A New Adventure | Peaches Prattlings

{May 1, 2017} What a weekend!

That Miss A keeps me going! Oh brother! Would I change a thing? Not on your life!

I told you about Friday, a fun day. Saturday was a lovely day as well, up too early, of course!

We had breakfast, then the dressing and I got to pick the outfit! Anyone who knows Miss A and SDL knows this is a big deal! But I rocked it! She had a great time at therapy and I got to talk to the other moms there and we all bragged on our kids! I take every opportunity to brag on all my kids, I dont know if you’ve ever noticed…she did great in therapy, very focused.

After therapy it was breakfast number two, iHop this time. Rooty Jr, oh boy does she love that! Then she was gracious enough to help me shop a little, her opinion means a lot to me!

After shopping it was back to the house for a snack, cuddling, tickling and cleaning, I know, not exciting, but important. Dinner was low key, she wanted to stay in. I didn’t even make it to midnight when SDL got home, I had to wait until this morning to find out how the day went!

This morning came way earlier than I had hoped for, oh well. Breakfast at 7am, then playtime, get dressed, outfit number two chosen by yours truly! A lot more stressful than you realize, SDL has serious standards! Then it was snack time and the out the door.

We decided to go to the Indian Temple in Lilburn, it’s an amazing structure and I’ve always wanted to go. On the drive over, not a peep from the back seat, nothing on the way in to the temple.

The minute we took our shoes off, the volume went up! She was happy as can be! Apparently, such expressions of joy are frowned upon. Shoes on, out the door.

We then headed downtown to a co-op I like that I used to get my homeopathic allergy medication and I picked up some vegan treats and sandwiches for my flight home tomorrow.

Then we drove a bit and found the Inman Park Festival. It’s been a while since I’d been to the festival, I was excited we found it. We hit the ground and checked everything out.

We loved looking at the sights and sounds, touching, smelling experiencing. Then the shopping…ooh… Chanukah, Christmas, a few things for PSM, some home made dog treats for Mollie and Miss A found a graduation present for mommy, she was so excited to give it to her! She even picked out a card “Well done you!” With a graduation cap.

After a few hours, which included dining al fresco, we headed home. SDL was done! 19 months and on May 9, she walks and gets her EMBA diploma! I’m so thrilled and proud of her! And now, Miss A gets her mommy back! I’m not sure who is more excited!!

Well, a job well done means a good meal out. This was after a snack of cherry yogurt and a banana. One after the other of course! We went to Texas Roadhouse, love those rolls! Great dinner, great company, lots of laughing.

Back to the house, bath, hair brushing, there’s a lot! outfits for school tomorrow, lunches, clean up, packing for me and bed. Well, she got into bed, then the sugar from the sweet potato made an appearance! “Ok, back to bed”…”ok, back to bed”… third time’s the charm.

Eventually it was lights out for me, hopefully after I talk to you I’ll fall asleep, it’s almost midnight and 415am comes quickly.

Flying home for two weeks in the morning, think I’m excited!? You bet your sweet bippie!

A great weekend, ready for the next one!

{April 28, 2017} Never a dull moment!

Thursday travel was uneventful, thankfully!

Delta has my heart again, not that they actually lost it, they spoil me, you know. But after the kerfufel the last time I flew to Atlanta, they gave me 20,000 sky miles, sounds about right. I was only inconvenienced by my flights getting bumped around, other people never got where they were going or very delayed and lost luggage.

I arrived in Atlanta, got the rental car, did you know some Avis locations have a concierge? This one got my car and brought it to me, nice. He noticed the gas was not full, so we loaded the car and went to fill ‘er up.

Then I was on the road, very uneventful. Made it to SDL’s, CKM was there as well, SDL has just gotten home. We all caught up, talked about passports and our upcoming trip.

CKM headed home then it was me and SDL, kisses for Miss A, more chatting and then work and zzzzzz.

This morning Miss A went off to school and so did her mom. I worked until 2pm, then went to pick up Miss A from school. I was on one side, she was on the other, oops. Home for a snack and a tickle fest, then dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, where they love her, of course!

