Xmas Party & A Nor'easter

Well, the Xmas party that we had was a total success. I believe. I think. I had fun anyway. The night ended with a bunch of us in the hot tub. Then around 4am one of the boys woke up and found two of our friends ASLEEP in the hot tub! They'd got back out there after the rest of us went to bed and passed out! They could have died! Holy cow. I can't get over that. So unsafe.

The gift exchange, Yankee Swap, was hysterical. My face hurt I was laughing so hard. It was a SeXmas party. So you had to bring a sexual related gift for the swap. Good thing we were all good friends and we all had a good sense of humor. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

The kitties went to the kennel for the night so that they wouldn't get let outdoors by someone. It started had snowed on Friday and a little on Saturday. So it was beautiful outdoors with all our holiday lights. I think everyone who came to the party had a good time. A bunch slept over and we had made beds up so that people didn't have to drive if they didn't need to. I'm glad we did. I know I couldn't have driven anywhere. ;)

Then Sunday came. We were all a little hungover. Mark was supposed to fly out at 1:00pm so he was off packing. We checked the weather online. It started snowing as we were looking up the weather. It came down hard. There were practically snowballs falling out of the sky. So we checked on Mark's flight. It was cancelled! Whoohoooo! An extra day with Mark. I couldn't ask for a better Xmas gift!

So we hung out at the house and watched the snow fall. Friends came a went all day. The house was still disaster (it still is).

We got at least a foot of snow with that storm. So we have a total of just over 1.5feet of snow. And it's not even Christmas yet! I don't remember the last time we had this much snow for Christmas. It's great. All though driving isn't the best. And waiting to get plowed out isn't always fun. :)

A great weekend. I need the Christmas holidays to recover. :)


Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Feliz Navidad, Celebrate.

The Missing Sunday

SO. The BIG news is that Mark and I are engaged!!! Yup. That Sunday, while 4-wheeling in northern Maine, he slipped a ring on my finger. It was snowing, we'd just cut down our Christmas tree (and by "we", I mean "Mark") and the moment was completely perfect. I absolutely LOVE the ring and still can't stop staring at my hand. I almost swerved off the road a few times this past week because this bright shiny pretty thing distracted me.

It was a perfect day. The perfect man. And he picked the perfect ring and the perfect moment. What more could I ask for? Not much. :)

Of course being a woman, and especially one who recently helped a girlfriend with her wedding, I jumped headlong into wedding plans.

I've booked the photographer; he does absolutely amazing work. www.coreypro.com He has done two of my friend's weddings and I was sold the minute I saw his work. I'm one of those girls that thinks that, other than ending the day being married to your favorite man, the photos are the most important part of the whole day. And this guy tells your story in images. So cool.

I've also picked the location. Which I'm keeping a secret till I have that completely booked and taken off the calendar. Oh. Yeah, we picked a date already. September 2010. So we've got plenty of time to fill in all the details. But I'm not going to stress about anything. I won't be a Bridezilla. :)

Tata for now! I'm on Cloud 9 and I'm going to enjoy the view. (Pictures coming soon. I swear!)

4 Wheelers, Camp & Bob Marley

This past weekend Mark and I loaded up the wheela' and hauled it up to Belfast. Where we stuck the traila' on anutha truck and piled in the cab with some friends. Then we rode anutha 3 hours up to Houlton (aka Canada) to get to Camp. Now Camp was a b*$ch to get to. About 4 miles of unplowed dirt road with a nice layer of ice topped off with about 2 inches of snow. Add the million hills, the truck with a wheeler in the bed and one on the trailer and you've got yourself a nerve racking roller coaster of fun!

We did finally make it in. Side tracked the whole ride in by the glitter someone had sprinkled on all the trees. Seriously, it was like being the Star Trek Voyager jumping to warp drive (or whatever it is that it does and the stars go flying by).

Mind you the truck's outdoor temp reading was steadily dropping from the original 30 degrees. We got to Camp and it was 3 degrees. Yep. Three whole degrees. Oh and did I mention that Camp doesn't have electricity or running water?

For the first hour at Camp we could leave the front door open because it was the same temp indoors as it was outdoors. That is, 3 degrees! We got the wood stove up and running quickly. Then the generator was started and we had some light and a fan to push the heat back down from the high ceiling. About 3 hours after we got to Camp I finally took my coat off. Not my hat or long-johns though.

