my day | Peaches Prattlings

{January 20, 2018} Breakfast, then a movie, then dinner

That was my day, a good day at that!

No alarms, just waking up. It helps to get in and crash about 1am, then you sleep until about 8am, from sheer exhaustion, I’m not complaining!

Dad and I got up, got ourselves together and then headed to Z One, a local diner/restaurant for breakfast and good conversation. We talked about travel, life, work, all sorts of things. I do love one-on-one weekends with my dad, it’s special.

Then back to the house to regroup and head out again and see Star Wars, FINALLY! I may be the only person on the planet who hadn’t seen it yet! Oh my! Dad saw it and was up for going again and enjoyed it a second time, I enjoyed it, I’ll tell you about it in another post! I did, however, finally get to tell BG that I saw it, he’s finally quite pleased!

After the movie, some errands and then back to the house to chill, we watched an episode of Brokenwood, a detective show on Acorn TV, out of New Zealand, enjoyable and interesting.

Then it was time to meet friends for dinner. More like family, these are people that have been in our lives for years. My mom worked at the same school as both Mrs B and KS and Mr B was my teacher of French. I always looked at all these other women as moms, ‘all the moms are coming over’ that sort of thing. KS’ husband, dad and I made 6 on the group.

We went to Brunos, it used to be Bruno’s Patisserie, but lucky for me, who was having the hardest time saying that, it’s now just Bruno’s! http://brunosnyc.com/

The bakery counter, which is what they’re known for, is impressive. The food, matches the bakery counter.

We had appetizers and then the main course, I had spinach and potato gnocchi, yum! With spinach, garlic and cooked in garlic and olive oil. For dessert, there was tortufo, sorbet, an assortment of cookies and mousse.

Overall, aside from the noise level, there were quite a few large parties, the food was good, the service…not as good, it was crazy busy, so understandable, but the server was charming and funny. Same opening line at every table “so, four burgers well done with fries?!” Ha ha.

What was great was the conversation and the company, it’s always good to be with family. Maybe you can join is next time!

Day 15

{January 19, 2018} A wonderful surprise

Tonight, while I’m at the airport waiting to go to NYC for the weekend, I got a text.

This text was from one of my oldest and dearest friends with a scheduling question. I thought it was a little odd, wonderful, but odd, since it’s been a few months since we’ve talked and we don’t text or talk as often as we would like.

I had my suspicion and I was hoping I was right so…we connected and got to talk for about 30/40 minutes before my flight and yup, I was right, she’s expecting sweet angel number two! I cannot believe it! I’m so thrilled for her and the entire family!

I love that she called and told me herself instead of hearing about it somewhere else, so very special. This wonderful friend is so much more than that, she’s family, a sister. She was one of the first friends I made in Atlanta and it doesn’t matter how often or not that we speak, it’s like it was just last week or yesterday, no time passes.

Our lives intersected and separated and intersected and separated, she was so there for me when things went down with the wasband and she was one of the first people I wanted to tell about PSM, reconnecting with my kids, so many things we’ve shared throughout our lives.

My one regret, during our separated times, I didn’t get to be as big a part of her daughter’s life as I wanted to when she was little, I was going through things and that is very much on me. I hope that I can do better with her and her baby sister to be.

Mazel tov to my wonderful, sweet, caring, fabulous friend. I am so thrilled for you and love you so very much!

Day 14

{January 18, 2018} A welcome and tasty surprise!

Have I mentioned it’s not easy being vegan on the road? Nah, I’m sure this is the first time you’ve heard it, ha ha.

Today and tomorrow, I’m in Kankakee, IL and it’s not a hotbed, so to speak, of choices for me for food, especially as a vegan, either grocery store or Burger King, I do love their veggie burger! Now, I’m not disparaging any of these areas, but there generally isn’t a lot around the offices that I am supporting, even the people that work there tell me that!

