What I love! | Peaches Prattlings

{August 4, 2013} Movies with kids, dinner with adults

Today was a full day!

It started with me sleeping in a wee bit, thank you! Watched my dad play games with MG, got an awesome video of them, it was precious! then she wanted to play with me, she taught me how to play Temple Run! Then we played a game with dad, it was a lot of fun.

Next, it was off to the movies to see Monsters University, dad hadn’t seen it yet! with RG and her twins, S& A, except for RG and her kids, dad was the only one who hadn’t seen it of our little group. It was still funny and charming and sweet the second time.

I don’t know how often you’ve gone to the movies with little kids, but it is so awesome to watch their faces as the movie starts and when things happen, watch their faces light up, look surprised, shocked, laugh, giggle, it’s amazing. So cute when they climbed into my sisters lap. The kids we had with us were 3-6 years old, all better behaved than the pre-teens behind us, very annoying.

After the movie, we went for a walk through the shopping center, stopping at a wonderful little toy store, EJ bought something for herself with her own money, very impressive.

Next was COSTCO, needed to get some shopping done, we tried on winter jackets that made us look and feel like giant stuffed animals! We had fun shopping and sampling, how could anyone still be hungry after all those wonderful treats? Apparently my nieces! It was churros for everyone!

Back home, unload the car, unload/load the dishwasher, chill, ha ha ha for a few minutes, then showers and out the door. Poppa was taking the girls out for pizza and I was a happy and willing stand in for my brother in law for drinks and dinner with a group of their friends. When we were leaving, the girls didn’t want me to go, awe..that was a first!

We met at M & D’s house and climbed into the two suburbans and they hired for us to go to Cambridge. We started at Brick & Morter fro drinks, then walked to Reverie for dinner.

The company was great, the food, not so much. Everyone knew each other from either kids in the same camp, synagogue, school, book club or lived in the same area before moving to this area. Everyone was genuine, funny, goofy, smart, witty and all around enjoyable to be around. Thanks to my sister for letting me join her, it was a lot of fun. I can tell how they feel about her, it made me happy.

We got back to the house, walked to the house, we said goodnight and went our separate ways, her upstairs, me downstairs, change into jammies and get ready for bed.

You tired from all that? I am!

Night night!

P.S. Happy birthday to my good friend JCT!

{August 3, 2013} Surprise!

Ok, so now I can tell you what happened!

Bottom line…I surprised my dad for his birthday! Surprise! Happy Birthday Daddy!

I called my dad a few weeks ago and asked what he was doing for his birthday, this coming weekend, and it was a few things in NY, so I was going to fly up and surprise him and then last week he decided to come to Boston to spend his birthday so guess what I did tonight!

It was last minute, so flights were interesting, time and connection wise. I don’t know if you’re like me, but you want the shortest trip time, least number of legs, stuff like that. Travel time wise, this wasn’t a bad flight, there was a layover in Detroit, well, we landed and I had about 15/20 minutes to get to the next flight and total, it was about 4.5/5 hours, just seemed to take a long time, but I made it!

On the first leg of my flight, Denver to Detroit, I sat next to two very nice guys and a pilot joined us in the jump seat. They were great, we talked about movies, music, flying, football (well, they talked football) and things to do in Denver. Hi guys! Thank you to the pilot for giving me a list of about 15 things to do and places to eat. Look out DCM,we have things to do!

The second flight was fine, the woman to my left complained a bit too much, but her loss.

When I got to Boston, my fantabulous sister, GES, picked me up at the airport, we drove to the house and we were chatting before going to bed and EJS was coughing, so GES goes upstairs to check on her. I came up about two minutes later, she was coming out of the bathroom, saw me and her face absolutely LIT UP! She grinned, ran and jumped into my arms, right there, that made it all worth it! It reminded me of one of the times we were at Atlantis, she was about three and they had just gotten there, they got off the shuttle, she saw me and her little face lit up and she came running up to me! There is nothing like that feeling in the world!

This morning, it was up about 7 to see the girls before school and camp. MGS saw me and looked at me sideways, then hid behind her mom, she looked out, realized who I was, remember she had just gotten up, she ran over, tackled me and kissed me, ahhh..there’s my Miss M!

A and MG left for school and work and it’s Friday, that means its Dunkin’ Donuts on the way to work! GES and I drove EJ to the bus (it was raining, by the way) for camp, we dropped the car off for inspection and walked home. We both cracked open our laptops and started working.

A few times during the day, dad would call one of us and tell us where he was in his journey, we both played along so well. Right before he got there, we took quick showers, not quick enough apparently! Just as I turned off the water, he was here!

GES met him after he came in the house, they were chatting when I snuck down the stairs and crept around the corner, as he turned from the kitchen counter, I walked into the kitchen and said “Happy Birthday Daddy! Surprise!” He was surprised and yet, not so much! He’s a smart guy and had a feeling.

