My day | Peaches Prattlings

{March 2, 2015} Packing…Challenge: Accepted…Attempted…Success…Almost

I must be out of practice!

When I first got back on the road last year, just like with every new job, there is a challenge mine is packing.

Now, when I get into the groove, no problem, I know exactly what I am taking each week, it’s pretty much the same. When I was in Michigan, it was easy, I left stuff there over the weekends when I would go home. Sometimes I would either bring just my dirty laundry with me or nothing, since I could do laundry there.

Now, with weekly trips, if I am at the same hotel week after week, no problem, either take the stuff home or leave it over the weekend and take dirty laundry home. The problem arises when you are going to be gone for two weeks, with a weekend trip somewhere other than home, now you have to think about clothes for the weekend and will you be able to do laundry. Normally you pack for the week, but when you’re gone for two weeks, you need to bring a few extra things so you’re not wearing the exact same things two weeks in a row, you can mix and match, but that only goes so far.

So, I hope you have gathered that I am going to be gone for two weeks, next weekend I’m so excited about, I’ll tell you about it next weekend! Now that we cleared that up, you have deduced that I have more stuff to take with me and I was hoping to put it all in my one bag, I got that sucker stuffed to the gills, everything went in, even the bulky sweater I like…zipped shut, good to go.

And then…I turn around and there are the boots I was going to change into when I get to the office…drat! So close….

Down to the basement for a bigger bag and now it all fits, go me! So…challenge accepted, attempted and quasi success. But still…only one bag.

Happy travels!

{March 1, 2015} Writer’s block

Having a little bit of writer’s block at the moment.

I have a lot to say, I just can’t remember what it is at the moment! There are some days I don’t think about one blog post idea, I think of multiple ideas and then other days, like tonight, I can’t think of anything I want to talk about…I really need to write these down.

I had a great weekend, but I’ve told you about that, I’ve told you about the snow, snow and more snow. The countries where they were wonderful and the countries where, not so much.

Tonight is just one of those nights…I have been staring at the same screen for over 30 minutes now and this is the best I could do.

Thank you for indulging me here tonight, tomorrow will be better, promise!

{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 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 20, 2015} Mother Nature, did we make you mad?

As I have been in Boston for a while now, I have experienced snow.

I know I talked about this already, but I wanted to talk about it again, so there.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I grew up in NYC, it snowed. I went to college in Western NY, it snowed and I mean…a lot. It would snow in October and might not melt until May sometimes, crazy, I know.

Yesterday it was about 26, oh my, a heat wave! And some flurries, but there has been snow almost every day, some days more than others.

I just wanted to share what it was like, the streets are built up, there are pathways down the sidewalks, some people can’t see out of the end of their driveways, the snow is so high, same at the end of the street, getting out onto the main roads, tricky.

People have made the best of a bad situation, clearing the paths, making snow forts and even skiing to work, it’s been entertaining,

The icicles are amazing! Some are out of control, taking over the houses, but oh some of them do look so dreamy!

There was a swing set in the backyard, I promise! And the thing on the right, a hammock! Oh well, Spring will be here eventually!

Stay warm my friends!

{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 10, 2015} A new experience…ooh, that’s going where?

No flowers, boo.

Today I had a new experience, a first for me. A little background…I was diagnosed with Severe Gastritis somewhere between 21 and 23, it’s been a while. The reason I was diagnosed is that for a long time, every time I ate, I was nauseous and/or would throw up, so my mom took me to a GI, or Gastroenterologist.

I had my first endoscopy at that time, it turns out I had eaten a hole in the lining of my stomach from taking too many Advil, due to allergies, fun, I know, right! I even have the pictures, wanna see? So, the doctor put me on Tagamet, before it was over the counter, and a strict list of things I couldn’t eat. Want to be jealous? Fried food, spicy food, citric acid, caffeine, colored soda, chocolate, apple skins, potato skins and if I eat nuts, I have to chew them really well. I used to eat Tums like they were candy, I got to like the tropical kind.

