The Salty Blog

Home from a gorgeous and fun weekend with friends! We drove up to Portland, ME with the Pashbys and spent the weekend with the Ennis-Matteis!

I’ve mentioned before how much we love Portland. We also made a quick jaunt up to Freeport where I found the need to buy two different pairs of slippers. Yes, slippers.

But the highlight might have been our hysterical photo-shoot on the Eastern Promenade of Portland this afternoon, celebrating Emily & Anthony’s engagement. Gary and I are both so honored to take part in their wedding in August! We love you guys!

Jaunted off to San Diego for a girls weekend last weekend! It was our friend Caitlin’s birthday and Kim, Kim and I booked our spontaneous flights over to the other side of the country for about four days!

We visited the Miramar Air Show, sipped cocktails in the Gaslamp district, sunned ourselves on the deck at the Hotel Del Coronado, lounged around the eclectic Ocean Beach community and took part in La Jolla’s Surf Diva camp!

I think we all ended up totally LOVING the surfing, as if I need another uber-expensive sport to love…

San Diego is a very cool place, with access to a variety of chill or trendy beach scenes. I definitely look forward to going back! Our surf coach likened San Diego to Boston - the little sibling to the big city.

Did you ever have one of those heart-shaped necklaces where you had the “be frie” half of it and your best friend had the “st nds” half of it?

I have been blessed with several incredible women in my 32 years who I would give platinum, diamond-studded halves of heart-shaped necklaces to (well, if I had that kind of money anyway). In actuality, what they have brought to my life would make a gorgeous bracelet of vibrantly linked gems.

Thanks to Facebook - the klutzy, more dorky Cupid who everyone made fun of for peeing his pants in archery class - one of those gems is back in my life and being polished off!

It really makes me think about friendships, and what an amazing impact your truest friends can have on your life. Thank you to those women who’ve provided such a good, hard, solid-packed punch as to change my journey forever.

[/end sap]

Okay, so everyone has to take a boat or plane to the Vineyard, but last Monday we had the pleasure of heading over for dinner on our friend’s private boat. I guess I take our Cape Cod location for granted, and we do tend to hit up Nantucket a lot more frequently than Martha’s Vineyard, but there is something entirely too cool about hopping on a boat to just have dinner on an island.

We had drinks along the waterfront in Oak Bluffs, dinner at Jimmy Seas, and beer at Offshore Ale. It was a truly wonderful evening with great friends, and a gorgeous ride back to Popponesset by moonlight.

Thanks Kevin & Danielle!

This just in from our friend Rich (Toro’s our godpuppy, a boxer named after a boxer):

…weighing in at just about 80lbs, wearing an electric fence collar -”El Toro” AAAAAAAAAAngel Hernandezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (insert angry mommy and daddy shouting here.)

…and Ladies & Gentlemen, in this corner (under the shed), wearing the black & white stripes, weighing in at 4lbs 7oz. “The Undisputed, Stinky-weight Champion of the Night , Pep-payyyyyy “le Polecat,” (that’s right) “Polecat” (aka: Skunk or the mammal that is best know for its ability to excrete a strong-foul-smelling odor from its back end area) -not to be confused by the Yeti.

Toro, Mommy & Daddy all were knocked out in the first 2nd round. (he didn’t get it the night before.)

Good thing he’s such a loyal friend, I don’t want to miss a second of this smelly fun! He’s resting so peacefully next to me all day, everywhere I go. They say that the “aroma” lingers best when it’s humid and rainy… good thing we have that too!

Send flowers soon,
Rich

Here it is, July 1st! The cicadas are dying, the tourists are coming and the thunder has certainly been booming.

We spent last weekend in Maine celebrating the wedding of [my college roommate] BG and Sam Bigelow. A gorgeous and memorable wedding indeed, on the remote island of Islesboro. This photo shows how one might kick off a marriage in cozy little corners of Maine - CONGRATS to the happy couple!

