Red, White, and Blue!

I decided to get a jump on the patriotic color scheme and wear red, white, and blue on Monday to work and for a quick happy hour.  Red shoes - Check! Blue dress - Check! Pale white skin - CHECK!

Pomegranate martinis. Don't mind if I do!

Mmmmm, sushi. 

Day wouldn't be completely without a pretty light!

Sunnies - Cole Haan
Dress - DVF (scored for a fraction of the retail price at Newbury & Smith)
Shoes - Cole Haan
 

Taking posing direction from District Sparkle and secretly thinking, "she put the camera strap around her neck right?" Just kidding :)




The same little sushi place where Meaghan and I had our first meal together.  We checked out our old table and thought, "remember when the guys said we couldn't be friends because our combined craziness would take over?" It's a rare quality when you can communicate to someone in only broken Friends references at frequency pitches that only small animals can hear.

Storms, Heat, Humidity, and the weekend

Don't you hate when there's bad weather on the weekend?  Especially when the weather turns violent at the beginning of the weekend like it did in the Baltimore/DC area on Friday night.  Mother Nature tried to break up a major heat wave with a nasty summer storm and all that happened was a lot of destruction.

Our house was spared from any major damage, but my stomach was churning on Friday night because we had a new roof put on our house last week. The hubs thought it was silly because, "this is the one time we're good to go ... it's all under warranty at this point!" Thankfully, we only had bunch of smaller tree branches and one decent sized limb that came down.  Others in the area weren't quite so fortunate and it's expected that some folks will be without power for close to a week!

So yes, we spent a lot of time this weekend inside and as far away from the heat as possible! The pups, well let's just say they wanted to pick up sticks in the yard any time they could!

We started up some home renovation projects inside and venture out to the mall for a bit on Saturday.  I think the highlight of that trip was watching the fish feeding at Bass Pro Shop.  I know the hubs wasn't psyched for my awesome score at the Nike store, but I wasn't thrilled that he was checking out a smoker either.  Sure I got a weird look at the Nike store for buying running capris in 100 degree heat, but come on, they were $17 a pair!

I think these sunflowers sum up the weekend perfectly: red hot!

What did you get into over the weekend?

Sailabration 2012

Quick history factoids for you:

1. The Star-Spangled Banner, penned by Francis Scott Key, was written not during The Revolutionary War, but actually in 1814 after Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.  

2. Francis Scott Key did not intend to write the national anthem when he penned the poem, "Defence of Fort McHenry."  (Not a typo, he actually spelled it as "defence" and we'll blame the Brits for it!) 

3.  The poem was printed as a song in the Baltimore Patriot and The American  on September 20, 1814.

4. Herbert Hoover signed a law on March 3, 1931 establishing The Star-Spangled Banner as our national anthem. 

Fantastic! But what does all this mean?  Well, Baltimore takes a certain level of pride and yes, even a bit of ownership with regards to the National Anthem, since it was written in Baltimore. So, Baltimore held a massive festival last weekend honoring the 200th anniversary of the bombardment of Fort McHenry, which was the inspiration for our national anthem.

The Inner Harbor was packed!  The hubs and I went down later in the day on Saturday after I ran the Baltimore 10 Miler.  We specifically went later in the day after the Blue Angels air show because I've already seen them, the hubs was indifferent, and we wanted to escape as much of the heat and crowds as possible!

I really wanted to go down to the Harbor because there were over 40 tall ships in the Harbor for the celebration.  They were incredibly beautiful, romantic, and majestic.  Even though most of these boats have modern pieces they still evoke the imagery of a time long ago. 

Don't you wish you could be a kid sometime and just enjoy splashing in sprinklers during the summer?  Man it was hot out and I was envious of the little ones.

The first tall ship in the photo above was from Brazil and she was breathtakingly beautiful.

Oh no, the Inner Harbor dragons are attacking! Run for your lives!  Just kidding. 

The National Aquarium looks right at home with paddle boats, a submarine, and a few gun ships.

Funniest sight all day (yes, even beats the people getting married at Pier 5 and their fancy guest freaking out about the crowds) was seeing these three sailors from Ecuador loading up on electronics and taking them aboard their ship.  Somehow when I think of a sailboat I don't think of flat screen tvs!

While the Inner Harbor was jam packed, the hubs and I slipped over to Mex at Power Plant Live for a quick meal and a few drinks. Air conditioning + guacamole + beer + baseball on giant tv = awesome.

I welcome any excuse to wear my favorite maxi dress from Banana Republic.  If only I felt that baby was work appropriate because if it was I would wear that every casual Friday! 

The sun was starting to dip lower in the sky and the hubs and I wanted to get home before the fireworks began.  Not because we hate fireworks we don't, but because we wanted to be home in case the pups could hear them in the distance.  July 4th is not a favorite holiday for the dogs.

Thanks for the beautiful ships Baltimore.  I don't know if we'll make it around to Sailabration 2112, but we certainly enjoyed the 200th anniversary party.

Happy Birthday Jewels!

Catching a late flight home from Phoenix on Friday night.  

Our little baby girl, Jewels, turned seven over the weekend.  At some point I know we'll have to stop referring to her as a puppy, but I just don't know how we'll ever get this image of her out of our heads:

Baby Jewels on her very first day with us.  Poor girl had never even been out of a house before and then we snatched her away from her mom and everything she knew. Holy crap we sound like horrible people!

