Vinny T’s (I had the fettucine carbonara, which is what I always get, and which I love love LOVE) for lunch for my birthday, and gave me my birthday presents. I got money from my parents and most of the Aurora Teagarden series from my awesome sister who ROCKS.
I used some of the money from my parents to buy a new Healthy Back Bag at LL Bean, this one in Green Mist.
I got it in size small. It joins the black size-small and indigo size-large (which I use for traveling) bags that I already have. I just love these bags more than any purse I’ve ever owned. I got a pretty good deal on the bag I bought, because they’re usually $59.95, but some of the bags were on sale for $39.95, including the bag I got. Score!
I seriously considered buying a Paul Vose print with the rest of my birthday money –
this one, to be exact – there was a display of various Paul Vose prints, matted and framed, for $60. I picked it up, I put it back, I picked it up, I put it back, I left without buying it, and then talked about how I wished I’d bought it, and actually went BACK to LL Bean a few days later, but decided that I’ve taken so many pictures of the Maine ocean and beach that I really, really like –
this one, and
this one, especially – that what I should do is choose one or two of them to hang on the wall, rather than paying for someone else’s art. (Har! NO, I don’t consider my pictures to be “art”, stop rolling your eyes.).
Although, before I got my birthday money and before I even went to Bean’s and saw the above-linked picture, I saw
this picture (well, crap. Maybe it was
this one. I don’t remember!) in the mall and loved it so much that I had it matted and framed and shipped here. Chances are good that I won’t be seeing Mount Katahdin in the Fall anytime soon, so I can rationalize the purchase.
Or so I’d like to think.
While we were at lunch my mother said something about how I was going to be 40 soon (SOON? I’ve got two years, woman!), and that she’d have to decide whether to continue giving me a birthday gift or not. See, my older brothers are both over 40, and she decided at some point that when they turned 40 she was going to stop sending them gifts for their birthdays and scale it back to simply sending them cards, because they tend not to remember her birthday and haven’t for years, and her thinking seems to be that if they haven’t thought about sending their mother a birthday card by the time they’re 40, they’re probably not going to start. Debbie and I, on the other hand, always acknowledge her birthday and my parents’ wedding anniversary (which is coming up. Reminder to self: Buy anniversary card!), so whether we’re cut off when we’re 40 remains to be seen.
Doesn’t matter to me one way or the other, I’ll still send her flowers or a gift card on her birthday whether I get anything from her on my birthday or not. Because I’m JUST that wonderful.
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So, the trip to Maine was pretty good. I don’t know that I need to keep visiting for ten days at a time, though. I think a week is sufficient, and I’m pretty sure that my parents were ready to have their house back to normal after a week. And I sure did miss my babies – and my
baby – while I was gone.
My father recently got back from a three(ish) month trip to Virginia, and got to have a couple of weeks off due to the comp time he’d built up. After weeks of sleeping in late and hanging around the house, he was a sad monkey the morning of January 2nd when he had to get up at 4:45. He’s retiring in March.
When I first got to Maine, for the first few days, I felt like I was translating what everyone was saying to each other. For instance, the spud would say something, my mother would misunderstand what she’d said, and I’d say “No, what she meant was…”
At lunch at Lonestar the day we spent all day in Portland shopping, Brian said something with his mouth full, and everyone looked at him and said “What?”
“He said…” I said, and told them what he’d said.
Debbie turned to me and said “Oh, do you speak full mouth?”
The longer I was in Maine, the less easy it was to understand what the mumbly teenagers were saying, though, and by the end of the trip, I was saying “Is that English?” to Brian when he said something to me.
I suppose the fact that I had a cold that was affecting my ears probably didn’t help matters any.
We did a lot – A LOT – of shopping while I was in Maine, and went to a lot of movies, and went out to eat a lot. To me, that’s a really good vacation, so I think I’d give this one four stars.
I’m not going to do a day-by-day recap of the trip (you’re welcome), but I did jot down a few random memories:
* Debbie and I went into Victoria’s Secret to see what they had on sale. Debbie ended up getting a big set of exfoliant, lotion, and something else (shower gel, maybe?) in the Body by Victoria scent (which smells exactly like the So Sexy shampoo and conditioner). The set was 50% off, so she bought one set during our first trip to the mall, and during our second trip to the mall a few days later she bought another set. I bought a bottle of exfoliant because she’d tried it and raved about it, and I’ve found that we tend to agree when it comes to that sort of thing.
So we were standing in line at Victoria’s Secret, and I glanced upward, behind the registers, and saw a couple of mannequins laying on a shelf. I looked them over, and before I considered how stupid it sounded, I nudged Debbie, pointed to one of the mannequins, and said “Her lips are totally fake.” Debbie smiled and said “Ya think?”
