Mother Earth hearts Water and Bikes!

Whew! It has been a while!
No better day to 'reincarnate' this blog than Earth Day + Easter weekend!

(I kinda forgot about this bloggie until my sweet Kiwi reminded me and motivated me to play with it again!)

Today is predicted to be a soggy, rainy day so all earth day activities will most likely have to move indoors (most likely because Baltimore often has random winds that sweep away predicted rainy days!), but rain on earth day sounds like the perfect earth day! There are tons of great posts and data on things you can do to be a little more green, but people like evidence so I will here is my personal blurp on how much of a difference a little change can be! Commuting from the city OUT to the suburbs was a killer - it was a 22 mile commute but with traffic took me about 40 minutes (on a good day) each way. Also the fact that I lived in the city and was traveling out to the 'burbs was just ridiculous! So, with the new gig and a 1.5 mile each way I asked for a set of new wheels for Christmas! 'Soho Honeydew' was ordered and arrived just in time - a few days before my new job.

In college I bought a $40 bike off the side of the street that had no gears and was what I would like to call 'vintage' (covered in rust with brakes that would occasionally decide to just 'not work' - requiring me, more often than not, to throw my feet up on the car bumper in front of me as my alternative braking solution) so riding Honeydew was a luxury. Also, (sorry Bostonites - and I know this will be shocking to Baltimoreans) Boston drivers are just SO much meaner than Baltimore drivers!

Here are some of the things I learned right away -

• Not fun to bike when it is in the 20s - it is doable but utterly painful even with 2 layers of gloves, a snood, and a scarf - stick with 30s and above
• ALWAYS wear your helmet (preferably adorable so you will actually wear it) - first day I was in Fells Point on cobblestone and my tire got caught in an old railroad track and threw me off sideways - luckily head hitting the road didn't matter because I had my helmet on! (also note I never really thought a helmet was really that important...I know, terrible... but after this random incident I will always wear one!)
  
• No need to bike in the rain/snow/precipitation - again, insert additional wipe out stories
• You will see the city through a completely new perspective. I learned this in Boston and forgot how wonderful it is. You find a smaller more linked city, new streets, sights, smells, scenes. Fabulous!
• You will find that drivers really do not have your perspective but that is okay - give them a kick in the tire at the stop light and tell them to be nicer! It works.
• Buses are demons - they will swipe you from the side even after seeing you from blocks away and then zoom away like nothing happened!
• Gives you an excuse to buy ADORABLE bike accessories!
• You smile and wave to fellow bikers - and realize there is quite a community out there of bike commuters
  

Now the hardcore data! With gas prices skyrocketing - here is why you should try biking, even just SOMEtimes, to work! I drive a VW Turbo Beetle who I call 'The Silver Bullet'. She is a little car, and it costs about $40-45/tank with the prices today to fill her up. So, on average -

• Biking to suburbs - Gas filled 1x/week = $180.00/month
• 4 months of filling the tank = $720.00
• Biking + Car occasionally - so far, I have filled my gas tank ONCE (back in March), and currently my gas tank is 1/8 empty.
• Total savings thus far = $675.00!!!

Note also: I am no athlete - biking up a slight incline (like, 3 degrees) is rough for me. But it's possible, and you get stronger, and you are being green. There is no need to commit to doing it everyday, but I guarantee, once you start...you will want to.

I heart Patterson Park.

Patterson Park made it into Forbes magazine in the "In Depth: America's Best City Parks"! Oh what a long way Our Patterson Park has come from when we moved here back in 2005 - when people would not venture in due to prostitution and drug use (vials all over the ground when walking your dog/s). Great job to all the community members/activists/volunteers who never gave up, and have taken the park back. Hard work pays off.
:)

Harnik says Baltimore's Patterson Park is a great example of a "more modest neighborhood park" that might not get the attention of some of the metropolitan mega-parks, but which nonetheless achieves a nice balance between beauty and usability. Its landmarks include the Pagoda, a Victorian-era observation tower.

Baltimore + Pink Birds

Although this has to do with the HON Cafe flamingo drama, this is just in time for Halloween, and well, ...This picture just made my day!!! Only in Bmore can you find a lawn full of pink flamingos in front of city hall!!! awesome.

Blankey for Baby Lopez!

My second blankey project - for Meghan & Raphael's new little boy, expected later this Fall...!
Finished in 1.5 weeks!

