Thoughts on planning a wedding part 3: Location, Location, Location

I have been fortunate enough to travel to Europe several times, and it is inevitable that I will visit a historic cathedral or basilica during my travels. I have always enjoyed going inside houses of worship. It’s quiet, and there seems to be a common understanding between whoever is inside that you are standing on hallowed ground. Even if you don’t ascribe to that school of belief, I think you would have to be made of stone not to feel something while inside these grand structures. Chicago is a city of many churches, and many of them are just and grand and beautiful as those I have seen overseas. You can be walking down a residential street and out of nowhere appears a church. Sometimes I go inside as I appreciate the momentary respite from busy city life.

It was December of 2007 and I was in tech rehearsals for a holiday production I was working on. For those of you who are unsure what a tech rehearsals is just know they usually involve twelve hour days, lots of waiting under hot stage lights, and if your lucky only mild levels of chaos. All actors have a love/hate relationship with tech week. On one of our breaks I wanted to find a place of calm during the storm and I remembered a church around the corner. Despite the frigid temperatures outside I walked the few blocks to St. Clement Roman Catholic Church and let myself in. It was breathtaking. The only source of light was the multitude of flickering candles all around the sanctuary. Still they produced enough light to behold the splendor inside. The huge domes, the stunning stained glass rose windows, and the exquisite marble altars. I was alone and I felt like I was in a scene in a dramatic mystery movie. I sat quietly taking it all in. Letting the stress of tech melt away and I knew I have to bring Jürgen back here.

We didn’t even consider getting married anyplace else. Once we decided on a day we phoned St. Clement right away to see if our day was available. It was! However there were a few more important bits of info to find out before we made it the official site of our marriage sacrament. I am not Catholic (gasp!), I am an Episcopalian and some churches will not allow you be married if both parties are not baptized Catholic. Luckily St. C’s is a more forward thinking parish and they do not mind my Anglican ways. Also, it was very important to me that my first cousin, Reverend. Benjamin Robertson IV would be able to officiate my wedding, which again some churches do not allow. Again, major props to St. Clement for being so cool. So that is how an Episcopal girl ends up getting married in a Catholic church…anything is possible.
The next step now was the reception. Along with my original dream wedding of being married in a garden I always wanted it to be on the grounds of some grand historic home. Well there are not many of those in Chicago, so I needed to rethink my ideal reception site. I knew I wanted it to be in Chicago, and I didn’t want all my out of town guests to have to travel further out to the suburbs. I also wanted to keep the church and the reception site close by one another, because it after all it will be winter in Chicago. We both agreed that we wanted a site that was unique but also beautiful on it’s own, for I didn’t want to spend a lot of money gussying up the party space. I did a search online and looked through some magazines and came up with six possible reception sites. That seemed like plenty to me. One (Café Brauer) was not available, and Fulton’s on the River were difficult to Jürg on the phone, so they were crossed of. We visited the other four in this order.

1) The River East Art Center.
We visited the space during a gallery opening so we got to eat yummy passed bites and drink free wine. It is a very cool, open, modern space (plus!). Located near Navy Pier and the Chicago River (minus…not very close to our church). It would no doubt be a very cool spot for a reception, but we both felt it was a tad “too cool” for us. We are not trendy or cool people at all. Jürgen watches homestarr runner regularly, and I like to Google myself from time to time. Not trendy art gallery material at all. Next please.

2) The Ivy Room
Also a part of an art gallery but a very different feel. Located downtown off of the Mag Mile (minus, closer than the first but not as close as I would like), it’s a very simple warm space that overlooks an enclosed courtyard (plus!). Sadly the courtyard would not be open during our wedding (minus), but the tress would be lit up with Christmas lights and the old time lamp posts would be on, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere (plus!). Also, since it is privately owned we could have the space open as late as we wanted too (plus!). A downside though was it was the most expensive locale on our list (minus), and while it was simple and pretty it was perhaps borderline boring (kind of a minus). Still after we left we decided to keep it in the “to be considered” pile in our minds.
3) The Peggy Noterbaert Nature Museum
The museum is not far from St. Clement, which was certainly… a plus! It’s located in a beautiful area of Lincoln Park near the lake, and it’s certainly a unique space (plus!). Lots of exposed stone and glass. One cool perk you get when you host an event there is you have access to their butterfly haven, which houses over a hundred different species of butterflies. However the actual event room itself was totally underwhelming (minus), and it even had carpet (minus). Bleck (minus).
(it's a small photo but do you see the carpet?)

