my day | Peaches Prattlings

{July 8, 2017} A fun day

I got to sleep in today!

Well, I got to sleep past 7am anyway! It was 1027am! Sorry about not writing last night, I didn’t get to my destination until almost 3am, I was beat!

I left Chicago for my flight to Boston, first upgrade to first class on United, very nice indeed, hope it happens again, maybe even on my next flight to Hawaii…fingers crossed!

I sat next to a nice guy, who works for a keg company and on his way to a wedding in the Berkshires, near where the girls go to summer camp. Two hour drive, at that hour, ugh!

Look who’s talking…I got my rental car about 1145pm, waited on the very long line to get out of the rental car garage because of one person working. Then I got on the road… up to New Hampshire, two hours and fifteen minutes, weehoo…

I stopped about three quarters of the way for a bio break and a cup of hot tea. I finally got to PSM’s condo about 230am, settled in about three am and finally feel asleep and then slept until about 1030, fabulous!

Got up, had breakfast with PSM, his brother and sister-in-law. Then we made a plan to go and play miniature golf, it was a lot of fun! We all got at least one hole-in-one! SM and I both got two! I still came in last, tied with my honey! It was a lot of fun! Oh, I said that, but it was!

After, PSM and I went out for a snack at a Mexican restaurant, eventually back to the house, chilled out, watched a movie while SM cooked dinner, very tasty! Chicken parm for everyone except me, I got eggplant, yum!

After dinner, clean up and head out, back towards Boston since someone, not me, has a very early flight in the morning.

A nice day…I got to spend it with my honey! More of that please!

{July 7, 2017} Didn’t you just say you were hungry?

I get a little confused on occasion, it happens. Don’t you?

Here’s the deal. I think I’ve told you before, I don’t usually finish my meals, especially dinners. That means I invariably walk out of the restaurant with a to-go container.

As I walk back to my hotel or just wherever, I am usually looking for someone to feed, I know I’m probably not going to eat the leftovers and I don’t like to waste food, so I’m happy to share what i have.

In the dead of winter in Buffalo, NY, I couldn’t find that many homeless people, so the valets at the hotel ate well. Sometimes it’s even been any Uber driver. I’m happy as long as someone is eating. The homeless inn Ann Arbor, MI were fed very well and very appreciative.

Here in Chicago it’s been a different story. There are homeless people everywhere here and I try to give my leftovers to them. I cannot believe how many times I have been turned down. “No thanks, I just ate” aren’t you going to be hungry later? Tonight a guy asked me what it was and when I said salad, he said no, really?

One guy had a sign that said he was homeless and hungry, even said it. I offered him my food, his response “I really need a ride to a shelter”, sorry, can’t help you there. As I walked away “hungry and homeless” seriously?

So, could someone please explain to me, when you’re homeless and asking for food and someone offers you just that, why do you turn it down?

{July 6, 2017} Happy birthday PSM!

July 5th is a very special day! The day my honey, PSM, was born, I’d say that’s pretty special.

I told you about his party on Saturday, now, let me tell you about the man himself.

He’s kind; to his friends, family, animals, especially puppies, oh, you should have seen him when we were on our first big trip, we had been away for almost three weeks and away from Mollie, he got so tickled by this dog in the restaurant we were in, he had to stop and play.

He is a brilliant man, he is a bio-chemist by trade, I looked at his dissertation, its a giant book, even has pictures! Well, they’re images of genes, molecules and genomes, smart people stuff like that. Remember I said I looked at it, I understood the dedication to his mom and the end! It does look very impressive on the book shelf! I do love that brain of his!

And not just his brain, he’s funny, he makes me laugh, sometimes intentionally and sometimes…it just happens. That might be one of our favorite things to do together, laugh.

I don’t know if you’ve realized how well we travel together, score! Let’s just say I not only love this guy, I really like him, and that is saying something!

His interests are so varied, I’m not going to tell you everything, that would be giving it away! You just have to get to know him yourself!
Today is his birthday, a very special day in my opinion…we’ve traveled for two birthdays, big throwdown this year, what’s next?

I hope you recognize the portrait! I commissioned AS, ACS & GES’ sister-in-law, a fabulous artist, to paint a portrait of Mollie, she picked the photo from Facebook and went with it. How fabulous is it!! Lets just say… when I gave it to him, desired effect! Not sure who was more excited or effected at that moment! Me, I couldn’t sit still waiting to give it to him and see the look on his face or him, the look on his face! Thank you AS!

Happy birthday PSM, I hope it was all you hoped for this year. I’m looking forward to spending the next and the next and the next and…

{July 4, 2017} Happy birthday USA! How do you celebrate?

