I haven’t been writing much (at all) lately, and I haven’t been running much (at all) lately but I have been doing lots of cool stuff I can’t wait to write about. Everything from indoor rock climbing to the beach at night to just exploring new places. You know what I haven’t been doing? I mean besides what I already said?  I haven’t been taking any pictures of all the cool!  Lame, I know.  So I’m on a mission to find some good pictures that other people took of some of the cool places around Tampa I’ve been exploring.

And also to stop being so amused with what I’m doing that I forget that I’ll want to write about it later and so forget to take pictures.  In my defense, Bert would be proud.  (Don’t tell him but I always liked Ernie better. And Grover. Also, I have no idea who that guy singing is. Don’t tell that guy either.)

Did your kids used to use that in kindergarten when you asked them to count to 100?  My oldest was notorious for his kindergarten escapades. His last name is pain and on his very first day of school he told his teach his full name ended in pain in the @$$.  Proud parent moment right there, let me tell you.

Then there was kindergarten graduation where all of the kids had to get up on stage and tell all of the parents what they wanted to be.  There were future princesses, presidents, doctors and lawyers.  There were kids that wanted to be just like whatever their parents were.  Know what MY son said, in front of the entire school?  He wanted to be a clown that juggles.  Where did he get that?  I have no clue but he had the entire audience laughing. That and sibling rivalry pretty much sums up my experiences as a parent so far…

And that is all I have for today. I didn’t want to miss my post today but honestly I am just not prepared. It’s been a crazy week and I’m just going to have to get caught up on all my photo prompts over the weekend.

So for today – 1,2, skip a few, 99, 100. And done. I learned that from my son.  🙂

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it here, but I have a crap-ton of family.  Yes, that’s the scientific term.  And going back they are Italian, which basically means we all hang out in the kitchen, eating a lot, and throwing our hands around while talking in a way that is dangerous to all. We get together fairly often, and it’s always for a meal.  Breakfast at the sister’s, dinner at wherever; I don’t know why but lunch is never officially a thing. My slightly off kilter family calls it dinner after 12 and breakfast before, and since noon is only one minute long it doesn’t count.

We never meet up at my house because everyone else’s house is bigger with more sitting space. I’m not allowed to cook because I’m a vegetarian and enough said.  They always tell me to bring the salad or the veggy tray, apparently I am not to be trusted around anything that must be heated.

We have experimented with using a private Facebook group (my idea but not everyone would play along) but we usually just use a group email and edit the menu part. My silly family put me in charge of the email a few years ago, I think for Easter.  Maybe Thanksgiving, I don’t remember. I changed everyone’s answer to Dr. Seuss answers (Roast Beast, etc.) and was never allowed to coordinate again. Sad but true.

Apparently they forgot because they put me in charge of the emails again this year.  (Insert evil laugh here) this time I decided to go all high tech on them and use a site called PerfectPotluck.com.  I found out about it when a co-worker used it for a work potluck.  It is very cool!

Basically you tell it how many you want of each item (side dishes, desserts, plates, utensils), jot down a note, type in all of your recipient’s email addresses and off you go.  They click a link in the email you receive and enter whatever they’d like to contribute. It’s pretty cool and super easy.

This is our first family event we used this for and I just sent out the invites but I’m pretty sure based on how well it worked at work that it’ll be out easiest arranged potluck yet.

How does your family do Thanksgiving? Does one person do everything or do you potluck it like we do?

The Color Run’s kaleidoscope tour is wrapping up.  The year 2015 will bring a whole new thing.  What thing? I don’t know but I bet it will be great.

The point is, you can still get in on the 2014 Kaleidoscope Tour in Clearwater, they will be here December 7th! Truth be told, I already ran in The Color Run Kaleidoscope Tour back in January.  But I had so much fun I’m doing it again.  In January I ran with my kids, this year I’m going to do a little more running and a little less fooling around (that last part was a was a lie) and run it with my sister. This is the same sister I talked in to doing a spontaneous mud run with me, I’m thinking we’ll have a blast.

The Color Run is still the only run I’ve ever done that was on actual roads.  It was pretty neat just because it was different.  Yes, I know most races are probably done on streets but not the ones I do.  🙂

So the question of the day is should you run The Color Run too? Well obviously I think so because I only write about things I like.  But do YOU think so?

From the Color Run’s site:

“Less about your 10-minute-mile and more about having the time of your life, The Color Run is a five-kilometer, un-timed race in which thousands of participants, or “Color Runners”, are doused from head to toe in different colors at each kilometer. With only two rules, the idea is easy to follow:

1. Wear white at the starting line
2. Finish plastered in color!”

To be serious I’d kill for a 10 minute mile, but whatever.  Even if you have never run before in your life you can wear white and get plastered in color by the end of this run, trust me.  I’ve seen people walk the entire race with a double stroller and I’ve seen people actually race this thing but what I haven’t seen is someone not having a good time at The Color Run.  Oh ya, and I also saw a unicorn guy.  No, I’m not explaining that one.

