The Maine Event!

Ha ha, get it? Cause we went to Maine? Ha...ha. Yeah, okay - we made a lot of those jokes while we were in Portland for New Year's Eve visiting Mara & Matt in their new city and abode, but whatever, I still think they're kind of funny.

So we drove up to Portland Monday night and arrived just as Matt was heading to bed (he's been working crazy hours at the hospital) and just before Mara got off work (she works from 3pm-11:30 most nights at the local news station), so we all chatted for a bit and then went to bed ourselves.

Tuesday morning we woke up and there was fresh snow on the ground!! We were thrilled it was cold enough in Portland (around 20 when we arrived and about 8 when we left!!) to have some snow since it was relatively warm for this time of year in Rhode Island and Connecticut while we were there.

Mara took us to a super yummy breakfast place where I had graham cracker crusted orange french toast- amazing, right? Chris had one of their many varieties of Eggs Benedict, (Louisiana style I think?) and then we walked around Portland all morning seeing the sights, etc. Our last stop before Mara took off for work was the Victoria Mansion. It is this beautiful, old home and former hotel that is decorated each year to the nines for Christmas. They charge admittance to keep up the home's restoration efforts and after seeing it, I was so glad we decided to go in. Each room had a different Christmas tree in it with a different style of decor...very cool! I was sad that we couldn't take any photos inside.

So around 2:30, we headed back to their house, where Chris worked for a bit, I blogged and Mara went to work. We met up with her again with Matt for dinner at a Mexican chain called Margaritas - which, incidentally, is a New England chain and there's one right next to my hometown in CT. So I found that hilarious....and I must say, the food was way better than I remember from the one in Branford. Back at the house, Chris, Matt and I watched STEPBROTHERS on DVD, which I must say was funnier than I expected, and went to bed.

Wednesday morning brought more snow with it! The temperature had dropped even further and around 10am it was snowing. yay! Chris stayed home to work while Mara and I went to get some breakfast and had our girl time. We then made a trip to the grocery store for our NYE dinner. When we got back, Chris was done and ready for some more Maine sightseeing. We headed out to Portland Head Light, a very well known lighthouse in the area and it was beautiful....but really frickin cold!! We took some photos and then ran back to the car!!

Chris was not going to miss out on lobster on his first visit to Maine, so the two of us headed to DiMillo's - apparently a tourist trap but it was this really cool floating restaurant right in the wharf and the food was great! - and had some lunch. Lobster for Chris (a big guy with HUGE claws!) and fried clams for me. yum yum!

After our meal, we headed back for the NYE celebration. I took a brief nap while Chris and Mara cooked (surprise surprise), then Matt arrived home and we all started hanging out and munching on apps. Their friends Andy and Kana arrived shortly after and we had a great night all together! Nice big dinner, some fun times on Rock Band, a little Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve and the big countdown!!

Thursday morning we had to head back to LA but it was the coldest it had been there and we were not sad to arrive back to 50 degree weather, though we were of course sad to leave behind our friends and family. Here are some photos of our time there, though I admit I took a ton and have not really edited them out...sorry!


Happy 2009 everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday!