365-5 | Peaches Prattlings

{September 2, 2017} Aloha Kauai!

What do people who live on an island do for vacation?

Why, they go to another island, of course! Aloha Kauai! We’ve been talking about where to go for a while and since we want to explore all the island before we move, Kauai was next on the list! PSM had spent some time here with his aunt and uncle a few months ago and wanted to share it with me now. Love that!

As you know, I got home last night, did laundry and this morning, up, pack and head to the airport. The beauty of inter- island flying on Hawaiian Airlines is that there are flights almost every hour and the flights are anywhere from 25-45 minutes. Up and down, nice. Not a bad view from the plane, eh? Then took a few shots after we landed on the way to lunch!

The nice thing about traveling for work is the points! We are staying at a Hilton Garden Inn on points, wahoo!

We went to Kapaa to a food truck that I saw the owner on Cooks vs Cons! But, alas, they were closed, off island for research, but they will be back on the 5th, we’ll go then! So, in search of food, we found Tiki’s Tacos!

It is a small place, tacos only, no chips on the side, as they say, tacos only, eclectic and the menu is written in chalk above the window to the kitchen. When you look for the menu online, its a photo of the chalkboard!

The food takes a bit to come out, could be why there are skeletons everywhere! Kidding of course, part of the Mexican ambiance, the one in the bathroom cracked me up, when the lights came on, disco lights! The food good, fresh ingredients and very filling.

No, the chickens in the parking lot were not used in the making of our lunches! The island is known for its population of wild chickens and roosters. They are every-where!

Off to find adventure!

We drove to a few fabulous lookout points, let’s be real, this is Hawaii, what isn’t a fabulous lookout point!

We went to see the Opaeka’a Falls, one of two waterfalls on the island that are view only. The others you have to hike or kayak to.

One of the overlooks we could see where some of Indiana Jones was filmed!

By now, it is happy hour time! We went to the Lava Lava Beach Club. This is a spot that is known for its happy hour, the view is amazing and the specials are the right price.

We started with a Gilligans Girl and Huggies Mai Tai. Not a fan of either, but, PSM enjoyed the mai tai, a few times. The tater tots and mango pineapple salsa was tasty.

Look at that view! We put our toes in the sand, mine in the water and said ahhh…

Not bad for a first day. I can’t wait to see what adventure awaits us this week!

{September 1, 2017} Three flights, $150, and oh so many hours, I’m finally home!

It is just about 10 p.m. in Hawaii, 3 a.m. in Chicago and I just got home.

The day started in Peoria, Illinois, wake up very early, workout, shower, breakfast, pack, airport. At the airport I had quite the shock…when I attempted to check in my third bag that I had already paid $150 for. Seriously?

I qualified for gold status on United within the last month. It was funny, PSM and I were talking and I said, why haven’t I promoted to gold by now, with all my flights to Hawaii this year and look at that! Well, with gold status comes two free bags, wahoo! I’ll take it! The bad part, that third bag isn’t a regular bag charge, it’s $150! Oh my! So, I paid it when I checked in for my flight yesterday. It would have been $300 to ship the two boxes, so there you go. Not everything ships to Hawaii via Amazon… even with a Prime account, go figure.

I looked at the gate agent like she had two heads and she knew my anger and frustration were not directed at her. She understood and worked with a supervisor and online with support, no dice. So out comes the credit card, $150. I could have driven to Chicago, checked in there and paid $150 once. Grrr

When I got to the gate I called the dedicated status United line. Oh no, that should not be happening says the second person I talked to because the dedicated baggage line didn’t know anything about baggage, hmmm… my heroine for the day, charge reversed!

Flight number one, 1035am flying time about 25 minutes in the air. I had about 4 hours until my next flight, United Club, sounds good. Plug in, grab some food and get a lot of work done.

Flight number two Chicago to San Francisco, 4.5 hours, 347pm, and what are the odds, someone who had been on my current project until last year, was sitting in the aisle seat across from me! We talked, caught up while people are boarding the plane, they noticed us talking and would try to stop before blocking us, it was funny.

We talked project, life on the road, travel, she’s going to Ireland in a few months, so of course I had lots to talk about! And like me, this is her first solo international trip. Such a treat!

Land in San Francisco, grab food, check the board, head to the gate, crickets… gate change, ugh. New gate, get in line, board eventually, flight number three, 5.5 hour flying time, get settled, try to watch what’s on the video screen but I don’t remember classical playing during the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy. Back to my phone, which I had downloaded a bunch of stuff.