So, if you are in Tampa come on out and run with me, if you are not in Tampa check out their site to see if The Color Run 2014 Kaleidoscope Tour will be coming your way.  Here is where you can see if they are coming to you and sign up if you’d like.

Don’t tell me this doesn’t look fun!  Come out and play…

Also, check out this DIY t-shirt weaving tutorial they have on their blog. I didn’t even know The Color Run had a blog, there is some pretty cool stuff over there.

Disclosure: I have received two free race entries in exchange for posting about The Color Run. As is the usual all opinions are my own.

Oh, I almost forgot. You can use promo code COLOR5OFF to get $5 off a registration to ANY city. Important: code must be entered at time of registration, cannot be retro-applied. Also please type the code in, do not copy/paste. Not valid with other discounts or promotions.

So, I’m 44 and if you are about that age you might have had a childhood like mine.  You know, the kind without internet?  The kind where your mom pretty much kicked you out of the house until dinner time?

So what did we even do without the internet?

Actually, I remember having a hell of a good time. Hop scotch, riding bikes in canals (my mom would have KILLED me if she knew), jump rope contests and such. I still remember my best friend and I were swimming in the canals (no alligators in Arizona) and an elderly lady actually stopped on the side of the road to yell at us and tell us all about leeches.  We were very grossed out and got out of the disgusting leech water until she was out of sight.  We never did see a leach but you can bet we checked for them often.  We just weren’t quite freaked out about it to quit our fun in the (thinking back on it totally gross, I’d kill my kids if they did that…) water.

Every once in a while I will subject my kids to pieces of my childhood while telling them how great it is.  They did like The Breakfast Club.  Even I don’t know how I ever loved the Benji movies.  Sorry Benji.

The other day I amazed my 5 year old nephew with my mad hop scotch skills.  Just saying.

But my biggest win to date?  the other night I challenged my younger two to an Indian leg wrestling match.  I totally beat them both twice.  Then they figured it out and I was screwed, but still. We have not all laughed so hard for as long as I can remember.  My older son and his girlfriend came over the next night, we showed them and it was on all over again.  You have GOT TO try this with your kids.  Don’t know what I am talking about?  Here’s a You Tube video showing you how it’s done.  My bummer children of the corn would not let me film them.  🙁
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTZ9OIKFKYQ?rel=0] It may be called leg wrestling but it is a hell of a core workout if you do enough in a row.  You have been warned.

So go challenge your kids to a leg wrestling match and I challenge YOU not to laugh your you-know-what off. Who said exercise had to be an actual workout? The come back and let me know who won – I’m betting on you!

I’m pretty happy that I have only missed writing a post the two days that I was out of town this month. I could not convince myself to try blogging from my phone. Still, maybe there’s hope for me figuring out the whole consistency thing after all. Maybe not, we shall see.  🙂

Today I want to get caught up on the Photo 101 prompts.  I don’t usually get this far in monthly ‘challenges’ to myself so in the interest of not cheating and skipping any prompts here are the two I missed.

Landmark:

After you walk a little bit into the woods across the way from my neighborhood you run into this bathtub with a working well pump in the middle of a clearing.  There are a couple of picnic tables there too.  It really threw us for a loop for a while but we used it as our landmark to tell family how far we were going to go.  Meet you at the tub!

We figured out after going for a while that this is a spot where a lot of people camp with horses and the tub is for watering the horses.  Not as good as the initial mystery but still pretty cool.

Warmth:

I took my lunch time walk in a different direction Friday and since it was a somewhat shadowy walk I looked for places the sun shone through the trees on an area. I didn’t quite catch what I wanted but I still like the pictures. And the multiple pictures gave me a chance to try out the whole gallery thing.  Kind of neat.

How would you picture warmth?  Would it be something like my pictures or would you go for something that portrayed warmth as an emotion? Maybe something else entirely?

You know how ‘a body in motion stays in motion’ and all that?  Well, my life has a slightly modified law which is, ‘once I mess something up it shall only get more messed up for the rest of the night’.  This is true when practicing my forms at Tae Kwon Do, it’s true of a bad run, and it’s true when I get lost.

It’s that last one that happened in such grand style Thursday night I have to tell you about it.

Lately my GPS has been acting weird and telling me that it has lost it’s power source and will turn off in 30 seconds every few minutes while I’m driving. Mind you, it’s plugged in at the time. Annoying but since I hold the GPS on my steering wheel while driving not a total disaster.

Thursday I was going to a restaurant in Tampa that I’d never been to before and since I was worried about my GPS I also used Google maps on my phone, which I never did before. I was pulling out of the parking lot at work and my GPS told me ‘turn right on Linebaugh’.  At the same time Google told me ‘turn left on Linebaugh’.  And so went the rest of the drive.  In spite of that I got there on time and with no problems (though I accidentally parked behind the restaurant and took a few minute to figure out where I was supposed to be). I knew I was using up an awful lot of luck right there.

