62. June 1st, 2011 Picture.

So, remember when I said I wasn't really going to buy much when we went to the Crate & Barrel outlet in Kittery?  Yea, well about that.  I didn't buy A LOT, but I bought some stuff.  Namely this fantastic yellow bowl.  Our new kitchen has grey cabinets and dark granite, so I've decided that all of our kitchen accessories must be bright yellow, because I think yellow and grey go perfectly together.  The moment I saw this bowl I could imagine it sitting on our counter filled with lemons.  Since I love it so much I don't think I'll mind storing it for the next month!

62. May 31st, 2011 Picture.

Like I mentioned during my Maine-cation weekend posts, Golden Rod is literally famous for their salt water taffy.  They are a York Beach institution and there was absolutely no way I could go home without a GIANT box of taffy!  I stuck with chocolate, peppermint and molasses.  I love molasses.  I love molasses cookies, molasses sugar [known to normal people as brown sugar], molasses bread, molasses taffy, everything.  I am an old woman.

62. May 30th, 2011 Picture.

Our last day in Maine was another beautiful day, but since we were cooking from the inside out, all we wanted to do was stay inside where it was nice and cool.  We decided to visit the Stonewall Kitchen shop in York [that's where the main offices are], and then head back to the city and go to the movies.  The idea of being in a movie theater was perfect, dark and cold and you don't have to talk to anyone.  Ahh, so soothing to our sad sunburned selves.

The Stonewall Kitchen store was absolutely amazing.  I wanted to buy each and every product they had on their shelves.  In addition to every type of jam, chutney and pancake mix you could imagine, they also had kitchen accessories, a line of bath/kitchen soaps and a bakery/cafe.  We could have seriously stayed all day, walking around and eating a million little blue cheese mustard samples with pretzel sticks.  I made sure to buy a jar of said mustard, it was unbelievable - go out, right now, and buy it.  I'll wait.

Kidding.  Kind of.  But seriously, try it.  If you like mustard and blue cheese, of course.

Obviously all the 'window' shopping and sampling left us tired and thirsty.  Shopping is hard.

I love love love Black Cherry soda.  Both my mom and Ratty think it tastes like cough syrup, but I think it tastes like rainbows and unicorns, i.e. totally awesome.

So many samples!

We bought a few things, Raspberry and Mimosa Jams, plus the Blue Cheese Mustard, tucking them away for our new apartment.  The time between when Ratty and I decided to move in together and the date we actually DO move in together is 7 months.  Do you know how hard it is to think about our new apartment and not buy anything for it?!  It's REALLY hard, let me tell you.  I've bought just a few things for the new place, but I've opted to buy the majority once we move into the new place.  As if moving wasn't bad enough, moving MORE stuff is worse.  I seriously cannot handle any more stuffs.

After leaving Stonewall we headed towards Boston, stopping at the movies in Danvers to see The Hangover Part II.  By now you all probably know how lackluster it was.  The first one was SO good, the second just failed to deliver.  We should have seen Bridesmaids instead.

Here is Ratty, getting dropped of in the North End with his little box of Salt Water Taffy from Golden Rod.

The perfect end to a great weekend!

62. May 29th, 2011 Picture.

Sunday was the nicest day of the entire weekend and I was determined to get lots of face time with the beach.  Ratty and I woke up and headed to Golden Rod for breakfast, where I had the BEST iced coffee, I mean, look how awesome the old fashion glasses are!  I think almost anything would taste better in these glasses, so much so I asked Ratty if he thought if I could sneak one in my purse.  He said no.

As soon as we were done with breakfast we headed off to the beach, which was all of 3 steps away, to soak up some sun.  

Look at Ratty's little set up, a new beach chair AND umbrella!  He bought these items at the surf shop next to the beach, saying that since I drag him to the beach so often, he might as well have some decent accessories, dude is totally right.

The beach was absolutely packed, mainly because it was a holiday weekend, but also because it was one of the first nice days of the summer.  We were all desperate to get some sun and enjoy the warm weather!

We lasted only an hour and a half at the beach.  Even though we were nice and shaded under the umbrella, we were getting hot and decided to head back to our hotel to cool down.  Like I mentioned before, my Auntie Estelle lives in Wells, which is about 15 minutes away from York, and she was having a small get together at her house for my cousin Kim and her husband Ben's birthdays.  She had invited me and Ratty over for dinner, so we got ready and headed over to her house.

