Travel | Peaches Prattlings

{November 23, 2017} I’m Thankful For…

It’s Thanksgiving 2017 and don’t we have so much to be thankful for? I do! Where do I start?

There is so much to be thankful for, every day we should be thankful, I know am, but it’s interesting that we almost boil it down to one day, but that’s not even true, is it? It’s more like we boil it down to one day to shout it from the rooftops! We are all thankful in some small way each and every day, but may not express it to everyone. Today, we feel the gratitude well up in our hearts and want to share it with everyone and that’s why we gather together with friends and family to tell them how we feel and that’s what I’m going to do with you now!

How did you spend your Thanksgiving holiday? For me, typical, ha ha. Got up, spent a little time with the family before EJS, dad and ACS went off to the local high school for the big Thanksgiving rivalry football game. Now, this is what I call a rivalry, it’s been going on since 1882! Now, that is something! They came back at half time, apparently, the visitors were sitting in the shade and in Boston, in the fall/winter cusp, pretty cold!

GES, PSM, MGS and I had a nice breakfast of eggs and home made waffles, GES was prepping for what she needed for Thanksgiving dinner at S&T S’s house. GES and I talked about what to cook for tomorrow’s second Thanksgiving lunch with ACS’ brother and sister-in-law. Then…

PSM and I went to visit his family, first stop, was to meet his mom, aunt and grandparents in two lovely cemeteries, not far from my sister’s house. It was a nice tribute and a special time for both of us. He tries to visit at least once a year and he is faithful about it and this year, I was able to join him and visit their graves and hear wonderful stories, I was honored that he asked me to join him.

The next stop was his brother, SM’s house. There, it was several families for appetizers, then some of the family go to their aunt’s sister’s house and the rest of us stayed for a nice meal. His brother doesn’t care for turkey, so there is chicken and brisket. I had plenty to eat, don’t you worry! A great time talking, catching up, laughing and just enjoying each other’s company.

A few hours later, we left to go to S&T S’s house for their Thanksgiving dinner. My sister hosts the Jewish holidays and TS host Thanksgiving and wow! Do you see the cornucopia she made? And the Oreo turkeys? They have little kids, so it’s always fun to see what cute treats they are going to come up with each year. We always arrive at the tail end of dinner, just in time for a taste of the meal, then clean up, we seem to time that just right, hmmm. Then chatting and then dessert, sounds good to me! More laughing, talking, catching up, enjoying each other’s company.

Oh yeah, of course there was some football thrown in, along with Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant. This is a Thanksgiving staple and I don’t feel the holiday is complete without it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM

After dessert, eventually it was time to clean up and head home. Jammies, games with the girls, movies and bed. I think that is a full day.

Now, since I’ve told you about my day, I want to tell you what I am thankful for and I hope you will indulge me for a moment.

I am thankful for a job that I love that affords me the opportunity to learn new things, explore strange new worlds, to boldly go…just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Thankful that it gives me the opportunity to travel to see friends and family and explore new places. It’s brought people into my life who I value and now regard as friends.

To my friends who are my family, I am so thankful that you allow me to be a part of your lives, to accept me for who and what I am, and I know it can be trying at times, but you don’t throw it back in my face and hope you know I value and love you more than I could ever say.

My friends in Georgia, who make time for me when I come to visit, do you have any idea how amazing that is for me? The fact that we have stayed friends after I moved away, is a testament to the bonds we formed so many years ago and I cannot imagine my life without you in it. Actually, I refuse!

I am so thankful to have a group of people in my life that have stayed with me and reunited with me after the thing that brought us together is in the past. I have my kids, who I reconnected with after a very long time, who love me and make me feel welcome and loved. I knew the minute I met them that I wanted them in my life and I was lucky to help raise them and the memories they have. And that they want to spend time with me, now, that’s the real bonus!

My son, WCH, who is as wonderful, special and goofy, as ever, has brought a girl into his life and now mine who I am looking forward to getting to know better. My daughter, TYL, a bright, fabulous woman and amazing mother, has given me a grandson I get to spend time with, love on and spoil with hugs and kisses, what could be better!

KAB and CS, who first made me JJ! have given me four amazing, wonderful and very special grandchildren that I have spent the last six plus years getting to know, love and adore. Yeah, pretty special!

