A New Adventure | Peaches Prattlings

{March 8, 2015} End with the Theater…as promised!

Oh brother was I tired last night! A 12 hour day can do that to a person!

Let me tell you how tired I was…I slept until almost 10am! Yes, me…the girl who doesn’t sleep, slept until almost 10am! It was awesome and now I am caught up for the month!

We saw…BOOK OF MORMON! OMG! SO FUNNY!

So…after the museum, we drove down town to the theater district, parked and walked around for about 1.5/2 hours, it was great. The sights, the sounds, the smells of New York City and Times Square and all of it, I was at peace, I love this city! No other like it in the world! And I love that I was with my dad!

We stopped in a Pret a Manger for a bite to eat, lunch had finally worn off and I didn’t want my tummy grumbling during the performance! Then it was time to go, we walked to the theater, found our seats and settled in to have a good time. If there was a little more leg room between the seat and the railing, it would have been better. I’m short, just imagine what it was like for my dad!

The show is so funny! The high level overview? Two young wide eyed missionaries, one “the perfect elder” the other…”the perfect screw up” well, that’s what his parents seem to think, who are paired up and sent to a remote village in northern Uganda. There are several missionaries there already, no converts and the village is terrorized by a warlord, can’t tell you his name, not PG, and the villagers are more worried about disease, torture and death than the lord. The less than perfect elder has a breakthrough with the villagers and presto-chango…new congregants.

Let’s just say the less than perfect elder, who has not quite read the Book of Mormon tells them his own version, so to speak. This one has Yoda, some hobbits, Darth Vadar, BobaFet, just saying. Do you get the picture?

There is singing, dancing, hilarity, flashy sequined numbers, from simple vests to an entire underworld red sequined extravaganza! There are lessons to be learned, friendships to be made, humility to be experienced, warlords to be defeated, body parts to be saved.

The important thing to remember, this show was created by the guys who brought you South Park, very tongue in cheek, poke fun at religion, among so many other things! If you are a very religious person or offended by bad language this show is not for you. But…if you have a good sense of humor and can take things in the spirit they were written, go see this show!

Thanks daddy, I had the best time!

Enjoy the opening number: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rUEsy3M&list=PLF4A9BACDC3B1E6E3

http://bookofmormonbroadway.com/show

{March 7, 2015} Start with the Museum…End with the Theater…What a day!

I am a spoiled daddy’s girl and I love it!

Having a moment…did I mention, last night, that I am in NYC visiting my dad for the weekend? Well, I am and it’s been fabulous so far! I got in late last night, as I told you and then we stayed up until about 12:30 talking, it was great.

This morning I got a text way too early, as I had forgotten to turn off the volume, a mistake I will not be making this evening. So, no worries on getting up early, I’m getting used to it for teaching class, so it’s all good.

Dad and I talked for a good long while, got some breakfast, played on our pc’s, got ready and headed into Manhattan to have some fun! We drove in and parked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, headed in, but first, had to stop at the main entrance, go outside and get a knish! Mmmm…and for those of you not in the know, a knish is dough filled with goodness and often fried. Trust me, y u m! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knish

After sneaking the knish in, we sat down to munch on it and then headed into the museum for some culture. We started with some amazing Chinese calligraphy and images, I need to show you some of the amazing work my dad has done, in this medium! He really is gifted and I love when I get an original piece, sometimes he even writes letters on the back and mails it, how cool is that?

Aren’t these beautiful? He gets inspired looking at them, I love to see it and talk to him about what he’s going to create, it’s fun to see.

Then there were the Impressionists, which I love! Degas’ Dancer was there! I hadn’t seen it in years, since I was at Musee D’Orsey in Paris about 7 years ago! What a treat! I walk into this area, see Manet, Monet, Seurat, Pissaro and so many more and I feel a huge sense of calm and happiness wash over me, I am at peace and well, happy.