It's okay, we spoiled her our love over the past seven years. 

This past weekend was rough.  I didn't get home until close to 2am on Saturday morning (or late Friday night depending on your perspective) and the hubs didn't get home from Louisiana until 6pm on Sunday.  It was a pretty low-key weekend filled with unpacking, laundry, re-organizing the linen closet, shopping, cooking, reading, and lots of puppy time.

What did you get into over the weekend?

Baltimore 10 Miler: 2012 Edition

Last Saturday the hubs and I woke up too early on a Saturday morning for his liking (5:45am) and then headed over to the Maryland Zoo for the start of the Baltimore 10 Miler.

I'll be completely honest, I haven't been running enough recently to warrant racing ten miles.  Then, the weather forecast called for a hot and muggy day and I decided that this was going to be a fun run!

Two amazing things did happen on Saturday morning: the hubs not only came to a race, but he actually took pictures!  The guy hates cameras and I was so impressed he actually snapped a few pictures.

I'm actually in that picture above! It's like Where's Waldo game.

The race started ten minutes late because of a traffic accident on the course.  That was just ten more minutes the world had to get warmer!

I thought it was really cool that the first wave was actually a wave only of police officers who were running the race.  It was an amazing way to honor the folks who work to keep Baltimore safe.

The leaders.

First time seeing the hubs on course! I think I might have snuck up on him :)

Went old school and wore my old college soccer warm-up tank top. During the race people kept cheering, "let's go Wesleyan!"  At the finish line someone yelled out, "Go Bobcats!" and we found each other at the finish festival.  Turns out he was an '86 alumni and just wanted to know if our little West Virginia town looked the same.  It was fun chatting with him for a few minutes and reminiscing about our college days.

Post race! You gotta love any race that gives you not one, but two beer coupons on your bib!  I totally forgot to take a picture of the race premium, but it's a gorgeous white long-sleeve with a half-zipper pullover.  It's going to be a favorite come fall marathon training time.

Okay, one thing I am not good at doing is downing two beers prior to 10am.  It's just not my thing. Thankfully I have a beer drinking backup!

Overall: a good time! My slowest 10 mile time yet, but it was deserved because I just haven't been doing any mileage lately.  I hope to get back next year and tackle the hills a bit better.  They're everywhere you run in Baltimore!  

Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes

I whipped up these simple dark chocolate mini cupcakes the other night and added my go-to vanilla frosting. They were super easy, super yummy, and the perfect birthday treat for a co-worker.  The only downside is that I gave the hubs a container full of cupcakes to share at work and now his office is asking that I bake for them as well!  Now I have two offices I have to bake for and keep coming up with something new to make!

I used directions for the Hershey's Especially Dark Chocolate Cake found here: recipe  As much as I love butter I was really keen on this recipe because it didn't include any butter! That meant I could justify using all the butter I wanted in the frosting! (insert evil laughter here)

The only difference I made to the recipe was altering the cooking time to adjust for the mini cupcakes rather than the larger cake pans.  I was able to make 48 mini cupcakes and still have a tiny bit of batter left over that I froze in my freezer for a rainy day.


Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water



Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill mini muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs,
milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be
thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 18-22  minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes;
remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

4. Frost!

5. Eat!

New Orleans: An oldie, but goodie

I was exceptionally fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to New Orleans for work.  I had my butter quota filled for the next three years in the 44 hours I was in the City's limits.  However, I was there on Halloween night, which was awesome.  It also didn't hurt that I got to run a few times in 70 degree weather at the end of October and beginning of November.

I kind of started this blog post and then forgot about it.  Meaning I dumped some pictures into a post and then never labeled them!

If you've been to New Orleans and I screwed anything up, please leave a comment and let me know!

Just a few hours on the ground in NOLA and I headed over to Bourbon Street.  I am totally comfortable admitting that I stopped on a corner and took the two photos above. I then promptly buried my camera into my bag because even though it was only 9pm it was already getting a bit rough.  Turns out there was a bit of a shooting spree later that night, while I was asleep, and a few people were killed. I never felt afraid for my personal safety, I just knew my lack of coordination coupled with the high drinking levels of the crowd meant it was ideal conditions for me to fall over and possibly break something. 

Possibly the best name for a beer, although I might be a tad bit biased. 

Marry a bridge engineer and it becomes mandatory to take a picture of any decent sized bridge!

Need help!  These were some kind of really cool art down along the river near the casino and aquarium.  Anyone know what these are called? 

Really cool chandeliers at the Audubon Nature Institute.  They were shaped like bugs and venus fly traps. 

Mmmm, I don't know where those beads came from.

St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Park which at night was really pretty.  I could spend all day there.

Mmmmmmm rock candy at the outdoor market. 

You have to love a city that decorates to the nines for Halloween.  There were even decorations at the airport.

A trip to New Orleans wouldn't be complete without stopping by Cafe Du Monde for some coffee.  It happened to be incredibly hot outside and I didn't have time for beignets, but I did grab a gigantic iced cafe au lait and brought home a whole canister of coffee for my office mates. 

St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Park. I wish I would have seen the stairs at night so I could have taken this picture in the dark! Next time!!!

New Orleans is definitely on my list of places to go on vacation and really give the City a proper visit.  Anywhere you can grab a drink where Napoleon used to frequent is an okay place in my book. 

Any other must sees in New Orleans?