We knew right away this space was not for us. Like I said earlier, we didn’t want to spend a lot trying to make the space beautiful.

Now it was off to visit our fourth and final reception destination.

The Chicago History Museum. I had been intrigued by the museum from the moment I visited the webpage. The photos looked stunning, and I don’t know I just had a “feeling.” It is also in Lincoln Park and not far from our church of choice (plus!). It has stood for over a hundred years giving it the historic feel that I so love (plus!). As soon as we walked up the stairs and into the “American Room” we just…well we just knew. The first room was just stunning. Designed in old colonial ballroom style (I am not sure if that is a design term as I just made that up) there is a beautiful chandelier hanging in the center flanked on either side by beautiful columns and classic crown molding. A perfect spot to have cocktails and late bites.
This is Kelly Milam (now Cavanaugh!) our go-to gal at Blue Plate. She just got married at the CHM so I decided to use her photos for this entry! Yay Kelly!

You then travel through the doors into the Robinson gallery. It’s exactly how we want our wedding to feel: simple, classic and elegant. Lovely panels of stained glass designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Tiffany adorn the walls, and along the east side the walls are lined with windows over looking a beautiful plaza. This plaza will probably not be used as we are getting married during one of the coldest months, but it will still make for a lovely view.
This is one side of the Robinson room.
I love how the back looks like a grand old mansion!

More of the plaza and the museum.

We needed to look no further. We had found it. After only four places too, and that’s not a lot. Again, it’s all about knowing what you want, and trusting your gut. You will hear me repeat this over and over again. It’s sort of my mantra, and maybe I should make it my mantra for life. Hmmmm…..

Thoughts on planning a wedding part 2: Choosing the Date

When I was sixteen years old I spent my summer working at a florist in Louisville called Creative Illusions. They are no longer in business and I may have something to do with that, one will never know I suppose. The owner was a lovely woman named Marci who was much more of a “creative person” than a “business person.” The latter comes in handy when you, um, own a business. Oftentimes I would be left to my own devices for hours on end with no guidance or complete knowledge of how to operate the cash register. Many of the items in the store would mysteriously be devoid of price tags, and with no log or catalog of prices to be found I had to use my keen sense of intuition to make up a price….on the spot. A favorite memory of mine was a lovely summer day when one of the “ladies who lunched” stopped in and inquired on the price of a nice sized hanging fern.

“Ten dollars.” I said, with a slight hint of concern

“TEN dollars!” she gasped, her eyes popping out from the shadow of her visor.

“Um, seven…” I choked.

I learned later that ferns should go for around twenty-five dollars. Needless to say she bought it on the spot. This happened a few times.

However one interesting fact I did learn while working there was that flowers are apparently best during the month of September. This may or may not be true, although it makes some sense to me. It’s not too hot to dry out the soil and it’s not so bitter cold that nothing even wants to be living.

From then on I decided: I wanted to be married in September.

Outside.
In a Garden. Looking something like this photo.
Or perhaps this.
This would be nice too. You get the idea.
With Gerber Daises for the flowers.

Clearly this is not happening. So how did we go about choosing January 3rd? Well as this wedding isn’t just about me, even though I am the bride, I took Jürgen’s desire to have a winter wedding into consideration. However it was my mom that initially put the idea of a New Years Eve wedding in my head.
Flashback to June of 2007 and we were in the car somewhere in Indiana en route to Louisville from Chicago talking about, well, weddings. As an actor I have met many actor couples that have chosen to be married on a Monday, which is the “dark day” for a theatre person. However, I wasn’t crazy about that idea, but at the same time most of my friends are in the business and I would want them to be in attendance. Whatever would I do? It was then when my mom pointed out that New Years Eve is a day when 99% of the world is off of work, along with New Years day. Plus people are always looking for something to do. I loved this idea! How much fun! I began to reconsider my September idea altogether. If you have not put two and two together, I was not, in fact, engaged at this point, but rather being extremely girly.