Somewhere in there, we have a sit down and some lunch, which was very nice, my view was of the park outside of the museum covered in snow, people out there walking around, it was about 30 degrees, a heat wave!

I have to tell you, I love going to the museum with my dad more than anyone. I enjoy going with others, but there is nothing like going with my dad. We have similar tastes and reactions, we sometimes both look at something and wonder “What?” “Really?” And we laugh at a lot of the same things, I absolutely love it!

After lunch, we went to one of my favorite areas, the Lila Acheson wing, where they keep the modern art. There are some pieces I adore and some I scratch my head, well I should say we scratch our heads.

There was the Lichtenstein and the Close and the Rauschenberg and the Stella and the…and the… I was happy.

Now, when I said we like to have fun…Take a look at this this one, I made my dad stare into it and I whispered “I want a pony, I want a pony”

Eventually, it was time to go and folks…this is where I sign off because I am one tired puppy and I need to get some sleep! I will tell you all about the theater tomorrow!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them!

{March 5, 2015} I’m on a runners high!

And I didn’t even run anywhere! But I did walk 17, 441 steps! Let me tell you how!

Today, I taught my first class on my new project and it was awesome! I got here last Monday and hit the ground running. Monday we did orientation, meet the other trainers, get the lay of the land, even started working on updates or talking points to some documentation.

Tuesday we did T3 or Train The Trainer. For those of you not “in the know” that is where someone trains the trainer, me, on the application. Depending on the size of the project, number of people to be trained, material covered, length of class times, a lot of factors, will determine how long T3 lasts. Well, we started last Tuesday and I taught my first class today!

During T3, we will watch a full class being presented and then over the next few days, the trainers will take turns doing teach backs, where they present to the instructors, to get a feel for the application and what they will be training and it gives the people running T3 an insight into the trainers strengths, weaknesses, how they will do in front of the class.

We started T3s on Wednesday, I was the second person to do a teach back and since I have more experience than the majority of the trainers on the team, I stayed to help them with their teach backs, go through the material, get comfortable in front of a class, some of them have never taught before. I had a lot of fun doing it and one of the reasons I enjoyed it is that when I am helping them, I am also reinforcing my knowledge of the product, so a win-win!

The first time you do a teach back on a new application is always the toughest, it’s new, unfamiliar territory and you want to get it right. After that, you’re golden. I have been practicing and I have been ready to go for a few days and today was the day. I was going to sit in on another trainer’s classes and be the co-teach and help her if she needed it, which she did not, just so you know! I was also there for moral support, which is always a good thing, I like think. It also helped reinforce things for when I was going to teach.

I’m always a little nervous when I teach my first full class, but I am good enough that you would never know it! Fooled you all! muwahaha! It was time for my first class and I jumped right in and I told some bad jokes, got people comfortable and got started and I made the 1.5 hour fly by, at least I think and hope I did! Everyone seemed to learn a lot and have a good time, which is a great thing!

I was done with the second class and I was over the moon! I barely even look at my notes during the second class, that felt great! I walked around, looked at what everyone was doing, guided them to where they needed to be and taught two very successful classes, I am so very happy to say!

Now, back to my 17k steps! How did I do that, you might ask…well I’ll tell you. It starts with getting up at 5:30am, getting ready for work, heading out the door and then proctoring two classes that you never sit for, walk around to get the keys for the classrooms, never sit while you teach, then do 3.1 miles on the treadmill!

And now, my friends, I think I just hit the preverbal wall, I am going to say goodnight and pleasant dreams! I have to do it all again tomorrow!

{February 28, 2015} Challenge issued…accepted…accomplished

Today I faced a new challenge, accepted it and accomplished it…with lots of help and encouragement.

I don’t know if you remember me telling about not having skied for almost 20 years before I moved to Colorado. GES and I skied as kids, for me all the way through college and the year after while I was still living at home and then I moved to Georgia and no skiing for me, the wasband wasn’t a skier and I never really thought about going to North Carolina to ski, so it didn’t happen, while GES continued skiing and eventually had time in a ski house in Killington, VT, where she met ACS, so perfection there!