Veronica is her favorite waitress, who just adores Miss A, well, who doesn’t? After a bit a little bit came in with his parents and was dancing and flirting and I thought he looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure. A bit later, his dad came over with him to say hello, turns out they’re in the same school. That’s where I recognized him! Later Miss A went to dance at his table to say hello.

If you know Miss A, you know when she’s happy, the screaming, squealing and laughter. And it can get loud! We were in the restroom and she was doing her thing and people started knocking on the door, was everything alright? We heard noises. Yup.

Back to the house for bath, snuggles and bed. SDL came home, catching up, work and zzzzzz.

She did give me this fabulous picture. It is from 2011, the year she came home and into our lives. Its her first menorah, for her Auntie George!

Never a dull moment!

{April 27, 2017} A movie… wahoo…Seriously AMC?

Another fun evening with DLP.

A movie at our favorite AMC, with the good recliners and decent menu, they have a quinoa burger for me, and it’s not too bad.

We saw Boss Baby, which was good a second time for me and DLP enjoyed it for the first time. It’s always interesting to see a ‘kids’ movie with another adult, you get a different perspective. And seeing a movie for the second time is fun when the other person hasn’t seen it yet, you get to see their reaction, to the things you thought were funny.

First, the food took forever to get to us, so AMC did right by us and gave us two free passes to make up for it. Good customer service.

Next, when the check arrived, they had applied my AMC rewards to the check, something I did not ask them to do. The v frustrating thing is that this is the fourth time this has happened.

I have the rewards card to build up rewards like free movies and food. During the week, if I’m on a project, I can expense my food at the movies, I don’t need or want to use my rewards, that’s for when I’m home and can get free stuff.

In the past, I would be asked if I want to apply my rewards. Apparently, it can happen automatically, what? I was told that it can happen, no thank you.

They did give me the rewards back told me to tell the server not to engage the rewards, we’ll see if that works next time.

Overall, a fun evening, as always. What’s our next adventure?

{April 25, 2017} A great date!

No, I am not cheating on PSM!

I’ve told you, I have so many fabulous girlfriends that if I ‘played for the other team’ we would be dating! Dinners, movies, theatre, travel!

WIS is great, she keeps looking up vegan places to try and yesterday it was Native Foods, yes! You know how much I love their reuben!

We met at a different location than I go to all the time and…she loved it!! She had the peanut butter parfait and had the same reaction as I did! First, she could not believe it was vegan, then, like me, couldn’t get enough! Almost licking the inside of the cup! Hmmm, sounds familiar!

After dinner, we walked around and ended up at Marshall’s, which was great because, after what happened this weekend, I needed a new laptop bag.

I ended up with a “grown-up” bag, a tote. It’s nice, there are times when I’m wearing a dress I don’t want to use a backpack and now I have one. Another bag? Don’t tell PSM! I am glad I had someone to help me, I’m terrible at this sort of thing.

Overall, a very nice date. What does the next one have in store for us?

{April 23, 2017} Ended on a positive

Today we flew back to Oahu since I have to fly back to Chicago for work.

Here’s the crazy thing… I’m flying home next week! I’m only going to be gone for a week, what? Like a ‘normal’ traveling consultant! And I get to be there for two weeks, I won’t know how to handle myself!

This morning we woke up, uneventful, thankfully. We got motivated eventually and went to Kihei Cafe, a local, cash only breakfast place that PSM liked to go to when he’s on Maui for more than a day.

Beautiful view, had company in the snail on the wall, chickens and other birds walking all over the place. We had the veggie scramble which looked like a mountain of eggs, a very colorful mountain and French toast. Tasty.

Then we went back, packed, hung out and then headed to the airport. Car return, check bags, security, board flight.

Land, get bag… eventually, check in bag for next flight, get car, find food. We ended up in Chinatown, looking for one place and ended up at another. The first place didn’t have any space, so we went to Grondin, a Latin/ French restaurant. I don’t even know what mine was called, but it was tasty. PSM was happy, they made him a spicy bloody Mary, even brought extra chili powder.

