Season's Sportings

It's the most hectic-ful time of the year!!!  

It feels like Eliot and I have been going full speed ahead for weeks now.  But we're almost at the final push of holiday orders!  Our holiday season is usually filled with a lot of hustle and bustle, so I've tried to make an effort to stop and enjoy it.  Thankfully, we've been able to kick back a few times!  The beginning of this month has been extra busy as we've been cramming some fun into our already busy calendars. 

Back on Friday 12/2, Eliot and I went over to my cousin Luke's house to have a Movie and Game Night with this wife and daughter.  We watched a few episodes of Disney Junior shows with his daughter (she's 4) before it was time for her to head to bed.  The highlight of the evening was definitely when she cuddled up with me on the couch!  

After putting her to bed, the adults all ate pizza and played Wingspan.  It'd been a while since we last went over to play, so I was a bit rusty, but I picked it back up.  This time, I went in with a strategy and it paid off.  I did much better and ended up tying with Rachel for second.  Naturally, Eliot won and poor Luke got his booty kicked.  We all had a great night though, and we ended up staying up talking with them until late.  It was around 1:00 am by the time we left, but it was a great night and Eliot and I really enjoyed the break and spending time with them!

The next day, we had an extra early morning.  It was going to be early anyways, but it felt even earlier since we had been out so late.  However, we had an event that I'd been really excited about and I didn't want to miss it!  Saturday morning was Holiday at Hadlock.  Since Eliot and I have only been following the Portland Sea Dogs recently, I didn't even know this existed until I saw it advertised on their Facebook a few weeks ago.  They haven't had it the past few years due to COVID, but once I heard about it, I knew we had to go.  It sounded like a lot of fun!

Eliot and I left the house a little later than we'd planned to, but we still made it in time to get inside the ballpark about 15 minutes before Santa arrived.  The weather wasn't that great, so Santa couldn't arrive by helicopter as planned, so instead he showed up in a Portland Fire Truck.  Eliot and I were inside of the store when he got there so I got a great view through the window.  Slugger was dressed up as Buddy the Elf and he was hilarious running over to the truck to greet Santa.

Eliot and I didn't need to meet Santa, but we did enjoy walking around and checking everything else out.  There was face painting and balloon animals for the kids.  There was also a craft room... probably also for kids but this 38 year old thoroughly enjoyed herself and definitely left with a foam dreidel, Christmas tree and a few Rudolph stickers.  We missed the free Dunkin Donuts shirts, but we'll know to be there early next year.  We also got a few of the free cookies, ok, more than a few because it was near the end of the event and they still had at least 5-6 trays of cookies to give away. 

My favorite part was that the ballpark was decorated for Christmas.  They updated the "standings" to a naughty and nice list which was pretty funny.  There was Sea Dogs "wrapping paper" over some of the other signs.  They also had a few small displays of trees and faux presents wrapped beneath them to make it more festive.  

There were two frame signs you could hold and take photos with.  We took a photo with one of them and then put the donkeys in by the other one.  (Aren't they adorable in their little Santa hats!?!)  Of course, they also had a special room prepared for Santa and you could watch Frosty the Snowman while standing in the long line to meet him.

Eliot and I both had a wonderful time.  The highlight was definitely when we got to take a photo with Slugger.  We thought that we'd missed him when he disappeared right as we were about to get into the photo line, but he did eventually come back out.  (I'm so glad we stayed because we had almost left and we would have missed him!)  The only downer was that we completely forgot our Toys for Tots gifts at home, but Eliot's work has a drop off.  Holiday at Hadlock was a lot of fun and I can see how kids would really enjoy it!  We'll definitely go there to celebrate the holidays again!

But the fun didn't end there.  On the way back to our car, we stopped in at the Portland Expo Center to see the Craft Fair we'd spotted on the way down to Hadlock Field.  It cost $2 for each of us to get in, but it was worth it to walk around exploring the booths.

It's been awhile since we attended a craft fair, but I love going to them.  Eliot and I got a lot of inspiration and ideas for projects, and we picked up a few business cards from crafters that we'd like to follow or check out their online shops!  (There was a shop with a gorgeous Maine shaped charcuterie board that we'd love to get eventually!)

