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for anyone that knows us they know that we love the food network channel. from the next food network star or paula deen to diners, drive-ins and dives. there's really not much else that we have time to watch these days. so with that being said.... it's my birthday today, well maybe yeseterday by the time this gets up on the blog. and my hubby knew he had to do something special because i have been so overwhelmed with everything lately. i figured we would go to chicago and hang out for the day and grab some dinner but he had much bigger plans. so on friday afternoon i get an email telling me how i should pack my bags for the weekend...
  • no flip flops
  • dress for the same weather as chicago
  • nice clothes for saturday and casual for sunday
and that was about it. at this point i figured we would be flying somewhere... so when we arrived at the airport at 5:00 am i was just a little excited to see the big BOSTON sign staring down at me. i have always wanted to go to boston, YEAH!!!!!! but of course this little excursion can't be that simple, just not the way aaron does it when he gets around to doing it. he really is amazing, and if i say that more than once you'll have to excuse me. when arrive in boston we head to enterprise, where they are unbelievable accomadating, and get our mustang convertible! this is a first for me. we drive through boston and check it out a bit and then head to the little middle of nowhere town of wells, maine. of course i'm thinking what in the world are we doing here - antiquing (the streets are lined with antiqaue shops)? nope! we're having lunch at no other than Maine Diner. for most this would just be some little diner out in the middle of nowhere like i said but for me and us this is like going where the famous go.... as i said we watched diners, drive-ins and dives on a regular basis and guy fieri had this place on one of his episodes... YUMMY! i do believe i just told aaron not too long ago how cool, and yes a little cheesy, it would be to do a little tour of all the places he goes on his show. can you believe he actually listened to me? we laugh to ourselves thinking they just doctor up those shows and make the food look incredibally tasty and filled with all sorts of seafood... well let me tell you it ain't no joke, take a look... after lunch we head up the coast toward portland, maine to our next destination.... more food. our vacations sort of revolve around eating. we love to eat and we love trying new foods. as we make our way up coast we stop and in kennebunkport and do a little sight seeing. there is this great little locally made jewelry store where i will go back to tomorrow and buy these great earings. look how cute the town is... while aaron might not have planned every minute of our day he planned the most important parts of it, where we ate, five-fifty-five. 555 congress street, portland, maine was our final destination. an atmospheric little restaurant in the arts district. the food was divine, the waiter knowledgeable and the company unsurpassable. honey i couldn't have picked a better place! from the first bite to the last everything was fab-u-lous.
there was a fair going on in the streets right outside the restaurant. a local showing of the artists from the college. we checked out the works and even became interactive in some cases...
nothing says quaint like a city with cobblestone streets. there's such a deep feeling of old world and romance i get from them. call me romantic and sentimental but this was a perfect setting for a perfect birthday with my almost perfect husband... we strolled around and headed to dessert at fore. there is simply no better way to end a perfect birthday than with my husband and all time favorite dessert, a chocolate souffle and a glass of vintage port. all made possible by my darling husband.
and of course no trip of ours is complete without our self portraits!
day 2 is coming tomorrow...
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the perfect birthday

September 13, 2010 life

for anyone that knows us they know that we love the food network channel. from the next food network star or paula deen to diners, drive-ins and dives. there’s really not much else that we have time to watch these days. so with that being said…. it’s my birthday today, well maybe yeseterday by the time this gets up on the blog. and my hubby knew he had to do something special because i have been so overwhelmed with everything lately. i figured we would go to chicago and hang out for the day and grab some dinner but he had much bigger plans.

so on friday afternoon i get an email telling me how i should pack my bags for the weekend…

  • no flip flops
  • dress for the same weather as chicago
  • nice clothes for saturday and casual for sunday

and that was about it. at this point i figured we would be flying somewhere… so when we arrived at the airport at 5:00 am i was just a little excited to see the big BOSTON sign staring down at me.


i have always wanted to go to boston, YEAH!!!!!! but of course this little excursion can’t be that simple, just not the way aaron does it when he gets around to doing it. he really is amazing, and if i say that more than once you’ll have to excuse me. when arrive in boston we head to enterprise, where they are unbelievable accomadating, and get our mustang convertible! this is a first for me. we drive through boston and check it out a bit and then head to the little middle of nowhere town of wells, maine. of course i’m thinking what in the world are we doing here – antiquing (the streets are lined with antiqaue shops)?

