What a Fun Day Today!!

I didn't have metal class today. Hugh had other plans, so I went to Annapolis and met Monica for lunch. We rendezvoused at the new shopping center and walked a few blocks to the Chinese restaurant. The place was beautiful inside; there was a nice glow of ambient lighting from all the pretty lanterns hung from the ceiling. It reminded me of a similar place where I had lunch when I was in New York City a few months ago.

After lunch, Monica and I did a little shopping. We wanted to check out the new stores and see what they had to offer. By then it was raining like crazy, so we did our best to stay dry by ducking in and out of awning after awning to avoid the downpour. But we still got fairly wet!

We managed to make our way through a few stores and I tried on some clothes here and there. Eventually, we stumbled upon an entertainment store where they sell all kinds of equipment like barbecue grills, pool tables and party paraphernalia, including wine glasses and wine gadgets of all sorts.

Guess what? They were having a wine tasting and invited us to join them. So sure enough we did. A wine correspondent was there, she works for Oprah's magazine...and the Today Show...etc. She had arrived last night all the way from Sonoma...to be the hostess of the wine tasting. They had also brought in a caterer from Timonium to whip up some amazing food to pair with the various wines.

Boy...how fun was that??!! The wine was good and so was the food. The final tasting...Chocolate Rosewater Truffles...sprinkled with sea salt...and we chased it with sips of 2004 Girbaldi Brochetto from Piedmonte Italy. Normally I don't care for sweet wine...but this was great. I suppose the salty chocolate helped!!!

By early evening Monica and I parted our ways and I started home. But...well...you know me!!! As I started out of Annapolis, I decided to call Carla. And, you guessed it, one thing led to another and I was soon on my way to her house. So much for going home!!

Right after I got to Carla's, we ran to the grocery store and picked up a few things. And yes I did get even more wet!!! By the time we got out of the store...it was pouring again. So Carla ran to get the car and brought it to the curb. You should have seen us. We giggled and laughed, while I shuffled along holding the umbrella over Carla as she waltzed back and forth between the curb and the car...loading it up with the groceries. It was quite a scene, the two of us silly girls!! Finally, we got everything in the car and zoomed back to Carla's to fix dinner. Well...actually I'm pretty sure it was Carla who did all the cooking while I mostly sat there and kept her company.

Dinner was great...as usual!! But just as we finished we lost power. So Carla lit candles in just about every room of the house! It was very pretty!! There's nothing quite like candlelight!! After a little while I left for home. For real this time!!! I knew that I would probably have fallen asleep had I sat there much longer and I would never have made it home. But, I wanted to get back to the apartment before they close the streets at 4AM to start setting up for tomorrow's Marine Corp Marathon. I will be watching it from my balcony tomorrow!! And later after the race, there will be band playing music in the park about 3PM. So I plan to walk down the street for that. I love live music, so it should be a lot of fun tomorrow!! Even though I will be "all by myself!"