It was nice to get up to Portland early on Friday to catch up with our close pals Emily and Anthony. We squeezed in some play time in Freeport as well.

And NOW…. the FOURTH OF JULY ON CAPE COD is upon us!! Oh wait, before that happens, my LAST DAY OF WORK in Boston is this Thursday. What fun timing! I’ll drive up, pack up the office, and swing through Logan to pick up the first of our seven house guests (6 human, 1 canine). Yup, bus-y weekend at Hacienda Hedman! We’re looking forward to a lot of beaching, boating and celebrating the holiday with even more friends too. Happy 4th!

What an incredible weekend away with girlfriends this weekend. For reasons that are both happy and sad, and that bring a lot of change and transition into one’s life, Kim, Kim, Kelly, Tracy, Amy, Michelle and I descended upon Stowe, Vermont’s Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa this past Friday.

This was the first real spa experience I’ve ever had, and unfortunately I’m now going to have to do it at least once every year. We all had our massages, facials and other treatments, and then lounged throughout the facility in our robes and sandals for the entire day on Saturday. This included steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, hydrotheraphy waterfalls and a Hungarian mineral soaking pool, in addition to some sunning at the outdoor pool as well.

Thank you to Kim, and the others, for an unforgettable weekend. The next time we’re sitting in a dining room like that horrible Shed Brewery back room, it better be when we’re 80 in Florida.

Blogging from Baltimore-Washington International Airport on a Saturday morning. I came down to DC for a couple of days of work meetings – namely strategic planning for the strategic planning team – and the trip coincided nicely with a surprise birthday party for my friend Kristin. In fact, this weekend also marks the birthday of our friend Pete (and the anniversary of the day Gary and I met, sorry Pete).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE AND KRISTIN!

While I love this area and wish I could stay longer, it was extremely difficult to be so far away from our dear friends Rich & Sarah as they had to say good bye to their young dog, Ruben. Dog lovers understand me when I say Ruben was their first born. An extremely handsome boxer, Ruben licked his way through four years of life with his active Vermont humans. Pretty darn good life. The last six weeks brought sudden kidney failure that quickly slowed him down, and his discomfort came to a close peacefully with Rich, Sarah and boxer brother Toro cuddling by his side.

We love you guys. Big air licks to the sky.

Our friends Rich & Sarah are going through some tough times over the last week, with both Sarah’s father and their first-born dog in the hospital. Maybe it’s too much McDreamy/McSteamy, but I feel like you kind of assume humans can overcome everything. While we mean to check in on dad DT as well, this is the note my dear husband just sent to Rich & Sarah about Ruben (brother Toro, to explain the title):

Sent: Mon 4/28/2008 4:46 PM
Subject: Rubix Cube

Give a call when you get a chance to let us know how you’re all doing, unless you’re tired of talking to everyone, then just text us to tell us the latest news, unless you’re tired of texting, then just send us a good old fashioned email, unless you’re tired of typing, then just drop us note, unless you’re out of notepaper, then just lite a fire and send us some smokesignals, but they might be hard to see, so just give us a call.

Thanks to the ladies in Boston who were able to join for a lovely “Detox Your Home” event on Newbury Street last night with Method home care! Okay, so it was a little more “Detox Your Liquor Cabinet”, but what did you expect from something I invited you to?

[disclaimer: it's not that I drink more than you, it's just that I mix and muddle more than you. and I seem to have a reputation for not accurately measuring the ingredients I mix with]

The night was all about ’sustainable sips’ - organic cocktails demonstrated by the lovely Liquid Muse, Natalie. I don’t think we ever even talked about cleaning products. The temporary Method store on Newbury is tres chic, but it will disappear on Sunday and you’ll have to go back to your regular grocery store to get your fix of Method products.

I am happy to say that we now have some awesome-smelling soaps and dish soap around the office today (and G’s office will have it tomorrow)! Everyone left with a bag of goodies and a fun “Clean Like a Mother” t-shirt. A brown t-shirt. I didn’t plan that.

(will post a photo of us here when I have it)