I went out for lunch and on my way to Burger King, I saw Stefari Cafe and hung a quick louie, that’s a u-turn for anyone not in the know! I pulled in front of the building and went in.

It’s in a charming brick-front building, you can tell they are trying to revitalize the downtown area. You walk in and you are transported to a small hometown cafe with a modern air. You can tell they are trying to keep it small town, but the touches have a modern feel.

When you walk in Stefari, https://www.stefaricafe.com/, you feel like this is a place you can hang out. As one reviewer said, a great meeting place.

The decor is kitschy/ country sheik. Hand written menus on a chalkboard behind the counter, comfy chairs to sit it, all of this warm and welcoming.

There were some people working at the few tables in the main room as well as the dim back room. A group of ladies were playing mahjong, it looked like their weekly get together. You almost wanted to ask if you could join.

Turns out, they are not all fluff, the food was good as well, happy to see that! I had the veggie sandwich panini style, yum! Hummus, eggplant, zucchini and red pepper. Admittedly, it would be better with the feta, but a tasty treat overall. I chose the fresh food versus the chips. Well worth ita With it, I had apricot loose leaf tea, yummy.

I have to say, Stefari Cafe is here to stay, I hope it’s widely discovered! And i, for one and thrilled that I discovered it!

{January 17, 2018} Another goodbye and a fabulous meal!

Tonight we bid a fond farewell to another team member at a fabulous restaurant.

I believe I’ve told you about team or project roll-off dinners. Basically, when someone new joins we call it ‘roll-on’ and then when someone has been there a long time leaves we call it ‘rolling-off’ a project. Then…we have to have a party! There is usually a roll-on lunch or dinner to welcome them to the project or, in this case, say goodbye and wish them well during their roll-off dinner.

The first place we had a reservation decided to close for the evening, so quick thinking, we ended up at Sepia, http://www.sepiachicago.com/, and well worth it!

As the name might tell you, the theme was sepia color filter, there was a sepia filter feel to the entire restaurant. And, as I did some research, it was built from an 1890’s print shop, go figure! There were interesting photographs on the walls, some sepia, some black and white, even what looked like book plates, but arranged as a photo display on a wall. Even though it was a large space, wherever you sat, it felt intimate, you could have a private conversation if that was on the menu for you.

It feels rustic and farm to table and creative and organic. They had things for every taste, the less than adventurous, chicken, swordfish, scallops and then for the curious, venison, rabbit, duck, goat, just to name a few things. The portions were the proper size, not too much but leaving you satisfied.

I called earlier, you know when I looked at the menu, I had to ask and they assured me they could feed a vegan, I’m good with that. The appetizers I had to skip, but that left more for me to eat my dinner and let me just tell you, no leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

The chef made me coconut tortellini, fresh sliced coconuts, sweet potatoes, carrots and a few other vegetables in a coconut milk sauce. It was light, delicate, delicious and filling. I was quite happy! Y U M!

Dessert looked delicious, but unfortunately, the most I could do was have a taste of someone’s and what I tasted was fabulous! Sesame cake with grape sorbet, frozen grapes and asian pear and tahini. Someone else got the cheesecake, which I didn’t taste, but the beet sorbet that I did taste was out of this world! Look what they did for JW’s dessert!

Overall, it was a great evening, a good meal, good friends and a fine send off for a great co-worker who will be missed.

Day 12

{January 17, 2018} Happy hour time!

It’s been a while since we had a work happy hour, we were overdue. Guess what we did tonight!

We met at Cactus Bar & Grille, https://www.cactuschicago.com/, it’s where we have had all the project happy hours I have been to. It’s a laid back place with a bar, a bunch of wooden high top tables and corrugated metal walls. We were there for happy hour, drink and food specials.

I finished at the client site about 5pm, so I decided to walk over, it was about half a mile, and it was a nice, crisp, chilly walk through the streets of Chicago. Wow, that sounded so much like a Dickens novel, ha ha!

