Orioles vs. Yankees: A House Divided

My hubs has described himself throughout the years as, "a long suffering O's fan."  The O's won the World Series back in '83 when he was just a few months old and they haven't won one since.  He jokes from time to time that, "they won it when I was born and they'll win it when I die." I shouldn't have to remind anyone, but my beloved NY Yankees have done pretty well for themselves since I was born in '83.  

However, since moving to Baltimore over five years ago I've been to well over 100 games at Camden Yards and the O's have been growing on me. Camden Yards is one of the prettiest parks in the country and it's an amazing place to be when it's packed full of people.  I really admire people who still go to the ballpark and cheer for their team even when they're in the midst of a 15-year losing streak. 

Which finally ended this year!  

Naturally, the hubs and I had to go to the first Orioles post-season game in 15 years!  I didn't go all, "HEY! LOOK AT ME! I'M A YANKEES FAN!" and I was a very respectful fan at an opposing team's ballpark. 

Man, it was PACKED!!! Even the standing room only sections were at max capacity.  The game was scheduled to start at 6pm, which would have been a relatively early night of baseball on a Sunday night.  

Mother Nature had other plans and it poured right before the scheduled first pitch.  The field stayed tarped and the game didn't get underway until 8:40pm.  THAT SUCKED.  Standing around for well over three hours since we got there before 6pm meant that we had to find a place to stay dry.  

Which meant we jammed our way through the concourse with thousands of other people in the hopes of finding a little space to call our own.

Thankfully we found a spot and met up with some friends!  Drank a few beers, ate too many hot dogs, and had fun waiting for the game to start. 

Look, after a two-plus hour rain delay seeing the grounds crew take the tarp off the field is absolutely exhilarating   The crowd was ready for Orioles Magic to happen.  I just wanted the game to start and not get beat up by any O's fans!

Let's do this thing already! 

It was actually really funny, but the hubs was so happy and excited that he looked sedated.  It was as if he couldn't contain himself. 

You know what happens when stadium organizers hand out rally towels?  They get waved around and when they do they flick off little fuzzies that create near mist conditions.  It's really weird when it's an orange mist! 

Fifty shades of orange???

Sunday night was absolutely amazing.  The game didn't end until after midnight and waking up on Monday morning was rough, but it was so much fun that the hubs and I did it again on Monday night for Game 2.

Game 2 photos coming tomorrow.  I'm still trying to wake up! 

Standard Rainy Day Uniform

Just another typical, rainy, fall day in the greater Baltimore/DC area.

Dress: Banana Republic //  Boots: Hunter //  Necklace: Vintage // Bracelets: DERNG, Vintage // Cocktail Ring: Ice // Umbrella: Coach

Getting dressed for the day is the easiest thing to do when the weather forecast calls for rain. My standard rain uniform is a dress or skirt, jacket, Hunters, and my trusty Coach umbrella.  Throw my hair up in a braid, bun, or ponytail and I'm good to go.

Funny thing about umbrellas.  I used to be that person who had a million and one umbrellas because I used to lose a million and two umbrellas.  They were like watches, I was always breaking or losing them.  However, my sister gave me a Coach umbrella as a gift over three years ago and I'm proud to say I haven't lost it (yet!).  I did momentarily leave it on a train once, but I was able to dash back onboard and rescue it.

It's with that same line of reasoning I keep dropping hints to the hubs that I'd like a Rolex Movado watch :) I figured I haven't broken the one he gave me and I've had it for over four years.  One watch for nearly five years (received it for my 25th birthday) and one umbrella in over three years ... that's like a new adult record for me!

What's your standard rain uniform?  Do you have one?  I just feel sluggish in the morning when it's raining and having a go-to uniform helps get me out of the house on time.  Those pesky train schedules are not to be messed with!

Fall Seasonal Beers: Pumking please!

