62. September 4th, 2010 Picture.

Ratty’s birthday is September 5^th and I had been racking my brain, trying to think of a great gift.  I already planned on getting him some shirts at Old Navy (because even though he swears he doesn’t need any, he really does), and a Yankee Candle.  Hi, he needs one.  A beachy inspired one, none the less.  I was still debating on gifts when my mom had a great idea.  The Sunday of Labor Day weekend, which just so happened to be Ratty’s birthday this year, was the day of our huge Downey family Labor Day party.  My mom suggested I look into getting a B&B room in Scituate and going down the day before and enjoying a nice summer weekend.  It was great idea and I jumped at the opportunity.  I was trying to get a room for both Saturday and Sunday nights, so I wouldn’t have to drive home after a long day of partying in the sun, but I guess others had the same idea, because I couldn’t get a room for Sunday night to save my life.  I was hoping with the immanent threat of Earl, people would cancel some long weekend plans, even putting myself on the top of the wait list at Sciutate’s only hotel, with no such luck.  I decided to just book Saturday night at a sweet little B&B nearPeggoty Beach and hope that my Uncle Phil wouldn’t mind some potential overnight guests on Sunday.

I made all the plans and even kept it a secret, I really like surprises, and get excited about keeping things a secret until the very last second.  Since I was going to Ratty’s that Friday night to ride out Hurricane Earl, that never happened, I thought I’d tell him that night, and we could leave bright and early Saturday morning.  I packed 2 bags, one for Ratty’s apartment and one for Scituate, and kept the Scituate one in my car so he wouldn’t suspect a thing.  After drinking some wine and watching ‘Must Love Dogs’, yet another movie starring the amazing Christopher Plummer, I told Ratty my fantastical birthday plans.  He was SO surprised and excited (he immediately updated Facebook AND Twitter) and began packing a bag right away.  Thankfully he had just picked up his laundry that afternoon, so he had plenty of clothes ready and folded, which made packing that much easier.  Not that I helped, I just watched more TV, drank some wine and supervised.

The next morning we got an early start, and made our way down to Scituate.  Obviously, our trip to the South Shorerequired a mid-morning stop at Mary Lou’s, one of my all time favorite coffee establishments.  They are really only on the South Shore, and I became addicted to them when I went to college that had one within walking distance.  My favorite flavor is the Girl Scout Cookie, which is the most perfect mixture of coffee, chocolate and mint.  You’d think it’d be heavy and gross, but it is amazing and I cannot drive past a Mary Lou’s without slamming on my breaks, banging a u-turn and pulling into the parking lot.  This description is actually quite similar to the exact events of that day, because as Ratty and I were driving down Route 3 (at a strip where no Mary Lou’s has ever been), I thought I saw a sign up a head and got all excited.  As we got closer, I realized that it wasn’t a Mary Lou’s sign and continued on my merry way.  Turns out, the sign I was looking at wasn’t a Mary Lou’s sign, but right BELOW that sign, was a real Mary Lou’s one.  I had completely missed the hot pink sign with balloons around it, and the sign on the side of the road that said GRAND OPENING, and the bright pink car parked out front with 2 girls dressed in ALL pink with POM-POMS!  I kid you not, Ratty thought I was joking when I kept going, but I honest to god did not see it.  I literally had to slam on my breaks and cut across traffic to get in the parking lot, but I made it, with Ratty clawing at the door on the verge of tears, almost.

After fully caffieinating ourselves up, we continued on to Scituate and checked in at the B&B.  This place was amazing and I couldn’t get over how awesome our room was.  It made me slightly sad that we weren’t staying longer than one night, but was still excited about the mini-getaway.

We dropped our stuff off and headed to the Harbor to do some shopping and grab some food.  Scituate has a lot of cute little beachy stores, plus lots of antique places and galleries.  We popped in and out of stores until Ratty couldn’t handle one more accessory or Vera Bradley bag, then we headed to Mill Wharf for some lunch and beers.  We grabbed a table outside and enjoyed the views of the harbor and ordered a few apps.  I texted my friend Maura, who has a house on Peggoty, and told her that I wished she was there and that I missed her.  Maura has been working in DC and I haven’t seen her since she moved there at the beginning of the summer.  She texted me RIGHT back, saying that she was in town and was on her way to meet us.  She was there in no time and it was so nice to catch up!  Turns out she was supposed to go to Martha’s Vineyard for the long weekend, but because of the Hurricane that never was, she cancelled her plans and decided to stay with her family instead.  She was meeting friends about an hour later, but she sat with us and chatted, and I promised to stop by her cottage on Monday before heading back to Boston.

{View from the deck at Mill Wharf.}

{View from the front yard of our B&B.}

After our beers and apps, Ratty and I headed back to the B&B and sat outside, watching the sun go down.  It was such a nice day and the B&B looked out over the marshes and harbor, I could pretty much do that every day.  After some downtime and TV watching, we headed back into the harbor for his Birthday Dinner.  We went to Riva’s, which I’d heard great things about, and got a table right away.  Since it was almost 9:00pm, the place was quiet, except for an unruly table of couples which made it almost impossible for us to have a conversation.  The dinner was still great, and we had a great time.  Our waitress was hilarious and loved talking to us, telling us about her children and asking us if we had any.  Not laughing right in her face was really hard to do.  We finished our dinner and drinks, splitting Tiramisu for dessert and walked down the street to T.K. O’Malley’s to grab another drink and sit out on their deck.  I’m not too familiar with the ‘night life’ of Sciutate, but since we had already been to 2 of the 4 restaurants in the harbor, T.K.’s was pretty much our only viable option.  Since we’d had a busy day, going to bed late and getting up early, I was pretty exhausted.  We had 2 birthday drinks, waiting until Midnight exactly so we could toast to his REAL birthday, and then headed back to the B&B to get some shut eye before the crazy awesomeness of Labor Day was upon us!