Fast-forward to February of 2008 and I am now engaged. With my new love for the idea of a New Years Eve wedding we began to look into venues for that day. We did not look far because for one New Years is quite possibly one of the most expensive days to be married. Hotels are booked and at a premium months in advance. Most importantly one of my initial favorite possible reception sites wasn’t open on NYE. Hmmmmm. After a few days of wondering it finally dawned on me to, oh I don’t know, consult a calendar. It occurred to me that NYE ’08 falls on a Wednesday. Meaning 99% of the world will be off on Thursday. Leading me to conclude that a good 93% of the world will probably say “screw Friday, I’m not going into work for one day.” Therefore, a perfect travel day for our many out of town guests! Also (and I didn’t know this at the time) the Saturday after NYE is one of the LEAST expensive days to be married. Hotel rates are at the lowest for the year, and many receptions sites are more than willing to cut you a deal because that first Saturday heralds the “slow time of year”. What a lucky coincidence. Thank goodness for the leap year!

So that, fellow readers, is how we came to choose January 3rd. Picking the date is probably the most important step in planning, after saying yes of course.

This is part two of a multi-part series on planning Blürg’s wedding! Check back soon….

What’s the point of a Blürg and thoughts on planning a wedding (part 1)

When I think back on it I am not entirely sure how we came up with the idea of keeping a wedding blog (henceforth called a Blürg). I am pretty sure it was my idea, but that is neither here nor there. I suppose we both liked the idea of being able to keep friends and family both near and far updated on what we are doing, both in life and in terms of planning the wedding. I hope everyone out there (and it may only be my mom who actually reads this) is enjoying it so far. So what is the point? To use the wonders of the world wide web to spin us all into the same world in cyberspace, Blürg’s world! Thank you for visiting.

The wedding:

We are four months and 7 days away (I think I counted right….) and so far no fatalities or serious injuries have occurred in the planning of it. I am actually surprised at how easy it has been and for the most part, stress free. I have been reflecting on why this unlikely state of calm has transpired for the past six and a half months and I have come up with some conclusions. They are:
1) The real simple wedding guide: Available at your local bookstore, I have found this book (more like a thick magazine) to be amazingly, well…simple. It avoids being over superfluous and “frilly” and cuts to the chase. It breaks down each month before the wedding and what you should be concentrating on, and the pictures are beautiful. I recommend it to any couple planning their own wedding. It really has everything you need.

2) GoogleDocs®: Have you heard of googledocs? Have you used them? They are amazing. I love google! A googledoc is similar to an excel spreadsheet but it is stored online. This means you can share it with others and they too can view it and/or make changes to it from their personal computers. We have spreadsheets set up for many different aspects of the Big Day: the ceremony, the reception, hotels/ transportation, attire, the rehearsal dinner and the best part…the guest list. It’s all online. If my mom needs to contact someone at the reception site, the contact info is there, if I need to double check on the address for one of our guests, it’s there. I’m telling you, it’s worth looking into.

3) A DIY Wedding Binder: I impulsively purchased a pre-made binder (looking oddly similar to the photo above) from Borders months and months ago and quickly felt the pangs of buyers remorse. Not only was it kind of cheesy, but I didn’t like the way they categorized certain sections, oftentimes the folders wouldn’t hold standard 8x10 documents and I just didn’t enjoy being slave to someone else’s preconceived notion of how a wedding binder should “be.” So I created my own and I must say I am very pleased with it. At present I have sections for: the ceremony, the reception, the catering, the band, the hotels, the florist, the transportation, the honeymoon, and the photography. More will be added I am sure and perhaps I will post a photo of it. Regardless of whether or not you choose to make your own or buy a pre-made one, I highly recommend having some sort of wedding binder. It keeps you sane and vendors love it when you appear organized. You are a “good bride” in their eyes.

4) Going with your gut: Quite possibly the most important piece of advice I could pass on to anyone planning a wedding. If you are truly honest with yourself I think you would agree that you usually like something the first time you see/hear/touch it. Trust that feeling. My dad always said that about trying on shoes “you know if you like how they feel in the first ten seconds.” I see his point, but shoes are an exception as sometimes those cute polka dotted mary-jane heels just need to be broken in a bit, or your foot needs to shrink. However I echo his sentiment when it comes to choosing wedding elements- like the reception venue, the invitations, and yes even the dress. I will go more info to detail about this in part two. Until then, brides and their mothers everywere, trust yourself, you know best.

Take me out to the Ballgame

We could not have asked for a better night than the night we went to see the Chicago Cubs (who are apparently doing really well this year...I don't know things about baseball) with my mom and dad on July 10th. It was a great game and it marked the first ever visit to Wrigley for myself and Jürgen (it's shameful but true). Naturally we had to eat bratwurst, drink cheap beer and cheer against the opposing team (in this case the St. Louis Cardinals). The Cubs took home a victory that night with a final score of 6-2, and we got to see four of those runs happen all in one inning. I hear that's kind of exceptional. Will this be the year the curse of the goat is broke? Who's to say, watch and find out.

