What I love! | Peaches Prattlings

{June 16, 2014} Day 3 in Chicago – Time to Get Cultured!

Day 3 brought more sunshine, I was ready for the new day and looked at my suggestion list.

The Art Institute of Chicago it would be! http://www.artic.edu/

When I got there, I found out it didn’t open until 10:30, so I walked around a bit, talked to dad and then headed across the bridge to the entrance, paid my entrance fee and headed in. I’ll post a few pictures from the group I took, somewhere around 100.

I went through some Photography, mixed media, Modern, then Impressionists, some sculpture, American Classics finishing up with Modern again, what my dad and I love. They had pieces by some of my favorite artists, artists I don’t know and several of my favorite pieces and I learned a few things about some pieces I never knew.

Art is so many different things to so many different people, how it affects them, what type of reaction it elicits. Some pieces are created to do just that, make you react, other pieces are created that will make you wonder, question, but no matter what, art is supposed to make you feel and that’s all an artist can ask for.

I know that I enjoy the impressionists more than any other period, as much as I love modern art, some of the things you scratch your head at, make you laugh, revolt, I get the biggest surge of emotion when I look at pieces by Monet, Manet, Degas, Pissaro, just to name a few. I smile, I feel happy, well most of the time, some of the subjects are just too disturbing and sad, but when I look at something like Monet’s ‘Water Lily Pond’ I feel at peace.

I look at certain pieces and there is just so much perfection in each brush stroke, not a hair out of place, almost like a photograph, or a portrait by Jean-Etienne Liotard and while I love those pieces, the grand strokes of Van Gogh or the hurried, seemingly crazy strokes or a Manet or Money make me feel warm and welcome and invited. I had a Ferris Beuller moment, staring at Seurat’s ‘A Sunday on La Grand Jatte’, staring at it for a long time, getting lost in the scene. I want to be a part of that world.

I will always be grateful to my parents for introducing us to an amazing world of wonder and opening or eyes to all the beauty the world has to offer and how to appreciate them and a love of art and museums that is unparalleled.

I would love to sit and talk to you for hours about the works of art that I love and when you have time, let’s do that, right now, I’m just going to share a few pieces with you that captured my attention and my heart. You may know some of them and if you don’t, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

{June 16, 2014} Chicago: Day 2. Didn’t think I could keep going did you?

The day started leisurely again, woke up when my body said so.

I missed breakfast in the lounge, but it was all good, I showered, got dressed and headed out. I’m going to brag, but I looked adorable in one of my new dresses from Old Navy and new white skips, I felt very summery. I stopped at Jamba Juice for a Tropical Greens drink and it was yummy! Green goodness to start the day right!

I walked up Michigan Avenue heading towards the John Hancock Building to see the 360 view from the top. I knew I was in no rush, so I took my time and walked in and out of some stores, some that I hadn’t been in a long time, picked up a few things here and there and kept on walking. This part of Michigan Avenue is where the shopping is at! Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstroms, just to name a few.

I went into a few museums, like the McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum. http://www.chicagoriver.org/get-involved/attend/mccormick-bridgehouse-chicago-river-museum. It was very cool to be able to walk to the top to get a view of the river and to learn about the workings of the bridges and how the city has worked on the problems with the river water.

Along the way, I passed several pairs of seats from Wrigley Field, painted with different themes, donated by different groups, how much fun are they!

The next was a gallery, the Chicago Water Works, with some great pieces by Jason Reblando. http://www.jasonreblando.com/

I finally got to the John Hancock Building and used my ticket from my new friends last night to go to the top. It was quite a view! Amazing how many rooftop gardens and pools there are! And the beaches along the shoreline, too cool! So many buildings, still a lot of green space, really enjoyable to see. http://www.360chicago.com/

While I was there, I paid a few extra dollars to stand on a platform, hold the handles and look out and down while you are tilted forward, looking 1000 feet down. It was quite the experience, only eight people at a time. I recommend it! http://www.360chicago.com/tilt/

Check out the Lego rendition of the John Hancock Building, very cool!

As I was walking back, I found a sweet little church courtyard I went in and had a seat and enjoyed myself for a while, thinking about everything and nothing. The nice and interesting thing is while you are sitting there, in this beautifully tranquil courtyard and look up, you see the buildings of the city, reminding you of where you are.

On the way back, I passed The Chicago Tribune building, which was founded in 1847. Look at where some of the bricks that are part of the building were brought from!

I went back to the hotel for a much needed rest to the feet [don’t tell my podiatrist what I have been doing to my feet for the sake of looking cute!], phone and person re-charge.

I headed out after six for Grant Park and the Blues Festival again for Aaron Neville and Dr John! Fantastic!

Check out the nod by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building to the World Cup!

I can’t wait to see what adventures tomorrow will bring!

{June 12, 2014} Nananananananan….

Please tell me you knew what that was from!

I just turned on the TV and it was on and you knew I had to watch! DCM and i la la la love this movie and one time watched the behind the scenes documentary and it was something, the things we learned about the cast and production. Isn’t this one of those movies you just have to watch when it comes on?

