What is Run Foam Run 5K? Let Bluegrass Junior Woman's Club Show You!

Themed runs are a current trend.  You have various color runs, night runs, mud runs, and even zombie runs.  Bluegrass Junior Woman's Club is proud to host Lexington, Kentucky's first foam run.  The event is brought to you by the creators of Glow in the Night 5k.  It will feature large inflatables, goofy obstacles, and lots of foam.  The event titled Run Foam Run will benefit Bluegrass Junior Woman's Club and the clubs special projects.  BJWC is a local non-profit devoted to helping disadvantaged women, children, and families through various outreach project.  The Santa's Shopper's program, Ronald McDonald House, Bluegrass Domestic Violence, and the Children's Advocacy center all benefit from the hard work and dedication of BJWC members.

So grab a few friends, maybe a funny costume, and help raise money for an amazing organization.  

Please stayed tuned for updated obstacle alerts and information.  

Heats will run from 9am to 12pm but the most popular time slots will fill fast so get your entries in.

http://www.active.com/5k-race/lexington-ky/run-foam-run-lexington-2013

Entries are $45 up until Friday, August 2, 2013

Day of race entries will be based upon availability and will be $60

Happy Terrific Tuesday,

XOXO

~Jess

Fayette County Public Schools Helps Ensure No Child Goes Hungry On Summer Break

Photo Credit: Fayette County County Public Schools 

I love hearing about good things going on in the world, especially when it is in the city you call home.  I haven't had the best day dealing with the antics of my future ex-husband, and I was feeling blue.  A friend of mine shared something that warmed my heart.  I found out that the Fayette County Public School system is helping to ensure that no child goes hungry this summer.  People fail to realize that many children don't get basic nutritional needs met.  School age children often rely on school nutritional programs.  We often complain about the nutritional content of school foods, but many children are just grateful to get a full meal.  Fayette County Schools announced today that they would be offering a summer lunch program.  I took the following information from their Facebook page:

"Spread the word! Kids can get a free lunch all summer long at one of several summer feeding sites from June 3 through August 2. (Closed July 4th.) Meals will be provided to all children regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability; there is no discrimination in the lunch service. 

From 11 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, June 3 through Aug. 2:
Cardinal Valley Elementary, 218 Mandalay Road
Dixie Magnet Elementary, 1940 Eastland Parkway
Mary Todd Elementary, 551 Parkside Drive
Northern Elementary, 340 Rookwood Parkway
Tates Creek Middle School, 1105 Centre Parkway

From noon to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 3 through Aug. 2:
Booker T. Washington Academy, 707 Howard Street
Bryan Station Middle School, 1865 Wickland Drive
Lexington Traditional Magnet School, 350 N. Limestone
Southern Middle School, 400 Wilson Downing Road
Winburn Middle School, 1060 Winburn Drive

From 1 to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 3 through Aug. 2:
William Wells Brown Community Center, 548 E. Sixth Street

Other sites with a different schedule include:
Booker T. Washington Academy, 475 Price Road, 11:30 to noon Monday through Wednesday, June 10 through July 24
Deep Springs Elementary, 1919 Brynell Drive, noon to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, June 18-28
Harrison Elementary, 161 Bruce Street, 11:30 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, June 3-7
Julius Marks Elementary, 3277 Pepperhill Road, 11 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, June 10-14
Lansdowne Elementary, 336 Redding Road, 11:30 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, June 3-28
Winburn Community Action Council, 1169 Winburn Drive, noon to 12:30 p.m. Monday 

through Friday, June 17 through July 26"

Please help spread the word about this program.  It could help provide nutritional assistant to at risk populations.  It brings a smile to my face that public school system is ensuring summer meals to the children of our city.  

Happy Melodic Monday,

XOXO

~Jess 

Blood, Sweat, and Ink

My late brother Brandon and his daughter Bella

I dread May and December.  My brother was murdered on May 25th, which fell on Memorial Day that year.  Now I'm not sure which day to mourn my brothers passing, so instead I mourn both.  December 15th was his birthday and shortly after is Christmas.  I always have a six month cycle of mourning and grief.  This year I promised to celebrate his life instead of mourning his death.  I spent the days reflecting on all the incredible memories we shared.  My sister got a beautifully scripted memorial tattoo in his honor.  The text read, "Brandon, If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever."  In my heart he will live forever, he is alive as long as our memories are.  