One of the reasons I was so excited to move to Colorado almost two years ago was the opportunity to go skiing again. I know I’ve told you some of the stories. The first time I went to ski, the entire way up in the gondola at Keystone, I kept thinking, “Please let me like it again, please let me like it again”. I didn’t want to have wasted the money on skis and the pass. As soon as I put my skis on and started down the mountain I thought “Please let me get good enough to ski black diamonds again!” So awesome!

For those of you not in the know, there are symbols for each run, which is a path down the mountain and the symbols tell you the level of difficulty for each run. Keep in mind that the symbols are pretty much universal wherever you go, it makes it a lot easier to know those symbols even if you don’t speak the language. Beginners start with green circles, as you can imagine and then you move on to blue squares, more difficult, black diamond, which is the most difficult and double black diamond, really, really most difficult!

When I was skiing regularly. black diamonds were the way to go for me, since I started skiing again last year, I pretty much stay to the green circle and blue square, which, on some mountains are perfectly challenging. I skied black diamonds at Nashoba with EJS a few weeks ago and they weren’t very difficult, but for that particular mountain, they were the most difficult, which got EJS excited, because she’s skiing black diamonds. Someone needs to tell her the black diamonds are not the same everywhere!

Well, a few weeks ago, I went skiing with PM at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, NH. It was the first time we skied together and it was great, he’s a “real” skier, and by that I mean, he has been skiing for years and is incredibly graceful and enjoyable to watch as he skis or more appropriately, swishes down the mountain. He is a double black diamond skier, so I feel bad that he has to hold back because of me, taking my time and not doing double black diamonds, we did go down a black diamond a few weeks ago and it wasn’t horrible.

That was on one side of the mountain, today we were on the other side of the mountain with some more difficult runs. I also need to interject that we are here with two other families, friends of PM’s that he has known for years, and they all ski, including the kids. Collectively, they have a lot more experience than I do and ski more often, all incredibly nice, we’ve been having a great time!

Today, one family went to another mountain and the other family and the two of us went to Loon, as I said. We had a great time, all of us skiing together, run after run. The two girls got tired after a few hours and decided they were going to hang out inside while the grownups skied.

After a few runs, PM and I went down a diamond that didn’t seem too bad until I hit some ice, that was fun. But I made it to the bottom, in one piece, both key points to be made. We took the next run blue square and S and B went double black diamond. S said I was about her ski level and thought I could do that one, there was a steeper drop in the beginning, but once you get past that, no problem. Just like the black diamond earlier, it was a challenge and if I want to get better, I have to practice and take a change on a black diamond every once in a while, right?

I am always up for a challenge, S said she challenges herself with new things she wants to improve on each time she skies. Ok, I can do this, right? Double black diamond, how bad could it be? Let’s just say I fell on my personality more than once and I felt really bad that PM had to slow down and help me so much, but he is incredibly sweet and wanted to ensure that I was alright.

Let’s just say there was a lot more powder and ice than I would have liked and it was a bit steeper than I was prepared for. I fell a few times, slid a few times, it was frustrating, on top of feeling bad that PM had to wait on me, but he was a great help trying to help me up. The whole tongue sticking out of the corner of my mouth wasn’t cutting it!

S was great and hung around waiting for me and B went to go and get the girls, I appreciate that. It probably took us twenty full minutes to get down the mountain. The one thing I was really frustrated about was that I used to be able to do all that, diamonds, double diamonds and I know, in my head, realistically, I have a ways to go, I get that, I just want to be able to do things and keep up.

So…The challenge: Black Diamond and Double Diamonds. Challenge: accepted, what girl doesn’t like diamonds, wink, wink. Challenge: Accomplished, with a little help from my friends!

Now, it is time to crash! Tomorrow is another ski day!

{February 26, 2015} I didn’t start a fire! Wahoo!

No, this has nothing to do with actual fire, just bear with me…

You know I am a run/walker…I run, I walk, I run/walk. Well, I am also one with not quite thunder thighs, to coin that oh so charming phrase, I have thighs that like to hang out together and touch, if they were people, they’d be dating, how’s that, get the picture?

I’ve had this situation, let’s call it, since I was in college, high school even, most likely, so when I wore skirts, I usually wore bike shorts underneath. When I split from the wasband, I think I told you, I stopped eating, not advisable, and lost 30 pounds, not the best method, but hey, I looked fabulous! And for the first time, I could go out in a skirt and no bike shorts underneath! Wahoo!

Over the last seven years, I have put some of that weight back on and as you know I’m working on making it go away, it’s a process, but I’m willing to work at it, but I still wear shorts, running shorts now, when I wear my running dress to walk/run. I have forgotten them in the past and regretted it greatly while I was walking or running.

This week, I was back on the road, new project and in hotels, which, I actually like, for many reasons, but one reason is that I love to be able to get on the treadmill and walk/run, as it has been ffffrrreeezing here in Boston, not into running or walking outside, so hotel gym it is, happy me. When I got up at 6am on Tuesday to go to the gym, what did I realize I forgot? You got it, my running shorts, so what did I do? Go back to bed? It was so very tempting! But no, I put on my running dress and said, let’s take a chance!

I did, however, to see if it would work, put deodorant betwixt my thighs, where they touch, maybe it would work like glide, which I have used on my heels to prevent chafing, who knows. It worked alright, then I didn’t remember to do it Wednesday, no injury and again today, no issues, how cool is that?

Now, I’m not planning on going out and doing a full 5k or 10k or more running the entire thing with no protection, I am afraid of what would happen! but 3.5 miles walking at a good clip on an incline, no running shorts and no fire, let me just say…wa…hoo!!!

Happy 13th Birthday to my beautiful niece JK! When did that happen???

{February 24, 2015} Untitled..

A secret handshake…what’s next?

Dedication, ambition, crazy even. ..well, why?

I was actually getting tired and thought..you’ve had a good life, nice friends, good food, great…time to get some sleep and as I lay there thinking, I need sleep and started to doze off, all of sudden my brain woke up!

Uh oh, I have to get up! I have to talk to my fiends tonight!

Thank you for being patient while I blather on with no agenda or rhyme or reason!

Happy Wednesday!

{February 23, 2015} My day…travel, a new location, new project

Today started a new venture.

I had been looking for a new project since I left Chicago and a few weeks ago I found one! I interviewed and a few days later, ta da! Awesome! I found out one day short of my one year anniversary with my company, how cool is that?

The project is in, wait for it…BUFFALO! What? I left Boston this morning and it was 15 degrees out, snow everywhere, I land and it was 0 in Buffalo and now… NEGATIVE 7, it’s cold!

So, let’s talk about the day…Uber, as much as I love you, no love today, could not get a car to save my life, as the saying goes, so I decided to drive myself, craped some paint off the wheel well of my car scraping against something, it happens. Annie was adjusting, she hasn’t been out of the garage in almost a month! Oh my! The traffic was bearable, but people didn’t want to let me in, not nice! Oh well, I still made it to the airport within an hour. The funny thing with the toll roads, almost everyone has a transponder to pay, so the cash lanes, which I was in, were empty, but I still had to merge with everyone.

I got to the airport, then drove around, in what seemed like circles for quite a while before I found the open parking lot, all levels but the top were full. The guy sitting next to me on the flight said it took him almost an hour to get into the parking deck! Oh my! I found parking and then headed towards American Airlines, where I booked my flight, but oh no, you can’t check in there, or get my boarding pass online, grrr, I had to go outside and across the airport to US Airways check in and drop my bag, really? I know the two airlines are merging, but it’s been a while and it would be nice if some of the merging was done. Oh well. I made it through security, love my TSA pre-check, headed to the gate, stopped for a breakfast sandwich, I asked for no cheese, guess what I got…

Then it was time to board, already started before I got there, which was nice, didn’t have to wait long. I did stare at the woman two in front of me wearing FLIP FLOPS! Going from Boston to Buffalo in flip flops, what? We walked out of the gate, out of the airport, down the steps, across the tarmac a bit, up the stairs, onto the little baby “planelet”. The guy sitting next to me was very nice, a lot nicer than the flight attendant, not sure if was a bad day, not my fault.

