My Life on the road | Peaches Prattlings

{March 20, 2018} Tsunami Tuesday…Welcome to the Team!

As we talked about, I started on a new project today and tonight was my roll on dinner.

Second day on the project had reviews, meetings, training and a project meeting at the end of the day where I introduced myself to the project team. It was also a day of getting to know my new team mates, we talked families, love interests, travel, work, you name it.

Then…there was more of that! That I liked a lot, getting to know my team mates. It’s very important to get to know the people you’re working with and hopefully have some things in common.

After the big team meetings, we went to Tsunami’s for good sushi and an amazing sunset! Isn’t it fabulous!

We had a few appetizers to share, seaweed salad, a cucumber salad and edamame. Then I had miso soup, a piece of tomago, a vegetable roll and a tofu roll. Everyone got a kick out of my reaction to the chili paste on the tofu roll…I was so not expecting it and didn’t realize it was chili paste! O M G!

The food was great, sunset amazing, company fantastic. A good sign for my time on the project, looking forward to new experiences.

{March 18, 2018} A New Adventure

I rolled off my Chicago project on Friday. Didn’t we talk about the great and final roll off dinner, that included me.

I got to Boston on Friday, birthday party on Saturday and now I am on a flight for Baton Rouge, LA for a new project! When I told people it was in LA, everyone assumed it was Los Angeles, go figure! So, I now say Louisiana, problem solved.

I got to Baton Rouge, Uber driver was nice, hotel is nice and when I called and asked if they had a room that didn’t face the parking deck next door, they moved me to a room with a nice view of the Mississippi river.

How about that view of the sunset…not too shabby. Yes, I do lead a charmed life.

Can’t wait to start my new adventure on a new project tomorrow! Keep you posted!

{March 17, 2018} We are about to have double digits in the house…let’s celebrate!

Technically 10 is a double digit, there are two of them, right? Why do we say 11 is really the first double digit. Is it because it’s the same two digits? I have no idea!

Doesn’t matter!!! EJS is going to be ELEVEN on Wednesday, can you believe it?! I, for one, cannot. Imagine what it’s like for my sister and brother-in-law! I remember so much from the last eleven years, I know, almost eleven, don’t push it! Ok, I’m going to stop here, because if I tell you everything fabulous about her today, what will I tell you on Wednesday, although I’m sure I could think of a few more!

Today we had the party. Originally EJS had wanted a bouncy house, they are super fun, but…Mid March in Massachusetts, that’s a mouthful in and of itself! But mid-March in Mass…touchy with the weather. Good thing they didn’t…it snowed hard this past week and there would not be a flat surface for the bouncy house this weekend!

So… it was a slimy weekend! She had six friends come over and they made…slime! The table was set with glue, laundry detergent, soap, shaving cream and lots of things to put into the slime, such as food coloring, beads, sparkly things, shiny things, everything that a kid could want for their slime and so much more!

Who knew eight kids could be so fascinated making slime for over two hours! There were containers galore so each kid made at least two, if not more! It was pretty cool and for once, the grownups barely made an entrance into the lab!

We hung out in the kitchen, munching on snacks of junk and healthy, a fine mix! Then after the slime had slung, the girls went downstairs to play games, then upstairs to play games, then downstairs and then it was time for dinner! Pizza, pasta, salad, oh my!

After dinner, it was Pitch Perfect and then ice cream cake and then pretend to go to sleep. Oh, did I mention it was a sleepover party too? The cutest thing to hear was them trying to recreate the songs from Pitch Perfect. Too perfect!

I think the last one went down about 11:30pm! Oh, I do not envy their parents tomorrow! Luckily, they all go home by 9am, we go to brunch and hear…crickets.

Eleven, wow. Yeah, that’s about it. I’ll tell you more on Wednesday!

{March 13, 2018} I paid for this torture!

I’m back in Chicago this week and I’m back in the gym. Ouch!

I will give you the entire rundown on my trainer soon, but just know that I am in pain! OMG! Some days, PSM would say I am walking like a constipated dog! Isn’t that a fabulous image?!

I have been working out on my own, well, virtual training. I use an app to show me what exercises I need to do. Being in a hotel or at home, I do a lot of no equipment workouts, there aren’t always weights, sometimes just treadmills and elliptical machines.

Since I’m here in Chicago this week and last, my trainer was super excited about me coming in to train at the gym. He’s been asking me to come in for months and here I am!

So… since everything I’ve been doing has been no equipment, any guesses what he and the other trainers are doing to me?! Yup, you guessed it! Weights, weights and more weights!

Every day they give me something new and oh my! Let’s just say last week was worse than this week so far. But the week is still young.

Tonight it was 630pm, tomorrow 630am. Let’s do this!

Ouch!

{March 7, 2018} A work GNO…awesome!

Tonight was a girls night out with some co-workers.

It was DLP, myself, JM, you might remember her from our movies in the park over the summer and PB. OMG! I just realized, she and I together and PB & J! How funny is that?! I am so easily amused!

