pig roast

we have some friends that recently moved back to maine
from california - talk about a long haul!

we're glad they're closer now though!

apparently they used to have pig roasts every year (pre-me in sean's life)

now that they're back in maine
they decided to start up the tradition again

so we packed up duke (and his ball to play catch with) and headed to western maine
isn't this a gorgeous view?

that's from their bedroom
notice the tree on the right is just starting to turn
oh and there just happened to be a double rainbow one morning

that mountain on the left - mount washington - all the way in new hampshire
here's the pig all done and being served up

after that shot i had to walk away as i started to feel bad for him...
but not bad enough to not have any
he was TASTY!

for the love of our pets

when we were in kansas city for our friend's wedding
we also visited my brother and his family
i was super excited to get to stay for the extended holiday weekend
their kids are getting so big
and i miss a lot being so far away  :(
these are their 4-legged babies

once i opened the curtain they just sat in the window waiting for their parent's return

so sweet!

details of a wedding

over the labor day weekend we headed to kansas city to attend a friend's wedding
it was an elope of sorts, although we all saw it coming!

we all met up at the bowling alley
then took the cutest trolley to the ceremony location

after the ceremony we waited for them to send a new trolley

as the original one had a little brake issue

the trolley took us back to the bowling alley

where we bowled a few frames

and had glorious cupcakes

it was the perfect place for their wedding
and i wish them a lifetime of love and happiness together!

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all the pics except of the cupcakes are of all the cute little details at the ceremony location
the lemonade was to die for (lavender mint, if i remember right)!

the BIG birthday month celebration - week 3

this birthday month is becoming the most memorable one ever - and not all in a good way!

day 15 - attended a home brew beer tasting to benefit our friend that was injured in an ATV accident

day 16 - took time to blog again!

day 17 - i cannot for the life of me remember what i did - must have been good or relaxing - maybe i just vegged and caught up on trash tv...

day 18 - attended a taping of the local late night talk show - won a new beer glass and a gift card to a local restaurant!  was totally my night!

day 19 - attended a wine tasting and found some new whites i like - who knew i could like white wine?

day 20 - went tent camping with my honey and duke and friends - sat around the campfire, giggling about old days enjoying the crisp fall air and great company

day 21 - went on a 75 mile 4-wheeling trip, enjoying all the fall colors and cool fall temperatures.  the part that was not enjoyable (and i wouldn't recommend as part of a birthday month celebration) was the trip to the er after wrecking the wheeler.  i'm really not sure how i came out of it with nothing broken but i did.  i'm pretty banged up with bruises and whiplash but nothing broken and already on the mend! special thanks to the er nurse that made me feel comfortable while in an area i'm not familiar with and who recognized that our appearance after a day of wheeling isn't what we normally look like!

the BIG birthday month celebration - week 2

the celebration continues
and it just keeps getting better

day 7 - this day was epic!  started out with sean saying my friend wanted to go to breakfast cuz she had to work that afternoon.  we go to the restaurant and there was a whole table of people reading the newspaper.  when they lowered their papers it turned out to be some of my friends from texas.  they had even made up the cutest t-shirts for the occasion!  i was esctatic!!!  after breakfast we headed back to camp for a boat ride.  when we pulled in for a pit stop there were more people reading the newspaper on the dock - that turned out to be some friends from NYC.  we spent more time on the boat and then headed over for a friend's 50th birthday celebration for a couple of minutes.  we headed back to clean up as sean said we were going to buffalo wild wings (it just opened - plus he wanted to see me eat 40 wings) and then out dancing.  our friend showed up in his limo and sean had me put on a blindfold.  i went along with it even though i told him i knew where bww was.  we got out of the limo and i was led to a room where the blindfold was removed to show all my local friends but that wasn't the biggest surprise.  we weren't at bww at all - we were at the lucerne inn for a private wine dinner - of which sean picked the entire menu - complete with a dairy queen ice cream cake for dessert (my fave!!!)!  the meal and the wine were spectacular!  after dinner the limo took us back to camp where a dance party erupted.  there was so much laughing and dancing i didn't want the night to end - and it didn't for quite some time!

day 8 - continued the celebration with all my out of town guests.  the morning was rainy so we slept in, sean made us all breakfast and then went candlepin bowling.  it cleared up that afternoon so we sat on the dock and chatted.  once the sun was behind the trees we took the boat out until the sun was behind too many clouds and we got cold.  we had a lobster boil for supper followed by a bonfire, marshmallow roasting and some star gazing.  the sky cleared up and the stars were just perfect - milky way, shooting stars and all!

day 9 - this is the actual day.  this is the first time in over 10 years i worked on my birthday.  so this is the big birthday month because i've now begun my 4th decade.  this was a recovery day from the weekend festivities!

day 10 - i actually took the time and blogged!

day 11 - went to dinner in chicago with some friends I used to work with - it was great catching up with them!

day 12 - spent the entire afternoon in an airport...not really how i wanted to spend the day so i made it better by hanging in the club room and reading more of the book i'm on now.

day 13 - headed up to norway - that's in maine, btw...to visit some friends and see their new house.  the view is amazing!  we had a nice bbq.  due to the travel issues we were both super tired and didn't stay up very late - plus we wanted to save up some energy for day 14!

day 14 - the friends we were visiting had a pig roast.  we're talking full pig, wrapped in chicken wire, on a pole over an open flame.  it was very tasty and juicy.  turned out to be a very late night but oh so much fun!  this is going to become an annual thing, i'm pretty sure.  depending on how the picture turn out there may be a post with some pictures (there weren't many).

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thank you to everyone that made the surprise birthday weekend such a success.  from our pig roast friends for moving weekends (i told sean it was supposed to be the 7th!) to all the friends that came from out of town (and were able to keep it a secret), to our neighbors for lending us one of their cottages for our guests to the wine store guy for picking great wines and teaching us about them to the lucern inn for such an amazing meal and venue to our friend that has the limo (just for fun) for driving us to all the local friends that came out.  last and definitely not least, to my husband for finally making up for ignoring my birthday the first year we were married.  i can't believe he was able to keep it a secret (even though i was secretly hoping some of my out of town friends would show!) and everything went without a hitch.  he picked a great menu and nudged me in the right direction for picking what i wanted to do for the weekend HA!

the BIG birthday month celebration - week 1

it's that time of year again!
yep, the month i was born
and the time i do a lot of celebrating
and this year is a BIGGIE
a milestone, one might say
feel free to go back to past septembers and see what how i've celebrated in the past

so - here's the start of this year's celebration

day 1 - i was in kansas city for a wedding over the weekend and my sister, niece and nephews surprised me and come up to see me with my mom.  my sister made the mistake in letting me pick what i wanted to do - anything.  sean won't see scary movies with me so i made them go see the conjuring with me.

day 2 - got to hang out with my brother's family in kansas city.  we had a picnic lunch at the park.

day 3 - this was an early morning of traveling to dallas for work so it was a low-key night of catching up on trash tv

day 4 - since i was in dallas i took advantage and meet up with my peeps at a restaurant we hadn't tried before.  they even brought cupcakes that the waitress brought out with candles lit and all!

day 5 - did a little pampering with a mani/pedi

day 6 - this was a late night of traveling but took some time to read a book for fun and i was met at the airport by my husband when i arrived back to town!

i know that's not really a week but day 7 really goes with 8 so i'm saving that for the next post!
you'll just have to come back to hear how my husband spoils me...