Just to be clear, USA stands for just what you were thinking, United States of America.

It’s July 4th! A great day in our country’s history. Indepence and freedom, that screams volumes! It’s a celebration and a day to celebrate!

Last night we had fireworks, today was a parade and a cookout and for some, more fireworks. How did you celebrate?

We started with a 5k,EJS and ACS ran it, along with LR and a whole bunch of other people. It was a good way to start the day. I did it last year, maybe I’ll do it next year.

We cheered for everyone, I know how much I enjoy hearing the cheering and encouragement, so i was in full form. “You got this!” “Girl power!” “Tutu power!” You name it, we were shouting it!

Then… the parade! It’s quite the show! The race is the same as the parade route, so there is a pretty good crowd for the race, it just grows for the parade.

There was the fire brigade, sirens blaring. Hit or miss on the noise with the kids! But they definitely love the trucks!

During the parade there were different military and service people participating, the last military group… the red coats! The muskets were cool, and loud!

Old cars, roadsters, muscle cars, jeeps, Model Ts, fabulous!

Decorated floats, construction equipment, dance troupes.

You can’t have a parade without live music!

Love the live music!

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Brass band!

Who doesn’t love a steel drum band?

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What a great parade!

{July 3, 2017} And the rockets red glare…

The bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Does the Star Spangled Banner give you chills, like me? Make your heart swell, like me? Bring tears to your eyes, like mine? Make you proud to be an American? All that and so much more.

It’s hopeful, full of wonder and promise, that anything is possible.

Tonight, we went to the local high school to watch a fireworks display. I’m sure there were so many going on all throughout the state, and country. Felt like the entire town was at ours. The town does a great fireworks display.

You get there to set up, maybe in the early afternoon, stake your spot, chairs, blankets. Then go home and have friends over, food, drink, fun. Then about 730, start walking to the high school, find your stuff and your friends, catch up, play, collect as many glow stick pieces of jewelry as you can!

About 920, you’re wondering, it’s dark enough, right? Let’s get started! And it does start, with the Star Spangled Banner. And on ‘the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air’ they let off fireworks, perfection!

Twenty two minutes later, popping, bursting, spraying, sparkling, its all so magical and wonderful and its over. So good, they left us wanting more.

Let’s start planning next year!

Happy birthday DM!

{July 2, 2017} What’s better than a day at the beach?

Nothing, I say!

Today, GES, ACS, MGS, EJS, dad and I went down to Nantasket Beach in Hull. JK, one of ACS’ closest friends families has a house one block from the beach.

It’s a great older house, great open floor plan that is welcoming and inviting. There is a terrific porch that wraps around two sides of the house, right on the corner where you can see the water wherever you sit.

It’s also a great place to see people coming from and going to the beach, lots of people to chat with, if you want to. Perfect view to see the ice cream man too, if you’re so inclined.

And… best part, a great place to sit, enjoy the breeze, the sounds, the silence, the smells, maybe even take a snooze…

Lunch when we arrived, a few hours on the beach, back to the house to hang out with dad, watch some Netflix, the rest of the family joined, quick showers, then head out for some grub.

Last stop, what’s the perfect way to end a beach day? According to my b-i-l, ice cream. That sounds about right.

A great day at the beach, sigh…

{July 2, 2017} What a day! What a party! What a guy!

Let’s just say, he is totally worth it! I think I did it right!

PSM is turning 50 next week, so a celebration is on order! We had been dating a few months when we started talking about his next big birthday. I asked him what he wanted and without hesitation, he said ‘a clambake from Woodmans’. Ok, that is pretty specific, anything else?

Well, since I asked…Clambake from Woodmans, Fudgy the Whale ice cream cake from Carvel, ice crem sandwiches, a beach, coles slaw, corn on the cob, lobster, potato salad. There you go.

So, I started with a save the date July 1, 2016, with a fabulous and cheesy poem, something I have a knack for. A few months ago, I sent out the evite, with another cute and cheesy poem and the responses started coming in.

Then all of a sudden it was May 2017, time to get cracking! I was looking for a place to have the clambake in Massachussettes and the place I found, Winter Island Park in Salem, Ma, it was perfect. Guess what the beach was called? Waikiki Beach, go figure!

Place, check. It was a great space, wide open, they set up the tables and chairs and even provided the grill! It was perfect. The restrooms were a short walk away and the beach, just past that. Everyone brought bathing suits and towels and enjoyed the beach for at least a few minutes.

