Category: Weekend Recap

Rise and shine, sweet peas. It’s time to face the real world again. I can’t believe that it’s already Monday, that I’m back in Boston, and that it’s time for work. I had such an emotionally fueled weekend. One filled with sorrow, and grief, after a dear family friend lost her courageous battle with cancer. Her passing, in a way unlike any other, reminds me that life is so, so fragile, and that for all of us, our days are limited.

With her constantly on my mind, I surrounded myself with family and friends. I said no thank you to Halloween and instead went downtown with mum and dad on Friday. We walked through the cobblestone streets of Portland, shared a cheese plate and bottle of wine, and enjoyed a yummy dinner at Vignola. Saturday morning meant the normal breakfast routine, during which I was wildly entertained by my parents try to figure out their smartphones. I shopped with my mum, had lunch with two girlfriends, and baked cupcakes that filled the house with scents of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg.

When the snow finally started to fall that afternoon, I bundled up and visited with my best friend and her fiance. The boyfriend and I joined them for a long dinner in the town just north of us. We sat in an old wooden booth near the front window, watching the unseasonable snow accumulate quickly on the road. We shared wine, a delicious dinner, memories from when we were 5 years old, details of upcoming weddings.  Hours of laughter and a warm feeling in my heart.

Sunday was snowy. I wore my longjohns and wool sweater all day. Sipped pumpkin coffee for hours on the couch. I taught myself to crochet, nibbled on my most incredible cupcakes (recipe to follow) and found myself smiling as the snow storm retreated to bright blue skies and sun.

I can’t quite describe what my mood was this weekend, but I’m glad I spent it bundled up in a snow storm, cozy with friends and family. I guess at the end of the day, there’s not much more I could ask for…

This weekend was filled with celebrations.   Family and friends coming together to cheers life and longevity one day and a new chapter to my best friend’s relationship another day.

My grandmother turns 80 this week, so she and my grandfather traveled south to Portland to join my parents, sister and brother in law and boyfriend for a fabulous dinner at Grace.  Grace was the venue for my sister’s wedding ceremony and reception in January, and it broke my family’s heart that my grandmother couldn’t attend.  She was recovering from a string of illnesses and wasn’t well enough to travel.  Because of her absence in January, we did our best to relive the wedding on Saturday night.  We watched the wedding video, sat at the table where our head table was placed, even drank the same wine.

Mom, Dad, sister and grandmother celebrating 80 rich years of life on Saturday.

My sister, grandmother and myself at Abbey’s bridal shower.

Also taking place this weekend was a surprise engagement.  I suppose all engagements are a surprise though, huh?  Well anyways.  My best friend in the entire world -best friends since kindergarten- was proposed to this weekend.  Her boyfriend of 3 years informed all of us girls of the occasion about a month ago, so that we could coordinate a little surprise party for when they returned back to the house after he popped the question.  Following the afternoon get together, there was an engagement dinner at Salt Water Grille (same location as my sister’s bridal shower, ironically) and a night out on the town.

In case you missed it, I stayed busy this weekend with a whole lot of driving, eating and drinking. I spent the weekend:

• At the farm in Montville for Gram and Grampy’s 50th anniversary party
• Drinking Shipyard pumpkinhead beers around the campfire at night
• Eating deliciously fresh, farm grown food during an honestly Maine lobster bake
• Waiting out Hurricane Irene in Boston
• Avoiding fallen trees and debris
• Sipping homemade berry sangria and watching endless movies

I hope you all had as lovely of a weekend as I did, despite the horrendous weather!

Surprise, surprise, I had the most wonderfully sweet and relaxing Sunday in Maine this weekend.  Tucked away in Cozy Harbor, surrounded by family members, baby cousins and gorgeous weather.  My mother’s cousin is visiting Maine for a week with his wife and two children – born and raised here, he and his clan now live in San Francisco.  He picked a special location to vacation.  Cozy Harbor.  A small harbor in Southport, Maine, just one bridge away from Pratt’s Island.  Pratt’s Island is a memory filled spot on the coast for my mother’s family, so it was awfully appropriate for Erik to return there now, 20 years later with his family.