Later, over lunch with my parents and Brian at Vinny T’s, I told my mother the story, and then Debbie and I talked about the cashier at Victoria’s Secret who’d tried to convince us to sign up for some card or another (the Angel card? Maybe?) that would get us savings and get us signed up to
be harassed receive special offers for things like panties and bras.
“Do I look like I can fit my ass into any of the panties they carry?” I said, wide-eyed, to my mother.
She just smiled and shrugged and then said, intending to be comforting I suppose, “Maybe someday you’ll be able to fit into them!”
“I might be able to fit into them someday,” I said, “But I’m really more of a Hanes Her Way kinda gal at heart!”
*My sister’s friend, who is also named Debbie, was aghast when she found out I was going to be in Maine for ten days. “She’s going to be here THAT LONG?!”, were her exact words, I believe. Because when the spud and I are in town, we tend to take over my sister’s spare time, and she doesn’t spend much time with her friends.
“Did you tell her I outrank her?” I asked my sister.
“You outrank EVERYONE,” Debbie said.
Damn right. Heh.
* I brought some magazines and catalogues to Maine with me to look at while I blow-dried my hair (GOD, is blow-drying hair the most boring thing EVER, or what?), and I saw a t-shirt that said “Who needs a therapist? I have a sister!” AMEN TO THAT!
* The movies we saw:
Rumour Has It. Eh. I was really looking forward to it, but it wasn’t that good. And the more I looked at her, the funnier-looking Jennifer Aniston got. I expected a better movie from Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner (um, shut up. I LIKED Waterworld) and Shirley MacLaine.
The Family Stone. Really pretty good – at one point my mother leaned over and said “Are they sure this isn’t called The Family (my maiden name)?” Rachel McAdams is so adorable I can barely stand to look at her.
Syriana. Jesus Christ, this movie sucked so horribly that Debbie, the kids and I got up and walked out after an hour and a half and didn’t care at ALL how the movie ended. I would rather spend an hour and a half blow-drying hair, and y’all know how much I hate THAT shit. On a side note, when he’s all roughed up, George Clooney looks a lot like my brother Randy. They share a lot of the same mannerisms. Very odd.
Fun with Dick and Jane. Kind of a let-down. Jim Carrey’s shtick is funny, but in this movie there was no real story to back up the shtick. I do like Tea Leoni an awful lot, though.
Pride and Prejudice (which my mother persisted in calling “The Pride and the Prejudice”, heh). This was far and away the best movie we went to see. I’m not crazy about Keira Knightly, but she really made that role her own. (
DISCLAIMER: I haven’t seen the miniseries with Colin Firth yet, though it’s in my Netflix queue. I understand there’s some scene with him in a wet shirt that will make me swallow my tongue?) We went to see this at the
Eveningstar Cinema – a small, independent theater in downtown Brunswick and some time into the movie, I came to realize that I had to pee. But I didn’t want to miss anything, and I thought the movie would be over soon, so I stayed put. And stayed put. And stayed put. All the while thinking, “This is almost over!” Finally, when Elizabeth went in to speak to her father after Miiiiiister Darcy had spoken to him, and he was all “What can you be thinking, Lizzie? You hate him! He’s got a big stick up his ass!” and she went all soft-eyed and was all “I thought he had a big stick up his ass, but he doesn’t! I love him, truly I do!”, I thought “Oh, christ almighty, this is NEVER GOING TO END!”, and I got up and ran to the bathroom, and when I came back into the theater, Lizzie and Miiiiister Darcy were all snuggly and he was kissing her face, and the movie lasted approximately another thirty seconds. Which means I’ll have to rent it to see the three minutes of the movie I missed. Or maybe I’ll just go ahead and buy it, ’cause I think it’s going to end up being a favorite of mine.
Annnnd… I think that’s about it. Want to see some pictures? Okay, just a few random ones. I’ll save the baby pictures and stories for tomorrow.
Every time I fly, I have to take cloud pictures. It’s the law.
Debbie and I ate at Pedro O’Hara’s one evening. It’s an Irish/ Mexican restaurant. No, there were no corned beef tacos on the menu. I had a reuben, and it was goooood.
Dorks.
The Big Boot at Bean’s. Also, the spud.
Big balls o’ light hanging from the trees near Bean’s. They were very cool.
I don’t remember the name of this place, but it always cracks me up. It’s a drive-through coffee place in Brunswick, and I love the cow in the coffee cup on the top of the building.
Mom and the kids at Lonestar.
Does this seagull look miserably cold, or what?
More random uploaded pictures,
here.
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Previously
2005: No entry.
2004: Happy birthday to me!
2003: Happy birthday to me!
2002: Oh, is it my birthday?
2001: Happy birthday to me!
2000: I have pneumonia. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!]]>