I got there before everyone else, so I checked in at the podium, was taken to our tables and ordered an amaretto on the rocks, yum! It was ‘let’s pretend to be a grownup night’! You know how crazy it got? I actually ordered another! The first was only half a glass, so I decided to go crazy! I can’t even remember the last time I had one!

With my first drink I ordered guacamole and chips. I wasn’t sure what anyone else would want, but I didn’t want to drink on an empty stomach, I was hungry and I knew people would show up eventually to help me out. Oh, later, the cauliflower bits, yum!

My co-workers showed up, some of the client team showed up and we were on! Even a co-worker who left the project eight months ago. Eight months? Where did the time go?!

It was great catching up with everyone, just seeing everyone! I haven’t been in Chicago since mid-November when I was sent into the field to do onsite support. I’ve missed seeing my co-workers and friends, I was used to seeing them at least every other week, well, at least once a month, since we went through re-training over the summer.

Happy hours and work gatherings are a great way to blow off steam, catch up with friends and co-workers, maybe make new friends or connections, talk a little shop and relax.

It was just what the doctor ordered.

Day 11

{January 16, 2018} It’s a snow day…in Denver…go figure!

Sleep in, interviews, games, movies. Sound good? Yup, to me too!

I got to A&N M’s house yesterday, after a great day on the slopes! We ordered in Chinese food, hung out, watched the end of the Saints/Vikings game and then after their daughter, AM went to sleep, we watched Scott Pilgrim vs The World, interesting. It was amazingly awful! I think I loved it!

This morning, I got to sleep in, well, 8am or so, I’m good with that. I got my laundry out of the dryer, went upstairs eventually and hung out with AM, we interviewed each other, that was fun, we asked each other about our interests, hobbies and poisonous vs venomous snakes! Then we played games, made clay shapes that we painted and then we watched Ocean’s 11 since I hadn’t seen it, they were tickled at my reaction.

Then some lunch and I headed out to the airport a little earlier than I normally would have, it had been snowing since before I got up and the streets were slick all morning. By the time I left, the roads were dry, thankfully! My only concern, was my flight going to take off? The weather is crazy in Chicago!

It was so great to be with them yesterday and today, very relaxed and enjoyable, like being with family and they are.

At the airport I went to Cantina Taqueria and Bar to get some food and had a good salad that had lettuce, jicama, which is a root vegetable, avocado, cucumbers, pepitas, cabbage with a tamarind dressing.

I got on my flight, it was simple, only left nine minutes late, took off and landed in the snowy streets of Chicago. I have a new driver that picked me up, took me to the hotel and here we are, sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace talking to you.

Tomorrow is a new day, who knows what the weather will be like!

Day 10

{January 15, 2018} We’re fine in Hawaii, thank you for checking on us!

I probably should have blogged about this yesterday, but I was too excited to tell you about my day on the slopes!

I didn’t know what had happened back home until I got a text from ST telling me he posted something to my Facebook wall that was scary funny and could I imagine waking to something like that. I had no idea what he was talking about so I looked at my Facebook wall and there it was!

If you don’t know what happened, an emergency alert message went out to everyone with an 808 area code “Ballistic Missile threat inbound to Hawaii, seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.” This was a little after 8am Saturday morning. Think some people were a little shocked? Scared? Panicked? Just to name a few.

About 38 minutes later, the retraction came out, it was a false alarm. More and more has come out about what happened. Apparently, it was a slip of the finger. During shift change, there are certain buttons that have to be pushed and this button was pushed by mistake. Uh oh.

There were news reports, briefings, discussions, talks, stories. Oh my! It was a mistake and the person who made the mistake wasn’t fired, this person was reassigned. And now, they are re-evaluating processes and procedures. Oh, I heard there now have to be two people to push the buttons!

I was touched, I can’t tell you how many people reached out to see how we were doing in Hawaii with what happened. Thank you everyone, we’re ok. PSM didn’t flinch, he knew it was a mistake and if you think about it, as some folks said “if this is the end, I’m going to enjoy the last few moments” and watched the sun, ocean, just enjoyed the paradise they were in.