I’ll give you a few more quotes and if you didn’t know what it was, you might or I’ll just tell you, at the end of course!

Al Czervik: Oh, this your wife, huh? A lovely lady. Hey baby, you must’ve been something before electricity.

Ty Webb: Don’t be obsessed with your desires Danny. The Zen philosopher, Basho, once wrote, ‘A flute with no holes, is not a flute. A donut with no hole, is a Danish.’ He was a funny guy.

“This calls for the old Billy Baroue, oh Billy Billy Billy Billy”

Ty Webb: You take drugs, Danny?
Danny Noonan: Every day.
Ty Webb: Good. Then what’s your problem?
Danny Noonan: I don’t know.

Carl Spackler: Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac… It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!

Ty Webb: I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.

Ty Webb: Just be the ball, be the ball, be the ball. You’re not being the ball Danny.
Danny Noonan: It’s hard when you’re talking like that.

Please tell me you finally got that it was Caddyshack!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O7YGQjMKNQE

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080487/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{June 9, 2014} It’s definitely spring…drive slow around a lake!

The hotel I am at is on Briarwood Circle and part of the road has a little lake, right near the hotel.

As anyone knows when your office is near some water or maybe your apartment complex or your home, you know spring brings new life. New growth on trees, new flowers and new two legged fuzzy things, so cute!

And, as you also have experienced, the geese, more than the ducks, will just walk across, doesn’t matter when and they saunter or waddle and you can just wait for them because they will not move out of the way or any faster!

I was coming back from my walk and as I turned the corner, I saw two families of geese, one with wee babies and another with teenagers! It’s great to see how they function together and follow their parents.

Happy Spring and good luck crossing the road!

{June 6, 2014} Call the Midwife

Love Love Love!!!

I have heard great things about this show, I was somewhat intrigued, but it wasn’t high on the list. I like period pieces, but I found recently that I enjoy the mystery shows that are period.

I really enjoy the ones set during WWII, I find them incredibly fascinating and enjoyable. My dad turned me on to Foyle’s War, it took a minute, but I got into it hard core, and then it was over. It’s hard when you enjoy a series and then it ends, but that allows you to find other things to watch. Which is one of the things I enjoy about Netflix, it allows me to find a show and watch it to the end, as long the series is over, if it’s still going on, you might not get the entire series.

I had been considering watching Land Girls, which I really liked, I’ll tell you about it some time. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1449940/?ref_=nv_sr_1

It was time for something new and Call the Midwife it is! It’s about the lives of a group of midwives in the late 1950s.

Vanessa Redgrave is the narrator, an elder Jenny Lee, who is talking us through her memoir. Jenny is a nurse and trained midwife, she is joined by Trixie, a vivacious blond, Cynthia, a shy and sweet brunette, Chummy, a very tall, solid and wonderful woman who feels like she is all thumbs. They live at Nanartas house, which is run by Sister Julienne and a group of nuns, all who are midwives. Pam Ferris is Sister Evangelina, tough as nails and a big softy. You may know Pam Ferris as Aunt Marge from Harry Potter or Ms Trunchbull from Matilda. Judy Parfait plays Sister Monica Joan, an aging nun, very forgetful and speaks in riddles. You may remember her as the queen from Ever After or Vera Donovan from Dolores Clairborne. Sister Bernadette is the quiet conflicted one. They are joined by a few male characters, PC Peter Nokes, Fred, the caretaker, the town doctor, Dr Turner.

The setting is the east end of London, very little money, several people to a flat or a room, poor conditions, but the people are happy. The funny or interesting things that I found. The women smoked, not just inside, which was common, but WHILE THEY WERE PREGNANT! Even while waiting for their prenatal appointments! How about the fact that they leave their babies in their prams outside the clinic or houses and apartments, that’s just the way they did it!

No matter what, when you called Nanartas House, you had a midwife come to visit. They would make weekly house calls and sometimes they performed duties for people in Poplar as a nurse, for both men and women. They get involved with the lives of their patients, get to know and care for them, experience their joys and heartaches and a lot of babies! There is at least one to three babies born each episode and you get to see it! Not the full birth, but you see the babies as they are coming out, from the side, you see their head and then their little bodies, it’s amazing.

As you watch each episode, you get involved with these women, their lives and you laugh with them, you cry with them, ooh and ah with their new babies, get scared with them and feel joy. You also see how medicine has changed, but one thing that hasn’t…women are still having babies.

Bottom line, I really like this show and recommend it highly. It’s a show you never want to end, does that help?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1983079/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{June 4, 2014} Sixteen Candles…Love!

Who doesn’t love the movie Sixteen Candles?

Well, especially if you grew up in the 80’s. And you’re a girl. Not that guys don’t watch it, but I think more girls have an attachment to this movie and I apologize if I’ve offended anyone.

If you don’t know this story, it’s about Samantha, a high schooler who starts her sixteenth birthday with not even a fizzle, everyone has forgotten because all focus is on her sister’s upcoming wedding. If it can go wrong, it will, just one thing after another.