So on to the Straz Center.  The person I was supposed to be following turned left, Google said turn right.  Quite the rebel, Google.  Turns out traffic was thick enough I finally turned right just to be able to pull out. Sorry for doubting you Google.  I found the place no problem, but I did go around the block 3 times finding the parking garage that was kind of in plain site.  All well and good.

Then I wanted to get home.  No matter how many times I typed my address into Google it said there was no such thing.  I figured out after I got home it was changing FL into flight instead of Florida. Yes, I turned off stupid spell correction immediately.  My evil cracked out GPS would not even turn on for the first time ever. I (in all my wisdom) decided screw it, I have to run into a freeway soon no matter what direction I go in, right?

Lets just pause here a moment for the photo prompt of the day.  Mystery. What? You don’t think this quick pic captures the meaning of mystery? Well read on fearless reader, read on.

Of course the first thing I did was turn the wrong way and go over a draw bridge. Fifty third u-turn of the night, many more to come. After passing several signs for the 275 south and none for the 275 N (home sweet home was north) I decided screw it, I’ll get on going south and then get off and back on going north.  Because there is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS a way to get right back on the freeway in the other direction.  Right?

Not so much.  I got off after going a wee bit out of the way (passing a couple of probably nice, probably drug dealers on really, really dark and decrepit streets) with no way home in site and now a good 5 miles further away.

I gave up and just started driving and because the streets in Florida are really, really weird I eventually ran back into the 275 and was able to get on the the right direction, I made it home and everything.

But it just goes to prove, mystery (like everything else) is defined by the moment.Oh yeah, in the name of full disclosure I also got lost in the (stupid) parking garage trying to find my car.

I am SO happy to be typing this at home.  🙂

I have to say, I expected this show to be funny but I didn’t expect it to have as many laughs as it did.  Some of the laughs where OMG that’s funny, some of the laughs where OMG I can’t believe they just did that.  Definitely not a show for the whole family!  So ya, I loved it.

I was also pretty impressed that they did all of the necessary scenes – the bad, bad, evil trees scene (they lowered everyone’s karma in the room by making us laugh so much at this), the chainsaw scene, all the good stuff.

My favorite part?  The fact that they embraced campy in every way possible.  If you are in Tampa and free this Saturday or Sunday night you should absolutely go see it – You can get your tickets on Straz Center’s website.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.  Evil Dead the Musical is playing in more places than Tampa (I know, what? why?) – you can follow Evil Dead The Tour  on Twitter to see if they are coming to your town.  If you go come back and tell me what you thought!

I received two tickets to Evil Dead the Musical in exchange for writing a review. As always, my opinions are all mine.

Ya.  That’s really a thing.  From Straz Center’s site:

“College kids in an abandoned cabin in the woods for the weekend. What could go wrong? Well, first they accidentally unleash an evil force that turns them into demons. The rest is Evil Dead the Musical, a splatter-fest of camp, gore and one-liners so bad they’ll kill you before the Candarian demons do. This sing-along cult hit is a bloody good time, and for die hard fans, there are always seats available in the Splatter Zone if you get your tickets early. You’ll laugh your guts out.”

What can go wrong indeed?

Who doesn’t want to laugh their guts out? No one I know! Well. No one that I know that I like anyways, and who else counts?

Exactly.

I don’t think I can tell it better than this guy:

Want to come out and get your Evil Dead on?

It’s playing Thurs. at 8 p.m. and Fri. & Sat. at 7:30 p.m. You can pick up tickets here.

Are you a fan of zombies in general or Evil Dead in particular? Do you agree that adding ‘the musical’ to just about anything is kind of awesome?

I think that nature is healing. Think about it, when you are in a house full of sick people don’t you feel the need to open up the house and let the fresh breeze come through?

Of course, when nature is in the form of a shark following you it doesn’t see quite so healing but everything has it’s down sides.  And it does make a pretty neat story.

The photo prompt today was ‘the natural world’. That’s one I can get pretty easily! This is a picture that I actually took with the prompt ‘connect’ in mind because of the way that 4 different plants are all intertwined. I like the way the dry moss frames the other plants.

I want to share a second picture that illustrates the natural world in an equally honest way these days.  Nature and us humans (I know we are animals but I can’t quite bring myself to label much of what we do as part of the natural world) have become intertwined on a daily basis.

I passed these two while driving out of my neighborhood.  I took the picture out the window of my car.  These birds are incredibly cool, and here in this neck of the woods they are seen pretty often.  A couple live in both Publix parking lots that I shop at.  They must like the relatively clear space because I only ever see them in parking lots and neighborhoods – never in the woods or non-humanized places around here.

See why I love Florida?  It’s a wee bit like living in a zoo. We’ve also spotted wild boars, 2 bear cubs, and a wildcat or two while driving. And of course tons of armadillos and possums when running at night. Oh, and sometimes bunnies which always makes me smile.  You never outgrow getting excited when you see a wild rabbit do you?

Cross your fingers for me that I never run into a boar while running, I’d probably have a heart attack even if it saw me and ran the other way.

What creatures do you find in your neighborhood?