PSM’s family. To them, I am thankful to have been welcome and accepted as a part of the family, it was almost immediate and an amazing feeling. I am thankful to be allowed in to witness the love and affection they all have for each other and for PSM, how much they love and cherish him, yeah, wow.

To PSM’s friends, they couldn’t wait to meet me, but they were cautious, he is after all, their friend and we are all protective of our friends, especially the ones that are like family. I guess I won them over, because the love I feel when we are all together and that I am included in the events in their lives, pretty special.

To the extended family in Boston, I came as a package deal with my sister, but I was welcomed into the fold and never felt anything but a part of their worlds. I was auntie J to my nieces and why wouldn’t I become auntie J to all of their kids? I may have mentioned once or twice or a thousand times how much I love that! As my sister once said, you don’t have to be related by blood to be family.

LaLa came into our lives almost thirteen years ago and has been such a strong force in it since. The girls have a grandmother that dotes on them and when they get to spend time together, it’s definitely a treat!

Then there is my sister and her family. It’s not a visit when I come to Boston, it’s just a weekend, yup, I’m supposed to be there and it’s like any other day and that’s the way it should be, right? I sneak in late at night, kiss the girls while they sleep, big hugs when they get up in the morning, laughs, hugs, giggles, tickling, silliness. How long are you staying? Why can’t you stay longer? Oh man do I love to hear that! Sometimes it’s from GES and not just the girls! Big sister/auntie love!

My dad, what can I say about my dad that you haven’t already heard? He’s funny, goofy, smart, clever, a fighter, champion, granddad/Poppa extraordinaire. He is always in our corner, no matter what happens and will go to bat for us when we need it. GES and I were so lucky to grow up with a dad like him and I feel so fortunate for my girls that they have grandfather as awesome as he is. I am just thankful that he not only loves us, but likes us, just as we are. Oh, most thankful is that he got to pick my name! Ha Ha!

To PSM, my friend, my partner, my love. The goofy, sensitive, scary smart, talented, geeky, gentle, sexy, guy that took me to an Irish pub on our first date almost three years ago who has shared so much with me these past, almost three years! I am thankful for that brain, that heart, that love of exploring, new places, things, tastes, sounds, sights. I am thankful for his spirit his sense of indignation when someone is wronged and how he will go to bat for what he believes in, there’s a lot more, but I’ll save the rest for him. Mostly, I am thankful that he likes and loves me just the way I am, as frustrating as that can be sometimes! He said he’ll take it, and I think he means it!

Lastly, to you, my friends, I am thankful that you take this journey with me, almost every day. You are curious to what I have to say, what I want to share and sometimes, you just want to laugh and for those things and so many more, I am and forever will be grateful to you. You’ve stuck with me for almost five years and I hope you will continue this adventure wherever it chooses to take us!

{November 17, 2017} My week…not the best in a Road Warrior’s life.

And let me tell you why.

I hope as you are reading this, those of you that know me and some who don’t, please feel free to laugh as I am sharing all of this with you. I can assure you, I was not laughing at the time these events were happening, but we have to have a sense of humor in our lives, don’t we? And as I’ve told some people, they couldn’t help but laugh and that’s ok!

Last week, I was very happy, I believe I shared the one night that I cooked dinner and did laundry! Does that mean my life is so sad that laundry and cooking,which is a chore for most people is a treat for me? Ha ha. A little bit of normalcy is nice. Sometimes, things like this make me forget that I live in a hotel.

So, I was happy at the Homewood Suites, when I found out I was going to be in the same location the next week, I got right onto our travel port so I could book the next week at the same hotel, no dice. Every Hilton hotel within a 25 minute drive from the client site was sold out, seriously! And no one seems to know why! So…on a recommendation I went into Wisconsin, which this hotel was 23 minutes in the other direction from the client site. This is fine, I have no problem being a short drive away.

Now, where I was staying was near an outlet mall, great for shopping, but…there is nothing else in the area. At the outlet mall, there was a food court with minimal options, I was happy to have that one night and it wasn’t great. The rest of the area, fast food, pizza and sit down restaurants that had not a thing for me. Even the restaurant at the hotel, the best they could do was take stuff off their salads, leaving me with, um, lettuce and maybe radishes. Fun…

So, when I looked online for delivery, I found something and it had four restaurants it was associated with, either pizza, sandwiches or Olive Garden. Ok, I can do Olive Garden, it’s safe and who doesn’t like salad and bread sticks!

