On the beach and who flies overhead but the President?

Exhausted....

Ava is such a good sport but at the end of a long day of walks around the West End and the Beach and playing - she is wiped out.

Cocktails and Conversation

OK, NOW my favorite place to have a drink and talk and meet a bunch of fun people is Sonny's - where O'Naturals was and before that remember F Parker Reidy's? Went last night with Oscar and Erica to meet another friend, Bri and knew more people in there than I would know in a bar in Bar Harbor. Great, great time. I really wanted Oscar, Grammy nominee that he is :-), to meet Jason Spooner as I knew they would hit it off and they did, love listening to music pros talk the talk. Snuck out for a while to take Ava for a long walk around the West End then she seemed fine with me going back out for an hour or so. Such a good girl. Back to Bar Harbor today... going to be a gorgeous weekend.

This is what they call "foodporn"

OK - I don't eat lobster but.... Leslie just sent this shot of the Eggs Benedict with Lobster from Danforth's special Sunday Brunch last weekend and I'm thinking... yumm... and I could pick out the lobster. :-)

BLUR...........

Whoever said the cheetah is the fast animal earth has obviously not witnessed a Yorkie running from window to window chasing squirrels.

Smuggler's Cove in East Boothbay

I can't decide if I should describe Smuggler's as being ON the water or IN the water. I just know I want it to be summer and I want to go there.

Portland Magazine

Looking forward to seeing this month's Portland Magazine. I understand from friends that have seen the new issue that there is a great mention of our new Maine Innkeeping Academy and we are also included in an article about Portland hotels - psyched to see.

Thank you God for the day of rest.

Yeah, I worked today but overall had a great day off. I looked over at Ava at one point and she was just sitting there looking at me and I smiled for the millionth time over her just being so amazing. We have been a family now for a year and thank God for that too. She is so sweet.

Of course on a day off, my mind spins and I think of so many new ideas. Looking forward to talking with John about them tomorrow - Ava is tired of listening.

Favorite Portland Haunts

I seem to have a different favorite in Portland all the time but a lot of my decision is based on how they make a Cosmo with Grey Goose. The last two weeks, Local 188 has gotten it right. AND the leek, onion and garlic risotto the other night with Leslie and Dana was amazing! Strongly recommend.

Dark Harbor House

Keith sold Dark Harbor House on Islesboro yesterday and it made me think of so many good times out there. Seems like so many really special people went out to Dark Harbor. Need to find a new place like that.

Spring, spring, spring....

What a gorgeous day in Portland. Ava and I are both exhausted but it has been an amazing time down here getting things done. Had a fab meeting today with Jason Spooner, really excited that he is going to be helping Aaron and I with our Maineville Music project. Tomorrow conference calls with Aaron and and his television producer friend, our friend, Jimmy on our big secret project that is going to ROCK :-)

Music sparking creativity...

Now listening to new Aaron Benward music and just made the most AMAZING frittata.
Carmelized onions, shallots and garlic in unsalted butter and austrailian olive oil and a dash of sugar, deglazed the pan with a little balsamic and then added fresh spinach to pan and added all that to eggs, cream, and a huge handful of parmesan. It is DELISH. Hope I can save some to share for lunch tomorrow.

Sunday...

After a summer like Saturday where Ava and I actually fell asleep laying in the sun on the deck - today is a little different, even saw some snow flakes. Great day to get things done. Listening to a Jason Spooner CD and thinking this is my new favorite. Great stuff. Go to jasonspooner.com

Great Dinner

Love eating early at Town Hill Bistro. Kate and I met there tonight at 5:30. Shared a bowl of basil and asparagus soup and then had yummy salads and then shared gnocchi with an incredible sauce. Two great glasses of wine, a chardonnay and a cabernet/syrah AND the best - chocolate, caramel, pistachio tart. I MUST stop again.

Cousins

Ava is such a good girl and responsible. I was trying to corrupt Ev and get her to have green ice cream for dinner with me to celebrate St. Pat's Day. Ava was guarding her. I won in the end though. Went to Ben & Bill's for dinner, I had a large mint chocolate chip and Ev had cookie dough with jimmies. Just realizing, Ev's wasn't green.

Ava's Zoo

Wish I had pictures.

Ava barked at the squirrels most of the morning and early afternoon. Then a big fox lumbered out of the woods and she barked at him or her for a while. A short time later I heard the deer alert bark and six deer were here for dinner. NOW? the biggest, fattest raccoon I have ever seen is munching away outside the guestroom window and she is yelling at him and he couldn't care less. I am guessing he is at least three times her size.

Good Time at Danforth

This is Danforth Month so we have all sorts of special events going on. Last night Don Gooding premiered his Frank Sinatra show in Portland. Great time - had three feature cocktails - Ole Blue Eyes, Frank-tini and a Pink Lady. Yummy apps and a nice crowd. Ava was SUCH a good girl, she was a good girl all week. So thankful that we have each other.