There ended the so-so part of my day.

I arrived in Buffalo to the oh so balmy 0, eventually met up with my new co-workers and we shivered our way to the car, headed to one of the locations for the project for the start of Train the Trainer, T3, for those of you not in the know. I met the team I would be working with, had some lunch and started the training and orientation, including schedules.

After orientation, we continued working on the documentation and then about 7:00 we went to dinner at a place called The Lodge. The food was good, company enjoyable, service was s l o w…

Got to the hotel about 9:30, checked in, unpacked my frozen luggage, I actually used the hair dryer to warm the clothes up! I was not getting into frozen jammies!

Here I sit, talking to you, the alarm is set to wake up and walk on the treadmill and get started learning the new application tomorrow!

{February 18, 2015} Skiing with EJS!

What an experience this was! Oh my goodness!

EJS has been taking ski lessons since she was about three years old and each year, she just keeps getting stronger and better at it. She takes lessons each season on Saturdays and MGS is doing the same.

This week, the schools are out for mid-winter break and today, I was EJS’ play date! We drove up to Nashoba, http://www.skinashoba.com/, where she takes lessons and she’s very comfortable with each run.

We got up there about 11:30, found a place to stash our stuff, get her a hot chocolate, which was too hot, btw, so we left it with our stuff and when we came back at lunch, it was just right, sweet!

Then it was on to purchase lift tickets for both of us and away we went! GES has been telling me what a great skier EJS is and today I got to see it!

The runs there are a little shorter, so it gave us the opportunity to do a great deal of them and we did. We probably skied at least 8 runs before we went in for lunch, about an hour later.

She is, as GES says, a very good technical skier, she did the chair lift on her own, didn’t want me on the chair, ok, just wait for me so I can see where you’re going!

Watching her was so much fun, I had pride “There was my niece, skiing on her own, no poles, no fear, just go!” Then there was…where is the little girl I played with? She’s in there somewhere.

I wish I could show you the video, but I’m in it!

After skiing the second half, after lunch of course, we packed it in, grabbed our gear and away we went. We did stop to have some fried dough with powdered sugar, yum! And on the way out “Thank you, JJ” for what? “For the funnel cake and spending the day with me” Did my heart melt or what? So very proud!!! Shows she was raised right!

Sleepy time!

{February 16, 2015} A trip down museum lane…

I love museums, practically raised in them.

I am inspired to write to you today because the family went to the Boston Museum of Science today, thanks PM for the suggestion.

Different museums have different meanings to different people and are seen in different ways, as you can imagine, just like everything, right? Going to a museum by yourself is enjoyable, if you are into museums, for the same reasons as going with others, but sometimes it’s just more fun to go with others, to enjoy, admire even, be inspired, learn from each other and what you see and maybe even laugh a little. The last one I do with my dad often when we go to the modern art sections of museums and scratch our heads and think…hmmm…really?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love modern art, there are some artists that some people don’t get, like a Rothko or Stella, even a Pollack but I really love them, their paintings may look like gibberish to some, but I am moved and see meaning when I look at them. What I’m talking about are the things that don’t make sense to us, like a black dot on a blue canvas or a pile of insulation on the floor, maybe they are about the struggle to stand out in a sea of people or how to stay focused when there is chaos all around, I don’t know! But my dad and I wonder often and laugh often, but that’s alright. The point of art is to elicit a response and that’s just what it does and tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter what we think, it matters what the artist who created it thinks, right? Ok, moving on.

