Our Week in Photos: Vol 3

After our trip to New York, it was back to the daily grind. Nothing too crazy so we are just going with the old fashioned lazy photo recap. But first lets recap Draper's week:

Wow, what a week! So many productive activities. So may goals accomplished. A real inspiration. 

Annapolis

We met a new friend in the apartment complex (Hey Jordan!) and we all hopped in the Subaru and road down to Annapolis to gawk at the hot Navy guys and have dinner and drinks at a spot called Dry 85. 

This classic Old Forester Old Fashioned was prepared to perfection... Sorry this photo wasn't good enough Arty. 

Leslie's Bourbon Fizz - bourbon, Amaretto, fresh squeezed lemon, egg-white, cranberry bitters

You may remember the Surf and Surf from Baltimore Eats 2. This burger could have been called the Turf and Turf AND Turf as it was beef, bacon, and pulled pork topped with bbq sauce. Yes I ate every bit. Yes I loved it. Yes I hated myself afterwards. 5 crabs out of 5 for Dry 85!

Finally bought a new pair of shoes that don't have holes in the bottom. 

On Sunday we joined work colleagues for a Make A Wish 2K walk around the National Mall. Its always good to kick it with BO.

Can't see the forest for the trees

Can't see the forest for the Draper 

Yes we celebrated Mamba Day. We're not heathens.

Day 1 O's fan right here. Ever since I was 26 years old, I've been reppin' my O's. 

Look who just woke up! He must have been fueled by the haters and my criticism earlier in the blog post. 

Friday Night Date Nite

Headed back into the big city for a Friday night of restaurant hopping. This was our first time exploring Harbor East. 

"Yeah, we summer in Baltimore. Its not that big of deal."

Maybe we should buy a boat. 

Baked Chesapeake Crab Dip at Loch Bar for dinner #1. As you can see, the bowl was made of delicious toasted bread, and as you can guess, it was absolute fire. Another crab bites the dust! RIP, but it was for a good cause. 

Leslie sippin' on Gin and Juice at Ra Sushi Bar for dinner #2 because we treat ourselves. 

Our second visit to Ra Sushi Bar didn't go as well as the first. I'd describe this roll as "A sodium snow storm topped with salt." [Leslie is offended by this caption and wants the record to state that she ordered and enjoyed this roll]

Welp thats a wrap... sorry this one was a little bit lazier than previous posts, but we will be back and better than ever next time!

Looking for more? Check out Our Trip to NYC

Crabicurious Takes Chi Town

Crabicurious was on location this weekend for a trip to The Windy City aka Chi Town aka The Second City aka The City of Two Shoulders aka Chiberia aka Chiraq aka Chivegas aka Balticago to meet up with the folks and my basketball protege, my cousin Matt.

The first activity was to see the the GOAT (D Wade) shred his hometown team. For the rest of the trip and with the guidance of Matt-gellan, we saw all that Chicago had to offer in a short weekend. Some of the top memories are pictured below:

Wow, as an accomplished amateur photographer, I really  am embarrassed to have blown the focus so badly on this one. And on the first shot of a trip. Please don't stop reading! This place is called Jake Melnick's and the wings were absolute fire (I'm saying fire a lot lately). 

It was surreal to stand next to this famous statue. To think, the second best shooting guard ever memorialized right there. 

It was a bucket-list moment to experience a Chicago Bulls intro. The in-arena experience was the best of any basketball game I've been to. 

Amar'e actually looks even older in person, but he did score 6 points! Earned himself a good wine bath for after the game. 

I moved to 5-0 all-time in Heat games I've attended, so maybe I should attend more

Eggsperience for breakfast! It was eggactly as you might eggspect: quite eggscellent. You could even say it was eggstraordinary.

Here is a picture of the greening of the Chicago River. "Green like Craig's eyes and money."

Happy St. Patty's Day! Robert made a photo! 

Atop the John Hancock building. Looking North towards Lincoln Park... Philip loves that band.

Caption Contest??? Leslie looking on to the Tilt Experience (pictured below).

Leslie was like... "nah I'm good" 

Chicago post Great Fire 

A little snack in the afternoon courtesy of Molly's Cupcakes in Lincoln Park. From left to right, top to bottom, Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake, Ron Bennington, Molten Chocolate, Peanut Butter Nutella filling (which was fire), Caramel Butterscotch (shouts out to old people).

Lou Malnati's for the last dinner of the weekend. A crisp, flaky butter-crust accentuates the delightful ensemble of melty cheese and scintillating sausage. Topped with fresh parmesan, this authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza was... fire.

Be sure to stay tuned for future check-ins with Matty Ice. Especially looking forward to the oral history of his intramural basketball loss at the hands of some other scrub team by a staggering 60 points. 