I just need to share how sunburnt Ratty and I were at this point.  We'd put on sunblock and stayed under the umbrella for the most part, but it wasn't until long after that we realized the umbrella didn't block the sun.  Even though we were shaded and keeping cool, the sun was still frying us, and we had no clue.  Progressively throughout the night, we got more red and more red, even breaking out in a cold sweat.  The first sunburn of the summer is always brutal, but this one was worse because it was a SNEAKY sunburn.  We thought we were being safe!  Ugh, just thinking about it makes my skin hurt.

Back to York.  We headed to my Auntie Estelle's and Uncle Teddy's for dinner, and we were so excited to see my cousins Steve, Diane, Laureen, Keri, her husband Fernando, Kim and her husband Ben and their daughter Olivia.  Phew, there were lots of people going to dinner and I was super excited to see them all!  You might remember the blog about Keri's wedding last summer, it was so great to see everyone, but that was the last time we'd all be together!  We were long overdue for a visit, so I was thrilled we could make it to Kim and Ben's birthday party.

Estelle is my dad's only sister, so I love getting to talk to her, asking her questions and finding more about my dad's childhood and family history.  This is exactly what I meant with Goal #7: Sit down with my Aunt and learn about my dad's childhood.  I'm slowly chipping away!

Here are some pictures that Kim posted on facebook, you might be able to tell just how red Ratty and I are.  This was a progressive thing, we started pink, but by Sunday morning we were on fire.  Seriously, I never learn.  Stupid umbrella!

I mean, what a party be without birthday hats?!

I got to spend some quality time with Kim's daughter Olivia - she is so adorable!  She is so smart and polite, we played together all night, it was so much fun!  I was so happy that we got to spend the day with my family.  Since they all live in Maine, I don't get to see them nearly as much as I would like, but I guess it just means that when we DO get to see each other it's that much better!

After the party started to wind down, Ratty and I headed back to the motel to relax.  We were so burnt and tired, we just hung around in our room watching House Hunters before calling it a night.  What a crazy vacation!

62. May 28th, 2011 Picture.

Saturday, our first full day in Maine, was shaping up to be a gross, cold, rainy day, exactly what you think of the start of summer is like in New England!  For obvious reasons, we headed indoors for some entertainment.  Our motel was right across the street from the Fun-O-Rama, so skeeball was a must.  I love skeeball.  Ratty does too.

On our walk around town in search of coffee [one coffee shop told me that their large latte came with 1 shot of espresso in it, I walked out immediately] we passed the ultra-famous Golden Rod restaurant.  We stood outside their window, watching them pull salt water taffy, for what felt like hours.  I love salt water taffy, especially chocolate salt water taffy.  Mmmm.  And peppermint.  Yes, chocolate and peppermint.

Perhaps not the greatest series of photos, I know it's not clear because of the reflection, but let's be real, there is no way to eliminate that problem.  Unless, of course, I was behind the glass where they actually MAKE the taffy.  Hm, next time get behind the glass.

Since it was really lousy out, we decided to take a drive over to Kittery and check out some of the outlets.  Even though we weren't moving for another month, there was no way I could pass up an opportunity to go to the Crate and Barrel outlet.  No way Jose!

On our drive to Kittery we passed the maybe World Famous Yummies candy store, which means I promptly banged a u-turn and demanded a photo next to the sign.  Yummies commericals always air during 'Phantom Gourmet', but being that I live in Boston and Yummies is in Maine, I'd never had the chance to go there.  It's like airing Red Lobster commercials in Boston, there isn't one for over 100 miles!  Ugh, I still want to try their Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

Yummies was nuts - literally and figuratively!  RIMSHOT!  I'm so hilarious.  There were shelves packed to the ceiling with every single type of candy you could ever imagine.  They had all the Jelly Belly favors, hard to find and/or rare types of candy, where things like Violets come to mind, and a ton of homemade confections like fudge and delicious sesame brittle [yes I bought a pack, I love brittle.  I'm also a 96 year old woman in a 28 year olds body].  I also like 'Murder, She Wrote' and 'Father Dowling Mysteries' and really enjoy time on the couch under my afghan.

So much candy.

In case you're wondering, which I am sure you are, yes, Ratty wears blazers all the time.  Even while on vacation.  And buying candy.

We were here!