nope! we’re having lunch at no other than Maine Diner. for most this would just be some little diner out in the middle of nowhere like i said but for me and us this is like going where the famous go…. as i said we watched diners, drive-ins and dives on a regular basis and guy fieri had this place on one of his episodes… YUMMY! i do believe i just told aaron not too long ago how cool, and yes a little cheesy, it would be to do a little tour of all the places he goes on his show. can you believe he actually listened to me? we laugh to ourselves thinking they just doctor up those shows and make the food look incredibally tasty and filled with all sorts of seafood… well let me tell you it ain’t no joke, take a look…

after lunch we head up the coast toward portland, maine to our next destination…. more food. our vacations sort of revolve around eating. we love to eat and we love trying new foods. as we make our way up coast we stop and in kennebunkport and do a little sight seeing. there is this great little locally made jewelry store where i will go back to tomorrow and buy these great earings. look how cute the town is…

while aaron might not have planned every minute of our day he planned the most important parts of it, where we ate, five-fifty-five. 555 congress street, portland, maine was our final destination. an atmospheric little restaurant in the arts district. the food was divine, the waiter knowledgeable and the company unsurpassable. honey i couldn’t have picked a better place! from the first bite to the last everything was fab-u-lous.

there was a fair going on in the streets right outside the restaurant. a local showing of the artists from the college. we checked out the works and even became interactive in some cases…
nothing says quaint like a city with cobblestone streets. there’s such a deep feeling of old world and romance i get from them. call me romantic and sentimental but this was a perfect setting for a perfect birthday with my almost perfect husband… we strolled around and headed to dessert at fore. there is simply no better way to end a perfect birthday than with my husband and all time favorite dessert, a chocolate souffle and a glass of vintage port. all made possible by my darling husband.
and of course no trip of ours is complete without our self portraits!
day 2 is coming tomorrow…

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  1. Happy B-Day Philan! You guys are great, you did our wedding last July in Mendota, Illinois and we are Diners, Drive-in’s and Dives lovers too…we have been to nearly 20 of the sites from the show. Next time you are in Maine, my favorite there is A-1 in Gardiner, Maine…a beautiful old red trailer over a river…I will post some pictures to my site. We just returned from a friend’s wedding in Reno, you were wonderful in taking some engagement shots for them when in Mendota, and we went to the Gold-n-silver in.

    Our list so far:
    Gold-n-Silver Inn (reno, NV)
    Leonard’s BBQ (Memphis, TN)
    A-1 Dinner (Gardiner Maine)
    White Palace Grill (Chicago, IL)
    The Cove (San Antonio, TX)
    Tip Top Cafe (San Antonio, TX)
    Nick’s Grill (Oklahoma City, OK)
    Mac and Ernies Roadside Stop (Tarpley, TX)
    Magnolia Cafe (Austin, TX)
    Matt’s Big Breakfast (Phoenix, AZ)
    Red Arrow (Manchester NH)
    T-Bone Tom’s (Keemah, TX)
    Kennny and Ziggy’s (Houston, TX)

    Once again,
    Happy Birthday,
    Brian and Amanda Ewenson

  2. Loved reading what you’ve written so far about your trip, Philan!…sounds like it was a great time. Such a very cool thing for you to do, Aaron. And I absolutely love these black & white self-portraits of the 2 of you at the end of today’s blog…especially the last one. You guys are just too cute! 🙂

  3. these are sooo great! happy you guys got to go, and we got to hang with your kids!!! you guys look so completely happy! good job aaron 😉 happy birthday philan ♥

  4. I just wanted to say thanks for posting this. As Wayne and I are foodies ourselves (anything on Food Network & Bravo’s Top Chef are our fav), it was great to read your reviews of places we had heard of as well. Our honeymoon to California includes visits to some Top Chef restaurants, including Stephan’s (Season 5) restaurant in LA as well as Jaime’s (season 5) in San Fran. So thanks for a great post! Marcy & Wayne (only 16 days until you photograph our wedding!)

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