My day | Peaches Prattlings

{March 15, 2016} A double date…WTF and Beautiful

And it was all fabulous!!!

After my last class of the day I decided I was going to treat myself. I took myself to the movies.

I sat down with some popcorn, a bottle of water, reclined my seat and settled in to watch WTF…Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, staring Tina Fey. It was based on Kim Baker’s book, “The Taliban Shuffle”.

I really enjoyed this movie, I thought I would when I saw the preview. I’ve seen a few Tina Fey movies and they have been hit or miss. I think I told you sky seeing Sisters, total hit, childish, but funny.

This was great. Kim Baker’s is a writer for a TV news station. In 2003 they were looking for reporters to go to Afghanistan and the group they are looking for volunteers in “you are all single, no families”. So…why not!

She goes to Afghanistan and it transforms her and her life. She discovers that she is made of stronger stuff than she realizes. It’s funny, sad, exciting and a really good story. I recommend it.

Later in the evening, I went to see Beautiful, The Carole King musical based on her life.

The story started when she was sixteen, in college for teaching, but all she wants is to write music. She’s great with the melody, not as great with the lyrics, or so she thought.

She met Jerry, an older guy at the same college, a playwright who is having some trouble and begin to work together and end up writing songs for so many singers and groups in the sixties. I knew she wrote for others, I just didn’t realize to what extent!

We got to hear her sing, they the group it was written for. They had quite a number of number one hits.

Eventually, she moves to LA to record her own stuff and that year, Tapestry, won best album, female vocalist, just to name two of the accolades this woman received.

The cast was amazing, the score, the lyrics, the choreography and the actress who played Carole King, wow!

All in all, what an amazing and enjoyable evening.

If you can, go see both!

{March 14, 2016} News! BIG news!

Ooh! I am so excited and I can talk about it!

My grandson, Baby A became a big brother last night! I would like to tell you all about JJ’s new love, ELB. She was born at 10:14pm. Her daddy, JB, said 8 lb and 4 oz, but momma was spot on, 7 lbs and 14oz, admit it, a mother knows.

She is perfect and beautiful and already the apple of her parents eye! There is a picture on Facebook of JB and ELB looking at each other, poor guy, it’s all over for him!

I cannot wait to meet her, not too long now, I will head to Atlanta to see my newest love and her family. I was there the day her brother was born, wish I could have been there today, but soon enough!

I can’t wait to share pics on Facebook, be on the look out!!

Congrats to KAB, JB, Baby A, Uncle Bubba, Aunt Pow-Pow, her aunt CS and her cousins, LB, LS and Baby W! Her grandma CG and her grandpa, DCM. What a crew and crazy bunch of people she’s related to, present company included! Welcome to the world Baby E! You are so loved and you’re not even 24 hours old!

{March 13, 2016} When do you tip?

I think it’s a valid question.

As a society, we tip. It’s different in different places, America vs. Europe for example.

We tip servers, the valet, hair stylists, nail technicians, just to name a few.

It’s not that I don’t want to tip, but where does it stop? I waited tables, I am very generous when it comes to tipping, even when I get breakfast included with my hotel stay, I make sure to tip.

When I valet at a restaurant, I tip, interesting, I don’t tip at my hotel, I found out they make good money. One of the valet’s drives 1.5 hours each way because the money is so good. I always bring him something from wherever I have dinner, he said he appreciates it, I feed him well, front desk staff too.

I got my nails done today, I tipped for both the mani and the pedi. The hard part with this and other things, like hair salons, etc, what do you tip? A percentage or a set amount? I’m sure there is a standard somewhere.

The reason I thought of this was being at the airport today. I have extra stuff coming back with me from Denver. I decided to take a chance and use curbside check-in for my bags, then take my rental car back. It worked!

Here’s what made me think of this. The people who work curbside check-in, just about everyone seems to tip them. Are we supposed to? Isn’t it their job? I didn’t tip him for taking my bags. I might have actually changed my mind if he was pleasant.

Just a random musing.

{March 13, 2016} What a day!! Woosh, twang, got it! ahhh

Five hours of sleep is enough, right? That’s what my body thinks.

Five thirty am, eyes open, ok, you win, or is it I win? Ok, fine, I’ll get up. Get dressed, then breakfast.

View from my hotel.

After breakfast, pack up the car and head to Breckinridge. No traffic, made it in record time, easy to find a place to park. Hop on the shuttle, right onto the gondola and up the mountain.

I used my Go-Pro for the first time today, it was great! As soon as I can download photos, I’ll post some.

The slopes were wide open and there was new snow over the past week. I heard they’re expecting about a foot very soon! Towards the bottom, near the lodges and restaurants, it was getting slushy. There are just a few more weeks left to the season, but still rockin’!