Once we were sufficiently stocked up on candy, moreso me than Ratty, we drove up and down the main street, stopping at every single outlet that looked appealing.  I spent far too much time in Yankee Candle, Old Navy, Crate & Barrel and in the massage chair at Brookstone.  We came away with bags and bags of new things, more than anyone should buy while away for the weekend, unless shopping includes a Duty Free store or on an episode of 'What Not to Wear'.  Oh well, I'm totally fine with my purchases!

After shopping we were absolutely starving, so we stopped off for a lack luster lunch/supper before heading back to York.  It's amazing, but apparently it's possible to have a bad lobster roll.  I know, life is so hard.

On our drive home, I decided that we should just get lost, drive around and just see what's out there.  I like to do this alot.  We took the long route back to York, driving along the coast and finding the most amazing beach with a walking path along the cliff.  It wasn't the nicest day ever, and the wind was freezing, but it was such a beautiful walk and we could enjoy it all to ourselves, since no one was crazy enough to be outside.

The path opened up to a beautiful park over looking the ocean, which was centered around a Veterans Memorial.  People who had walked along the path left heart shaped stones at the base of the statue, which was really sweet.

I made Ratty pose for this one.  He hated it, obviously.

We tried our best to make it all along the path, but there were a few areas where it became slightly dangerous.  I was also wearing flip flops and I had visions of me tumbling down the slope and off the side of the walkway.  Where did I come from?!

Along the path at the end of the park was this insane private club, which Ratty and I wanted to join immediately.  The people in the yard were wearing lots of Nantucket red, whale pants and boat shoes.  There is some serious money in that place!

We spent a good hour plus walking around and finally had to call it a day when I couldn't feel my toes anymore.  After getting back to York, warming up and relaxing for a bit, we made our way downstairs [seriously all the way downstairs] to Inn on the Blues, the resident Blues Bar on short sands.  They have live music every night of the week, and due to the fact that the place kept us up the night before with their awesome, pulsing music, it was only fitting that we head down there and actually enjoy it this time, instead of slamming the windows and turning up the sound machine.  Gah, we sound so old and crotchety! 

About halfway through the night an entire wedding party came through.  They'd had the wedding at the Union Bluffs Hotel and as soon as the reception ended they came pouring into the bar.  They were actually pretty hilarious, decked out in tuxes, floor length dresses and bouquets, but the best was the bride, she was rocking her dress all night - I wouldn't take it off either!

62. May 27th, 2011 Picture.

So, as some people can understand, the idea of writing 4 uber long posts about our Maine trip have overwhelmed me enough to shun my blog for the past week.  Subsequently making me fall farther behind in posting, therefore perpetuating my overwhelmedness.  Ah, such is life.

But here I am - putting my nose to the grindstone, or fingers to keys, to write about our awesome Memorial Day weekend trip.  Let's start with the view from the balcony outside our room.

Try to look past the parking lot and admire the OCEAN.  We were right across the street from Short Sands, smack in the middle of 'downtown York'.  Let's be real, there is no downtown, but our room was above a restaurant and a liquor store, so it worked for us.

It was a gorgeous day when we arrived, though it was a touch too cold for me to head to the beach - le sigh.  At the beginning of the summer is get absolutely crazy, wanting to spend every waking minute on the beach soaking up sun and warmth and awesomeness.  Oh who am I kidding, I spend all summer hogging the sun, and I was a touch disappointed that the holiday weekend weather called more for clouds and drizzle than golden rays.  I was uber excited however to spend the weekend relaxing, completely unplugged from the world.  Ratty and I made a pact on Friday, saying we wouldn't really use our cell phones, no Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc.  We were just going to relax and have fun.  If you can do that without checking your phone every 3 minutes.  We survived so I'm sure it's possible.

So obviously once we arrived, checked in and got settled in our room, we cracked open a few Coronas and sat on our deck people watching and listening to the ocean.

We spent the remainder of the day poking around the town, checking out a few stores and scoping out the best location to watch the Bruins game that night.  Remember when they were in the race for the Stanley Cup last year?  Well, we all know how awesome that turned out for us, but for the next few weeks we're going to have to suspend reality for a bit and just roll with it, there is a lot of hockey coming up on the blog!

