Day trip to Kennebunkport

Travis and I decided that we'd do several day trips this Memorial Day weekend instead of going on vacation.  The weather was terrible for the first part of the weekend, so we decided to stay closer to Boston on Sunday and take the longer drive Monday when the weather would be nice.  Since Monday's weather did indeed cooperate, we decided to go to Kennebunkport, Maine.

Kennebunkport is just under 2 hours away from Boston and is one of the cutest seaside towns in New England.  We rode through the town about a year ago with Ann and Terence to meet with a photographer who took pictures of them when they were on a vacation, and it just made me want to go back!

We started the day by doing some shopping downtown.

Then we had lunch at Federal Jack's.  This was the only place we went on our first trip with Ann and Terence, and it was fantastic (so we had to go back!).  Federal Jack's has a beautiful view of the harbor and is the birthplace of the Shipyard Brewery.  Travis was excited to get a flight (five 3 oz. tastes) of beer.  

The view from Federal Jack's

Our meals.  Our nice waiter let me order off the kid's meal!

While we ate lunch, we told our waiter we wanted to go see the "Bush compound".  The Bush family (Senior and Barbara) lives in Kennebunkport, and their house is something of a tourist spot.  They're well loved by the entire town and even participate in the Memorial Day parade (which we missed...boo).  They all refer to him as "Senior".  Our waiter let us know that it was only about a 2.5 mile walk down one of the prettiest roads, so we decided to walk instead of drive.  

I highly recommend taking this walk down Ocean Avenue.  You pass lots of rocky beaches with beautiful views and some of the most massive houses you've ever seen! 

Then we reached  President Bush (#1's) house.  Quite a nice little place they've got there! 

I found someone!

Once we got back into town, we decided our 5 mile walk earned us some ice cream!  I got Maine Blueberry  (of course!) and Travis had some mint chocolate chip.  It was perfect for a warm day.

At that point, we decided we'd done enough walking, so we hopped in the car and drove a few miles outside of the downtown area to the Goat Island Lighthouse.

By this time it was starting to get late.  One of our favorite restaurants in Maine is Warren's Lobster House in Kittery.  Since it was only about 30 minutes down the road and on the way home, we decided to break up the drive and stop for dinner there.  Warren's is right on the water, has one of the biggest salad bars ever, and fantastic seafood.  

The view

This picture doesn't even capture half of the bar!

Shrimp, scallops, and haddock!

Trav's lazy man's lobster

What are some of your favorite day-trip destinations?

My MS Walk

Saturday I participated in the MS Journey for Hope walk here in Massachusetts.  The 5 mile walk took place in Natick (about 30 minutes outside of the city), and had us wander through cute neighborhoods, pass a pretty pond, and stop up traffic for everyone not involved.  (oops!)

My friend Ann, who has MS, asked me to do the walk with her a few weeks ago, so I joined the Newton Wellesley Hospital MS Clinic team (her clinic) and started raising funds to meet my $250 goal.  The really great thing about this walk is that 85% of funds raised by the team went directly to that clinic, so the money stays local and helps people with MS in your area specifically. 

Ann and I met almost four years ago, and she has become one of my all-time favorite people.  When Toby was an itty bitty guy, Travis took him to PetSmart one afternoon.  He came home and said "Oh my gosh Lauren, I saw the cutest dog at PetSmart today!  It had the biggest head and the littlest body and was so sweet.  Toby loved her...I hope you get to meet this dog one day!"  

A few weeks later we signed up for puppy training, and as we waited for our first class to begin, in bumbles this cute dog and her two people, which turned out to be Amelia (dog), Ann, and Terence!  Our entire class got along really well, and our dog trainer laughed when she realized we were all hanging out outside of puppy class.  Whooo makes friends at dog training??  (We do!)

