maine weekend!

This past weekend we all assembled up in beautiful maine to celebrate jessi’s upcoming nuptials- it was officially slated as ‘not a bachelorette party,’ but i suppose thats what most of us called it anyway. Somehow, by the grace of god and many months of planning, jessi’s sister karen was able to lasso us all together - jessi & damien drove up from ny friday afternoon; miri came down from montreal; chava, morgan and melissa also drove from ny; mara, patty and karen came from boston; and i flew up from fll to jfk to portland – facing delays, lightening storms, and making a new gay bff on the plane from portland.

(just a quick side note on that: while im usually not the kind of girl that likes talking to other people on the plane, greg & i automatically clicked and were laughing and hooting and hollering from the first 5 minutes on... all a good thing, considering we were grounded at jfk for 90 minutes before we could leave- so nice to meet strangers who you connect with randomly! When we got off the plane, he insisted on hugging jessi & damien, and introduced us to his partner. Amazing).

Jessi & damien were kind enough to fetch me from the portland airport, complete with a bag of baby carrots, hummus, and a vodka shot (oh, my friends!). then we slowly crawled back from portland to the cabin, about an hour’s drive in the mist and fog, rising up from the black roads. Damien amusingly kept remarking, ‘what could go wrong in maine?’, prepping the way for a horror movie. (There was that time we ran over a fisherman in the middle of the road with a hook for an arm, but other than that, no problems getting to the house...)

Late night we got in around 2.30 or so, were greeted by a sleepy-faced patty who insisted on apologizing about not coming to the airport as part of the arrival committee; and got to see the bridal-headgear that the rest of the girls had made in the meantime- a highly decorated paperbag complete with veil and assorted drawings. "Bridezilla," it prominently declared. We creeped up the stairs past assorted sleeping beauties, & had some wine & crackers & cheese in bed. Sleep ensued.

Hours later, patty came into our room with the morning sunshine- asking whether i was ready for a run. (Oh patty. Its 8.30. Im never ready for a run; you know that). In her defense, jessi tried to explain that patty didnt intentionally come in for that reason, but it still seems suspicious... so while patty ran, damien jessi & i lazed about before heading downstairs where we joined the assorted crew in catching up, getting coffee from the general store, and then starting on group-breakfast making. How hard is it to cook for 12 people? You’d be oddly surprised- our biggest issue was which table to move where to ensure we could all sit somewhere without scrambled eggs on our laps. Mixed in somewhere in the morning hours was some kayaking, walking, and water-gazing– the house was right on a peninsula of maine so that we had water access right from the backyard- beautiful, stunning views, misty day, foggy and clean and not too hot or cold.

After breakfast, we went over to land’s end and saw some more of the same- misty views of water, land, cloaked in secrecy. (Not the store- the actual scenic location, lands end). After that, it was on to ‘fat boys’ drive-in for lunch, where they work in an old-school manner– the waitress come over to your car, get your order, and then bring it to you on a tray that hooks onto your drivers-side window. Crazy that these things still exist! Amazing huge fried clams... then off to Brunswick, where we hit up some stores, and then walked to Bowdoin for a tour by the-bride-to-be, ending at the college radio station– where jessi had asked for a time slot to do a show! So awesome- we got to assist her dj skills, go through new & old cds, and talk live. Being on a college campus instantly is reminiscent– that weird funny smell in radio stations, of dirty couches and old records; the beautifully manicured grass and paths walking around; the old charming buildings mixed with the new...

Post-show, we split into two groups– one with the task of getting thai food, the other with buying s’mores items and lobstahs– and by then, amazingly, it was already dinner time: miri orchestrated the lobster steamer pot, and we both dropped them in; grilled fresh corn; tossed a huge salad; and we sat outside covered in deet bug spray – yet still somehow managed to get half-eaten alive. A really wonderful day– followed up by a surprise birthday cake in the shape of a lady bug (how amazing are my friends?) and s’mores making on the grill, plus a few rounds of ‘apples to apples’ – the controversially subjective game where you have to match your random hand of 5 noun cards to the random adjective card that is thrown down in the middle of the circle. (morgan, i apologize again for my insanity in berating your choice of creamed corn rather than rock & roll to match the adjective ‘glorious’). More game playing, then off to bed for our last morning...

