62. June 7th, 2011 Picture.

MOST HANSOMEST MAN EVER!

Sigh, I love him so much!  This article is all about the movie 'Beginners' and also discussing how CP has become a hot commodity within the past few years.  I've ALWAYS known the guy was awesome, I guess the world is slowly catching up.  I honesty have zero desire to see this movie, unfortunately, mainly because CP's character has terminal cancer, which will obviously result in me sobbing hysterically through the entire movie.  He is getting serious Oscar buzz for his supporting actor role though, so I might have to bite the bullet, pack up some tissues, and cross it off my list.  We'll see.  

62. June 6th, 2011 Picture.

One of the many perks of my job is sometimes getting to attend really awesome events.  Me and my co-workers are pretty chummy with the department that handles corporate sponsorship and volunteering, so we've been able to nab spots at some pretty awesome events in Boston when our company is a sponsor.

This time around we were able to attend the Kelley for Ellie event at the Boston Harbor Hotel.  Kelley Tuthill is a news anchor here in Boston and she is currently in remission from Breast Cancer.  She has long supported the Ellie Fund, which I've talked about a few times on the blog, and has hosted this event for the past few years, along with other Channel 5 news anchors.  

This event was a fashion show, with the correspondents acting as the runway models, along with both a silent and live auction.  I could go into a lot more detail about the event, but let's just jump straight to the point.

Wes Welker.

Oh, hello there.  Are you looking directly at me?  I think you are.  Oh hiiiiii you are SO dreamy.  He's also drinking rose'.  Seriously how cute is he.

What was I talking about?  Oh yes, Wes Welker.  Phew, so adorable.  He was a special guest and was part of the live auction.  No, HE wasn't getting auctioned, he was just there to present the item and congratulate the winner.  AND make all the of the girls faint.  It worked.

As soon as the live auction was over, people literally rushed the stage.  Everyone wanted face time with Welker and I don't blame them.  I was at the event with a few coworkers, and while we debated for a bit if we wanted to push through the crowds and try and get a picture with him, we opted that it was just far too chaotic.  I did my best to get a shot of him from up close, but instead it just looks like I'm a creepy stalker paparazzi.  I'm cool with it if you are.

The event was really fantastic, and obviously for a great cause, but Welker seriously stole the show.  Just sign me up for next year, please.  And make sure my seat is MUCH closer to the stage.

62. June 5th, 2011 Picture.

I have developed a new and somewhat unhealthy obsession with French macarons.  No, not to be confused with macaroons, which are typically found in coconut form [bleck to coconut].  I'm talking about the delicious, airy, crunchy and sickenly sweet perfection that is a macaron. I'm not even sure how I stumbled onto these things, it might have been on Gossip Girl when Blair ate boxes and boxes of them after her umpteeth break up with Chuck, or from one of the swanky cocktail parties I accompanied Ratty to, but wherever it was, I'm officially hooked.  Too bad they are SUPER expensive.  Like $3 a cookie expensive.  That's a hard price to swallow when you want to eat a dozen without taking a breath.  Plus, they sometimes make my teeth hurt because they're so sweet, so maybe it's a good thing I can't eat a bunch of them.

I did find this awesome book I <3 Macarons [yes the heart is part of the title], by Hisako Ogita where she maps out how to make the perfect cookie.  I am pretty sure I've talked about this book on the blog before, but I still don't own it.  What a travesty. 

62. June 4th, 2011 Picture.

Saturday afternoon I headed down to Eddie and Christine's to spend the afternoon with them and the girls.  We had plans to go to the ever famous Denly's for some pizza, I had never been there and I've heard everyone gushing about it, so I knew it was way over due.

Sometimes Abby likes to take my camera and walk around playing photographer.  She isn't the best, yet, but girls got sass!  Sassy Abby.

Of course when we got to Denly's both girls wanted to sit next to me, so we squeezed into the same side of the booth, leaving Eddie all by himself on the other side.  Honestly I think he was relieved to have some personal space.  I can't imagine he gets much 'alone time'.

This is what Eddie did with his alone time, drew a photo of me, Cassie and Abby.  I am the one in the sunglasses.  I mean, he nailed the glasses, but the rest is a little abstract, I guess.  I am also pretty sure, and hopeful, that my nose is not that big.

After eating a ton of pizza, we headed back to their house to hang out.  Which meant that I spent the majority of the time running around with the girls in the backyard.  Full disclosure, I accidentally hit Abby in the face with a volleyball.  I KNOW!  What a horrible aunt I am.  For the record, I didn't MEAN to do it, obviously, but we were pitching to each other and she is just so little and the volleyball is SO BIG.  Thankfully she's a trooper and she was totally fine, but a little stunned.  Phew, still the best aunt ever.

Seriously, look at that cute, unmaimed face.

Isn't Cassie just the prettiest little girl ever?  I just love her!

62. June 3rd, 2011 Picture.

Friday night Jamie and I decided to go out in Faneuil Hall for a few $1 Bud Lights.  We used to be in Faneuil every weekend, drinking cheap beer and dancing our faces off in 5 inch heels, but let's be real, those days are over.  Well, not really over, but they definitely don't happen as much as they used to.

Coogan's was popular with my group of friends when most of us just moved to the city.  You were able to show up at 11 [that's 11 PM people!  Who goes out at 11pm?!]  not have to wait in line and there was never a cover.  That is the trifecta of appeal here, who wants to have to pay AND wait in line?  Especially in the winter.  In 5 inch heels.  Not me!

Coogan's fell off the radar for a while, but they are smart, I always knew they'd land on their feet.  They decided to start offering $1 Bud Light drafts which made people FLOCK to the bar.  And I mean flock, the place was absolutely packed when we got there!  We usually go to Sissy K's because they have $1.50 drafts, but they start charging a $7 cover at 10pm and then every single time, without fail, the keg 'kicks' at 11pm and you are forced to buy $5 bottles of beer.  It's stupid, but we've caught on to their game, we make sure to get there early!  The best part of Coogan's is that they never pretended to run out of beer, so I can insure that I never leave with a tab higher than $10.  I mean, yes, you are at Coogan's and drinking Bud Light, sometimes I will look past all that to have a fun, CHEAP night out.  Boston is expensive folks, I'm going to take advantage of a bargain when I can!

We had a great time, meeting up with Hannah and a few of Jamie's friends from work.  We stayed until we couldn't handle the crowds anymore, and we scooted off home.  Literally scooted.  Two friends had to ride bikes back to Somerville!  I do not condone bike riding.  At night.  After drinking.  But they survived, thankfully!

62. June 2nd, 2011 Picture.

I met Ratty at Jerry Remy's for a beer after work and was totally pumped to see that they now have Grey Lady on tap!  Grey Lady is our favorite beer, well MY favorite beer from Cisco Brewers, the awesome brewery we visit every time we're on Nantucket.  I love how popular it's getting and how you can find most Cisco products at Liquor stores and/or restaurants around the city.  What I don't love is that it's usually pricier than other beers, I'm talking like $9 a glass.  I don't love that, not at all.

But another thing I DO love is their tap, a hilarious Mermaid Barbie.  It's totally perfect for them, it's so random!  So I love 2 outta 3 things, I'll take it!

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!