Tag - travel

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Friday 5: Stay and Let Me Look at You
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Floridian Friday 5 on Saturday: Games People Play
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NJ Renaissance Faire and my first zipline!

Friday 5: Stay and Let Me Look at You

Sep 14 2018
Browse archives for September 14, 2018
Kimberly All posts from Kimberly
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Happy Friday from Lexington, Kentucky!

bourbon

It’s Maker’s Mark with a local gingery soda called Ale-8-One.

I’m here for work. I exhibited on behalf of TNP at a Hospital Medicine Conference for the last few days. The hotel is lovely, but set on a highway which is unwalkable. That combined with the typical conference schedule (Session breaks were for 15 minutes every 2 hours It’s hard to go somewhere, see a sight, and return in 2 hours) meant I stayed on property the entire time. Don’t cry for me.

Everyone told me Kentucky was horses and bourbon. Being a proud New Jersey resident, I’m against blatant stereotyping of states. But as the plane was descending I saw at least three dozen horses. And three steps away from my gate there was a bourbon store. Okay then. You win, stereotyping.

Things I did right this trip:

  • I went to the gym every day and walked on the treadmill for a half hour. I forgot how much I enjoy treadmill walks. I do! Not enough to buy a treadmill or go to a gym, though.
  • I made sure to get outside every day. I spent many of the 2-hour downtimes with my laptop by the pool.
  • I didn’t eat like a feral teenager with money. I made good food choices (I had a salad with steak on top 2 nights in a row), passed on desserts, and limited my alcohol.
  • You know those things at work (or home) that you put off over and over? I call them shame tasks and I knocked all of my work related shame tasks out while sitting by the pool.
  • I made sure to hit the hot tub. Priorities.
  • I traveled with a carryon bag only. It’s a nice exercise in packing and purchasing restraint, plus when I get off the plane tomorrow I can just go home. As it is, I packed a teeshirt, skirt, and 2 necklaces that I didn’t wear. And I packed 4 pair of shoes. I don’t know a way around that, though. I had heels for the meeting, flats for dinner, sneakers for the gym and flip flops for the pool.

    kim in a hot tub

    I had the hot tub to myself!


    I go home tomorrow. It’ll be nice to be home.

    ***
    Time for the Friday 5! This week’s theme is Stay and Let Me Look at You, which is a lyric from Neil Diamond’s September Morn. It was a song that was big when I was young and I guess it was sexy in the 70s, but is pretty creepy now. Let’s get to it!

    1. (Earth, Wind & Fire) Why are you dancing in September?
    WM was paid today for the first time since June 30. We save money for the summers, but holy balls something happens every year that takes the wind out of our sails. In 2016 it was our dead HVAC and poor Max. Last year was Murphy’s puppy expenses and 4 new tires. This year it was more dog bills. Not Ollie’s dental surgery because we knew that was coming, but his ear infections, sore neck, and then both dogs’ gastric distress in August. Holy balls.

    2. (Neil Diamond) September morning still can make you feel what way?
    Sad. I hate the later sunrises and the end of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

    3. (Green Day) What are some things you have to endure until September ends?
    Silly birthday month emails from retailers with crummy “gifts.” Oh, thanks for the 10% off of an order of $75 or more. So generous. Also this year, my free Starbucks drink was good on my birthday ONLY. They used to give you a month. Then two weeks. Now one day? Nah. My Panera free pastry was good for 2 weeks. My free coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts was 3 weeks. One day is mean.

    4. (Kool & the Gang) What place or thing is your September love?
    WM is my love every month of the year.

    5. (Willie Nelson) What is your September song for the rest of the month?
    That freaking Earth, Wind & Fire song. BAAAA DE YAAAAA DE YAAAAA DE YAAAAA. I’m hoping Demi Adejuyigbe celebrates September 21 again. He’s a great Twitter follow, if you’re still on that trash heap of a site. (I’m still there.)

    Time for bed. This time tomorrow I’ll be snorfling my dogs.

    • Floridian Friday 5 on Saturday: Games People Play

    Mar 03 2018
    Browse archives for March 03, 2018
    Kimberly All posts from Kimberly
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    mel

    It's warmer where I live... HNL.

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    Hello from RetiredLand, Florida! I’m here visiting with Dad for a bit, pretending that I’m retired, too. So far the weather’s been amazing by my standards, but chilly by Floridian standards. It snowed at home yesterday. I am SO SICK OF WINTER.

    Bitey McBiteface update: The vet signed Murphy’s release verifying he’s not rabid, and then diagnosed him with a double ear infection. Spaniels, people. Fluffy and adorable with giant stink-ears. My scar is healing. I think my lips are always going to be slightly asymmetrical, but in a way only I can see. Both perp and victim are ready to move on.

