A New Adventure | Peaches Prattlings

{July 10, 2015} Where did the day go?

It’s Friday and I went into the office.

That was my first mistake, I say that because I only intended to go into the office until about 12:30, guess when I left the office…5:30, yes I am serious.

I know, you might be thinking, ok, so what’s the big deal, you left work at 5:30, that’s when most people leave the office. Yes, in a normal office setting, when you live near the office or at least in the same city or close to it, you work 8-5 or 9-5 most week days. As a consultant, working at the client site, not so much.

We arrive by noon on Mondays and most people fly out on Thursday afternoon, flights are at 4, leave the office no later than 2. Since I have been on this project in Massachusetts, I have not been traveling as much because my sister and family are here and so is PSM, it’s been great but…as I am not traveling very much, sometimes I go into the office instead of working from the hotel.

As I had a bunch of hours this week already, the plan was to go in for a few hours, answer emails, get some work done and then fly the coop. Well…let’s just say, that was a plan that did not happen! I started with emails, then I moved on to updates, then I moved on to spreadsheets and then…and then…and then! But wait…there’s more!!

So as one thing led to another and another, I stayed. I had a conference call from 2-3pm, I was going to leave right after, then I had dropped the ball on something so I said I would have it within the hour [this was at 2:53pm] and at 3:48 pm, I was done! Wahoo! Thanks to HH for being my sounding board!

I got it done, submitted, then someone else needed me, then this, then that. I had disappeared into room with some folks this afternoon and when I got back to where I was working, I was told someone wanted to talk to me, that took another 20 minutes or so!

I was finally able to complete my time and expenses, which is due tomorrow evening, but I wanted to get it done so I could turn my work laptop off and not think about it until Monday morning, sounds like a plan, right?

So…my list of errands got pushed back, but on the bright side…I was able to take care of a crap-ton of stuff at work, which, in the end was a very good thing. But it killed my afternoon of trying to get other things taken care of.

Oh well, such is life.

{July 8, 2015} The weekend in Nova Scotia…Happy Birthday PSM!

Happy Birthday PSM!

“PSM”, “Yes JJ?” “Your birthday is coming up, what would you like?” “I don’t know” “Well, think of something! A trip?” “Hmmm..I’ve always wanted to go to Nova Scotia” “Nova Scotia it is!”

Get online and find Nova Star, the ferry that goes from Portland, ME and docks in Yarmouth, NS, http://www.novascotia.com/. This was really like a mini cruise, let me tell you about it. As you know, we made it just in time, I was getting us there, PSM was getting on that boat!

We had an exterior cabin with a porthole, it had 2 twin beds, bunk beds above and a bathroom with a shower, great cabin. There was a formal dining room, a buffet, a few cafes and bars. They showed movies, had live entertainment and a casino, what more could you ask for!

Turns out, I’m not much for cruises, I found that out when I cruised years ago, thought this might be different, but no…I now am the proud owner of another pair of seasick bands and the Canadian version of Bonine, the aquatic version of Dramamine.

I had my stash of saltines and ginger ale, then sacked out and slept until we pulled into port. PSM, on the other hand, no problem with the boat had a good time in the casino and won a bit of money! Go PSM! Prior to crashing, we experienced a beautiful sunset!

There were families, friends, a tour bus and a bunch of bikers, fun for all!

We docked at 7am, got off the boat, went through customs and welcome to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia!

First a trip to the visitor information location, oh my they were helpful! Then breakfast at The Shanty Café

Dropped the top, on a very well traveled car and headed up The 101 highway towards the Bay of Fundy. First stop, Light of the Bay lighthouse, built in 1868. What a view!

Back in the car, another fabulous lighthouse for a nice stop and a lie down in the sun to smell the sea…ahhh…

We drove to The Bay of Fundy, Hall’s Harbor, and found a fabulous B&B, The Deft House, http://www.delfthaus.com/, we were in The Rose Room, the suite went on and on and on! The fireplace was controlled by wall switch, a lot of fun! The couple who own and run the B&B were charming and kooky, perfect! There were other guests there and we enjoyed meeting and talking with them at breakfast, a three course experience! Cereal, home made fruit crepes and omelets, oh my!

Up to Hall’s Harbour, http://www.hallsharbour.org/, to see the tide go out. This is one area of the Bay of Fundy, recommended to see the tide changes. Some of the tide swells measure up to 50 feet! We weren’t in an area to see the swells, but we did get to see where the tide went out!