A glimpse at how I spent my weekend:

Cozy Harbor, Southport, ME

Little cousins from San Francisco and Northern Maine

Cousin Augie

Cousin Quinn

Cousin Erik loving his baby

My heart is filled with love tonight.  I’m so thankful that cousin Erik invited us all to visit.  A family weekend on the coast is just want this girl needed.

I know what you’re thinking.  A 25 year old young professional surely cannot be serious about a Taylor Swift infatuation.  Right? Well, wrong.  As mentioned before, I’m obsessed.  I should be more embarrassed to admit that, but really, I’m over it. And a dear friend of mine seriously hooked a sister up.  Last night I was treated like a VIP, and you better believe that every ounce of this 25 year old young professional was eating. it. up.

From VIP parking, to incredible floor seats, a club level ticket (read: food and beer, plus a dry private suite for when it down poured), pit passes (yes, I jumped around like the best of them), a VIP all access badge (aka backstage), and even an exclusive ‘quick out access’ at the end of the night to avoid sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for oh, I don’t know… 2hours? Yup, I was home in 30 minutes.

The entire night was wildly amazing.  I can’t thank my bestie enough for going to great lengths to make my 25 year old dreams come true.  Taylor was incredible.  The set list was better than I could have imagined, and honestly, it was just one of the best nights I’ve had in a long, long time.

This past weekend was Father’s day, so of course, we traveled back to Maine to spend some quality time with our dads.

Saturday morning with mom and dad meant an early breakfast at Porthole, an authentic Portland restaurant situated directly on one of the most active wharfs.  Now that it’s summer, it’s our favorite breakfast spot.  We sit on the deck, observing the fisherman, watching the boats get ready for the day.  We drink iced coffee out of mason jars and I always order my favorite: lobster Benedict.

Breakfast was followed by a busy day, one filled with car maintenance, errands, shopping and loads of last minute to-do items before mom and dad’s 2 week trip to France.  Later that evening, the parentals treated the boyfriend and I to a delicious dinner at Salt Water Grille.  Red wine, scallops and steaks – not to mention the view.  Just so happened that a cruise ship was leaving harbor Saturday night.  Another Maine restaurant, another marina view.

It was a true summer night.  After dinner we spent a few hours visiting one of my dear friends and her husband.  We joined them in their backyard, sitting around the fire, sipping on summer beers and enjoying great conversation.

Sunday finally rolled around.  Another early morning, as a girlfriend and I traveled to Yarmouth to watch my boyfriend and her husband play together in a men’s league baseball game.  I snuck away early in order to make it home in time for Father’s Day.  We saw my grandparent’s for lunch, and spent the afternoon on our boat with my dad.  It was a gorgeous day.  Warm and sunny, strong NW winds.

Welcome to Maine in the summertime.

Another week, another weekend, but this weekend we traveled to a place we go only two or three times a year: the farm.  The farm belongs to the boyf’s grandparents, and is located in Montville, ME, population 1,000 (+/- a few).  To get to said farm, one must quite literally travel over the river and through the woods.  Gram and Grampy run a working farm, minus the chickens and cows, triple the vegetables with a side of freshly hunted deer, moose and bear.  Welcome to downeast Maine, folks.

Arriving at the farm means leaving your make up bag in the car, your fancy jeans in the closet.  We wear comfy clothes, rugged shoes, and gloves.  Always gloves.  Gloves to pick fresh strawberries from the plants, gloves to dig carrots from the ground, gloves to push wood through the wood cutter, gloves to grind fresh horseradish in the barn.

At the farm, the whole house wakes early, no one is excused from hard work, and everyone reaps the benefits.  Meals are all home cooked with fresh ingredients, drinks are plentiful and hearts are full.  Sappy, eh?  Well, welcome to Maine, folks.

(Note to readers: these photos were taken summer 2010)

Welcome to the Farm!

The main house and one barn.

View from the bottom of the field.

Sprawling field at the Farm.

Tea Pond at the Farm.

Pond plants.

Tea Pond, room for two!

Garden rows.

More of the garden.

