Winter games

This winter has been fun, but trying. I've been sick quite a bit, but in between I've managed to have plenty of fun. We had a new guy join my Jiu-Jitsu class in December, his name is Adriano, and he is a brown belt in Judo and is from Brazil. He and several others were here for 3 months working. Amie (another girl from class) and I became close with all the Brazilians. There were 9 of them living in one house! One of our first outings with all of them was to go ice skating!! None of them had ever been. Everyone was doing quite well until Ana fell face first on the ice and split her chin open. So our skating night changed into a trip to the ER.
This is us with the Brazilians just before we left to drive Ana to the hospital.


Mariana, Ana, and Nitalia goofing of after martinis at Una's

The Brazilians had not been to the beach so we took them down to East End Beach in Portland. It was about 20 degrees and windy that day so we mostly stayed in the car and took pics from there!! This is a bridge along the Eastern Promenade in Portland.

Me, with Vince and Jaden at Peter's birthday party. This was quite a night! Vince is a friend from class and a Portland Cop. And Jaden is a friend from work who HATES cops!! Every time Vince comes into work to visit me, Jaden says "Hey piggy do you want a Donut?" So, needless to say, they were very entertaining harrassing each other all night.

"Wow is that from kettle bells?" Jaden, Ryan (a friend from class and Portland Firefighter) and me. We were at our friend Charlie's Portland PD going away party. It was very interesting partying with most of the Portland police department!!!!
That's me with of the boys from Class. Checkout Mark's Cop moustache!! The guys were all impressed that I was dressed like a girl and not in workout clothes!


For Saint Patrick's day day a bunch of us from class went out to a local bar and just chilled out.

Dave, Dave, The Kate, Bill, Me and Dr. Bryan (he hates it when we call him Dr) I'm wearing heals and I'm still that much shorter then all of them!!!!

Joe and me.

This is Bryan. He's 6'3" so he was pretty much folded in half to fit in the pic with me!
This weekend is my birthday and I'm going to a Pirates Hockey game with several of my friends. Then on Wednesday I'll be heading down for my grand tour of the South visiting friends from school and my sisters in VA. So I'll have lots of news when I get back, and hey I might even post something next month instead of every 3 months!!

Maple Syrup Day

You may remember a few months back, we blogged about a walk through the Scarborough Marsh. The weather then was mild, but foggy. Well, we decided to take the same walk yesterday. It was quite a different story with the weather! It was clear, cold and very windy! Wind chills must have brought the temperature down into the low teens. Given the openness of the terrain, the wind was whipping! It was beautiful, but cold.


Remember the roses???

This ice berg looked like a barge from a distance.

Prior to the Marsh walk, we had driven out to Baldwin, Maine...basically north and west of Portland....to enjoy Maple Sugar Sunday. It's a day when "sugar houses" in Maine open their doors to the public to learn about how Maple Syrup is made.

The pictures are actually in reverse order, but you'll get the idea that we went from clear when we first arrived, to a snow squall that cleared the place out, in a short amount of time. The house we were visiting is called "Grandpa Joe's", and it's the fifth generation now making the syrup. "Ben" is currently at the helm, and that came about as a science project when he was a teenager. By that time the family operation had pretty much stopped as far as a comercial operation went, but he asked his grandfather to help him make syrup for his project. Ben found the more modern, evaporation equipment in a local "Uncle Henry's", a buy, sell, trade or swap guide in the area, and they were in business! Ben has kept it going since that project.

There was music, food and a maple themed bake-off which took place before we got there. The picture below is a video clip....it was good music.

This is the evaporation tank....it made the process of making maple syrup much less labor intensive. The man in the red hat is the grandson of the original Grandpa Joe. I think his name is John, and he's the one who worked with his grandson on the syrup project that got all this going again. He was a real down-home Mainer! Take a listen; not that you'll actually hear his mumblings!

Tid-Bits

Tina and me at Rockbottom.
My favorite bartender-James


Tina came into town-probably for the last time since we're both moving. Jon Jones, Tina and me.

I was not aware my face could do this. Thanks Brian!



Jackie, one of my friends from the gym, moved to CO with her boyfriend to start their own gym. She rocked, and I miss her.

Go Red Sox

New #1 Fan!

ITS STILL AMERICA...FOR NOW

Last week Lindsay, Caleb and I went on a little outing to exercise our second amendment rights. We had an awesome time hanging out shooting guns with her brother Nick, her sister Kari, her sister's boyfriend Todd and a couple of other friends. It was a welcome little holiday from our very busy lives.

God Bless America!

Utah Lake in Utah County in the State of Utah. Very Original.

Gas Guzzling SUV makes a great playpen!

Slightly more "PC" Pic

The Utah County Couple!

Lindsay and Nick

Todd shooting the 20 gauge. He's a pretty good shot, for a Democrat!

Todd and I learnin' a young lad to use the 12 gauge

And thats why the terrorist don't win today!

Thats Just Sexy!