A New Adventure | Peaches Prattlings

{June 9, 2017} Happy birthday GES

My baby sister… Well, she’ll always be my baby sister, no matter how old she gets.

And each year she gets older, I get to watch her grow even more fabulous, as a person, wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend.

She’s smart, funny, silly, goofy, stubborn, methodical, a planner, steadfast, loyal, a good listener, silly, fun to be around. I could go on but this part would be a mile long! She’s my sister, I’m biased of course!

June 9th is a great day in history, so many great people were born on June 9th, Donald Duck, Johnny Depp, Natalie Portman, Mike Ryba and Cole Porter, she’s in good company!

A few great things happened this date in history.

In 1948 – Foundation of the International Council on Archives under the auspices of the UNESCO. In 1973 – In horse racing, Secretariat wins the U.S. Triple Crown. And in 1934 – Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen. In 2017 – GES’ big sister, me, got to spend her birthday with her little sister.

And the most important date in history, June 9, 1975, I became what I was meant to be, a big sister, GES was born. I will never forget waiting for mommy to come home from the hospital, going to get her and holding my baby sister in the back seat of the VW Beetle Bug [and you thought my love of these cars started with mine!]. And it’s been an amazing ride ever since.

Happy birthday baby sister, I love you. I can’t wait to see what this next year holds!

{June 8, 2017} Bad form Delta

This hasn’t happened in a while, but it did and now I’m torqued.

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m loyal to Delta and this won’t stop me from flying with them and being loyal, just right now, grrr.

The first thing that happened is something was wrong with my boarding pass on the app, after standing in line, waited my turn, had to go back to print a ticket, ok, that worked.

First flight was fine. Arrive in Detroit, gate A4, next flight leaves in a little over an hour from gate A2, sweet! But wait…

Just after I use the facilities, I double check the board, flight is now leaving from A77, seriously? Ok, fine, I start walking. No time to stop to get food, the lines were ridiculous. So, no food.

I got to A77 and the gate board says Ft Lauderdale, what? I ask the gate agent. Sorry, that flight has been changed to A2. WHAT? When did that happen? 6 minutes ago. Seriously? The boards still say A77.

I take the train to A15, walk to A2, 5 minutes later I get notice from Delta. Seriously? [Bright side? Fitbit said I’m an overachiever!]

I made it, got on the plane, we left late, go figure…

All I have to say on this one… bad form Delta.

{June 8, 2017} It’s done! It’s official! I can leave the county!

Wahoo! Passport in hand, I can flee the country when I need to. Or just go on a trip.

I tell people, jokingly, that I keep my passport with me because you never know when you’re going to have to flee the country!

After everything I went through on Monday, I was prepared with my birth certificate, copies of my birth certificate, I’D, credit card and to the passport office I went.

Through security, remove jewelry, shoes, headphones, sunglasses, 9th floor, phone on silent, get in line. Greeted, get in another line, get a number, have a seat.

About thirty minutes later, number called, go to window, answer yes to a lot of questions, give credit card. Get receipt and special receipt to come back between 3-4pm to pick up the passport.

Back to work, three o’clock back to the passport office, get a new number, wait ten minutes and now…

I can leave the country! Look out world!

{June 4, 2017} A great weekend

Laid back, but full.

I got to dad’s Friday night, Saturday I got up and headed to Queens to see one of my oldest friends and her family.

Ok this term has come up a lot lately and what I find is, as we get older, saying “one of my oldest friends” starts to sound like my friends and I are old! Not so. These are friends we’ve known the longest! But that takes longer to say!

So, back to Saturday. I drove out to Queens to see CGS, we met at a local diner near her house. She was with her youngest, after we got a table, her husband Joined us, then two more kids, her oldest was still sleeping, as a teenager should be doing!

We realized we have known each other 32 years!!! What? We were just in high school, not possible! She was actually pregnant with her first at my wedding! He kept making his presence known! And the dress she wore… it’s how she told me a few years later she was pregnant again!