PB has been in the field, JM rolled off the project a while ago, so it was great to

We met at MAD Social, https://www.madsocialchicago.com/, a lot of plates for sharing, salads, flats, skewers, they were able to make some of them vegan, which was great for me and plenty to eat!

DLP and I went from the office, PB and JM were coming from other locations. We haven’t all seen each other in quite a while, so it was fabulous to be together. We laughed, we caught up, we talked about what’s next, laughed, and repeated the process all over again.

What a great time we had tonight, seeing each other and spending time together, sharing stories, time and affection. It’s not always easy to connect with co-workers on that level. You might be friendly with some, but to take it to the next level, it doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it’s special.

Looking forward to the next GNO, fabulous!

{March 5, 2018} That’s so cool!

Got into the Uber tonight and saw something cool!

On the center console was a clear case made by Car Go. It had all sorts of goodies. I’ve been in Uber’s that had water, sometimes candy, but this went beyond!

It was like a vending machine all in a small box! There were chips, candy, healthy snacks, junk, gum, energy shots, headache pills and even condoms! You had it all!

You go to the app, put in the number, select your items, it gets charged to the card on file and the driver is notified and you get your items. There are also USB charging ports.

You have everything you could possibly need. Seriously, how cool is that?!

{March 5, 2018} Do I really have to go?

I know, I know, all good things must come to an end.

No, I’m not dying, we’re not leaving Hawaii, I am so dramatic sometimes! I just didn’t want to leave home. That’s all! I have to go back to the real world, I have to go back to work. Well, I worked last week, I have to go to Chicago and go into an office at the client’s site.

It was nice being home, I wonder what it would be like to be home full time. Well, it depends on where I live, of course. In this case, Hawaii, yeah, I think I could do it. I’m not sure if I could get up to start work at 4:15am every day, but that finishing and being able to go to the beach at 1:30/2pm every day, hmmm…

I got up every morning between 4:15 and 4:45am, started working, got on conference calls, if I was able to actually get out of bed at 4:15/4:30am, I’d work out, otherwise, I would work out later in the day, have lunch about 1pm, done between 1 and 2pm, either go to the beach, take Mollie for a walk, eventually cook dinner, I experimented with a few things, I ate some good meals! did some

Now, on the other hand, if I can go every weekend, or at least three weekends a month, that would be like a ‘normal consultant’, oh wow! I could do that!

I have to say, every time I’m home and we get to spend the weekend together, like a normal couple, it gets harder to leave, especially when we know we won’t see each other for about a month.

On that note, I am happy to report that we booked our next trip! OMG! We are so excited about it and I cannot wait to tell you all about it! But you know that won’t happen until we go, but I promise to tell you everything, well, maybe not everything! We had the darnedest time, yes I said darnedest! Getting to where we want to go! I think I told you that as long as we live in Hawaii, we want to go to as many Pacific Islands we can, while it’s not too difficult to get to from where we are. It was something, but at least we have a going/coming tickets, in the middle, we’ll figure it out!

I think this was more of a ramble, wouldn’t you say? I just wanted to get things on paper, so to speak, just my thoughts. Remember, this is free therapy for me and I also want to share with you. You see, no matter how much fun I have on the road, with all my adventures, being home is just another adventure to me and I’d like more of that!

I’m flying back to Chicago as we speak, so please have a great week! I wonder what we’ll talk about tomorrow!

{February 21, 2018} I’m home, make the most of the day!

Another day in paradise. Even though I had to work, it’s still paradise.

I got up way too early, which was planned, I’m keeping my central time hours, that means a 4:15am wake up. Wait, isn’t that what I did yesterday?!

I got up, worked out, my ankle finally decided it was done giving me trouble! Wahoo! So, work out, protein shake and get to work. I started at 5am, which is 9am in Chicago, perfect! I worked until about 2:30pm my time, I had lunch about 1:30pm my time, 5:30pm Chicago, I think that would be considered a very late lunch!

After I finished working, I picked some basil from the garden and made some vegan pesto, yum! I was wandering through our garden and saw that we have a new orchid, it’s great, we don’t do anything and they keep showing up in the base of the palm tree, go figure!

Then it was time…for the beach, I am going to make the most of my time at home! I packed a bag and headed out, it was fabulous, super simple. Laid out my blanket and got to, well, doing nothing! I waded into the water, talked to a few people, read my book, took a nap and then the sun started setting, phenomenal! Look at those colors!

Back to the house, I had some work to do, make some dinner, laundry and now talk to you. I’m a wee bit knackered, wonder why!

How was your day?

{February 20, 2018} 2 flights, 2 hour delays, 6 movies, some work and I’m home!

I kid you not, today was a killer travel day!

So… 4:15am alarm, oh joy! I had already packed last night, laid out my clothes, so it was just a matter of getting up, showered, dressed and to the airport. Easy peasy. Seriously, that was the easy part!

I couldn’t get to curbside check in, so it was gas, drop off the rental car, get on the shuttle, lug everything into the airport, then drop the bags. That was fun, waiting on the line, watching them take someone else. Why have two lines if you’re not going to look at this one. And this one was simpler, just bag drop. One nice thing about the wait, the TSA pre-check line was a lot shorter when I got there!

