The holidays

It's that time of year again... the holidays have pounced upon us with little warning! YIKES! Ryan and I have just barely started Christmas shopping but luckily we made things a little less stressful this year by just buying something for the house vs taking the time and money to buy individual gifts for each other.

While the holidays are generally a source of great happiness around our house for Ryan and myself, I do often find myself slipping into a fit of anger because I dont have the opportunity to spend as much time as I would like with my family. I am very appreciative that I have Ryan to be a consistent figure in my life so that I always have a wonderful person to be a pillar of strength as well as a member of my family around me. While I appreciate it, it increases my yearning to spend time with my family that I grew up with.

Well it is the responsibility of both parties to attempt to bring a family together, both sides of situation need to be willing to do that. When do you reach a point that your willingness subsides and just turns into anger and bitterness? I think I have reached that point, I find just the thought of trying to get my family together makes my heart beat faster, makes my palms sweat and makes me want to shout at the next person that talks to me. I know...not great characteristics to have but it is definitely how I feel sometimes... actually most of the time in reference to this topic... but needles to say the holidays are both frustrating and a point of great joy to me, I know this is confusing but if you understand my situation I think you can empathize.

Sorry for the ranting, it made me feel a little bit better... not much but a little bit ...

Regardless I do wish you and your family a happy and safe holiday season!

thoughts of the day

I'm just dumping a few things off my plate, well not literally more in a way 'dramatic" way so that I can feel a little less stressed and more like a human being.

-the wymans have the cutest baby in the world, for now...
-babies make me smile just thinking about them (thanks albert and roxanne)
-glad my job gives me a living, I wish it gave me a reason to live
-if you want to find me for the next month and a half, look for me at work
-some people have no respect and the older I get, the more I realize it (the more I work, the more I realize it)
-being 24 isn't bad, at least it isn't 25
-I hope being 25 brings along some life goals but we'll see
-patience is a virtue and I definitely don't have it, I wish you could buy it, that would make things easier
-the holidays are coming, whether we like it or not, thank goodness for my fantastic boyfriend who makes me feel like I have something to look forward to for the next 2 months
-the economy sucks, you know it, I know it but more than anything lets hope 2009 rings in like a lion and corrects it
-I am empowered to think I live in a time where Barack Obama can become president

foodie

Ok... sorry it has been a long time since my last post but here is a brief update-

1.) house purchase still ongoing unfortunately
2.) Families are for loving not hating (there are some exceptions to this rule but not when they are your parents or your siblings)
3.) some men are treasures-some men are dumps, luckily I have got the best of them all
4.) Make A Wish Foundation of Maine is my charity of choice (more to come on that)

The rest of the post:

Anyone who knows me, knows I love great food and excellent drinks... we have been a few places lately that I wanted to share with everyone.

A few weeks ago, we went to a Bangor restaurant, Perrihouse. Let me tell you, we have been to similar restaurants in the area because I personally love fine dining and with just one visit, this one escalated to the top of my list. For dinner that night, I had ribeye. Yes I ordered steak at a restaurant and I didnt have to send it back. My steak was cooked perfectly and not only that but it was piled high with carmelized onions, crumbled crip bacon and blue cheese, a few of my favorite things. Along side dinner we had some great martinis, another specialty of the Perrihouse. I had a nice sweet martini as my appetizer and then spiced things up with a dirty martini with Grey Goose for dinner, needless to say, it was one of the nicest dinners I have had in a while. To complete things for the night, we had a Maine specialty, blueberry cheesecake with anglaise sauce and caramel. I think I would go back there just for the martinis and cheesecake. If you ever get a chance, stop by the Perrihouse; http://www.perrihousedining.com/.

This past weekend, we went to the Union Fair. To start things off, I always go to the fair with the intentions of getting french fries. If I go to a fair that is the one thing that I must have... there is no negotiation, so of course I had them. These werent your typical fair fries though... these were ribbon fries, curly waifs of potato fried to a crisp and then sprinkled with salt and dipped in ketchup, they were little pieces of homemade potato goodness. Needless to say, I could have eaten several trays. Next on the agenda at the fair was something that I have never eaten but let me tell you, I would have another one again. I had a falaffel(sp). How is it made you ask?
The vendor I went to made homemade wheat flat bread on a open flame, they then added homemade hummus directly on to the warm flat bread. It was then followed by deep fried ground up chick peas and then feta cheese sprinkled on top. They then suggested putting a sauce on top, which I choose a mixture of yogurt and dill. AMAZING... if you ever get a chance try one!

Next stop on our Union tour was Sweetgrass Winery. If you read Ryan's blog, you have probably seen this name before. One of the owners works at the bank with us and we heartily enjoy their fruit wines. If you ever get a chance definitely stop by. www.sweetgrasswinery.com

They had some new items for us to sample when we stopped by saturday after the fair. The newest item for us is Cranberry Gin. I am not a gin drinker by any means but this cranberry gin is by far one of the best liquors I have had in a long time, smooth and tart at the same time, it is the perfect mixture for tonic water with a spritz of lime, what you have is a perfect companion for a night on the deck. We bought a bottle on Saturday and I am already halfway through it. An amazing treat if you are looking for something different.

