What I love! | Peaches Prattlings

{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 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 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 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.

{August 5, 2014} Today I got a letter!

I got my first letter from camp and I am over the moon!

I don’t know if you remember me talking about getting EJS ready for summer camp last week. One of the things we did to get her ready was print out letters she could ‘fill in the blanks’ and send, we added mailing and return address labels to envelopes and included stamps she could add. We all did letters: her parents, me, my dad, La La.

We weren’t sure if we would get a letter, but we were all hopeful! And it paid off!

Before I left Boston, I wrote her a letter and mailed it. Today, I wrote her a letter to send and when I took it to the front desk to ask them to mail it, Debra asked if anyone had given me my letter. No, they hadn’t! She said it was addressed to someone named “Auntie J S”, that’s me! I got a letter from camp! You know how excited i get and so you can imagine how much I squealed!

I cracked up because she was using a yellow highlighter and let me tell you, it’s easier to read in the picture than when I had it in my hand! I am tickled pink [or yellow] that I got a letter from camp! I hope that I get another, but if I don’t…I got a letter from camp!!!

Signed…a happy auntie!!!

{August 4, 2014} Guardians of the Galaxy

If I just say “Go see this movie” would that be enough? Ok, so I’ll tell you more.

First, a great cast! Chris Pratt was fantastic and cheesy and sexy and goofy as the reluctant hero, Peter Quill or ‘Starlord”, Zoe Saldana, as Gamora, she kicked arse, yeah, that’s it. Question: what color will she be in her next movie? Dave Bautista, the wrestler was terrific as Drax, very colorful. Rounding out our group are Rocket, a genetically modified raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel voicing Groot, the giant tree who had a wide vocabulary of “I am Groot” yeah, that’s it, but it was all in the inflection, very funny.

Some of the other good guys; Glenn Close as Nova Prime, John C Reilly as Corpsman Dey, he was a very funny cop.

Benicio Del Toro is “The Collector”, who you might remember from the end of Thor, not good or bad and Michael Rooker was Yondu Udonta, a blue dude with awful teeth, but with the coolest arrow that he could command with a whistle, I want that arrow!

Now, moving on to the bad dudes. Lee Pace was Ronan he was blue with purple eyes and a mean s.o.b.! Djimon Hounsou was Korath, one of Ronan’s guard, Karen Gillan, from Dr Who was Nebula, she was blue and really bad, trained to be a killer, along side Gamora, but so very different!

I’ll tell you about some memorable moments in the movie. One that wasn’t fun was in the very beginning, there is a mom in the hospital dying, but luckily for the sensitive, hint hint, the scene lasted only about five minutes. The movie had some great 1980s references and if you grew up in the ’80s and how great is a soundtrack that did not have anything that came out after 1988? If you remember Avatar, I’m going to say there was an Ewah moment, not going to expand on that, just let me know if you get the reference. There were some great fight scenes and how literal can you be? Oh, very.

Are you hooked on a feeling? You will be!

Stan Lee makes an appearance, not a speaking role, but he’s there and of course, you need to stay after the credits. Don’t expect any revealing moments to give you insight into the next Marvel movie, but you have to stay, it’s goofy.

It’s funny, silly, clever, goofy, exciting, great adventure, fighting, thievery, gambling, womanizing, crazies, revenge, torture, outer space, what more could you want?

Let’s just say…while I was watching this movie I was ready to walk out of the theater and get the DVD! How’s that for an endorsement!? Go see it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381/

{August 2, 2014} I ran 3.1 miles!!! My day…

OMG! Minus 30 seconds for stopping for color application and a water break, I ran the entire 3.1 [5k] miles!!!

Today started way too early! I fell asleep between 12 and 1 and at 3:45 woke up with a start and didn’t go back to sleep! What? I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I stayed awake and left by 6:30 and got downtown in no time, found a place to park and headed to the start. Today was The Color Run, http://thecolorrun.com/, I did it year in Atlanta with SDL, Miss A, CKM and CTS, so much fun and color! “the happiest 5k on earth!”

