365-2 | Peaches Prattlings

{December 9, 2014} My weekend in pictures.

That sounds like a book or movie! I love it!

As promised, here are pictures from my weekend in Colorado. I hope you enjoy them!

Friday night in Golden, CO.

All culminating with the lighting of the tree! Such a pretty night and sight!

Day one on Breckenridge:

My view at lunch, what was yours?

The sun is starting to set, beautiful.

My view while I waited for Ski Patrol [sitting on my personality]

Ok, could some of my skier friends tell me how I can avoid bruising from my boots? See the lump on my left leg? If I forget to wrap my right ankle, the beads rub and make blisters, ouch!

Day two at Breckenridge:

How gorgeous is this sky?

My view at lunch:

I hope you enjoyed seeing there as much as I did being there! Who’s coming with me next?

{December 7, 2014} My weekend…swoosh!

Go grab a cup of coffee, cocoa, tea, whatever, this is going to be my entire weekend! You know how these go!

I arrived in Denver on Thursday night, eventually, after taking off an hour late, sat down at the airport to book a hotel, I know, I know, why didn’t I do it before I left Chicago? Not a clue, but I found one pretty quickly, went to pick up the rental car and off I went.

I booked a hotel in Golden, Colorado “Where the West Lives” is the town motto. This is a great little town, charming, quaint and a little old west town and could be called a “one horse town” because it’s not that big, but it has character. http://www.cityofgolden.net/

I remember the first time I was there, for my friend AM’s wedding, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was, lots of walking, a stream that people swim, practice kayaking, just enjoy.

Friday, I worked for a few hours and then headed to the storage unit to pick up my skies, what I didn’t expect to find were gifts that I had bought for different kids for the holidays, how happy was I! I loaded it all into the car and headed back to the hotel. I headed to the post office to ship them to my sister’s house to figure it all out there. Then I headed to Khol’s to see what I could use my coupon for!

I know, what do you care about the piddly stuff, well, there is a thought process! I was in Kohl’s and I got two pairs of boots, oh, I bought a pair of black boots for work, on my way back from the storage unit! At Kohl’s I bought a pair of boots that will be great in the snow, perfect for going to and coming from skiing and then I bought some knock off UGG type boots, much cheaper! And all man made materials, which makes me happy.

After I took my bounty back to the hotel, I decided it was time for a bite to eat and off to Golden I went. It turns out they were having a candlelight walk, everyone has a lit candle and walks while they sing Christmas carols. They are walking towards the end of town for the lighting of the Christmas tree, I was there and got to see it, charming!

After the ceremony, I got a bite to eat and headed back to the hotel, I wanted to write to you, get some sleep because I was going skiing in the morning! The morning came too early when someone called at 7am, what? But I got up, had some breakfast and headed up to Breckenridge to go ski!

The drive was about 1.5 hours and I don’t mind it, it’s a beautiful drive, the mountains, snow, simply beautiful. The best part…the roads were clear. I got to Breckenridge and parked in a lot, hopped on the shuttle and onto the gondola I went. The hardest part for me is buckling the boots, it takes a long time and when I’m done, I’m sweating! So happy to share that with you!

Off to the lift I went and as soon as I got to the top, I just stood there for a moment and realized just how amazing this was and how happy I was, blissful if I can say that! I turned on some music and downhill I went. I did a few runs, then about 12:30, it was time for some lunch and let me tell you, the view from this place was fantastic! After a short break, back to skiing, I had to go! And you know what happened on my last run [I fell on my personality]

After skiing, I was ready to head back to the hotel and as I was leaving, passed the Race of the Santas, http://www.gobreck.com/events/community-events/Victorian-holiday-wonderland, I wish I had known about it! How much fun would it have been!

Saturday night was low key and then today, I repeated the process by getting breakfast and then heading to Breckenridge for another day of swoosh. After several good runs, I was ready to go “I’m going to do two more runs and skip the second” Made it to the bottom, no problem. Lunch, walk around and then it was time to go, I didn’t groove on driving at night through the mountains, no lights, go figure!

After lunch, I headed to my friend AM’s house to bring my skis so I don’t have to drive all the way to the storage unit to get them each time, he is pretty close to the airport, wahoo! We hung out, caught up, went to grab some dinner and then back to the house to chill.

After a while, it was time to go to the hotel, pack and get ready to head to Chicago tomorrow!

Anyone else tired? I am! I will post pictures from the weekend, tomorrow.

Good night!

{December 6, 2014} I fell on my personality…

That’s something I heard someone once say when they fell on their bum on a muddy hill during a mud run and I fell in love with the phrase!