Well that is all I have for now, keep checking better for some new pictures and I will be sure to get some up soon. I will also have a post in the next couple of days for Make A Wish. Thanks for visiting.

bathroom rules

So today's blog is a little off beat but it is on my mind so I have to vent. As many of you know I work in a large office with a lot of other people. In our office building we have lots of bathrooms thus lots of bathrooms creates lots of bathroom stalls. When you go into the bathroom there are rarely more than two people in a given bathroom at a given time but yet you have ten bathroom stalls to choose from in EACH bathroom.

So today like many other days, I needed to partake of our lovely bathroom facilities. Generally like a cow to a stall, I choose the same stall every time I need to use it. The stall I generally choose is the one way at the end. My thought process here.. wait never mind... you dont need to know that. Moving on, today I am in "my stall" and I am the only one in the entire bathroom and I hear someone else come in... no problem... however they choose to partake of the stall right beside me. Of course there is no problem but seriously people... can't you choose another stall besides the one right next to mine. I like my private time... do you really need to be right next to me when there are 8 other stalls that you can choose from? I know this blog is a little personal but I think you catch my drift here. There should be some type of bathroom etiquette about which stall you utilize when someone else is already in the bathroom. I think there are some supposed rules out there so here is your chance to share them with me... so please go ahead leave a comment and tell me the one bathroom rule you live by.

Pictures and a Post!

I still haven't figured out this whole posting with pictures thing so please bear with me. I will give you a road map today, the picture at the bottom is my handsome guy, Ryan. All the way to the right at the top is an abstract of the Penobscot Narrows bridge and then closest to the writing is a picture of a sunflower field that we recently visited. Yes yes I took all of these.




POST:


So we have had some exciting going ons around our house this week. We are currently under contract to purchase our first house! super exciting! Things are going very well thus far and of course we aren't that far into the process but everything seems to be right in order so we should be all set to close in the middle of September. There really hasn't been anything major going on besides that; as you can imagine that has been our main focus and will continue to be the main focus of our personal life over the next 2 months.





We do have some upcoming photo shoots so we will be sure to share those with you!





On a different note, I recently ordered some items through a reward program that we have at work. One of the items that I ordered was the book, The Last Lecture written by Randy Pausch. If any of you recently caught the news Randy Pausch was the Carnegie Mellon professor who recently passed away as a result of cancer leaving by his wife and three children. Prior to his passing Pausch wrote the book which is based on his "last lecture." To be perfectly honest, I am not sure I am even going to make it through the book but certainly not for lack of trying. I am about 10 pages in... not far at all and I have had a hard time controlling my emotions thus far. The book is powerful and emotionally. The book certainly doesn't have the intention to be emotional and the book is written in a way that you wouldn't expect it to be emotional but you cant help it with knowing this man's touching story. One of my favorite quotes thus far is the following,





"I knew what I was doing that day. Under the ruse of giving an academic lecture, I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter, I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed for them. But I am a lecturer. So I lectured."





If you get a chance, please read it and let me know what you think!

a sampling of pictures

Here is a small sampling of pictures from the last couple of weeks. It isnt everything but it willl give you a taste and I will post more later! :)

sorry...

so no pictures yet... I know I know you are anxiously awaiting my photos.. he he.... but it will happen eventually. I have been taking pictures and using my creativity but things have been a little crazy.

To give you a little update:

Work at the bank: crazy crazy crazy all month long. I have been doing some different projects at work lately and it definitely keeps me busy for the eight hours I am there Monday through Friday. I feel as though just doing that, I could work at least 10 hours every day. I enjoy being that busy at work but I have a hard time letting it go once I leave the office. I think about everything I need to do when I get back in there and then I get home...and I starting thinking about everything I need to do at home. It sometimes feels as though it is never ending but you cant complain... because the time you need to start worrying is when you have no work. Next month and into September my main project at work is going to be the Make A Wish walk which is hosted in Belfast. This year the walk will be on September 18th at 6pm. If you would like to get involved, please let me know. For those of you who dont know a lot about Make A Wish, it is a program which grants "wishes" to children that are diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. Honestly, I read through the children's amazing stories and I cry every time. Most of the time these kids dont even want something for themselves, they want something for their family and it is just so touching that these children are so selfless. If we could only all be that way. My goal is try and raise enough money so that my line of business can grant at least one wish. ONE WISH=$6,000. I know it's an aggressive goal and especially in this economy that we are all facing right now but I think we can do it. Check back later about this because I will have my donation link where you can donate directly to my team. I apologize that was a little bit of tangent but it is a cause that I am so passionate about I cant help myself.

At home: BUSY BUSY BUSY! For those of you who don't know we recently made an offer on a house in our area. Right now, we are still waiting and are in the offer phase. Hopefully we will hear something back by end of week and can move forward with the process but we will see. In addition, our photography business is definitely picking up. We are very busy with that and it couldnt make us happier. We are definitely going to be going non stop through the end of the year especially if we do end up purchasing this home.

To add to this all Ryan and I are still on opposite schedules. Ryan and I would really like to eventually be on the same schedule and hope that it happens sooner rather than later but only time will tell, it definitely makes the home buying process a little bit more complicated.

Well that is all for now... sorry that this is such a long post but it is definitely made to give you an update on all the going ons! Hope everyone has a great week!!!!!!