We had breakfast, talked for a while, then went back to their house, it’s a new place since I was last at their place. A great space, much better suited for them. We talked and laughed, eventually everyone but the youngest, CGS and I went to a baseball game. That left us to talk more, laugh more, go down memory lane a little.

Then the three of us went to the park, got some dinner, back to the park, back to the house and then we realized it was almost 10pm, time to go! Hugs, kisses, promises of visits and maybe a girls weekend…

What a fabulous time! Had it been a year since we’d seen each other? Didn’t feel like it!

Today, breakfast with dad ahe LaLa, they headed out to their fun afternoon and I went to a very good Sri Lankan restaurant to meet another “old friend”, WM, he even remembered exactly when we met! February 24, 1990, what a memory!

We have been friends who have been in and out of each other’s lives here and there but when we talk, no time had passed. I regret that I wasn’t able to get to his wedding. I promised to be at the renewal!

His wife, NSM, is smart, funny, attractive, caring, understanding and she loves nt friend, what more could I ask for? Their girls, H2, twins and eleven years old, what a pair! Outgoing, gregarious, smart, funny, clever, enthusiastic, loving life, wow!

When I met them for the first time, they both hugged me, I wasn’t expecting that, but welcomed it fully. They talked to me, told me jokes, about school, boys, they’re dumb, by the way…love it!

We talked, caught up, got to know each other, laughed, talked about the future, travel, I’m not sure we missed anything!

We talked about our families, his mom, who I loved. I used to call and visit her even when he wasn’t around, she was a very special person. The girls were one when she passed, but they love looking at her pictures and talking about her, they said she was sunshine and light. They told me a while later I was sunshine and light, I’m in good company.

I hated for our time to come to an end, but it did. Hugs, kisses and promises to keep in touch more and don’t let another 10 treats go by between visits. I for one would like to keep that promise!

Back home, dad and LaLa were hanging out, we had some dinner, yes, I was hungry again, we had eaten three hours earlier!

Then friends, H&L T, came over for a visit, so great to see them. My dad and HT taught together so many moons ago. Catch up on family, grandkids, travel, life.

Then it was time to put on jammies, pack, relax and get ready for tomorrow. Stuff to do and travel!

{June 2, 2017} Bad form JFK and Budget!

The flight was fine, there ended the enjoyment of my trip home to see my dad.

The flight itself was fine, first class, wasn’t even full, I got to sleep for about 20 minutes, that was fabulous!

I ended up talking to a very nice man with fabulous eyelashes who is in the entertainment industry, his mom has fabulous Tina Turner hair, was on his way to Scotland, just broke up with his boyfriend, done with the drama, has the hots for a guy in Belgium, it was quite the flight.

I forgot how big the international terminal at JFK airport is! I got to baggage claim eventually, only had to wait a few minutes for my bag, that was good.

After I got my bag that’s when the adventure began, please read that line dripping with sarcasm. I walked away from the baggage claim area and saw the sign for ground transportation, I haven’t rented a car at JFK before, so this was interesting.

After I walk under the sign that says ground transportation, the only thing I see when I walk outside, after following the arrows, are trains, buses, taxis and passenger pickup, um, where do I go for rental car? No idea.

After literally walking in circles for about 4 minutes I finally go back and ask somebody working at the hotel counter where the rental car place may be and apologize since I know that is not his job. He says ‘Oh just take a left past the lack of signage and go to the Welcome Center’, okay, thanks.

I go to the welcome counter, and ask where to go to get to the rental car center and he says take the train, what train? The the AirTrain, okay great where is that? Go back that way, fantastic. I go back towards baggage claim see the escalator going up and the sign for AirTrain, great. I get on the air-train and get off at the rental car center.

Normally I rent from Avis, and possibly because I’m preferred I get notified of where my car is. Avis was too expensive this weekend so I rented from Budget.

There were at least 40-50 people total including little kids standing in line waiting to get a car. The line was out the door and they only had two people working. What a shock.