Freshly picked raspberries.

One of the hunting cabins on property at the Farm.

The farm itself is enormous.  Whether it’s 15 acres, 50 acres or 200 acres (I can’t tell the difference), Grampy’s land stretches further than you can see and encompasses a number of trails, a pond or two, more than one red roofed barn and at least a half a dozen deer stands.  Each spring, Gram and Grampy plant dozens and dozens and dozens of plants, each summer’s end they harvest their crops, each fall they hunt their own meat.  Gram and Grampy grow everything under the sun: lettuce, cabbage, kale, radishes, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, fiddlehead greens, pumpkins, potatoes, squash, corn, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries.  Throughout the year they cut their own wood to heat their own house, knead their own bread and buy their milk and eggs down the road at a friend’s dairy.

Every weekend at the farm is a friendly reminder of what life lived simply and honestly means. And by simple, I mean rich and beautiful and by honestly I mean hard working and well earned.

Cheers.

It’s not every April that a skier can a look at the 10-day forecast and see a nor’easter.  So when this April Fool’s rolled around and the boyf and I saw 12+ inches of fresh snow heading towards the mountains, we knew that it was time for spring skiing at Sugarloaf.  Early Friday morning we packed the car with our skis, boot bags and winter layers — 8 hours of work — then we were on our way north.  The mountain is 4 1/2 hours north of Boston.  You do the math, it was going to be a long, snowy drive.  We met the snow storm about 3 hours into the trip, and considering it was April 1st, boy, was it a storm.  We pulled off the road, ordered a pizza to go from Pat’s Pizza in Auburn, and kept trekking north, a slow 30 mph.

We arrived at the house, slept hard, and woke early.  Fresh powder, warm weather, high winds and an incredible weekend of spring skiing followed. I didn’t bring my nice camera, so I apologize in advance for my silly mobile photos that will recap the weekend.

Large Hawaiian pizza, half with no ham for the ride north.

The massive snowbanks that greeted us on April 1, 2011.

The gorgeous view from the SuperQuad @ Sugarloaf

The view from the summit @ Sugarloaf

Our skis!

Keeping it classy with Twisted Teas on the shuttle ride Saturday night.

It’s time I share a little weekend recap, and oh, what a weekend it was!  If my fabulously productive and relaxing Sunday wasn’t telling enough, let me share with you the rest of my doings.

After a number of canceled plans and ideas that failed to pan out, I made the decision to drive home to Portland.  My car needs to spend some time in the shop and my dad (as always) has kindly offered to take care of it for me.  I decided to leave work early (3PM) to beat the Friday northbound rush hour traffic, but failed horribly.  A 2PM meeting ran 45 minutes late, which caused me to get my 2nd of 2 parking tickets (in the same day, yes) and while preoccupied on the phone with my sister I missed my exit.  You’d think this was the first time I ever drove out of the city.  It was not, obviously.

Two hours later, I’m home.  I’m thrilled.

• My parents and I begin to catch up, while tasting a glass of medium-bodied red wine.  My parents are serious wine connoisseurs, but that doesn’t ever stop them from finding and loving an inexpensive bottle of wine.  Tip from my dad: if you ever see Réserve Perrin on the label – buy it.  They typically cost $10.99-12.99 but are DELICIOUS!
• We continue the night by enjoying our 7PM dinner reservation at Miyake, hands down the best sushi restaurant in Portland.  We order an arugala salad, a green bean plate and sweet tofu roll to start.  My dad orders the striped sea bass sashimi, my mum gets the salmon roll, and I go for the always amazing tuna roll.  Mom and dad get hot sake, while I stick with Allagash White (so lame while at a sushi bar, I know… I know).