We didn't leave empty handed either.  Eliot and I each picked out a bag of gourmet popcorn to take home.  Eliot also bought me two pairs of earrings from a shop that sold laser cut metal jewelry and ornaments.  I wanted to get some stained glass earrings from another shop, but I behaved myself.  I did take a business card though!

Before returning home, we stopped in Portland to check out the Home Depot. We'd been wanting to get the Tigger and Eeyore inflatables there.  They didn't have Eeyore, but we did leave with Tigger!  (Eliot's going to get Eeyore in Biddeford.)

The next evening, Mom, Dad and Nana arrived at their hotel in South Portland for Dad's annual tax conference.  On Monday, I drove into Portland on Monday to spend a few hours with them.  Mom and I went to lunch at Friendly's and then grabbed some food at Hannaford.  I visited with her, Nana and Dad for a little bit before I went home.  

On Tuesday, I went in later in the afternoon.  Mom and I left for hotel for few minutes of Christmas shopping over at TJ Maxx before we went to get more milk for Nana at Hannaford.  Tuesday evening, Luke and his family were as visiting Nana at the hotel for a little bit so Mom and Dad could get out for a little break.  Eliot and I joined them and we all had a nice dinner together at Applebee's.  After, Eliot and I went back over to TJ Maxx to buy the present for Nana that Mom and I had picked out.  We also bought another gift for her, as well as the Disney Hanukkah blankets that I'd spotted earlier in the day.  (I was so excited to show Eliot but he discovered them before I could show him... he flipped out too!)  Then, we went back over to the hotel to drop off the gifts and visit with Mom, Dad and Nana for a few minutes before heading home.

The next few days Eliot and I worked extra hard since we'd been playing around; plus, we also had plans for Friday night.  The Maine Mariners have a bunch of away games before Christmas, so their last home games were 12/9 and 12/10.  I'd been looking forward to the game that Friday night as soon as I found out the Mariners were doing a Pucks and Paws game.  I couldn't wait to see all of the dogs and I also wanted to get the lay of the land so we'd know what to expect if we brought our puppies to a game.

Eliot and I had so much fun.  The Mariners ended up losing 3-2, but we still had a great time.  There were a few dogs dressed up in Mariners jerseys and it definitely gave me ideas for the future.  We also ran into our friend Jenn who was there with her husband and son.  Eliot and I were both wearing our new Mariners hats.  We also got matching Paws and Pucks shirts to wear next year.  My favorite part of the entire evening was when they played "Who Let the Dogs Out" and the camera found a bunch of the dogs in the stands.  It looked like they were all confused about what they were doing there, but they were happy to be out with their humans!

We've definitely been busy since this month started, but Eliot and I have had a lot of fun and it's been nice to get out and enjoy ourselves a little bit!  The rest of this week is "Hell Week" from now until the USPS shipping deadline on Saturday... so it'll be all hands on deck and no extra time for fun.  But we've had a lot of fun along the way!

Season's Sportings!!!  °o°

Maine Mariners Opening Weekend 2022

It's been another busy week in the Cady house.  I've been busy blogging, working on getting a ton of orders out for both businesses, preparing for Halloween festivities, and trying to work on cleaning and organizing the house whenever I find a spare minute.  It has been crazy, but it's also been pretty fun for the most part!

Knowing that this past week was going to be absolute insanity, Eliot and I took a bit of a break last weekend.  I know, I know, we were just in San Jose the previous weekend taking a break too... but this was another well deserved timeout after all of the hours of hard work that we've put in the past three weeks.

I mentioned last Saturday that we had four hockey games to watch or go to... it just so happened that last weekend was the Maine Mariners opening weekend.  Eliot and I have been looking forward to hockey starting back up for months, so us taking two weekends off to watch our local team and our Sharks seemed well worth the sacrifices we would have to make during the work week!

Last weekend was extra busy since the Sharks were also playing on Saturday and Sunday.  So both days we watched the Sharks on television, and attended the Maine Mariners games in person.  It was a double, double-header weekend full of hockey!

