Weekend trip to Philly: Walked around the City Center, saw an amazing rainbow after a freak rainstorm, and spent 5 hours in the East Coast's largest mall helping my friend find The Perfect Formal Dress. Thanks, H, for showing me around!
Labor Day weekend in Miami: Went to South Beach, ate dinner at a couple of amazing restaurants, and took a snorkeling day trip in Key Largo. The fish and coral are incredible.
Since I've been staying local since then (gotta save up for the next excursion - a trip down to Charlottesville to visit my alma mater), I've been checking out the best of DC and Silver Spring's weekend festivals and farmer's markets this fall. Here are the highlights:
Adams Morgan day festival in DC - It doesn't get any more vibrant than this. There were hundreds of food vendors, and enough local artists to rival a day at Eastern Market. I'm very excited about my new purple knitted handwarmers from one of the local artists, De Nada Designs. Now I just need it to get colder so I have a reason to wear them. You won't hear me say that often! Mayor Fenty also made an appearance, and all the local bars on 18th had happy hour specials.
Silver Spring Farmers market - Downtown Silver Spring (or just DTSS) has a small offering of local-ish farmers on Saturday mornings. I got some fresh apples, potatoes, apple cider, and my favorite purchase of all, sunflower seed bread. It was the kind of good that makes you want to learn how to make your own. There was also a lady who tried valiantly to talk me into buying a pound of goat meat sausage.
Fenton Street market - I made it out to the last of the 1st annual Fenton Street Market series. It was an eclectic mash-up of artists, handmade clothing designers, photographers, and used bike sellers. I found some colorful photo prints from Latin America for only $10 from http://www.erikacogliani.com/ (she loves to tell the stories behind her pictures), and a couple of postcards of historic Silver Spring (from http://silverspringhistory.homestead.com/). I even found one of my own apartment building. It's fascinating to see all the changes that have been made over the years, and how all the historic buildings have been restored in the process. To paraphrase the guy at the booth, "I like a recession because it means they stop tearing down old buildings to build new ones!"
South Silver Spring festival - In comparison to the rowdy Adams Morgan Festival, SSS put on a very laidback, lazy Sunday festival. There was more of the same with artists and food. Hook & Ladder (the local brewers) had a beer tent, but I got there too late to sample the goods. We did grab some free swag, and I chatted up some local knitters about where to find the best yarn in town (The Tangled Skein in Hyattsville gets their vote for affordability, so I will be checking that out soon).
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