... which involved more kayaking, the sun coming out, heading to lunch at a nearby adorable chowder restaurant, more gorgeous views at the dolphin marina, and sadly, time to say goodbye.
mara drove karen, patty and i back to boston (with an amazingly touristy stop at the new hampshire liquor wholesale store). Then, lucky me, i got a night w P in boston, got to see her adorable apartment, go for a run around the charles, drink at the nearby bar, ate fabulous sushi, and followed it all up with another beer at the local BU pub, a walk to BU library, and then home for a review of the weekend-in-pictures, and time for bed – only to wake up several hours later to get my sleepy ass into a cab to logan, almost cry when the airport security threatened to take my blueberry jam away (apparently jam = liquid or gel. Go figure), convinced him to let me keep it by remarking that it was my only souvenier (little did he know about the gummy lobster candies), and then, a plane-ride-later, back in fort lauderdale, en route to work, and back in the office with the boss... phew.

While im still exhausted from the weekend, it was so great to be able to celebrate jessi and the upcoming wedding, and really, to be surrounded by all of our friends. It makes me wonder why we dont do these kind of group trips more often!

Although you would assume Monday night would have ended in recuperation, it surely did not– we had another eating adventures, this time in little haiti at a place called ‘chez le bebe’- which was literally a hole in the wall, in a totally sketchy neighborhood, where we shoved 3 tables together and collectively established ourselves as the only non-haitians in the small place (total occupancy? Probably 30- and there were about 10 of us). The walls were painted bright pepto pink, we were regarded with complete curiosity by everyone in there, and we sadly realized once the "waitress" came over that they had already run out of handful of the things we wanted to try. On the menu Monday night? Fried pork chunks, fried goat, fried chicken wings, stewed chicken thighs, fried whole fish, and pigs feet– we got two orders of *each* (if you can believe it– well, ok– only one of the pigs feet), accompanied by salads, fried green plantains, and huge bowls of rice pilaf. (Off the menu Monday night? - we missed out on the oxtail, stewed goat, and a non-fried pork dish). Goat was surprisingly (?) tasty- almost had the earthiness of something like lamb, not as gamey as i would have thought. Although the establishment was not officially byob, we were unofficially told we could byob, providing we did so discreetly– justin brought along Haitian rum, and we drank it with our free pepsi. Those haitians know how to live. Of course, i woke up and spent most of Tuesday morning with a horrible stomach ache, but thats part of trying new random food items in sketchy locales, isnt it?

Tuesday night, similarly, turned from relaxation-time into outing time– another game night at the standard hotel after pilates, where i won a round of connect-four and a round of boggle– but then of course lost to superior gameplayers. Towards the end, i also managed to actually win a prize! No... not by really playing a game- but by guessing how many chocolate chips were in a little bag. Kind of hilarious- apparently the spaniards playing connect four had totally backed up the bracket so that we couldnt play the final games of connect four, and thus our host had to find a game to give away the last prize. Although both red-light-green-light and musical chairs were in the discussion, it ended up with this chocolate-chip guessing game, and now i have a free haircut at some hipster salon in south beach. Kind of nice! Justin, somehow, scored a better prize for being a finalist in the boggle tournament, and got two spa treatment certificates for something involving mud. I mean... not fair.

In light of these winnings of the week, im a pretty happy girl. At work, i was just presented with a pre-birthday cake, involving a picture of me screened ontop of the cake, as a 3 yr old ballerina, my head cocked to one-side in meloncholy. Totally totally amazing. Nicole and chanel, what would i do with out them? (Nicole later let me know that other photos in the running included the sandbar logo. Probably equally as hilarious, but slightly inappropriate for all coworkers & boss. Good choice ladies).

Tonight, finally, i will get some sleep after a long much-missed beach run. Sorry for the greedy length of this missive- patty, if you have anything to add re: maine, please insert accordingly!
Xoxoxo
- and pictures to come soon as well!