Ok, this one is on me…I mis-read the sign for the gate, which is odd because I am in this terminal all the time…I must have been on auto-pilot because I went down the escalator, down the walkway, up the escalator…A4 was back where I was when I came through security, ugh! There went my dream of getting breakfast before my flight to Salt Lake City!

I settled in, watched three movies and worked, I am just that good! I worked when I was able to get connection. Let’s see, movies, which will be reviewed later…The Man Who Invented Christmas, about Charles Dickens writing A Christmas Carol, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, with Ryan Reynolds and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Loving Vincent. I also watched the 2 episodes that made up Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie, what a mind and last was Sleeping with the Enemy until we landed in Honolulu.

We landed with just enough time to get to my next flight in SLC, Salt Lake CIty, for those of you not in the know…had I known what was about to transpire, I would have stopped to get breakfast!

I got to the gate, they hadn’t started loading the plane yet, but how long would I have? They kept saying we’re about ready…Then they only boarded rows 1-9 because they were cleaning the plane, huh? I was in row 10, can I sneak in?! Then it was people who need assistance and people traveling with small children, ok. Then it was Diamond and Platinum and first class. Wait, isn’t 1-9 first class?

Then it was time for the rest of us, that had only taken about 30 minutes, felt like an hour or more. But wait, there’s more! We are delayed due to the snow, then we need to gas and de-ice. Seriously? Then it was another 20 minutes, then we were number 8 for takeoff… Then it was two hours later and we were off. Here it was about 2pm, I haven’t eaten since I woke up at 4:15am and I’m not going to eat until we land? Which we did about 4:30pm. Ok, I snacked, but those airline snacks don’t fill you up!

The woman next to me was very nice, from Salt Lake City, she has a house on the North Shore, so we chatted for part of the flight and felt for the babies crying in the back, poor things.

We finally land and then the baggage carousels changed, but eventually I got my stuff. I grabbed a taxi, made it home, finally! Then as quickly as I could, put the food in the fridge that was in my bags, changed into my bathing suit and headed to the beach for the last hour before sunset! It was fabulous!

Then I decided, food and a movie! In the theater! So, Raman Ya it was and Black Panther. I got lucky, it seems that every theater on the mainland was sold out! Great flick! I’ll tell you about that later too. That was movie number six! Then home to write to you and zzzz! I gotta get up and work in a few hours!

Ah, the life of a road warrior!

{February 19, 2018} Another great Boston weekend!

Come to think of it, when isn’t it?!

I arrived Friday night, no issues, thankfully. GES had just gotten home from girls night, I didn’t expect anyone to be up, so this was a nice treat. We chatted for a bit then, up to talk to you and eventually zzzzz.

There should be no alarms on Saturday, but alas…GES and I got in the car and on the road. We eventually stopped to grab a bite for breakfast and then on our way, we were in a town in New Hampshire and all of a sudden I look in the rearview mirror and ugh, blue lights, crud! I had been wondering what the speed limit was, I’m about to find out!

When the officer came to the window, I was honest, “I guess I was speeding”, ‘yup’, “I honestly don’t know how fast I was going, sorry”, ’30 in a 50′, crap…

‘Where are you headed?’ He gave a second glance at my Hawaiian license. ” To a camp up the near here to look at for a wedding” ‘its nice up there, very pretty’. Eventually he came back and let us, well, me, with a warning, thank you!

As we drive off, GES wondered if he thought we might be looking for place for us to get married since the camp specializes in specialty groups, physical issues, gender choices, genetic specialties, if that makes sense, and we’re two women. Ha ha!

It was a beautiful drive up thru the New Hampshire towns, snow in places, frozen lakes. The way back was charming too, along with the good conversations up and back. You know my sister and I didn’t get a lot of one-on- one/ alone time, so this is great!

When we got back, it was lunch with everyone and ACS’ brother and s-i-l, then the girls each had play dates. I took MGS to S&L R’s house for a play date with the cousins, gave GES a chance to get some rest.

After all the play dates, GES, MGS, EJS and I went out to meet ACS and some friends for dinner. On the way home from the restaurant it started snowing and continued. Any guesses what it looked like when I got up? White, white, white, but the plows had already been.

GES and I had an appointment, so, away we went! So beautiful as we drove to Glochester, the trees do pretty covered in snow. We get there and I check my email, should have done that before we left, go figure. Oh well, good excuse to try a me place for brunch!

Back on the road towards home, stop in Burlington, the girls had a camp meet and greet at a local bowling alley. We get there and ugh, forgotten purse, leave GES and go back to the restaurant. No worries, no traffic, easy 35/40 min there, get bag, back to bowling alley for fun!

Then to the house, EJS had a play date. GES, MGS and I hung out, eventually dinner was ordered, fire was lit and we were watching Ultimate Beastmaster! Ultimate athletes trying to defeat the beast!

Then it was lights out for the girls and chill out for the rest of us! And I had to talk to you!

Did I mention never a dull moment at my sister’s? How was your weekend?!

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