Pomped and Circumstanced!

On November 19 Maureen made her first trip home to MI to celebrate a couple of really big events!! The first of course being:

William graduated!! 

He's going to be done student teaching on December 17, and then he'll be ready to be a real, honest-to-goodness, teacher! The students of the Greater Portland Area are going to be very very lucky if they get to be in his class!

Very proud :).

So not only did Will graduate on the 20, he also did something else that's huge!! He got his very first ever headlining gig! About a month prior to this Will won a contest at the Creole Gallery in Old Town, because a bunch of judges in the audience voted him as the funniest comic there! Not only did he win $100, but he got to come back on the 20 and headline the show himself. He got 15 minutes, and many of his family and friends came out to enjoy the show. Everyone agreed that if he could have been in the running, he'd have won again!

Look for more posts soon that have the link to his set from that night!

After Will's day was over and done with it was on to Maureen's family Thanksgiving on Sunday. It was really nice for her to catch up with all her loved ones, and eat some delicious food! The only problem we almost had, was that there almost wasn't enough turkey to go around:

Just kidding - 40 lbs was MORE than enough for 15 people.... 

The next week was spent catching up with family and friends, and enjoying the time in Michigan! On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving again with Will's family, and the food was equally tasty there as well. 

Maureen said good bye to Michigan on the 28, but will be back again for Christmas on the 17! 

The next time she heads back to Maine, it will be with William...Finally.

Spring Point Lighthouse

These are just some pictures from Spring Point Lighthouse in South Portland.  I am a little jealous of the Southern Maine Community College kids who basically have this lighthouse on their campus.  I hope they appreciate it...

Sailboat in Casco Bay.

Fort Gorges.

This picture doesn't do justice to how pretty Portland looks from across the water.    Maureen said it was even prettier when the fall colors were at their peak.  I believe her.  

Spring Point Lighthouse

Boat.

3 Boats, 1 Shot.

Big lighthouse, tiny Maureen.

The neat thing about Spring Point is it has a really long breakwater that you can walk all the way out on.  You can watch the boats go by and the view of the city and the bay is beautiful.  

"The greatest lovers were murderers"  You can't see it but above this  someone else wrote, "Citation needed."

It had been a gray fall day but, as we were leaving the clouds started to break up and the sun poked through.

Aways down the coast is the one and only, Portland Head Light.

And a buoy.

Lost in Boston

I visited Maureen and Maine the last weekend in October.  It was a 2 year anniversary/Halloween/it's been awhile since we've seen each other, extravaganza.  I flew in late Thursday and left Monday afternoon.  We had all sorts of fun but the main event was our overnight trip to Boston!  

Downtown Boston hotel rooms were very expensive so instead we actually stayed in Braintree.  We were outside of Boston but Braintree has a T station.  (The "T" is what they call their subway system.)  So we got in and out of the city with ease.

Sadly we didn't take a ride, just a picture.  We did, however, take the Old Town Trolley Tour.  This was a very good way to see the major sites in Boston.  One ticket is good all day so you can get on and off as much as you want.  Plus, you get to hear to  lots of tour guide humor.  Which we all know is the best part... 

Statue of Samuel Adams (of Revolutionary War and Boston Lager fame).  This is in front of  Faneuil Hall.  It is known as "The Cradle of Liberty" because of the many speeches that were give here in the times leading up to the Revolutionary War.  The second floor is still used as a public meeting house.  The bottom has some little stores and a coffee shop.

Sitting inside Faneuil Hall

G. Washington

Foreground: Maureen Nagy
Background: Uncomfortable looking chairs

William - Interior Faneuil Hall

Maureen should always be in front of me in pictures so she doesn't look so tiny and I don't look so humongous...  

Cutest girl in Boston!

No idea what this statue was all about.  Just a giant man in a suit...  Despite the lack of information, Maureen was still very excited about it

Quincy Market is right behind Faneuil Hall.  It is basically the coolest food court you have ever been too.  It is cooler than that sounded...  The blow up dog is there because they were having a dog halloween costume contest, aka dogs were being abused psychologically. 

This falcon thing was ripping this pigeon to bits.  Even the birds in Boston are tough.

