Tag: date night

Dance this mess around

by Karen, posted in He and me, local fun, Marriage, relationships

My husband and I went to see The B52’s last night. As far as date nights go, this was a great one. We stopped to eat on the way to the show at Margarita’s. I got a Blood Orange Margarita, and it was AWESOME. Note: There is no photo of the margarita because, sadly, I forgot my phone in the car and I my husband thought I couldn’t go the duration of the meal without it, so of course I had to prove him wrong. 🙂

Anyway, The show was great.

Except for the opening band, which was meh, therefore they shall remain nameless.

The show start time was 8:00pm, but The B52’s didn’t come out until 9:15pm. By then, it was pretty hot in there. Fred (one of the lead singers, for the uninitiated) made note of this, and then disappeared for a few songs. We thought we’d lost him, but the ceiling fans came on and thankfully, Fred came back out.

The played most of my favorite songs, including “Roam“, and “Deadbeat Club“, which is my current favorite.

They did an encore of three songs: “Planet Claire“, some song I never heard of with a telephone number in it, and (finally! finally!) “Rock Lobster“.

When they played “Dance This Mess Around“, and I was, you know, doing that, I had a moment when I realized that I was doing this same exact thing about 35 years ago. I was singing at the top of my lungs, dancing, and throwing my hands in the air like I just didn’t care (nod to Cameo‘s song), at some club in Boston that I can’t recall the name of.  It was a glimpse of how it is to live in Einstein Time, and it frikkin’ rocked.

I had so much fun (as I talked about my Metaphysical Monday video this week)! The best part? The B52’s were having so much fun too! We’ve all heard of bands that are not in love with the idea of playing the same songs over and over, the “fan favorites”, at their concerts, but this band didn’t get that memo.

If you ever have the chance to see them live, GO!

This is the best photo my iPhone could get of them, and it’s awful, but it’s all I have, so I’m posting it here at the end.

Stevie Nicks in Boston

by Karen, posted in no fear, writing

I saw The Pretenders and Stevie Nicks at the TD Boston Garden this week. The Pretenders opening for Stevie Nicks? OMG.

stevie-nicks-and-chrissy-hynde
Stevie Nicks and Chrissy Hynde

A.MAZ.ING.

I saw Stevie Nicks once before, when I was in my extremely early 20’s (or maybe even late teens). It was by accident. I was at a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert, when they started playing Stop Dragging My Heart Around and Tom started singing and then (the way I remember it), suddenly you could hear Stevie Nicks singing her part, and then there she was, walking on stage. Unbelievable! What a gift that was.

This time, Stevie started singing the song, after saying that Tom Petty wasn’t there, and then Chrissy Hynde joined in, walking out on stage singing Tom Petty’s part! Talk about a time warp. (PS: They rocked it!!)

This was more than a concert for Stevie this time around. She had a message to deliver. She said over and over that she is a writer. She never said songwriter. She said writer. She also said that she doesn’t feel old, even though at age sixty-eight, she most certainly was old, by anyone’s definition. She had written a song when she was twenty-one and never got to sing it on stage. It was always a dream of hers, and now, ate age sixty-eight, she was finally realizing it! Her message is this: only you know what your dreams are, and it’s never too late to make them come true.

And then she said Beacon Street was awesome and she was so moving there.

🙂 Right? It’s never to late to have a dream and to make it come true.

[Stevie and Chrissy singing Stop Dragging My Heart Around this week in Boston. Sorry for the crappy picture but it’s the only one I was able to get. P.S. Remember when we all had our lighters lit in the audience at concerts? Now the audience is all lit up with cell phones! HA!]

And here, for your listening and viewing pleasure, is my favorite song by The Pretenders:

Moscato who?

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Date night, italian, Marriage, quest for the best

bella bolle

My husband and I have different tastes in a lot of things, and wine is no exception. Years ago, someone gave us a bottle of Moscato D’Asti by Nivole, which (surprise!) we both loved. Every so often we bought a bottle, for a birthday or anniversary or some such occasion.

