The Big Three-Zero

Today is the day I enter the third decade of my life. Back when I was 18 I would have shuttered at the thought of turning 30, but then again, I probably would have done the same at the thought of turning 25. Growing up I remember one of my Aunt’s turning 30; I remember her being so depressed that entire day, she made us kids pop all the balloons in the house and wouldn’t even eat her cake, I also remember a different Aunt hitting the high road to Florida the day she turned 30 so no one would have a chance to sing to her or have her walk into a Legion Hall just to have 130 of her closest friends and family yell “SURPRISE”. Funny I don’t remember my Mom turning 30 though.

A lot of people have asked me ‘what do you think of turning 30?’ A wise lady I used to work with always said that being able to celebrate a birthday always beats the alternative, so that’s what I have been telling them.

Every time I think of 30, I keep hearing that Tim McGraw song, In My Next 30 Years. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have had a lot of time alone lately to think about that… my next 30 years and here are just a few things I have come up with.

In My Next Thirty Years:

I will care less about the label on the inside of my purse and more about whether or not I actually have it with me,

I will not try to keep up with the Joneses; instead when I invite them over to dinner and ask them to bring the champagne,

I will drink more coffee and less Mt. Dew in the morning,

I scrutinize the circumference of my mid section less and what I put into that area more,

Instead of being the perfect wife, mother, and friend, I will do the absolute best I can and will not beat myself up if everything doesn’t work out the way that book, her Mom, or I said it would,

I will care less about what those who do nothing for me or my family think of me and put that all that caring into those who do,

I will pay more attention to the lives of people I actually know and less time on TMZ and X17online,

I may write a book, a children’s book or submit an essay for publication,

I will learn to say No,

I will travel,

I will learn to become a better baker and cook and depend less on Hamburger Helper and Betty Crocker for all things delicious that come out of my kitchen,

I will take the long way home, because some days that extra six minutes to me, myself, and I makes all the difference,

I will say Thank You more and truly mean it,

I will leap and find my net.



Happy Wednesday!

Oh, Oh, Oh, and we have a winner with the staple count: ASHLEY GOFORTH!! She guessed correct with 23 staples (I must confess I had a different number in mind and had to do a re-count this morning to confirm and yep there are 23 of them suckahs in there)!! Thanks for all of you who took a stab at it - haha!

Home!

Home, home again, I like to be here when I can. – Pink Floyd

After spending four days and three nights in my beloved Boston, I am finally home. Last Wednesday I was scheduled for surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital to have a Chondroblastoma (bone tumor) removed from my distal femur bone (that is your thigh bone, the end of it that is near your knee.) This is my third surgery on that knee, this one being the most serious, but none the less this is my third go around. Let’s hope what they say about the third time being true, because I am not as young as I was yesterday.

I am told that the surgery went well, no complications which is the best you can hope for. I had to stay in the hospital an extra night because my blood pressure was having some issues readjusting post surgery, but come the following day me and my distal femur bone were read to come home, thankfully all the Dr.’s and nurses agreed.

So now I am home. It is Monday, I am out of work for a few weeks, Miss E. is at daycare and the Mr. is at the end of road sawing lumber. It’s me, this computer, my passed down set of crutches, my new book The Help, the dog, and my first cup of coffee in almost 6 days. On a scale of 1-10, pain is about a 6, yesterday I thought I was Wonder Woman and made some banana bread and did a load of laundry and at 4p if you would have come to my house you would have heard the howls of a wounded Wonder Woman coming from my bedroom. Yes, Mom, lesson learned, I need to take it easy.

So over the next couple weeks I have no plans but to read, watch TV, probably do a few blog posts since this is about the only entertainment I can do for myself that doesn’t include the use of my leg, but most importantly I plan to heal.

And because this post is kind of a bummer and because I am almost done my first cup of coffee in 6 days let’s make it a little fun. If you can guess correctly by looking at the below picture how many staples are in my leg, I will send you a $5 gift certificate to Dunkin Donuts.

Rules – you have to leave your number in the comment section of the blog and you have to leave me some way of knowing who you are, like your name or leave me your e-mail address so I can notify you, if you enter the correct number! Once the correct number is commented the giveaway will be done. (Sorry in advance to those of you who may puke after looking at the below picture :o(

Happy Monday!

New Obsession!

People. I have a new obsession. I know, I know... I have many, but this one is definitely worth sharing. It is edible, vanishes in two and half bites, can be made in under 10 minutes, and is something the whole family can enjoy.

Here is what you need:

• 1 Loaf of French Bread, sliced
• 1 Ripe Tomato
• 1 Mozzarella Cheese Ball
• Buitoni Pesto Spread
• Oh and an oven, you need an oven.

Set your oven on broil and while that baby is warming up, commence on spreading the love... ah hem... the pesto.

(Doesn't the lighting in this picture makes the pesto look scary... perhaps even a little evil...

but it's not, I promise)

After you have all your bread covered in spread, stick those babies on a cookie sheet and broil them for about 2-3 minutes, or until the edges start to look a little brown, not brown, a little brown. And because, like me, you are a master at multitasking, while those are toasting in the oven, you can cut up your cheese ball and tomato.