I was not too surprised that he had an idea, I’m kind of known for surprising my family with a visit. There was one time in college, I came home, walked into the restaurant and my mom went nuts. My dad looked up and it was as if I was supposed to be there. He was still surprised and it was the best birthday present ever!

The rest of the day was laid back, pick up EJS from the bus, a little shopping, wait for A and MG to get home, cook dinner, set the table, wait for B & B to come with their two boys, J and his new baby brother G, what a doll baby! I got to hold, feed, burp, snuggle and love on G, it was awesome.

Everyone finally left, it was games, stories and bedtime. Whew.

Happy early birthday daddy!

You’ve now had stories, it’s night night time!

{July 31, 2013} Duck Dynasty

I tried people, I really tried.

One of the good and bad things about moving in with DCM is that we have cable all the time, so I get to see some TV shows I have missed (Criminal Minds, Leverage), basically the shows I can’t find on Netflix, Hulu or online and a lot of movies, which was what I was doing before.

So, here comes reality TV, why? I still don’t get giving rich people money so we can watch them be obnoxious, vile, rich, useless. You’ve got people thrown together in a house, summer camp, n a bridge, would they do half of that stuff if weren’t watching?

And then there is the flip side, there’s the exploitation of toddlers, white trash and rednecks, when did watching the type of people you would find on “the people of Walmart” live become big business?

We as a society become obsessed with certain shows, I’ll admit, there was a time that CKM and I were addicted to Hoarders, we’d sit on the phone watching in our respective homes, “did you see that?” “OMG!”

My mom! My mom, for those of you who knew her, might be shocked by this, but she la la la loved The Osbornes! That cracked me up!

I think I told you that one of the things I enjoyed about traveling for work was staying in hotels and having cable and being able to flip channels. Now, please keep in mind, on my last contract, I wasn’t in any one city more than two nights, so there wasn’t a lot of sight seeing to be done, sometimes I got to my hotel in enough time to grab some food and sac out for an hour or two before crashing, so TV it was, a good way to wind down and decompress.

There is always a new reality show that people talk about and right now, it’s Duck Dynasty, a family in the Louisiana bayou, staying true to their roots while building their empire of duck calls and decoys, Duck Commander. We got through about 15 minutes, it was the very first episode and there were a few funny moments, sort of, and then they lost me when the guys went out to find frogs because the momma was going to be filming a cooking show the next day. Um, not something I can handle, I once saw frogs legs at a grocery store and couldn’t eat for three days!

I just don’t think I can do it, I hear so many people talking about it, they talk about how funny it is, it’s just not for me. I have heard that the women are ga-ga for their guys, they don’t have a lot of the same drama as the “rich people” reality shows, something to be said for that.

But when I watch some of these reality shows, I feel like my I.Q. drops a lot, so I think I will be skipping the majority of these shows and leave them to everyone else who is fascinated by them. Just like they say there is someone for everyone, there is an audience for the reality show market and more power to ’em!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2229907/?ref_=sr_1

{July 30, 2013} Moonstruck

I don’t care what DCM says,,this is one of my all time favorite movies (he says I say that about almost every movie!).

What a cast! I can’t even imagine anyone else in those roles. Cher truly earned her Oscar for this role, wow. Do you remember what she was wearing when she won? Nicholas Cage was too much in this tortured role, the brother of Cher’s new fiancé, by new, I mean one day.

Victor Garber is her philandering father (I can’t be giving any spoilers, this movie came out in 1987!), Olympia Dukakis as her mother, and she deserved her statue for this performance. Danny Aiello was great as the bumbling fiancé.

At the heart of the movie, there is a love story, settling, opera, passion, evolving, la Luna, family, food, food and more food. And the one liners, oh my word! They’re stick with you that you might still be quoting them today. “You got a love bite on your neck!” “Your life’s going down the toilet!”

I still remember going to see this movie with my parents and…even though I have it on VHS! and DVD, when it comes on TV, I still feel compelled to watch. Don’t you?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093565/?ref_=sr_1

{July 28, 2013} Sliding Doors

You know how there are certain movies that you can watch over and over again? For me and almost anyone I know that has seen Sliding Doors feels that this is one of those movies.

(I just finished watching it, if you guessed that’s why I’m writing this post)

Sliding Doors is a movie of “what ifs”, which is a game everyone has played with themselves at least once or a thousand times in their lives. “What if” I hadn’t gone to the club that night, “what if” I had taken a left turn instead of a right.

The movie takes “what if” to a whole new level; it plays the movie with both scenarios happening simultaneously. Helen, played quite brilliantly by Gwyneth Paltrow (I say brilliantly because it takes place in London and brilliant is a smashing word they use, which I love, which leads me to my next thought, with all the amazing or brilliant talent there is in the UK, why did they pick an American access for the lead? Not that she wasn’t, as I said, brilliant. There was one other American, Jeanne Tripplethorne, but she played an American, hmmm).

