August Pictures from "The Blogenbaums"

We started out the month super-excited about participating in the Great Urban Race of Washington DC, a digital camera scavenger hunt that Jackie’s sister encouraged us to participate in. We drove down to DC for the big day but after 15 minutes of “Urban Racing,” we decided that the race was A Great Urban Waste of Time so we dropped out, had lunch and went shopping.

Dani, FYI: We’re still kind of mad at you for suggesting that we do this (and for Googling so slow for the 15 minutes we participated!) but we’ll let you make it up to us soon. Just kidding!

The next weekend, we did something we actually wanted to do-We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a quick trip to Mill Run, Pennsyltucky, I mean, Pennsylvania, to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water.

We look rather civilized in this picture but a few seconds before it was snapped, Jackie entertained a group of Japanese tourists by falling off the rock! Whoops……

On the drive to the Middle-of-Nowhere, Pennsylvania, we came across a Wind Farm which was really cool. I’m still on this environmental kick that I started earlier this year so I’ve inserted this video to remind you to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!! Thanks!

The next two weekends were spent napping by the pool in NC and then hitting the links in WV. Somehow I didn’t have the camera for those escapades, however I did have the camera when I flew south to Sao Paulo, Brazil for a business trip.

Sao Paulo was a really nice city. It was really, really big, but really cool and modern. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back—the 12 hour flight was dreadful—but seeing the Amazon in the distance from 28,000 feet helped break up the monotony. Can you find the river in the picture?

We closed out the summer with a visit to the Maryland State Fair and then a Crab Feast in Annapolis.

Jackie was disappointed that she didn’t win a blue ribbon in any of the baking events at the fair but she thinks she would have won them all had she actually entered something in the contests. Next year for certain!!

Summer Fun

As a kid, I spent most summers complaining that “there’s nothing to do” and whining “I’m bored” (Sorry, mom!) but Drew and I seemed to solve that problem as adults as we didn’t have a minute to spare in July.

We started out the month by celebrating the 4th with friends. Despite the rain, we had a great time watching the Inner Harbor’s fireworks from our roof-top deck.

We spent the next Saturday celebrating Jackie’s sister’s wedding and Jackie spent Sunday recovering from the worst hangover on record.
The next day, Jackie jumped on a plane to Jamaica to take care of business. Thankfully, she had a few minutes to relax with Bob Marley and rejuvenate with a coconut water from a street vendor.

Drew stayed home and broke up cat fights.

Next, in true Baltimore form, we attended yet another summer street festival, Artscape, the largest free public art festival in the US. There were some really cool art projects and free concerts all day by various artists from Cisco of “The Thong Song” fame, to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, to Rusted Root. Our favorite art displays were the “Car Art” projects.

Traveling to Jamaica and not going to the beach earlier in the month was a little depressing so we headed to Topsail Island, North Carolina with 6 friends to hang out at the beach for the weekend. We had an awesome time playing in the sand, flying a kite, eating crabs, and just playing around. We wish every weekend was a NC beach weekend!

(Slats: FYI...These crabs were not "Bunk")

We came back to two refreshing sights…1. Ginger taking what seems like her first nap since we got her, and 2. a perfectly ripe cucumber from Jackie’s garden. I don’t know what else anyone could need in life...

June--A Month of "Firsts"

The First day of Summer, which goes hand in hand with our First urban bike ride, the First sighting of baby ducks on the harbor, and Jackie's First tomato....

We also made our First visit to the Aquarium since we moved to Baltimore......

Next, we went to our First summer festival…In Baltimore, we have a different festival every weekend in the summer honoring this group or that group. Our First festival of the summer was the Hon Fest , a kitschy festival to honor the old-school working-women of Baltimore. I don't know about you but I can't think of a better group to honor, except for maybe the new-age working women of Baltimore, including yours truly! :)

Finally, we had the First play date for Ginger and Ernie…

Meet Ginger

As of 9 pm last night, Drew and I are the proud parents of Ginger, a loveable 8 week old kitten who we adopted from Last Chance Animal Rescue, a local non-profit group that rescues animals from high kill shelters.

Ginger is playful and cuddly. She's an attention hog and seems to have a slight case of ADD. She never sits still-hence the blurry pictures. Hopefully you can see the video though.

All in all-she's Puuuurrrrrrfect! We love her already, although we can’t say the same for Ernie-he’s been hiding in the basement all morning. Hopefully he’ll adjust soon.

Back on our feet and out and about...

April and May just flew by. Drew was busy recovering from his torn Achilles tendon and Jackie was busy traveling to Mexico, New York City and Philadelphia for work. We were able to have some good times though.

Here are the highlights:

We welcomed home our Brother-in-Law, Josh, from Iraq.

Josh flew into the Baltimore airport and was welcomed by his new bride, Danielle, us, and volunteers from Operation Welcome Home Maryland. (Please check out their website for volunteer opportunities and/or to donate).

Shortly after Josh's return, Jackie headed to Boston to cheer for Danielle in her first Boston Marathon. Danielle finished in 3:29:26. Amazing and Congrats! (Also, Happy Birthday Drew-We missed you).
We celebrated Danielle’s Amazing Race with Boston's Favorite: Lobster Dinner. Yummy!!!

In early May, Spring FINALLY sprang so Jackie got to work on Baltimore's largest container garden. She hasn’t stopped talking about “the harvest” since. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for good weather!
Memorial Day Weekend is finally here and there is no better way to celebrate the start of summer than to be on the water. Unfortunately, none of our friends have boats yet, so we took the Baltimore Duck Tour. Quite cheesy (we both covered our faces when we passed our office buildings!!) but we had lots of fun and learned a lot about Baltimore in the process.

We closed out the month with a quick vacation to Nantucket Island to celebrate our friend’s wedding. Nantucket is kind of off the beaten path, but worth the effort of getting there.

Wandering around downtown Hyannis on Cape Cod before the ferry left…

Off we go…..onto the Grey Lady. Fun!!!!

Taking a break from strolling around town…

What’s a vacation without champagne?

We visited the Nantucket Whaling Museum and really enjoyed the history and the exhibits. Who would have thought that such a charming little island was founded on a nasty, dirty, smelly history?

Ready for the Whaling movie.

Check out the whale teeth in the background. I wonder what a trip to the dentist would have set this guy back?

Onto the beautiful wedding of Laurel and Ken… The reception was at the Nantucket Golf Club. The view from the clubhouse was gorgeous!!!!

What’s a wedding without cake????? Delicious!

Jackie cut up the rug most of the night but Drew sat a few out to rest his ankle.


Brunch the next morning at the Nantucket Yacht Club was so good.

One last stroll around the wharf then it was onto the ferry.

What’s a weekend without pizza? We had dinner in Little Italy of Providence, Rhode Island, before heading back to the airport and back to reality.