The Sharks game on Saturday was at 1:00 PM since they were playing the New Jersey Devils.  Eliot and I try to watch all of their games, but we make an extra effort to watch all of the Sharks east coast games since they're actually in our time zone and we don't have to stay up late for them.  This game was pretty uneventful, with all three goals being scored in the 2nd period.  Unfortunately, we lost the game 2-1.  As soon as it was over, I was running to go shower and get ready to head up to Portland for the Mariners game.  Thankfully, that hockey game was a bit more entertaining... 

The Saturday Mariners game was really exciting since it was their first home game of the season.  We actually had to buy our tickets the night before since I'd read on Facebook that they were almost sold out.  By the time Eliot got our tickets, there were only 4-5 double seats left in the entire arena so I'm glad we got them the night before!

When we arrived at the arena, you could feel the excitement.  The game was at 6:00, but we got there early so we were able to watch warmups for a few minutes.  There were more people there then we'd ever seen.  We actually had seats only a few rows back from the glass which was cool... but the angle we were at didn't completely have netting over it.  I was a nervous wreck watching the puck, but it was still fun to be so close to the ice and so close to all of the excitement!

And exciting it was... The Mariners gave up two goals in the first period but then we scored a goal late in the second period.  The visiting team scored again in the third period.  We scored again, and a few minutes later the same player that scored got into a huge fight with the other team's captain.  Things got quite feisty on both sides in the final few minutes of the game, but the Mariners ended up losing 3-2.

On Sunday, our schedule was the complete opposite.  The Mariners were our first game at 3:00 PM.  Eliot and I didn't get up to Portland quite as early and we arrived right about the same time the puck dropped.  We were able to get seats in our regular section though, so that was more comforting and we settled in to enjoy the view.

This game was the Scooby Doo themed night, so the Mariners were all wearing special jerseys.  They had a Halloween feel to them, and some of the fans were dressed up in costumes for it.  There were a lot less people in the stands for this event, even though there was an open skate after the game.  (We later found out the the Saturday game set a franchise record of 5,386 fans in attendance.)

The game started off slow, but things opened up later in the first period.  The Mariners played well and went into the third period with a 2-1 lead.  We scored a gorgeous power play goal late in the period.  Then we got an empty netter.  The other team got a goal a minute later, but we scored one final empty netter to win the game 5-2.

After the game ended, Eliot and I got out of the arena quicker than usual since we were trying to get home to watch the Sharks game which started at 7:00 pm.  We stopped at Chili's to pick up a to-go order, then we went straight home to arrive just as the Sharks game was starting.  Thankfully, this game went better than the day before.  

The Sharks had a great start against the Philadelphia Flyers, especially since they were playing a back-to-back.  (It was probably the best they've looked all season so far.)  We ended up winning this game 3-0 making us 500 on the road trip.  

All in all, it was was a fun hockey weekend and a great break from of the hard work we've been doing the past few weeks.  It stunk to lose both games on Saturday, but Sunday definitely made up for it with both the Mariners and Sharks winning!  

Plus, Eliot and I got to debut a few of our new hockey jerseys.  On Saturday, he wore his Power Rangers jersey and I wore my Maine Mariners sweatshirt that we bought at the end of last season.  Then on Sunday, we both wore our new Harry Potter jerseys that Eliot's parents bought us in San Jose the previous weekend!  They were a hit!

Most importantly, Eliot and I enjoyed spending time together and we were glad we got to attend opening weekend for the Mariners.  We aren't going to be able to make it to all of their games, but we've got our eyes on a bunch of their weekend games this upcoming season.  I think we're in luck, because there are quite a few of them... so I see plenty of hockey dates in our future!  Go Mariners!!!  °o°

A Double Header Day

It's no secret that Eliot and I have been crazy busy the past few weeks.  With the knowledge that we're about ready to get even busier in the coming weeks, it feels like we're in overdrive right now.  So far, we seem to be rising to the challenge... but everyone needs a break now and again. 

