A New Adventure | Peaches Prattlings

{June 21, 2016} A reunion and Second City!

Today I saw a friend from college and went to see The Second City company!

JO’S is a friend from college who I haven’t seen in about 23 years! She happened to be coming to Chicago and check to see if I would be available.

As it turns out, tonight worked for both of us and…she had reservations at Second City, the improve repot troupe. This is something I have always wanted to see! Some amazing talent came out of there! John Candy, Gilda Radner, Dan Ackroyd, Jane Curtin, just to name a few.

I left my hotel to pick her and her friend/co-worker, then headed to Second City. We didn’t have time to get some food before, they have a kitchen, so we decided to eat there.

After we got into the club, found out that the kitchen was having problems, so no food, what? I never got to stop and get something after the airport, so I haven’t really eaten since I left Hawaii, um, I’m a little hungry! Oh well.

The show was great! Is improv, so it’s always hit or miss. It took a minute to build, then…bam! There were still some things that were like “huh?”, there were things that were specific to Chicago and sports, didn’t help me, ha ha. There was topical and typical [typical was actually a typo, but it fit!] political humor, some racist humor, it may have gone too far, but who am I to say about what’s funny to others. Besides, I think I’m hysterical, so there you go! Let’s just say, my cheeks still hurt from laughing.

After the regular performance, they try out new material. Let’s just say…keep rehearsing…they did try out something new with an audience member and it was great! One of the players only spoke Spanish and the volunteer they got spoke Spanish, which they didn’t know when they brought her up, or did they…she translated for both players on stage, very funny.

After the show we were ‘starvin’ like Marvin’ and I don’t know about them, but my head was about to explode! so we went across the street to the pub for grub.

Let me just tell you, catching up was fabulous! I can’t believe it’s been 23 years! Oh, we stalk on Facebook so we have an idea of things, and she reads my posts, thank you! But in person, amazing. We couldn’t stop talking! I know “what? JJ not stop talking? Impossible!”

We talked family, work, lives, travel and does she get to travel for work! Oh my! She and her friend arrange conferences [I hope I remembered correctly! And they are global! Then we talked day to day, cars, shopping, like we has just seen each other last week, so comfortable, really nice.

I hope we’re able to keep the promise to not wait 23 years to see each other again!

Best quote of the night “Sometimes you just have to laugh, it’s good for the soul”. No truer words could be said…especially at a comedy club!

{June 20, 2016} Happy Father’s Day

Today is the day we celebrate and honor our fathers. That being said, let me tell you about mine!

There are great dad’s out there but I’m biased, mine is the best! He’s an individual, innovator, comic, artist, therapist, a shoulder to cry on, a great sounding board, spoiler, a great travel companion, a great traveler, an art lover, music aficionado. He can start the day off with cartoons, move to rock-n-roll, the opera, musical theater, a bad movie to a good movie, he’s a great popcorn maker and when it comes to coming, breakfast is a specialty.

He tells great jokes and when it’s a good one, you’d think he was about to pass out from laughing so hard, sometimes he can’t even finish the joke. Whenever I hear a joke that I like, I call him immediately so he can laugh with me!

As I’ve grown older, I won’t say grown up, we’ve gotten closer, our relationship has changed a little, still father and daughter, but now, there is a friend component or level. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still a daddy’s girl and I always will be.

He has always been an amazing dad to GES and I, having to be the strong one for us sometimes, I like when I can be that for him.

To see him with his granddaughters is fabulous, EJS and MGS love their Poppa! The other kids can him Poppa D, that’s how they know him, isn’t that great! He’s so good with them, firm…rarely, silly…often, smart…always, clever…frequently. I love watching the interaction between them, they love his visits. There may even be an overnight at his house in their future.

One of the things I love is that I talk to my dad every day. It could be for a minute or twenty, sometimes even longer. We talk about everything and nothing. How fabulous is that?!

I hope nothing changes. Happy Father’s Day, daddy. I love you.
PS…thanks for my name!

I want to wish a very Happy Father’s Day to all the fabulous dad’s out there. Especially my brother-in-law, ACS.

{June 18, 2016} Even a vegan needs a steak knife!

Tonight, i had a meal that needed a steak knife.