Our Week in Photos: Vol 2

Once again a busy week, our last in Fell's Point. I (Robert) only made about 4 blunders that hit me in the wallet, a new low since the moving process began! We ate some good food, walked some good streets, and took some good pictures. 

The Queen of Baltimore City. 

Took a trip to historic Mount Vernon (not the one in Virginia) to walk around and see the historic Washington Monument (not the one in DC) 

227 winding steps to the top. We could feel the burn by the halfway mark. I'm not at my fighting weight apparently.

The view from atop the Washington Monument. There's really not that much that's interesting about this photo, but it took a while to stitch together in Lightroom so LOOK AT IT! 

Some say its true! Moments later we were disagreeing with this phrase as we tried to exit a "cash only" parking garage without any cash. The attendant said "I wouldn't go to China without cash." I was like, "what an interesting anecdote bro..." 

Leslie and Draper on a walk. Draper is obviously scared of everything so we had to pull over while some humans and animals passed.

There is a boardwalk around our temporary apartment which provides some pretty stunning views of the harbor. Under Amrour headquarters is across the way. 

This guy has some awesome art, which was heavily used to spruce up the set in HBO's The Wire. We are going to buy a painting to commemorate our time in Fells Point. Or maybe I'll take a picture of one his paintings and get it blown up... we'll see. 

Sorry to disturb you! Let's keep reminding ourselves that this is an animal... and that is my pillow. 

A little trip down Tequila road. I do love a good flight! Representing Herradura. A thing I like to say to anyone who will listen is, "there is huge disparity between good tequila and bad tequila, more so  than any other spirit." 

Heading to DC for the afternoon. I can't remember who took this picture for me, but thank you to them. 

WhiskeyFest DC. Working on my pouring motions. I'm getting pretty good. 

Thursday meetings in New York City. My first time in Brooklyn. I'm cool now y'all. Deal with it. 

All our belongings were finally shipped on Thursday. Here Draper is pulling his weight. 

Leslie loves when I take pictures of her all day every day. She didn't tell me this, but I just know it. 

Uncle Mike in town and took us to an awesome restaurant. More on that in "Baltimore Eats: Vol 2"

Our Week in Photos

by Leslie Rixman

Bob was on the road again which gave Draper my undivided attention to help him adjust to city life. This was very much required because the poor beast is struggling to adjust. I don't think he will ever understand the workings of the elevator let alone believe it's not a metal death trap. But there is hope still for him being a polite Baltimore dog.  By the end of the week he had made progress. Here are some pictures of everyone's adventures the past seven days:

Robert: Outside Madison Square Garden after coming in for an Old Forester event. Trained back to Baltimore right after.

Robert: The (literally) smallest car left at the rental car facility in New Hampshire

Leslie: Watching Crocodile Hunter with Draper. I learned he doesn't like snakes! 

Robert: Killington, VT for a team meeting Tuesday through Friday

Leslie: Draper's first Baltimore toy. As luck would have it, Robert met Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh at the airport the same day. 

Robert: Me and my sled

Leslie: Baltimore sets a new record for rainfall in a single day and Robert is not here to rescue me

Robert: Team Building. Up here the rain has turned to snow! 

Robert and Leslie: Walking Draper at 6:30AM on Saturday morning. Wharf sniffs.

Robert and Leslie: Brunch at Blue Moon Cafe, the #8 rated restaurant in Baltimore by TripAdvisor

Robert and Leslie: The World Famous Captain Crunch French Toast. Leslie calls it "the best breakfast I've ever had. 5 crabs out of 5!" 

Robert and Leslie: September 11th Memorial at the top of the Baltimore World Trade Center

Robert and Leslie: The red dot denotes our temporary housing location: Union Wharf Apartments in Fells Point

Robert and Leslie: Apps and cocktails at Watertable. We accidentally walked out without paying, but luckily our waiter sprinted to the elevator and caught us...

Remembering 915 Rosemary

By Leslie and Robert

This weekend we said goodbye to our first home. Here are our favorite moments from 915 Rosemary Drive.

Bringing Draper Home

This was back when he was afraid of steps

We will always remember the day we brought home Draper Dog. He had a big ole head and the culinary disposition of a San Francisco hipster blogger. At first we thought he was born without spirit and without personality, but no, just a serious allergy to poultry, pork, and red meat. If you’re wondering if grass fed free range bison bites with sweet potato blend costs more than regular dog food... it does. But nothing but the best for our wild beast of an animal.  