It said delivery, but couldn’t figure out how to do that, so I called. Nope, well, they do deliver for a minimum of $100, what? Then you need to contact this delivery service to have your restaurant removed. I think that night I ended up eating cereal. Ugh…

I had gone to the grocery store the first day for lunch and got things that I could have for breakfast and snack on at the hotel and during the day. Once night I ate cereal and fake bologna and cheese! No, not a sandwich, well,maybe a bologna and hand sandwich! Ha ha.

The reason for all of this, is there are some nights I do not feel like going out to dinner or driving to pick it up, please just make it appear in front of me! I hope laughter is happening right now!

I had checked with the front desk, ‘um, I’m not sure, we have pizza delivery’ ‘oh wait, there is a grocery store, almost like an oversized farmers market, they should have things you can eat’ great! I went, it was ginormous and surprisingly, had some amazing vegan options. Even vegan bento boxes, I was saved! I would have food for the week! Wahoo! I get this healthy basket of food, and by that, yes, healthier options, but a nicely filled basket. See that use of healthy, ooh.

I get to the register, self scan all my items and what? They don’t take credit cards? Debit and cash only?! Seriously!? There is a cash machine in the lobby, but I don’t carry an ATM card with me, it’s in my bag, in the hotel. grrrr Maybe she could have mentioned that?

I ended up at Noodle & Co, it was fine, not what I was looking for, but it was edible and I was hungry. At this point, I am on the phone with PSM just not a happy camper. “It took me frizzle, frazzle, frick, frack, to find food” and a few more choice expletives. He was very sweet, thought being empathetic would be helpful. Um…I do love that he tried.

So, that was the food saga. I’m so glad I bought food at the grocery store earlier in the week.

Now, the room…it was a nice room, a suite. It had a living room with a sofa, desk and tv, the vanity was in the middle on the right, toilet and shower on the left, then a separate bedroom.

All fine, pleasant, clean, just what I expected. What I didn’t expect was that when I turned the heat on and yes, I needed the heat, that didn’t mean when I turned it on, I expected to get an arctic blast, nope, didn’t expect that at all!

I thought it was odd, so I turned up the heat, eventually, I just turned it off. That was fun. Finally, on Wednesday evening, I called the front desk. The less than confidence inducing front desk guy came upstairs, suit too big unkempt looking and all he did was tell me to turn the heat off and let the hotel heat the room.

He told me that the maintenance guys come in at 7am and I can send them up. I informed him that I didn’t want anyone coming to my room at 7am, but I would be gone at 8am and they had free reign to it. Guess what didn’t happen…

When I got back to the hotel last night, I called the front desk, she saw the note, but said no one had been up there and sent up one of the housekeeping staff. His suggestion was to turn the heat up to 90 and leave it there, um…

Next thing I realized that every morning, the tv would turn on about 4am, what? There must have been an alarm set for it to turn on. It didn’t click until this morning, the morning I am checking out. Who does that?!

Not staying there again, we can agree on that.

Then…my flight tonight was delayed, not a problem, I wasn’t connecting anywhere, so no worries if we were late. But, that wasn’t the case for some of the other passengers. One in particular, the guy behind me. Talked the flight attendant’s ear off, as if she could make us get there sooner.

His frustration also included pushing my chair a fair amount and when I glanced back, he finally realized, stopped and apologized. Then, we land, the pilot had to tell people to stay seated, we weren’t even at the gate yet. Um, that was a good three or four times. Then, we’re at the gate and he is up and out of his seat.

This was a rather unkempt person, I was destined to meet a few this week apparently. He was up, out of his seat and practically pushing people out of the way. You could hear him, first on his phone talking to someone, that they had better have his bags wherever he was going, he had f’ing interviews and f’ing this and that.

He kept saying he had a connection and a few of our fellow passengers said they did too, but I guess his was more important than anyone else’s. It went on like this, him bouncing and complaining for a good five minutes, at least, then he almost pushed people down as he made his way to the exit. Fun, huh?