See the poor boats! They’re grounded! See PSM, he’s walking the ocean floor!

The wishing well lighthouse gives you a good description of Hall’s Harbour and The Bay of Fundy.

We went up to the Look Off to get a great view of the tide going out and the amazing landscape of the Bay of Fundy, isn’t it amazing!

How about this! My beetle saw her cousin…a motorcycle with a VW back end! A VW Beetle engine!!! Guess who wants it! Me! Me! Me!

We went back to Hall’s Harbour to watch the sunset. It was amazing, apparently it’s a local favorite and people come in from all over to watch the sunset almost every night! Spectacular!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Fundy

[My phone died the next day, no more photos, boo]

That was just Friday! Can you believe it!

Saturday, we drove up the other coast to Halifax, what a beautiful city, right on the water, trendy and picturesque. Such a change from other parts of Nova Scotia, not in any negative way, more modern, a very different feel to the lifestyle. The Bay of Fundy is more fishing village and Halifax is a modern city.

We spent a few hours in Halifax, then drove back to Yarmouth for a great dinner at Rudders, http://www.ruddersbrewpub.com/, a fun restaurant and brew pub, one of the few spots open and happening in Yarmouth. We had steamers, lobster and fish and chips, yes I tried everything!

Sunday morning, we boarded the Nova Star and sailed back to Portland, Maine. Let’s just say, I don’t remember much as I spent most of it asleep and I’m ok with that! Back in the states and on dry land.

What a weekend! A great birthday! Where are we going next? I’ll keep ya posted!

Happy birthday PSM!

{July 5, 2015} Go USA!

The women win the World Cup! The women win the World Cup!

The women’s US Soccer team beat Japan 5-2 today to make them the winners of the Women’s World Cup!

I think that about covers it! Go Team USA!

Is that a great way to end the July 4th weekend, celebrating the independence of the United States with a win in the World Cup? I say yes!

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/05/video-uswnt-wins-third-womens-world-cup-beats-japan-carli-lloyd-hat-trick/

Even Google got into the game!

{July 4, 2015} Happy 4th!

It’s July 4th everyone!

Today, we celebrate our independence, the day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)

People celebrate in so many different ways, some celebrate with picnics, travel, friends, family. In Atlanta, there is the running of the Peachtree Road Race, the 10k I have told you about for six years in a row, volunteering for five years with and participating in for six years with CKM, very surreal that we weren’t doing it together, but sent her good vibes all day!

There are so many great traditions I shared in, growing up in NYC, summers on Long Island, Atlanta, Boston, even just because.

The truly surreal thing is today, we saw fireworks over the water, but very far away and by chance, maybe by some ex-pats, but they don’t celebrate the Day of Independence for the United States in other countries and that’s where we are this weekend, out of the country! So quite a few people wished us a happy July 4th, it wasn’t quite the same, but…I did eat a veggie hot dog, so that helped!

However you celebrate, I hope it was a happy, safe and healthy celebration. Enjoy some fireworks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAzT6VnUBw8

One of my favorite speeches from a movie is Bill Pullman in Independence Day. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoLywiaM6PA

{July 2, 2015} I got us here, by gosh by golly! To

Ok, so, have I told you about my led foot? Well, today I used it and we got here!

I’m not going to tell you where we were going, I’ll give you the full rundown on Sunday, but what I will tell you is that I pushed the speed limit where I could! And paid off, by gosh, by golly! I know, strong words!

I truly underestimated the Boston traffic on a holiday weekend! I went to GES’ house to pick up Annie, the beetle bug, back to the hotel to pick up PSM, a trip which should have taken 40 minutes…at the most…took just at TWO hours!

We booked it out of there and got on the road, we had to be at our destination by 6:45at the latest, or so the guy said when we called!

Let’s just say I channeled my mom, EMS, a touch… I didn’t break any sound barriers, but…

Did we make it by 6:43? You bet your sweet bippy we did! This is my birthday present for my beau, we were not missing it!

More to come!

{July 1, 2015} They’re making a run for it!

The cats are heading for the border!

HH came to my hotel room today to drop something off and as she was leaving, the door was open and as we’re talking, all of a sudden, we see two little furry blurs run by!

Jymy and Peanut have escaped!

First they went to the left down the hall, they headed back towards the room, but no, down the hall towards freedom! We couldn’t help but watch and laugh! I kept thinking and I said once “I really should be filming this”, all we did was stare and laugh!