Just mention autumn to the hubs and he immediately thinks of all the delicious fall seasonal beers that are finally in season.  The first pumpkin flavored beverage I usually think of is Pumpkin Spice Lattes, but I've got to give it to the hubs... the pumpkin beers are pretty tasty. 

Pumking beer to be exact.  The Pumking Beer by Southern Tier Brewing Company is rumored to be the only beer that uses real pumpkin in its fall seasonal brew.  It's definitely apparent once you look at the beer because it has an amazing orange color to it. Better yet, it's from New York baby!

We try to stay localish with our seasonal brews.  Lots of Heavy Seas and DuClaw brews in our house, although I don't know if that can be said only during the fall season.  As a New York transplant I'm counting the Pumking as a local beer in my book.

The only downside to fall seasonal beers?  The limited quantities produced!  We're down to one last remaining bottle of DuClaw's 31 and completely out of the Pumking.  Clearly we need to go on a beer run this weekend!

Any other fall seasonals you recommend?  I'm a Blue Moon seasonal fan, loved their Agave Summer seasonal, but unfortunately the Blue Moon Pumpkin brew didn't hold a candle to the Pumking.

NFL Thursday Night Date Night

Thursday Night Date Night is a well-respected event in our house and I'm sad to say that it's going to go on hiatus for a few weeks until dodgeball season is done. Yeah, I play dodgeball and it's awesome!  However, last week the hubs and I headed over to M & T Bank Stadium for a low-key date night with 70,942 other people.

Story of that guy's life - waiting on me while I take a picture.  Thank goodness that man is the most patient person in the world.

Cheers! Too bad the beer cans aren't as big as the one's they serve across the street at Camden Yards.

 Purple fire works - don't mind if I do! 

It was a great night, even though it rained.  It was a bit warm for the end of summer, but thankfully 75 degrees and rainy is actually nice.  If it was even a few degrees colder or if the rain came down a bit harder then it would have been ugly.

Now if only someone would actually use the hood part of his rain coat he'd probably stay a bit dryer.  He's a weird one that amazing husband of mine.

Date Night at an NFL football game might not be for everyone, but it's right up our alley and we'll take it any day of the week.

Look, my hubs is a man's man. He plays sports, drinks whiskey, eats far too much red meat, smokes the occasional cigar, is friend's with a professional MMA fighter, drools over fast cars, etc. But he's also the kind of guy who will wrap up his wifey in a big kiss in the middle of a tailgate party and give cheers to Thursday Night Date Night.

I'm going to miss Thursday Night Date Night.  Although once Marine Corps is done at the end of October we can be a bit flexible and rotate date night onto any day of the week! That'll be pretty awesome. Five years of marital bliss in and we'll never stop going out on dates.

Spinning Wheels Got To Go 'Round: First Attempt at Time Lapse Photography

The other night on my way home from a crab feast I passed a carnival being held in an old department store parking lot.  I had my camera with me so I made a quick U-Turn and hopped out to take a few pictures.  It must have been the combination of it being the first night the carnival was open and the chilly air because no one was there.  I was able to get right up to the ferris wheel and take the picture above. 

I tried to take a few more photos with longer exposures and even propped myself up on a cement wall, but sure enough they all came out too blurry.  On my little LCD screen they looked good, but as soon as I got home and opened them up I saw how bad they were indeed. And I was only keeping my shutter open for a second! 

I dug through my house trying to find an old tripod since my own has failed me before and thank heavens I found one! So I kissed the hubs and told him I'd be back in a bit, hopped in the car, and drove back over to the carnival.

What do you know - it was PACKED!!!  Way too may people running around to take my tripod and camera right back up to the ferris wheel.  Instead I snapped away from a few spots in the parking lot.

Here's a few of the better pictures.

I definitely need to upgrade in a better tripod setup because I noticed when I flipped my camera setup around to take portrait pictures I had to actually hold my camera lens because it started to slipped as the shutter was open.  It was weird, but it's something I need to look into more if I'm going to do this in the future.