More Appendage Modeling!

One of the best/worse things about being an actor, is you end up taking on all sorts of random trades to get by. I recently posted about my new career as a hand model and I am beginning to think this just may be a great to way to kill time before Broadway or Hollywood realizes there is a huge void which can only be filled by Blair. Until then I shall let my extremities do the work for me. Here are two photos of recent shoots I have done (my feet have not been retouched in this photo-just FYI). Now if only my hands could break into one of those cool iPhone commercials. Then I would really be in the big time.

Take the Cake!

We spent the rest of our time in Maryland mainly on the beach and enjoying leftover crabs and corona's. Nothing wrong with that. We bid goodbye to the Land of Mary on Tuesday and endured the ten hour drive with no dents or scrapes. The following day we headed over to our cake tasting. I have to be honest when I say neither of us are really "cake people." Except when it is served to me in a party fashion, I will rarely order any sort of cake, unless the words "molten chocolate" are attached to it. That my friends is an entirely different story. Honestly this was one of our least favorite wedding "to-do's" thus far. Not because the cake tasted bad, or our lovely caked lady was rude, not at all. Really it just wasn't all that fun trying cake after cake after cake. I am actually a little nervous about our choice because by the end I really just wanted to be done with all the cake and sugar, but hopefully on the day of I will remember why we chose what we chose. Fear not fellow guests, there will be a multitude of sweet treats to try! Here, of course are a few photos

Enagagement Party: Ocean City Style

For all of you who could not be with us at the Ocean City soirée celebrating the impending nuptials of the Blürg you were deeply missed. However you consider yourselves lucky to have missed the escapades that transpired on the mini-golf course the evening prior. Let's not dwell on discolored memories, but rather march forward with pride.

Day two of the Ocean City vaca was spent at the ocean. Having deemed my several year old bathing suit ill "suited" for the wild waves of the Atlantic, the first order of business was to purchase a new one. Luckily there is no shortage of swimwear merchants in the O.C. As soon as my mission was accomplished Jürgen and I took to the beach, and save a quick lunch we were out side until about 5:00 in the evening. We were joined by Stefanie for a time, but for the most part were left to relax on our own. I questioned this at times and even felt bad. "Where is your family?"
I would chirp, "should we go upstairs and help?" Jürgen assured me all would be well. That evening we both managed to clean up for the celebration. It should be noted that this lovely gathering took place on July 26th, which happens to coincide with Jürgs date of birth. No one seemed to remember this however as all focus was on 1) the wedding and 2) the crabs. You will notice our crisp white attire in the photo above....well that didn't last long. Some event photos
Peering wide eyed into the seemingly unending bushel full of CRABS! We really are in Maryland (we had three of these by the way)
The crab eatin' begins. Must have items to eat crabs: Corona with lime, newspaper, wooden mallets and clothes you do not care about. An ocean view is desirable but not required.
I'm gonna kiss you Crabby, I'm gonna kiss you and then I am going to eat you. Notice the change in attire. This did not occur due to any sort of stain making activity, but rather my astute sense of foreboding.
The carnage begins to pile up. Dave seems unphased.

The festivities continued for sometime and I got the hang of ripping apart the little buggers only to be rewarded with little meat. This is not a spot for the weak of heart. A strong will and constitution are necessary. A few hours in some of the ladies proclaimed they were moving the party upstairs to the fifth floor, while many of the gentlemen remained on the balcony. Jürgen and I stayed downstairs among the wreckage for sometime longer when Stefanie asked me if I would like to go upstairs to "see the condo her Aunt was renting for the week." I obliged and headed upstairs. As I walked into the unit I noticed something hanging over the sliding glass door, as I squinted in an attempt to decipher it I heard a rousing chorus of "SURPRISE!"

A surprise bridal shower! Amazing! I am a tough cookie when it comes to surprises as I usually figure out what is happening before it happens. Not this time. I was totally fooled and I am so happy that I was. Here are some fun photos.

I do not look cute in this photo but it captures the moment perfectly. Love the bride to be sash. It matched my outfit!
Another lovely looking (and tasting!) cake!
Thank you Judy for the incredible decorations.

The following are a series of possible expressions one can have while opening gifts.


No need to limit yourself folks!

Us again, in less white clothing.

I am regretting now that no one thought to take a big group shot of all the ladies! If any of you all have any photos send em my way and they will certainly be posted. For now I leave you all with this image.
Thank you all, it was an amazing party and an amazing shower!

