Baltimore Day 4

We've come to the final installment of my wonderful trip back East. Day 4 was actually spent in Baltimore, unlike Day 1, Day 2 or Day 3. Corey unfortunately had to work this day, so Matt was in charge of entertaining me and getting me to the airport in time for my evening flight back to CO.

Matt and I had a mellow morning that mostly involved putzing around on the computer, drinking lots of coffee and eventually showering and getting dressed. It was actually kind of nice not to be in a rush to get out the door and on to the next destination. But, we did have plans to meet up with Corey for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in Baltimore, Miss Shirley's Cafe. Seriously, this place is absolutely to. die. for! It's a bit pricey, but totally worth it! So, we grabbed Corey from the office and enjoyed a fabulously tasty meal. Corey and I said our good-byes, which is always kind of sad, but she and Matt will be out in Colorado in August for their WEDDING, so this farewell wasn't too bad.

Matt is my fellow History nerd (seriously, you would want this kid with you if you were ever on Cash Cab) and since it was just the two of us for the rest of the afternoon, we decided to go to Fort McHenry since I had never been. It was another effing hot day, but we had a great time exploring the Fort. I'm not a huge fan of American History, but the American Revolution is one of the time periods that I love reading and learning about. I wont bore you all with the details, but if you're a history nerd and ever in Baltimore, I suggest checking out Fort McHenry.

After a couple of hours at the Fort, Matt and I headed to a shopping area near the airport in order to kill some time before I had to leave. We did a little wandering, both found a few things that we just had to have, waited out a freak rain storm and then it was off to the airport for me! Little did I know that my flight was going to be delayed for 2 hours, causing me to not get back home to Fort Collins until well after midnight...but, that's ok.

I had a wonderful Memorial Weekend getaway, and it was so nice to see my friends.

Baltimore Day 3

The third day of my trip was a HOT one! We're talking high humidity and temps of 100 degrees! But, we weren't going to let that stop us, so we piled into the car and headed to Annapolis. Granted, there was a little whining from time to time and huge sighs of relief could be heard from all three of us when we would walk into any place with AC. But, I loved Annapolis. I had never been before, and I am so glad that we decided to spend the afternoon in the downtown area. It was beautiful! Lots of cute shops, cobbled streets lined with potted flowers and, of course, it's right on the water.

We wandered around town a little bit, strolled down to the docks and then decided that not only were we dying of heat, but we were starving! So, we found a great restaurant on the water, enjoyed a fabulous meal and lowered our body temps a bit. Stepping back onto the street from the restaurant was like hitting a wall of hot humidity; it was intense. I've had my fair share of experiences with humidity (lots of summers spent in the Midwest), but I am a Colorado girl who loves dry heat, so humidity always makes me a little whiney...this certainly isn't one of my best qualities. Luckily, I wasn't the only one totally floored by the heat and humidity, Matt and Corey were just as uncomfortable as I was. We quickly popped into a local coffee shop for 3 large iced coffees and then darted into stores and dashed from shaded area to shaded area on the way back to the car. The three of us also braved the direct sun just long enough to take several cute pictures near the State Capitol Building. Sometimes you just have to indulge in touristy urges.

Despite Matt's grumblings, Corey and I were able to sweet talk him into stopping at a local Outlet Mall for a bit of shopping (and a bathroom break!) on the way back to Baltimore. She and I were both successful and Matt was very well behaved. I have to give him major kudos for always putting up Corey and me and our shenanigans. He does it so gracefully (is that weird to say about a guy?).

After Annapolis and shopping, Corey and I dropped Matt off at the apartment because we had a girls' night planned! We killed a little time by wandering around Target, bought some candy for Matt as a thank you for putting up with us and then picked up Corey's friend Amy. She was such a sweetheart! The three of us gossiped over dinner and then went to see Sex and the City 2!! I was so excited! But, I have to say that I was a little let down. I loved the TV series and thought the first movie was wonderful, but I felt like the 2nd one was trying too hard to one-up the first movie. The clothes were beautiful, the scenery and locations left me awestruck and of course, the ladies were fabulous. But even with all of that, the movie left me wanting. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I wasn't as blown away by SATC2 as I had wanted to be. Once the movie was over, Corey, Amy and I met up with two other ladies, Carrie and Abby, for dessert and to catch up. I've known Carrie for about a year now and it was great getting to see her. Even though SATC2 was a little disappointing, girls' night was a success!

(Amy, Corey, Abby, Carrie and Me)

Baltimore Day 2

Much like Day 1 of my trip back East, Day 2 was spent in total relax mode. We slept in, ran into town for fresh coffee and iced tea and made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for a new, jump-off-of-the-dock-without-flashing-anyone bathing suit for Corey.

Once we were back at the house, Matt, Corey, Matt's cousin Mike and I all suited up, slathered on the sunscreen, stocked the cooler with beer and trail mix and hopped on the boat to head to "Redneck Beach". This is a fairly popular beach area that is best accessible by boat and attracts an interesting crowd, hence the family's name: Redneck Beach.