I kept my shutter open for all of eight seconds on the one above. It's probably my favorite from the night.  I set my shutter speed and then engaged the self-timer on my camera to go off with a four second delay.  That gave me time to focus, hit the shutter button, take my hands off the camera, and then let the camera recover from any potential shaking prior to taking the picture.  

I love how the ferris wheel looks completely different depending on how long the shutter was open.

I wish I was decent at photoshop and could figure out how to get rid of those cars! I think this would look amazing with an empty parking lot in the foreground.  The grey car in the front right nearly ran me over soon after this picture was taken and that was when I took it as my cue to go home.

Any time lapse photography tips?  Tripod recommendations?

This is my first time trying it and I'm fairly pleased with the results, but I know I have a long way to go before I consider printing anything.  Although, I might actually print one of these pictures just to have a reference in the coming years on what my first attempt at time lapse photography looked like.

It's finally fall weather!

It's finally fall weather!  That means longer walks with the pups, running in the dark, lots of layers, firing up the wood stove, watching the fall foliage, drinking apple cider, enjoy football tailgating, and everything pumpkin related.  

It also means taking Jewels for more car rides to get her outside since her royal highness gets cold when the temperature dips lower than 80 degrees.  She refuses to come off our back deck if it's too cold outside for her, but if we take her in the car and then bring her to a park she'll walk around for a few minutes.  Jax hates motor vehicles so he's much happier hanging out at home then going for a quick car ride around the neighborhood. 

Of course the hubs and I have to be on lookout for other dogs when we're out and about with Jewels. Don't be fooled by her 13.5lbs, she's the fiercest dog of all time. 

Jewels equates in her mind, "laying down in the grass and eating grass as a bad thing, but eating grass while standing up is a good thing."  She's a feisty dog. 

Yes, my dog ignores me 99.9% of the time.  The only time she pays me any mind is if I have food.  Every once in while I'll think she's trying to be affectionate with me, but really she's just trying to get under the warmth of my blanket.  The hubs is her person and I'm just a warm body that takes up space on the couch in her mind! 

Although I shouldn't complain about my diva dog too much because it is nice that I can take her for walk in a dress and heels.  That is not an option with Jax!  It's hilarious how different those two dogs are even though we've raised them together since they were pups.

What is everyone else looking forward to doing this fall? 

Crab Feast: A Maryland Tradition

Only in Maryland is it socially acceptable to throw some rolled brown paper or newspaper on a table, tape a plastic bag to the side of the table, and throw down a whole mess of shellfish and call it a party.  At least that's how the crab feasts I've been to have played out.  Monday night was another Maryland tradition: get a bunch of people together, line up some tables, throw down crabs, have a few beers, and have a fire pit going.  Okay, the fire pit part is the cooler weather fall add on.  Substitute sunblock and/or bug spray for summer crab feasts. 

I am usually able to convince people that I'm "from the area" because I don't have a strong NY accent, but every summer and fall I fear deportation at any moment. 

Why, you may ask? 

I don't do crab feasts.  I really hate eating anything off the bone and picking crab meat has got to be one of my least favorite food activities.  There are too many rules: don't eat the green goo, stay away from the yellow mustard, don't waste any time, etc. 

Honestly, the first time I went to a crab feast with the hubs I was scared out of my mind.  I'd never picked a crab before and had no idea what I was doing.  The hubs eats like a military person and I was slowing him down because he kept having to show me how to pick the crab.  Finally, we came to a plan where he picked the crab and I stuck to the legs.  

It also didn't help matters that I had a massive paper cut at the time and holy crap did that burn when I got Old Bay in the cut.  I think my hands smelled like Old Bay for days afterwards even though I went all doctor mode and washed my hands every thirty seconds to get the smell off of them.  

Come on! Who in their right mind sees that thing above and says, "let's eat it?!?!?"

Now, if someone picks the crab meat and puts it into a crab cake format then I'm totally game.  I love me some crab cakes. 

Anyone else intimidated by crab picking? Anyone have any tips for me?