Going to museums with kids is another experience entirely, to see things through their eyes is a feeling like no other…the wonder, the fascination, the excitement, the boredom, the laughter, the enthusiasm, the interest. I’ve been to art museums with them, The Museum of Natural History in New York City, http://www.amnh.org/, and this was the second time I was with them at the Boston Museum of Science, http://www.mos.org/, and they didn’t disappoint. It’s interesting the things you think they will find interesting and maybe they don’t and then there are things you never thought they would be interested in and bam! MGS and I had some fun laying on a bed of nails, didn’t hurt and she loved it, remembered it from the last time and wanted me to do it with her again, it was great!

I’ve loved experiences I have had at different museums, dad and I go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, http://www.mfa.org/, when we are in Boston together, we have a similar technique of touring exhibits and different galleries, another one we have enjoyed together is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, http://www.metmuseum.org/. You could get lost in there, walking around for days, doesn’t that sound wonderful?

I remember an art class I took in high school, he went with me to the Met and The Guggenheim, http://www.guggenheim.org/, and the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, http://www.moma.org/, to research particular artists. Going with my dad was a different experience than with my mom, a memory I will treasure and I would love to share with you, but not tonight. But I will tell you that that is probably one of the greatest gifts they ever gave me, a love and appreciation for art and museums. Maybe one day I’ll give you my personal guided tour of my favorite museums.

Living in Atlanta, I joined the High Museum of Art, http://www.high.org/, they had some great exhibits that would come through, it was never enough pieces, but it was nice to be able to go whenever I wanted. The best part was that sometimes I would go with a friend or two, but sometimes…if there was a really special exhibit, a large group of us would go.

My two favorite museums in Paris, France, not Texas, just for clarification, are Musee D’Orsay, http://www.musee-orsay.fr/, which houses one of the biggest Impressionist collection and L’ouvre, http://www.louvre.fr/en, where “To see each of the 35,000 art objects in the L’ouvre, taking 60 seconds for each, would take roughly 25 days each of a full 24 hours.”

There is so much more I want to tell you, so many more museums to talk about and I promise that I will, go into greater detail about the museums that I have visited, the museums that I have loved and museums I have not loved, [and I almost got carried away and posted works by a slew of artists I love, but I will leave you with pieces by the artists I named earlier, Pollack, Rothko and Stella. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Pollack, Rothko, Stella

{February 14, 2015} Gotcha Day

Today is Gotcha Day! And Valentine’s Day! Could anything be more wonderful?

What is Gotcha Day you ask, well, I’ll tell you. That is the day that Miss A and SDL became official!

SDL has wanted kids for a long time and started the adoption process many moons ago. Finally, it was getting closer and I remember getting an email from her, “Auntie G…how would you like to see a picture of your niece?” Let’s just say, I had tears in my eyes when I opened the attachment and I couldn’t say anything to anyone! Not fair! I wanted to shout it to the world, but my lips were sealed!

SDL started going to a far off land, Kazakhstan, to meet the little one who would soon be her pride and joy.

She had set up a blog so that some friends and family could keep up with their progress. It was great! Every day she would post so we would know what was going on and on the days she visited with Miss A, pictures of the two of them. Soooo cute!

What a doll baby! She was adorable and wonderfully fat (only when children are babies is it ok to tell a mother her baby is beautiful and fat!) and she smiled like crazy. Simply wonderful.

There were multiple trips to Kazakhstan for bonding and paperwork. Finally…the day had come…it was going to be official!

Mother and daughter were officially a family, it’s called Gotcha Day and what a wonderful coincidence that their Gotcha Day was February 14th, Valentine’s Day.

As you know, Miss A is not only the light in her mother’s life, she is so very precious to me and I love spending time with her, watching her grow and blossom into a bright, precocious, soon to be five year old, I cannot believe it!

What better day to become a family. Happy Gotcha Day to SDL and Miss A and Happy Valentine’s Day to them and everyone out there!

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