My Life on the road | Peaches Prattlings

{May 18, 2017} Oh my! I slept on BOTH my flights

That almost never happens! Sleeping on two flights, let alone one!

I must have been tired! Well, I got back to Chicago from Hawaii Monday morning, only slept 45 minutes between my two flights, 7.5 hours and 50 minutes respectively. I slept on the 50 minute flight, go figure.

I went straight to the office, full day, training session at the gym, mani/pedi with DLP, then dinner. Tuesday morning overslept, to 630am, to the gym, full day at work, yesterday 6am training session at the gym, taught a class, on my feet 8 hours, team dinner. This morning 6am at the gym, taught another 8 hours, off to the airport.

I didn’t think it would happen, I got on my flight from Chicago to Detroit, barely! The traffic was horrible, took over an hour and a half to get there then security was s…l…o…w! I started up a movie and all of a sudden we were landing! What?

I got to the next flight hung out, did some work, got on the plane, ready to actually watch the movie, same one… nope. Nxt thing I knew… time to get off the plane. Wow!

So very exciting! But now… am I going to be able to sleep when I get to my sister’s house!? I’ll let you know!

{May 15, 2017} Back to reality

Not a bad place to be, I must say.

My flights back from Hawaii uneventful, didn’t sleep from Honolulu to Minneapolis, par for the course. But I did sleep from Minneapolis to Chicago which was one of the best hours of my life!

Straight to the office I had a meeting at 10 a.m., great to see everyone and catch up and know that my goal was accomplished, I wanted to look like I’ve been somewhere!

Meetings, work, training session at the gym, they tried to kill me! it was a dumbbell routine which I am going to tell you all about my new workout program very soon!

Then I went and met DLP, we got our claws and paws done, mani/pedi for those of you not in the know, then went to the Little Beet Table for dinner, i had my first cauliflower steak! got caught up had a good time and then I’m going to collapse in a few minutes.

Tomorrow is a big day, someone is turning 7!!!

{May 13, 2017} How do I go back to reality?

These have been an amazing two weeks.

It’s not over, I still have a day and a half, but… it’s been great! This is the first time PSM and i have really “lived” together since we’ve been together. Even the two weeks I was here at the end of the year we were both off, so it was more of a vacation.

This time, he went to work every day and I worked from home, usually between 4am and 6am, which worked out perfectly because that meant I was done between 12 and 2pm. Somewhere in there, dog duties, domestic stuff, like meeting with the pest control or yard guys, then it was either hang out in the hammock for a bit or take Mollie to the beach.

By 3 or 5pm, whichever PSM was able to make work, we would meet at the gym or somewhere to go stand up paddle boarding. Then it was dinner at home, we cooked a few times, even used basil from our garden!

Or eat where we were. Tonight it was burritos from Killer Taco, made me think of Moe’s, and anyone who knows me, knows I love some Moe’s! Home to chill with Mollie and then crash or tonight, go to see Baby Groot again.

I get why people love it. Mornings at the beach for a surf or paddle, great exercise, work or school then to the beach. It starts filling up about 3 or 4pm, surfing, paddle boarding, swimming, playing, some people bring grills for dinner. Play until the sun starts going down, then go home.

Today, I worked until 1245pm, hung out in the hammock, ok, fell asleep in the hammock, met PSM in Haleiwa for some stand up paddle boarding, then dinner, then movies.

Tomorrow beach and paddle boarding with friends, then Sunday afternoon back to Chicago. I know I’ll have fun with my friends from work and I’m ready for summer in Chicago, beaches and sun, maybe even some paddle boarding! But… it’s not home…sigh…

Good thing I’m coming back in two weekends!

{May 1, 2017} What a weekend!

That Miss A keeps me going! Oh brother! Would I change a thing? Not on your life!

I told you about Friday, a fun day. Saturday was a lovely day as well, up too early, of course!

We had breakfast, then the dressing and I got to pick the outfit! Anyone who knows Miss A and SDL knows this is a big deal! But I rocked it! She had a great time at therapy and I got to talk to the other moms there and we all bragged on our kids! I take every opportunity to brag on all my kids, I dont know if you’ve ever noticed…she did great in therapy, very focused.

After therapy it was breakfast number two, iHop this time. Rooty Jr, oh boy does she love that! Then she was gracious enough to help me shop a little, her opinion means a lot to me!

After shopping it was back to the house for a snack, cuddling, tickling and cleaning, I know, not exciting, but important. Dinner was low key, she wanted to stay in. I didn’t even make it to midnight when SDL got home, I had to wait until this morning to find out how the day went!

