What I love! | Peaches Prattlings

{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!

{March 4, 2016} Waiting ok…but for how long?

Here I sit, waiting…and waiting…and waiting…

We landed over 30 minutes ago, first, we circled in the air, a little snow in Boston and everyone was circling and diverting. Now, we’re finally on tree ground and we wait.

There is some de-icing happening, I think…but we sit. Don’t you just love this? I did, however, get up to use the facilities because, as I told the flight attendants, and it made them laugh heartily…”I’m trying to avoid a very different type of cleanup” when we get off the plane.

Ok, it’s been 45 minutes, are we there yet? Ooh, here comes the de-icing truck! Now, just the food trucks for the other planes.

Why couldn’t I be stuck in first class for this leg of my trip?

I hope I get off the plane soon, I don’t want to be blogging from here tomorrow!!! Ha ha ha!

See…so close!

{March 2, 2016} Did I just date myself?

Oh yeah, but I do it all the time! Don’t you?

When I teach, I bring stuff up I know people will laugh about, or at least get a chuckle. This is also dependent on their ages.

It was really funny yesterday because the class was full of women, 40s and up, I knew they would know what I was taking about. But I also knew that the intern, very young guy, wouldn’t have a clue!

Do you remember the old Prell commercial “and they told two friends, and they told two friends and so on, and so on”.

My favorite is talking about the records I had a kid, one in particular. So, now, we’re talking 45s and LPs.

But my favorite is talking about the story albums I had as a kid.

The reason I bring it up is depending on where I am teaching, I might need someone to navigate from my pc as I am at the front of the room where the slide deck is showing.

So, I ask the class if they remember those albums we had as kids, sometime’s 45s and others the LPs. Do they remember the stories that you would read along with? “When you hear this sound, turn the page” “ding”. My favorite, Cinderella.

So, the class laughs with great memories and nostalgia and then I say “ding” and the navigator goes to the next slide. And when I don’t say it, the class does!

A long way to go for that one!

{March 1, 2016} A look back

Tonight, I was thinking about my first beetle bug baby.

I was at dinner with one of my coworkers, SP, and we were talking about my car, why a beetle. I told him about my love of beetles since childhood and then I told him about my beloved beetle bug, Annie and how I lost her.

I may have posted this at some point, so I apologize for the repeat, but I thought this was a really nice tribute to my baby and I wanted to share it with you. Tissues are possiblyneeded.

As you may or may not know, I got a new bug in May of 2012, it took some looking, but I am happy again and I can’t wait to see her in Hawaii! So don’t be sad for me!

This is what I posted on Facebook in 2010.

Tuesday morning, I was on my way to work, Ronald Reagan Parkway for those of you in the know and the person in front of me stopped, I did not stop in time, engaged the brakes, but still rear-ended him. The airbags deployed and then there were flames.

I got out of the car in plenty of time, grabbed my laptop bag, but my phone, my poor wonderful Droid, was not so lucky. I exited the car and watched the flames get higher and higher and higher and eventually… a big ball of orange with black flames that climed high into the sky.

Captain Carl or Herb, my apologies to the traffic dude… announced there was a Car-B-Q on Ronald Reagan Parkway that morning [and I thought I had coined a phrase of my own] and to take an alternate route.

I watched the fire fighters put out the fire and the tow truck operater load what was left of my be-be onto his flatbed and shovel the charred remnants onto the truck, then drive away.

I was able to call someone by searching my work e-mails for auto-signatures with cell phone numbers, realizing just how dependent we are on our cell phones!

I got to work eventually and heard about a lot of people who were late to work because of me, I was famous. When they found out it was me, I think they took back the things they grumbled about having to detour. I publically apologize to anyone who I knew I’d made late, I felt really bad!

So…I have MILD whiplash, which is getting better every day, I only took a muscle relaxer the first night, was not fully functional the next day, so no more of those.

The next day, while speaking with the adjustor, he asked me if she had heated seats, I said “well, yesterday she did”. I get to make jokes.

So, in closing, I am 100% fine, my car, sadly is not. Annie was such a great car, many happy memories, I still remember the day I brought her home, August 18, 2003, they opend the Jim Ellis show room doors and we drove out. She just passed 116,000 miles and had had a service completed. We all know how particular I am about where I park, even one of the firefighters said she looked brand new, as she was going up in flames. I got at least two complitments on her condition every month, a very proud momma!

Goodbye Annie. I will treasure you forever.

