snakebites again!!

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Do you know what a snakebite is?

I'm not talking about the puncture wound from a snake's mouth. I'm talking about the beverage! I had no idea what these were until a few months ago. A bunch of folks from work gathered at Buffalo Wild Wings (also known as Lauren's Favorite Place to Eat Delicious Wings) for a little celebration of the alcoholic sort. One of the guys from my department ordered a "snakebite" and I had no idea what he meant, being fresh out of college and only understanding mixed drinks like cheap rum + coke and cheap vodka + juice. Turns out, a Snakebite is: 1/2 Woodchuck (hard apple cider) and 1/2 Guinness (super dark beer).

Greg tried a sip of this mysterious drink and immediately loved it. He gets Snakebites at BWW almost every time we stop by and it is super delicious every time. The sticky sweet Woodchuck and the heavy, dark Guinness balance each other out and make it really drinkable. It's layered, too, so it looks really neat in the glass.

Being the DIYer that I am, I decided one evening to figure out how to make these Snakebites for Greg. I knew it was layered (obviously. you can see the layer) and I knew what the ingredients were, so that meant only one thing... experiment time! I ran out to the grocery and got a pack of Woodchuck and a pack of Guinness and started mixing. My first attempt was a serious failure - I poured the Woodchuck into the glass and then tried to sorta pour the Guinness down the side of the glass to rest on top. Evidently this is the WRONG WAY to make layered drinks, since it got all mixed together and tasted absolutely awful. I needed a buffer! I grabbed a spoon and after pouring in a later of Woodchuck, I tried pouring the Guinness over the spoon and on top of the cider. PERFECTO. I mastered it. I made one to taste-test and then made another one in case the first was a fluke :P

My results:

failure on the left, success on the right!

I couldn't wait to impress the dude with my achievements so of course as soon as he got to my house I made one and presented it with a big smile on my face. He was so happily surprised!

See!? So smiley he can barely drink!

or maybe it's because I'm taking his picture?

Now since it's officially cold and autumn/winter up in the frozen north, there's a new flavor of Woodchuck called "Winter" and I'm pretty dang excited to try out some Snakebites with Winter Woodchuck! I hope it's as delicious as regular :)

- L

another member of the family

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Meet Gracie, the newest member of the family!!

first day at home - 8 weeks old

cuddling like normal

 She's a rescue from the local animal shelter. They give her to you spayed and with all her shots - good deal! Going to an actual veterinarian would be pretty expensive (think $100+), and the animal shelter does it almost for free. I'd definitely recommend rescuing a kitten. I was at the shelter looking into microchipping for Wayne and decided to just hang out with a kitten or two while I was there. BIG MISTAKE. Kittens are adorable and make little peeping meowing noises and curl up on your shoulder and fall asleep and are impossible to leave behind without feeling so sad. Of course, the little bugger that they brought in was Gracie (then called Wren). She was so. damn. cute.

I left the shelter without her because I was adamant that I wasn't a "cat person" and that Wayne was more than enough cat for my household. However, after a 15 minute ride home and reading Google hits from "Is my cat lonely?" and "Should I get two cats instead of just one?" I decided that Wayne needed a friend and a playmate because he was SO LONELY and SAD and ALONE. It was all because of Wayne. Of course.

So I went back to the shelter and adopted her on the spot. She's the perfect addition!! Unlike Wayne, she likes to sit quietly with people on the couch and doesn't attack feet or unroll toilet paper. Honestly, he was starting to scratch at furniture and become a really angry adult male cat. Miraculously, since Gracie came home, he's stopped destroying stuff and actually calmed down a lot. It took them about a week to get used to each other and I had to keep her quarantined upstairs while he accustomed himself to a new kitten smell, but they are absolutely inseparable now  :)

double naptime.

 She's cute and funny and if you sit down, she immediately gets on your lap and falls asleep. I like to pretend it's because she likes me... and not just because my house is freezing and she needs someplace warm to nap. In any case, a fuzzy little ball of Gracie purring and sleeping on your lap would cheer anyone up after a stressful day at work!