I had grilled Romain lettuce. It was fabulous! It was a head of Romain, cut in half and grilled with oil and spices and served rug cucumbers and tomatoes. You could have ordered it with meat or shrimp, but as you know…vegan.

The presentation was great and the taste, wow! It was still crisp in some areas and you actually needed a knife, well I did, anyway. Besides, it came with a steak knife, so whu not!

{June 17, 2016} Hit the ground running..One property down.

I left Chicago at 8am, arrived in Hawaii at 2:30pm. [Love gaining those hours, going back, not so much!]

This trip is part visit with my beau and part look for a new place to live, neither of us are crazy about the place PSM is living in now.

So…a few days ago I went on Craigslist, which is how they do it in Hawaii, they love Craigslist…and I found several places to look at and I started making phone calls.

By the time I landed, we had six appointments to see houses and after I landed, booked another one! The first one was an hour after I landed, it was great.

Tomorrow, we have five, PSM has a few meetings so I will drop the top on Annie, take Mollie with me and we’ll go view a few places together and the rest, PSM and I will see in the afternoon.

Our qualifiers…going against traffic for PSM and under an hour to the airport, sounds good to me. Oh…and enough bedrooms ask you have a place to stay when you visit!

PSM picked me up and we headed to the first showing, a great house and we both really liked it.

Can’t wait to see the next one! I’ll keep you posted!

{June 16, 2016} Panic attack!!

Last night I woke up in a panic! And it sucked!!!

I was asleep, I mean deep asleep, and something woke me and I started to panic because I looked around and didn’t see my Raggedy Ann doll.

A few weeks ago when I was in Atlanta and clearing out the storage unit, I grabbed two things I could fit in my bag: my Raggedy Ann and my mom’s musical turtle.

I had my Raggedy Ann with me for about two weeks on the road in my hotel, she slept on the bed with me, just like when I was a kid, well, they both did, but it was Raggedy that I was more aware of.

Both dolls are at my place, but last night/early this morning I woke up and panicked because I couldn’t find Raggedy Ann!

I spent at least five minutes tearing the bed apart, pulling it away from the wall, I was seconds away from calling the front desk to ask for help and ask if the cleaning staff has found it. Then I realized she’s at home with my cats. Whew.

It took about five minutes for me heart to stop racing and my pulse to slow down. Eventually I was able to fall asleep.

Sigh.

{June 7, 2016} Oh my goodness, we have a the 3 year old!

My fabulous grandson, Baby A is THREE!

Can you believe it? He’s three, can I still call him Baby A?

First, I must tell you that he is three years and five days today, let me explain why I’m telling you today. Do you remember June 1st is a bittersweet day, it’s bittersweet because it’s the anniversary of my mom’s passing and the day the Baby A was born. I didn’t want to talk about both in the same post, they each deserve their own post. And here is his!

Now…Let’s talk about this amazing, fantastic, silly, goofy, rambunctious, bright, energetic, stubborn. I don’t know if you remember me telling you that I got to meet him the day he was born!

I was in Atlanta to get my hair cut as I di every two years and KAB went into labor. I was kept in the loop and when she was ready for visitors, I went to see them both, JB as well, of course! What a doll baby! So tiny and perfect and smelled and felt so good.

I held him and we talked, about all the world has to offer and how much he will discover and learn and all the fun we would have in his life. And what fun we’ve had so far! The Halloween costumes, oh my! Harry Potter!

When I go to Atlanta I do my best to see him and it gets better every time. He runs and jumps into my arms, I get hugs and kisses and snuggles and yelling and giggling and so much love.

Our phone conversations are very brief, maybe two sentences, three, if I’m lucky, then he’s off running and playing somewhere else.

He loves his mommy and JB and his new baby sister, Baby E, he wants to love on her, hugs and kisses and shout it to the rooftops, the last one, much to her chagrin, so loud!

Yesterday he had his birthday party, friends and family. His parents got him a huge backyard playset, fabulous! They know their kid! I got some pictures today of him playing with his new bubble machine, yup, from me, oh he loved it, what kid wouldn’t!

I love that he asks for me now, when am I coming back to see him! Soon, sweet boy, soon! I can’t wait!

Happy birthday Baby A, JJ loves you!

{June 5, 2016} We have a thespian in the family !