So, it’s now just about 10pm, I started my journey to Hawaii at 845am leaving the hotel, 3am in Chicago, approximately 11 hours in the air, how many hours total travel time is that? That is way too much math for me!

But who cares, I’m home! For the week and I can’t wait to tell you what we’re doing for the week! Gotta get home and do laundry! Off we go!

{August 29, 2017} Summer cold – I say no thank you!

Aren’t summer colds the worst!?

In the winter, you’re ok with it, right? No, you don’t want a cold, but it’s understandable, it’s winter and it’s cold out, so naturally, more germs and you catch something you didn’t ask for.

But in the summer, how does this happen? I know, we go from hot to cold to hot to cold, get into the air conditioning with a wet head after a shower or swimming. But we still can’t wrap our heads around it, we should be outside enjoying the warmer weather, not shivering under the covers, that’s supposed to be a winter thing! praying for a quick death! Yes, I am kidding on that one, mostly!

So, yes, the reason I am talking about this is i might have a summer cold. It’s happened a few times this summer, my throat gets scratchy and it feels like it’s closing, could be strep, swallowing hurts! Sometimes I’m not sure about the scratchy dry throat since I am talking all day while I teach. And it happened again tonight, so I take Sudafed 24 hours, get on the sofa, under the covers and hope for sleep, or death, whichever comes first. Then I doze in and out for a few hours, take myself to the bed and wake up, really?

But the nice part, I am usually better in the morning, feel like I was hit by a Mack truck, but better. Hopefully the same holds true for tomorrow, I do not need to be sick before I go home!

Fingers crossed!

{August 28, 2017} Just no

The man-bun or mun… why?

I was at Whole Foods today getting supplies for the week, I’m in Peoria and not much for a vegan out here. While I was there, I saw a mun or man-bun, well not even a full mun, it was a nub of a bun, teeny bits, of hair pulled back into a bun, like a baby’s ponytail.

Please remember, this is all my opinion, if you agree, great, if you don’t, great.

I don’t get it. Just don’t get it. I know guys with long hair, it sometimes gets in the way and you need to pull it back, but why up in a bun?

It reminded me of my son, CWH, web he was a kid and wrestled, played football and futball. For the two sports that didn’t require a helmet, he would take what little hair he had, gather it into a teeny little pony tail on the top of his head. Then he would call it his “intimidation”! Do you love that?!

It looked goofy, but he was a goofy kid and he owned it, I loved that about him!

On him, goofy and cute. He was also a kid. On a grown man… not so cute.

That’s about it.

{August 26, 2017} Saturday… what did we do?

More like… what didn’t we do?!

I got in late last night, no non- stops from St Louis to Denver in the evening. PSM got out yesterday morning, non-stop and was at the hotel bar relaxing when I landed in Chicago.

I was originally flying through Houston, but with Hurricane Harvey causing trouble, United called and re- booked me through Chicago, nice. I also promoted to gold status on United last week, so first class on both flight, wahoo!

I got in about midnight, got my bag and car, headed to the hotel and very quietly snuck into bed about 130am, talked to you, then crashed a while later.

The alarm…yup… went off about 630am, ugh. I snoozed a bit, then got up, dressed and walked out the door towards Coors Field, I was meeting LJ for The Color Run, you know, “The Happiest 5k on Earth!”

And you know what, it is! You can’t be unhappy participating in this race. You get to run through clouds of color and become a rainbow! This was LJ’s first 5k, let alone Color Run. We had a great time! We ran the start and finish, well, if anyone asks, yup, we ran!

I walked/ ran to meet her so I was pumped! After, we walked to get some food near my hotel, it was only about 1.5 miles, so by the time I got back to the hotel, 6 miles under my feet!

I don’t know if you remember how many races I used to do, about 2-3 a month for a few years. This is the first this year and it reminded me how much I enjoyed, not so much the running, but the excitement, the energy, the sense of accomplishment! I have one more scheduled this year, in Denver and I’m hoping to get back on track next year!

Denver is such a beautiful, interesting and eclectic city! While we were having lunch, we saw a class of service dogs and their trainers, learning… walking through crowds, sitting under tables, meeting other dogs, it was great!