It was at one of the puppy classes that I realized Ann had MS.  She was usually bopping around the class, but this time came in walking with a cane.  Before this, I hadn't known anyone my age with MS, so I was amazed to see how quickly an episode could come on and effect someone.  As we've become friends, I've learned a lot more about Ann's story and MS, and can easily say that in addition to being one of the most caring and giving people, Ann is one of the strongest people I know.

I've watched her trudge through times when her vision would go completely blurry, hands would feel like they were on fire, legs and hands would go numb, or she'd experience the "MS Hug" (which contrary to its name, is not a lovey dovey feeling).  Regular MRI's and crazy tests to see if a 'new' medication will be a better option are a part of regular life...and every now and then there are the massive 5-day steroid doses when an episode won't go away on its own.

I've also watched her be one of the most inspiring self/patient advocates ever, doing lots of research to see what will help her be healthy.  This has involved strategies from going gluten free (which significantly reduced the severity of some episodes or made them go away all together), to becoming more physically active,  to realizing that sleep is important.  :)  

I would imagine having a disease like MS (where one day can be completely different from the next) might make some completely self absorbed.  It might make ME completely self absorbed!  Ann, on the other hand, is anything but.  We've come home from a vacation to find bread, milk, and other staples waiting for us so there's something to eat when we're exhausted from a long trip.  One of her favorite things to do is throw an elaborate dinner party so she can watch her friends have a fantastic time.  She picks up a her elderly neighbor's cat and take it to the vet every other month so her friend doesn't have to get out with a bad hip.  And she's genuinely interested in what's going on in YOUR life, even when there might be much more happening with her at the moment.

Ann has taught me that while having MS changes your life, it does not have to define it.  In the harshest of circumstances, there is hope and a silver lining, and Ann finds this daily.  Learning more about MS has also convinced me that more needs to be done to find a cure for this unpredictable disease.  I encourage you to find some way to get involved!  Look to see if there's a walk in your area, donate to someone raising money for the cause, or volunteer at your local clinic.  

So...when Ann asked if I'd do the walk with her the answer was, of COURSE, yes.  The Newton Wellesley Clinic team consisted of Ann's Neurologist, her father and two children, Ann, Terence, and their dog Sara, friend Jerin, and the Ziskas (Joe, Carrie, and Katherine).  I think there were a few other people on the team but they arrived at the last minute and I didn't catch their names!

We set off on our 5 mile trek through Natick and had a great time chatting while we walked.  There were police set up at all the intersections making sure no one got hurt crossing any of the roads, and two rest areas set up if you needed a drink, snack, or sunscreen.  They really did a fantastic job with everything - it went off without a hitch (at least from a participant's point of view).

Katherine (front), (L-R) Carrie, me, Ann, Jerin, Terence & Sara, Joe(back)

Sara & her lei

When we finished the walk, we got our "finisher's leis", sat outside and listened to the DJ while we ate a little lunch.  Then I went home and took Toby for (another) walk while I waited for Travis to get home from graduation.  Saturday was his first time marching with the faculty at Gordon College.  He had several students graduating this year and was excited to watch them cross the stage, but will be missing them in classes next semester.

Once Travis got home, we went back over to Ann and Terence's house to grill out and pat ourselves on the back for walking 5 miles, and all the dogs played.

As you now know, Toby and Amelia have been bff's since they met in puppy class.  Last year, Ann & Terence got a second dog, Sara, who is super sweet.  Toby and Sara have played together a lot, but hadn't really hit off yet.  That all changed Saturday.  It's was like their eyes cleared and they realized they were in love...and it was so adorable.  They rubbed their faces on each other, Toby would climb on her face and she'd roll him off, then wrap her long arms around him and liiiick.  Poor Amelia was very jealous, but the whole thing was super cute.



Thank you to everyone who donated toward my walk!  It was a great day for a great cause...with great friends!