 

Our Garden

When we first moved into our house it was the early winter and most everything appeared to be either very sad or very dead. Then spring came and out of nowhere, our yard came to life. It was a home to tulips, peonies, and daisies. AND THEN thanks to the annoyingly and endlessly talented garden aficionado, Meg Kennedy, our garden went through an extreme makeover. It would be in this blissfully beautiful botanical paradise that a monarch butterfly would spring from its chrysalis and take off for its very first flight, right from my hands! Its a memory I will always cherish thanks to the wondrous and kind Meg Kennedy!

New Year’s Eve

The tequila of holidays, it can be really fun, you can be really hungover the next day, but most importantly, there is a huge disparity between a good one and a bad one. During this past year’s party, preparation met exact execution and everything came together for an unforgettable night. We had Bryson and Philip battling on the beer pong table. We had Ben’s shirt bending light and time (don’t look directly at it). We had Zack Hubbard AND Sarah Walker. If you get either one at a party you’re thrilled. If you get them both, shut it down. And for god sakes, we had DJ Deuce A.K.A. YaboyDC A.K.A. Carter Sauce, A.K.A. JosephLakinWilson A.K.A. Chef BoyarDrewby on the turn tables. That’s right; this party had a professional DJ. 

Summer Grilling

Is there anything more American than a good old fashioned summer grill out? It was like being back to College – every weekend we would squad at least 10 deep (back then it was usually 10 dudes, but nobody needs to know that). Whether it was Meg bringing out the Fox Hollow Farm beef or Yaboy LITERALLY throwing a football over our house and LITERALLY hitting me in the hands, or me getting video footage of Leslie dancing to Biggie, it was the best of times with the best of friends. 

La Rixman Cantina

How do you thank your parents for the wedding of your dreams? You can’t really, but we took a stab at it by inviting them out to Rixman Cantina for the evening! The secret to a great party: a “Make your own fresh Margarita bar.” Hand squeezed fresh lime juice intermingles with blue agave nectar and 100% Anejo Tequila in such a way that it will ruin all other margaritas for the rest of your life. We then built our own Cheesy Gordita Crunches, enjoyed chips and queso [cheese] dip, and finished the meal with homemade rum and cinnamon horchata (brand name redacted) ice cream! Nothing says “Thank you” like having your parents drive 45 minutes to your house to construct their own food and their own drinks, by hand. In all seriousness, it was great time with great parents!  

Operation Ring Retrieval

What could have been an absolutely terrible memory turned out to be not so bad. Leslie texts that "something terrible has happened," but refused to give specifics. It turns out her wedding band fell off the sink, rolled into the air vent, dropped down a few feet, and rolled out onto a tiny ledge no wider than the ring itself. Out of a million drops, this was the one time it didn't fall into oblivion for eternity. So, I wrapped my hand in masking tape like "The Sticky Bandits" and praise Tebow was able to retrieve it. 

The Great Dane

Nico writing his speech 

It wasn’t with pomp and circumstance that a young Dane found himself in Louisville in the waning days of late summer. He arrived near dusk at the Greyhound bus terminal on a balmy Tuesday. The day was as ordinary as days come and the place was as ordinary as places come. Yet the man was no ordinary man. From the rehearsal toast out of a Meg Ryan movie, to the antics in the groomsmen suite, to the moves of a forgotten time on the wedding dance floor, this Dane pitched the preverbal perfect game. But with all that, the best times were had telling stories and playing FIFA in the basement. My friend was back for a bit. The week wouldn’t have been the same without him and Louisville will never be the same again. 

O Christmas Tree

When we originally moved in it was just in time for Christmas but I royally screwed up. I wouldn’t let Bob get us a tree let alone decorate for the holiday because I thought it was too stressful for some reason and not to mention my time in the retail industry had soured Christmas for me (editor’s note: Leslie is the Grinch). The following Christmas, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I was ready to see a brightly lit Christmas tree in our stain glass window. One Sunday in November Robert and I treated ourselves to a Starbucks Red Cup and ventured to Lowes to find the perfect pre-lit Christmas tree. Nothing like the “real thing.”  Decorated with a lifetime of ornaments (finally all those Christmas gifts had meaning!), our tree was aglow! (Editor’s note: Don’t tell Leslie that I ripped the power cord in half and ruined the tree forever when boxing it up). Leslie's heart grew three sizes!

All the Days in Between   

Those days when I would beat Robert home from work and the weather would be nice so I could open the front door and let the sunshine through. Then Draper and I would eagerly await Bob’s arrival home. Once we saw his car pull up on the parking pad Draper would get super excited wagging his tail and pawing at the storm door.  As Bob walked up our sidewalk I’d release Draper to race to Bob at top speed. Drapey would then escort Bob to the door and we could all embrace! Bob was home!

It was old, it leaked at times, it needed paint, it needed yard work, it needed repairs, it was flawed, it was perfect, it was home.