Someone on the chairlift today said there was probably going to be a baby boom in September!

Bottom line, thank you to everyone who reached out and everyone I’ve met that asked me how things were going and how PSM was back home. This was a scare and now, the government is working on ways to right the wrong and move forward.

Day 9

{January 14, 2018} First run of the season…ahhhh

I so love Colorado! And swishing and swooshing!

For those of you not in the know, that means I went skiing for the first time this season today. I got in to Denver last night, got my skis from A&N M, hung out of a bit and then drove up to Breckenridge, CO.

I am staying at the Doubletree hotel, which is ski-in/ski-out. What that means is that you literally walk out the door, put on your skis and ski down to the chair lift and then when you’re done for the day or ready for a break, you ski down the slope, take off your skis and walk into the hotel, not too shabby, huh? I got spoiled staying at a ski-in/ski-out a few years ago and I’ve loved it ever since.

The only hard part is remembering which run takes you back to your hotel! Sometimes I have to take extra runs to figure it out!

I got up leisurely, it was nice to sleep to 8am, then I got some breakfast, back to the room to pile on the ski gear and head to the valet who had my skis. After I got my skis, I walked across the street, put on my skis and woosh.

Since this was the first good weekend for skiing and a holiday weekend, it was a bit crazy on the chair lifts. The runs weren’t too crowded, just the lines to go up were long. I think I waited almost 10 minutes each time, normally you don’t wait more than 5 or 6. They haven’t gotten a lot of snow this season so far, last night 13″, not too shabby!

I got to the top, put on some tunes and away I went! It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny day and the snow started, a light flurry. Ah…

I did a few runs, and it was a few because of the time waiting to go up. After a few hours, I went in, remember, ski to the hotel! I made a sandwiche, chilled out and then went back out, walked across the street and swoosh, swish for a few more hours, then I was done for the day.

As I said to myself “one more run and I’m done”, that trick a ski instructor gave me a few years ago, I see the run that goes by the hotel and I thought, “good deal, I’m done, let’s go”. I walked the skis to the valet and then into the hotel.

I went into the hotel, walked into the bar and saw a few minutes of the Eagles/Falcons game and ordered some brussel sprouts on the happy menu. The brussel sprouts and I headed up to the room to relax and talk to PSM

A few hours later I took a shower and then walked into town. It’s a nice 10 minute walk, the streets are covered in snow, it even started snowing while I was walking and then I joined the other folks strolling up and down Main Street Breckenridge, Colorado. The holiday lights are still up, warm and inviting and the air started to get chilly. Nice.

I went into a few shops and then I headed into my favorite pizza joint in town, it’s plant based, vegan and I love it! Piante, https://piantepizzeria.com/. I don’t know if you remember me telling you about this fabulous place. I sat at the bar, my server told me I was his first customer as a server, he usually just takes orders over the phone, he’ll be great at it.

I ordered bruschetta that had cherry tomatoes, cashew cheese and basil, yum! I then ordered the rosemary pizza that had cashew mozzarella, parmesan, truffle oil and let’s just say, y u m again!

I started talking with the chef, Wes, he remembered me from last year because we talked about the white pie which has arugula on it, which adds color, making it not a white pie!

I like the little touches; the open kitchen right on the other side of the bar, the books they have in their ‘library’ for anyone to read while they are there, bringing the check in a book, the ‘Greenbox” pizza box, where it’s perforated in four parts so that you can have your leftovers on an instant plate! It’s not a very big space, but it’s warm, inviting, friendly and cozy.

The Pats/Titans game was on and I was surrounded New Englanders, oh brother! And check out the t-shirt Wes was wearing! I talked to PSM a bit, he was at home watching and it’s cool, we’re only 3 hours apart while I’m here this weekend!