    Yesterday we went to the beach, where I read an entire book in one sitting! I picked up a little color, which is good. Except it’s all on my nose, which isn’t as good. Don’t be me. I posted this photo on Facebook yesterday and deleted it because I felt as if I was bragging.

    Indialanic, FL


    It’s time for the Friday 5! This week’s theme is Games People Play. Let’s get to it!

    1. How good are you at word games, and what’s a word game you really enjoy?
    I’m pretty good at word games. I love crossword puzzles the best. On the NYT Crossword Puzzle difficulty scale, I’m about a Wednesday level. The gimmicky Thursday ones always stump me. In competitive word games, I’m better with Boggles than Scrabble. I can create amazing words in Scrabble but I’ve never been good at maximizing the points per word. And then I lose.

    2. How good are you at trivia games, and what’s your strongest category?
    I’m pretty good. My strongest categories are the pop culture ones. And probably NJ history, if that ever was a category. My worst categories are sports and art.

    Melbourne, FL


    3. How good are you at spot-the-difference or what’s-wrong-with-this-picture games?
    I am excellent at those. But I’m that person who notices subtle logo changes at the grocery store. “Look! Vlasic’s softened their As!”

    4. How good are you at memory games, and have you ever played Simon?
    VERY GOOD. We didn’t have Simon as a kid. Instead we had the Sears catalog version called “Follow Me.”

    5. What’s your favorite party game of all time?
    Nothing beats the vindictiveness and violence of Musical Chairs. As a lifelong fan of pro wrestling, chairs make the best party prop. Second place is Codenames, which I played for the first time in Seattle last year. It’s easy to learn and a crapton of fun.

    Next time I come here, I’ll be able to bring a Shorti to the beach!


    It might be “chilly” here but the sun is shining brightly. I think darts are on the schedule for today. Enjoy your day, whatever the weather!

    NJ Renaissance Faire and my first zipline!

    Jun 14 2017
    Browse archives for June 14, 2017
    Kimberly All posts from Kimberly
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    Dave Moreno

    Back in May, from the 26th floor of our Las Vegas hotel room overlooking Vegas Valley, I briefly considered trying…

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    This weekend, WM and I headed north to Liberty Lake Day Camp in Bordentown to attend our third New Jersey Renaissance Faire.

    This gorgeous and majestic creature is “Sir Angus.” And his horse.



    If you live anywhere in NJ and have yet to visit the New Jersey Renaissance Faire, please go give it a try. And you’re like, “Yeah, yeah, Kim. We go to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire every year and it’s huge and amazing!” I know! It is! We go too.

    But the NJ one only runs for 3 weekends a year, and it will charm the pants/kilts/pantaloons off of you. It’s smaller, but because of that it’s easier to see everything and catch more performances. It’s more immersive – there are dozens and dozens of costumed staff members along the pathways who will interact with you, if you’d like. It’s less commercial.

    For those 3 weekends out of every year, Liberty Lake Camp is transformed into English village of Crossford. What makes Crossford different than your average Shire is that it’s located on some sort of time wormhole that brings different historical personalities there each year. This year Italy’s Borgias made a visit. Last year it was Brunhilde and Vikings, the year before it was Blackbeard, etc.

    This gorgeous and majestic creature is Jacques Ze Whipper.



    Two years ago we funded their Kickstarter to give them a permanent office and to make the Faire 3 weeks instead of 2. It was probably the best Kickstarter we supported.

    We visit, we wander, we attend some performances, we usually watch a blacksmithing demo because BLACKSMITHING!, we buy something stupid, and we come home.

    This majestic and gorgeous creature is my amazing husband.



    But this year we saw a zip line. I have always wanted to try zip lining. So without much thought we coughed up $15 each and got to zip across Liberty Lake. Despite the woman in front of me’s tale of woe about being stuck on one in Mexico because she was too light (sigh) and someone slamming into her on the way down, I was clipped to the wire, took a tiny step of faith off of the platform and HAD A BLAST!

    Video proof, shot by WM:

    Ziplining at the NJ Ren Faire from Kimberly Russell on Vimeo.

    I felt like I could fly! The straps were comfortable and I felt completely secure the whole way. I am so glad I took that chance. The best part was we got to zipline back across the lake so that we didn’t have to walk allllll the way back to get our stuff. Those were screams of joy, by the way.

    This year’s stupid purchase was this tiny axe. I don’t know what to do with a tiny axe. It’s not even sharp.

    It’s not sharp so I can’t toss it at things.


    Next year, if you’re a proud New Jerseyan (or even a curious Philadelphian) go visit the New Jersey Renaissance Faire.

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