Photo Credit: Anna Peace 

I had been considering a memorial tattoo for a while.  I have one small tattoo that I have had for many years, I take body art pretty seriously.  When my sister surprised us saying she was getting hers, I knew I wanted to get mine too.  It wasn't that I was competing with her, I just found it ironic that the symbolic tattoo I had chosen many months before related to the text my sister chose.  

Photo Credit: Jessica Urgelles

My regular readers know I grew up in a very small town in rural southeastern Kentucky.  It isn't uncommon that people were born, live, and eventually die here.  The local tattoo artist when to high school with my father, and had known my grandparents for a very long time.  

The really special thing about Chuck Hendrickson is that he also tattooed my late brother Brandon.  He also tattooed both of my other siblings.  I know Brandon was smiling down on us that day, and probably laughed as I gritted my teeth.  I chose to get my tattoo on my rib cage under my right arm.  It isn't the most pleasant place to get a tattoo, but I like them discrete.  I also don't have very much meat on my rib cage, and that didn't help matters.  

Photo Credit: Jessica Urgelles 

                                                                                                                              My dear old friend Monica joined me for moral support and everyone chatted with memories of Brandon.  I almost felt like he was actually there with me, I like to remind myself he is always with me. He wasn't perfect but he loved his family, and he would do anything for a friend.  He had a big heart, a goofy demeanor, and a zest for life.  

My tattoo turned out more beautiful than I had hoped.  I will always have it as a reminder of brother, friend, and childhood playmate that I was so viciously taken from me.  

I love you Brandon Michael Peace, your body might be gone but you will never be forgotten.  

Thanks again to Chuck Hendrickson of Knox Street Tattoo in Barbourville, Kentucky for doing an incredible job on the tattoo.  I would recommend him to anyone without hesitation.  

Happy Sassy Saturday,

XOXO

~Jess 

The Roommate from Hades: Why are Girls so Mean?

Photo Credit: Pinterest 

Most of my life I have been drawn to having guy friends.  I just haven't had much luck with girls.  Maybe it was girls I chose to be friends with or maybe it is just girls in general, but I could definitely tell a few stories.  My guy friends didn't backstab me, they didn't talk about me behind my back, and most of the time I didn't have to worry about secrets.  I have a general distrust for girls and sadly for good reason.  

Last fall I abruptly made my friend move out.  I did it rather quietly and swiftly.  She wasn't paying to live with me.  We had known each other about five years.  She gave me a sob story about how her boyfriend who she moved away with had beaten her up and she had no money to move back to Lexington.  What did I do?  I bought her story hook, line, and sinker.  Why did I believe her?  I was trying to not be so cynical and I thought I was helping out a friend.  

It wasn't long before I realized that was a mistake.  I had begged her to come back to Lexington.  I let her live in my guest bedroom, introduced her to my family, and even convinced my sister to do her hair.  I put her on my gym membership, cooked dinner at night, and made her feel like family.  I treated her like a sister, heck I even fixed her up with a few of my guy friends. I was raised to be kind to others and in turn they will show kindness to you.  Clearly she and I were not cut from the same cloth.  

Photo Credit: Pinterest 

I slowly grew suspicious of her behaviors.  She got out of control when she was drinking, and she didn't have any moral issues with random hookups.  It took my husband returning home for a visit to realize how much I shouldn't trust her (if I only realized then, he was as much to blame).  She tagged along everywhere with us, to dinner and out on the town.  She had too much to drink on our night out which was nothing unusual for her.  When we arrived back, she ran outside to cry and my husband said he would check on her.  They were gone a few minutes when she ran back into the house and said she, "didn't deserve to be my friend."  What could have happened that made her say that? I knew that very second something had happened, I wasn't sure what but I knew I would never get the truth.

When I picked up my husbands cell phone, I realized the two of them had been texting each other.  My

Photo Credit: Pinterest 

husband had been complaining about our lack of intimacy and confiding in her.  I was livid.  Who wouldn't be?  I should have been smart and ditched him then.  Why did he find it appropriate to chat with my friends about our relationship?  Why did she think it was ever okay to befriend my husband? Why had they chosen to keep it a secret?   

