New Thing 6-22-11 Being an Aunt

If you haven't heard or seen the pictures on my facebook account, I am a new Aunt. My brother Brian is the father to a precious baby girl named Madison. She is such a dear baby girl. When I arrived in Greenville last week I promptly announced that was taking over the night shift. Good times. I was lucky because she sleeps pretty well. Goes to bed around 8, wakes up at around 2:30, stays up for an hour, and wakes up again around 5. A few nights she slept from 8pm to 4 am. I am so excited to continue spoiling her for years to come. Singing to Madison at 4:00 am was the highlight of my trip.

While taking care of Madison, I started thinking about my future and how I feel about one day having kids. When I was young, I was sure I would be married and have kids by age 30. I also envisioned myself as being very domestic. At age 31, I'm not so sure that lifestyle is for me. I've told this to people and they say, "Oh, you just have to meet the right person". I think this response is condescending. I'm not saying this in a whining (when will I find the right guy) tone. I am just stating how I see my life unfolding. The only people that haven't given me this response are my parents. My mom said she could see not following that marriage/ kids model. Not to say she isn't all for in vitro. That being said, I don't think I could do the single mom thing either. I felt bad leaving a dog at home while I worked. It would break my heart to leave my child while I worked. Family life has it's rewards. It's the model for human existence, but the single life has it's rewards too. Right now, I am going to focus on doing some of the great things you can do when you are footloose and fancy free. I am going to start exploring some ideas for travel and possibly furthering my education.

So my new thing this week wasn't very wild and crazy, but it was a fun way to relax after a long school year. Some co-workers and I went to the Tiki Bar outside of Bo Brooks. Now, I have no idea how I have never been here before (It is just steps away from my place). Here is a horrible write up I found online http://http://www.examiner.com/bars-in-baltimore/canton-s-tiki-bar-proving-that-you-can-put-a-bar-anywhere . The thing is, everything she wrote is what I love about this place. So random! I love it.

So, since I last posted on the blog I have been doing new things left and right, but I have been slacking with the sharing. I have tried some new restaurants (Zen West and Blue Hill were favorites), drank some wine on my birthday at Boordy, started training for a sprint triathlon, enjoyed the Higlandtown Farmers Market, and went to my first Bikram Yoga Class. This week my new thing was Great Grapes at Oregon Ridge. Eileen and I went to Great Grapes to celebrate her birthday. The ride there was traffic filled but it was nice to have some time to gossip about work. Once we made it there, we drank a ton of fruity, sweet wine and sweated our butts off. What a great way to spend a Saturday. We settled on Cove Point Winery as our favorite and drank a bottle in the shade and took a few bottles home with us. The day was ended at RA for sushi were Patricia joined us (Thanks Mickey and Becca for pulling up chairs to let us wait for our table) and then saw The Hangover Part 2.

I need to get on the ball.

Sadly, I have been slacking since my trip to the ballet. I have boringly been focusing on dieting and working out. Any suggestions for new Baltimore things?

Today, I went to the ballet! Before today, the only live ballet I had seen was The Nutcracker. I went to the Hippodrome to see, The State Ballet Theatre of Russia’s http://www.hutchisonentertainmentgroup.com/state_ballet_of_russia.php performance of Swan Lake. Living in Baltimore, I have more access to arts than any other place I have lived. I am so glad that I took advantage of this and went to see this beautiful ballet. Many times, I only take advantage of experiences if I can find someone else is interested in experiencing it also. I need to go out there and do the things I love and am interested in even if I have to go it alone. I’m glad I did that this time! The thing that amazed me the most was the strength and athleticism of the dancers. The music was enchanting. I also enjoyed just taking in the stunning architecture of the Hippodrome.

Enjoy this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_5WCZ-XvG4&feature=related

New Thing 9-24-10 Virgin Free Fest

New Thing 9-4-10 Maryland State Fair

Yesterday, I braved the Maryland State Fair at the Timonium Fairgrounds. http://www.marylandstatefair.com/ Sally, Mark, Tray, Jason, and the adorable Alex came along for the ride. I had never meet Alex and he is one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. Such huge cheeks (but I digress). We started the fair out with a sampling of fair food. Corn dogs and cheese fries. Mark found a fly in his and Sally's diet coke. She was super grossed out. I say it's all just part of the fair. We topped off our dinner by sharing two funnel cakes. Super yummy goodness. At this time, Tray, Jason, and Alex headed out because Alex had already had a late night. Sally had been continually talking about the zipper. Mark and I suggested looking at all the prize winning veggies to buy some time. What makes one popcorn cob better than the other? Who knows? Then there was no more stalling on the rides. We started with the zero gravity. It's the one where you stick to the wall and it tilts to the side. We meet this really cool fourth grader in the line and we all become BFFs forever. He informed us we would be fine on the ride as long as we hadn't eaten. Oh great! Mark was super scared it was funny. We finished the ride and everyone undid their buckles and started walking to the door. But unexpectedly, the ride started turning again so the door would be in front. Mark ran back so fast he knocked Sally's elbow and busted his knee. He was hurt kind of badly. It was a very George Costanza moment. Next, Sally and I won a sizable cow stuffed animal at the hit balloons with darts booth. She gave it to me for my prize chest at school. What a nice friend. Next, we waited in line for the Zipper. I had never gone on it. I was always too scared. It was awful in a good way. The first 30 seconds was super fun. The next 2 minutes was awful. I did it though. Then we went on two more back and forth spinning things. We should have stopped at the Zipper. We left the fair with headaches. It was like a hangover and totally worth it.