I am going to tell you about my weekend tomorrow, since I did a bunch of awesome stuff and there were other things I talked about and you know I love telling you a really long story about my weekend all at once. So there…

Today I went for my first ski run of the season and it was FANTASTIC!!! But that is not what I want to talk about. It was fantastic until I fell the last time. I fell a few times, moguls are not my friends and that’s alright, I didn’t even care for them when I skied regularly and I was actually pretty good, all before I moved to Georgia, not much skiing there…

So, this last run, Gold Rush, I was heading down and it was a bit slippery and a little steep. Let’s just say there were a bunch of other people having the problem…one woman slid by on her snowboard and said “I know how you feel”. Let me tell you why she said this…I hit a few moguls and then fell. I got up, headed down, slid and fell. After four falls, I slid without one of my skis and then when I tried to get up, slid some more, I finally sat down and grabbed my one ski, which was under my bum, I decided I was not getting up. I pulled out my phone, opened the Epic Mix app, [My ski pass is the Epic Local] and called Non-Emergency Ski Patrol. It did not help that I was not sure what run I was on…but I tried to tell them, I was close, believe me, I will be paying attention to the runs I am on tomorrow and going forward!

It was very nice that so many people stopped to see if I was alright, one guy even slid me my lone ski. There was a kid who asked if I was alright as he swooshed by me! As I was sitting there waiting for Ski Patrol, the view was beautiful, the sun was starting to set, but it was still very light out. A very nice woman, Lacey, a coach for one of the local ski teams, stopped to help me.

She offered to help me and help me she did! She stood in front of me so I could stand, helped me get my skies on, then gave me advice on getting down the hill. I had told her that I thought it would be my last run of the day and she said you never say it’s your last run, you’ll jinx it! Guess what…she was right! So, per Lacey, I will now say, “I’m going to do two more runs, but not run the last one” whatever it takes, right?

I got to the bottom and I was done, I headed to the car and to the hotel. What an adventure!

{December 5, 2014} LaLa has a new love!

I wanted to wait a day or two before I shared the news.

LaLa or LD, has a new grandson to love on. I had wanted to wait to give them time to let people know, I probably could have told you seconds after the happy event, they may have been posting right before, during and after! No, I’m kidding.

LaLa has two sons, G and his wife Wendy have two girls, B&A, thirteen and nine (I hope I got that right) and three years ago, her other son, M, and his girlfriend, T, had her first grandson, B. A year later, I was at their wedding and their son was running around having a great time and charming everyone.

Wednesday, her daughter-in-law went in for her scheduled c-section and little man B became a big brother to a beautiful baby brother.

Much Mazel to the entire family and LaLa for a new baby to love on!

{December 5, 2014} Steel Magnolias…Why do I keep watching this movie?

I do not really like this movie, but for some reason I keep watching it.

Any other movie that comes on that I don’t really care for, I don’t watch, I change the channel, for some reason, I am drawn to this movie like a moth to a flame!

It has an amazing cast: Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley McClaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts, not to mention Tom Skerritt, Sam Shepard and Dylan McDermott.

It is well acted, parts of it are entertaining, there are a lot of laughs, but there are also a lot of tears, it’s heart wrenching! The underlying theme is friendship. A circle of friends who have been there for each other through everything imaginable and don’t even realize just how much they will need each other.

I don’t know what it is, but I don’t care for the movie, but as I said, I keep watching and here I sit watching it while I talk to you. It is the same way for me and The Ya Ya Sisterhood, I keep watching.

HELP ME!

{December 3, 2014} Ugh…did I really do that?

Today I did something at work I never thought would happen.

Sorry, I am not going to tell you what I did, it’s a little embarrassing and I know I have shared a lot of my embarrassing things with you, but this time I’m not. I know I’m not sharing and that probably makes no sense at the moment, but I’m just so…

All I can say is I hope it never happens again and I can redeem myself. It was a bump in the road, my manager was worried, I was embarrassed, I apologized and we moved on.

Just send me some good vibes and we will move past this.

Tomrorrow is a new day!

Good night!

{December 2, 2014} Oh boy, another meeting!

Have you ever been in so many meetings you wondered…

“How can I get any work done if I’m in all these meetings?

Don’t get me wrong, the meetings are important; working with the client, fact gathering, spreadsheets, whatever it takes to have a successful project, although sometimes it feels like you’re in a meeting to talk about more meetings and planning a meeting for the next meeting, they all serve a purpose.It just feels like you never have time to get anything done because you are always in a meeting.

Ever been there?

{December 2, 2014} Austenland

I love Jane Austen novels, just like every romantic girl in middle school or high school.

I love Pride and Prejudice for one, I read it cover to cover, more than once and I have seen and/or own at least three versions of the movie or tv mini-series. I have not watched many other movies related to Jane Austen, Becoming Jane being one of them.

On one of my recent flights, United had free movies, so I gave in and watched Austenland and this was an interesting choice…

The premise is that Keri Russell is a HUGE Pride and Prejudice fan, could be considered creepy and has been this way for a long time. Finally, one day, she cashes in her retirement to take a trip to Austenland, an estate run by Jane Seymour, and at the airport she meets an eccentric, yeah, that’s a nice word for it, fan, Jennifer Coolidge, so you know it’s going to be crazy!