I stood on line with everyone else, ended up talking to this lovely woman who used to be from New York City and is now living in Florida for the past two years. She was traveling with her sister who used to work at the Brooklyn Hospital, which is where I was born. She actually asked me if I knew my obstetrician, and I just kind of looked at her and said huh? and we laughed about that, I could tell you my pediatricians name. We got to talk for about an hour! Yes that’s right I said an hour. There were gobs of people and two people working.

I finally got to the counter and the gentleman said do you prefer an SUV or minivan, I said I prefer a compact car because I’m not comfortable in either. He said we don’t have any, minivan or SUV? I said SUV. I got a Kia Sorento. Then I drove to my dad’s house.

I landed in New York City at 10 p.m. I arrived at my dads house at 1:30 a.m. This process should not have taken three hours. Ever

I’m now going to pass out, have a great evening!

{June 1, 2017} A new vegan place, yum!

Tonight I had a date with WIS, at a new vegan restaurant, Alice & Friends.

Yes, I said date. And yes, PSM knows. Ha ha. I have two very wonderful girlfriends in Chicago, like my wonderful girlfriends in Atlanta and I think I told you, if we all batted for the other team, we’d be dating! Now, back to dinner!

Alice & Friends is another vegan restaurant that I got to try last night. One of the things I noticed as we were sitting there, is that it reminded me of the Luving Hut in Atlanta, which I used to go with TS, and I love it! I don’t remember if you remember telling you that I found a Luving Hut in Hawaii which was awesome.

We’ve been wanting to go to this place for a while, but it was closed and tonight we got to go. It’s very cute, the menus look like playing cards and as you can see the logo is the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.

We had ginger and cinnamon tea, I had mine hot, WIS had hers cold and we started with appetizers of agedashi tofu, which usually in a “normal” Japanese restaurant has fish sauce and this was a vegan fish sauce how awesome is that! Our other appetizer was fried shrimp, now remember this is vegan, and they were absolutely fabulous. You had the texture, the color, not completely the taste, but you also had the firmness of shrimp, great feeling! I can eat one of the foods that I truly miss without getting wigged out!

Main dish WIS was Bim Bom Bop which books fabulous but had a very spicy sauce and she knew I wouldn’t like it! To see her eat and enjoy this and the spice level it was like being with JCT, I miss you.

For me it was Korean barbecue with rice and veggies, the meat was TVP and the sauce was on the sweeter side and let me just say yum! I have never had Korean BBQ, so since this is my only experience I am a fan!

For dessert it was mixed berry cheesecake, very interesting, the crust was made up of crushed dates and the cheese was cashew. Our server did warn us that it was a little bit grittier because it was cashew cheese, and I’m grateful that she told us because it was. It was quite tasty, it was more of a texture thing.

Overall quite enjoyable, the food, the company, the atmosphere. I can’t wait to see where we go next!

{May 27, 2017} Just another day…

Its Friday here in Hawaii and I’m home. Sigh.

The day started too early, as it does when I come home. Asleep at 1am, up at 4am, nope, back to sleep, up at 5am, snuggle and catch up, then reality.

I made a quick breakfast, then PSM left for work and I opened my laptop. I worked for a few hours and then had to reboot my pc, so that was a good excuse to sit in the hammock and take some pics. I posted on Facebook a few photos and that I came up with a title for a book “My Life Doesn’t Suck!”

Then it was back to work for a few hours, PSM came home, we chilled out, then mani/pedis for two and dinner at a new place, Eating House, the food was good. Grilled Brussel Sprouts and cauliflower with pine nuts, the raisins cut the bitterness of the brussel sprouts, PSM had tomato bisque.

Dinner was grilled tofu rice bowl with bok choy, onions and mushrooms for me and fried chicken on goat cheese polenta with asparagus. The asparagus and goat cheese polenta, wow!

We ended the meal with malasadas with caramel sauce and a bite of frozen yogurt for PSM.

Home for a movie… let’s see how long we last!

{May 25, 2017} 40 years? Not possible! May the Force Be with You

How did this happen? Where did the time go?

