Showers! and Birthdays! and Sheeps! and Wools!

My family threw me a virtual shower on Saturday afternoon. We had a three-way Skype video call; Kevin and I stayed home in Baltimore, Robby and Jordan joined in from Florida, and everyone else gathered at my sister Caren's house in North Carolina. While I wish I'd been able to travel, it was nice to at least see everyone over Skype. Once again, we were amazed at the generosity of our family and friends. My adorable nieces enjoyed opening the gifts for us.

Saturday evening we met friends in Annapolis at The Melting Pot for a birthday dinner for Molly, one of Kevin's good friends from college who I am now privileged to call a friend as well. We had a delightful evening out, stuffed ourselves with delicious food, and stayed up way too late (maybe that was just me. We didn't get home till after 11, which is quite late for me nowadays).

This weekend was also the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, which is one of my most favorite things to do. I was concerned I wouldn't have the energy to go, particularly since Saturday was a super busy day. I felt pretty crummy in the morning, but an anti-nausea pill, some Gatorade and a bottle of water helped perk me back up in time for me to make it out to the fairgrounds for the afternoon. I was quite well behaved, and I only bought one print from one of my favorite artists, Sheep Incognito (she paints punny sheep, of course she's a favorite), one skein of yarn, and one bottle of delicious honey from The Bee Folks (blueberry, this year).

I also got to see lots of sheep and some goats and some alpaca, though I missed the sheepdog demonstration.

And on the way into the festival, I saw this amazing punch bug. Do you notice the license plate? North Dakota. Do you know how hard it is to find North Dakota for the license plate game? It's nearly as hard as finding Idaho and South Dakota. I was very pleased with myself, particularly since Kevin is so much better at the game than me. Plus, it had a little wind up key on the back! And the vanity plate said Bugzila!