well, we do not have a Holiday party at the Eng. Co., so in lieu of it we go somewhere, usually Portland, to shop and relax. It's really a lot better than most corporate parties and i suggest you all recommend it to your bosses. We had a reservation at the Eastland. We took off Thursday morning. JK had a brief meeting in Brewer and then got a haircut and we headed south. We arrived in Portland at about 1 and had nothing to do till 2:30, when JK was scheduled for a massage. So we drove around. I showed him Peter's house and we found the place where his Friday meeting was to be. Then I dropped him at the Salon and I went and checked into the hotel. I had a litle rest and called Jen, then picked JK up at 3:30. He went to the museum and Jen and I went shopping, the details of which have already been blogged. But I do have to say that I absolutely LOVE my $10 old navy pj bottoms that I bought for LRNYE. So Jen left and JK and I went to Katahdin for dinner. It was very good. I had crab caked with roasted red pepper aioli (appetizer) jk had white bean, spinach, sausage soup, for entrees I had a roast duck with apricot glaze, greens and rice, jk had apple roasted pork with garlic mashers and greens, I had a lemon drop martini and a glass of pinot noir, jk had a pumpkin ale. We didn't have any dessert. We went back to the hotel intending to have coffee and dessert at the top of the east but we were exhausted and crashed by nine. What party animals we are. JK had a meeting friday morning and I got up and went int o the parking lot to chat with James for a while. That was pretty entertaining and I stayed an hour. Then I shopped around the market for a while and talk about customer service nightmares just TRY to get waited on in that place I dare you!!! Anyway i DID eventually get served. I got Ellen some petit fours (her fave) and coffee for xmas. I got some coffee for us for xmas, baguettes for my kids and that's about it I guess. Oh yeah I made Jen buy me ribbon candy for xmas and we looked at other little gorgeous things. Then I checked out of the hotel and we picked up Marc. We all (including JK) went to lunch at Ri Ra and I have to say it was pretty disgusting this time. John's was WAYYYY over priced ($13 bowl of irish stew) and mine was just gross - as it should have had a few vegetables in it I thought, since it was billed as if it did). Anyway after lunch we headed straight home stopping only briefly for gas, a Staples run and dinner (Stromboli from the Market cafe). Oh yeah, Gas was $1.75 at that truck stop right of the fairfield exit.