Maine!

It was cold as the dickens, but I loved Maine!

Can you tell?

Me vs. the lobster. Guess what? I won.

Does the LL stand for LOVE LOBSTER? If so, this is my kinda place!

Not shown in this picture: A platter of steamers and a bowl of mussels bathing in garlic-wine. OMG.

Colossal lobstah roll that almost made me cry. The buttery bread. The sweet meat. Can I live in Maine and commute to work in Baltimore every day? Seriously, I will do that ish!

The best part was when I got back and all the kids were so excited to see me.

Cary kept doing a little happy dance and saying in his little cartoon voice, "Mommy, I missed you!"

Clair said, "I couldn't FINE you!" in an adorably admonishing way.

And Dean peppered me with 10,000 questions the whole way home and asked if he could hold my hand going up the stairs (this, coming from Mr. Independent, is a BIG deal.)

Finally, Cary told me, "Mommy, don't go on any more field trips any more!"

I hadn't realized how much I missed them until I saw their little faces and hugged them close.

So, no more field trips for me for awhile folks -- even for all the lobster rolls in Maine.

Mom's birthday/my anniversary/Angel-takes-photos weekend!

My wonderful Mom's birthday is on Sunday. She'll be (cough, cough, ahem!) years old, but she doesn't look a day over 40.

To surprise her, my Nana (her mom), and her two sisters Fern and Valerie drove down from Boston today!

Aunt Fern is on the far left, my Mom's in the middle. Auntie Val is on the far right and my Nana is in the middle. The other two dudes are two of my Mom's brothers. (Uncle Mike didn't make this reunion.)

With all that family in town, we knew we needed to do something fab. So we're having a party this weekend!

I'll be busy, busy, busy (what else is new?) cooking for the party, dealing with the kiddos and basically being hostess-with-the-mostest, because my Dad has made me Chief Party Planner.

But I am so excited because my girl Angel C. is coming to take photos of the party, and some portraits of the Jackson girls (that's my mom and her sisters and Nana)! The photo shoot is my gift to my Mom and to Nana, whose birthday is on the 10th.

I get to see my family! And hang out with Angel! And get some kick-ass photos!! (You can see some of Angel's beautiful portraits at asc-images.com.)

And...tomorrow is me and Lester's 6th anniversary! 

AND...Nana and my Aunties brought LOBSTAH! (Gotta say it the Boston way!)

So this is going to be a great weekend! Can't wait!

My version of Heaven (in pictures)

Lester's 40 for 40 gift this weekend was a surprise trip to my Mom's house. On our way there, he made a quick stop along I-95 at a new place he discovered that is now my favorite place on Earth. And then we continued on to my Mom's for a little party Lester planned, with my two sisters and their kids, my Mom and Dad and us. I was totally, totally surprised, and totally, totally thrilled!!

Instead of gushing about it in all caps and a million exclamation points, I will just show you what Heaven looks like in my dreams.

Well, hello lovers.

"Mommy! They are moving!!"

Not anymore, they're not. (Five little loverboys. 12 pounds of amazingness.)

He bought a bushel of crabs. They are all gone.

More sea-dwelling protein.

And still more, doused in white wine, onions and garlic.

A couple sides (and my Mom's famous potato salad: not pictured.)

Mom went out and bought these adorable crab-and-lobster cracking accessories. This double-sided paper towel holder is genius!

Drunk off lobster, lemon and butter, I had no problems wearing this stupid lobster hat.

Aaaaaaaand -- there was chocolate cake for dessert. BOO-YA!

I wish I was turning 40 EVERY YEAR!!