Preakness: I'll Have Another!

Saturday morning the hubs and I lathered on the sunscreeen and headed up to Pimlico with a few friends.  It was a pretty low-key day, well with the record attendance of 121,309 people showing up to watch the second leg of the Triple Crown with us.

Since our plans included mass transportation and massive amounts of people I made the decision to leave my beloved Canon at home.  I'm not really keen on taking my precious baby out when I know I'm going to be around people potentially consuming too much alcohol.  All photos were taken with the hubs's new Samsung Galaxy phone and I've got to say, I have a tiny bit of phone envy at the moment.

Now, if you're not a horse racing person and you have no idea what I'm talking about let me break it down for you.  The Kentucky Derby is where people go to get dressed up to watch horse racing.  Think pearls, sundresses, and really fancy hats.  It's like an English wedding, but sunnier.

Preakness, on the other hand, tries to be fancy, but the vast majority of people that are at the race are in the Infield.  I lost count of how many women I saw trying to keep their designer stilettos out of the grass on Saturday.  I think only the Under Armor VIP Tent had a hardwood floor, everything else is all green grass and lots of walking is involved so the smarter women wore platform shoes. Yeah, I went with flip flops, but I wasn't trying to be fancy. With temperatures in the low 80s I was going for comfort.  Well, J.Crew and Banana Republic comfort!

Don't get me wrong. People still dressed up for Preakness! I have no idea how that guy was surviving in his three piece suit. Her sundress was adorable and completely event and weather appropriate.

Up until a few years ago it was BYOB at Preakness. Like, "Bring your own beer." I'm not sure if BYOB could stand for anything else, but I didn't want to take a chance on that one. Yeah, it got OUT OF CONTROL! There was a "running of the urinals" event.  You Tube it.

Now, the organizers have implemented a mug club.  For the whopping price of $20 you get to drink all the beer you can handle (they reserve the right to cut you off at any time if they deem you are unfit for alcohol consumption) out of a brightly colored mug.

 The hubs and I with our very green mugs. There's corporate tents, beach volleyball, a bikini contest, and a whole host of other activities to keep everyone preoccupied while the horses aren't running.  Which, if you've never been to a day at the track is actually a lot of time.  I think before the actual Preakness race, which was race 12 of 13, there was close to an hour in between races.

A little cornhole set up by the Pepsi tent. 

Oh you mean we're here to actually watch horses? 

The hubs and his brother checking out the races. 

Mmmm, we've switched to Jack n Cokes. I guess the beer line was too long! 

The hubs making one of his bets.  

I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but the race program could have been written in Greek for all I know.  I bet twice and each time to win because I have no idea what box, show, and place mean! 

There was a really cool tribute to our Military brothers and sisters that included paratroopers and a B17 flyover. 

Magazines + blankets + sunshine + alcohol = good times

The main stage that had Wiz Khalifa and Maroon 5 grace its presence.  Maroon 5, above, played a really good set and I was thrilled when there wasn't a surprise appearance by Christina Aguilera!

 The hubs worse sunscreen! His brother ... didn't apply until later in the day :(

I don't even know what a Box 7 + 9 means, but the hubs was stoked and won $25!  He won two of the races he bet on, which I believe "gave him enough betting money to break even."  I don't know how true that statement is, but it's all good.  

I was psyched to spend the hours between 10:30am till dark out in the sun and came home with a good buzz and zero sunburn.  I totally used Preakness as an excuse to buy seersucker shorts from J.Crew!  The striped envelope clutch was an absolute steal at $34.50 at the J.Crew Factory Store and it would have been a crime if I didn't buy it! Mission Accomplished! 

This stuff is worth it's weight in GOLD! It's my go-to sunscreen and all of my friends refer to it as "SPF Ginger."  It takes a lot of work to be this pale!