So, needless to say, this was not the most fun week I have had on the road, but I managed to get a lot of work done and a lot of good work done, so there is a plus and when you are out in the middle of nowhere, less interruptions.

Oh, my week did include holiday movies in the background and no one could say boo!

Here’s to a great weekend and next week, a new week and guess what is going to happen? I’m going spend the holiday with family and friends in Boston. Yeah me!

{November 13, 2017} What a weekend! It’s Daddy-Daughter time and It was on!

Oh what a weekend I had with my dad! Let me tell you all about it!

Now, sit back and relax, because I just spent a fun filled weekend with my dad and I’m going to share it all with you! And I got there Thursday night, so this is a full weekend sharing!

I got in Thursday evening, earlier than I thought I was going to be there, so I was quite pleased. Except for the long commute from the airport to dad’s house, now that was not fun. I went from Long Island to Brooklyn to Manhattan to Brooklyn to Staten Island. Seriously?! Argh!

I finally made it! Hugs, kisses, hugs and kisses, catch up and food! We ordered sushi, it was all veggie, wahoo! And yummy! Nice that we could share and he was good with veggie and not fish. whew! We ate, caught up, talked, laughed, it was great.

Then the festivities started. We put on comfy clothes and started watching Ghostbusters, the one that came out last year, he hadn’t seen it yet, good thing I own it! He liked it! We laughed a lot, I had forgotten how much I actually liked it! We didn’t get through the whole thing, it was late, so we turned in, knowing we would watch the rest Friday.

Friday morning came too early, no alarm, but I was still up too early! I started working when I got up, broke eventually for breakfast, back to work, break for lunch, back to work. I kept going until about 4:30, then it was time to go out and run errands. Bed, Bath & Beyond and Best Buy. Treats for all! Then on the way home, Chinese food for dinner at a very popular joint! At home, we finished Ghostbusters, then started watching Versailles and he sucked me in!

Saturday, I actually slept past 8am! Relaxing, wahoo! I watched a new baking competition show, breakfast, relax, hang out, then…movie date! Murder on the Orient Express. LOVED IT! Tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about it!

A few more errands, Best Buy and Bed, Bath & Beyond again, we love those two places. Love my new slipper socks? Time for food, Mediterranean, it was nice to share the entire meal. Lentil soup, hummus, babaganoush, bean salad, shepard’s salad, couscous, doesn’t that sound fabulous!

Back home and more Versailles, it’s addictive, darn it! Dessert too! I brought my dad one of those cookie dough cups, he loved it, I knew he would. More Versailles, boy is it violent, the intrigue, the sex, the violence, the sneaking around, the sneaky behavior, the underhandedness, the you name it, it happened!

Sunday morning came and it was breakfast, pack and then next movie date! Thor: Ragnorak. LOVED it! We laughed and laughed and really enjoyed it! It was fun figuring out who the actors were, the previews, deciding if we’re going to see any of them!

Then it was a late lunch, finish packing and getting ready to head to the airport. Then…it was time to go, boo.

It was such a great weekend, I had so much fun with my dad, it was great spending time together, we laughed so much. I can’t wait for a repeat!

{November 9, 2017} A new experience… And for some cookie dough!

I got to the airport today and asked a question.

This question led to quite a few checks. And it was all for cookie dough! Let me ‘splain!

A few months ago I was traveling and left over food, as I often travel with snacks and some leftovers, especially if I’m going to eat it at the airport or on my flight. Well, this occasion, I happened to have a small jar of peanut butter and it was taken away. Apparently, you can hide a bomb in the peanut butter or bomb parts, I don’t remember, to be honest.

So, I got this fabulous new treat the other day at the grocery store and I wanted to bring it home to share with my dad, since we both like cookie and I hope we both like cookie dough. Based on what I learned from him on snacking as a kid, I say yes.

Anyway, it comes in these little cup containers, like pudding, and it’s solid, but since peanut butter is too, I thought I would ask. I asked the desk agent when I dropped off my bag if I could take the cookie dough cups with me, she looked at me quizzically and then said she would check. I told her if I couldn’t take them with me, she could have them! She LOVED that!

Off she went to ask one person, no answer, then another and another, finally, and I wish I was fast enough with my phone to snap a pic…she was standing with two TSA agents looking at the packaging and discussing!