{February 29, 2016} Ouch…that hurts!

What’s a reasonable number of times to hit your head? In a day!

Yesterday was the day and three is the number, boo and ouch!

The first was in the shower, I dropped something, picked it up and went to stand up again and smack! Hairline, ouch!

The second, I was loading the trunk, went to put a bag in and apparently the trunk door wasn’t up all the way and I hit the latch, about the same place. Owwwww! That actually required a few choice words! There were even a few tears.

Last one, doesn’t seem possible, but I was on a flight, stood up too fast, and wham!

Needless to say, head hurts still, very tender right there. I only have one request…

Daddy, please come kiss my keepe and make it all better!

{February 28, 2016} What a weekend!

As promised, my weekend, I’m more awake now!

I got to Colorado on Friday, found a hotel, chilled out, talked to you and crashed out. Apparently my body thought I only needed about four hours of sleep, wide awake at 4:15am, seriously?

I finally got up about 5:45, dressed and breakfast and out the door by 6:20am, at AM’s house to get my skis, head up to the mountains. What a view, breathtaking, peaceful, calming, I’m glad I had the opportunity to live in Colorado and go back and visit.

I decided to go to Breckinridge for the day and I’m so glad I did, beautiful weather, never got very cold and warmed up towards the end of the day. It was about 60 when I left.

I got to the top for my first run of the day and woosh, away I went. There was good powder, groomed and smooth. It really was a pleasure being out there, I am definitely a west coast over east coast skier. I’m more confident there than back east and that’s ok, everyone has their skills and what they’re comfortable with. Some people are east over west, that’s why you see those bumper stickers “Ski the East “.

I took a few breaks, including one for lunch. I accidentally spilled two drops of vegetables soup on my goggles, it got into the foam so every time I pulled them down, I smelled soup! Especially when I pulled my face guard up! Had to wash them pretty fast, I couldn’t take it!

In all, I skied for about four and a half hours, it was invigorating and exhausting! I didn’t even have to trick myself into the last run!

I left Breck and headed to AM’s house to visit with him and the family. I love spending time with his wife, N and their daughter A, she is a spitfire and adorable.

We chatted for a bit, then headed out to their favorite local sushi restaurant, at least I think it was a favorite, they knew the staff, which is nice and they were happy to see the family.

We had a very nice dinner, she drew me this picture on the back of a sushi menu. Isn’t it fabulous! You know it’s going on my fridge!

Back to the house, the younger A went to bed and A, N and I watched Lucy, interesting. It was great to hang out with them. Over dinner and beyond, we talked about movies, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek, and more and more and books and… It was a lot of fun, I’m looking forward to next time.

Back to the hotel, chilled a bit, barely talked to you and then passed out, as you know.

This morning, I got up leisurely, it was nice, breakfast and eventually head out. I visited my storage units, got some stuff and headed to the airport.

I had enough time when I returned the car, then sat on the bus for about 10/15 minutes waiting to head to the airport. My bags made it by the skin of their teeth, but they made it. They made it to my first stop, Minneapolis, but somehow got routed wrong and they didn’t make it to Buffalo with me.

Luckily…I left a bag with the hotel last week because I didn’t want to take it with me and I’m so glad I did! The Delta luggage agent gave me a kit that had a t-shirt, tooth brush, the essentials. Good thing, my jammies and essentials are still in flight! They should be here tomorrow about noon. I’m just glad I have something to wear to teach class!

And now that are caught up, I will say goodnight and pleasant dreams.

{February 24, 2016} Why, yes, I am the energizer bunny…

Thank you for noticing.

I have been compared to the energizer bunny on more than one occasion. There are times it feels like I never stop moving, going, doing.

But when I teach, that’s what I feel like! I am on, I am going, I am all over the place, a bundle of energy, it’s awesome!

Hey, I have to keep you engaged, energized, entertained, we’re going to be together for two to four to maybe even sixteen hours, it doesn’t have to be a downer.

But sometimes, as soon as I’m done with a class, I’m done! I could probably take a nap!

I sit down and think about not getting up, maybe if I put my head down for just a minute…but then, the next class comes in and it’s like I’m starting all over, I’m up, I’m on, let’s go! Sort of wash, rinse, repeat.

I got the greatest compliment once, I was told that I made what could have been the longest sixteen hours of someone’s life fun and entertaining. That meant so much to me!

When will I see you in one of my classes?!

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