And of course, because the large-and-in-charge Big Gray Wayne would be sad if he didn't get to contribute to this post:

ooh photo op!

And yeah, maybe I'm a cat person AND a dog person. Sue me.

- L

woot wooty wooters

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My father decided one day that the internet meme-type thing "woot woot" should be "woot wooty wooters"...and we've been using it ever since.

Today is a woot wooty wooters kind of day! Great things at work, nice weather (except a little bit of rain), everyone is healthy and happy, the kitten is less hyperactive than usual, and this weekend will be full of rest and relaxation!

I'm really happy that fall is finally showing itself up here in the northern states. I'm really not a fan of summer heat and autumn has always been my favorite season. There have been a few 30-something degree nights and as a result, the leaves are changing a bit. It makes me think of hot apple cider, pumpkin pie, and curling up with warm blankets and good books. It's such a COZY season, don't you agree?

from here

I can't wait for October!!

- L

V8!

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I have a confession to make: I'm an addict.
A V8 addict.

I drink at least one can of the salty vegetable goodness every day. Some days, I have two cans. Some days, I have two cans and a drinking glass filled from the bottle of "high fiber" stuff I keep in the fridge. The weird thing is that I hate tomatoes. Hate them. With a passion. I don't like fresh tomatoes, baked tomatoes, cooked tomatoes, diced tomatoes, or pureed tomatoes. In fact, pretty much the only thing containing more than 60% tomato that I enjoy is ketchup, and even then - only in small doses. I thought I hated everything with tomatoes. Then I met V8. We'd known about each other for a while: I'd seen the bottle sitting in the fridge after grocery shopping and sometimes I'd catch my Mum with a glass during lunchtime. I studied it. It was thicker than drinks should be, and that weird red color, and obviously made from dreaded tomatoes, and had some ridiculous number of vegetable servings per glass (that can only mean that it tastes gross, right!?). I just knew I'd never try it. Ever.

Then, away at college and without easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables, I started looking for ways to increase my vitamin intake without taking sixteen pills a day. I wanted some sort of drink that I could grab as part of breakfast or a quick lunch addition. At the Giant Eagle (aka "Jynt Iggle") I noticed V8 Fusion. It was in a cute little bottle, and a funky purple-y color, and had pictures of grapes and apples on the front! AND it was two servings of vegetables per glass! Everything I always dreamed of. I bought a bottle, tried it, liked the taste, and drank it constantly from then on. Fast forward three years and I'm in my year-old house with a big kid job and I'm feeling sluggish and tired again. I think, 'Maybe I'm missing vegetable servings?' It's a possibility! So, I go looking at the supermarket - Hannaford - for my lovely V8 Fusion. I find it, buy a bottle, take it home, have a taste and... EW. It's gross. It's sticky sweet and reminds me of those sugary syrup-and-water drinks in the plastic bottles with the faces molded into the material. You know the ones:

yep. there it is.

Blech. I couldn't even finish one glass. What was I to do? I loved drinking my vegetables and although I owned a blender, I preferred using it for milk/frozen strawberry/yogurt smoothies. Deeeelicous. I wanted something that came in a bottle, pre-made, full of vitamins and veggie goodness, and tasted okay. Back to the grocery store I went, hoping that there would be something better out there. Then I saw it - a bottle of "high fiber" V8 juice. The regular kind of V8, tomatoes and all. I was all, 'Hey, why not? I'm an adult now, technically, and if that's what adults drink then maybe that's what I want.' I bought it.  I brought it home. I stuck it in the fridge and STARED at it for the next three days...and finally worked up the courage to pour a half glass. First sip? Not exactly fantastic. It was thick, just like I thought. It wasn't grainy, really, but it wasn't smooth. But weirdest of all; although it was faintly tomato-ey, it was in a filling toasted-cheese-and-soup sort of way. I kinda liked it. I wasn't in love, but it would do for now.