Then suddenly we couldn’t find it anywhere anymore. Everywhere we went, we looked for and even asked for it, and everyone was familiar with it, but no one actually stocked it anymore.  Which totally sucked.

So, we finally gave up. One day when we were food shopping, I saw a pretty bottle of wine that happened to be a moscato d’asti. It was a different brand, but it met our wine-buying criteria:

1. Pretty bottle

2. Cheap

I’m talking $7. We decided to live dangerously and buy it. It took a couple of weeks to finally open it. If either Bill or I had to be up by 4:30am the next day, neither of us was very interested in sharing a bottle of wine the night before.

The planets finally aligned on Christmas day. We both had the following day off from work so we cracked open the wine. There was only one negative: what a bitch that cork was to remove! Other than that, however, we both loved the wine. I am saving the bottle so we don’t forget what kind it was.

We definitely plan to get this one again. You know, unless this brand goes MIA next.

Summer Vacation: What I actually DID do

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Date night, local fun, relationships

You know how they say, “The best laid plans of mice and men…” to paraphrase John Steinbeck? Well, true that.

Half Pecan Banana Bread, Half Cherry Vanilla Chocolate Chunk cone

Day 1: Friday:  The entire day did not end up being wasted waiting for the fridge to be delivered (and the accompanying emptying out and filling back up thereof) that I anticipated when the delivery window was given as “Between 2:30PM and 4:00PM” that day. Bright and early we got a call asking if they could come at 9:00AM instead. Hel-lo? Duh! Of course we said  yes. Bonuses: 1) I was on my way to the gym and got to–er, had to turn around and go back home.  2) My husband and I were both able to attend our daughter’s Culinary Camp presentation at YCCC which was scheduled from 3:00PM-4:00PM.

We also got to go out for dinner to Pedro’s in Kennebunk, noticeably missing from the planned vacation agenda. Later we got an ice cream cone at Arundel Ice Cream Shop, which was very definitely on the agenda! We popped in our Netflix movie when we got home: Take Me Home Tonight~Pass on this one; it was pretty awful.

A word about Pedro’s: it’s great place to go. Simple, straightforward menu without too many choices to bog you down. Nice atmosphere. We sat outside on the patio this time (the first time we went there a few weeks ago we ate inside). We ordered the Flautas (which are great for sharing: an order contains two) and the Nachos Grande. The food was excellent (sorry, no pictures; my husband is getting sick of the food getting cold while I’m snapping pictures for the blog) and reasonably priced.

It was a fairly good start to my vacation. 🙂

Anyone else on vacation?

Date night at the Ogunquit Playhouse

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Date night, family, local fun, relationships, restaurants, Someone's gotta say it

Summer of Love is the current show at the Ogunquit Playhouse. May I just say this: save your money. Skip this show and buy tickets to Legally Blonde instead, which stars Sally Struthers (among others) and runs from 8/24-9/17. I have seen Sally Struthers in two other Playhouse Productions and (both my husband and I agree on this) each one was excellent.

Summer of Love would have been better entitled Evening of Boredom. I liked some of the songs that the cast performed in this show so I tolerated it a bit better than did my husband, who was not a big fan (neither of most of the songs nor of this production). The actors were okay, but no one really stood out except for the singer who performed a cover of Janis Joplin’s Piece of My Heart. She did an excellent job; it was the highlight of the show.

Consider going to  The Blue Elephant  if you are going out for dinner before seeing a Playhouse. It’s close enough so that you don’t have to rush to get there and the service and food are excellent. I don’t have pictures of the dishes that we ordered for once because I decided to give my husband a break from having to wait to start eating (while the food cools) so that I can take pictures. We were out to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary that night so priorities came into play. We ordered the Appetizers for Two, Drunken Noodles (which came with beef and chicken), and Hot Basil Stir Fry with beef (which came with way too many onions~and I like onions). Note to self: beware ordering menu items which mention onions in the future.

This picture is of me and Bill taken shortly before we got married…we really haven’t changed a bit.