This morning came way earlier than I had hoped for, oh well. Breakfast at 7am, then playtime, get dressed, outfit number two chosen by yours truly! A lot more stressful than you realize, SDL has serious standards! Then it was snack time and the out the door.

We decided to go to the Indian Temple in Lilburn, it’s an amazing structure and I’ve always wanted to go. On the drive over, not a peep from the back seat, nothing on the way in to the temple.

The minute we took our shoes off, the volume went up! She was happy as can be! Apparently, such expressions of joy are frowned upon. Shoes on, out the door.

We then headed downtown to a co-op I like that I used to get my homeopathic allergy medication and I picked up some vegan treats and sandwiches for my flight home tomorrow.

Then we drove a bit and found the Inman Park Festival. It’s been a while since I’d been to the festival, I was excited we found it. We hit the ground and checked everything out.

We loved looking at the sights and sounds, touching, smelling experiencing. Then the shopping…ooh… Chanukah, Christmas, a few things for PSM, some home made dog treats for Mollie and Miss A found a graduation present for mommy, she was so excited to give it to her! She even picked out a card “Well done you!” With a graduation cap.

After a few hours, which included dining al fresco, we headed home. SDL was done! 19 months and on May 9, she walks and gets her EMBA diploma! I’m so thrilled and proud of her! And now, Miss A gets her mommy back! I’m not sure who is more excited!!

Well, a job well done means a good meal out. This was after a snack of cherry yogurt and a banana. One after the other of course! We went to Texas Roadhouse, love those rolls! Great dinner, great company, lots of laughing.

Back to the house, bath, hair brushing, there’s a lot! outfits for school tomorrow, lunches, clean up, packing for me and bed. Well, she got into bed, then the sugar from the sweet potato made an appearance! “Ok, back to bed”…”ok, back to bed”… third time’s the charm.

Eventually it was lights out for me, hopefully after I talk to you I’ll fall asleep, it’s almost midnight and 415am comes quickly.

Flying home for two weeks in the morning, think I’m excited!? You bet your sweet bippie!

A great weekend, ready for the next one!

{April 27, 2017} A movie… wahoo…Seriously AMC?

Another fun evening with DLP.

A movie at our favorite AMC, with the good recliners and decent menu, they have a quinoa burger for me, and it’s not too bad.

We saw Boss Baby, which was good a second time for me and DLP enjoyed it for the first time. It’s always interesting to see a ‘kids’ movie with another adult, you get a different perspective. And seeing a movie for the second time is fun when the other person hasn’t seen it yet, you get to see their reaction, to the things you thought were funny.

First, the food took forever to get to us, so AMC did right by us and gave us two free passes to make up for it. Good customer service.

Next, when the check arrived, they had applied my AMC rewards to the check, something I did not ask them to do. The v frustrating thing is that this is the fourth time this has happened.

I have the rewards card to build up rewards like free movies and food. During the week, if I’m on a project, I can expense my food at the movies, I don’t need or want to use my rewards, that’s for when I’m home and can get free stuff.

In the past, I would be asked if I want to apply my rewards. Apparently, it can happen automatically, what? I was told that it can happen, no thank you.

They did give me the rewards back told me to tell the server not to engage the rewards, we’ll see if that works next time.

Overall, a fun evening, as always. What’s our next adventure?

{April 25, 2017} A great date!

No, I am not cheating on PSM!

I’ve told you, I have so many fabulous girlfriends that if I ‘played for the other team’ we would be dating! Dinners, movies, theatre, travel!

WIS is great, she keeps looking up vegan places to try and yesterday it was Native Foods, yes! You know how much I love their reuben!

We met at a different location than I go to all the time and…she loved it!! She had the peanut butter parfait and had the same reaction as I did! First, she could not believe it was vegan, then, like me, couldn’t get enough! Almost licking the inside of the cup! Hmmm, sounds familiar!

After dinner, we walked around and ended up at Marshall’s, which was great because, after what happened this weekend, I needed a new laptop bag.

I ended up with a “grown-up” bag, a tote. It’s nice, there are times when I’m wearing a dress I don’t want to use a backpack and now I have one. Another bag? Don’t tell PSM! I am glad I had someone to help me, I’m terrible at this sort of thing.

Overall, a very nice date. What does the next one have in store for us?

{April 25, 2017} Solid one up… wow

Have you ever had that happen?

