Maine Things Monday
April 9, 2012
Hello! Did everyone have a good weekend? Since it was a holiday we saw a good amount of family and that’s always a highlight! Things are ‘greening’ up around here but Maine has been super dry and we’ve had some wildfires. A rarity for us in March and April.
On my next day off I plan to visit the Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm location {where the trees and wildlife have been safe from fires} to check out the birds and see what’s in bloom over there. A meandering walk through nature, along the estuary is in order! They have lots of interesting and fun events going on all the time in various locations, too!
p.s. On Saturday Night Live last night there was a mention of a Maine man in a Batman costume who pulled a not-so-funny April Fool’s prank that got him arrested. Got to love being mentioned on one of the most watched pop culture podiums for having a knucklehead amongst us! What state doesn’t though?!
In keeping with the nature theme here, take a look at these awesome wooden toys and puzzles from Merchants Row, right here in Maine! They have nailed the whole turning-your-idea-into-a-tangible-thing endeavor that is just so hard for most of us! Every single puzzle, toy, and object that they make is like a little piece of art.
Happy Easter!!
April 8, 2012
Assuming you celebrate Easter, do you remember as a kid waking up to the excitement of your basket that the Easter Bunny left for you? I would have a trail of jelly beans to follow from my bed to my basket! There would be egg-shaped candy, jump rope, a bottle of bubbles, a toothbrush, marshmallow peeps, a chocolate bunny, a stuffed bunny, a book, and an orange. What a combination of things!
This image of Christopher Walken as The Bunny makes me laugh! It’s a little creepy that you can see more instances of Walken wearing The Bunny here.
Today We Dye Eggs
April 7, 2012
Tradition is tradition and all over the world kids will be dyeing eggs this weekend in celebration of Easter! Here are some, fresh-out-of-the-nesting-box, courtesy of the resident hennies:
Later today we’ll visit with a couple of our nieces and do some egg dyeing! Aren’t these some pretty Easter egg designs?
being “the other one” is all relative
April 5, 2012
Broadly speaking, Portland, Maine is often considered “the other Portland,” mainly because the one in Oregon is a larger city. Around these parts if you consider this one to be “the other one,” then you’re from away, and if you’re from here you wouldn’t even consider calling it that. {This could just be the hometown pride talking.} Part of me doesn’t mind that our city here is less well-known because that means we can keep it to ourselves.
However, in 2011 Travel & Leisure did a “City Face-Off” of the Portlands as part of their “America’s Favorite Cities” series and Portland, Maine won over Portland, Oregon. Interestingly, as Wikipedia would have us know~ “Portland, Oregon was named for Portland, Maine.” Turns out a native Portlander {of the East Coast variety} was one of the founders of the Oregon Portland. A fun fact that I did not know.
Elvis Costello gets this same “other” status because let’s face it, when you’re The King of Rock-n-Roll you’re a hard act to follow. Presley, while I do like some of his music, has just never stuck with me. I’ve always liked Elvis Costello and if I ever find a t-shirt that reads “I love the other Elvis” I’m buying it.
All of this “other one” business is all relative anyway because some might agree that the positives of being somewhat of a little secret outweigh the negatives.
How do you like them apples?
April 3, 2012
Remember that scene in Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon’s character gets the girl’s number and flaunts it through the window at the jerk from the Hah-vahd bar? He said, “How do you like them apples?!” and we all felt the glee of seeing the good guy trump the {not so nice word here}?
Well how about this: Apple stock is predicted to reach $1000 a share?! Driving home from work today I heard this on Marketplace and while the prediction may not come to fruition, stock is currently around $629 a share. Is anyone who owns Apple products surprised? Last November I got my iphone and as I’ve admitted before, it is my precious dear to me. As noted in the story the iphone is much more than a phone; aside from the countless apps it’s a camera, calendar, video recorder, video game player, and gives you internet access at your fingertips. You can check email, ebay, facebook, npr, craigslist, and the weather with your fingertip! I’m on the Apple wagon, even though sometimes it feels like I’m in a herd of sheep…but you like what you like.
Do you have Apple products? What do you use them for and what do you love best about them?
i can’t go for that
April 3, 2012
What’s that? Do I have a Hall & Oates obsession? Ahhh. Maybe. Maybe I had girlfriends over for dinner a few months ago and found a Hall & Oates station on Pandora and have been listening to it daily ever since. I might have even gotten friends hooked on it.
What’s not to love about their pop rock sound? It’s the background music of my childhood. The only concert I really remember my mom going to was theirs. Anyway, the other artists who pop up on that station are pretty 80’s awesome, too. Phil Collins, Huey Lewis, The Outfield…and plenty of one hit wonders.
{Look at them back in the day~ hysterical!! What’s with Oates?!}
So naturally I was all smiles when this awesome video was posted by our friend on facebook:
It’s Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers. The ‘van sessions’ are videos of them driving around in their van singing covers! So fun:) Check out her original work and all the other happenings that they’ve been up to!
What stations on Pandora do you love listening to? Are there any bands or singers that you love, that maybe aren’t so cool? It’s ok, you can tell me. You’re in good company here:)
Maine Things Monday
April 3, 2012
Ideas that stay with you
April 1, 2012
After seeing this post about hanging big art in the bedroom recently from Apartment Therapy it’s been on a constant loop in my head. I want to do this! We do not have a headboard and it seems like I’m always considering DIY projects or looking online for the right style…in the end, maybe I just hang large-scale art instead? I wouldn’t frame mine with glass, though, because there is something unnerving about such a heavy thing hanging over us while we sleep that could possibly come loose. A fear that began the night we heard a crashing sound {as if a car drove into our apartment!} and we ran downstairs to find that our shelves with all our favorite pottery had fallen from the wall into a heap of shards. Sad, so sad. We likely didn’t anchor them properly, but the fear lingers!
Enlarging a cool photo is another great idea. We have this one wall in our living room that is wide and tall and still empty. I had this cheeky idea that we could take a photo of the view from the windows adjacent to it and have that photo made very large and hang it on the wall. Cheeky and tricky:)
What do you think about such big art for your bedroom or any room? Also, what are your thoughts on ideas like these that stay with you? My feeling is that you should act on them, but I don’t always do that, hence the bare walls and our unadorned head-of-the-bed.
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