From that point on it was a deterioration of memory interspersed with blazing cold moments and lots of laughter. When there's no TV and you've got 6 people in a small space and they've been drinking and you want to keep them entertained; Bob Marley's skits do the trick. No, not THE Bob Marley. But Maine's Bob Marley, the comedian. He's wicked funny doode. :) Even funnier if you're from Maine. The freezing cold moments came when you had to sprint (without falling in the snow) to the outhouse because you thought your bladder might burst along with your gut.

Saturday was still freezing and now snowing too. We all layered up with as much clothing as we brought. We jumped on the wheelers and took off for some fun in the snow. Our friend had bought 40+ acres recently with skidder trails all through it. (Skidder: for definition click here. Affectionately called "skidda" here in Maine.) So we went all through the property, falling in mud holes, skimming over ice, tracking Moose. Yup. Moose have some of the biggest tracks I've ever seen! It was pretty cool. At one point the guys had to hook up two of their winches to a downed tree and swing it back like a gate so we could keep going up the trail. It was pretty entertaining because the tree was frozen solid to the ground.

When we had decided we had frozen enough body parts to warrant a rescue mission, we headed back to Camp. The fire had died down a little so once again, we kept our warm clothes on till it was warm again. Soon food was being consumed along with mass amount of drinks. An intense game of Jenga kicked off the night. But it as the game A**hole that really got the night started. Drinks were being pounded left and right. Then came Pictionary. A very very very long game of Pictionary. (Which Mark and I won. But we credit our talents to frequent games of Pervartistry. But that is another whole story.) Finally we all zonked out.

It was a great night. I hadn't laughed that hard in a while. Camp was a blast. Pictures are coming soon!

(If you're wondering what happened to Sunday, that story comes later. It was a very important day and gets it's own post.) :D

4 Day Weekend

Thursday
My Thanksgiving holiday was great! Mark and I got up early early and went for a walk/jog for 25 minutes. We saw about 20 toms (male turkeys) next to our road. They were all hunkered down in the leaves and looked like they were sleeping. They shifted away from us when we paused to point.

We made it to Marks Mom's house by 9:30am. There we piled his mom and her friend into the back of the Element and barrelled on down the road. We arrived in Gloucester Mass just before noon. We got a lovely tour of Cape Anne and went for a stroll on a beautiful beach. The homes in this area were amazing! We saw famous people homes next to sprawling inns and motels. All sitting on the very edge of the ocean cliffs. When the Perfect Storm rolled through the road we were driving on was completely washed away and homes had waves crashing on their second stories. Incredible.

We had a very large gourmet feast that could have put Martha Stewart to shame. (Mark's aunt is an amazing cook!). Then we sat around having drinks and watching football. All in all, a great holiday.

Friday
I woke up feeling only slightly under the weather. I got a great night's sleep because I got to sleep with the window over the bed open, which gave a nice cold breeze blowing over my head all night. I love sleeping in cold air but having the bed nice and toasty warm.

So Mark and I rolled out of bed and down the hall to the TV room. We watched Happy Feet, another Pixar movie. Then it was time for breakfast.

I started feeling a little off somewhere around then. Friday ended up being an incredibly painful day. Literally. I had to somehow make the 2.5 hour drive home while practically writhing in agony. We even stopped at a local hospital ER and the wait was going to be 3 hours, just to get into a room. So we continued on, with frequent stops. (Peeing blood is excruciating.)

Eventually we dropped off Mark's mom and her friend. Then we went straight to a quick clinic that we know has no lines. I was seen, given a prescription, and walking out the front door in 20 minutes. Ten minutes later my Rx was filled. I started feeling better not long after. Wow. What a horrible day.

Saturday
I slept in while Mark went out hunting on the last day of the season. I spent most of the day taking pills, drinking fluids and doing nothing. (I am still bookless since I finished Eclipse last week.) I felt a lot better by the end of the day. We ended up going to a boxing tournament. Some sort of Finals. It was my first live boxing match and it was pretty fun.

Sunday
After a round of pills with breakfast, Mark and I went 4wheeling around our neighborhood for a little while. We found an amazing look out that is privately owned. We could see all the way to Mt. Washington! I'm going to have to take a picnic lunch next time.

Then we watched the Pats play in an extremely painful game. We just changed the channel towards the end. We just couldn't watch anymore.