After an over priced lunch, a few more runs, I had enough. Headed back down, then to my car. A guy and his girlfriend were pulling up as I was de-ski gearing, “ma’am, are you leaving?” Yup, space is yours, parking pass too, just pay it forward.

Headed out, no traffic, wahoo! On to my old apartment to pick up my banjo, sorry, no picture, it’s in the car. Then to my storage unit, visit my stuff and…I found my movies! I have something to do while I’ll home…burn, burn, burn!

Dropped off my skis, then back to the hotel, drove around for about 15/20 minutes, there were two events with over 600 people, a wedding and 1500 guests of the hotel, yours truly included. Finally found one! An Avis rental car spot and technically, I’m in an Avis rental car, that counts, right?

I ordered some Chinese food and I’ve been relaxing and cross stitching, big event coming up! I’ll let you know when it happens!

I packed and now I’m talking to you and stitching and eventually, lights out, heading back to Buffalo tomorrow.

{March 10, 2016} Almost 30 years?! What!!

Tonight, wow, what a trip! I saw someone I have known for almost thirty years!

I met SD freshman orientation at SUNY Fredonia August 1989!! We spent the weekend together with a few other people, closely, while we met so many others in our freshman class, but we became fast friends and fell for each other, it was love at first site!

It was a very brief romance, but the friendship remained. Tonight when he introduced me, I was his first and only girlfriend, exactly how he described me to his husband, to perfect!

Tonight, I got to meet his husband and their son, JD, what a doll baby!!

SD posted on Facebook the other day he would be singing some torch songs at Merge, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. I didn’t realize it, but I’d been there before last year with the team.

I knew I would have to go, of course! I got done with work, changed and headed out to the restaurant and when we saw each other, it was at no time had passed. When I looked at him, I saw the 18 year old boy in 1989.

We caught up for a bit, then it was time to sing. He introduced me to a few people, I ended up talking with a coworker for a while, very nice guy.

What a wonderful performance, he really does have a fabulous voice and he’s so good with the crowd, it was so terrific to see him up there, it brought back memories.

I got a chance to chat with his husband for a few minutes after the performance and then their son, very inquisitive and precious.

Then it was time to go, with the promise to get together next week, fingers crossed.

Almost thirty years, nah, it was just yesterday. Sigh

{March 9, 2016} Curtains Up

An interesting experience tonight.

Shea’s Theater in Buffalo held what they call their annual Curtains Up event. This is when they reveal their next season of shows.

There were a few shows posted and then they revealed the shows one by one. There is an award called The Kenny Awards, http://kennyawards.weebly.com/, an award that honors talent in high school students in western New York.

A few students from each school who are in the theater program presented the next show coming. The president and musical director presented as well.

There were some presentations from shows on Broadway that were coming to Shae’s next season, Finding Neverland, Cabaret and Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

Aside from the sound being horrible, it was an enjoyable evening. People in the crowd were season ticket holders and seemed to enjoy this event greatly.

Hmmm…maybe some other theaters and cities well do the same.

{March 8, 2016} What did you do for dinner?

I went to Canada!

One of the things I love about traveling for work is trying new places to go and eat. I did that tonight.

Today I was teaching at a hospital right by the border, so, what to do for dinner…head in the direction of Canada, ask border patrol for a suggestion, Strada West it was.

I traded with the agent, she gave me toys place and I told her about Manis/Massages and Martinis, fair trade.

Eat and sip is the tag line. Do they cater to vegan and gluten free, yup! Had a seat at the bar, ordered a side salad and an eggplant sandwich on a gluten free bun, a good one! It had avocado, lettuce, peppers, some really bitter greens and brie. I took a chance on the brie, I’m surviving. The hand cut fries were really good, brought the rest back to the valet at the hotel.

Back to the border, nothing to declare and on to the hotel to relax and talk to you.

What does tomorrow hold?

{March 7, 2016} Too cool, need to find this in more places

Tonight I did something different and fun.

I went to a place near my hotel called The Chocolate Bar. It’s a bar/restaurant that specializes in chocolate, as you might imagine. Drinks, food, dessert.

Mondays they have a promotion, Martinis abs Manis, buy a martini, get a free mani, fabulous? Yes! Wednesdays is Martinis abs Massages. It’s a hook and a gimmick, but it worked! Worth it, oh yeah!

They need to do this in more cities!

I found out about it from someone in one of my classes today, she was meeting a friend there herself. I had been wanting to go, I know, I don’t like chocolate, but I was curious.

I got there, ended up seeing the girl from class, we chatted while she word for get friend. The menu was extensive, well, the chocolate menu that is.

