Paintball & Pedicures

Last Friday, a group of us "surprised" one of our good friends, Brenda, with a paintball excursion to celebrate her hmmmmm-phhhhh-fortieth-hmmmmummm birthday. Brenda is one of the most generous and thoughtful people I know. I'm not sure if she actually has the ability to say 'no' to someone in need. She's either helping one of her kids with a school or sport, giving someone a ride somewhere, picking someone or something up for someone, organizing a party or an event, volunteering her time... you get the idea. She's a great friend and a wonderful mom.

Brenda wasn't feeling the best, but being the trooper that she is, geared up anyway.

Very gung-ho of me

A lot of us hadn't paintballed before, but after a very enlightening briefing session, we steeled ourselves and set out to conquer the battlefield.

Ok, I grew up with one younger sister in the city and went to an all-girl catholic school. Consequently (and  possibly stereotypically), I hadn't really ever played any kind of war games or anything with any kind of guns, or covert teams, or hand signals, etc, so I wasn't sure if I'd get that combat instinct, but when you start hearing the paintballs flying and you're running for cover, it definitely kicks in. It was a lot of fun, and a great workout. A few of us ended up with some very impressive bruises as souvenirs. By the time we had played all our games, had our lunch and turned in our gear, almost 5 hours had passed! What a great new adventure! I'm so glad I tried it.

Two days later, I had an appointment for a mani-pedi. It's important to note that my mother is an esthetician, and I STILL had to book an appointment! We have a family wedding on Friday and the only time she could fit me in was 5 days before, so I better be careful not to chip anything...

And THIS is what you get when you mix paintball and pampering...