Travel | Peaches Prattlings

{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!

{March 2, 2018} Island Life…it’s rough…

So, last week and this week, I am working remotely.

Yes, you figured it out, that means I am working from home…in Hawaii. Now, I know you’re thinking ‘ooh, rough life’ “I’m not sure I like her right now”. Ok, fine, hate on me, ha ha.

Now, there are pluses and minuses. Wait, did she just say minuses? Yes, I said minuses. Let’s talk about the pros and cons. The pros…I get to be at home, in my own bed, in my house, my dog, the beach, the weather. Um, you forgot your honey. Nope, he’s not here! What? You’re there, he’s not? How does that work?!

Well, I’ll tell ya. He had to be off island last week and this week, so someone had to sacrifice and stay with Mollie, so I fell on my sword for this one, I know, I know, it’s a sacrifice, but I’m so humble, what else could I do?! Ha ha!

PSM was in Illinois, go figure, last week and Iowa this week. I know, you’re jealous, Iowa in February, hold yourself back! So, I’m here in Hawaii. I have everything I want/need, except the fella. Luckily, he’ll be home on Friday so we’ll have our normal weekend together!

Now, here I am in paradise and the con…I am keeping my central time zone hours, that means I start working 5am, I’m glad it’s not east coast hours, that’s another hour! Yup, the alarm starts going off at 4:30am, another at 4:45am, the nice thing, I roll out of bed and into the office, sometimes in my jammies, I have no energy to get dressed yet, sometimes I’m lucky to brush my teeth!

I start work and then take a break to at least maybe get dressed! I work 5am until about 12:30/1pm that’s a full 9 hour day, but guess what I get to do now?! Yup, take a nap! lol. It’s lunchtime about then and…yes, as you may have thought, go to the beach.

Now, at the moment, it’s still winter in Hawaii and the last month hasn’t been great for the beach goer, it’s been colder, windy and raining a lot. I’ve been to the beach three so far since I got home last week, sigh.

I keep looking to the clouds to ask where the sun is and if they could just part a little, but no love there. Now, even though there’s no sun, I’m done by 2pm at the latest and that means I have the rest of the day to do everything or nothing! How much would we love to be able to do that in our normal days? I take nothing for granted!

I finished work and said, I don’t care, I’m going to the beach. So I put in my suit, grabbed a towel, beach mat, bottle of water and my book and to the beach I went. Oh yeah, and a sweatshirt, it was chilly.

I got to the beach, it was Tracks Beach, one of my favorites, a locals beach, it’s not much of a beach, great for surfing, no, I haven’t tried it, too rough for me on a stand up paddle board, I’m not that experienced yet. I think I’ve told you, if there are 20 people on it, it’s crowded.

When I got there, there were two people leaving and two kids were fishing. I rolled out the mat, settled in, opened my book and enjoyed the breeze.

Eventually it was just me and the two fishing and then three boys showed up, all about 10 years old, they played, swam, jumped, horsed around and enjoyed just being together and brothers.

Eventually, the mist came in, a good time to pack up and go. Good thing to! As I was driving, with the top down, the downpour started! Now, the great thing about a convertible, keep moving, windows up and the drops go past ya! I made it home and the headrest was a little damp, but I was dry, love that!

What a day! Even a rainy day on an island is a good day! Who wants to join me?!

{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?!

{February 15, 2018} Four years?! Has it really been four years?!

Wow, four years ago this week I started with my current company. Can you believe it!?

To date, I have never been anywhere more than five years and my goal is to stay with this company until I retire and that’s quite a few more years.

I was brought to the company for my experience as a software trainer, specializing in EPIC, it’s an EMR, Electronic Medical Records, application. You know EMRs, when you go to the doctor and they enter everything on the pc, no more paper charts. Much more efficient in record keeping and depending on the software at the medical office, your records could be pulled up anywhere!

It’s been quite the ride since I started with the company. I have been on six projects, five different applications and two new ones to me. All of this has made me more well rounded, as an employee, as a trainer and team member, sounds good to me.

And now, I’m looking for my next opportunity, will it be the same type of software I’ve been training on this project, will it be something I already know, something new? Where will I be? Closer to home or farther away? Will my new co-workers be as wonderful as they have been on all my other projects?

It doesn’t matter, every new project is a new and exciting possibility to try something new, learn new things and all new experiences, not only with the application, but new team members, places to explore, cities to get to know, restaurants to sample.

I’m ready for my next adventure, are you with me?!

{February 14, 2018} February 14th, what a day!

It’s a special day for a lot of reasons, let’s talk about why!

First, it’s Valentine’s Day. On the one hand, there’s a lot of pressure…that people put on themselves. To show their loved ones that they are loved. It’s a happy day for some, for others, not so happy. If you’re single and don’t want to be, it screams at you. If you’re in a relationship, some use it as a test to see what their partners will do for them, like it proves something. If you’re single and you’re happy, it doesn’t make a difference.

You know the song, ‘if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with’, well that can count for Valentine’s Day. You don’t have to be with ‘that special someone’, you have to be with people you care about. Friends, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, families, co-workers, whoever makes you happy!

I spent it with two co-workers who’s company I enjoy very much, DLP and SH. We went to the Chicago Diner, one of my favorite vegan restaurants that neither of them have been to, so it worked for me! They both wanted to try it, no reservation needed and the company was stellar, what more could you want?!

And when I got to my hotel room, look what my sweetheart sent me. Sigh. Don’t tell, but I think he likes me a little.

Second, it’s Gotcha Day for Miss A, my very special girl. Gotcha Day is the day when adoption is official and Feburary 14th is Miss A’s Gotcha Day. How fabulous is that?! The traditional day of love is the day that SDL and Miss A became official, mother and daughter. SDL’s sister became Aunt D and I became Auntie G to a wonderful little girl.

How about that, three different types of love on the same day. It’s ‘just another day’ for some, special for others, but really, it’s what you make of it. If it’s a day that lets you express yourself a little more, more power to ya!

And no matter what my dear friends and family, I love you every day!

{February 14, 2018} Two random butt dials in a day? What are the odds?

I finally remembered what it was I was going to tell you yesterday!

First, do you know what a butt dial is? That is where you randomly dial someone’s number on your cell phone without realizing it. It’s called butt dialing or pocket dialing because people would keep their cell phones in their back pocket, hence, pocket or butt dialing.

I had two random butt dialed calls from two of my sister/friends…on the same day! The first was JCT at about 7am, I answered and called her name, nothing. I’m not sure if she got my text checking on her, hmmm

The next came at 4pm, it was RJS! She answered when I said her name and then asked if she called me or did I call her?! We caught up for a minute and then it was over. It was loverly.

So, what does that say about our bond, I say it’s something special, they both had me on their subconscious, so not in their control and I love that about them! Hmm…who’s butt dialing next?

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