Maya lost another tooth this weekend–she actually pulled this one out of her head while we slept–and has another loose one on its way out.
At three bucks a tooth, we’re taking up a collection. Turns out our dental plan doesn’t cover tooth fairy visits.
Ok so everyone said they wanted to hear about my wedding planning, and since it’s taken over my life it’s about the only thing I have to write about!
The wedding is on November 1, 2008 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on Pleasant Street in Portland. The reception is to follow at Val Hall Golf Club in Cumberland. We are inviting about 140 people, which usually means about 120 or so will attend! I have purchased my dress, and the bridesmaid dresses have also been purchased. I am doing an apple red for their colors, which will go along with the fall/leave theme of the wedding. I am moving right along with all the other planning, which is nice!
We are going to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for our honeymoon and we’re staying at the Punta Cana Princess All-Suites and Spa Resort, which is an All-Inclusive resort (necessary due to the amount of food Slava eats!). There is a video of the resort on YouTube, and a description, pictures and traveler reviews on TripAdvisor…the actual site is horrible! We are going on Monday, November 3rd until Monday, November 10th.
If you are interested we have created a wedding website that has information about the wedding, family photos and other great stuff! It is still being updated, so keep checking back for additional information!
Ok I think I’m done now!
-Lindsay
Yesterday I took a look at the 22nd Annual Audience Reader’s Poll in the Portland Press Herald and I came away sad.
Best Restaurant went to Fore Street. No qualms there, it’s probably my favorite restaurant in Maine as well. Fresh, delicious food impeccably prepared. However, it barely beat out the Olive Garden.
Are you frickin’ kidding me? The f’in Olive Garden came in second?!? That’s like saying the second best “Cheap Eats” in Maine is McDonalds.
Oops, my bad. McDonald’s came in first in that category. WTF?!? With Olive Garden and McDonalds nearly taking the top two food positions that Mainers prefer, I wonder if it’s any surprise that Mainers are so unhealthy and overweight?
Now, obviously national chains may have an unfair advantage to one-site shops. Market Street Eats, one of my favorite lunch spots (and a perfect Cheap Eats joint), can only serve people within walking distance of it’s one store in Portland, Maine. It must be good because it just expanded. Still, it completes with all the McD’s throughout the state for the questionable privilege of being the Audience Reader’s Choice.
I’m really not a truck guy – although I do drive one for some very foolish reason. On any given morning of the week, you can see me and my extra long F-150 making a fool of ourselves trying to back out of the post office parking lot. It may be the absolute epitome of impracticalities in my life as I have absolutely no use for the huge bed and gas isn’t getting any cheaper, but there is a certain comfort that comes from knowing that a big steel frame protects me from the few thousand crazies I drive to/from work with each day.
During my recent excursion in Texas, I had the pleasure of driving my brother’s equally gas-hungry, and much younger Chevy Avalanche – that SUV/Truck looking getup you see in the sexy commercials. The truck was all power, and had just about every bell and whistle I could imagine. It was a source of comfort as I hit the road from Houston to San Antonio – a high-octane 200 mile blast through the tranquil fields of South Texas. As I left the concrete jungle of Houston behind me, I recognized myself falling very much into the truck culture. A $10 cowboy hat, a muscle-tee, and the “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack only strengthened the sensation. An hour into my trip, I pulled off of that massive highway, and navigated down one of the millions of miles of CRs (county roads) veining out into the real meat of the state.
My fondest memories of the trip took place on those CRs… and at the bars in Austin of course!
Andy, I’m curious if your love for pickups is what got you to come to the U.S. in the first place?
It turns out that a lot of your ex-countrymen–and they’re primarily men apparently, have fallen in love with the pickup, if this story from the BBC service can be believed.
Here’s a great quote:
There’s something distinctly American about the pick-up, all Bruce Springsteen and O Brother, Where Art Thou.
OK, obviously there’s little more American than the Boss, but do Brits really think of O Brother as being what we’re all about? This is kind of like how they call pit bulls “American Pit Bulls” in the UK. Well, maybe it’s not like that at all, but I never liked the American Pit Bull thing, either.
My favorite part: how they call pickups “Yank Tanks.”
I’m going down to Texas for a week of fun and sun! I can’t wait to get on the ground – imagine a wet cat in the back of a speeding car, and that’s me in the sky! I’m taking a nice road trip starting Monday from Houston to San Antonio, up to Austin and back to Houston. It should be some good times and I’ll be posting from the road!
I have three objectives on this trip:
Yeeehaaww!
I haven’t got a family member for a little under 1700 geographic miles (my folks in Texas), in fact, my brother is a solid 6500 miles away (in Dubai) from my little roost in North Freeport. Although seeing one another in person on a regular basis isn’t very feasible, that doesn’t stop my family from having some great face-to-face contact every couple of days through Skype. Like most disruptive technologies Skype is free of charge and quite revolutionary. With a decent internet connection, a cheapo web cam (or a fancy built in iSight), and the free Skype client, you can speak and see friends, family, and/or business contacts from all over the world!
At first try, Skype seems a little strange. I remember the first time my folks sat on my desk and spoke to me face-to-face. It was almost disorienting! The strangest part being after we “hung up”. I almost expected to see them down my driveway. After about 40 uses or so with about a dozen people, it’s become a very innate method of communicating. I prefer it over the telephone in most cases.
Using Skype with different flyte crew members seems to be quite useful too. Even though they are just a few steps away in most cases, it’s nice to be able to give somebody a jingle for a quick face-to-face, or drop them a text in Skype‘s slick IM agent.
Whether they’re .0001 miles or 6500 miles away, Skype is hugely useful and will likely evolve in ways nobody can imagine today – just as txt messaging grew from a technology to accommodate the deaf into the preferred language of youth.
Here we are in February and we are on our 5th snow day. As if there aren’t enough staff development days and early release days already, they seem to cancel school at the first sign of a snowflake…I remember back when I was a kid, I’d lay in bed at 6am and listen for the local fire department to sound it’s very loud siren to signal a snow day…than happily roll over and go back to sleep.
Now, as a parent, I see snow days as more of a nuisance than anything. Ok it’s one thing if we’re having a real blizzard or something, but today, the bulk of the snow fell overnight, and the storm is moving away as we speak. All the weather stations reported Winter Storm Warning until 10 am. Why couldn’t they just have had late start, Snow Delay? It certainly would have made more sense.
Now my gym down the road, Lifestyles is ALWAYS open during the storms. I just love that. Their staff drive reliable 4-wheel drive vehicles. We do live in Maine after all, it snows and we all should know how to drive in the snow.
My childcare is also AWESOME when it comes to winter weather. Children’s Time has always stayed open during snow storms because they cater to working parents. Ok, once or twice they have closed early, but bless them for staying open. They will even take our Kindergardener on school snow days so she can hang out with her 3-year old sister and mom and dad can get some work done.
Cybele Brooks
Mom, Marketing Maven & flyte co-pilot