We have Sam, played by Molly Ringwald, who feels invisible and is in love with Jake Ryan, the popular hunky guy who is dating a vapid self-centered popular girl who only like the status of the relationship. The cast is rounded out by some other great actors, Anthony Michael Hall, who plays the king of the freshman geeks, John Cusack plays one of his “back up singers”, Paul Dooley plays Sam’s dad and Joan Cusack plays a very small role that you wouldn’t know she was in it if you weren’t looking.

This is one of those movies that no matter what, if you own it, as soon as it comes on tv, you have to watch it. Speaking of owning it, there is a scene in the movie that they show when it’s on tv, but it’s not on the dvd or vhs, it’s the scene where Jake is reading a note that he found, has personal information of Sam’s, in the lunchroom, not on the dvd, what gives?

This is a great movie that makes me nostalgic and happy when I watch it and I could almost quote the movie word for word and there are some great lines in it, there are far too many for me to get started You can relate to some of the mishaps that Sam has, especially as a teenager.

And who among us hasn’t wished that Jake Ryan would come to pick us up, wherever, in his red Porsche and take us back to his house to eat ice cream cake sitting cross legged on the dining room table as he leans in and…

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088128/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{June 2, 2014} And again…surprise!

Last surprise of the weekend, or is it? Kidding, it is.

Sunday morning came liesurely, I woke up about 7:40, but stayed under the covers for a while, no one was trelling me to get up, so I took full advantage.

I got up, showered, dressed and headed to the kitchen to get to work. We had a party to set up for, yes folks, another party! And a surprise party at that!

AS, my sister’s sister-in-law, had a milestone birthday last week and Sunday, my sister’s family threw her a surprise party.

Friends and family showed up at noon and AS and her hubby JS, showed up at 12:30 and we all yelled surprise, as one is apt to do at a surprise party, then we and happy birthday.

We had burgers and fries and chips and beer and ice cream cake, what could be better?

That was the last surprise of the weekend. About 2:45, dad and I headed to the airport to send me back to Michigan, I needed a nap!

{June 1, 2014} happy birthday Baby A!

One year ago today at 9:52am, Baby A was born.

The first grandson to DCM and a new love for JJ! I happened to be in Atlanta that weekend and was lucky enough to be there to see him when he was a few hours old! (We tried to get him to come out before we left Atlanta, but he wouldn’t listen, DCM’s grandson, go figure!)

I’ve gotten to see him a few times throughout the year, Christmas was the last time, and if you’ve been on my Facebook page you saw my Mother’s Day picture from him. As you can tell, he is a very handsome boy and I can tell you, he looks just like his mommy, what a doll baby! DCM is there representing and spending some good quality time with him and…he loves the tricycle DCM picked out for him.

Happy happy birthday Baby A!

{May 31, 2014} I did it…again!

Surprise number two! I couldn’t tell you, I wasn’t sure if you’d keep a secret!

So, after last night’s surprise for my sister, today there was another! First, I got up way too early for a Saturday morning, but EJS was surprised and excited to see me and when I got out of the shower, MGS was up and confused and then excited.

I had spoken with ACS about throwing a surprise party for GES about two weeks ago and finally on Monday I sent out the e-vite and people responded like crazy! So how to keep her occupied until everyone gets there? She sort of took care of that, she was having a Silpada jewelry party from 9-11.

Not exactly keeping her out of the house, but we had everyone grouped on the front lawn at 11:30 to surprise her and surprise her we did! We really tried to keep everyone out of sight, but she saw someone she knew shouldn’t be there and thought, now why am I seeing him? Slowly she began to see everyone else and then came outside and we sang happy birthday. It really was a great surprise!

Someone said “only at the S house, could you send out an invite in Monday and have around 50 people show up with food in hand to have a party!”And it’s true! Everyone arrived about 11:30 and were gone by 2:30, it was perfect!

She really was surprised and it felt so good to feel the love and know that if the tables were reversed she’d be there first thing!

I surprised my sister! I surprised my sister!

{May 30, 2014} I did it!

I surprised my sister!!!

I am famous in my family for surprising family members. It started when I was in college my freshman year and I decided to come home and surprise my parents for Passover. I walked into the restaurant where there was a party for my cousin and my mom just about fell on the floor. My dad, on the other hand, seemed to know I should be there.

I did that a few times, surprising my dad on his birthday several times including last year. To date, I had never surprise my sister before.

Well, this is my last weekend off freedom, so to speak, before I can travel until the end of the project so I decided to come to Boston and surprise GES.

My dad was in on it and my brother in law. My dad was really good about keeping it secret, my brother in law wasn’t even sure if he knew!

My brother in law was great and pick me up from the airport, telling my sister that he was going to meet some friends for drinks.

We got home I saw dad and LaLa and snuck upstairs to see GES, who was checking on MGS and the look on her face was priceless!

She was very surprised and excited and said she didn’t know but had a feeling. She is her father’s daughter!

I said, well, you did invite me to two parties this weekend! (Lots happening here this weekend, go figure).

I’m so excited that I surprised her and that I’m here for the weekend.

(Think EJS and MGS will be excited tomorrow?)

Lots happening…more tomorrow.

I did it!

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