merry memorial weekend in maryland

last wednesday i flew from chicago to dulles, boy in tow, to spend the long memorial day weekend at home. it had been almost six months since i'd last been in maryland with my family, and boy did the term "home sweet home" ring true this time. beautiful weather, fresh food everywhere, the freedom of driving on a full tank with no obligations whatsoever...i never thought home would be such paradise.

despite the relaxed trip, we managed to see and do quite a bit.

we settled the lands of catan (with the aid of cold beer and a sunny deck),

played with seven week-old puppies,

hiked in harper's ferry, west virginia,

adopted a white boy into our awkward family,

got buff,

undid all our exercise with delicious delicious peking duck,

frolicked in DC,

and ate blue crab with old bay like level 99 marylanders, woot!

one of my favorite memories from the weekend was sitting in an outdoor seat basking in the sunshine of a restaurant on the waterfront in baltimore while eating tacos and sipping a mimosa with my best friend, her sister, and the boy all around me. whenever i get anxious or incredibly busy at work i just think back to that lunch and i instantly calm down a bit. maryland has become my happy place. for me it couldn't have been the more perfect long weekend getaway.

in fact, i had such a good time that i almost contemplated moving to the suburbs. just ole granny rose, surrounded by her cats and buckets of blue crabs. yolo!