Back to the airport, say goodbye, now I’m on my flight heading back to Chicago.

After everything, ended on a good note, or at least a tasty one!

{April 23, 2017} Not cool…nefarious Mauians…

Not the experience we hoped for.

Sorry there wasn’t a post last night. Got to Maui, grabbed some lunch, then went to the farm where PSM was teaching a class. He nailed it, by the by, I expected nothing less, of course!

Then we checked in to where we were staying, a condo across from the beach for the weekend, lovely. We hung out for a bit, did a little grocery shopping so we would have some munchies and drinks to keep us hydrated. Later it was a local place for dinner and then in to talk and crash out somewhere around eleven pm, we were both pretty tired.

Then… here’s were the weekend took a turn…I got up about 715am, walked into the living room and thought something was amiss. The screen door was open and I thought it was odd, did we leave the screen door open? I don’t think do, but…

Then I turned around and looked at the table, my mouse was missing, my work laptop was sitting on the table. Then I looked at the kitchen bar and noticed both of our smart watches were gone along with the chargers.

I went and woke up PSM and told him that we were robbed. He got up and we started looking and found that they had taken my laptop bag from the living room and then noticed that his iPad and work backpack were gone. They came into the bedroom while we were sleeping! Seriously??

We called the police, turns out they were a block away dealing with the same issue, great…

I just couldn’t believe they came in while we were sleeping! Brazen. The police were very familiar with these thieves, and frustrated that every time they get caught and get out, they get smarter.

As soon as the officers left, we started making phone calls… work, credit cards, you name it.

The really suck part is not the electronics, which is horrible, but the personal items. For me, it was my passport, wallet, some jewelry, my external hard drive with almost all my photos on it, those are lost forever and I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that, those are the things I’m heartbroken over. For PSM, it was other sentimental items, like the ‘gig’ bag he kept power cables in that he had had since childhood, innocence lost.

They didn’t see the jewelry and car keys on the table by the front door, and luckily they didn’t take our phones, mine had my license and credit cards I use regularly. We were surprised about the phones, they may not have seen them on the night stands.

Here’s the crazy thing…about an hour later, the complex manager came by, they had found our watches and chargers, wow! Then a few hours later, we got a call from someone at Costco, they found a few things and the police had them! Good thing I had my Costco card in my wallet!

We went to the police station to pick up our items, including all is my keys! And my Go-Pro! Wow!

So, let’s just say, Maui didn’t wow us this weekend. We were glad that we were together and neither of us were hurt. We are just a little more vigilant and let’s just say that the back door is locked and the curtains are drawn.

{April 20, 2017} A new movie…a new theater

The movie was good… theater, not as much.

DLP and I decided to go to a movie tonight and it was a choice of Boss Baby or The Smurfs. Since the only showing of Boss Baby, that wasn’t 3D left was 9pm, The Smurfs was it!

We went to a new theater and, well, you know how you get spoiled by some things and then compare everything to it, yes, I know you know I know all about being spoiled, haha. Well…AMC theatres have been renovating, to have the recliner seats, full menus instead of just snacks. One of the first was the one I used to go to in Colorado near my apartment.

There is one theatre in Chicago like that. The one we went to last night is converting. They’ve installed the recliners, good, not the wide, red ones, these were brown, slimmer and older, comfy when they reclined, but you got close to your neighbor.

You can’t order food from the theater, you go to the counter. They had just gotten the new menu and we were informed that a few things weren’t available, we asked what was, that was a shorter list! Then…guess how many vegan options… big fat zip, nice. Even the other one we go to has salads and a veggie burger. Ok, enough about the theater…

Then the movie started, we could have had any seats, only two other people in the theater! That picture isn’t us, but it could have been!

It was cute! This was different from the last two, it was completely animated. They had some star power behind the voices, Mandy Patinkin as Papa Smurf and Julia Roberts as Smurf Willow, the leader of the lost village of Smurfs.

It was about family, love, understanding, teamwork, being true to yourself, knowing who you are, and that it’s not always where you start out, it’s who to choose to be, trust, the magic within and that love truly is the greatest magic there is.

