We just got back from a lovely weekend in Maine.  My father was kind enough to treat us to a nice weekend at the beach.  He asked me to take care of all the bookings for him so I immediately turned to Trip Advisor.  I was booking on pretty short notice so I did a bit of research and decided on Old Orchard Beach as it was such a family friendly location.  I started calling the list of accomodations with good reviews on Trip Advisor until I found The Alouette Beach Resort that had availability for the nights we needed.  The reviews for it were all good except one so I decided to take a chance.  Oh my, did I make a mistake.  We arrived in a massive rain storm which did nothing to make it look more inviting.  From the outside it was grubby and rundown.  The inside was actually worse.  My parents’ room  was absolutely tiny, and so old and in need of updating we would have gone elsewhere if they hadn’t already charged us the full amount.  There was no screen door, the fridge was rusty and broken, it reeked of smoke, the bedspread and carpet looked like they may have survived World War II.  It was so awful, we had to take pictures.

Now looking at those pictures, think about the fact that we spent $192 US a night for that dump.  Oh my!  People actually walked up to us on the beach just to tell us how bad our hotel was. 

The weekend was wonderful, the beach was great, we had a really nice time.  I just wished we had stayed elsewhere.  I am hoping people will see this post before they book there…and also, please post other suggestions of better places to stay in Old Orchard Beach.

17 Again

A girlfriend took me to see this movie yesterday as a post birthday treat.  We didn’t realize it was a Tuesday, and it was a matinee, so we got our tickets, popcorn and a drink for $9!!  Woohoo!  And what a fun movie.  Was it life changing?  No.  It was just great light hearted fluff…Matthew Perry and Zac Ephron were both super fun, and the supporting cast was great too.  It was a delightful film, but the subject matter was a bit old for young ones…so leave your kids at home.

Wolverine

I went to see Wolverine with my husband this weekend and we loved it!  It was just the way an action film is supposed to be.  It was super fast paced and short and good.  Hugh Jackman was amazing, and Wolverine remains my favourite XMen guy.  Gambit (my fave Big Tim) was just so amazing, I am hoping above all hopes that he gets his own film.  He is just so pretty and hot.  Have I mentioned I love Taylor Kitsch?  Ryan Reynolds was also great, as was Liev Schreiber.  The big question everyone had when they left the movie though, was what happened to Patrick Stewart’s face?

I know it has taken me a while, but I have just discovered Sephora.  I had heard of it, but because there weren’t any local stores, I had never actually been in one.  A friend from Montreal was visiting a couple of months ago and brought me to the new Ottawa store as she was looking for something they didn’t carry at the Montreal store.  We were only there briefly but I knew I had to go back soon.  She told me about the Beauty Insider card and newsletter, and if you sign up they send you a free birthday present.  So of course I signed up and this weekend I went to the Ottawa store to pick up my free lip gloss trio (yum!)  The store was sooo much fun.  I went with a couple of girlfriends and we spent over an hour just browsing and trying out funky products.  I ended up getting some wonderful Makeup Forever false eyelashes, a glimmery eyeshadow also from Makeup Forever, an eye shadow brush and my free lip glosses.  Of course I went back yesterday to look some more and got a sample of Hope In A Jar (Philosophy) and Fudge Cake shower gel (Philosophy).    I also got a gorgeous eyeliner from Sephora.  This place is amazing – you must check it out!!

I pre-ordered my copy of Twilight on Blu-ray, and it surprised me by arriving two days earlier than estimated, Monday.  I had tons of things to do after work, but of course I dropped everything and had to watch it immediately.  I still love the movie, love Edward, love the story.  The scene where Edward jumps on Bella’s truck wearing that beautiful blue jacket…Robert Pattinson just looks edible.   I was so happy to be able to stop/rewind/play the kiss scene 10 times in a row.  And how fun are the deleted scenes??  We even get an added kiss scene in them, however it is not as good as the one in the movie.  Anyhow, sigh, love that movie, will definitely watch it again this weekend.  Can’t wait for New Moon!

Twilight DVD

My daughter lost another tooth yesterday and with it came another wonderful letter to the tooth fairy…

Dear Mme.  Tooth,

I hope my tooth goes somewhere good.  Keep it safe for me, I hope it comes to great use.  One more thing, take care of every single tooth all the way to the 100th.  Thanks!

On our trip to Niagara-on-the-lake in August, we visited the 13th Street Winery.  My sister-in-law had discovered it on their most recent trip to the region.  I love sparkling wine and my sister-in-law told me to try this one out.

On the 4th day of our trip, I rounded up my three fellow travellers and made everyone come with me to check it out.  The winery is not on the main strip with most of the other wineries, and doesn’t really look like much.  It is basically a small building surrounded by grapes

We went in and asked to try out the sparkling wine.  They make other wines as well but I was very single-minded about this visit.  It was fantastic!  Dry, but with no yucky after taste.  Tasted like real champagne.  I loved it. I bought a few bottles, and just opened one a few weeks ago and it was just as good as I had remembered.  It is one of the best sparkling wines I have tried, and very reasonably priced as well.  You can find out more about the winery and the sparkling wine here.

We went to see Wicked last night and it was so great!  I just loved it, it was funny and the music was amazing and catchy…the lead singers were excellent.  Nothing worse than a musical with not great singers.  This one met all the criteria, even the sets were truly oustanding – they were beautiful!  I loved all the sparkly green.  Glinda had the best dresses and I found myself wishing that I had just one of her Cinderella-type gowns and tiaras.  So sparkly and pretty.

Every time I see a great musical I find myself thinking about how breaking into song is a really fun thing to do.  I wonder why we don’t do it more in our daily life.  Imagine a long meeting at work where everyone is just droning on and you lost track ages ago.  Suddenly, a spot light appears on you.  You leap onto the conference table, and strike a ridiculous pose.  You open your mouth and a vibrating aria comes out that expresses all your woes about the meeting, and the day, and life in general.  Now that would be exciting.  It would work in other areas as well…instead of fighting with your kids you could sing to them and get them to see the error of the ways.  It would definitely shock them into giggles at the very least.  I may try it later and let you know how it goes…at home though, not at work.

I am home with the kids this week and my son is in a hockey camp every morning, but the afternoons are left for Mommy to fill with excitement.  I had the crazy idea to take them to the library today.  They each have a card, and I occasionally get them books but we mostly buy books.  They both already have so many books so instead of going to Chapters today to buy more, I decided to let them go to the library to try it out.  I told them to just grab as many as they liked, up to a maximum of ten books.  They were thrilled, it was like I promised to take them to the fair.  I am a huge reader so right now I am thinking I sure have cool kids.  I remember when I was their age I could walk to the library by myself and I used to get most of my reading books that way.  As an adult I really like to own my books, but I still take a bunch out of the library as well.  As we left the library today, with both my kids carrying an armload of books, I couldn’t have been a prouder Mom.

Okay people, I need your help. I am part of a committee to choose a new logo for a school…which one do you prefer? Thoughts or comments appreciated…

http://www.psychies.com/kms.htm