A Guest Post by Kate the Great

Hello, dear friends.  It is with great pleasure that I present to you a guest post by one of my nearest and dearest, Kate the Great, who came to visit us a couple of weekends ago.  She informed me within the first few minutes of her visit that she intended to do a guest post on her weekend.  I told her that was fine as long as she stuck with the subject matter and not dig up old stories from our college days.  I didn't want to risk serving any more time in the "Pen."

If you are new to my blog or suffer from short-term memory such as myself, you can find out why I call her Kate the Great right here, here, here, and here. 

*****

My FABULOUS 48 OF F, F, F, AND WTF!!!! 
(Fun, Food, Frolicking as in Wow the FACTOR!) 

IF WE’D HAD ANY MORE FUN WE WOULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED!

My feet barely touched the ground at Logan Airport when out pops The Mister and his lovely wife Katie, despite my wishes to be picked up curbside.  As loyal followers of Preppy Empty Nester already know ~ that’s just how they roll!  When you are their guest, they roll out the red carpet!

On our way to the PEN's home, we drove through beautiful fall colors.  We passed cranberry bogs, marshes, and every time I turned around there was water. 

We stopped at Whole Foods where The Mister handpicked the freshest and finest ingredients for our dinner that evening. We each had our assignments: I pick the protein, Katie sets the table scape and The Mister does his magic with the rest!

Next stop was New England’s version of Tara!  The home of Katie Clooney and her Mister! Wow Wow Wow! Once I was able to catch my breath, I was given a quick tour of the grounds. 

Out came Chili to welcome me with kisses and wags. We hit it off right away ~ it was love at first sight!  Chili proceeded to lead the way in and Katie showed me around.  The inside took my breath away just as much as the outside did!  I felt like I had just stepped into House Beautiful, Town and Country and Architectural Digest all at the same time! 

The first thing that struck me about their home was the windows ~ windows everywhere! We had a glorious, picture-perfect weekend with the sun pouring into each and every one of them!  (Sorry #1 - but sometimes you just have to talk about the weather!) 

There were lovely hardwood floors with the beautiful rugs, colors of blue and white that flowed elegantly throughout the entire house and Katie’s signature touch of fresh flowers and mums were everywhere!  Touches of pumpkins and scented pine cones were tucked here and there bringing fall inside.  All this and I haven’t even unpacked my bag!

I was given #1’s room which had spectacular views of their trees covered in golds, oranges, and reds.  Sitting on my bed was the loveliest hand painted calendar of New England scenes and a magazine with my boyfriend Blake Shelton’s picture on the cover.   This is another one of Katie’s signature touches ~ a thoughtful remembrance of your stay and a witty memento sometimes going back 30 years.  That girl has the mind of a steel trap! 

Time for the stretch pants cause I can smell The Misters’s good cookin’ and I’m not leaving one morsel of his genius on my plate! We always begin our tradition of Happy Hour with XXL wine glasses, Mister’s beautiful array of hors d’oeuvres, Donna Summer singing in the background and the same old hysterical college stories which get funnier every year!  We feasted on an over-the-top fabulouso dinner of which I can only name about a third of the ingredients that were on my plate!  Suffice to say that Katie's Mister knocks it out of the park every time!

Pretty soon it was time for me to curl up with Blake and call it a day!

After a leisurely breakfast, my hosts had a landscaping project that needed their attention, so Chili and I headed to the sun room for some quality time. 

Next thing I know Katie had me sitting in the back seat while giving me colorful commentary as she drove us through the most charming picturesque towns on our way to Scarlet Oak Tavern in Hingham for lunch. 

After a delicious lunch of sushi and flatbread we shopped till we dropped with our last stop being The Dollar Tree per my request.  I still had a few dollars burning a hole. This is what I mean by how “they roll”. They make you feel like you’re royalty even though you're from Chicago and have a Dollar Store every 100 feet.  Found some readers for My Mister. He’ll be so happy to know I was thinking of him! 

We’re home just in time for me to slip on the stretchies and head downstairs for Happy Hour.  More wine, more tasty hors d’oeuvres,  more dance tunes and more funny stories. For tonight’s protein, I chose fish and once again The Mister shopped for the very best and freshest ingredients of the day!  Dinner was out of this world divine! He prepared some mouth-watering swordfish and apple pie for dessert.  After dinner, I gathered up my treasures and headed upstairs to do a little packing before I put my very happy, sleepy little head down.

Before leaving, I wheeled around every room one last time savoring the elegant charm of this very old house and the second to none hospitality of my host and hostess!  

#1 and #2 called during my stay making it the second best thing to them being home!  They both had me laughing reminding me that these little apples didn’t fall far from the tree!  The only thing missing from my fabulous 48 was Chow who was at camp.  I didn’t ask.

Like I said before ~ if we had any more fun we’d have been arrested! 

Thank you, Katie ~ Thank you, Mister!

Kate the Great

Thank you, dear Kate, for a fabulous post.  Along with being one of my closest friends, I admire you so much.  You are the epitome of grace and courage.  

But most of all, you're the funniest girl I know.

Chili thinks so too!!