🙂

Date night: afternoon movie

by Karen, posted in baking, Date night, family, friends, movies, relationships

We haven’t had a babysitter in a while so we decided to watch a movie at home. Next up in the Netflix Queue was The Company Men. We found out about this movie from the preview of another movie (don’t ask me which one).  I was surprised to know that it was a relatively recent movie starring Ben Affleck (and several other famous, well-liked actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner). I hadn’t heard a thing about it before seeing the preview.

I was very interested to see this movie because it deals with a topic that is all too familiar to many of us: being “downsized” from a job by a company that is “reorganizing”. I’m not a big fan of Ben Affleck but because the topic interested me (and the Q was getting a little lean) we got it.

Around the same time I was also reading Caitlin Shetterly’s memoir: Made for You and Me. Both the movie and the book are very honest (even raw at times) accounts of what it’s like when life as you know it does a 180 degree turn. The movie follows three men who lose their jobs and the effects (for better, for worse) that it has on them, their families, their friendships. The book also talks about how much having, or not having, a job influences all aspects of life.

Both remind you what is important in life, and what is not, and ultimately, what really matters to you may not be what you think.

Date night at the Ogunquit Playhouse

by Karen, posted in Date night, family, local fun, relationships, Someone's gotta say it, tweens

Avenue Q opened up the season at the Ogunquit Playhouse this year. The show is sort of a perversion of Sesame Street that is funny as hell and certainly worth seeing. The night we went was during one of the Bruins’ Playoff games (season ticket holders have only limited say over what night the tickets are for) and was the first show in years that my husband and I could remember that wasn’t sold out. It was still impressively full, though, considering (reference: Bruins’ Playoff game).

This show’s ticket has the warning not to bring children under 17 due to the explicit language and, um, live (puppet) sex onstage (two darn good reasons, don’t you think?) but then I read an interview with Brad Kenney this month in the York Independent and became confused. He is quoted in the article as qualifying the aforementioned good advice by saying:

“Well, we recommend parental discretion for anyone under 17–but, if you do bring them, you will be considered VERY cool! And they probably know all the songs anyway!”

Huh?

I attended a Playhouse show a couple of years ago (The Full Monty) which was a show (obviously) intended for adult audiences.  Parents in the front row somehow thought it would be okay to bring their kids to see it too, one of which looked to be about tween-aged. Not only was the poor boy uncomfortable, but the actors on the stage were uncomfortable as well! How do I know this? Because one of them gestured to the boy in the front row and made a comment about having a child in the audience cramping his style, or words to that effect.

Parents? Leave your kids at home for adult-themed live shows.

Brad? My 12-year-old does not already know any of the words to any of the songs in Avenue Q!

Oh, Rob! (Picnic date night)

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, local fun, restaurants

I admit it: I have crushes. All the time. My husband is pretty tolerant of them. He even produced a picture of Boston Rob for me for Christmas last year (downloaded from the internet and printed…in color!). I’m exceedingly happy now that Survivor is back with its new season, Redemption Island.

For date night this particular week we decided to have a picnic. What else would you do in March in Maine?

We had no babysitter, but then our daughter had plans for a couple of hours in the evening. At the last minute we decided that we didn’t want to go out (6:30-8:30 is late when you get up before dawn!) so here’s what we did instead:

  1. Dropped the tweens (daughter and friend) off at their movie.
  2. Called in an order to Pizza Napoli. March specials going on are pretty good. We took advantage of one of the March specials: “buy any large pizza get a free small cheese pizza”.
  3. Came home, rummaged in the fridge for a bottle of wine. The first one was vinegary, so we found a bottle of our favorite wine: Moscato D’asti…so what if it’s supposed to be a dessert wine? We both love it.
  4. Moved the coffee table and spread out our “picnic” on the rug.
  5. Find The Good Wife episodes that we DVR’d but had no time to watch. (Man, has it really been since February 8th??).

Then we had to both get our stuff ready for work, so we called a brief time out to see to that and to get our daughter settled (whom her friend’s parents were nice enough to bring home for us).