After a week or so of my daily V8 regimen I started feeling better. I had been fighting a cold for a few weeks and it finally cleared up. I had been so tired every day, even after 8 or 10 hours of sleep - suddenly I had more energy. I wasn't superwoman, but I felt more human. That was the beginning of the addiction... Now I drink V8 as my everyday normal choice of beverage. I still hate tomatoes in everything else and still refer to them as "poison", but I honestly don't mind them in the V8. So. Moral of the story? Drink V8 juice. It's not so bad.

koral competition MKM

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So that prize I was talking about a few posts ago? It's finally here!! And it is....

*drumroll please!*


this!:

photo from: here

A competition brazilian jiu jitsu gi, size A2, koral MKM, lightweight, white, and exactly what the boyfriend wanted!! He had been using a raggedy old blue one and I refuse to be seen with him while he's wearing it. It's so old! And sweat-stained! And washed so many times that it's basically BABY BLUE.

ew.

so in honor of his return to The Academy in Portland, I splurged and surprise-bought him a brand spankin new gi. He mentioned that he would love to have a Koral brand gi, but that they were too expensive to justify getting one when he had a 'serviceable' blue one. I heard that and immediately started searching for that exact gi, on sale, that could be here in a reasonable amount of time. I was hoping SO HARD that FedEx would make it here before his gi-required jiu jitsu session on Friday. Laurenworld struck again!! Although he had some stuff to finish tonight before (academic) class tomorrow, it turns out it's barely a page of homework (ok, exaggeration) and I more or less insisted that he go to jiu jitsu class tonight and try out the new gi. He was SO EXCITED about it and put it on immediately and said it was the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for him - I felt so fuzzy and warm that I had gotten the correct type of fightwear from all the options online. I win!

Other than that, I've already delved slightly into a bottle of Barefoot Moscato as a reward for making it through this week (and for being the best girlfriend ever).

so good.

And yes, I know that it is technically "dessert wine" and that I'm not technically enjoying any "dessert" at the moment but I did have a scoop of grasshopper pie ice cream when I got home a little while ago so that counts, right? Right? I was allowed that scoop of ice cream, okay!? I've already lost more than 60% of the weight that I'm looking to lose and I'm really, really, really happy about it! So far I've been able to steadily decrease that number on the scale just by drinking far less beer and eating far more vegetables than starches. Hurrah healthy living!! I finally realized that my mumma was right the whole time by portioning dinner as mostly vegetable, part protein, and a little starch. Who knew moms were so smart?

And because I'm on a Pandora kick and it's giving me adorable songs, here's the one stuck in my head currently:

- L

remedial cupcaking :)

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first, a poll: how do you feel about my lack of capital letters? i started blogging a long time ago on a "private" blog (like a personal journal) and i figured i could write however i wanted - sans capital letters, please!! but...evidently there are folks out there in my group of three readers that are against the lowercase-only rule. i'm thinking about changing my style just a tad for the masses, so, what do you think? add in some appropriate capital letters or stick with what i've been doing?

comment below with your vote :)

ok on to the main body of the post. so since gregory is out learning how to kill people with his bare hands (yaaay brazilian jiu jitsu!?) i've been catching up on some crafty/homebody type things that i'd been wanting to do when i had a free moment. first, of course, i hooked up my nintendo 64 through my cable box (thanks daddy!) and did a little old school video gaming - of COURSE starting with the legend of zelda: ocarina of time. duh. then i did a little scrapbooking in the adorable 8"x8" book i started to fill with memories from november 2010 to now! then i started looking at new cupcake blogs and realized that some of my traffic to this site is from cupcake suppliers and cupcake websites! and that maybe, the people whom i know read this (mumma, *ahem*, mumma) might want to know what i use when i bake cupcakes! my baking posts have been seriously lacking in the past weeks and i've got to tell you, there's a reason. i'll show you a proof:

more cupcakes bakes = more cupcakes eaten.
more cupcakes eaten = pounds gained
pounds gained = sad lauren
sad lauren = lauren who weighs too much
Q.E.D.