Helen is sacked from her job (ok, slight spoiler alert) and her story or stories hinge(s) on whether or not she catches the train home, we see what happens when she does and when she doesn’t. This is also where the real story begins. It also leads to the thought or question, if something is meant to be, will it or should it?

We see the parallel lives which could very well happen, whether or not certain events occurred after the train. And we also wonder if the people we meet, would we still meet them if we had gone that way?

I like to think, for somethings…If it’s is meant to be, it will be.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120148/?ref_=sr_1

{July 27, 2013} The Wolverine

As promised, my review of The Wolverine that we went to see last night.

Tonight, DCM and I went to see The Wolverine, the next installment in the X-Men/Wolverine series.

The story line…Logan is summoned to Japan by someone from his past, (not a spoiler alert, it’s in the previews) who wants to thank him for saving his life, to say goodbye and who offers him the opportunity to become mortal.

We first find Logan living in a makeshift shelter in the mountains, when Yukio found him and takes him to Japan to meet the man he saved. There he meets Mariko, the master’s granddaughter, can you feel the sparks? And the doctor helping Master Yashida. Shortly after Logan gets there, Master Yashida dies and at the funeral is where all the action starts and I’m not really sure it ever stops.

The movie has it all; girl comes looking for boy, they fly to Japan. Boy cleans up, yum, and meets master, he says thank you and I can take all your worries away. Master dies and at the funeral, boy sees things that make him suspicious and saves other girls life. This goes on for most of the movie, Logan saving Mariko.

There are ninjas, a viper mutant, a clairvoyant, an Asian wanna be Hawkeye mobsters, dirty monks, corrupt politicians, swords and a samurai, a REALLY BIG samurai, could you want for anything else? Don’t forget the looks and great one liners, so Logan.

The movie has a lot of movement and action, may have lasted a skosh too long, but that’s ok, it was The Wolverine/ Hugh Jackman, it’s ok. It was hard to see Logan slow down and get injured, but that was in the script (and the previews), it’s also easy to wonder if he has stock in the white tank top business, but that’s Logan…jeans, white tank top, brown coat with fur trim.

As you’re watching, there are a few times you say to yourself, “really?”, and of course, one time I said that, DCM said, there is this, that, this, that in the movie and you’re bothered by that? but those are the things we love about movies. There are some great driving scenes, I said to DCM, “I want to drive that fast”, he said “You do”, “yes, but I don’t want to get caught!” ( by the way…July 20,2014 if I am a very good and careful driver and don’t get any tickets, all points will come off my driving record! Go me!)

The end of the movie, I questioned a little, but the very end, I really questioned, DCM and I looked at each other and said, huh? Really? It was like bam, bam, bam, flatline. I’ll let you tell me what you thought about the very end of the movie (before the credits).

Now, since its a Marvel movie, you know you have to stay through the credits, right? Be sure you stay.

Ok, now that I’ve told you about the movie, the biggest “What?” Stan Lee was not in the movie? Ok, kids, earmuffs… WTF? He was an executive producer on the film, but, in his past Marvel movies, he takes a page from Alfred Hitchcock’s playbook, he appears somewhere in the movie, didn’t happen in this one, I was left feeling bereft and adrift. Not to worry friends, I’m still going to add this movie to the collection!

Be on the lookout for a future post, I’m going to show you all the places that Stan Lee makes guest appearances. I’m looking forward to that one!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430132/?ref_=sr_1q

{July 26, 2013} Carl Hiaasen

I like almost everything I’ve ready by Carl Hiaasen.

I just finished Double Whammy and I really enjoyed it. It was about bass fishing, not something I have ever been in to, but at the heart of it, competition fixing and cheating, murder, religion, scandal, land robber barons and revenge, what more could you want?

There’s a character that you meet in several of his books, Skink, and you find out how he was injured in this book, something that is prevalent in future issues. Part of the story takes place in the south and there is rampant racism, which is slightly unsettling, but it works in the story, if that makes sense.

The first book I read of his was Skinny Dip, this turned me in to a fan, it was about a girl who was dealt a bad hand and came back with gusto and a vengeance, funny and smart and a good revenge story with a happy ending, yeah! Once I started laughing, I don’t think I stopped.

I recently finished Star Island, loved this one! The main character was spirited and fun and when she got in trouble, Skink to the rescue, I loved him in the book! I was glad to share it with the guy in the seat next to me on one of my recent flights, we talked about Carl Hiaasen for about 30 minutes!

Right now, I am in the middle of Nature Girl and I’m struggling. Granted, of the books I have read, none had two story completely different story lines, they may intersect at some point, but I’m not seeing it right now, but I’m hopeful. I also want to see how Honey is going to exact her revenge, so I’m going to keep going. (It also only cost $2, so I’m not too upset!)