I ordered my first martini ever, chocolate and peanut butter. It tasted like a Resee peanut butter cup, except with vodka, um, not my thing, but I tried it. So I got a hot chocolate with amaretto, better. They had virgin martinis, but they were made with milk, oh well.

If you bite the ends off the chocolate stick, you can use it as a straw! That was tasty!

I ordered sweet potato fries with three sauces for dipping sauces, dark chocolate, which had a kick, rosemary butter and maple mayo, that was the best. I keep trying things, like chocolate to see if I like it, you know, tastes change! Not in this case!

Then I ordered a salad, very-berry, it was good, lots of berries and nuts in a giant martini glass! Tasty!

They had Willy Wonka in a loop in the bar, along with the I Love Lucy episode in the

chocolate

factory and some

episode of Sponge Bob selling chocolate on in the bathroom.

There were some interesting people at the bar while I was there, always fun to people watch.

Then it was my turn for a mani. The girl who did it talked 90 to nothin! She was very nice and chatty and when we talked about travel I asked if she traveled a lot, yup, to Florida and NYC all the time, but she wants more. I think she did a great job, it’s very dark green with a gold party nail, St Patty’s day is coming up, maybe this will give me a touch of luck!

Back to the hotel with my leftovers, way too much food! The valet and front desk were happy!

I wonder what my next adventure will be!!

{March 6, 2016} Personal space

We all have it, please go get your own.

I was at LaGuardia Airport and sitting at one of the tables, charging my phone. It’s cool, there are so many charging ports and ipads you can eat, play, stay entertained while you wait for your flight.

I sat down at one of these tables at the same time this woman stopped at the table. She was on the phone and I was thinking, ok, she’s going to move soon.

Nope.

She proceeded to stand there, got off the phone, put the phone on the table in front of me [these are small one person booths], then took out get charging cable and put on the table. Huh?

She then reached across from me to plug her charger in! What!? Let me tell you, there were other places she could have plugged in, instead of with me. She then proceeded to just stand there, pretty much over me.

I asked if she should like to sit there, I was willing to move and she could have the seat. “No, it’s ok, it’s fine, I’ll stand here.” What?

A moment later, a guy on the other side of the half wall got up and I pointed to it and told her she could use that one and sit at it, have a seat all to herself. She took me up on my offer.

Now, let me say this…I don’t have a problem sharing space. When I’m at a gate that has the charging ports on those stands, we’re all crowded together, sometimes standing right in front of each other.

But…when we reach over to plug in, we are courteous and ask, or at lease we are aware of each other and those charging stands are not at a personal table. If she has asked, I would have said yes, but she didn’t and she just stood there like this was ok and almost crowded me into the booth. Imagine if I had ordered food!

All I kept thinking of was Dirty Dancing “This is my dance space, this is your dance space”.

Really?

{March 5, 2016} What a day!!

It started early, ended late, lots in the middle, perfect.

It started early because my sleep is messed up. 3:15am, 4:30am and finally, I gave up at 6:20am and got up. Well, didn’t get up and out of bed, just no more sleeping.

I got up, dressed and headed out to meet PSMs sister-in-law and nephew for brunch not too far from them, because after we ate, we went back to their place and I got to visit with Mollie! She looks great, she’s lost a little weight and still the same lovable, sweet dog she always was.

She ran around, was excited to see me, then she was done, it was time to lay in the sun, I totally get that!

After our visit, I headed to see if I might catch GES and the family at home, I did. It was a whirlwind visit, well, I walked in add they were getting ready to go out, here and there. I picked up some stuff, dropped off and headed out.

I went to the Art In Bloom exhibition at the local library, amazing! Each piece had an assignment a piece of art to be created and then reproduced in flora, amazing!

Then it wad back to my place to drop off groceries, yup, did that somewhere in between!

Got a text from KAB, what I sent her for the baby shower made it! Go amazon prime! I can’t wait to see pictures!

Caught up with HH on the phone, then headed out for GNO, or Girls Night Out, for those of you not in the know. JB, SB, LI, KM and I sent to a pretty good Mexican restaurant, El Sarape in Braintree.

We had a blast! After waiting a while for a table, and we had a reservation, the place was packed! We got our table and then cane close to closing the place down. We looked at our watches and it was 9 then all of a sudden it was almost 11pm, not bad.

We caught up, laughed, drank, ate, laughed, talked about planning girls weekends, it was great! There were only a few times I was lost since they have all known each other for years, but they filled me in on stuff. Such a great time!

Back home, take care of some stuff, talk to to you and now on going to crash. Tomorrow is laundry, straighten up and head out…back to Buffalo.

G’night!

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