so you see, between greg trying to get down to competition lightweight (hooray mixed martial arts!) and me trying to get down to everyday 'cuteweight', cupcakes aren't such a welcome guest in the oven anymore. so, unfortunately, i'm stuck daydreaming about recipes and cupcake tactics.

one of my favorite ways to bake cupcakes is in these little "nut and party" cups:

 

i get mine from the local craft store, but they are made by Wilton

they come out so adorable and contained. the paper doesn't stick to the cake like regular cupcakes papers do, and you don't need a cupcake tin to make them. just arrange the papers on a cookie sheets and pop them in the oven! when i'm not using paper nut and party cups (or the larger "dip" versions), i use silicone baking cups. i love them because they are reusable and really clean. just get a little cooking spray in them and dump the batter inside - bake for the normal amount of time and when you take them out of the oven, they slide right out as perfect little cakes. really handy when you want to decorate the sides of the cakes or when you don't want messy paper everywhere after people are done enjoying your baked treats!

here are some silicone cups:

from here

from here

i can't find the exact ones that i use, but these are very similar. i'll probably try baking some "heathy" type cakes in the near future. i assume they'll end up like muffins - full of dried fruit or nuts or whole wheat flour with no frosting. maybe they'll end up delicious and i'm unfairly judging them, but maybe not :) time will tell!

that adventure won't be this weekend, however! after a particularly stressful and exhausting week (and monday was a holiday!), greg and i agreed to take this weekend off from travel and parties and just stay in, make homemade spinach pizza, and play all sorts of nintendo 64 games. i've already been challenged in a mariokart 64 duel and not gonna lie, i might possibly lose. it's been quite a while since i've tried my hand at the old school (at least for me!) consoles!! i've never seen the man play video games but judging by his extreme proficiency in everything else we've done together, i doubt he'll be a pushover. that's why i'm secretly practicing after work every day while he's in class!! (i guess it's not so secret any more though, hm??) win or lose, it will be a fun weekend of relaxing times and i really honestly can't wait for it!!!

for my grand finale, i'll leave you with the cutest new song discovery of the day - all credit to greg for showing me! he says when he heard it, he immediately thought of me. awwwwww  :)

enjoy the ends of your weeks and your weekends, too! do you have any fun plans to relax like me?

- L

prizes

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since i've been sick and miserable for the past few days, i decided to cheer myself up by buying two 'prizes' (aka presents) for one of my favorite people :)  they won't be here for a little while - shipping and all that - but hopefully by the end of september i'll be able to give him the things i found online today!

also, yes, mother: you have a prize in the mail but i didn't get it today.   :P

- L

buffalo wild wings x2, dino cupcakes, irene, and better-than-restaurant cooking

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hello! still here. not writing much since it's the end of summer and therefore i'm extremely busy, but still here!

a good friend of mine is leaving work at my facility for another one in ohio (same company, different location). i'll definitely miss him when he leaves in two weeks but his new role is amazingly fantastic and he'll do great. there was a going away party for him on friday at BWW (buffalo wild wings) and it was a roaring good time with a crew of coworkers. afterwards, since it was only about 7:30, we decided to go check out the art walk being held in the auburn/lewiston area. i wasn't exactly sure what an art walk entailed...maybe it was just walking down main street and pointing out nice things? or maybe it was a tour of a museum? it turns out that an art walk is actually an event organized by the resident art community where businesses let artists put up their works, then allow people inside the buildings after-hours to see it all. for instance, the inside of the androscoggin bank looked like this:

androscoggin bank for art walk 2011

pretty, right? and what a good way to repurpose a boring building when it isn't being used! in addition to art, art walks are evidently notorious for the copious amount of wine that is served at each location. every time we walked into a building, someone asked me "red or white?"

after about ten locations, i was pretty ready to go home and sleep!  :)

also new since last post: SWATI IS BACK. we've already been outlet shopping in kittery and spent an afternoon baking green dinosaur shaped cupcakes and ruining a perfectly good ganache frosting recipe (my bad... milk semisweet chocolate is not the same as regular semisweet chocolate...lesson learned). we talked about everything under the sun - mostly men and adulthood, because what else is there? - and had a wonderful wonderful wonderful time! she was able to meet greg in a more friendly circumstance than last time, too, which is always nice. hopefully i'll be able to visit her soon after she moves into her new place and have some bostonian adventures too. (psst swati: hint hint.)