• After a long night of sushi and drinks and awesome talks with belly laughs, I go to bed in my favorite bed ever (my childhood house!), thankful for my incredible relationship with my even more incredible parents, and relieved to be hitting the pillow before 10PM on a Friday.
• Saturday morning in Portland means only one thing. Breakfast at Bernie’s Place on the Foreside with mom and dad.  I order my usual: iced coffee, sugar and extra cream with the yogurt delight.  Bernie’s makes the best yogurt delight ever.  It’s always a surprise to see what fruits they present.  This Saturday, melon, strawberries, kiwis, grapes, cantaloupe and bananas.  A whole bowl of vanilla yogurt and a small dish of local granola grazed with cinnamon. It’s a hearty, healthy and hands down delicious dish.  I’ve ordered it every single time I’ve been to Bernie’s.
• Following breakfast I said goodbye to the ‘rents and stopped by Hannaford’s.  I purchased a bundle of blood orange colored tulips.  $7.99.  Hello, springtime.  The tulips are for Tiffaney, one of my best friends from high school.

• I visit Tiffaney for 2 hours.  I haven’t seen Tiffaney since her baby shower earlier this year, and this visit… is special.  I meet the beautiful, 2 week old Parker Jean – Tiffaney’s precious new born baby girl.  I cried for days when Tiffaney first gave birth.  Everytime I saw her Facebook page with new mobile uploads, or a new tagged photo, I cried.  Tiff is amazing.  She’s unlike any of my other friends – more humble, more honest, more genuine, more beautiful, more sensitive, more natural – she’s just the best, and I am so excited for her to be a mother.  For 2 hours I hold Parker, tears in my eyes, laughing with Tiff, listening to music, reminiscing about our high school memories, giggling with joy about all of the new memories that she and her fiance are about to make with their new addition to the family.  Life really is, a beautiful cycle.

• The train back to Boston is fine.  I sleep, I listen to music.
• Saturday night is date night with the boyfriend.  We order sushi, drink ginger ale, watch The Tourist and play Scrabble.  We fall asleep more in love than ever.

• Sunday morning, the boyfriend leaves for his guys day.  Flag football, college basketball, fantasy baseball draft.  I do laundry, I shop, I clean, I catch up, I paint my nails. I have an incredibly relaxing and productive day. I’m loving life.

Leading up to this weekend, I was awfully bummed to not be skiing, to not be traveling, or going away.  But hindsight is 20/20, and it’s clear to me now that I needed, more than anything, a weekend with family, good food and relaxation.

Cheers.

I apologize for being ridiculously tacky with my alliterations. Oh well, I can’t help myself. This weekend I plan to indulge in the following

1) Fall in the Village Art Festival Freeport is a tiny, adorable little village 15 minutes north of Portland and it is an outlet village. JCrew, Gap, Banana, Burberry, Polo. It’s incredible(y dangerous for my wallet). So I’ve been planning on shopping one of these weekends when I go home, and then I came across a tweet that referenced the Festival! So now I have a good excuse to go up. Enjoy some art. Walk the streets. Shop. Uh oh…

2) Boating, boating, boating. Summer in Maine is clinging on for dear life. This weekend’s weather forecast calls for 70 degrees and sunny, but anyone from New England knows what that means. It’s September. In Maine. 70 degrees in sunny is crisp and cool with a chilly breeze. The sun is really just there for good looks. So Mum and Dad and I (and likely BF) are going out on the boat for the day Saturday. Plan is to head towards one of the islands for lunch or to anchor somewhere for some afternoon wine. It will be glorious. Expect pictures!

3) Seussical The Musical. Okay, not Fall at all, but it will be fun. Boyfriend’s best friend’s girlfriend (stick with me) is an actress in the local theater scene (good for her) so we’re doing our part to support the gal by going to see her play! I’m excited. Word is that she’s fantastic, and we’re taking boyfriend’s little sis along for the ride.

4) Portland Trails 10K Trail to Ale Road Race I was supposed to run. I am lazy and therefore did not train, at all. As a result, boyfriend will run. boyfriend’s best friend will get my bib. I will wait at the end in the beer tent for runners to finish. Cheers, yay, glad you ran! The race takes place on a Sunday morning but did you read the headed? The 10k is called Trail to Ale! The race is sponsored by Maine’s finest (http://www.shipyard.com/, duh) so awaiting the runners will be some nice cold Pumpkinhead. Glorious.

Two photos to prove my weekend was just as glorious as I had imagined. Cheers.