I will never fathom girls like her.  I am grateful I am NOT a girl like her.  It takes one psychologically scarred and immoral individual to do the things that she has done.  The funniest thing about all this is I recently found out my soon to be ex-husband and she were still talking to each other.  It has even been rumored that they have hung out.  I guess they would make a perfect pair, they have the same "high" standards.  Lucky for my ex, he doesn't have any friends I would desire to be seen in public with regardless of how much I would like to pay him back.  

Photo Credit: Pinterest 

Revenge is a dish best served cold, and most of the time you don't even have to seek it out.  

Karma always gets you in the end..

Luckily I treat girl friends the same way I do men, you can't let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch.  I have been lucky enough to have a few girls that have treated me with love, kindness, and respect.  I am grateful for the outstanding women in my life.  I also realized that true friendships are never really end, and the people who truly love you show up when you least expect it.  

Happy Wisdom Wednesday,

XOXO

~Jess 

How This "Stella" Got Her Groove Back

It took just a few weeks for me to revert my hair back blonde.  I decided it was time for new head shots and thanks to my wonderful sister, Anna Peace for doing my hair and makeup!  

Happy Memorial Day

Photo Credit: Pinterest 

I hope everyone remembers that today for so many families is much more than just a day off work or
for barbecues.  It is a day of honor and remembrance.  Soldiers and their families pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  There are soldiers lost in battle, and there are families left behind.  No amount of money or gratitude can buy back the time that was lost.  You can't put a value on time.


Military members wear the uniform with honor, courage, and integrity.  We should remember the fallen and celebrate the survivors.  We should also take a second to remember the unseen scars of war, and the toll it takes on military members and their families.  Post traumatic stress disorder might not take their bodies but it will consume their mind.

Today I honor my grandfathers and brothers, and many other unmentioned relatives and friends

George Peace, Jr.  Korea War Vet
Claude Johnson

Freddie Cole

Brandon Michael Peace, Post 9/11 deployment

Stanton Kayne Peace, Operation Enduring Freedom 

My prayers for a speedy and safe return, and to all my friends still downrange "we got your 6".  

Happy Memorial Day!

XOXO

~Jess 

For the Record...

Photo Credit: Pinterest 

My blog is returning to regularly scheduled social good programming.  I have had people ask if anyone
made me take my posts down and the answer is no.  I just got tired of rereading them and making myself angry.  The more I read the conversations between he and other women, the angrier I got.  He had tried to convince me that what he had done was my fault.  I neglected our marriage and focused on our son, and he almost made me blame myself. I never imagined I would get to a point where I could hate my ex, but loathe him.

I realized he has lied so much, he had started to believe himself.  I found out things about him now, and it makes my skin crawl knowing I put up with him that long.  He blamed me for the trouble he was in, but it was his actions that got him in trouble.  I just made his actions public knowledge.  I finally feel like his command can see who he really is, and more importantly what he is capable of.  An officer from the National Guard said to me, "I'm glad one of you have made your son a priority."  It wasn't the first time it had been said, but it was the first time his command had acknowledged that.  I am starting to feel that Gabe and I might get the justice we both deserve.  You can only lie, cheat, and steal for so long before you will get caught.  I have elected from this point forward to hand over all my information to his command, and to the attorney.  I need to focus on what I do best, being a mother to my son and contributing to social good.

I don't even love and respect him as Gabe's father.  My son deserves so much more than the heartless, petty, and ego driven man that is responsible for half his genes.  He called child protective services, and not once did it cross his mind that he could cause Gabe to go into the hands of strangers.  I have devoted the last 3.5 years of my life to nurturing, protecting, and teaching my son.  He tried to blame me for neglecting our marriage to care for our son, and then he turns around to accuse me of anything which would cause him harm.  It showed me just how truly reckless, irresponsible, and desperate he is. I refer to him as desperate, because he is desperate to discredit me.

This is my last post about anything related to my future ex-husband.  I was finally smart enough to realize he wasn't worst wasting my breath or the server space!

Happy Satisfying Sunday,
XOXO
~Jess