We drank a few beers, played football, swam around a bit and had a great time. Eventually the beach started to get a little too busy for our tastes, so we piled back into the boat and took our party back to the dock. Corey and I layed out until Matt started whining about us not swimming, at which point we both jumped, whole-heartedly, off of the dock! Corey and I get a little wussy about swimming with "things" in the water, so we weren't in the water for too long; just long enough to cool down.

We went out on the boat for one final evening cruise with Matt's Aunt and Uncle and then the three of us piled into the car and started the drive back to Baltimore. It was a quick two days at the Bay, but lovely, fun and entirely worth it.

Baltimore Day 1

If we're going to get technical, the first day of my Baltimore trip was actually spent in Killmarnock, Virginia, as was the 2nd day. Matt's family has a house on the Chesapeake Bay (technically, an inlet of the bay, but there are too many technicalities going on in this post) and graciously opened up their home to Matt, Corey and I for the holiday weekend.

So, Matt and Corey picked me up from the airport at 12:30 am, we went directly to a 24 hour Dunkin' Donuts (because I'm obsessed & Matt needed caffeine for the drive) and then babbled the entire 3 hour drive from Baltimore to Killmarnock. Once we got to the house, we stumbled through the dark with our luggage and proceeded to find our beds and fall asleep as quickly as possible. It'd been a long day for everyone!

Come morning, the sun was shining, the humidity was rising and the three of us were feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. And what a lovely day it was! We started off by going with Matt's cousin, his wife and their 9 month old daughter, Keira, to the pool to soak up some sun and play with the baby. The sun felt amazing, and while Keira wasn't sold on the older boys splashing around the pool, she did give us enough smiles to keep us all entertained.

After the pool we lounged around the house and hung out on the dock, spying for crabs swimming in the water. Corey and I gossiped about this and that, and crawled around on the floor with Keira, enjoying her happy baby talk.

(side note: while we were playing, Keira's dad made a comment about being able to just sit back because Keira was "in the hands of the psychologists, so she's fine!" Made me chuckle because Corey's a legit Psychologist, but I just have a Psych B.S.).

Chesapeake Bay blue crabs were next on the agenda, and I had a little too much fun snapping photos of the feisty (live!) little buggers as they were moved from their basket to the cooking pot. Sometimes I just can't help but play tourist with my camera! I love crab, but up to this point, had only ever had it in crab-cake style. Well, Matt and his Uncle were on a mission to fix that! I enjoyed a wonderful crab-picking tutorial and devoured some of the most amazing crab I've ever tasted.

After cleaning up the remains of our crab smorgasbord, Matt's Aunt and Uncle took us for a spin around the inlet on their boat and we toasted the start of an amazing weekend with Prosecco and graham crackers...we were kind of keeping it classy.

The evening ended with lightning bugs on the back porch and fireworks over the Bay.

A bit of catching up

Things have been busy! Do you ever feel like you plan too much, even though, when you look at it on paper, it doesn't really seem like all that much? Yea, sometimes that's how I feel about my social life. I'm an only child who relishes in her alone time, right? Yet I can have entire months where I have something going on nearly everything single evening. WTF?! So, apparently I am actually a social butterfly who plans, plans and plans until one day she feels overwhelmed by too many people and activities, goes into cranky-bitch mode and then takes some much needed time for herself before starting the process all over again. Yep, that sounds like me!

All kidding aside, I really love doing things with my family and friends, and because I'm a planner, I do like seeing my calendar full of writing...but sometimes I need a break. And this past weekend served as such for me. It was my first weekend since finishing up my Accounting class (I got an surprise A!), the sun was shining, the weather was CO-gorgeous and my pool was open! So, naturally, I spent a lot of time reading by the pool, frying my poor little body to a crisp and lazing about with my coffee. It was wonderful. It felt like summer break and I felt like a student again. My love of reading has been renewed and I once again have a stockpile of books from the Library. Yes sir, feels like summer break to me.


This week has been busy, and I've had some frustrating encounters at work, so needless to say, I am once again ready for a break. A real break, not just a weekend. You know, like a vacation break. And, lucky for me, I get to hop on a plane to Baltimore tomorrow evening and soak up some Chesapeake Bay sun, gossip with my Baltimore Bestie, eat fresh seafood and just RELAX. Hooray for 3 day holiday weekends from work and accumulated comp time. Oh, and, I also get to see Sex and the City 2 with said bestie! She had just moved East when the first SATC came out and we've pouted ever since about not having been able to see it together, so now we're making up for lost time and planning a girl's evening complete with Sex and the City amazingness! I'm pretty sure this weekend will have to involve a cosmo (or two) at some point, don't you think?

Tonight it's dinner with my parents, painting my nails, maybe dragging my butt to the gym (becuase I will be gorging myself on stuffed sopapilla goodness) and hopefully doing a load of laundry. I'm working from home tomorrow in order to put my multi-tasking skills to good use, and then it's off to the airport!

Does anyone else have something fun planned for their Memorial Weekend?

ps- I cried during the LOST finale and am not 100% in love with how they ended it, but that's ok. Still, my Tuesdays seem a little sad and empty now.

pps- I officially have business cards at work...that's right, I'm legit now!