Then it was back to the hotel, relax and talk to you. Tomorrow I’m going to go out for a few runs, come back, pack up my stuff, the valet can put it in my car in the heated garage and then go back out for a few more runs, then back to A&N M’s to hang out, dinner and who knows what kind of trouble we’ll get in to!

At the moment, just loving looking out the window at the view from my room. Sigh.

Day 8

{January 13, 2018} Wow, I actually heard that!

Now, you know I have status with airlines and hotels and I use it to try to get extra fabulous on occasion, right?

The most I have ever done is ask at the front desk if there is any fabulous they can do for me and sometimes there is and sometimes there isn’t. I appreciate the times there are.

Now the airlines have been great automatically doing things, like upgrades, get my bags on the plane by the skin of their teeth.

But I have never pulled the “I’m a Diamond or Platinum whatever” to get something. The most I have ever done with that is said “I’m Diamond and I pretty much live in hotels and I want to point this out”. They try to give me points or whatever, I’m not looking for that, just to let them know someone isn’t living up to their standards.

Tonight, on my flight, I encountered ‘one of those’. The guy next to me did not like his, seat choice, apparently they didn’t recline. He said to the flight attendant, and I quote I am a 2 million mile flier and I expect…

Seriously? If he booked late like I did, these were the only seats available, at least he didn’t have to sit in the middle!

You know what I have to say… grow up!

Day 12

{January 11, 2018} Two different meals, two different friends, two great nights

Between yesterday and today, great food, great conversation, great friends. What more could you want? I have met and made some amazing friends through different jobs, you’ve heard me talk about ST, TS, JCT, RJS, they were from two different companies and now, in the last few years, you’ve heard me talk about DLP, HH, LJ, SH, LS, WIS, they are all from my current company, different projects, I have been super lucky and now I can add EDW! I know, I know, you really want faces with these name, or just names! Sorry! I knew I was going to be at one site on Wednesday so I reached out to EDW who I met at that site, and clicked with, to see if she was free for dinner, we had such a great time last week! Wednesday, I left one site and drove to meet her for dinner, on my way to my next hotel. We met Friaco’s Mexican restaurant, a place she really enjoys and as I think I’ve mentioned, you can’t get good Mexican food in Hawaii, so I’m always down for Mexican. Do you remember when SDL, Miss A and I went for Mexican food the night before we left for Mexico?! Friaco’s, https://friacosrestaurant.com/, was good. We had chips and guacamole, which I seem to crave a lot. We discussed how avocados are great, but when other people have them! I got into avocados and guacamole a few years ago and enjoy them when I go out to eat and when other people offer them to me, but when I buy one, it seems to sit there and go bad, could someone please explain this to me! Black bean soup and rice was just the thing, both cooked in water and the waitress was good, when she first brought the soup, I told her it was hot, which I had said I couldn’t do spicy, she said “how about another bowl without the pico”. Apparently when I tell people that black pepper is spicy, it does not compute! Oh well. After that, tasty, tasty, tasty! We talked travel, skiing, ski in and out places, Key West, Hawaii, work, families, food, working out, I think we covered the gamut! Yup, that sounds about right! Then, tonight, I went to meet SH at Amitabul, the Vegan Korean restaurant you may remember me telling you about last year, ha ha! that I went to with WIS. It was just as good as I remember it the last time! I like the atmosphere, it’s relaxed and comfortable and welcoming. One of the great things was that SH lives near the restaurant and orders from there all the time. Even better… she’s Korean and could explain a few things to me! As I’ve told you before, I love going to vegan restaurants because the one and only question I ever need to ask…’Is it spicy?” We had date tea, Energy pancakes, summer rolls, and we both had soup, ginormous bowls of soup with vegetables and noodles and mine had vegetable dumplings, oh my. Let’s just say, lunch tomorrow! It was a great time! We talked work, travel, family, what more could you want?! We both have some trips planned and ideas fur places to go and… we may even overlap in Hawaii! What’s are the odds?! So, good location, good food, great company, what more could you want!

Day 6

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?