...I need to move on from the squares/rectangles! :)

Beach Bliss

I am not sure why we don't take advantage of beach trips more often. I was set on having a beach adventure though this weekend after class, and before the calendar filled up! So Saturday, a handful of us bopped into cars and went up to Dewey/Rehoboth area. I am sooooo glad we went. We left early and didn't hit much traffic and made it a quick day trip. The weather was absolutely perfect - breezy, warm waters, & gorgeous sunshine.

We saw dolphins jumping out of the water even when we first got there. A little weber and boogie boards were brought (yay M+B) and we had our own snacks to keep us content all day. We ended with a yummy dinner @Dogfish Head Brewery in Rehoboth. I'm ready to head back up there again any weekend...maybe an entire weekend next time to check out all the adorable shops and restaurants! A perfect little roadtrip vaca that we definitely need to take advantage of! Absolutely bliss.

Carissa Weekend: Hamptons&Manhattan!

This past weekend was Carissa's bachelorette/shower weekend so I (Jen) bopped up to my ol'stomping grounds - NYC!! I took the bus because the train prices are now ridiculous! ($110 each way!? yipes!) and ended up taking the BOLT bus up and the Megabus back down. It slipped my mind that I should have accounted for beach traffic and it took me quite a while to get up there. Once up though, it was absolutely fantastic! That night I met with Carissa/Matt for the beginning of what ended up defaulting (re:food) into Cariss/Jen favorites! We had 1/2 price sushi at our old place and spare ribs galore! Of course I also had to polish off Carissa's 1/4 eaten Miso soup. hehe!


Saturday we got up nice and early and met up with the other girls downtown (34th & 2nd) to catch our limo over to the Hamptons for a nice day of wine touring!
We arrived at the first winery-- Laurel Lakes-- where we had a private "Barrel & Wine Tasting" and afterwards had lunch under a pavillion. We then went over to Osprey Dominion winery, and ended with Vineyard 48, where there was a live...well, not band but guy playing music! It was great. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day!

That evening we had the limo drop us off back in the UWS (Dallas BBQ - another Carissa/Jen food moment!) where we got a second wind and went in for some good eats! Note this was post a McDonalds happy meal that we picked up on the way back into the city as well, so sadly (I was super disappointed in myself) I couldn't finish my ribs! Luckily, Matt loved them when we got back to the apartment! :)

Sunday morning we got up for Carissa's shower! It was a lazy morning after the festivities of Saturday, and we cabbed over to Amanda's on the UES for the festivities. It was an afternoon filled with amazing food, good drinks (thanks Amanda for introducing me to Lambrusca!), great trivia games, and a touching video which caused EVERYone to get emotional from MamaP! It was perfect, beautiful, classy = totally Carissa! Only about 2 months until the big day!!! Congrats my Cariss and thanks for having me be a part of your big day!!! (squish!)

(& note: Joe spent the weekend back in Bmore and dressed as a girl from the 80s movie Flashback...yah, check out Kimi's post for that one and some pretty fun pics from the hood event to raise money for Lymphoma/Leukemia!)

Celebrations, Chickens, and Conjunctivitis!

What a crazy past July4th weekend! I have been meaning to post about it except of course at the latter end of it, I ended up getting pink eye! Yay for the V. Conj.! ick. So it was quite a whirlwind of activities this weekend! I guess the best way to post is just to list the random
things that happened!!

Friday afternoon - Jamie and Meredith came down from upstate to visit for the July 4th weekend, and we had a wedding proposal in our rowhouse! Congrats and now we can NEVER sell our rowhouse!

Saturday we decided to trek down to DC for the fireworks with Randy and Kristy, where we bbq'ed and saw the famed DC display! It was really nice and we had a great time, and luckily didn't hit any traffic! YAY! I am also now in love with Kristy's ferret, and really want one! SO CUTE!

Sunday, we ended up going out for some breakfast and randomly get a call from our neighbors, saying that there is a chicken in our alley! So of course we had to finish off the weekend racing back up and seeing if it was true - and of course, there was a live chicken hanging out in our alley! Only in Baltimore! Joe of course then had to chase it around a little bit...We found out there were actually quite a few roaming chickens around our neighborhood that day (from Animal Control)! sooooo random! lol!

And... the weekend ended at the pool finishing up a Java project...and the next day, ended up with the V.Conj! ewwww, my poor flappy eye!!! I won't post of picture of that! ick!!