THAT was my Thanksgiving break. How was yours? (Hopefully you didn't go to the ER like me.)

Book Hunt

I finished Twilight this weekend and loved it. I went on a massive hunt for the next book, New Moon in my town, which is a pretty good size, and couldn't find it! The best selection of books in town is the Wal-Mart mini-section. I can't even begin to tell you how much I hated going in there. (Wal-Mart is the number 3 Worst company in the world. I try to never go in there.) I tried all kinds of stores, no books. I might have to open a book store just to keep myself in good books! I managed to find Eclipse, the third book. So I bought that. Now I'm reading a different book while I hunt down New Moon.

So I'm currently reading Fortune and Fate by one of my favorite authors, Sharon Shinn. I've read all the previous books in the series and didn't know that this one had come out till I saw it in the store. This book won't hook me like Twilight did, but I'm back in a familiar world. And that is always nice.

Weekend Summary: I had a great night out with the girls on Friday. We ate at Margaritas and then went accross the street to The Stadium to see a friend's band play. A good band too, SlyChi. A little hungover on Saturday morning, I hung out with the girls a bit. One left to work on her house, the other made me a bagel and scrambled eggs for breakfast. How nice! Then we went shopping. Always fun! And it poured rain. A very warm day here in Maine for the middle of November. Saturday night, we stayed in but didn't get hungry till late. We ended up eating dinner at 10pm. I never do that! It was way too late. I passed out hard and ended up with a stomach ache because I went to bed so soon after eating. Sunday I just relaxed as my girlfriend had to go back home. It was so good to see her. What a great weekend.

Monday

My weekend was interesting. Saturday I visited my friends who live down the road and helped them install some insulation in the home they are re-building. A gloomy rainy day, but I would rather spend it with friends doing something not quite fun than alone. Then they came over for a soak in the hot-tub and a glass of wine.

Then we had a massive debate on where to eat dinner. Sushi at Benkay or Fuji. Or chinese delivered to the house while we watch a movie. Or out for Thai food. Or to Friendly's for crap and some ice cream. Good god, we ended up at Friendly's. Now, greasy food alone makes my stomach unhappy. Add on top of that the fact that I am mildly lactose intolerant but decicded to have some ice cream anyway, and my stomach wasn't happy for hours. No wonder I didn't eat much on Sunday.

Sunday I stayed in my sweats all day and did nothing. I could have done about a million things. But my body just wanted a day off. So I sat on the couch, watched some horrible movies, and then went to bed. Yup, I didn't leave the house once. It's nice to have a day like that once in a while.

Last night I had to fight my kitties for a place to put my legs in my bed. The whole other half of the bed is empty yet they still sleep on my side. I end up diagonal, sideways and upside down. How can two kitties take up so much space? And WHY do they need to sleep ON my stomach or between my legs?? And WHY does Trouble have to headbutt the crap out of my arm/face/elbow first thing in the morning? She sounds like a turbo jet about to take off! So, a frustrating kitty morning, but I made it to work on time and I managed to actually almost finish my tea before getting in the car to leave.

The lady from the shelter is visiting the house tomorrow so we can get approved to adopt a doggie. I"m excited.

Tata for Now!

Friday, Dogs and Books

Today is Friday. I'm so happy about that.

On the doggie front, it looks like I got the go-ahead from my better half to fill out the adoption forms so we can at least meet the little fellow. Though, because of vacations and the holidays coming, we couldn't add a new family member till the end of January/ beginning of February. It really wouldn't be fair to us to do that, but even more unfair to the poor dog. We'd be off jet-setting on our next vacation and the poor mutt would be stuck in some unfamliar, unpleasant kennel.

So I'm hoping we'll be able to meet the sweet boy and if we can do nothing else, we'll wish him well in his new home, no matter where that may be. The shelter doesn't "hold" dogs so we couldn't adopt him and then wait till January to bring him home. Which sucks, but makes sense for the best interest of the dog.

I hope this weekend brings lots of sleep, a new great book and a fun night out with friends.

Has anyone else gotten as enthralled with the Eragon book series as I have? Granted I'm not their target age group, but I really like those kinds of books. I began Brisingr on a Saturday, it was finished that Tuesday. I couldn't put it down. And I was pissed when I got to the last page and only then found out that I had to wait for the conculsion to come in the fourth book. A trilogy with four books? Who does that?