**photo of cupcakes will go here**

since irene was supposed to hit the northeast coast sometime between saturday and sunday, swati took off for home around dinnertime. after the excitement of the day i really super didn't want to sit around the house, so i texted my buddy from work and he and i and greg met up at buffalo wild wings for the second time that weekend! bww shows lots of pay-per-view sports and it was ufc 134 - rio that night so of course we wanted to go over and see the bouts for free. my favorite fighter, forrest griffin, lost (as usual...), but the headliner anderson silva completed destroyed yushin okami in the first round. actually, most of the fights didn't last past the first round! there were a ton of fast knockouts and i actually don't think we saw a single decision. for me, that means it was a good night. i hate waiting three rounds just to hear a decision that i don't agree with. if the guy gets pounded and knocked out - he definitely lost. i like that. definite, non-debatable outcomes. that way nobody is annoying and whiny about how so-and-so should have won and the judges ripped them off, etc etc. sports in the olympics with points or times are good; ones with judges are not. think about bobsledding vs. figure skating. or the 200m relay vs. gymnastics. i guess opinions are what makes us human, though, so we might as well keep arguing about them until 1984 ends up happening!

so. other than that...hrm what else happened. i discovered a new hilarious show - misfits - on hulu.com. it's a british sci-fi comedy about this group of deliquent teenagers doing community service who get struck by lighting from a freak storm and get 'powers' (not exactly superpowers, but maybe?). 

misfits!

it's funny in an oddball way, and they swear a lot, and they aren't all exactly 'attractive' in the USA culture's sense, but there is something incredible watchable about it. maybe it's the actors (my favorite is iwan rheon, who plays simon, the lonely nerdy guy) or maybe it's the script or maybe it's just that it's british and their humor is just weird enough to me to be shocking and pee-your-pants hilarious at the same time. their powers aren't even that great...one can go invisible (but isn't any good at being sneaky), one has immortality (but it's never used in any constructive way), one can hear what people think (but only when it's about her), one rewinds time (but not on purpose), one makes people go into a crazy horny frenzy if they touch her (but can't ever turn it off), and another one can teleport (but once again, not on purpose, and usually at the worst possible moments). the next season starts in november but i'm not sure if i will see it then, since it's a british show and i have to wait for hulu to carry it. oh well! reruns until then.


mark came over and cooked dinner since his power went out from irene on sunday and his refrigerator was slowly warming up. he made food that was so good i would have sworn it came from an upscale italian restaurant. it was DELICIOUS. scallops and little shrimps and fettucine and spinach and salad and fresh bread...yumm. then we were going to introduce him to my sweet new obsession of a television show, but my power went out too! so much for that :/

and now, i'm sick and kind of miserable. why am i miserable, you ask? well, because it seems so much like the last few nice days of summer are passing me by while i sit and sniffle and drink orange juice inside the house. i hope, i hope, i hope, i hope that i'm better by the end of the week - labor day weekend should be fun, not full of headcolds and coughs. ew ew ew. also, i just plain HATE being sick. i know nobody really enjoys it but i am a seriously miserable sick person. even my boyfriend doesn't want to come near me because i'm a whiny annoying mess. the solution!? MORE ORANGE JUICE. go go go go.

and with that, i'm outta here. peace, homies.

- L

this weekend and more!