About the same time, I was diagnosed with Lactose Intolerance, which was wonderful understanding why I would get sick from a sip of milk. For years I took Lactaid pills, tried to avoid a lot of dairy products, but still ate them. Let me tell you, that first sip of Lactaid milk, after years of not drinking milk…like manna from the gods! Happy me!

Eventually I couldn’t even have Lactaid Milk, so it was soy milk, then I developed an allergy to soy milk, really? Oh my goodness, my tongue would itch so bad, I’d scratch it with a fork! So, no more soy milk and limit my soy product intake, to be on the safe side. Almond, Rice and Coconut milk it is! I slowly started to cut some more dairy out, but I couldn’t stay completely away. Finally, in August, I said enough is enough and cut out dairy completely, boo hoo, I miss cheese! I miss pizza! I know, there are substitutes, but they are just not the same, but it’s what had to be done. I feel a little better, but not completely.

Ok, fast forward to today. I gave up dairy last year and I really try to avoid all the things I’m not supposed to have, but I still live with nausea, 24/7, some days worse than other, some better, but it doesn’t seem to go away.

I have a new PCP, primary care physician and when I told her about the nausea, she prescribed Prilosec, after a few weeks, I called to ask how long it was supposed to take before the nausea goes away. She told me to stop taking it and would I be interested in seeing a GI. Yes, please.

I was able to get an appointment and today was the day, so away I went…in the snow. She was very nice and a few times confused when I told her some of the things that bothered me, but had a plan. The second was some blood work, the third and fourth are some tests, very boring as the doctor said, the first is tomorrow, I will let you know.

Yes, I know I went out of order because here is the first thing ties back into why we are here today. She did a somewhat physical exam, I stripped down to my skivvies and got to wear a lovely hospital gown, at least this one has ties in the front!

She listened to my heart and lungs, she checked my neck, she tapped on my belly to see if there was any pain and lastly…she had me roll onto my side, look out the window and ooh, you’re going to put your finger where?

No, it wasn’t a surprise, she told me what was coming next, but it’s not the most pleasant of experiences, so it helps to joke about it, wouldn’t you agree?

She told me the gel would be cold, I asked if I would at least get flowers, she laughed and said no. She was in and out, so to speak, pretty quickly. It was a tad bit uncomfortable, but not horrible, not saying I want to experience this every day, but it was endurable.

All seemed normal there, she was going to send out for tests, to be sure. It was over and then it was time to get dressed and go, which I did, with a new story to tell.

Take care of yourselves people, we only have one life and one body and we should care for it!

{February 9, 2015} Snow, snow and more snow

MGS said “Maybe it’s Elsa”. I’m inclined to agree!

Mother Nature, is something wrong? Do you just not like the Northeast? NYC is getting sleet, freezing rain and ice and Boston is getting snow, snow, snow and more snow, did I mention snow?

I got back to Boston from Atlanta just in time, I landed, dad picked me up, we went to a doctor’s appointment, then home in the snow. The stores were closing as we were driving, milk, water, bread, gone. We got home and GES got in just in the nick of time…they closed Logan Airport at 8pm that night!

The snow continued and continued and there were feet upon feet of snow, school was out on Tuesday, January 28th.

People went back to work and school the next day and life went on as normal and dad left on Thursday, roads were clear. The weekend came and the snow started Superbowl Sunday and didn’t stop. Snow day, school’s out on Monday and late start on Tuesday.

There is some snow here and there during the week, the weekend came and Sunday the snow started and didn’t stop, guess what happened today? Apparently Mother Nature has something against kids going to school and people going in to work on Mondays. Another 18-24″ total expected, really?

When do you think it might stop? Maybe we offer up something to Mother Nature…a peace offering? It’s winter, it can’t last forever, right? Just too bad we can’t ski off our houses. Well, we could, but that would just be a bad episode of Americas Funniest Videos.

Enjoy some photos.

January 27th