grand-kids, you name it, we covered it all! And the next thing you know, I’m selling his stuff alongside him!

I had a lot of fun and one thing let to another and I ended up staying there all day helping him sell, then tearing down and packing up his suburban to head home, then as a thank you, he took me out for dinner when we were all done.

I had such a great time selling and talking to people and helping little kids find something that just MUST have and with almost everything being five dollars, how could you go wrong!

He gave me the spoon charm and when I tried to pay for something else, he refused, thanked me for helping him. I actually had to tell him that someone else bought the steam-punk bracelet and ring so I could give him the money for it! He did, however give me two steam-punk bobby pins and a killer spoon charm [all pictured] as a thank you.

We parted company about 10pm and here we all are! I am exhausted!

{August 8, 2014} Fighting with a friend

Tonight, I’m sad.

Earlier today, I said something that hurt a friend and now he won’t speaK to me and I am heartbroken.

As we were talking, I was asking questions and I’m not sure he wanted me to ask questions or offer an opinion, it may have just been the time to listen and not say anything and I didn’t pick up on it.

I tried to apologize and he didn’t want to hear it or talk to me and subsequently hung up the phone. I texted and left a voice mail apologizing and that’s all I can do besides send good vibes out to him to let him know how sorry I am and that if and when he’s ready to talk, I will be here.

It’s hard when you hurt someone, especially when it was unintentional and until the other person has had time to calm down and think, you will never be able to talk things through and hopefully work them out.

I have known this person longer than almost anyone and if he wasn’t in my life anymore there would be a huge hole in my heart.

My Aunt E taught my mom, who taught us… to never go to bed angry and I have always tried to live by that and tonight, I can only hope he’s not angry, but my heart is heavy.

Please appreciate and love each other and…never go to bed angry.

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?