Maureen and Bobby Orr.  I made her take a picture next to it because of her dad's love for hockey.  

TD Garden (obviously) where the Celtics and Bruins play.

Maureen crossing the street to get to Mike's Pastries.  Supposedly it is an amazing pastry shop.  It looked really neat, but there were 2 million people inside the 45 square foot store.   

Paul Revere statue.  Apparently they put a pumpkin on his head for Halloween.  

P. Revere and M. Nagy

Maureen and her favorite saint, St. Francis.

Hi Frank.

Inside the Old North Church.  Where the "one if by land and two if by sea" lanterns were put.  

In addition to all of this we met with our only Boston friend, Kendra, watched the terrible, terrible MSU-Iowa game at an MSU alumni bar, ate at a great Italian restaurant on the North End, and saw an Improv Asylum show!  Whew, that was a lot.  Good trip.

More Apartment Pics!

I did take a few more pictures after we got some things put away. The place needs a lot more work, but we're getting there!

Will gets extra points for putting this bad boy together...it took forever, but he's awesome :).

 

Lovely new bookcase! 

 Our new couch!

 the dog and cat beds...which they sometimes use?

 I miss my red walls :(. 

 my favorite thing in the apartment...

More pictures to come soon!

Will's First Visit!

So as some of you know, Will is finishing up getting his teaching degree, and isn't going to be able to move out here until after Christmas (don't worry, I've got his flat screen TV, and I know where he lives...he's not getting out of this one). Because he misses me SO much, he already came out to visit once about three weeks ago. He was here from a Friday night to a Sunday night, and we had a pretty amazing time! Here are some highlights of what we did:

Friday night: Pizza and beer, then bed because it was kind of late.

Saturday: We woke up, and went and had brunch with our neighbors Kelcie and Mike. They are awesome, and they took us to the tastiest restaurant.  Will and I each enjoyed an apple cider mimosa, definitely a fall treat, and had some delicious food. We'll be taking guests there for sure.  After brunch we came home and watched some of the State game. We wanted to play tourist, but there were so many places to go, so we just picked a place that sounded fun! Our first stop was to the desert of Maine!

I'll let Will explain the science part if you're interested, but basically, due to poor farming techniques, what was once 300 acres of forest, turned into 300 acres of legit desert. In Maine. They brought in camels, and there are crazy dunes. It used to be a really big attraction, but the last two owners have wanted to let the land do what it's supposed to do - so they're letting it return to forest. There's only about 50 acres of desert left, but it's still pretty awesome. We went out on a tour ride:

And checked out the dunes:

 And totally random, but they even had a butterfly house. I love those.

So basically we had a great time! After this we were pretty hungry, so we headed off to an adorable little town called Brunswick. We'll be taking our visitors there for sure! Will has some facts about the college of that town that he can share with you on the drive...... We ate at a very tasty Japanese restaurant that had awesome sushi, and then we had to stop and get dessert at the gelato shop next door. Yum! To top off an awesome day, we went to the movies and saw The Town - AWESOME. We both liked it a lot!

Sunday- Will didn't have to be to the airport until 5, so we had all day to play again! We got up slowly, and decided we needed a lobster roll in our lives. I can't speak for Will, but my favorite place to go for these, is the Lobster Shack:

I think I like the taste of the Portland Lobster Company's rolls better than this place, but wait until you see the view:

And the line:

This place was recently featured on Man Vs. Food, and it's also a local favorite. Even though it's not the regular summer tourist season, we get a lot of people driving up and down the coast in the fall. Basically everyone wants a lobster roll from the lobster shack! We've had them before, so we decided to try a different restaraunt.

It was a good decision, because we ended up finding a new place to try, also in Cape Elizabeth. We had a delicious brunch, with a mimosa again (I could get used to that), and Will got this adorable cup:

After brunch we still had time, so we went to a local access beach we hadn't been to yet, and played by the water for a bit.

Fast forward through the tearful goodbye, and the last couple weeks, and Will is going to be here again soon! On October 28 he'll be back in Portland, for 5 days! We'll have lots of adventures to blog about after that!

Check back often, and plan your visits accordingly :).