I went running with MH a few weeks ago and he gave me pointers about running, telling me there are 5 speeds and 1 is as slow as you can go without it being a walk, but can keep momentum for longer distance, especially when you’re first starting. So, I employed his advice and stayed at a 1 when we started and I ran the entire 5k, as I mentioned above, minus 30 seconds! I couldn’t believe it! I actually ran the entire way! It is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, as I’ve told you before and today I did it! It gives me so much home for other runs and the half marathons I’ve signed up for!

Now, I’m not getting ahead of myself, I am going to keep working on it, every day do as much as I can and maybe that is 3 miles and then work my way up to more. Look out world, here i come!

“Hey JJ, you just ran 3.1 miles start to finish, what are you going to do next?” “I’m going to the movies!” I went home, showered and then took myself to see Guardians of the Galaxy, review coming tomorrow [let me just say AWESOME!].

I bought the tickets early and then headed over to the mall, Old Navy had jeans on sale for $19, you can’t beat that and what beats that? Finding 3 pairs of jeans on the sale rack for about $4!!! I spent $13 for 3 pairs of jeans! What? I also went to Verizon to talk about the crappy battery on my phone, so they gave me a new one, wahoo! Then a little more window shopping and headed home to apply heat and ice to my back.

Why am I applying heat and ice to my back you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. The other day, my sciatica, which hit me about 2 years ago when I was in Boston and let me tell you, that was some flight back to Atlanta. I had therapy for about a week, applied Bio-freeze and eventually it went away. Well, my back has started to ache over the last week or two and when I got back to Ann Arbor from Boston, hmmm do I sense a theme here? It hit me hard. I’ve been taking Alieve and transitioning from heat to ice for the last week. It’s been on and off since I got back to Denver and today, I did the run, no problem, but when I was showering I moved the wrong way and wrenched my back, hence the ice and heat.

Aside from the ouch with my back, an AMAZING DAY! I ran 3.1 miles, a great deal on jeans and saw an awesome movie! What could be better! How was your day?

{July 29, 2014} Only 3 of us in the house, rest, right? Not even!

So, GES and ACS took EJS to summer camp yesterday, well at least up in the area and drop off was 10:30 this morning, leaving dad, MGS and I together last night and today.

The day started way too early when i heard MGS coming into the room, I was in the master bedroom, to go potty because it was too far to go to her potty down the hall. That was about 6:22am, fun.

I took a shower while dad got her breakfast, pamcakes [sound it out, you’ll get it] then it was a battle to get dressed, well for her, not me! We found that if you challenge her, tell her you’re going to beat her at something, she is all over it! The last race was can she get dressed before i finish tying my shoes, guess who won! Whatever it takes!

Say goodbye to Papa and off to school. The weather reports said possible showers, well, it showered, it rained, it poured! Not too horribly on the way to school where drop off was perfect, except she didn’t want to push me out of the room, “You can go now” was the theme of the day as EJS told her parents after they finished unpacking her in her new bunk.

As I headed back towards the house and to meet dad for brunch, it was awful! Cats and dogs! It was coming down in sheets and sideways! There were huge puddles and trying to get around them was almost impossible! Look at the pictures I took! Cars submerged! It took me 1.5 hours to go 15 miles! what should have taken 30 minutes took 1.5 hours!!!

Back in the area, met dad for brunch, then home. I did a few loads of laundry, dish-washer, made the beds, tidied up a little and headed out the door to pick up MGS a little early.

Oh yea, somewhere in there, I was going to tell you I got work done, for my job!

I went to a few stores then picked up MGS and continued our rousing game of ‘I Spy’ from earlier and it took no time getting home! We played some games, watched videos and enjoyed ourselves.

After a while, GES and ACS came home and we all gathered to go to an Irish Pub! LOVE. After dinner, home for bath, stories, games and nighty night! While GES was putting MGS to bed, ACS and I went down to the basement to build the futon GES found on a local site.

Next it was hanging with my sister, then go across the street for some conversations with CF and her two oldest, M&J. Then back here so i could write to you!

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