We parted company, we’ll meet again later. I went to the hotel, showered, rested a little, then we headed out to True Foods for lunch with PSM’s cousin, D and her husband P, I don’t know if you remember me telling you about our last visit. They live in Denver and were fabulous to squeeze us into their schedule!

I have ordered food from True Foods in Chicago, but only their pizza, I believe I shared it with you, oing my, it would have been nice to actually share! It is a vegetarian and vegan friendly restaurant, so something for everyone.

I had an amazing sandwich on 7 grain bread with a fried egg, tomatoes, almond ricotta, fried seitan and crisp lettuce. Oh my, my, my! Yeah, that’s all I have to say!

After lunch, we drove out to Longmont to visit my stuff, take care of storage business and get key for my new unit. A few months ago someone had driven off the highway and into two units, one being mine. My stuff is ok, some things crushed, but nothing horrible. I’m sorry the picture didn’t take, I was amazed!

Back to the hotel for a minute and then… Denver Broncos vs Greenbay Packers, pre-season game! LJ had texted last month and asked if we were interested in going to the game, you bet! PSM was in his best behavior, being a Pats fan, thank you.

We were in the nosebleed seats, almost to the top, remember when CKM went to the Bears game last year?! The stadium was packed! Mostly Denver fans, but Cheeseheads were out in force! I had seen a lot of them throughout the day in Denver.

There were some great jerseys out there, my favorite was a serious house divided. Mom and toddler number one in green, dad and toddler number two in orange! The halftime show was the junior Broncos cheerleaders and about 600 even more junior, cheerleaders! So cute! As the announcer said “this demo displays that girls rock!”

Greenbay was winning when we left, hope the home team wins!

After the game, we grabbed an Uber to City O’ City, a vegetarian/ vegan restaurant and oh my! We sat in the back cocktail area, full service at the bar. The restaurant was packed, eclectic, like the city and still cozy.

We started with a pretzel with cheese to dip in, one vegan and one straight up. Then LJ had a ‘chicken wrap’, PSM had a pastrami sandwich, basically a rueben and omg! It had pastrami, sauerkraut, cheese and thousand island dressing.

Me, I had a to’fish sandwich and wow! It was like a giant piece of fried fish! It didn’t taste exactly like fried fish, but wow, it was fabulous! Lettuce, tomatoe, ricotta goat cheese, pickles with a side of vegan mac-n- cheese. Happy vegan alert!!!

After, we were done! Took our leftovers with us, can’t wait to eat the other half of my sandwich tomorrow! Back to the hotel, talk to you, chill and crash, flying out tomorrow.

Was that really just one day?

{August 25, 2017} Experienced travelers, common courtesy…

Just some thoughts about traveling…

I don’t know if you know that I travel for work, ha ha. Here’s what I think about sometimes and, I may have already shared some of this with you, but it occurs to me more than once.

I was attempting to get off the shuttle bus for the car rental company at the airport and a guy hoped right on, not waiting for anyone to get off the bus, maybe make room for them, give him an easier time getting the bus, nope, he had to get right on there. Even the driver said, couldn’t wait, huh? Meanwhile, he’s just come off his flight, the rest of us need to catch a flight. Who do think has the greater need? He could be in a rush, I get that, but… the shuttle isn’t leaving any faster, especially if people are still on it…

When flying, TSA pre check is great! For some people, like me, it’s a constant, I paid for it and then I got global entry, and it came as a package deal. For others, it’s random and that’s great.

What isn’t so great is people who don’t fly that often and/or aren’t that familiar with the process. I think there should be a TSA pre check lane for people who have flown pre check 10 times or less and one for the rest of us. I know, I probably sound petty to some of you, but when you’re pressed for time or in a ridiculously busy airport, especially on a Monday morning, it’s not so much fun being behind people who don’t have a clue and start taking everything out of their bags, for one.

For those of us that do this week in and week out, we know the drill. I’ve already removed the things that set off the metal detector sometimes before I get to the airport.

Oh, there’s more, but I’m done for now.

Thanks for listening. Happy travels!

{August 25, 2017} So happy!! Dinner with my friend!!

Tonight, I got to see someone for the first time in years!

Go figure, two people I love working in St Louis the same week as me!

Tonight, I got to see KLS, someone I met on the University of Michigan Health Systems project, our first with Deloitte. We were both hired specifically for this project and our background training Epic, the electronic medical record software.

As you know, or may not know, I still work for Deloitte. KLS left Deloitte shortly after our first project ended. We are both still traveling the country training, she’s still training Epic and I’m on a new application.

