More Ava

Took Ava on a long trip today. She started out terrible, panting and had to sit in my lap driving. We met Uncle John in Trenton and we thought she would sit in his lap if I drove but she still wanted to sit in my lap so.... we traded and then she wanted to sit in his lap! She likes being in the driver's seat.....

Loved walking on the beach at Smuggler's Cove until a bird scared her and then she bolted, John dropped leash and she took off. John seriously looked like a major league shortstop making a dive for a line drive up the middle. He was horizontal to the ground, in the air for a split second with arm extended and just grabbed the leash handle... OMG.

She got a little bored looking at the property but was very good.

By the time we stopped in Rockland to look at another property, she was comfortable in the car and sat in the Rover barking for us to come back. By the time we got home, she was a pro rider and loving life.

Little steps....

May need to change blog name to AVA

You know how people say having children totally changes their lives...? I think it is the same for a dog. All of a sudden, Ava is the priority and I should probably just change the name of the blog so you know you are just going to be seeing puppy pics.

She decided this weekend that she thought this was a pretty cool place to live and I was an OK Mom. This morning she decided that Uncle John was going to work out for her too.

She also has a special friend here. We have named the dog in the mirror Lola so that Ava won't know how crazy she is. Earlier tonight she kept running in the dining room on the other side of the wall where the giant mirror is to see where Lola was hiding.

She is laying half in my lap and half on my laptop right now. I am thinking more all the time that this could be Elvis' reincarnation. As I typed that she looked straight up at me.... lucky me if this is a combination of Elvis and Ave, lucky me!

Inspiration from NYT

Kevin W. Sharer is the chief executive of Amgen and was interviewed in the corner office column of the New York Times this weekend.

I loved this question and answer:

Q. There are also, of course, intangibles in leadership. Could you talk about those?
A. Great leaders have something that when you see it, you know what it is, but it’s hard ahead of time to describe exactly what it is. But the first thing I’d say is that leadership is not about charisma and it’s not about style. It’s something about authenticity. It’s something about integrity. It’s something about willingness to take risks. It’s something about the ability to make others feel part of a larger thing. It’s part of being able to articulate the social architecture in a way that others can understand, believe in and follow.

Ava

This is the crazy girl. I actually have two new babies, there is one in the mirror that Ava barks at. Funny thing is, the dog in the mirror barks back exactly the same. She has yet to figure it out. Hmmmm....

A home in Portland

Still happily esconced in the carriage house at Pomegranate but need to find a new home here. Congress Street luxury loft is rented and then will probably sell as part of a 1031 Exchange on a new property. I would rent or ideally, find a small studio to buy. After my 2 months on Portland Pier, it is going to be hard to find a view that surpasses that.

Room 7 - Pomegranate Inn

I'm in one of my favorite new places tonight. Room 7, Pomegranate Inn, Portland, Maine.

I have a very hard time sleeping in any of my inns, if I hear anything I worry that there is a problem. Ta Da!!! Room 7 at Pom is on the lower level of the carriage house. The only accomodation in this building is Leslie, the innkeeper quarters are the whole second floor of the carriage house. They are away tonight so I don't even worry about bothering them with the tv or shower. When? did I get so polite and concerned about bothering people?? Always been like this, easy to blame on that Catholic guilt gig.

Tying it all together

How does one tie together assorted businesses while still allowing them to maintain their individual identities? For example, if one were to open a small restaurant in one part of a city but wanted to tie it to a business in another part, ever so subtly.............

And if one of these businesses happened to be called Pomegranate something, could not one take the beautiful word, pomegranate, and find other languages or derivatives to express the word that would be on its way to becoming a brand? Am I thinking this to death?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azHVOoDLfHc

Check out this you tube video. My favorite song and the video is simple and real.

