Creating! | Peaches Prattlings

{January 26, 2015} My weekend in Atlanta…

Was it busy? Yes it was! Was it awesome? Yes it was! Do you want to hear about it? Yes you do!

I told you a few things here and there, but here is the blow by blow, so to speak.

Friday I arrived in Atlanta, after an uneventful flight, which is always a good thing, and watching The Equalizer. Let’s just say, I heart Denzel Washington! This was a feel good movie in the best sense of the word! [Now, if you don’t know anything about it, until I write a review, just know it is a violent movie, but awesome!]

After I landed, I got my rental car and did something I should not have done, but I did anyway, which I told you about on Friday…I went to Fellini’s Pizza for a slice, salad and soda, ah memories [http://www.fellinisatlanta.com/fellinis.html]…After a filling lunch, I went to Junkman’s Daughter [http://www.thejunkmansdaughter.com/] to look around and met a charming chick working the shoe department upstairs, Twinkle, we had a nice chat, she really wants me to give Hedwig and the Angry Inch another try, I promised to.

Then I went to see CC and JC and their adorable son MC. They bought a house a few months ago and have asked me to come and see it when I was in town, unfortunately, I was not able to the last few times, but Friday, it was on! CC and MC had made some very yummy and healthy cookies earlier, they were so excited to share with me! While I was getting a tour of the house, MC kept saying “Ladies, ladies, come on!” How cute is he! And what a great visit we had!

After I left, I headed to JCT’s house to spend the night. She was on her way from the airport herself and I was going to get there before her, so I was lucky and got to spend some one-on-one quality time with her mom, who I affectionately refer to as Mom. We talked health and happiness, kids and crocheting, had cups of tea, it was wonderful. Then JCT’s brother GC came home and we chatted for a bit, until JCT came home.

When JCT came home, we talked and talked and laughed and talked until almost two in the morning! Isn’t that happens when besties get together? Did you forget… this is still only Friday!

Slept a few hours, got up, chatted, caught up some more then it was time to shower and head out to meet CKM for brunch at Home Grown, http://www.homegrownga.com/, waited a few minutes and then hopped up to the counter for breakfast.

After a great breakfast and good conversation, we headed to the Hot Chocolate 5k/15k Expo to volunteer and I picked up my race packet. Our shift was 1:30-6:30, our feet hated us at this point! After the expo it took us almost an hour to get out of the parking deck! Then another 30 minutes to drop CKM off where she was meeting friends for dinner. The only other bad thing was that RJS was having a get together for her birthday, which is actually today! Happy Birthday! And I missed it, but I made up for it today, sort of.

I headed to JT’s house to wait for BG, I was going to crash with him since we were riding to the run together. I was so tired, I just crashed art JT’s house. A few hours of sleep and 5:30am on Sunday we were in the car and on our way downtown, smooth sailing for a while, then lots of traffic, taking us about an hour to go about five miles, par for the course, ha ha, runners joke.

I hope you were able to check out my posting on the Hot Chocolate race yesterday. We were both a bit tired and sore, my feet were mad at me, but we did it! We headed back to BG’s to shower and headed back downtown to Sweet Melissa’s, http://www.sweetmelissas.com/, for brunch with some good friends.

After brunch, I drove to JCT’s because I left my Surface charger, grrr…and then to SDL’s house for a visit and some quality one-on-one time. Lots of talking, laughter and love. I crashed there for the night, even got to brush Miss A’s teeth for the first time…so many new firsts with her!

This morning I headed to see RJS for a little bit before making a mad dash for the airport and getting to the gate a few minutes before the flight took off! Even luckier that it took off at all, as a huge snow storm is coming to Boston tomorrow! So bad that they closed Logan airport at 8pm tonight!

So… that was my weekend, you tired? I am!

{September 26, 2014} Some one else’s day

I was going to tell you all about my day, but I want to talk about someone else’s experience.

When I log into WordPress.com there is a news feed of blogs that I follow and I check them out, read other posts to see what people are thinking and writing about and the first one that came up was NuckolBall, written by my college buddy, Mike Nukols, you remember, the guy who created the app “101 Kick Ass Things for Dads to Do with Their Kids”. Well, Mike writes a blog called NuckolBall, the tagline is “Raising my boys to be baseball fans whether they like it or not”.

Tonight’s post was entitled “Goodbye, Mr Jeter”, about taking his son, Jack, to Jeter’s farewell game at Yankee Stadium. There are news stories all over about Derek Jeter retiring, his last home game, his last game, you name it, there are stories and tributes all over the place.

But the one that stood out was Mike and his recounting of going to the final Derek Jeter game at Yankee Stadium with his son Jack and what he went through to get there, what it’s like going to the game with his favorite person to go to a baseball game with.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a baseball fan, but I do enjoy going to a game, the people watching, feeling the energy of the crowd, get a pretzel and soda, that is the life. But to read Mike describe the game itself and seeing it with his son, I was moved to tears and the emotions that welled up inside of me was incredible, I even surprised myself. It was descriptive and charming and spoke volumes about the love this man has for his child.

I wanted to watch a game with them. Thank you Mike.

Goodbye, Mr. Jeter

Positivity Challenge – Day #10
1 – I am thankful that all was well with Peanut at the vet today
2 – I am thankful to have an appointment next week to get her fixed
3 – I am grateful to have amazingly talented friends

{September 23, 2013} Today, I went for a walk

This may not sound like big news to anyone and to those who follow my posts about races may think this is a given, but…after what happened last weekend, this is a big deal.