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so this weekend started off with awesomeness and continued to rock from there. i got to see my family, INCLUDING my brother before he went back to college (huzzah!), played cards and was a sore loser (that's nothing new...), went shopping at hobby lobby with my mom for christmas wreaths (!?), went to a housewarming party since some of my high school friends are finally moving out of their parents' houses, and generally got to relax and enjoy time with people i really like.

it was a good weekend but it went by far too quickly. i hate waking up monday morning and realizing that i have to get showered and go to work instead of walking downstairs for a muffin and an hour or so of quiet conversation with my mom. coming home is a little better when there's a kitten waiting for you, though. wayne is totally okay to leave by himself, but he definitely misses the company when the house is deserted.

other than the weekend, there's nothing much else going on. greg and i went to our new favorite hangout - buffalo wild wings! - on sunday night and i ended up winning trivia. i like it when i win  :)  it totally made up for my epic failure at progressive rum on friday night. this coming weekend's plan is to go camping in acadia national park and enjoy some adventures on the coast for a few days. i hope the nasty weather that we've been having isn't an indication of future thunderstorms!! there's nothing more depressing than a camping trip spent huddled in a tent during a downpour. i'm crossing my fingers :/

in other news, swati is back in new england. oh heck yeah. reunion: imminent.


L

wayne minus some of himself.

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wayne had to go in for his neutering today :/

poor little guy had no idea what was going to happen to him. i couldn't feed him for 24 hours prior to his surgery since he was going under anesthetic and i guess the vet didn't want him to throw up. he wasn't even allowed to drink anything the morning of the appointment. i felt really bad that i had to do this to him but it's definitely the best thing... nobody wants an adult male cat that sprays all over the place and constantly tries to get outside. and i know, i know, it's "just a cat", but he's my pet now and i feel bad for hurting him.

wayne and his 'father figure', before the appointment

anyway, greg went with me to the vet's office because i'm a ninny and was freaking out. i thought that we'd just go in and they'd do it real quick right there (how hard can ball-chopping be!?) but as it turns out we had to leave him there almost all day!! the poor little guy wasn't too happy to be separated from his family but hey, i had to go to work. they had to give him a rabies and a distemper shot in addition to taking away half of his man-junk. yikes! they called my cell at about noon to tell me that he'd be ready at 1:00 (when we dropped him off they said 2, so that was a nice surprise!). i finished up the work i had and headed over to get him. he was still all drugged up and groggy and pathetic-looking. i definitely felt like a jerk for putting him through surgery :/  i'm a terrible mom! i was super worried about him and figured he'd be angry and sick and slow and in pain for a while.

but of course, after about an hour at home he perked up and ate a little bit of food and fell asleep on me. now he's playing and making lots of noise and running (more like 'walking quickly'...i think he's a little sore..) around the house. all's well that ends well, i suppose.

wayne - being COMPLETELY OKAY post-op

plus - now there won't be any baby cat-mamas and no kitten support. excellent.

- L

UFC 133: Evans v. Ortiz

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this weekend was full of driving and martial arts and cheesesteaks! that's right folks, greg and i drove down to philadelphia with two of our coworkers to see UFC 133 (that's "ultimate fighting championships" for those not in the know)

the drive down was actually pretty eventful. for some reason my garmin gps took us through the sketchy bronx area of new york... instead of letting us stay on the highway like we should've. it made our trip down take about 8.5 hours instead of 7 and it was definitely not the most fun experience i've ever had. next time, i don't trust the garmin on the way through new york! we left maine at about 6am on friday morning. i'm glad i wasn't driving!!

sketchy, sketchy bronx.

once we got there it was beautiful though! our hotel was only about a mile away from the stadium that the fights would be, so we walked over for weigh-ins on friday night. almost everyone made weight except some welterweight that i don't care about, so that was good! the walk was nice and relaxing after all those hours in the car, too!

the next day i drove into the city and waited for greg and dave (one of the guys from work) to show up at the philadelphia institute of art. we only had one car. hey no problem though, because they were running there from the hotel.