...and then there was that time Jürgen humped a dinosaur

I guess you really can't say "Poor Blair." Though she really didn't get more than one full day's introduction to the area in which I grew up (actually, now that I think about it, I never really gave her a proper tour of my own house...errrrrrrrrm), she did get to spend Friday to Monday in Ocean City at my Grandfather's condo. So this sight-seeing and introductions trip became more of a vacation proper. Who's really complaining, you know?

We headed down to Ocean City (had to stop myself from writing down the ocean...or "downee owshun" in Bal'more speak) on Friday morning, July 25th and spent the better part of the afternoon introducing Blair to the frigid (surprising in late July) glory of the Atlantic Ocean and it's waves...of doom. She was a good sport, though she spent the majority of the time papoosed to my back, although she never would let me teach her to ride a wave.

We helped some assorted other Hoopers (or Dickerts as the case may be) in the immediate family move their stuff into the condo as we prepared ourselves for the greater question to come: Who Sleeps Where? Thankfully Blair was able to sleep in a bed that evening, though future arrangements were in doubt.

Once everyone arrived we laid out plans for an evening out of typical Ocean City fun: the boardwalk and mini-golf (don't call it "putt-putt" or you will incite much wrath). The crew consisted of my mother and father, Stefanie, Aunt Judy and my Grandfather....oh and the Blürg...don't forget them. In the picture above you also see my brother, Kevin, (in full military regalia no less) who joined us later as a nice surprise since he was in Delaware all week with his military obligations.

We began our trip to the boardwalk by seeking out those staple O.C. (don't call it that) treats: Thrasher's french fries...which, by the by, have really declined in quality over the years. Maybe it was because someone decided to buy the two of us the wheelbarrow size, but I've tasted them at a much higher quality in years gone by. We also ate some pretty intestine-challenging hot dogs as well, but that was to be expected. What next to do but really give your digestion a good swift kick in the...well...gut, but to ride the rides.

Every year the Pier part of the boardwalk, to counteract the fact that its only real attracting is the increasingly purple Ferris wheel, hosts some new and ridiculously expensive new ride. This year's version was a type of human slingshot. Two people strapped themselves into a steel ball and at the conductor's whim would be shot many feet up into the air where they would bungee about three sine waves (who remembers math, huh?) before slowly lowering you back to earth. I declined my father's offers to pay for Blair and me to go - not because I was scared, but because I thought the price was not worth the three-bounce maximum. He, however, took my sister and accepted the challenge. The following is what occurred

We watched their reactions on the little televisions standing to the side of the ride. Personally, I think it alters genuine reactions when people know they're being filmed in all their snot-flying glory below. But I'm just jealous I didn't get to go.

We walked over to Trumper's (I think that's the spelling) Rides, which are, in my opinion, the only decent rides on the boardwalk. We heard through the grapevine that someone's trying to buy these people out to build some hotel down there. We must stop this at all costs. Where would my summer be without the sinking feeling that maybe someone hasn't really made adjustments to these rides since the late 80's, while I'm tumbling over my ankles in the Zipper? What would I do without the Tidal Wave roller coaster reminding me what a migraine feels like as I plow into my headrest time and time again? I kid, but seriously, these things may be overdue for a tuneup. I think it may have only been the dulcet tones of Blair's screaming that kept my mind off the thought of one of the zipper cars hurtling into the night sky, unhinged and free at last. And yet somehow, when my brother arrived, we swindled her into getting on again. It may be dark in the photo but you should be able to make out Blair's true enthusiasm with the ride at hand.

After finishing off this leg of the trip with more O.C. (don't call it that) staples - Dolly's popcorn (sorry, Blair, I was wrong about them carrying cheese popcorn) and Dumser's ice cream - mom, dad, Stef, Kevin and the Blürg went to our staple family mini-golf course (everyone knows this one) on 70th with the dinosaurs outside and the underwater scuba world inside.

Kevin was housing all of us for awhile with repeated 2's, coming in under par just about the entire game, though Blair would like me to mention that she held her own the entire time. Shoot, she did much better than I did. Time was, where I would hurtle my golf club into some bush in a pre-adolescent rage, but those days had passed and now I handled my inability to excel at any sport, no matter how mundane, with grace and poise. Grace and poise which disappears completely in the event that I should ever land a hole in one...and I did.