Result…I got to take my cookie dough with me! It’s in the fridge and dad and I will be enjoying tomorrow!

Are these things really worth all that effort? You bet your sweet bippie!

Y U M!

{November 7, 2017} I had a domestic, no frills evening!

I LA LA LA LOVED it!

It’s Tuesday, I’m away from Chicago, in Lincolnshire, what’s on for the evening?

Did not want to do take out tonight so I stopped at a really nice market, that I tried to find yesterday, ended up at a restaurant of the same name! I picked up some food for dinner and snacks for the rest of the week.

I went back to the hotel, got some quarters and headed to the room. Why did I get quarters you ask? No, not to play video games! I need to do laundry!

I’m staying at a Homewood Suites, each room is like an apartment, with a kitchen, sometimes a separate bathroom, which ick I had now. The thing I like about staying at places like this is you feel like you’re home almost.

So, I took the first load of laundry down, came back and started cooking. I made vegan mac-n- cheese, had some hearts of palm and fabulous juice and Icelandic water.

Downstairs in between to swap the washer for the dryer, back upstairs to eat. The dryer didn’t quite did its job, hence all the clothes strewn about! If you came to my room in any hotel, any other night, it would not look like this.

Now, on the other hand, my dad may be having flashbacks right now to my room growing up!

But look, i even loaded the dishwasher!

This may seem dull to you, but as someone who loves in hotels and usually goes out to dinner or orders in, this cookng thing is awesome! And no, I’m not giving up my lifestyle! This was a treat, you don’t do treats every day, you get spoiled…

That’s some logic, huh?!

{November 5, 2017} It’s daylight savings time…ok.

Why do people still freak out about the time change?

It’s ‘Fall back, Spring forward’, simple as that. What about flights? Meetings? Other stuff? Way back when, well, way back before smartphones, I don’t want to say cell phones, because we used to have to set and re-set the time, but with smartphones, it does it for us!

Smartphones, all good. But now what? Now I have to run around the house changing the stove clock, the microwave clock, the bedside clock, ooh, let me date myself, the VCR!!! Oh wait, I live in a hotel, I don’t have to do any of that! Muwahaha!

Of course, what does this mean? It’s going to get dark earlier and by the time you sort of get used to going into the office and leaving the office in the dark, the time changes. Grrr.

Interesting Fact: Did you know that there are several areas in the United States that do not observe DST, daylight saving time? That would be Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guan, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Little known fact. So…the nice thing about this fact is that right now, PSM and I are only four hours apart instead of five, between Hawaii and Chicago. Wahoo!

{November 4, 2017} How much can you pack into one day? We’re in Vegas, let’s see…

You know how I roll, right? It’s a weekend, so let’s pack as much into it as I can! Who needs sleep?!

Saturday morning came way earlier than it should have, but that gave us the opportunity for pillow talk. Literally. We both stayed in bed, turned on our sides and, refusing to remove our heads from our respective pillows and talked. There you go, pillow talk!

Eventually, it was time to get up and greet the world, sigh. Get motivated and have some breakfast. How about that view!? We had breakfast at a cute little place between the convention center of the hotel, also where our room was, and the casino, Bacio. We shared a skillet and some pancakes. Don’t you love how they gave me raw sugar? Like rock candy! I remember when GES used to make rock candy!

We leisured over breakfast, deciding on what to do later in the day. First thing…I have always wanted to go to the neon sign museum. Let’s go! The Neon Boneyard was…sold out! They were closed from 2pm-9pm for an event, wonder if it was a wedding, how cool would that be! So…we got tickets for an 11:45pm tour! Love that!

We discussed other things to do and decided on a show for later tonight, but had to fill the time before that! We weren’t far from Freemont Street, check out the Container Park and the Fremont Street Experience. I did that back in August and got to share it with PSM.

After we toured the Container Park, we went across the street to the Fremont Street Experience and started to wander. The first alley that we wandered in to had a storefront that we had never seen before, it a place for throwing axes! What? It’s called Axe Hole Vegas, go figure!