any ideas why?? (other than because they are crazy.) well, because the philadelphia museum of art is home to the famous "Rocky Steps" from the movie, of course! there are even bronze cast footprints at the top for photo ops. it's about a five or six mile run from the hotel and since it was already about 75 degrees at 6:50am, i volunteered to drive them back once they got there. plus, it gave me a great chance to sightsee and peoplewatch for a while! i wandered around the museum area for a while, then checked out a few statues and enjoyed the sunshine for a while. finally, they showed up in all their sweaty glory...of COURSE running all the way up the steps before stopping for photos  :)

rocky steps!

sweaty men at the top

rocky!

rocky II!

then we decided to get showered up and head into the city proper for some window shopping (me) and giant authentic philly cheesesteaks (greg). we went into tiffany's and the underground mall and walked around the shopping district in walnut street for a few hours until deciding that it was time for some cheesesteaks. greg asked a very helpful police officer where he'd recommend going and he gave us directions to a shop called "JR's". WHAT A DELICIOUS RECOMMENDATION. the food was awesome.

cheesesteaks!!

philly shopping district

bleh, the buildings block the sky.

then we had to hurry up and get back to the hotel to change before the fights at 5:45. we totally thought we were going to be late because parking was HORRENDOUS (it was raining so we didn't want to walk the 20 minutes to and from the stadium) but as it turns out, the fights started a little behind schedule! laurenworld strikes again! we had plenty of time to find our seats and get comfortable and even get a souvenir program before any action began. i think there were about 9 events... most of the guys i didn't know very well, but all the ones i was rooting for ended up winning theirs, except matt hamill. there were a LOT of people there - i was suprised that almost the whole stadium was filled!! and mumma: yes, the guy who defeated chuck liddell (rashad 'suga' evans) won the main event against tito ortiz ('the huntington beach bad boy').

ufc 133: main event was evans and ortiz

evans won. but ortiz has all the press?

people!!

another awesome epic weekend. next weekend is new hampshire again, and i get to see my brother!! hooray!! AND: SWATI IS COMING HOME FROM ENGLAND. YESSS!!!

til later.

- L

wayne's introduction to meemaw, bumpy, grammie, and grandad!

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sorry this round of posts is so late! i've been so busy  :/

greg and i took wayne to visit his "meemaw and bumpy" (my mom and dad) in NH a little while ago. the real reason for the visit was to see my grandparents who were visiting from florida! it was an awesome trip and a really really fun time in general. we did puzzles and played card games and ate delicious food and drank maybe one too many margaritas...then started on the glasses of wine! we went shopping and thought up ideas for curtains and talked and pretty much had a great family weekend. i love being able to see my parents as much as i want and it's even better when some extended family can come visit too!!

some photos (because otherwise my blog is 'boring')!

getting close!

it was SO HOT

wayne was being a good passenger

until he decided it was too hot..

'daddy! do grill things!'  'ok!'

cards with penny-bets

grammie and the infernal puzzle

little wayne was a big hit at the NH residence. he got pamped like nobody's business - grandad got him wrestling with his fingers, his "bumpy" gave him a ball to play with, and even "meemaw" let him sit on the furniture! he's been asking nonstop to go back since.

fun weekend :)

- L

three buck chuck and OOB

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on friday after work greg and i headed down to portland to meet up with my mom and dad for dinner and drinks in the old port area of the city. for dinner we went to the famous 'kitchen bar' - nosh - that greg and i tried out a few weeks ago. it was really fun and i'm glad that my parents could join us; so fun that we decided to try a new eatery every few weeks. there are so many neat little places to go that it will take us a year to see them all! i'm pretty excited for the adventures!

after nosh we decided to go to one of our (greg and my) favorite places for beers and popcorn - three dollar deweys! although my mumma insisted on calling it "three buck chuck" for the rest of the night. hilaaaaaarious.

