A Bawlmer tradition

Honfest in Hampden, y'all! A fantastic celebration of the grand tackiness found in and around Baltimore. Also, a great excuse to eat street food and wander around with open containers and wear spandex.




Why do I always take pictures of port-o-potties?


What the hell kind of bird was that and how big was the cat?





Did you see how big her hair was?? Wait, was that a dude?


Our favorite hon.


Stroller tray = trough.


Enjoying a "velvet Elvis" concoction.


The crab cone from Gypsy Queen Cafe.
Up yours, Coldstone. (I don't really mean that.)

Who likes beer? Who likes oysters?

Who likes both?! Or $30 worth of one or the other? We do! We do! Chris and I just bought tickets to the Heavy Seas Beer and Oyster Feast which I am really looking forward to!

I don't know if any of you have tried Heavy Seas (a newish line from Clipper City Brewery), but we've been enjoying it. Especially Below Decks, a yummy sweet beer with a whopping 10% alcohol.

Yeah, I'm going to try not to feast on too much beer or someone's gonna have to swab those oysters off the deck . . .

Restaurant Week

Here's something fun to kick off your New Year - the dates and participating restaurants have been announced for DC's Restaurant Week.

See the list here: http://www.washington.org/restaurantwk/

Chris and I have Saturday night reservations for Charlie Palmer and if anyone out there is interested in meeting up for lunch during the week - let me know! Incidentally, I just picked up the January Washingtonian with their list of DC's 100 best restaurants. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've only been to 6. Hmph! This most be remedied immediately.

Last Minute Event - Capitol City Carnival

This looks like fun! If you don't have anything better to do this weekend than head out to the hills of Virginia (actually, I have no idea - is Bull Run in the hills? It sounds like it would be.) check it out: Capitol City Carnival!

Doesn't that look fun? Freak shows and beer and George Clinton? Awesome! I may convince Chris to head out there Sunday (we'll see). The only downside is that tickets are $30 but that only entitles you to 4 little beer samples. Boo! I hate when they do that.

Mark Your Calendars - Wine Events

If you have the weekend of September 15th free, check out these local wine events:

• The Maryland Wine Festival, September 15-16. Carroll County Farm Museum.

• The Virginia Wine Festival, September 15. Morven Park Equestrian Center in Leesburg.
  

It seems poor planning to have these two on the same weekend, but I'm sure they're both worth checking out. We had a lot of fun at the VA Wine Festival last year (though the traffic sucked). We will be at my fabulous friend Cate's wedding that weekend, so we'll miss out on both this year. If you go, let me know how it was!

Mark Your Calendar - Oktoberfest!

Pencil September 29-30th in on your calendars. Why, yes, that is the weekend following my birthday, how nice of you to remember. Coincidentally, it is also Frederick's Oktoberfest at the Frederick County Fairgrounds.

Hmmm . . . wait . . . Oktoberfest in September? At first I thought there was a joke about the intelligence of the city of Frederick in there, but I didn't realize that it's be celebrated in September in Germany for awhile. You learn something new everyday. Anyway, we've enjoyed the Maryland Brewer's Oktoberfest several times in the past but I'd like to check out Frederick's version this year. Looks like there will be more to do than just drink (what?!?).