Depending on the money you spend, you get a particular package, for example, Jennifer Coolidge’s character got the platinum package, which included a grand room in the main house, fabulous frocks and the priviledge of being wooed by one of the main characters in the main house, while someone like Keri Russell’s character, Jane, go figure, has a smaller room in the servants wing and forced to wear the clothes of a lower class character and the disdain from Jane Seymour’s character is apparent.

As time goes on, Jane becomes a discouraged little by little and begins to think she may have gone a little overboard with her obsession and now is disillusioned with the idea and…that’s all I am going to tell you.

It was a cute movie if you are into Pride and Prejudice or anything Jane Austen, just dont expect anything Oscar worthy.

I will leave you with this Jane Austen quote from Pride and Prejudice “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”

Enjoy!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1985019/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{November 30, 2014} A family tradition continues…The Nutcracker

Today, the family continued a fine tradition started when my sister and I were kids, we went to see The Nutcracker Ballet.

When we were kids, we got one big family gift for Chanukah and went to see The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve, performed by the New York City Ballet Company at Rockafeller Center. We did this for years and years and years, we would get dressed up and go to a matinee at the City Company and then go out to dinner, it was usually my parents, sister and grandmother [mom’s mom, who lived in NYC].

It has been along time since I have been to a production of The Nutcracker and it brought back so many memories. Now, you know how when you do something over and over and it becomes a tradition and the way you saw it first is how you always remember it and it is a good and happy memory and when you see it again and it’s different, you’re like…huh…

Let me preface by saying, this was a wonderful performance! The dancers were fantastic, the choreography was beautiful, the sets, the orchestra, everything, it could not have been better and to see the enraptured look on both EJS and MGS during the performance and MGS twirling her little heart out after the curtain closed, almost to the car, made it all worth it and I could not imagine a better picture, being there with not only my nieces and brother-in-law, but with my dad and sister, just like when we were kids, I was transported back in time all at once as if in a dream.

I have been to see The Nutcracker once on stage in Atlanta, I took my grandmother when she was visiting and once at an IMAX 3D. Both were different and I was not crazy about them, despite being a wonderful performance, but good memories because of the company and story. Something important to point out, the version that we grew up with was the George Balanchine version, each Ballet Company chooses to do their own choreograpy, what we love…Balanchine.

For those of you “not in the know’, here is a link to the entire production by The New York City Ballet Company filmed in 1993, and in the role of the Nutcracker Prince was Macaulay Culkin, who was 13 at the time, and of course we were in attendance that year, he was quite good in the role. Now, just so you are aware, there happens to be some narration during the performance in the video [I found it odd when I first heard it]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ5Se2ErinU

Act I takes place at a party and Act II takes place in The Land of Sweets. We love the entire ballet, but everyone has their favorite parts and I am going to tell you about ours and I will tell you where they are in the video link. In Act I, I love the when Clara and Herr Drosselmeier’s nephew part company at the part [23:05], when The Nutcracker becomes a boy [46:00].

There are so many to love and dad, GES and I love the entire production, but here you go. We all LOVE when the tree grows [32:52] in Act I, then in the Land of Sweets, my mom adored Coffee, from Arabia, her ultimate favorite part was at the very end, what she does with her feet, amazing! Mine is Tea [52:18], so funny and charming always makes me laugh and GES is Candy Canes [53:24] when he hula hoop skipping, you’ll know when you see it, I must admit, I love that too! We love Mother Ginger, always played by a man dressed as a woman, and her polchinelles [57:00] with her tamborine and hand mirror. My dad’s favorite is The Pas de Deux, with the Sugarplum Fairy and her Cavalier, but the bestest part of it is towards the end, when he pulls her, on point, on a block across the stage [1:09]

I hope some day you get to experience this in person, but if you don’t, please enjoy the link, I know I am in heaven sitting here listening to the music while I talk to you! Happy of happies!

http://www.nycballet.com/Season-Tickets/Nutcracker-Additional/Synopsis.aspx

{November 29, 2014} Family Photos

Today, we took family photos, in the snow.

It was a lot of fun. We had breakfast food: bagels, lox, cream cheese, whitefish, tomatoes, cucumbers and lunch food: deli, cheeses, pickles and then there were desserts: cakes and pies, some new and some leftover from Thanksgiving.

ACS’ brother and his wife, JS and AS, then B&A, who are like grandparents to MGS abs EJS were here too. We had lunch, caught up, figured out what to wear and LS showed up to take pictures.

We took turns heading outside, it was a bit cold out, still a lot of snow on the ground. The girls went first, MGS in her Elsa Halloween costume and EJS in her karate uniform. Then they changed into ‘everyday’ clothes.

There were pictures with just the adults, then the adults with the kids, all sorts of combinations, one big one with the entire group, at one point EJS took one of the cameras and took lots of pictures of whoever was there at the moment.

There were a lot of laughs, especially with the kids, EJS kept tickling our legs.

After, everyone else left and GES, ACS, EJS and MGS took some photos on the couch like they have done in the past. Then, ACS and dad took off and there were play dates and the day went on as normal, as normal as crazy is around here, perfect.

I can’t wait to see the pictures!

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