Raleigh, Sewing, a New Picture, and Old Friends

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to catch a flight down to NC.  Why the random trip in March?  WELL...husband was commissioned to write a piece for the East Carolina University New Music Festival, which is taking place this week.  He'll be a "composer in residence" at the festival all week, so I decided I'd stay at my parent's house while he was busy at ECU, so I can work during the day and still attend his premiere on Wednesday!

If you live in New England, you totally understand the need for a little relief from the weather.  It's been a long, rough, winter...and they got 10 more inches of snow last night.  Thank goodness both of us got out of dodge before the storm.  When I left Boston on Saturday, the temperature was 29 degrees.  When I hopped of the plane in Raleigh, it was a beautiful 75 degrees and sunny!  Perfect!

Since it was 1pm when I landed, Mom, Dad, and I decided to stop by Cameron Village to have some lunch and shop a little.  We had lunch at Cafe Carolina - one of their favorites.  They both had salads, and I decided to have a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  Their salads looked amaaazing (I should have had a salad) and came with a sweet potato biscuit.  These sweet potato biscuits are out of this world...sweet, potatoey, and soft with just the right amount of brown sugar on the top.  Mmmm.  My grilled ham & cheese sandwich was a little disappointing, as the cheese wasn't reeeeally melted, but the bread was good enough that I wasn't upset.  Mom said, "They must like their grilled cheeses rare here."  :)  Har har har...

After going in a few shops, we decided to swing by the Fresh Market.  I'm embarrassed to say I'd never been there before!  The Fresh Market is an elegant grocery store full of gourmet foods, snacks, beautiful produce and flowers, and an entire back wall of any prepared food you could think of.

There was an entire section of different kinds of rotisserie chickens!

Dad smelling the coffee beans...

Rows and rows of candies, nuts, and trail mix.

The grossest thing in the store.  Eww...

When we got home, Mark's big guy Dexter needed a walk, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and took at 3 mile stroll around the neighborhood...

See little Riley in the top corner?  Such a trooper...

After church on Sunday, we went to Pope and Faye's house, because they told me our friend Glenda had dropped something off for me.  Glenda's always finding deals on cute things, so I assumed she'd worked her magic again and had left it for Pope and Faye to pass along.  When I got there, to my surprise, there was a beautifully wrapped box and a sweet note from her and her husband, Doug.  Inside was my favorite present I've gotten in a LONG time.  Doug had painted a picture of Toby for us!!!

Doug is a FANTASTIC artist.  His work is astounding (as you can see here).  I love his work so much that last Christmas I decided I wanted one of his prints - a rooster in front of a barn door - to go in our kitchen.  I never thought we'd own an original Doug Strickland work...but now we do!

About a year ago, Doug had a massive stroke and is now finally able to start painting again.  He did this piece while still battling double vision.  Yep...that's how amazing he is.  More than just a talented artist, he and Glenda are just two of the sweetest people you'll ever meet.  You should go to his website and check out some of his work.  Most of his work is available in prints too.

Later, Mom and I headed up to her new sewing room so I could get some real instruction on quilting.  If you've been following along, my friend Laura and I decided we should know how to do this, so I've been giving hand-sewing a try.  It was my first time using a sewing machine, so we decided to start from scratch on a project in case I did a terrible job.  :)  Thankfully I didn't make a mess of the project, so this will be made into a bag (hopefully) by the end of the week!

My first 9-patch!

Later that afternoon I got a surprise text from my friend, Mary, who was only a few exits away from Smithfield on I-95.  She hadn't realized she would be passing by so close to us on her way back from dropping her husband off at part 2 of basic training, so Dad and I jumped in the car and met her at a gas station to say a quick hello.  I hadn't met their little boy (Manny) yet, so I couldn't WAIT!  He's such a sweetheart and had fun walking around the gas station (which also happened to be a feed store that sells tricycles and some crazy Apple-Moonshine Jelly).  Only in Johnston County...

He had a fantastic time stacking the boxes of trash bags.  Then in one swoop of his arm, took the entire shelf out. 

I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing first two days home...stay tuned for more fun!