Food, check. I ordered the clam bake from Woodman’s, very helpful staff. A few Costco runs for the folks who don’t eat seafood and the sides and chips, watermelons. Some folks brought stuff and the one person I asked to make anything…his auntie L, she makes this awesome cucumber and onion salad, it’s marinated in somethig fabulous and she made plenty, even left overs for me!

Beverages, check. A clambake on the beach really needs a keg of beer, instead of trying to get different cases, a keg of Bud Light. And it’s a good beach beer. One snag, they wouldn’t take my credit card over the phone, what? Ok, two snags, they would not sell a keg to someone with an out of state license. Huh? Ok, so, I asked PSM to stop by with his aunt and uncle to pick up the keg, I felt bad asking him to have to do anything for his own party, but he was agreeable. And it worked out perfectly! They arrived while we were completing the transaction. We would have taken it, but if you could have seen how packed the vehicles were! I should have gotten an SUV! And I forgot to take pictures!

On to the venue…

Help unloading the car, check! Help setting up, check. One advantage of people showing up on time or at least before you, they help carry stuff! GES and I had a Dirty Dancing moment “I carried the watermelon”. The pavillion looked great! ACS and the girls had put up some decorations, streamers and the birthday banners.

The last thing to do to decorate…fill the piatas [I know they are pinatas, but MGS calls them piatas, so that’s what they are!] I had a great idea a few months ago…the 5 was filled with candy for the kids and the 0 was filled with nips, those little bottles of alcohol! let’s just say it was difficult to tell who the kids and adults were when their respective piatas broke!

People arrived all afternoon, the grill got fired up and people started playing hackeysack, frisbee, futball, playing on the playground, go down to the beach, talking, laughing and basically fawning over my fella, it’s his day! His friends and family were so thrilled to be together to celebrate his birthday and to see him! It’s been a few months since he’s been back on the mainland in Boston.

Food, check. SM, PSM’s brother put on his grill master hat and heated up the charcoal, about fourty minutes later there were burgers, dogs, veggie burgers, buns, all ready to go. Time to unleash the clambake. Lobsters, steamers, corn, chowder, chicken, coleslawy, melted butter, we had it all. Everyone dug in, adults, kids, all ages. some of them even wore lobster bibs!

There was more eating, drinking, music, merry making. So much fun.

Piata time! The kids went first, MGS was first, of course! Three kids later, they were all very happy. Grown ups next. PSM took one good swing and hooch for everyone!

Cake, check. PSM had very fond memories of Tom Carvel and his ice cream stores and that voice! And what he asked for, Fudgie the Whale, one of the Carvel signature ice cream cakes. And ice cream sandwiches. I found a place on Staten Island for dry ice and dad was fabulous to pick it up on Thursday, Fudgie the Whale and flying saucers and transported them, to LaLa’s, then to GES’ on Friday. The amazing thing…between the dry ice and ice and ice packs, that cake stayed in the same shape until this afternoon! It was soup when I served it, but it made it in one piece! Thank you dad!

Speech, check. Yes,PSM was the centre of attention, his favorite thing! I said a few words before the piata, about him and thanking everyone for being there to help celebrate this awesome man, and then we sang happy birthday, it was perfect.

After food, cake, piata and song, there was more hanging out, talking, beach, games, then all of a sudden it was about 5:30/6pm and we were all getting hungry again, so fire up that grill and it didn’t take too long, the brickets were still warm. So, about 7:30pm, it was another round of food, good,less to take home!

Oh, there was another snag with the beer…the first tap stopped working, someone went to get another, that didn’t work. Third time, someone came to get the keg and brought us a few cases of beer. When we packed up, some folks got parting gifts!

By now, it was almost 9pm, everyone who was still there helped clean up, fold chairs and throw away trash and pack the cars. A lot of thank yous and goodbye hugs. Then it was over…GES and i took the coolers back to Woodmans and headed home.

I have to tell you, it was a great day. The location was perfect, the weather, wow, perfect! The food, perfect, the guests, perfect. Everyone said they had a great time and it really felt it. Only one or two people couldn’t make it, but everyone that was there was just right, it made me so very happy to see everyone and how much they love and like PSM and how happy he was by everyone that was there.

I can’t wait to show you his last present, I gave it to him when we got back to GES’ tonight, but I’ll show you on his birthday.

Thank you to everyone who made my fellas day grand. I love you all.

{June 29, 2017} A bonus night!

Tuesday is DLP, Wednesday is WIS. That’s the way it is and the way it works.

This week has been extra special! An extra day with WIS, with her friend, if you recall on Sunday and two extra days with DLP. My life is full!

Sunday dinner with DLP, Tuesday movies in the park with JM and tonight, Thursday, last minute movie!

We were both in the office late, my class ended and I was getting some additional work done and DLP messaged “movie?” Definitely! What were you thinking? First option was D3, as in Dispicible Me 3, but i said nay- nay! I’m going with my girls this weekend. I promised!

We decided on Pirates of the Caribbean and off we went. The movies are always cold, so as we passed the Disney store, we went in and I got a picnic blanket. Hey, a blanket is a blanket and it came in handy, not just in the movies, but when we were leaving it was raining, so under the blanket I went, toasty and dry! And now, we have a blanket for the next movie in the park!

We both really enjoyed the movie, I thought it was better than the last one for sure! We laughed, cringed, laughed, laughed and laughed. Yup, that’s about it!

{June 29, 2017} An adventure and a new vegan restaurant, wow!

So… life is an adventure and I live it every day!

Today’s adventure is brought to you by the letters y, u and m!

It started with a restaurant suggestion, Ambitabul, vegan Korean, great! Korean vegan, who knew! http://amitabulvegan.com/

Then it was get an Uber to the restaurant. GPS said 1.18 hours, ok, that works. Almost every time we meet for dinner it can take an hour or more, so no problem.

I get in the car and the Uber driver says Libertyville? I say sure, sounds good. I have no idea about the names of cities in Chicago but I should say the areas of Chicago or Illinois, as it were. So I don’t know if you remember one of my first classes way back when with this project I gave the address to the driver didn’t say the name of this city and ended up at a vacant lot and when I said this doesn’t look like, I name the city, he said that’s a suburb of Chicago! Whoops.

So on this point, lesson learned make sure you know where you’re going! So back to our story… we are driving, driving, driving, highway, getting farther away from Chicago, I ask, where are you taking me?!

We are getting close to our supposed destination, I double check the address…um… my driver, a fabulous woman named Keele, I’ll talk about her in a minute, she says, I know that area, that’s near where my parents live… back towards Chicago!

I finally call WIS, and I am laughing hysterically, so is Keele, and rightfully so! I tell her what happened and I’m not sure if she stopped breathing laughing so hard! I’m just glad Keele didn’t drip breathing from laughing so hard! None of us peed in our pants, so I think that’s a bonus!

WIS graciously agreed to wait for me, so glad she did! Turn around and away we went!

Now, back to my fabulous driver and new bff, Keele! It’s amazing how you can know someone two minutes and you’ve known each other’s lives. By the time we parted company, we covered dating, marriage, dating websites, Vegas, families, travel, work, um, what’s left?

When we finally got to the restaurant and parted ways with my new bestie, she would have been a perfect fit for the evening! Maybe next time!

Now… on to dinner, oh my! I started with date tea, wow! That’s all I have to say! We asked for the recipe, the only way were getting it is when the owner retires and writes a cookbook… not for at least 15 years, what? Ok, we just have to go back! The tea was made by boiling fermented dates, it was sweet, no sugar added!! It was like drinking liquid dates, wow!

I started with veggie dumplings, light, crisp on the edges, fabulous. I could have just eaten that, but I was hungry. I had soup with veggies and noodles, they did have a soup with the dumplings, next time! WIS had a noodle dish with a little kick.

We finished with ice cream and a red bean cake. We saved room for it! Truly wonderful! Even the names of the dishes were clever, 9 Ways to Nirvana Noodle Soup, fun!

We closed the place down. I took my leftover soup, we went for a drive, looking for a good place for an Uber to pick me up and saw some really cute places around Chicago.

Uber to the hotel, my driver was very thankful for my leftover soup. I have to say, lovely man, but not the same as Keele. I hope you have the pleasure of her company one day!

{June 27, 2017} Movies in the Park

One of my favorite things about summer… Movies in the Park.

I’m sure most cities have this, you go to a local park, sometimes a parking lot, maybe in a mall, and they have a giant screen they project movies on.

People bring picnic or snacks, anywhere from a bag of popcorn, sandwiches to some folks going all out, tables and chairs, wine, cheese, apperizers, full meals. It’s what you make of it.

Tonight, DLP and I joined JM, another coworker, or I joined them, they have done this together before.

The movie this week is Julie & Julia. This is based on two books and true stories. Paul Childs letters to his brother and Julie Powell’s auto biography, about how she decided to cook all of Julia Childs’ receipes, 524 in 365 days! It was quite the undertaking.

I loved this movie the first time I saw it and nothing changed. It was fun hanging out and doing something a little different.

Bon appetit!

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