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Having just spent a very busy weekend with adorable, 4-year-old twin girls who were visiting with my nephew, I was extremely interested in the sight-seeing tips from Jill Smokler, the Baltimore-based Scary Mommy blogger who recently released "Confessions of a Scary Mommy. " Smokler provided the Baltimore Sun with her Top Five best -- and worst -- places to take the kids . I missed all of them over the weekend, instead falling back on the National Aquarium , which I've found to be a very entertaining, if very expensive, spot for kids of all ages.

As is the case with many 20somethings looking to kill some "down time" at work, I've developed a pretty healthy relationship with the blogosphere. From daily reads to the love-to-hates, my routine involves a standing date with the half dozen or so on my Rolodex of favorites. These run the gamut from cooking adventures to vapid model types chronicling their daily "my life is a catwalk" shtick, to a few truly decent sites where I honestly care about what they have to say.  Prior to my betrothed status, I would occasionally sneak into the wedding blog world -- quickly exiting before someone yelled "Imposter!"

Welcome to Married in Maryland, the new bridal blog from The Baltimore Sun.

I keep recommending Stan Carey's Sentence First blog to you. He's a lovely man, curious, even-tempered, and fair-minded, with an enviably clear prose as he writes about language. He makes sensible judgments. He's also generous with other writers, recently applauding some discoveries in blogging about language .  One of his discoveries is Diane Nicholls, who has launched Lexico Loco  with a post, "You lost me at knickers!"  Ms. Nicholls is also a fair-minded and temperate writer, evidently not given to shouting and breaking things, even as she explores one of the cheapest cliches to which journalistic hacks are devoted, the false range.

Baltimore city schools CEO Andres Alonso has released his 2012 message to the district on testing integrity, as the school system gears up to begin administering the Maryland School Assessements to students in grades three through eight on March 12. A story on Monday outlined the district's efforts this year to continue its heightened scrutiny during the testing season, a measure Alonso began last year by hiring more than 200 external...

A recent study commissioned by New Leaders for New Schools and conducted by RAND Corp. , shows that first-year principals and becoming less likely to stay in their schools after one or two years, and that a churning principal pool can have a negative impact on schools. The report, titled "First-year principals in Urban School Districts: How Actions and Working Conditions Relate to Outcomes" takes a look at turnover rates in urban school systems like Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chicago, Oakland, Memphis, and New York City.

Looking for backstage access to this year's Academy Awards? You've come to the right place. All weekend, I'll be blogging about what is being said backstage, as Hollywood takes the time to pat itself on the back for whatever good work it did in 2011. The fun begins on Saturday, when I'll be attending the 27th annual Spirit Awards, given to movies produced outside the major studios and with limited budgets. Among this year's big contenders is"The Artist," which is also favored in the Oscar race -- meaning this could be the first time ever that the same film has won the Best Picture Spirit and Oscar.

Hey, all. We want to know what you think. It's been a little over six months since b shifted to our new, supersize Wednesday edition and redeveloped our website. We added fun lifestyles features, updated the news mix and expanded coverage of entertainment, events and things to do. Since then, we've made other changes as well, such as adding the TV Lust blog. Now, we'd like to know what you think - what's working, what's not, what you want more (or less) of. How can we make b (more)

I'm hesitant to even type the name again. I'm not sure this much attention ever has been given to a guy that clearly isn't coming to Baltimore to play for the Orioles. OK, not counting a certain first baseman from Severna Park a few years ago who is now booed every time he brings his pinstripes to Camden Yards. Every few days this offseason Prince Fielder's name has appeared in this blog or other Orioles' based sites. And people debate whether the Orioles are in on Fielder or whether they would pay him enough to want to come here.

It has been a great first few months for b's TV Lust blog. You've responded enthusiastically to our array of TV recaps. So enthusiastically, in fact, that we're expanding our coverage. On TV Lust , you've been able to spend the week catching up on shows such as "The Walking Dead," "Real Housewives of Atlanta" and "Glee. " You've followed the drama on "Gossip Girl" and cheered along to "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race. " Now we're looking for more recaps from our TV fan readers.