weekend afternoons in the park

A few weekends ago, I spent a lovely afternoon playing games in Bryant Park. It was a lovely day to be out enjoying the sunshine, while also perfecting my scrabble game. It was great to catch up with a friend and her little one - who was napping like a champion during scrabble, play a little Candy Land, and have one of the most fantastic make your own ice creams.

Esther Williams

Esther Williams recently passed away, and I normally do not get into celebrity deaths. However, upon hearing of Esther’s death I couldn’t help but remember all things from childhood that had her influence. For those of you unfamiliar with Williams’ career she was famous for swimming in movies in the 1940s and 1950s. If you were a big Judy Blume fan, you might remember that Sally J. Freedman wanted to be in movies just like Esther (loved Sally, she is a great character – and I think I read this book when I was 12 and I still remember it). Perhaps though, my favorite Esther Williams tribute is Miss Piggy’s above. Granted I have always loved Miss Piggy- I was her for Halloween on year as child (thanks Dad for making one of the best costumes ever). I hope you enjoy!

austin

I love this song, and I love Blake Shelton's curly mullet from back in the day... it's amazing. I think every girl hopes some guy out there still loves her after some time.

spartan spirit

I totally took some crazy pills the past few weeks. About 4 weeks ago, I decided hey why not sign up for a Spartan Race, it sounds like fun. Then I watched a video from the prior year’s race (yes, I blindly signed up, and then decided to watch the video), and the first thoughts that ran through my head was “I am going to die”. I should point out, the gym I go to most days is an official Spartan training gym, so I had a good idea what I was expected to do, and technically I’ve been training since January. This race is intense though- much more grueling then my hour class where I am not caked in dirt the whole time.

This past weekend was the race, so I am happy to report, I didn’t die – and I am just bruised, scraped, and cut up. The race was interesting to say the least – up and down a mountain side, over all sorts of obstacles – including about 8 different walls (short people are not made to leap over walls), scaling under barbed wire, jumping through fire. Probably the most challenging part for me was the lack of water on the course on such a hot day – man I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited for water before in my life.

All and all, I am happy that I had the experience of becoming a Spartan – Aroo! Though, to be honest, my first race will probably be my last. Happy to have done it, but not all that keen on repeating the experience.