Sometimes things can be boiled down into a few photos:

• Brad, Heather, and I, standing in a parking garage in downtown Baltimore earlier tonight.
• Tonight's sunset, seen from our table in a restaurant located on Baltimore's Inner Harbor
• Brad, Jess, Heather, and Andy examining the view of downtown Baltimore from Brad's hotel room
• From Amy to infinity, as seen from two opposing mirrors inside Brad's hotel
• Blue Agave claims 'Best margarita in Baltimore', and I'm rather inclined to agree with the sign. I distinctly remember mine being yummy.
• Two unintentionally blurry but rather neat photos from last night's dinner at Blue Agave (see 'Chocolate soup for the soul' for more words): Heather alone, Heather and Andy. Somehow, they just fit the entire tone of the evening.

I'll start the drive home at six a.m. (Eastern) tomorrow morning. It should take somewhere around twelve hours, and hopefully a good deal less than that. I'll gain an hour by crossing back into the Central time zone, and if I'm lucky, I'll even manage to beat Jeff home tomorrow.

Tomorrow night I shall taunt my kitties with my shoes, which will stink gloriously of new places and - gasp! - other cats. They will have to thoroughly sniff-test my clothes, not to mention everything I'm bringing home from the pan-Asian market and Ikea.

Oh, yes, I sold my soul to Ikea this morning. I spent about $20 more than I intended, but got spiffy things that, as far as I'm concerned, can totally count as my Christmas present for this year.

Home soon.