This was so much fun! We were slightly skeptical, but that went away with the first few throws! It was like a batting cage for throwing axes. There were five lanes with two targets each, giant tree stumps with a bulls-eye painted on it. We received a brief lesson, three different ways to throw at first, later came some trick throws. I tried the first three, two different one handed and one two handed. I mastered, to a point the two handed throw, the one handed, not as much. PSM killed it with the one handed and the trick throws! And all with his non-dominant arm, so impressive!

We really had a great time! I’m now on the lookout for places I/we can do that again! What a great way to blow off steam! And just have fun! I wonder how many of my friends and family would love this!

Next, a walk down through the Fremont Street Experience, experiencing the sights, smells, sounds, the outfits or lack there of! I couldn’t share some of what we saw or didn’t see! Oh my, I’m not sure we were old enough! Ha ha!

We walked through Fremont Street and then into Binons to see where The World Series of Poker began, a piece of history. Then to the end and back of The Fremont Street Experience. We worked up an appetite, time for lunch.

We went to a place that was recommended, Vegenation. The atmosphere was great, the service and food, lacking, unfortunately. We had a different person seat us and take our order than our actual server. The black rice sushi was fabulous, but our entrees, not so much. PSM said his was flavorless and mine, well, I ordered eggplant parm with the sauce on the side.

It came out and when I inquired about the mozzarella that should have been on top, the server said ‘Oh yeah’ and brought me cold shredded mozzarella, seriously? I almost finished my meal and I said something when she asked how the food was and when I mentioned it, ‘oh yea…do you want me to take it back?’ I’m sorry, it took you to almost the end of the meal to ask?

We talked to the couple next to us, not much better. Oh well, Las Vegas has been great so far with vegan, you can’t win them all.

Back to the hotel too get a little rest.

After a sit down, it was off to our first evening activity, Terry Fator! http://terryfator.com/

Terry Fator is a fabulous ventriloquist wor won America’s Got Talent in 2007 and has been at the Mirage Hotel ever since. His show is 90 minutes and he introduced us to eleven of the thirteen puppets he works with.

He won America’s Got Talent with Winston the Turtle and he opens and closes the show with him. Terry Fator is the master of impersonations and can sing like just about anyone!

One of the things I really like is that 100% of the profits from his merchandise goes to military charities. https://terryfatorshop.com/pages/military-charity

Dad took me years ago and now I get to share with PSM, he loved it!

After Terry Fator, we walked the strip back towards our hotel. On the way we stopped by the Linq Hotel to tour the area that was restored and created a while back with shops, drinking establishments, tourist stuff, street vendors, street performers, the Ferris wheel and people, people, people.

We stopped for a snack for PSM at Gordon Ramsay’s Fish & Chips. And anyone who knows me knows I love Gordon Ramsay, so this was a treat! No, he wasn’t there, it was just his place! And exactly as he preaches, simple! Fish or shrimp or chicken and chips, that’s it!

On to our next stop, The Bellagio Hotel. I love watching the fountain, the way it’s choreographed to the music. Then inside to the reception desk to see the Chihuly flowers, don’t forget to look up!

And then to the right to The Conservatory to see what amazing creations they make with flowers for the season, stunning! Just takes your breath away! This is something I always recommend to people visiting Las Vegas, its a must!

Then back to the hotel just in time to get the keys and get to the Neon Boneyard! Is this fabulous or what!!

This museum was established in 1996 and it is filled with signs from old casinos, hotels, businesses. It was cool looking through the fence during the day, but to see some of the signs lit up, in all their splendor! Some are still working and others need some love, hopefully they’ll get it!

If you’re in Vegas, I so recommend this place! PSM said it reminded him of a post apocolyptic movie set, I could see that!

Definitely two thumbs up! Now what? Well, it’s after 1am… flight is at what time?

I do hope you enjoyed your day in Las Vegas as much as we did!

{November 3, 2017} Vegas bound baby!

I’m off to Las Vegas this weekend. Or as some like to call it, the City of Lost Wages!

So, as you know, I travel for work and PSM does as well. One thing anyone who travels work will tell you is that we will do a lot of things to get us to that next level.

Ask that traveler you know if they have ever taken a trip just to get the points, they will tell you either they have or would. I know I have!

PSM is close to the next level on United, so… what to do? Ask ‘Where should we meet for the weekend?!’ So, a weekend in Las Vegas it is!