my adorable parents

"three buck chuck" a.k.a. three dollar deweys

saturday had the potential to be really busy, but i wanted a nice relaxing evening so all plans were cancelled and we went shopping downtown at craft stores and the portland mall, followed by dinner at the best thai place i've ever been to, then to old orchard beach to peoplewatch and stick my feet in the ocean. the shopping extravaganza was awesome: i picked up a few new stamps and some odds and ends at a.c. moore and some cute new outfits from the gap - finally, shorts that FIT and are on SALE! the best kind of clothes are the 40% off kind.

so like i said, the best thai food place ever - thai me (as in "thai maine", i think?) their crab rangoons are to die for, and everything we've tried on the menu so far has been incredible. it's a little dinky place in a little podunk town but gosh, it is yummy.

thai maine?

nom nom nom

crab rangoons

the outside

thai delight and crab pad thai

after a delicious meal that we couldn't even finish (lunch tomorrow, yes yes?), we couldn't resist the temptation to take a trip to the beach to catch a view of the the sunset, the vacationers, and all that is old orchard. it was really fun and for my first time to oob, i think i was appropriately enthralled :)  there were SO MANY PEOPLE there, though, and we got there a little before sunset so all the day-beachgoers were leaving and the traffic/parking was horrendous. yuck.

beach

people!

blurry but cute

so now, before i get yelled at for making this post "too long to read" (ahem, mumma, ahem) i'll wrap it up with the hope that your weekends were as fun as mine! off to a matrix trilogy marathon and leftover thai food!

L

paintballin'

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this past weekend's adventure revolved around an epic four hour paintball battle in the backwoods of my old home state. 13 people showed up for the war - greg, my beautiful cousin nicole, and i were all on the same team (go pink!!). we won almost every time!! i did get shot in the butt in the second match...but i shot a LOT of other people by the end of the day!

some photos of the day:

the whole crew!

pretty cousins & battle wounds

gear. epic, epic gear.

even warriors need a little love

what a wicked fun weekend! we might be going up to the same place for BYOP (bring your own paint) day in a few weeks...i can't wait!! it was so fun going with nicole - she lives in a different state and i don't get to see her as often as i would like. hopefully she'll be able to see my house someday!

L

fourth of july 2011!

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so greg and i headed over to new hampshire to celebrate the fourth of july with two different sets of friends at two different lakehouses. the first "camp" (as mainers say) belongs to the family of my previously mentioned extremely good friend matt b. the crew of us has been going up there for over six years now, every summer. it was SO nice to be able to get together and see matt again after months of no contact while he was away at boot camp. we had a ton of fun - going out on the boat, playing 'mille bornes' (our traditional lakehouse card game), eating delicious food and reminiscing about our very old friendships.

ever played it?

jay, tara, kevin, matt, matthew, and greg!

we always have so much fun out there. hooray for that!

after spending a day or so out there, greg and i headed off to the second lakehouse of the weekend - suzanne and chris's! we took my bike because it was such a gorgeous weekend to ride and had a wonderful tour of the lakes region. three hours from auburn to matt's lakehouse...then another hour to suzanne's. it was perfect! some photos of our trip:

stopping for some coffee and a few photos:)

gas is important to make the bike goooo

once we got there it alternately poured rain and was so hot and sunny that i couldn't sit outside without a cold drink! it was definitely a fun and exciting weekend as well. we climbed up a very tall mountain to see some not-so-impressive fireworks but the company was worth the effort. climbing down in the dark was not all that fun, though! we made it mostly safe and sound (one twisted ankle!) back to the lakehouse. the next day was beautiful and clear so the boys took a ride in the gorgeous resident chevelle, belonging to suzanne's dad...and afterwards, we all took a ride out on the boat and saw bob behr's vacation house (like behr premium paint!). it's HUGE!

greg, mike, pete, chris & the beautiful chevelle

boat ride!

behr vacation house. it's bigger than my TOWN.

 the other boys brought their motorcycles as well (why am i always the only female with a motorcycle!??) so we all had a good ride back to maine together after the afternoon on the lake :)


july 4th, 2011 - best fourth of july yet!! here's to independence and fireworks and good beer and excellent friends!! how were your 4th of july celebrations?? [leave a comment below the post :) ]

L