Year 3 - Day 105 - April 14

 We went down to DC today to see one of our friends skate in a roller derby bout. A couple years ago when I first went to a derby in Baltimore, I immediately thought of a few people that would love the derby. It took awhile for us to get everyone down there, but I was right. Shortly after seeing it, she signed up to skate in DC. Right next to the armoy where they skate is RFK stadium. Home to the late 90's version of HFStival and the Tibetian Freedom Concert...the only concert I've been to that's been cancelled on the spot due to a lightning strike. No joke.

I really liked watching derby at the armory. The space is bigger and people are on 3 of the four sides in stadium seating. Plus, no soccer net like in Baltimore. The only downsides were the difficulty hearing the announcers due to the sound disappearing into the ceiling and the cost of the concessions. Other than that, it was nice!

Year 2 - Day 231 - August 20

Tonight we went to roller derby! It was a fun night with a variety of friends from all over. Also, I ran into a guy I met with my mom at her patient education day at Hopkins last year. This town really is "Small-timore!" Since it was fan appreciation day, Charm City Cakes was handing out slices of cake in exchange for a donation to a local food program. We got some carrot cake and watched the roller derby girls smash each other to pieces! Before the bout, we went to Slainte in Fells Point for dinner. I had mac & cheese with pulled pork on top. It was not spectacular, but it was decent. I very much wish it had been larger, but I guess when you add cheese to something the calorie and fat count skyrockets so they don't give you much.

Year 2 - Day 84 - March 26

Tonight was roller derby!  We only made it through 3/4 of the night, but were still there for hours.  We introduced 2 sets of Mike's friends to the insanity, and they had fun too.  At intermission, a local Irish Dance troupe did an exhibition.  They were pretty amazing, especially considering they are kids!  This snapshot is from the first number that was just a small group of girls, but there was a duet and then a huge group number as well. 

Year 2 - Day 29 - January 29

Tonight, we went to see the Charm City Roller Girls in action.  It was fun!  Last time, I knew nothing and asked a lot of questions because Paul, Danielle, & Darra had all been there before.  This time I was with Mike, Jeff, Sarah & Bryan, so I was actually the veteran.  It's a crazy sport.  If you get a chance, go catch a match in your local area.

Day 233 - August 21

Today, 3 friends & I took a "Dessert Crawl" through Fells Point. 

We started at Pitango Gelato, which had a big selection of both gelato and sorbet.  Some of the flavors were a little too wacky for me to try (Cardamom, for one) but I settled on lemon and mojito sorbet.  It was probably a good choice, since we were making a bunch of stops. 

For lunch, we stopped at Bagby Pizza to make use of a Groupon Alison had recently purchased.  I wasn't that hungry and knew I needed room in my stomach for the rest of the journey.  After eyeballing the size of the pizza other people were eating, I just ordered a slice.  I didn't know a slice was going to wind up being a quarter of a pizza!  But it was good. :)

After meandering back to Fells Point, we hit up Maggie Moo's.  I have been to this particular franchise a few times in my life, and each time the marble/granite mixing table hasn't been icy and frosty like they are elsewhere.  The other disappointing thing was the cookie dough mix-ins.  At Coldstone, they take a hunk of cookie dough out and mix it in.  Maggie Moo's used the pellets like you can get at the movie theater.  My Cake Batter with Twix, Cookie Dough Pellets, and fudge was tasty - but it was soup by the time we got outside.

Finally, we went to Mr. Yogoto.  The store itself is great.  It has a tiny TV with old school original Nintendo!  Also, the back room is "The Park" with lawn chairs and fake grass.  Super funny.  I liked this the least of the desserts I had today.  It was frozen yogurt, but not like TCBY.  TCBY is very close to soft ice cream in flavor.  This place really tasted like yogurt.  Very different.  And they didn't just have flavors like "Vanilla" or "Chocolate." The one I had was named "Tangy."  And that's about as descriptive as I can be.  (Note - Just checked the website and they claim that caramel is a flavor of the month.  I definitely would have gone that route if it had been an option!)

For our evening entertainment, I was introduced into the wackiness that is the Charm City Roller Girls.  Well, really I was introduced to roller derby in general.  It's a crazy sport but it was really fun to watch!  I bet all of those girls are home on ice now...