She happens to be on a project in St Louis and as you know, I’m here for the week, how could we not see each other! It was as if time stood still and we just saw each other last week! Those are the best friendships!

We both miss that first project together, the location, some of our coworkers, the whole thing. We kept each other sane, talked every day, if we didn’t see each other and if we went more than two days without seeing each other, one or both of us had gone on vacation or home! We kept each other sane!

We compared notes on our lives, our loves, you know, not just the guys in our lives, but the wee tots, our nieces, nephews, grandbabies. We bragged and gushed just like we should. You know this included our fur babies of course. She thinks her Bassett hound, Greta looks like Mollie, with shorter legs. I’d say good call!

Parting was such sweet sorrow, out was like we were back in MI, going to our respective hotels, across the parking lot, she’s Marriott, you know I’m Hilton!

So cannot wait to see her again!

{August 24, 2017} Dinner with friends

Wait, what? I went to dinner and didn’t take photos?

What was I thinking?! Oh well… Sorry.

Tonight, PSM and I saw each other for the second night in a row, what? We went out to dinner with three coworkers from his company, two are still in Boston and one lives in DC, they were all at the same site that PSM was at in Cambridge.

They happened to be in St Louis for a meeting at the same time, what are the odds? We have no idea how they knew PSM was in town. Doesn’t matter, we have dinner plans!

We met them at a pretty good Indian restaurant. The only qualification, vegan friendly restaurant. The food was good, service left something to be desired. If you ask for something and don’t check on it, you might be there past closing time!

Speaking of closing time, our cue to leave came when our server plugged in the vacuum cleaner! That was our clue…

The food was really good, they understood when I said very mild and PSM was almost satisfied with the spice level, let’s just say, I could smell the spices and heat level coming for his dish. But that’s the way our dining relationship is, if we’re not sharing, we’re definitely not sharing!

We had a really nice time and I have to thank the guys, since they haven’t seen each other in a while, not every story was about work and/or working together, they included me in most of the conversations.

Then it was time to go, hugs all around, well, for me anyway, promises of getting together again and we were all off. PSM andI back to his hotel, then me back to St Louis, sigh. Not to worry folks, we’ll see each other this weekend!

{August 23, 2017} Play ball!!

Tonight, a baseball game!

You mught remember that I’m not that into sports and then you see a bunch of posts at sporting events, huh? Well, even though I’m not that big into sports, I like going to the stadium, being around the crowds, the sights, sounds, smells and sharing it with you! Oh, I also add to my hat or tshirt collection, go figure!

Do you remember me telling you that PSM is in St Louis this week? We were determined to see each other! Last night he said he was going to see if he could get me an extra ticket. Guess what!

St Louis Cardinals vs San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium! And his company has a box at the stadium, sweet!

Food, drinks, fun! I met a lot of PSM’s coworkers, had some good food, good drink, good conversation, what more could you want?

Finally went to sit in the stands, being in a box means you have covered seats, so it was a little cooler, fabulous!

The game was close, then it wasn’t… unfortunately, it was not the Cardinals night.

After the game PSM and team headed back to their hotel and on my way to the hotel I stopped that the Hilton at the stadium, went to the rooftop bar to check out the view, not too shabby!

What a night! Oh… got a Cardinals hat!

{August 22, 2017} A birthday

August 21st was my mom’s birthday.

Today was a pretty great day, not just for the eclipse! Not only was it my mom’s birthday, it’s my favorite cousin, JFS, her birthday as well.

She was 20 years older than my mom, to the day, as you probably figured out and she always said my mom was her birthday present, love that.

My mom, I’ve told you, was a force to be reckoned with. She was bright, funny, goofy on occasion and could match you on most topics, sports, not so much, but play Trivial Pursuits with her and sciene, that was her jam! She was great at other topics, but science, wow.

She was fun loving, made a great deal celebrating our birthdays, inspired GES and I how we celebrate our kids birthdays. This also meant celebrating her birthday and what a great way to celebrate her birthday yesterday! The eclipse! Cheesy moment… sometimes she would walk in the room, larger than life and block out everything else!

So, how fitting that today, my mom’s birthday and the total eclipse of the sun, her scientific mind would have reveled in it! As a teacher, mind blown!

Happy birthday JFS and to my mom, EMS. Live it up, it’s your day.

I think it’s interesting that the four photos kept trying to eclipse each other!

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