Once your bread is a 'little brown' pull the cookie sheet out of the oven and place a slice of cheese on each piece of bread and then pop them back in the oven until they look:



Now top each one with a slice of tomato, add a sprinkle of salt and enjoy!!

Happy Tuesday!

Carrie & Devin - Sneak Peek!

For their 10 year wedding anniversary Carrie and Devin decided to mark the event by renewing their wedding vows in a beautiful intimate ceremony in Tenants Harbor. I am going through some of the pictures right now and am just GA-GA over the location Carrie picked!!!

I can't wait to go through these images in their entirety, but here is a small taste of what is to come.

Balloon Festival!

My alarm went off this morning at 3:30. My initial reaction was "NOOOOOOOOO!", but then I remembered why I was getting up this early, I was going to the balloon festival!!

Each year around this time, my friend Debbie talks about leaving at break of dawn on the first day of the Great Falls Balloon Festival to photograph the 6am launch. She has been to this event before, but never in the morning. So this year we hit to hot top first thing in the morning with cameras in tow and iced coffees in the console and we were off.

Did I mention it was early?

We got there a around 5:30am and people were already getting ready!

We walked around and checked out some of the equipment.

At 6:09a a fog horn blared and all the pilots gathered and watched the black balloon. Someone releases a black balloon and all the pilots track its progress, they also talk about the weather and then use a bunch of balloon terms I don't understand.

Then it was time to initiate the launches! First, they use fans to get air into the balloons.

Then they use FIRE to get the balloons off the ground!

This year's theme is "Critters in the Clouds" so these two guys and little lady fit right in.

Some of the other balloons.

After the initial launch, we ran to the bridge where the balloons were flying by. 

Imagine driving to work and seeing this in your path!

How do you like my vantage point here?

Two balloons or one?

This is what it looked like on the other side of the bridge.

Flying overhead.

Some pilots lowered their balloons to touch the water - it's amazing the amount of control they have!

Fun with photoshop :-D



I am so happy I dragged my sorry beehind out of bed this morning to go to this. It was awesome, it was free and it is something I would highly recommend.  If you are looking for something to do this weekend make the trek to Lewiston and watch these take off! If you have kids, they will love it too. I can't wait to bring Miss. E next year!

 For more information on the event click here.

Happy Friday!

Camp Road Etiquette

Yesterday I posted this as a facebook status:

 "Attention Flatlanders: The first rule in camp road etiquette is "wave back when waved to" - it doesn't mean I want to invite you over for dinner, it is a simple friendly gesture. If you don’t take note of this rule, for the rest of the summer I will address you with a different, more direct, hand gesture."

23 people 'liked' it. I think that is an all time record for people 'liking' one of my updates, or at least publicly admitting it. So I thought, what the heck, let's take it to the blog and list a few other bullet points.


1) Okay, we can all agree that first and foremost, wave when waved to.

2) Just because I drive a beat up rusty, trusty Subaru and you have a shiny something or rather, that doesn't give you the right to take up the entire road. Yeah I know, it's a bit more narrow than your I-93, but there is enough room for both of us to make it, trust me, there is. Now move ovah!

3) Don't park in my driveway. I don't care that you are only taking up 27% of my opening to the road, it's still my driveway. Perhaps you should have done a little research on the parking situation before dropping $250K on your 'camp'.

4) Oh, and tell all your friends they can't park on my driveway or the side of my land either, that's so annoying! How would you like it if someone double parked at the end of your driveway??

5) Ohhhh this one really gets to me. Firecrackers. Really?!! Last night, which was a Sunday I might add, 11:32 PM I am woken up by firecrackers popping next door. Are you kidding me!! Not only is that totally unacceptable, but inconsiderate to those of us who are not on vacation and have to work in the morning.
 
6) Don't put your trash in my dumpster! Unless you want to tape a $20 and a thank you note to the side of our CMD trash bin, don't bother! You can buy trash bags at the local store like everyone else and leave your trash at the end of the road on Tuesday night.
 
7) Fires. What is about being at camp that makes people want to start a fire? It's is 98 degrees outside! Think about your neighbor that just hung two loads of laundry out on the line to dry, she doesn't want to sleep in a bed that smells like burnt hot dogs.
 
Obviously, I can go on and on ... Please tell me I am the only one out there who has these issues June-September?? If you have an additions to the Camp Road Etiquette "Book" I have going on here, please leave a comment!!
 

Maine Children Photography

Plato once said "Of all the animals, the boy is most unmanageable." I think he was on to something there. I don't have any sons of my own, but I did have two brothers growing up and boy oh boy were they full of it! Which brings me to my latest photography session with these two little guys.

I had the pleasure of photographing these two brothers and this picture sums up most of the shoot.

Busy, busy, busy!! But most of all, absolutely adorable! Mom's lock up your daughter's because these boys are going to be breakin' a lot of hearts in the next 12-15 years!!

How cute are their matching shirts!! And love the hat!!

Look at that FACE!

This is one of my favorite photos from the day.

Oh and this one.

This one too...

What a little ham!

And I had to sneak one in that included their beautiful Mom.