Malls, Casinos and The Amish

Tom has been working at Fort Meade in Maryland on this the past couple of weeks.  He was there several months ago doing the same thing.  He leaves Monday morning and is scheduled to be there all week but since they have to fly in witnesses from all over, once they get through the witnesses for the week, they wrap things up. Tom is working with the media....checking credentials, making sure they can get on base, getting them inside the courtroom and who knows what else.  Said it's interesting because there is a huge group of well known bloggers and journalists attending who are Manning's allies and are there supporting him.  

I decided to go spend the end of the week with him.  It's only about a 40 minute drive from DC but because they have to be there early and sometimes stay late, they put them up in hotels for the week.  He's staying right across the street from Arundel Mall which we always drive by on our way to NJ and I've always wanted to check out, so this was the perfect opportunity.  I arrived about 1 PM on Wednesday and after settling into the Townhome Suite, I walked over to this GIANT mall!

This was my first stop.  I've never been in a Neiman Marcus before so was anxious to check it out.  I looked at about 2 things.  Here you could get one of those bargain blouses that normally run $230 for a rock bottom $157!!!  What?  Yeah, I've never in my life spent that much on a blouse.  I could easily purchase 2 complete outfits for that amount.  

I really have lost a desire for shopping almost across the board.  I don't know if it's because we have no room for anything in our small apartment, or if it's because I can rarely find anything that appeals to me on a fashion level (hey designers....hows about you make something with sleeves?!) or if it's because we're trying to be frugal.....anyway, even window shopping is tiresome to me.  So yes, even though this place had something like 200 stores, I still ended up in Books A Million....reading.  I did meet a new friend named Claudia.  A sort of odd little lady who seemed to follow me through the store and wanted to show me photos of cats.  She loves cats but wanted to make sure I knew she was not impressed with the hairless Sphynx because they were creepy looking.  After about 5 different meetings throughout the store, we went our different ways.  I sat and enjoyed my 3 dollar bargain book with a fat free yogurt. 

Tom hadn't been to the mall yet so I only covered a small area as he said he didn't want me to ruin the "magic" of us enjoying it together after he got home.  I headed back to the hotel and settled in with my cross-stitch and watched the movie channel as Tom said he would be home at 6:30.  At 8:00 he finally got there and we headed over to the mall, walked the length of one side until we got to the Casino where The Cheesecake Factory was.  We'd never eaten there and I had a gift card so we indulged on their "lite" salads.  Do these look LITE to you?

 We made a fairly quick loop through the casino without even stopping for a game of video poker.  It's a non-smoking establishment and was very clean which was a nice change from most casinos.  Seemed to have a large Asian clientele and I noticed that the entertainment seemed geared towards that.  One whole night of 10 Vietnamese performers and Asian Karaoke?

 Walked back through the other half of the mall trying to work off the pound of vegetables we'd just had for dinner.  Oh, and did I mention that when Tom got home from work he said they were done for the week?

Next morning we got up, checked out and drove about 15 minutes to Laurel, MD.  Co-workers had told Tom about the Amish market that was only open Thurs thru Sat.

 We walked through everything (which looked wonderful!) but decided to have breakfast in the cafe before shopping.  I didn't photograph the Amish people working the stands but we had a very sweet amish girl waiting on us.  She said they drive from Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the morning and then go back at night each of the three days.  A two hour drive each way!  There are some who come and stay for the weekend in hotels but the majority make the daily trip.

 After a yummy breakfast we did some shopping.....fresh veggies, warm rolls and cream pastries,...sampled lots of cheeses and pickles, bought fresh milk and a small strawberry pie along with some bulk packages of flax seed and some pre-made soups and gravy.

After arriving home we were complete slugs and after clearing off the patio to prevent the coming storm from sending everything flying, we settled in and watched documentaries on Netflix. Later, after I had assured my mom we were not swept up in a tornado,  I fixed a dinner of fresh corn on the cob, red potatoes with country gravy, fresh green beans and fluffy dinner rolls.  Oh, and strawberry pie for dessert!