Today I posted on FaceBook about remembering who I was with and where when I saw Star Wars for the first time. I was with AS at the New Dorp Theather on Staten Island. Her response? “How can it be 40 years, I’m only 26!” Feels that way, doesn’t it?

Star Wars meant so much to so many of us. For some it’s Star Wars vs Star Trek, some feel it’s one or the other, like Beatles vs Stones. For someone like me, it’s both Star Wars and Star Trek. I have vivid memories of both.

Star Wars was revolutionary, inspirational, opened a whole new generation up to the world of science fiction and what could be possible. We had action figures, parties, costumes, games, stories, stars in our eyes. I’m sorry folks, I had a crush on Luke Skywalker, yes, I know he was whiny, but he was fabulous and I was crushing! I am definitely not discounting Han Solo, by any means and how much did Princess Leia make us realize women could be that bad-a$$ and how many of us strapped donuts to the sides of our heads or hoped our braids could be long enough to put into those buns on the sides of our heads!

We wanted more, couldn’t wait until V and VI. We introduce our kids to it when they’re young, have to raise ’em right! We own them and still feel compelled to watch them when they come on tv. I protected my little sister when we saw Return of the Jedi, Darth Vadar scared her, we were at the movie theater at the Staten Island Mall, I don’t know if she remembers, but I do. Same sister said, when I got divorced, I couldn’t date anyone younger than 25, I was 36 at the time, I said they had to have been born the same year or before Star Wars!

This was such an impact on my life, and so many others, many of my friends, we still get giddy when we think and talk about it and who doesn’t make the sound when pretending to fight with light sabers? A whole new generation is discovering, think about all we can share with them?

40 years? It’s been 40 years and it feels like yesterday. Hmmm…wonder what I’ll watch on my flights tonight!

Happy 40 years Star Wars and my fellow Star Wars fan family!

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{May 20, 2017} Soccer, cleaning, lacrosse, soccer, haircut, birthday party, birthday party, sleepover

Is that enough for one day?

Straighten the house for the party, wash the pollen off the porch, it is spring after all, everyone was in on the act. The bouncy house arrived and the girls, GES and I had a little fun.

Then it was soccer practice for EJS, MGS off to lacrosse practice, finish setting up. EJS and ACS back for lunch, EJS has a mini play date, MGS back, I headed out to get a haircut, EJS and ACS off to travel team try-outs, people arrive for MGS’ birthday party. I jump right in to the fray, love seeing friends and all my little loves.

Some one-on-one time here and there, catching up, playing with the kids, activities, crafting, pizza, pinata, cake, buh-bye! 3-5pm 530pm and they were all gone!

Then the cousins, S&S S and E&S R stayed for a sleepover. EJS went to a birthday party sleep-under, that’s where they stay until bed time and go home.

We watched Sing, had popcorn and sang. My favorite part, E said “come snuggle with me Auntie J” how could i say no?

Then it was sleeping bags, “wait, I can’t sleep until I see EJS”, love that! Then zzz. MGS had two in her room and EJS had another two, the siblings split up for the sleepover. Let’s see how much sleep happens!

Now, that’s the way to party, wouldn’t you say? Just another Saturday at my sister’s house…

{May 19, 2017} Fun, busy day at my sister’s

Friday started as any other day, and hires what…I did sleep!

Got some work done, then it was sister time! We had breakfast out, after straightening the house, then did some damage at Khol’s. We had Khol’s cash, a coupon and some returns. Savings… over $1000! Between stuff for us and the girls, mostly EJS, spent only $500, not too shabby!

Then Costco and the liquor store, back to the house dad and LaLa showed up about the same time, dad and I went to pick up the girls. Oh boy! It’s only been a few weeks, but wow!

Home to hang out and then MGS asked me to help fill the piata for her party, that would be pinata for the rest of us. We filled it with candy all while having a food fight with the candy. Lots of giggling, of course.

Then Fuji for dinner, it’s hibachi but the girls call it the Firehouse because of the hibachi grill. They love it. Next door for cupcakes and cake pops, home for games, books and bed.

Whew, I’m beat! 7 year old birthday party tomorrow! Need some rest!

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