And, for a point of reference, he also wrote the book that was made into the movie Striptease, with Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds. (Carl Hiassen was one of the screenwriters as well)

If you’re looking for a good time (most of the time!), mystery and laughter (how often can go say that about a mystery?) then I recommend Carl Hiassen!

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{July 24, 2013} Girls night!

Yesterday, I was invited to my first GNO in Colorado! That’s Girls Night Out for those of you not in the know!

JS, PS’s wife, good friends of DCM’s, invited me to go to a painting class, at Posh Splat, in a few weeks for a girls night out! http://www.poshsplat.com/

This is something that CKM and I used to do a bunch, we had so much fun! We’d get some snacks and drinks, go to the class and have a blast! We tried, but unfortunately, we couldn’t get a group together for it, we found that people weren’t sure if they could do it, but what we liked is that it’s almost like paint by numbers! They instruct and show you what to do step by step, or should I say, brushstroke by brushstroke.

We had a great time, had something to show off and something for the walls (so excited about that prospect for the apartment!).

The picture is of the very first painting we did, mine is on the right and CKM’s is in the left.

Since I’m still getting to know Colorado and haven’t met a lot of people yet, this is going to be great and I’m really excited that I was included.

{July 24, 2013} Today I saw a Thing!

Today I saw one of my favorite cars…a VW Thing!

I was at a light with the top down on the beetle bug, radio cranked, rocking to a classic Michael Jackson tune, what could be better?

I look across the way and I see a white VW thing, yeah! I love these vehicles, they are so cool! It’s a convertible, dune buggy, wagon all rolled into one.

As I drove by, I gave the driver a hang loose (I learned that in Hawaii when I was there a few years ago) and he waved.

I got on the highway, big smile on my face, dancing in my seat along with the radio, what could be better?

https://www.google.com/search?q=vw+thing&client=safari&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=VmTvUYLyJ-W4yAHa1YHABw&ved=0CDAQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=672

{July 23, 2013} R.I.P.D.

After I finished work I called DCM and asked if he wanted to celebrate, he had a great day at work, solved a tough problem. I’ll take care of everything!

So, after I ordered pizza from Abo’s Pizza, yum, http://abospizza.com/, I order tickets to see R.I.P.D. We were set, DCM would just need to get home. So, since I had some time, I decided it was time to get outside and go for a walk, remember my post from Friday?

It was about 3:45 and out the door I went. On the way downstairs, I met a girl coming upstairs who told me it was hot out, not so bad in the shade. She was not lying! I did have trouble finding shade though. Off I went, took a tour, not sure where I was going, but what I love? There are sidewalks and paths everywhere! Even in between some of the houses, there are paths towards the paths in the fields behind the neighborhoods!

Well, I gave it my best effort, walked the hills, the neighborhood and when I looked at the weather app on my phone, it said 94degrees, but feels like 85, nope, felt like 94! I gave Mother Nature 2.13 miles and I was done!

On the way back to the apartment, I saw Muskego and Jason, he’s getting so big! The dog silly! Back to the apartment, 2nd shower of the day, DCM got home shortly after that, then…ding dong, pizza!

We chilled and then headed to the movie theater, 3rd movie date in 4 days! I. A lucky girl!

R.I.P.D. was funny! There was humor, good guys, bad cops, “dead-o’s”, surprise bad guys and Kevin Bacon. There you go.

Kidding!

R.I.P.D. is the Rest In Peace Department, everyone is dead, I hope you figured that out. The cops were all alive at one point, the best at what they do and their job is to catch the dead-o’s, those who have passed on but refuse to leave the earth.

Mary Louise Parker is the captain and she’s great in the role, very dry, but really funny, Jeff Bridges is Roy, the crusty old timer, Ryan Reynolds is the angry/confused new recruit…after he died and went up, he had a choice, serve on the R.I.P.D. For 100 years or go…

They have special weapons to go after the dead-o’s, although they try to capture them instead of eliminate them. The catch, go figure, they don’t look like themselves as they did when they were alive, Jeff Bridges is a 5’8″ blond bombshell, fully stacked, so to speak who can stop traffic, played by Marissa Miller, armed with a hair dryer. Ryan Reynols’ “avatar” is played by James Wong, an old Chinese dude, armed with a banana! Ok, so who else thinks of David Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China when they hear or see James Hong?

Does any of this sound like Men In Black? Yeah, that’s what we were thinking while we were watching, but we still enjoyed it.

If you’re looking for a good time with some good one liners, creative dead-o’s, explosions, true love, mystery and some “they didn’t see that coming?” and won’t get caught up by not understanding half of what Jeff Bridges character is saying, you’ll enjoy it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790736/?ref_=sr_1

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