I closed the door a bit and Peanut said, ‘oh no, let me in!’, Jymy, on the other hand went back in the other direction and started crying! When I went to get her, I knew why she was standing there crying…I smelled chicken soup! I scooped her up and in she went!

Adventure had and now it’s time for a nap! The life of a cat…

{June 30, 2015} I miss my daddy

I think I’ve told you I talk to my dad every day, haven’t I?

Well, on Saturday, dad and LaLa went on vacation. I got to talk to him yesterday, but not today and I don’t know when I’ll get to talk to him again, I’m sure one or two more times until they get back, but it’s not the same!

We talk almost every day, some times it’s a few minutes, sometimes a few more, sometimes an hour. Some days he calls, some days I call, but it’s just about every day. Admittedly, there have been times we missed one day here and there and I notice, but it’s never more than a day.

It was the same when I went to Ireland, I didn’t get to talk to him every day and it was weird and here we are again. I like sharing my life with him, telling him about my day and hearing about his.

He’s having a great time and I’m so happy for him. When he gets back, so much to catch up on!

{June 28, 2015} A new adventure

Life is an adventure, full of new experiences.

My brother-in-law, ACS, is about to have a new adventure and plenty of new experiences. He is going back to school to get his Masters in Education and start a new adventure as a teacher.

He’s been at the same company for over 15 years and he is very good at what he does, but after so many years, he is ready for a change. He’s been thinking about it for a while, but wanted to wait until the time was right, for the family, for the job, for the company, before he made any big decisions.

One of the deciding factors was MGS going to kindergarten next year, both girls in elementary school was a start. I’m not going into more details, that is his story to tell. I just know that this next year will be full of changes, experiences and new adventures and I look forward to hearing all about that!

Good luck ACS, it’s going to be a grand adventure!

{June 25, 2015} Inside Out

Go see it!

This was a charming, funny, heart warming, heart wrenching, sad, silly, angry, happy, joyful experience all rolled up into a Disney Pixar movie, which, come on, let’s be real, are there any Disney Pixar movies that aren’t wonderful?

The premise is that we get to see inside the head of an 11 year old girl, all her emotions, who are the main characters: Disgust, who won’t let her eat anything icky, Fear, who won’t let her do anything too crazy, Joy, who wants every moment to be happy, Sadness, who, well, can’t feel anything but sadness and lastly, Anger, who everyone really loves who sees the movie.

As I was watching this, I kept thinking “I’m Joy, I’m Joy” I want people to be happy, never a sad or dull moment, how do I fix it so every moment is a good one and good memory and the realization is that you can’t do that, you have to have all of your emotions and some are more prevalent than others in different situations, they all work together or things go wrong.

The movie is so clever in its concept and execution. You get an insight into Riley’s head, she’s the 11 year old and then we see the same emotions inside mom and dad’s heads, but their emotions reflect who they are, like all dad’s emotions have the same thick moustache he does and mom’s has the same hair! The really interesting thing is to see how they all work together and who’s emotion is ‘in charge’ in each head.

Make sure you stay after the end of the movie, part way through the credits, it’s really cute.

Fair description PSM?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{June 23, 2015} I have a party nail!

Ok, first, did you even know what a party nail was? I didn’t have a clue what that was until today!

A few days ago CH and I decided we were going to go and get manis this week and we thought it would be fun to invite everyone else and guess what…we had 7 tonight to get pampered! But…CH had work to do so she couldn’t go! Next week, pedis for me, mani for CH, sounds good to me!

So, after our meeting we all carpooled and headed to our appointment. We all got manicures, so that was easy. Two at each table and it was fun picking out colors, what to get, what to get! I went with deep blue, love it!

While we are siting there, HH starts talking about getting a party nail…what? a party nail? Yupper! A party nail is when you paint all but one nail on each hand one color and do something special with one finger, she also informed me it was to be the ring finger, ok, sounds good. Then I asked her to pick out an accent color or something to be my party nail, and pick she did!

So, all my fingers got the dark blue and the ring finger on each hand is accented with gold and I have to say, I like it! I usually do fun stuff on my toes, big toes specifically.Thanks HH for the party nail idea!

What a great time we had! We talked, caught up, got to know each other better, got a little pampered, what more could you want?

Today, instead of a spring in my step, I have a little sparkle in my wave.

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What was I thinking?