New Balance Baltimore Women's Classic 5K

This past Sunday morning (28 June 2009) the girls in the neighborhood woke up bright and early, around 6am to all sleepily head over to the Museum of Industry for the Baltimore Women's Classic 5K run hosted by New Balance. It is a run for women's health initiatives, so it was for a great cause, and all effort and organizing was done by Heather H.! Months ago she asked us all to participate and I personally did so dragging my feet HEAVILY but she did use her birthday brunch and celebrating as great lure. (smile). Heather even got the team "Patterson Pagoda Princesses" matching purple wick bands (so cute) so that we could all match up! Once we got there there were swarms of ladies - I believe the grand total ended up being about 1845 women who participated in the run/walk! It was fun and the vibe was amazing.

Being stubborn I told myself if I were to ever actually sign up for a 5K I would try and run/jog it the entire way, just because I was paying to do this! The energy really was great though (some of the running girls had been telling me this days ahead everytime I whined...which was a lot) and it really did make a difference! Okay you girls were right. At mile 2 marker however, I screamed in outrage (with an Fbomb) thinking we were JUST starting 2, and thought I was going to die already but somehow managed to keep moving (although slower and slower) and got a little push (in my head at least) at the finish line! All I can say is those cold towels at the end were a LIFESAVER and probably was the only thing that kept me from passing out or puking. I could have dunked my body into those icey tubs! I couldn't even bend over bc I was to pull off the tag on my shoe because I was hyperventilating so bad, and some random guy did so for me.

The end was horrible, that last mile felt like 3,000 miles but luckily I had familiar Patterson Park girls around me! High fives, and random "what/why!?!?" screams! After finishing, I wandered wobbly over to get food (which I continued eating all day as if I had run a full marathon...) wondering why I put myself through this! and then realized it had been for a great cause and it was really nice having all the girls together to support such an important cause! I can now finally say I have done a 5K as painful as it was and I finished in 31:03 for the first time! I am super happy that I jogged/ran the entirety, and although I am completely on the fence about ever doing one again, it was worth it!

Java Java and more Java

Sooooo, I am taking Java right now (the class), and I love it! It is COMPLETELY different from healthcare and medicine and I totally am loving that as well!! I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, being so different from EVERYthing I have done thus far, but it's great! And even more exciting when the program works! I have a midterm though tomorrow, and am taking a breather from cramming in reading (and in this case attempting to understand example programs) to just take a deep breath (and have thoughts of inhaling a case of Java - the drink!)! It is a bit frustrating, because I am not sure what to study and how I will do on this course. It's crazy just how completely different the lingo is and how things are set up! At least the logic behind it totally makes sense...I just can't believe it has already been 4 weeks and I am about to take a midterm...! (why I ask myself daily... did I sign up for my first engineering class over a summer session!?!?!) And now since it has been on my mind the last like 3 days (yay for procrastinating jen...), I figured I had to just spill it on a page! harhar! the icon is sooooo cute though and I really am loving it and get severely excited when an application runs!...so let's just hope now (fingers crossed) that I can figure things out and pass!!!

bubye to HMS!

FOCUS DEVELOPMENT WILL BE RENOVATING THE HIGHLAND TOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!

In the last year or so now, Joe has been the lead on the HMS redevelopment. This horribly huge eyesore that sits right on our street adjacent to the small sector of Patterson Park. It was a horrible destructive building 4 years ago when we moved in - it was filled with kids still, who would leave school around 3:30-4pm, and jump on cars when running out of class, and throwing trash (yay to floating utz bags, thrown away quizzes, and hair weaves!) wow. Those were the days. (smile).
After the school shut down, there came a bit of quiet, however, the school began to fall apart, and the boarded up shut down building became a paradise for squatters and drug dealing. Go figure, leave a huge building empty and untouched - what do you expect! ahhh, this school was/is a menace in our poor little Northeast sector!

After months of signatures, and community meetings, and rallying (including a noted walk with Mayor Sheila Dixon to show her the treachery!), it was decided the community would have a say in the process. There was a meeting with one person from each sector surrounding the school, and each person was allowed a vote. Joe (co-Scott) represented Patterson Park, - and after many meetings, so on and so forth - we decided Focus Development (located IN the city) had the best interests and plans for our area. Our vote was casted - with the support of every other neighborhood but one, and we awaited.

