Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Weekend Visitors, Round 2

This past weekend Matt's parents drove up from SC for a 4 day visit. We had a good time showing them the area and eating out at lots of restaurants. Just as last weekend, we gladly let the town do the entertaining!

After they arrived Friday we visited and toured the building before Matt got home in time to join us for lunch at the Metro Diner. The rest of the afternoon was filled with more visiting and touring and then dinner across the street at Real Seafood. This is going to make us sound like pigs, but here are the other restaurants we happily patronized during the visit (everybody has to eat, and eating can be fun!!): Gordon Biersch, Annapolis Seafood Market, Chick & Ruth's Delly, Middleton Tavern and Giolitti Deli. Oh, and we enjoyed delicious cookies downtown at Uncle Bob's Fudge. Yum, yum, yum. Perhaps the best meal, however, was Sunday night. We ate a fansatsic homemade meal in Mt. Airy with a large portion of the Robinson clan. This was the first time the 10 of us as a group had been able to get together and it was so very enjoyable!

Monday we ventured back downtown and had great weather in which to walk around the Naval Academy. We wandered around a bit more than last weekend and were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the campus is!

All that combined with a lot of driving and exploring little parts of town made for a great visit. Thanks for traveling to our new home!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Weekend Visitor

After the 14+ hour drive, Mom arrived for a four and a halfish day visit in Annapolis this past Friday (Mom, sorry we didn't move to a place where the drive was any shorter than the one to TX - almost exact same distance!) I gave her a tour of the apartment building/complex and we then chatted on the sofa for a while before Matt got home from work. Dinner a few hours later was crab cakes outside by the water at Pusser's. A perfect first trip to Annapolis meal.

Saturday was furniture moving day. Matt and I had reserved a U-Haul to pick up the new table & chairs (in a really neat neighborhood on Turkey Point in Edgewater). We then used it to load the old ones & Matt drove them up to his cousins home while Mom and I had lunch at Whole Foods and played downstairs in the shopping center. For supper I made chili and we watched the Auburn game, grateful we didn't have to sit in that monsoon.

Sunday we woke up fighting little head colds so we took it easy and skipped church. Later on we drove downtown to explore by foot. We had lunch at Cafe Normandie, enjoyed the view from City Dock, walked around the Naval Academy and had a great tour of the Maryland State House from Squire Frederick. We covered a lot of ground and learned a lot about the history of our new home. That night we snacked on imported boiled peanuts from Alabama and watched The Good Shepherd on TV.

Much like the other mornings, Monday began with coffee on the roof. While Matt was at work I took advantage of having a car during the day and ran some errands. Mom and I also went back downtown to walk around more and eat a late lunch at the Market House.

On Tuesday I took care of more daytime car-worthy errands after which Mom & I drove to Ikea in DC (my first time driving on the Beltway!!!). That place is soooo neat. Later we refueled with Pumpkin Spice latte's from Starbucks and did some shopping. It's always fun to take a peek at the sale rack in Ann Taylor Loft and see what bargains may be waiting in a consignment shop. And because it was Tuesday we got the buy 1 get 1 free pizza special from Whole Foods. This time it was even yummier because we ate it up on the roof under the glow of the moon.... ahhhh... was a very pleasant way to end the visit.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Craigs List Success

I am now an advocate of Craigs List. It took a few weeks to get feedback on the set of green glasses I sold and it took constant checking to find the right table & chairs for our apartment - but both eventually happened and I'm thrilled! (Ironically the glasses were bought by a lady for her daughter who is starting grad school in Texas.) I'm excited to personalize the dining set with a fresh coat of paint and new fabric on the chairs. And at the purchase price of $40 I can afford to mess up a few times and it will still be a bargain!



(A huge thanks to the Gobien's for allowing us to store Matt's childhood table and chairs in their basement!)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Calling All Travelers

Robinson Room & Board has re-opened in its new location and we're ready to host you!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Seafood Festival


Last Saturday we went to Sandy Point State Park for the Maryland Seafood Festival. The weather was overcast, but it made for a very pleasant day outside. We got our first good view of the massive Bay Bridge and walked in the strangely colored sand of the Chesapeake. We enjoyed the typical "festival" events like listening to bands, people watching, looking at various things under big white tents (artwork, shea butter, jewelry, venus fly traps, cookbooks, etc.) And of course there were lots of food venues to choose from. We bypassed the oyster shooters and settled on steamed shrimp, seafood gumbo, cokes & a funnel cake. Yum.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Blah Beige Bathroom Blues

Our builders' beige bathroom made me feel blue... so today I did something about it :)