Yesterday, Eliot and I had the most full day that we've had in a long time at home.  It started with getting our packages ready to go to the post office.  Then, he left to mail them and pick a few things up at the grocery store.  When he got back, we set to work trying to fix my master bedroom closet.  (That's another whole story... basically the short version is that my shelf and closet rod were coming out of the wall and starting to collapse.)  After removing the original one and spackling the wall, we needed to get wood and new shelf brackets before we could finish the repairs.

The second half of our day was a lot more enjoyable.  Eliot and I have been working so hard with the businesses that we're still ahead on most of our orders.  We needed to go to Home Depot for supplies anyways, so we decided to take the rest of the day off.

We had a double motive for our trip to Portland.  It was to get supplies, but it was mostly to go to the Maine Mariners hockey team's special Wild Blueberries themed night.  We've had it on our radar for the past month, but we didn't commit to buying tickets for the game until we knew where we were at with our businesses.

It felt really good taking the afternoon and evening off.  I think we earned it... especially knowing how the next few weeks are going to go.  We drove to Portland and had a late lunch and early dinner at Friendly's at 4:00 pm.  Then, we stopped at Home Depot to grab the supplies we needed.  We even divided and conquered to save time!

I drove us up to downtown Portland.  We parked in the same parking area we had during one of our other Maine Mariners games.  We haven't been to a Mariners game since March of 2020- right before everything closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was so much fun to be back at a local game, without face masks, cheering the guys on and enjoying life as it used to be.  A few people were still wearing face masks, but Eliot and I opted not to.  This past month, we've been on airplanes, at Disneyland in huge lines, and in huge crowds... so this felt pretty safe in the scheme of things.

It was also a special game to go to.  Every year, the Mariners do a special Maine Wild Blueberries night where the team wears special jerseys of their alternate logo.  Back when the team was finalizing their name, the Wild Blueberries was the second in the voting for their name and logo... so they still pay tribute to that each season.

Photo Source

Eliot and I had a great time.  It was probably the busiest game we've been to so far and the arena was pretty filled.  It's never completely full, but it was enough of a crowd to cheer loudly.  And there was plenty to cheer about... the Maine Mariners scored nine goals!  We were glad the game went well because we're currently ranked 4th and this team (the Newfoundland Growlers) was ranked 2nd.  We had also lost to them Friday night.  But the "Maine Wild Blueberries" won 9-4 at our game!!!

After the game, Eliot and I went back over to the mall area.  We went into Homegoods quickly to see if they had any Disney Easter stuff.  I was sorely disappointed in how little they had, but at least they had the Mickey bowls I wanted to get!  Then, we made a quick stop at Walmart before heading home.

But our night wasn't quite over... we were buckling in for a hockey double-header.  Eliot and I got home just before 10 pm, and the San Jose Sharks were playing at 10:30.  I barely got a few business things done before that game started.

Thankfully, the Sharks game went better than it started.  Our goalie saved our butts during the first 10 minutes of the 1st period.  Then, the rest of the guys showed up and started taking it to the Anaheim Ducks.  It ended up being another really good game to watch.  Timo Meier scored three goals and got his second hat trick this season!  (Yes, this Timo Meier.)  I half missed his first goal, but I saw the second one go in... it was almost like slow motion.  I was on Timo hat trick watch for the rest of the game.  I screamed like a psycho when I saw his third goal go in.  It was a beautiful one too.  He passed the puck to himself between his legs before shooting a backhand into the net.  I went nuts and definitely scared the crap out of Eliot- who was half asleep on the couch.

Photo Source

The Sharks won the game 4-1 and I was stoked.  I was afraid that it would be hard to fall asleep after all of the cheering, but I was exhausted.  Between working on our businesses, working on the house, going to a hockey game, going shopping and watching another game on television, I was completely wiped out.  But I'm so thankful for our double header day.  We got to enjoy an actual double header between the Maine Mariners and the San Jose Sharks hockey games, and our day kind of felt like a double header of working the first half and playing the second half.

In a time when my word of the year is "balance" it was nice to find some yesterday.  °o°