Ratty googled a few places nearby and we discovered that Buffs Pub at the Union Bluffs Hotel was the best place to watch the Bruins that night.  We headed up there a little before the game started, hoping to snag a seat at the bar.  Apparently everyone in town had the same idea, so we just ordered a few beers and waited the crowd out, hoping that a few might leave once they finished dinner.  We were able to nab 2 seats at the bar once a large group left, and we settled in for the rest of the night.  Of course, we can't go anyplace without seeing people we know, and being in York was no exception.  Ratty ran into a friend from college, you know, from Ithaca, in upstate New York, and it just so happened that this friend always spent Memorial Day weekend in York - what a small world!  They were just picking up food and were heading back to their rental, so we said our goodbyes and turned our attention to the game.

The Bruins really made us sweat through this entire series.  Being a Boston sports fan is naht easy.

Not the greatest shot, but we were obviously not the only ones on pins and needles.

The game was really intense, and the fact that it was dragging on and on was not helping matters.  York is a pretty quiet town, and since Buff's was the only place showing the game the place was packed.  The time inched closer to 11pm, and Ratty and I started to panic that the pub might close, leaving us with no place to watch the game.  Wouldn't that have been horrible?!  Why do we do that to ourselves?!  Thankfully there was no reason to panic, they stayed open and we got to watch the Bruins win.  Thank Goodness, it would have been a really sour note to start our vacation on!

This photo is not the best, but I promised I'd try to take more pictures of real people, so, here you go.

Day One down.  So much more awesome VacationLand recaps to come!

62. May 26th, 2011 Picture.

I realized that I messed up my postings, skipping straight to my Maine-cation and skipping my Thursday night gala attendance.  How could I skip going to a swanky event I'll never know, but I did.

Since me and my co-workers have become such good friends with our Community Relations department, and have volunteered for lots of events through them, we've been invited to some pretty swanky events, much like the Starry Starry Night Gala for City Year.  

The event has become one of the more successful gala's in Boston, and I think it's pretty safe to say that there were at least 600 people at this event.  They did a program showcasing all the work that City Year had done in the past year, and featured students from schools that participated in the program.  It was really interesting to hear students accounts, and learn more about what the organization does as a whole - here is a description of City Year from their website:  "City Year is an education focused, non profit organization that unites young people of all backgrounds fora  year of full-time service to keep students in school and on track to graduation".

The event was great, so informational yet entertaining, PLUS it featured the best dessert bar on the planet!

I was only able to grab one macaron, but trust me, I wanted to eat 500 of them.  I love macarons.  I want to learn how to make the perfect one.  Maybe I'll try and blog about that next!

We had a great time, and I would have loved to stay until the end of the event [it ran until midnight, which is a touch late for a school night], but most of the guests I knew had to drive home, so we opted to have one more glass of wine and then call it a night.  I needed to rest up for our big weekend away in Maine!

102. GET ENGAGED!

I am VERY excited to announce that while on Nantucket two weekends ago, Ratty proposed!  

As you can imagine, we have been VERY busy celebrating for the past...oh, two plus weeks, so I haven't had any real time to get any quality writing done.  I wanted to share our engagement on the blog since it is SO BRAND NEW AND SO EXCITING!  Plus, this 6 month lag time is really crimping my style lately.

So who wants to hear the story of how Ratty proposed?  Oh, I do I do!  Alright, so as you can remember from last year, we bought an uber discounted weekend on Nantucket from Rue La La, so this year we did it again - except buying TWO weekends!  I know, high rollers!  We left Friday morning, October 28th, shooting down to the Cape to catch the 9:15am ferry.  I guess Ratty's plan was to do it on the boat so we'd be able to arrive in Nantucket and celebrate, but plans somewhat became unraveled.  And by somewhat I mean completely.  My cousin Rich called about 10 minutes into the trip, telling me that our Uncle Phil was taken to the hospital [don't worry, he is totally fine, though we didn't know it at the time!]  I hadn't heard anything about Uncle Phil, so I immediately called my mom to see if she had any updates.  When she didn't answer, I called my brother Eddie, asking if he'd talked to mom.  This whole game of phone tag had gone on for almost a half hour, and unbeknownst to me, Ratty was absolutely panic stricken.  He'd asked my mom for her permission and had also called my siblings to ask for their blessing, so Ratty was petrified that Eddie would answer the phone screaming 'CONGRATULATIONS!' since he knew the proposal was happening that morning.  Not to mention that Ratty thought Rich was calling to congratulate us, so needless to say tensions were high.  I repeat high.

Again, I had no idea.