Insane

I have had perhaps the most chaotic, crazy week of my life but have never gotten so much done. Ava has found her way to deal with it all and I think she has the right idea. Just make sure next time you are at the Danforth to ask if you are sitting at the the table that doubles as Ava's bed. She also slept through a great guitar/vocal performance, 5 feet from her on Tuesday. Would be so nice to be able to be so relaxed as long as she is close to Mom.

Spring in Bar Harbor

Ava has spent most of this gorgeous day outside. Usually I check on her every 30 seconds but many minutes have gone by at times today. At one check she was chewing on some splinters in the deck boards. I suggested a rawhide may be a better choice. She agreed.

Quote - LOVE THIS!

Monday is a lame way to spend 1/7 of your life. ~Author Unknown

Calories vs. Miles

My new thing is to watch calories on the treadmill and not time. Unfortunately calories go even slower. This is after over 1 mile and over 16 minutes, and I get bored after 4.

Quote

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. Voltaire

Mom....

Seriously, put the camera down, it is time for bed. Mom, really, I've had a long day, that's enough. MOM. Put. The. Camera. Down. You. Crazy. Woman.

Busted

We have discovered today that a squirrel is living in the gas grill. Ava is harassing them so badly they'll probably move soon. I told her there might be puppy squirrels but maybe it is too early? Please Lord, don't let there be wildlife babies all over this season, I can't go through that again.

Blessings.

I am so blessed and so fortunate. It was a tough week because of several business challenges. When the going gets tough, a lot of people decide to take shortcuts and exemplify some seriously unethical behavior. I get so frustrated and disappointed.

Then, Ava and I run downtown today to pick up some things and when we get back our wonderful neighbor is here offering to have someone come clean up the tree that fell in the storm because maybe 1 inch of the stump is on her land. THAT is why I am blessed - I do know, and will continue telling myself that the good people in this world outnumber the bad. We all just need to surround ourselves with the good.

We told our lovely neighbor that John will be home Monday and will take care of it. So that Dad can grind it up when he gets home :-) See? Blessed :-)

Storm

Last night was awful, poor Ava hates the wind and the surf. We couldn't even stay in the master because it is on the ocean side of house. We spent until 5:30 this morning on the couch in the living room - good thing it is Olympic time, they are on all night, who knew? (Well we have West Coast NBC too so...) Anyway we heard some scary stuff going on but I hadn't looked in front of garage until I went out to feed deer, guess this was one of the noises.

Danforth Logo

Loving our simple, sophisticated logo for Danforth, courtesy of Zstudio.

I want...

Convincing myself this is not the time to be buying an Eric Hopkins but boy do I SO want this.

SQUIRREL!

That is just quoting Cameron.... I am trying to figure out how to use my camera that is far too advanced for my abilities and this little guy felt so badly for me because I couldn't zoom in, he just let me get really close. Still fuzzy though.

Lunch Guests Arriving

For Sale - Please

In the spirit of getting things off my plate I want to sell the cute little building at 21A Cottage Street. People are lining up to lease it, I don't want to lease it, I want to sell it. I'm trying, I really am, to simplify.

Ava at Work...

My Funny Valentine.

Springy

Kind of spring feeling today and I began to daydream about flowers and herb gardens.... probably still quite a few weeks away from that.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three day weekend - I am going to try to keep my computer off for hours at a time and watch some movies and take Ava on walks.

TweetUp

We had a Bar Harbor Tweetup tonight at Geddy's. Very fun to see everyone, Erica and I both had to get going after an hour and a half but good time. One of my twitter friends, Carol, brought Ava treats. Ava is always excited when I come home but now I know even moreso when I have treats. She even SAT!

View of Island

If you have to work on Sunday, this isn't a bad gig. Erica and I went on a road trip to see a property and contemplate value. Very pretty.

The Dynamic Duo

Legislation

I've been tweeting and FBing today that from now on I am going to make decisions on candidates depending on where they stand on animal cruelty issues. Get the soapbox ready.

Several gubernatorial candidates follow me on Twitter and two are friends on Facebook so they'll avoid me if they aren't big on this issue!

Flower Delivery

This is a horrible picture but Ava was SO touched and interested in the flowers we received. It was hilarious. Erica met her wonderful Boston friends in Portland last weekend and they stayed at Danforth and sent these beautiful flowers. Ava was enchanted.

Laying in the sun....

Just caught the crazy protector and zookeeper catching a little nap basking in the sun. Very, very sunny today and bright! Note the irritated look with her snap happy Mom disturbing her rest with yet another photo op.

The Gang's all here....

Maine Innkeeping Academy

Our new venture launches the first workshop on March 2nd at The Danforth. Dana and Leslie will be presenting The Art of Breakfast - discussing and demonstrating garnishing to really make the breakfast plate at inns beautiful, simply and inexpensively. I think we are going to create an exciting source for Maine innkeepers that will grown into all kinds of different opportunities. Here's a sample of Dana's work and what they will be discussing:

NO!

I didn't mean to have the deer FOR dinner. I mean have them over for dinner. :-)