Today Jim Kraft, our councilman, called Joe and informed him that success - Focus will be taking the school!!! It is a shining example of how hard work, and community activism, again, can work! It is a very happy day for our neighborhood, and those involved in getting this going. I can't wait to see what that eyesore (pictured above) will become. It will be documented that is for sure!!! For more official details, check out Kimi's blog (aka, information without Jen babblings!). Note: her blog also rocks for all the Patterson Park happenings as she is seriously on top of things, and ahem, knows how to upload photos....! haha!

Arabbers Sighted!

It was a drizzly but fun weekend in Baltimore with random sun - but we had an Arabber sighting on our street!!! We have seen them around Baltimore (Mt. Vernon/Charles Village), but there he was, just trotting down Baltimore Street and then up our street! We love them and hope they make our hood part of their route! :)

May-hem and Crabs, yum!

We had a fantastic weekend, showing Frank and Bunny around Charm City! For the first time since moving to Baltimore, we finally were able to check out Obrycki's - which is supposedly the best crab place in Baltimore (and one of the 1,000 places to see before you die!)! It went above and beyond. Crabby (meaty), fresh, delicious crabs, with old bay mixed with something else, but just absolutely amazing. I was told that it'd become an addiction, and that it has!!


After the weekend, there was a little housing situation that had to be taken care of with a neighbor...sadly, a beautifully renovated home, but the owners live in DC and due to some not so fun activity, we decided (with the OK from the owner of course) to board up the home. Again...it is quite a travesty because the home is GLORIOUS. Our back area needs some love, which hopefully will come with the grand scheme of alley gating. We did get some numbers up on the back shed which was exciting (our own little renovations still going on). Baby steps (smile). Grant and Joe spent the afternoon (luckily in the sun) working on this little boarding project. The home is secure now, and we will see what comes next. I am personally tempted to go ahead and knock down our fence and expand the back area for a little summer fiesta'ing! heehee. In regards to alley gating, we are in the process of getting signatures from our block and that behind us, and hopefully this little alley which is not so pretty now...will be an amazing green "lounging" area eventually!!

May Flowers!!

It's been a few months since posting - I know I'm really bad at this however, working on it...! The last few months have flown by, and I have found a new addiction...which also has taken up all my time, also explaining not posting..EVER! Jen has been officially sucked into knitting. ::scary organ music::
It's become a seriously addicting hobby esp in the cold months when no one wants to venture outside, and is also a "productive" excuse to watch tv (and accomplish projects!) I started at the Audobon Society Knitting/Learning event thanks to Callie - and got sucked in. Two scarves later, decided to attempt a big project for a special little baby who I hope it keeps super cozy up in Burlington!! I couldn't post until Kenzie got her gift, so now that she has, I can share!!! (smile).

Above: Views of cuddly blankey for Baby Sillick!!! My first ever project hoping to give the little one tons of love and cozy times! As the Navajo story goes, the blankey should let out angst from the knitting, and let in all the love to baby.

Other than that, Patterson Park Neighbors have been greening and beautifying the area - and this past weekend had our first house tour which was madly successful!!! Very exciting! It's been a wet last two days and I believe will continue all week but it's green and warming up and approaching summer! yay!!! We have also started a new committee in hopes of forming a food co-op in the area. Life is good in Patterson Park. Now...to find a good summer project. heehee!

phew!

So the house was completed, and then we realized the little itsy bitsy things had to be done, such as cleaning, de-dusting, and things you don't think about when you sign up for a rennovation! So, slowly, the boxes have been unpacked, and these next two weekends, we'll have the rest of the painting done (1st floor is good...now onto the 2nd!)

We just got back from two weeks in Taiwan - which was fabulous! All of my family basically lives all over and so Joe and I were really lucky, and were able to see the entire island and do a lot of very authentic things (ie: Japanese style hot springs...)! Many many stories...! There are over 450 pictures so those are best left to be sent rather than posted! haha! We came home though to Thanksgiving and spent that in Baltimore for the first time as well which was lovely, as our friend Summer cooked a huge feast for all the "orphans" who chose to stay in the city! THANKS SUMMER! it was fabulous and I can't even go on about how ridiculous the food was!!!

It's been a quick fall (entering winter...brr) with the trip and festivities and house painting/cleaning/etc! Joe finished his first Marathon in October as well which was exciting because it was the Baltimore Marathon so we were home and he had our amazing friends around to cheer him on, and ran with a few of them as well! Thought after running that far, a picture was well deserved! Blogging is kinda fun every once in a while, so perhaps this little thing will keep going...heehee! As if another reason to procrastinate online is needed...