First, do you know what a one up is? Let me ‘splain… you tell someone something and they have to tell you something better that happened to them, or something worse. One up.

We’ve all done it, either intentionally or not. “I wss so sick, this happened” “oh yeah? Well, I was so sick this happened!”.

Sometimes it’s fun and sometimes it’s funny. Did you ever see the movie Spy, with Melissa McCarthy? Jason Statham kept one-upping himself with the way he was injured, including getting killed and coming back to life!

So, mine was yesterday. I told my co-workers what happened in Maui, lost badge, left my mouse, that stuff. They were all sympathetic and had a few similar stories. These were expected and understandable.

I got to the gym and someone asked about my weekend, after I asked how theirs was and they had said good, nothing exciting. I said kinda sucked, we got robbed, barely had the words left my lips when he, same person said, I got hit by a car. What?

Immediately, focus was on him, as it should be, he got hit by a car! End of my story.

But that, my friends was a solid one-up.

{April 23, 2017} Ended on a positive

Today we flew back to Oahu since I have to fly back to Chicago for work.

Here’s the crazy thing… I’m flying home next week! I’m only going to be gone for a week, what? Like a ‘normal’ traveling consultant! And I get to be there for two weeks, I won’t know how to handle myself!

This morning we woke up, uneventful, thankfully. We got motivated eventually and went to Kihei Cafe, a local, cash only breakfast place that PSM liked to go to when he’s on Maui for more than a day.

Beautiful view, had company in the snail on the wall, chickens and other birds walking all over the place. We had the veggie scramble which looked like a mountain of eggs, a very colorful mountain and French toast. Tasty.

Then we went back, packed, hung out and then headed to the airport. Car return, check bags, security, board flight.

Land, get bag… eventually, check in bag for next flight, get car, find food. We ended up in Chinatown, looking for one place and ended up at another. The first place didn’t have any space, so we went to Grondin, a Latin/ French restaurant. I don’t even know what mine was called, but it was tasty. PSM was happy, they made him a spicy bloody Mary, even brought extra chili powder.

Back to the airport, say goodbye, now I’m on my flight heading back to Chicago.

After everything, ended on a good note, or at least a tasty one!

{April 21, 2017} I’m home!

The homecoming was less than climactic. Let me explain…

PSM and I decided we would go to Maui for the weekend, he’s only been there for work, never pleasure, so, let’s do it!

He has to go for training and meetings, this week, so he flew out this morning and I’m going to fly out to meet him tomorrow. I got us an air bnb on the beach, so excited!

But…I landed and got a rental car, no PSM picking me up and when got to the house, no Mollie. Sigh…

Laundry is going, packed for the weekend and next week, finished some work, answered a few emails and now I’m talking to you.

I’m very excited to be home, in my own bed, and in just a few hours, I’ll see my fella, sounds good too me!

I can’t wait to share pictures from Maui!

{April 20, 2017} A new movie…a new theater

The movie was good… theater, not as much.

DLP and I decided to go to a movie tonight and it was a choice of Boss Baby or The Smurfs. Since the only showing of Boss Baby, that wasn’t 3D left was 9pm, The Smurfs was it!

We went to a new theater and, well, you know how you get spoiled by some things and then compare everything to it, yes, I know you know I know all about being spoiled, haha. Well…AMC theatres have been renovating, to have the recliner seats, full menus instead of just snacks. One of the first was the one I used to go to in Colorado near my apartment.

There is one theatre in Chicago like that. The one we went to last night is converting. They’ve installed the recliners, good, not the wide, red ones, these were brown, slimmer and older, comfy when they reclined, but you got close to your neighbor.

You can’t order food from the theater, you go to the counter. They had just gotten the new menu and we were informed that a few things weren’t available, we asked what was, that was a shorter list! Then…guess how many vegan options… big fat zip, nice. Even the other one we go to has salads and a veggie burger. Ok, enough about the theater…

Then the movie started, we could have had any seats, only two other people in the theater! That picture isn’t us, but it could have been!

It was cute! This was different from the last two, it was completely animated. They had some star power behind the voices, Mandy Patinkin as Papa Smurf and Julia Roberts as Smurf Willow, the leader of the lost village of Smurfs.

It was about family, love, understanding, teamwork, being true to yourself, knowing who you are, and that it’s not always where you start out, it’s who to choose to be, trust, the magic within and that love truly is the greatest magic there is.

I would also like to introduce you to Smurf Blossom and DLP may possibly referred to going forward as SB…

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