If you've been to this golf course, and most of you Marylanders have to have, you know the large green T-rex that stands at the course facing Ocean Highway grinning his large come-hither grin. Well I, though there seem to be no apparent embankments to make this possible, landed a glorious hole in one. So surprised was I at my fortune that I hurtled myself headlong onto the thick part of this reptile's tail, and though my mind was asking "Um...hey there Pardner she ain't exactly saddled up there is she?" this didn't deter me in my decision to repeatedly hump the dinosaur. Not completely forgetting (amazingly) the company that I was in, I held my joy to three humps to keep it at that PG-13 level so as to simply embarrass my parents, not mortify them. In my defense...look what he was wearing. He was asking for it. And the grin was noticeable wider when I was through. The little stoner kids in front of us thought it was a riot.

Mom...Dad...I'm really sorry.

Other such incidents included...

Blair gets her ball stuck in the middle of the log, which is next to impossible to do. Sorry for the unattractive photo.

Blair gets her ball trapped under the Brontosaurus.And Jürgen unwittingly drops the pencil, though not his ball, into the blue family recreation water, which is just perfect for little kids to drink or pee in...or.....both....

Good night. I slept well. As for the T-rex.....

Baltimore: Come for the Crabs...Stay for the Treatment

A cheeky title, I know, but I was so proud of my little witticism that I had to include it.

So we'd made it. The google mapsmen said eleven hour and nineteen minutes, but I scoffed at that prediction. I'd see us there in just over ten safe and sound...save the car...which I dented...uh...before we left Chicago. My attempts to get us out of the house in a reasonable amount of time had been thwarted and so maybe I was still a little too overheated to reconsider that quick shift into the center lane and right into some poor lady's Chevy Malibu. I did look, and she was in the lane behind me when I did, but alas, she was the quicker mover and I was to blame. Needless to say the wheel was not surrendered back to me for another two hours. Still, we made considerably good time, and while James and Blair weren't sleeping all three of us enjoyed many road games which have that strange way of only appealing to those under the age of twelve and over the age of twenty-one. NOT I-SPY. That game should be shot...in the arm...at close range.

We arrived at the House of Hooper around 7pm that July 22. My mother made us an amazing dinner, paired at every turn with wine selections by my father. We ate, drank, were merry, toasted the cute new dent Blair's car had acquired, etc. After dinner I took James home, then returned to get some sleep for my Welcome to Maryland outing I'd planned for Blair the next day.

If we had breakfast of some sort I couldn't tell you, but I'm pretty sure we were out of the house sometime between 9 and 10am, which is no small feat when you've spent the previous day up at 5:30 and spent 10 hours on the road. I took Blair first to my college, Towson University to show her around. It was a very nostalgic experience, which is strange considering the Theatre Arts building has been completely renovated since I had graduated and I only recognized about 30% of it. So poor Blair had to constantly hear, "No...you don't understand. There was a door here. This wall used to be a classroom. None of this was here," and on and on and on.

From Towson, we went to my high school, Calvert Hall. This experience, however, bore no feelings of nostalgia. It felt rather empty - not empty in a lonely way, but more like nothingness. So, needless to say, we didn't spend too much time there.

We drove into Baltimore and went to Fells Point, which is a nifty little area of downtown that was a favorite spot of mine through most of college. There are plenty of great places to eat, lots of history to be viewed and, of course, my favorite record shop, which I avoided going into...took some doing. We ate at a place called Bertha's Mussels.

We had about 2/3 of a great meal. The mussels were outstanding, the crabcake was decent (not the best but I've been away so long I wouldn't know where to take her), but the sage-brushed chicken livers proved a poor choice, despite our adventurous natures. We walked around a little after the meal bemoaning the fact that we couldn't spend more time in Fells but we had a schedule to stick to, and of course we had to see...

The Baltimore Aquarium!

Chicago you can keep your miserable little Shedd Aquarium, paying waaaaay too much for too little...and lizards aren't nearly as cool as the many-colored frog displays we were privy to. And let's pit your puny little dolphins against the full bottle-nosed power of our DOLPHIN SHOW!

Can your dolphin do this?

After a great time at the Aquarium we went to my friend, and former professor, Steve's house for a little dinner. Steve and Patrick did a wonderful job with dinner and there was much merriment before a titanic storm came and threatened to wash half of the city away. This, of course, didn't deter me from driving us back down into Baltimore to meet up with some Towsonite friends for a late night gathering at Brewer's Art - a favorite haunt of we Towson alumni.

All in all, a wonderful day.