I went to Hilton to see what was available and found out that The Tropicana is now under the Hilton banner. Sold!

Earlier today, PSM video conferenced with me to show me the room. I had called to ask about the reservation and got upgraded, works for me and now, I see the room.

The Tropicana is the cabana feel in each room, bamboo and wicker furniture, palm tree in the bedroom, hurricane shutters on the windows and doors. Its fun.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow and Las Vegas have in store for us!

{November 2, 2017} Bad Moms Christmas Girls Night!

What a delightful combination! Bad Moms and Girls Night!

Tonight, I had plans with co-workers. Originally it was going to be feet up, fireplace on, movies and delivery at my hotel. This turned into dinner and a movie! Almost the same!

DLP and I introduced our new team-mate, LS, to Vapiano’s, yum! And then went to one of the AMC movie theaters with the recliner seats. So…we went to a restaurant for dinner, then at the movie theater, see movie, reclined and kicked our feet up and someone delivered popcorn to our seats. Close enough!

We laughed, oh did we laugh! It was surprisingly good! Better than I expected. Let’s just say I had high hopes for Pitch Perfect 2 and was sorely disappointed, except for a few scenes. With this movie, there were some moments you thought, oh my word, but, to be honest, it kept true to the format, Amy, played by Mila Kunis is stressed out trying to be the perfect mom and give her kids the perfect Christmas. Kristin Bell plays Kiki, slightly neurotic, people pleaser, just wants everyone to be happy and get along. Kathryn Hahn is Carla, easy, literally, going, just wanting to get through the day.

They all love their kids more than anything, would do anything for them, just want them to be happy and enjoy Christmas. Then…their moms arrive! Uh oh!

Christine Baranski is Amy’s mom. A hard, controlling, condescending perfectionist, think Amy was a little stressed out?! Cheryl Hines is Kiki’s mom. Um, let’s just say a little clingy? Ok, A LOT clingy! Susan Sarandon is Carla’s mom and if you thought Carla was, well, let’s just say, foul mouthed and loose, want to guess where she gets it from!

Moms come in and drive their daughters crazy. Daughters try to have the Christmas they want and you know what happens when Amy, Kiki and Carla get together? No holds barred, throw down, drinking, smashing, grabbing, get wild girls. Do they let off steam? Yes they do! Do they wreak havoc? Yes they do. Do they have a good time? You bet your sweet bippie!

There’s love, fighting, frustration, foul language, stripping Santas, lashing out, acting out, making up, understanding, compromising, friendships, love and…a camel. Yup, I said a camel.

I give this movie two thumbs up. If you’re looking for an Oscar worthy movie, this ain’t it. If you’re looking for a movie to make you laugh, gasp, cringe, laugh and do it all over again, this is it!

Be a bad mom, today, Christmas and every day!

{October 28, 2017} A mitzvah, a family event

Today, PSM and I attended a family event together.

PSM’s first cousin’s son, JK, became a bar mitzvah today. What an honor to be included in these family events. I’ve been to other family functions, holidays, parties, this is a little different, these events are more formal and special.

I got in last night, did you love my hotel room!? PSM went to the dinner they were having at the hotel where most everyone was staying and got to spend some time with his family, they are a fantastic bunch of people and so close, it’s special.

This morning, we went to the synagogue to watch JK take his place among the congregation, become an adult and lead us through his Torah and Havdalah. He gave a great speech, chanted the prayers and Torah and Havdalah portions so well, he made his family, friends and his congregation proud.

Years of study and practice go into learning the prayers, preparing for this special day, spending time working with the rabbi on the prayers, working with the cantor learning to chant the prayers and readings, working with his parents preparing his speeches. All of this culminating to a very special day for everyone, of course, most importantly, the bar mitzvah himself.

Hard work should be well rewarded and after such a ceremony, we celebrate! The first, was right after the service, we had a small luncheon and then later in the evening, we had a good old fashioned party! It was at the Empire Room on the NY State Fairgrounds.

There were appetizers, drinks, dinner, dancing, games for the kids and time to spend together catching up, making new friends and just enjoying being together and participating in the joy of the day and the pride his parents and family felt.

This was a true celebration! Mazel Tov to JK and his family.

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