Tonight was the third time I have seen EJS perform on stage. And it was fabulous!

She is in a theater program called show stoppers. They have been rehearsing for the last few months every Sunday. It paid off!

Today was the production of Beauty and the Beast. EJS played two roles: Nadia the Knife and a wolf. As Nadia the Knife, she was part of the kitchen numbers, even had lines! Oh, and fabulous jazz hands, great expressions.
As a wolf there was great clawing.

We were all blown away by the quality of the performance. There was some really strong talent in the leads and the supporting cast was great. Every supporting player had at least 2-3 lines, it was terrific.

The entire show was about an hour and dine just to script. It made me want to watch the animated feature. Some people in the audience were singing along with the numbers, that was fun.

I didn’t know who else would be in it, but it was fun seeing people I knew who had kids in the show. The bigger surprise was song PSM’s aunt and uncle! Their grandkids were in the show, H&M T, so of course they were there. It felt good telling them how PSM is doing and they are coming to Hawaii next March, how fantastic!

After the show, we went back to GES and ACS’ house, B&S M came, with banana bread, per EJS’ request and we had breakfast for dinner to celebrate.

At some point it was time to go, I had a flight to catch!

EJS was great and had a terrific time, I’m so proud of her…I can’t wait to see what’s coming next!

{June 2, 2016} In honor of…

June first is a bitter sweet day.

I sit here with tears in my eyes to tell you why. Today is the day the world lost an amazing woman. She was smart, funny, unexpectedly goofy on occasion, witty, not just smart, wicked smart, sassy, just to name a few of her better qualities.

Oh, there is so much I could tell you and I know I’ve told you a few things before, so many things I loved and others loved about her. She was a foodie, someone who knew what to pair, as in what beer or wine goes with what food, a great cook, yet pb&j and breakfast for dinner was on the menu. She could dress up and dress down, just by adding an embellishment to her outfit. She could cheer you up with a look or a gesture, wake you up with light touches on your back and her question in the morning when she touched your face “did you take a soft pill?”.

She taught us to never go to bed angry and as my sister posted today on Facebook, one of the things my parents established is kissing their kids on the keppy [head] goodnight and saying “sleep well, get up well and I love you”.

It was eleven years ago today that she lost her battle with bone cancer. She had enough and who could blame her, she fought an amazing fight and before she passed, she gave my sister an amazing wedding and as a family, we went on a cruise, she knew how to make an entrance and an exit.

Something I decided to do on the first anniversary was to cut and donate my hair. It felt good and a great tribute to her and I decided to do it again two years later and two years after that. This year is my fifth [if you’re good at math, you might realize that I should have done it last year, I didn’t have enough hair to give, so this year was it] and final year cutting and donating my hair. It has been a journey of love and I would not change anything for the world.

Mommy, I miss you and love you so very much and as I close I kiss you on the keppy and I say “sleep well, get up well and I love you”.

{June 1, 2016} I had a grown up drink!

Yes, you heard right. And no, I did not finish it, but I liked it.

I went out for a work meet and greet tonight at Maudes Liquor Bar in Chicago. It was a nice place, nice atmosphere, not much for me to eat, but I made due, not to worry.

What I started with, was a “real drink”. Everyone else was drinking wine and not a wine drinker, I decided on Amaretto, originally, I asked for amaretto and creme, luckily the waiter brought the creme on the side, I don’t really need the aftermath!

I had an Amaretto on the rocks, how cool am I! Turns out, I really liked it! As the ice melted, it watered down the amaretto and it was quite delicious, will definitely have to try that again! [And it went nicely with my shaved veggie salad]

{May 30, 2016} Honor Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. The day to honor those who gave their lives serving their country.

One of the best posts I saw today was by my dear friend, JWB, I will post here and keep my post simple.

Memorial Day is an occasion for remembering those who died while serving their country in the United States Armed Forces.

Memorial Day was first observed in 1868, when it was called Decoration Day, a day set aside to decorate the graves and honor the 600,000 U.S men and women who died in the Civil War. Millions more have served since, and many have made the ultimate sacrifice.

The proper greeting is “Honor Memorial Day” for it is a day of honor. Memorial Day should be the day in America when we stop, pause and take time to ponder the service, sacrifice and commitment to those who enable us to have the great many freedoms we enjoy.

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