Baltimore Inner Harbor

Hello World

As January is nearing an end, I thought it would be a good time to share some pictures of the adventures we had over the Holidays on the East Coast....

We arrived in Baltimore on Monday December 21. This was the Monday after that weekend that the huge, massive, large blizzard struck the East Cost in 2009. So things were a bit unusual to say the least.

When I say "we" arrived, I mean that both Delaina and I arrived. Now our Luggage, that is a different story. Our Luggage took it's own vacation this year (the first time this has happened to us in a LONG time). It started by traveling to New York (where our plane was continuing on to that night), then back to Las Vegas (where we connected from) then to Chicago for the night, and then finally back to BWI. Don't you wish they had Luggage Cams ??

The Luggage eventually found us, 3 days later. Luckily we packed some "goodies" in our carry-on bags just in case this happened, and Southwest Airlines and the Hotel both gave us some travel sized items to see us though.

OK so to the good stuff: Here we are, at one of my favorite restaurants in Baltimore: Phillips! We ordered an assortment of appetizers- all that featured CRAB! (sorta like a tapas night, right?)
Then we spent the night at an Inner Harbor Hotel, right across the street. We asked if they had any rooms with a harbor view, and they did.... Here is the view as the sun was rising!

The room also came with a free breakfast (Thanks AAA card). Delaina ordered Eggs Benedict (with crab of course).


Then we headed out to walk around the Inner Harbor/ Power Plant shopping area. As it was FREEZING cold, snow everywhere and hardly anyone around, we took the plunge and visited the Baltimore Aquarium. We saw a lot of fun stuff and had a great time.

We tried to snap some photos of Nemo and Dori, but they all came out a bit blurry....


The "special" exhibit was about jellyfish. The room was dark and had music from the Blue Man Group playing. I took some great video that I will attach later.

These jellyfish were about as thin as a tissue. Some swam slowly in the water- almost as if they were falling or just floating along, whilst others seemed to move much more rapidly. They were really fun to just hang out and watch.

Because of the bad/snow/cold weather the local schools were not in session and many employees were commenting about the lack of visitors on that Tuesday. We thought it was just right.

After the Aquarium, and a late lunch at Phillips naturally, we boarded the light rail back to the BWI airport and met up with Kris's parents and checked on the status of our lost bags.

Have a great day!

I Love Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's Store in Surprise, Arizona

Hello World

For those of you who don't know this, I am here to confess that I just LOVE to shop at Trader Joe's grocery store. I am working on a list of why....

1. Smaller Store Size- You don't have to sift through every isle and walk miles just to shop for the week.

2. Less Choices Overall-- Yes this does not seem to make sense, but then really- how many different brands of one item do we need to look at?? If I want green beans, there are only 2 choices at Trader Joe's: One with carrots and yellow (or wax) beans and another that is simply green beans. I usually purchase a bag of each.

3. High Quality-- Ok maybe I am buying into the hype, but I feel as if I am getting higher quality because the folks at Trader Joe's have tried/tested and OK'd the items they sell. Unlike the bigger stores that simply stock every item available in the area.

4. Fantastic Return Policy -- While I usually LOVE everything that I have purchased at Trader Joe's, I have purchased a couple of items that I did not like. One was WAY to spicy and the other, well let's say that I obviously don't like all dried fruit. Anyway, I simply brought the items back to Trader Joe's and they gave me a refund of the price on my next purchase. Simple and easy!

5. Daily Samples-- We used to joke about bringing a travel mug to enjoy the coffee samples and how they need to have outdoor seating at the store, but I can say that I love that they sample their stuff! Not only do you get to "try before you buy..." with new products, but they also give you great ideas on how to serve their standard items as well. Recently we sampled their Corn Bread Mix and it was sooo yummy that I not only bought a box on the spot, but also purchased more during the Holidays.... delish!


Have a great day everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving??

Hello World--

We found this video and it made us stop and think about Thanksgiving.... instead of a day to give thanks, maybe it should be a day to remember?

What do you think?? Check out the video here:

The Pinky Show : How to solve Illegal Immigration

Delaina & Kris

More Pumpkins...

Hello World!

Here is my small video about our day at the Sonoran Glass Academy. We hope you enjoy!

We're Back!

Hello World!

Sorry for the delay in postings (eeks! over a year...) But we're back and I thought this weekends adventure at the Sonoran Glass Academy's Pumpkin Fiesta would be a nice bit of news to start blogging about.

The Pumpkin Fiesta is an annual fundraiser for the Sonoran Glass Academy. The pumpkins are just beautiful and I thought we could share some here.

Ode to the (Sonoran) Hotdog!

Hello World!

Delaina's family came to Tucson for lunch and we went out to a favorite place- BK's. and I wanted to tell you about the restaurant. On top of selling fabulous hamburgers and fish tacos, they also sell hot dogs. Now you might ask what is so special about at hot dog?? Well, this is not your ordinary hot dog, this one has style: in fact they are called "Sonoran Style" hotdogs and they go like this: First they wrap a hot dog in bacon, and then set the dog in a steamed bun, and cover up (if you are getting "the works") with pinto beans, mayo, mustard, tomatoes and if you want, a grilled jalapeno pepper on the side. They are very unusual and really taste great-despite their long list of unusual ingredients.

BK's also has a "vegie bar" where you can add salsa or chopped cucumbers or grated cheese to any menu item. A fun place to visit and one of our favorites restaurants in Tucson.

We hope you enjoyed this visit to Tucson ! ~Kristin and Delaina

Delaina's Birthday 2008

Hello Everyone!

These are some of the pictures from Delaina's Birthday Weekend that we spent in Mesa, Arizona. We had a fun time and helped out with a family project (see photo of the new stove!)



Out with the old..... (what is THAT behind the stove??......)



And in with the new!!

One of the first items that the new stove baked for us, was Delaina's birthday cake--
Thanks Stove!


Here it is... Delaina's Birthday cake complements of the new stove!



Delaina's Party



One of Delaina's gifts, a "Hoops & YoYo" T-shirt! We love those guys!

Thank you to everyone who made Delaina's birthday special, and a great big thanks to the new stove as we could NOT have celebrated with out you! (And thanks to Golda who gave me the idea to honor the stove on the blog)