As you know, I turned my ankle not once, not twice, but three times last Saturday. While it’s definitely been getting better, it still hurts and is tender. I have been wearing an ace bandage on it, changed every few days and last night, I decided to take the bandage off, give it some time to heal.

I also haven’t been able to rest it much during the day this past week, during a go-live you’re usually all over the place, walking around to see where you’re needed, after 10 hours on your feet, even though you’re sitting, driving doesn’t feel awesome. Top down on the car definitely helps though!

And before you ask, I have an appointment on Wednesday to have it x-rayed to see if I have done any serious or permanent damage, I’ll keep you posted.

Part of the reason I decided to take off the bandage is that I did some walking yesterday (Pink Power Ranger costume is on it’s way soon EJS!) and I may have overdone it in conjunction with the bandage being too tight. So, in the evening, after we were done running around, I sat with my leg elevated and iced. It was a crap shoot if it hurt or didn’t.

Today was all about taking it easy, good moments and bad, always elevating my leg. Football was on so I was in the bedroom cross stitching, which I am going to tell you all about in another post, and watching movies, not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

I would like to say I slept in due to my new curtains, but not so…yesterday, it was 7:41am and today it was 8:30, really? Well, the curtains we thought were dark enough, were not. I hope I remedied this when I went to the store (I bought a blackout curtain and put it up behind the pretty curtains). I was feeling a bit claustrophobic and antsy, so I got dressed, put on sneakers and headed to Walmart, it’s only about 1/4 mile and I took it slow, but I am still nervous about moving to fast or putting pressure on my feet, it’s going to take some time, I’ve done this before, but it’s usually better in a few days. My appointment on Wednesday will tell.

Well, I walked to Walmart, around the store and then walked home and up a flight of stairs to get to the appointment, as sad as this sounds, that was enough for me.

I know what it’s like when you’ve been sick for a while and then you have a good day and decide I’m going to climb Mt Fuji. Well, I’m happy to say I didn’t overdo it and I’ve been sitting with my leg raised and icing since the, well, after I made banana bread!

Time to get a little more cross stitch in before I sign off and get some sleep!

{September 17, 2013} Channeling my mom! Fresh really is best!

The past few weeks I have been channeling my mom and making some great food.

My mom was an amazing cook, she could make almost anything, she was a bit of a foodie, so that was to her advantage. She was great at pairing different things to drink with food, like beers and wine, being creative with food.

When I became a vegetarian, she was terrific, she would find different and new recipes to cook for me, I’m not sure if she thought or hoped it was/would be a phase, but she took it all in stride and went all out! Vegetarian chopped liver, meatballs, you name it, she probably tried it!

She was so great that she would sometimes make something for her and myself and something else for my dad and sister, they weren’t as big on trying some of her creations and sometimes she would make something just for me.

There were things she made or ate that I didn’t care for at the time, pesto, goat cheese being two of them, but as I have gotten older, I’ve found that my tastes have changed. When I first became a vegetarian, I didn’t like a lot of vegetables! Don’t ask! VL introduced me to a love of raw mushrooms and every once in a while when I buy a package of mushrooms and I’m munching while I’m driving, I think of him, thanks VL!

My mom made the best pesto, even had basil in the garden at the summer house. I’ve made it before, it was good and a few weeks ago, I was at the farmers market and bought a basil plant, so I made some more…how much fun is it to pull ingredients that you have in the house, especially fresh ones, like big basil leaves for a tomato/basil/mozzarella! Then last week, I made some pesto and put it in an ice cube tray and froze it, it will be yummy this winter! I was even dipping mushrooms in it for a snack, yum!

It’s such an easy recipe: basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/basil-pesto-recipe2/index.html

I used to only like fried eggplant, then I discovered a love of almost everything eggplant, especially, baba ganoush, it’s an eggplant spread and so simple: eggplant, olive oil, tahini, garlic, salt, couldn’t be simpler!
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-baba-ghanoush-smoky-eggplant-dip-30084

I have always loved hummus, it’s delicious! Great with pita or veggies and it comes in different favors, go to the grocery store and look in the produce section, you’ll find a bunch of them! When my family lived in Israel for a summer, I ate hummus almost every day, y u m!
Another simple recipe: chick peas, olive oil, garlic, salt
http://mideastfood.about.com/od/appetizerssnacks/r/hummusbitahini.htm

I took my first try at baba ganoush to girls night last week, they loved it. There is a poker game here tomorrow night, they are in for a treat!

Thanks to my mom, I have a palate that enjoys the finer things, but also a love of experimenting, trying new things and cooking, I’m doing it a little more all the time. I know she would have loved what I made and I will tell you this…I am not buying any of these in the store anymore! Mine is better!

Thanks mommy!

{July 24, 2013} Girls night!

Yesterday, I was invited to my first GNO in Colorado! That’s Girls Night Out for those of you not in the know!

JS, PS’s wife, good friends of DCM’s, invited me to go to a painting class, at Posh Splat, in a few weeks for a girls night out! http://www.poshsplat.com/

This is something that CKM and I used to do a bunch, we had so much fun! We’d get some snacks and drinks, go to the class and have a blast! We tried, but unfortunately, we couldn’t get a group together for it, we found that people weren’t sure if they could do it, but what we liked is that it’s almost like paint by numbers! They instruct and show you what to do step by step, or should I say, brushstroke by brushstroke.

We had a great time, had something to show off and something for the walls (so excited about that prospect for the apartment!).

The picture is of the very first painting we did, mine is on the right and CKM’s is in the left.

Since I’m still getting to know Colorado and haven’t met a lot of people yet, this is going to be great and I’m really excited that I was included.

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?