Baltimore Marathon 2008!!!

FINITO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND...EXACTLY 3 months...OUR HOUSE IS COMPLETED!!!!!!!!!!!!...things I didn't think about though - it's disgustingly dusty and there is SO much to unpack that it's going to take a few weeks just to move back in! Arg! So, excuse the mess which is...all over! and check out some pics of the finished house!

Since the other photos of the bathroom were basically at completion, here are just a few of the kitchen...and more to come once the basement is cleaned out.

Here are some views of the kitchen painted and shade in...!!! Door and trims ended up being painted black just for uniformity. There is a lot of organizing to do, but the dishwasher was run last night and seriously, I have no clue what I was thinking trying to do dishes by hand before!!!! BEST invention EVER. So much more storage which is super exciting!

(Below) View of the kitchen from the living room and Mika is actually caught in action itching herself...

(Below) Can you believe these are the basement stairs now???

and after all this time..., it's done!!!

now...when to celebrate...! Details to come!

Mid-September...

And since it's been a while I am apparently posting twice today..., here are the updated photos from the kitchen! We have appliances!! AND RUNNING WATER! People truly need to appreciate this.  Running water, a standing shower, toilets, etc.  This has seriously been a life lesson. haha...I laugh,...but really...

(Above): from the back of the house, left view of the island with our glorious sink that works!! The joy of seeing running water again...priceless.

(Below): from the back of the house, right view of the counters, microwave, and our oven.  

Mika Bologna Skelator: Italian Greyhound reviewing the work.

September!!!

Hello September! HOW did the summer fly by so quickly! Busy busy busy and soooo fun, thus the delay in posting! :)

Rehab-wise, we are close to having a house again! We are nearly done with the upstairs bath, meaning we can ALMOST move back in to our room! (gasp)!! Here you can see the right & left sides of our new stand up shower (with body jets!), and then our sinks on the alternate wall.

(Above) Right View, (Below) Left View

We have our own sinks! FINALLY!

Set of windows in our bedroom, plastered, edged and newly repainted! They did such a great job with the edging, and it looks so clean and refreshing!!!

Totally random, but the back door leading to our garage/shed was a red handle-LESS (yes, we had to pull on a nail) old piece of wood basically..., and we now have a nice new door! The area above the door will be replaced with a piece of glass as well so it will look like a mini home.  Maybe this will keep the rats away...hehe!

Waterproof!

Lots of work was done this week on waterproofing our little rowhouse! It seemed slow because the windows took so long to seal up and refinish for both exterior and interior sides.  Little things were done though even though it didn't seem so! We're almost at the one month to go mark...and hopefully we'll be right on time...!

Crown molding was put on top of our bedroom closet (didn't know that was going to happen!)

Here is the master artist/constructor, Mister Raydo, in the kitchen

Close up of the back splash

Under all the tools, is our granite countertop island and a double sink and our first dishwasher!

Got home to this, and although it doesn't seem like much, you can see the work being done on the windows and there is no dust!!! The room was completely cleaned out and it made an immense difference! We have a couch again!

Flies...the animal, not time...

So this week has been super filthy, and we realized what they meant when they said you'd even find dry wall under your sheets. ick. All the windows were done these last few days and thus we battled the flies that were let in and the dust...EVERYWHERE. It really makes a huge difference though so it's kind of exciting still. Externally we have our house repointed, a new shiney mailbox, and new beautiful wood windows! Hopefully there isn't too much rain because they aren't exactly sealed yet...but so far Baltimore weather is fantastic and we can stoop sit to get out!

Above: Left window is our old vinyl window, and the Right window is the new wood window

Joe outside with the new mailbox and new windows!!!

Awaiting countertops...Joe preparing a gourmet dinner of Cheerios with freshly picked raspberries!

(Actually, the raspberries actually are definitely gourmet for us...)

Sweeping dustballs

This week has been a slow week of cleaning up a little bit, and a lot of rearranging.  The windows were scheduled to arrive as well as the dishwasher, stove, and microwave, so everything was pushed around in order to make room for the goodies.  There is only one open chair...my sweet $5 yellow chair from Hampden...which was put in the kitchen.  Joe and the dogs fight over it daily. amusing...hehe.  Little things have been done now such as the drywall up the stairs (no more bumpy moldings from our former unlicensed contractor), and the stairs to the basement received a few coats of stain.