I would also like to introduce you to Smurf Blossom and DLP may possibly referred to going forward as SB…

{April 19, 2017} A new vegan restaurant

Tonight I tried a new vegan restaurant and I liked it.

Nothing fancy, nicer than a hole in the wall, but about that size. Thank goodness I have friends who are happy to try vegan places with me! I feel bad that sometimes people have to accomdate me and my food needs when we go out, but it’s great that they want to try!

I asked WIS last night if she was ok just eating vegan when we go out and she said yes, especially since she ate meat over the weekend, lunch, etc. Well, I do appreciate it, even better when they suggest it! She sends me ideas and DLP does to! She asks me to go to Kitchen 17 for vegan deep dish! Do I love that? You bet your sweet bippy!

Loving Heart had a limited menu, so that makes it easy, which I like, especially the first time. Wow, overuse of especially? They gave soups, salads, burgers, wraps and bowls, appetizers and something sweet. Now, that sounds like a lot, but it’s only about 2-3 things in each category and some of the items are the same base and then build from there.

We got a ”share”, their nachos which didn’t have any cheese, but two different hummus, one cashew based, the other containing cashew, wow!

We both had bowls, you pick the bowl, then your base and protein. WIS had the Ever Young Bowl, a bestseller, it says so on the menu! It had green ginger pesto and she had Korean wheat somen noodles with her protein being garbanzo and black beans. I had the Curry Bowl, another bestseller, with the Korean wheat somen noodles and Korean bbq, it was a vegetable protein, looked like meat and tasted great!

It was a nice and cozy place, limited seating and the funniest thing…in the bathroom a sign saying if you’re caught using any drugs, they would call the police and you would be banned from the restaurant, they don’t mess around!

I would definitely recommend The Loving Heart, whole heartedly!

http://www.lovingheartvegan.com

{April 15, 2017} No rest on a Saturday, well, a little

It started early for a Saturday and went on from there.

Soccer game for MGS, so cute, all those little people! GES is the assistant coach for MGS’ team, ACS is EJS’ coach. The entire family is soccer proud.

Then it was the first lacrosse practice for MGS, ACS stayed and the rest of us went on the drink run. After practice, two friends of EJS and MGS came over, their mom is one of the lacrosse coaches, score.

Back at the house, lunch and then a sneezing fit began and knocked me out! I conked out for about two hours! Ahhhh…

When I finally got up, ACS had taken the girls out for dinner and GES and I had some sister time. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant, good conversation, time to catch up and one -on- one.

Then… next door for a foot massage. An hour massage, about 20 minutes on the back and shoulders and the rest…sweet footsies! $35 for an hour?! Let’s just say…Ahhhh… Wait, I have to stand up again? Nooo.. this feels too good!

What a day! What’s tomorrow going to bring?

{April 14, 2017} Movie, dinner, dancing, oh my!

Today was quite the day!

Good Friday so the girls had a school-free day, beginning of Spring break. What did that mean? A date with auntie!

I got up, we got dressed and went out for breakfast, then back to the house and I got some work done and then it was on! We headed to the movie theater to see Boss Baby, we really liked it.

Then a little shopping, we got sunglasses and matching necklaces and then lunch at PF Chang’s, we don’t mess around. It was such a great afternoon!

Then it was off to ACS’ office to drop the girls off then I headed to K&DN’s house for dinner. And after dinner, DTN and I went contra dancing. I know, what?

Contra dancing was interesting, it’s like square dancing, folk, lots of spinning, swinging, do-si- dos, switching partners.

I loved the outfits and the different footwear. And there were no age limits or one group, there were high school, college kids all the way to much older! On the dance floor, no ages pairing off, you dance with everyone!

Everyone was very nice and patient, guiding me, apparently this is one of the better groups to be a newbie with. DTN made sure I had good partners to dance with and I was asked to dance each dance, very inviting. I would definitely do it again!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_dance

A pretty good Friday, wouldn’t you say?

What does tomorrow hold?

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