Favorite Picture

Everyone needs something to just put a smile on their face. This does mine! :-)

Compositions

Two of my favorite people, John McVeigh and Jim McBride are opening a new shop named Compositions. It is going to be a combination of their talents, Jimmy's botanical masterpieces and John's exquisite jewelry designs. And yes.... I did just happen to have great pics of their work. I'm a big fan of both! Can't wait for the opening party. Stay tuned.

Sold.

We sold a beautiful lot in the middle of Bar Harbor today. I love this lot, part of the Atlantique Estate. It was listed at $295,000 and sold for $280,000.

It was warm and springy here today and you can feel people stirring and wanting to get some things done.

I know the same is going on in Portland, people are looking and realizing now is the time.

Inspiration frustration

My house is covered with fabric swatches and design inspiration. BUT Venus is in retrograde which means no beautifying until after April 17th. That means no shopping, no choosing final paint colors - I can't even cut my hair! Thennnn.... Mercury goes into retrograde in May so the last few weeks of April are going to be NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shop and paint and carpet and design, love it. Good news is that you can do things like electrical work, storm windows and things like that. If we get this project through we are really going to have to hit the ground running.

Melting Snow.....

Snow still holds on but it is fading fast....

my poor flower garden still looks so cold.

“A person is not old until regrets take the place of dreams”

My quote of the day, I love it.

Life is so, so short and I just don't want to look back and wish that I had done something, not a lot of fear of that right now :-)

The one real estate regret I have is not buying Schooners in Kennebunkport years ago, it is such a cool place, different name now but a real boutique hotel feeling. I wanted that so badly but probably wasn't ready for something that big. And I was still married and it may have driven John over the edge..... he was Deputy Chief at the time and had a plate full already.

I also don't want to regret not smelling the roses more often so I am going to make myself go out and enjoy this incredible day, it is nice and sunny. Lifts anyone's spirits.

In the meantime I have to do a personal property inventory on a large property, think of a name and tapas menu and brunch menu for a new wine bar, write a business plan for a management company and apply for a liquor license. That is before noon......

Bar Lola, not to be missed

We had an amazing dinner tonight at Bar Lola in Portland, a real treat. There are small plates, tapas style, and salads and larger plates - I had the baby spinach and maytag blue cheese salad and then a roasted chicken breast stuffed with herbs and gruyere. Look at this incredible menu that changes all the time. http://www.barlola.net/Current_Menu.html

The most adventurous of us ordered the five course tasting dinner and was kind enough to share his thyme and mint custard dessert as the rest of us were full - wow!

And now a night in my favorite room at the Pomegranate Inn with a fire and Private Practice on tv. Nice night.

Fireplaces.....

I am working diligently to add a new inn to the "family". I spent a great amount of time there yesterday during due diligence week and was just reviewing the photos... think I was a little obsessed with the 15! working fireplaces....

An incredibly beautiful Maine day

At one point on Commercial Street in Portland today my car temp showed 58 degrees. What a spectacular day. The good thing about a lousy winter is how much it makes you appreciate a beautiful day. (kind of how much I appreciated the chocolate peanut butter cake I saw in a display case today while on Atkins diet....)

We spent four hours at a building inspection on my newest potential acquisition. Usually, you are excited about a property and then the building inspection pulls you down. Today was the opposite, I realized even more how much I want to start working on this amazing property.

Can't wait to be able to say what it is but need to get through the due diligence period - only a few more weeks hopefully!!!

Why I have to start cooking.....

OK - I was thinking last night, why don't I cook more often? At the Open That Bottle Night party last weekend, I was the only one that didn't. They asked me to bring bread.... from the bakery. LOLOLOL I think I have taken this "I don't cook" thing too far. It seems like my closest friends are all "foodies" and I love it. I guess one of the problems is not eating meat or fish, limits the menu a bit. (Someone asked what the entree was at the dinner party last weekend and the answer was, "Kim's coming" so that meant chicken.... :-)

Pictures above of the kitchens in the Bar Harbor house and the Portland condo show that my intent was there to cook when designing these..... or, okay, maybe just to have cool kitchens.