We docked into Nantucket around 11:30am, dropping our things off at our B&B and walking around town, soaking up our favorite streets and shops.  I finally heard from my mom around 12:15 and she told me that Uncle Phil was fine and was discharged.  I thought Ratty was just being really concerned, asking how he was doing, but little did I know Ratty just wanted the high sign to go ahead with proposing!  Poor kid must have been dying.

We grabbed lunch at the Rose and Crown, absolutely stuffing ourselves into a coma, well I did at least.  I opted to only have water with lunch, trying to hydrate myself and ward off any unfortunate migraines while on vacation.  Ratty chose the opposite route, downing a pint glass sized vodka soda before ordering lunch and subsequently ordering Guinness after Guinness.  Now here I thought he was just uber excited to be on vacation, but turns out he was downing drinks trying to calm his nerves!  In hindsight, I seriously don't understand how I was so clueless.  I should have obviously been suspicious.  Heck, I was suspicious any time Ratty ask me to leave the apartment.  

We went back to our B&B to check in and ended up falling asleep for a good chunk of the afternoon.  Well, again, I fell alseep, I am pretty sure that Ratty spent the 3 hours pacing the floor willing me to wake up.  As soon as my eyes popped open, I could tell something was up.  Ratty's eyes were all darty, and he was fidgeting an awful lot.  I brushed my teeth and started to freshen up when Ratty reminded me that it was GLOBAL Champagne day.  Um hi, best day ever!  He said there was something that I would probably like in the fridge, and with Ratty's long track record of secretly packing Champagne, I figured thats what he was hiding.  I opened up the fridge and next to the bottle of Champagne was a blue box from E.B. Horn.  I started crying immediately, repeatedly asking Ratty 'What is this?!' I mean, hi Amy, obviously it's a ring!  He gave me a faux newspaper article, announcing our engagement.  He had my mom write up my portion, which obviously made me start crying even harder.  He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I immediately said YES and then started GUSHING about the ring, it is absolutely stunning!  Apparently he didn't hear me say yes, so he just kept looking at me, waiting.  Eventually I said yes again, popped the Champagne and called our families to tell them the exciting news!  

Ch-ch-check it out!  Isn't it so perfect?  I love it!  I love vintage settings and this one is absolutely amazing.  Ratty did good!

62. May 25th, 2011 Picture.

Last year Ratty and I escaped the city for a night, heading to Gloucester over Memorial Day weekend.  This year we tried to nab a spot at the same awesome B&B, Blue Shutters, but unfortunately they were all booked up already.  We thought of different cities/towns to visit, looking at Portsmouth, Portland  and a few spots on the North Shore, before finally settling on York, Maine.  I'd be up there many times before, my aunt used to live right on Long Sands, then had a house on Short Sands for a bit before moving out to Wells.  Ratty hadn't been up there in YEARS, so long ago that he could barely remember the town, but he was up for a nice relaxing vacation right across the street from the beach.  

I called around to a few motels that I knew of on Short Sands, my preferred beach location, as it is within walking distance to all the things in the cute little town.  We ended up getting a pretty sweet deal at the Sands by the Sea motel, right across the street from the beach, where we got 3 nights for the price of 2.  We had initially been thinking of leaving early Saturday morning and coming home on Monday, but with the free extra night, we planned on skipping town early and heading up to Maine on Friday after work.

I packed up Thursday night, but left a last minute list of things I needed to throw together before heading to work on Friday.  I can never pack in one fell swoop, I always have things I need to remember, like shower stuff, my blowdryer, make up, toothbrush, retainer, YES I wear a retainer, all the cool kids do.  All that stuff needs to get packed last since I tend to need it the morning I'm leaving.  Putting a list on top of my bag makes me sleep a little better the night before, knowing I'm not going to miss something.

62. May 24th, 2011 Picture.

I got the bridal shower invitation to my niece Jena's wedding in the mail and I just need to share how lovely it was.  Her shower is actually on a Saturday night and it is more of a cocktail party than a traditional bridal shower, which I love!  No offense to anyone, but sometimes sitting at a bridal shower can be brutal.  You can be stuck at a table with people you don't know,  gift opening can take hours, and presents can only be so exciting when not for you.  I love the idea of a non-traditional shower, I mean, who doesn't love a cocktail party?!

Unfortunately, I won't be able to go to the shower because that is the weekend of Miss Erin Rowe's bachelorette party, but my mom is going and I'm sure it will be a great time!