Oh, the “Boston Rob” thing? That’s just for laughs. The husband thing?  He’s the real thing. 🙂

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What this woman got: Valentine edition, part 3

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Holidays, local fun, movies, restaurants, tweens

First order of business: skip the gym.

White chocolate chip, chocolate chip, and craisin cookies for bake off

My husband and I had planned to celebrate the day during the child-free hours we had, from 7am until about 3:30pm (the school day). There was a medical appointment (mine) at 10:30am, but that was quick and we didn’t let it mess up our day.

Which was good, because there were other things ready and waiting to do that.  My daughter’s school is having a bake- off today and we thought that the cookies she was entering had to be there by 2pm Tuesday. Wrong. She called me at 9am to say the cookies actually had to be there by 2pm Monday, the day before.

Valentine’s Day. The day of our date. So, I scrambled to get the dough made before my appointment, then rushed home to bake them after my appointment. Got them to school at 1pm, ahead of the deadline, but that left us only a little part of the day to celebrate.

We had lunch a quick lunch at Jake’s Seafood on route one, then headed to the Harbor Candy store where (surprise!) they did NOT have any chocolate dipped strawberries, which was my purpose for going there. I was on a mission! That was the thing that I wanted. 😦 Plus, it was a little disconcerting to see that they had more Easter candy for sale than Valentine’s Day candy. Huh? When is Easter, anyway? (Hel-lo? It’s more than two months from now!)

Dark chocolate dipped strawberry from VFM

I always get a dark chocolate covered cherry and eat it at the counter when I go to Harbor Candy, but today was an exception. I was too annoyed. We left without buying anything, and we went into the Village Food Market in Ogunquit (just a few doors down) and (hurray!) they had a whole tray of them! Something finally went our way. They were even dipped in dark chocolate, my favorite, but  Bill? not so much. I swear I’m going to convert him to the dark side, but my efforts thus far (with the dark side of candy, at least :)) have met with failure.

Next, to Ogunquit Beach to look at the ocean. Can you believe that it was 51 degrees at 2pm on Monday?? That was the best gift of all, dont’ you think?

Then we were headed home with about an hour left before the tween got off the bus from school when (surprise again!) she sent me a text saying that the after school activity was canceled and she was on her way home.

I mean, are you kidding me?

After homework, supper, laundry, and tween bedtime we  got into bed to watch our Netflix movie: Glee: Season one: Disc one. Well, I laughed, I cried, yada yada. But hey, really, what better way to end your Valentine’s Day than a little Glee in bed? Ha!

Today was  a day where not much went according to plan, so not the best Valentine’s Day ever, but that’s okay, because I have the best Valentine ever: my husband!

P.S. It’s day 5 but my bouquet is still looking great!

What do women want? Valentine edition Part 1

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Holidays, italian, local fun, restaurants

Maybe you’ve been happily married for many years, and have successfully navigated several Valentine’s Day holidays. Maybe you’ve had some great successes with figuring out what your spouse might like, and then actually being able to deliver it.

One thing that you can do for your female significant other that will almost definitely be well received is to take her out to (read: spare her the chore of making and cleaning up from) dinner.

Varano’s in Wells will have a special Valentine’s Day menu (sorry, no prices included on the website). They open up at 4:30p and really, you can’t get a bad meal at Varano’s.

Duffy’s in Kennebunk (currently hidden behind all of the bridge construction) is offering a 3 course dinner for $29.99 for two that includes a shared appetizer and dessert and two main courses (choose from 3). This is available Saturday and Sunday as well as Monday, so if you are working on the actual day, or just an overachiever who wants to get a jump on things, this may be a good bet for you.

If you are not the most punctual sort of suitor, all is not lost: Angelina’s is having a special Winter Wine Dinner for $65 per person on February 24th at 6pm. Same sort of idea with a fixed menu from which to choose but with wine (hence the additional cost) added. They are also open on Valentine’s Day but no special menu is mentioned in their ad.

So, if going out to eat is your idea of a great date, there’s plenty of choices to entice you to venture out into the freezing, freezing cold dark to get some great food.