Then I thought - why do I have these great kitchens if I am not going to cook and for heaven's sake why have a wine collection if there is nothing to pair it with. So, my goal - (not for March too much going on - lol) is to stop saying I don't cook.

Pomegranate Parties

In January, we launched a new business - yes another one - Pomegranate Parties.

I am so excited about this venture. While based out of Pomegranate Inn, we are working to bring Brunswick Inn on Park Row on line and are diligently working to acquire a new venue, a signature venue for Pomegranate Parties.

We are hosting our first wedding on Saturday. What an honor, my long time friend Pat Donahue is marrying his long time girlfriend, Claire at the Pomegranate. I don't know what was more exciting hearing that they were getting married or that they wanted to have the ceremony and reception at Pomegranate Inn. I am so pleased that our first event is Pat and Claire's wedding.

There are great things yet to come with this exciting project.

Community Fundraiser Summer 2009?

I am starting to think about our annual fundraiser and what it will be this year. In 2008 we sponsored and executive produced Broadway on the Isle in August at the height of the summer tourist season and summer resident social season. BOTI was a Broadway review directed by my assistant and extraordinay talent Ellen Domingos and my friend and famous opera singer John McVeigh. We had an open casting call for local people to join them in the show and two weeks of rehearsals. It was beyond fantastic and filled the Criterion Theatre - it was the summer event of the year.

Bradley Stager, one of our brokers, performed an amazing rendition of If Ever I Would Leave You from Camelot. Another of our brokers, Cissy Leonardi was thrilled to have her daughter as a featured performer. Stephanie thrilled the audience with her version of Oh What A Beautiful Morning from Oklahoma.

So, BOTI II 2009? Ellen is now living in New York City - can we bring her back?

Testimonials

Several times a year I get asked to do a testimonial for something which I am happy to do for things I believe in. I was pleased to do one last month for the Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander. I truly believe The Swan Agency's full page ad in those newspapers are what are client's deserve. They are not paying us any less in bad times than they are in good - and they deserve the best service.

Nowwww.... if I had know the picture was going to be so big.... well...

The Music in the blog title

So, what is the music? Maineville Publishing. So, what is Maineville Publishing?

Years ago now, when Beth - now innkeeper at West End Inn - was handling all of Chevy's music marketing, I had the a few times in a lifetime opportunities to accompany her to Grammy parties, CMA Awards, Toby Keith private concerts - (be still my heart) NASCAR races, (and yes be in the pits, or even spend the evening hanging out on Tony Stewart's bus with the band Diamond Rio) ooopsss I am digressing... Hey Beth! have I said thank you for all that enough? I hope so.

One of the coolest parts of those times was meeting and spending time with the band Blue County. Sometimes there are people in your life that God just means for you to be connected with. The Blue County guys are those types of people. We have had them in Bar Harbor twice for concerts that rocked the Criterion Theatre.

Aaron Benward and I became very close friends through the years of running into each other at concerts with Beth, their time here and we really started to share our dreams and what life was about. Aaron has a great family - in fact he and Kenda honeymooned in Bar Harbor - small world - and is a very spiritual person which I treasure.

In January of 2008 we started Maineville Publishing as a realization of a dream of Aaron's to own his own publishing business and a dream of mine to actually be involved in the music industry in some fashion. Aaron is a fantastic writer and I know it is not far away before we'll hear our first Maineville song on the radio. He is still performing too and is without doubt my favorite!

Even more Pomegranate pics

More Pomegranate Photos

It is hard to decide which Pomegranate photos to share - so many good ones. This room with the hydrangeas was painted by Dennis Rafferty - yes, all original.

Congress Loft Portland

The real way to see the Congress Street loft is to see the Maine Home + Design article. http://www.mainehomedesign.com/design/lofty-ambitions.html

What fun that was. Candace Karu is one of the most amazing writers I have ever read and Darren Setlow's photography is awe inspiring.

The photo above is at night, right before a big party to celebrate the article. We had a blast.