why baltimore

now i'm the first to recognize that baltimore is a city that leaves many wondering.... why? why did you move there? and sometimes, ew or oh my! have you been robbed? that confusion is often compounded when they hear my job: baltimore city public school teacher. scenes from season 4 the wire float around, poor mr. P - the knife fight.... (um, yes- best show ever). while the wire does bear an uncanny resemblance to the ills of baltimore and most inner cities for that matter- it does little to highlight the charms that draw people like us back.

so- i decided to dedicate this page to showcasing the things we love about charm city.

the harbor
 











 
the harbor is a picture postcard site- lined with museums, the aquarium, seafood joints, chintzy shops, water taxis, colonial ships. a mix of old and new.  


the food 

 

i was debating whether to call this section "it's cheap" or the food. really its both. cheap seafood. lots of it. crabs, oysters, shrimp. many of it sadly imported because of pollution in the Chesapeake bay but none-the-less b'more retains its reputation as a solid seafood port. of course crabcakes are done like none other here. old bay all over. nattie boh beer. $1.00 happy hours. utz chips.

cross street market

a mere 10 minute walk from our place is this baltimore icon. filled with goods from egg sandwiches to flowers, sushi to deli, crabs to butcher, cell phones to tacos- this market has it all. we've come for a saturday special at big jim's deli nearly every saturday since arrival. 

our jobs
we have them and we love them. 

my kids! just a handful of the 130 5th graders i teach at kipp. adam's a landscape architect at biohabitats. we work ALOT. we are doing incredibly meaningful work. and we love our jobs. our commutes are a mere 10-15 traffic-less minutes away.

we are very very grateful for all of this.

the house and park

 

obviously you all have seen pics of the house and park (here's one at sunset). being able to buy a house- an affordable, awesome, fixer upper great location of a house, made baltimore so desirable. 

the people

this city is the complete opposite of pretentious. the complete opposite of the west coast. there is not much overtly cool or hip about baltimore. it's not the "prettiest" city. nobody's trying to be holier than thou. no preaching, not much fashion sense. a solid art scene (likely drawn by the same attractions, a smaller philli), but not in your face. 

i swear the nicest, most down to earth people live in this city. called charm city for a reason. our neighbors have been amazing. random passerby's will chat you up. a solid feeling of community from all ends.

after a lifetime of living in the "hippest" of places i am thrilled to be settled in someplace that is just so... easy, so relaxed, so LIVABLE.

family and friends
everyone is around! or if they're not, they come by, drive by, or fly into the area often. i  am thrilled to be able to see loved ones so easily.  perhaps that is an immediate reaction to 3 years in isolation (ithaca) but this is a novelty that will not wear off.

here are recent photos of our first soiree (of many). a surprise engagement brunch for bridge and jeff.

up front

i keep envisioning myself actually sitting in the living room. it is getting so very close. for nearly four months (apres 3 months in the luxury boarding home) we've been confined to the kitchen and upstairs, leaving nearly the entire first floor a construction zone.

i spend a lot of time in bed. grading papers and writing lesson plans, i often eat in bed, write this blog in bed...really- there's no other comfortable place to sit. downstairs is dusty and full of tools.We got rid of our old scrappy couch before the move- starting fresh with new living room furniture to top the renovations off.
 

this will be the most appreciated living room EVER. 

here are some current photos of her transformation. 

 

door change  

its amazing what a little switch of the front door can do. On the left is our old door. on the right- the new door. a total find from second chance, a huge architectural salvage center. they had about 500 doors and we walked away with this gorgeous walnut one.  quite perfect- except the door handles must have been for a child because they are weirdly low. no deterrent- adam moved the lock set up and we'll cover the old one's up with some sort of brass plate? fake lock? 

 

we also splurged on some beautiful wood for the trim. found this great little specialty lumber shop and spent hours looking at samples. ended up with baked poplar. yes baked, like in some giant oven. gives regular poplar a rich dark look all the way through.   not stained! here's adam sanding boards he just cut to size.

getting closer

apparently putting in a new front door is not as easy as one might think. in our new place, nothing is square and there's lots of interesting "fixes" by its former owner mr. sass. each creates a setback after throwing adam into a fit of curses.

getting closer. 

 

check out that trim!

DOOR IN. yes. weeks of solely using the back door and our sweet b'more alley makes me thrilled to exit right onto the street and park again.
  

here's the door. sharp.











remember this? here's the window we exposed when first taking down this front wall. it was hidden, above the door, behind plaster and more. the numbers are painted on a sheet of glass and comes out and fits back in. we took it out during construction, cleaned it and just put it back.

it is one of my favorite house features. i picture a 1920's brooklyn, old fashioned neighborhood. what this area reminds me very much of.

the gansers arrived! have i told you we love volunteers? particularly retired ones. they helped in a million ways from getting us a dish rack to braving a laundromat (after which adam was told to stop everything and buy me a w/d), to mudding and scraping a wall.

thanks so much for everything and come back soon!

mom and dad were up for regular weekend duty too- adding to a very productive saturday. we're  inching towards painting this room! a big big day. but first came filling up plaster holes, evening out plaster walls, and mudding drywall. next up new baseboards, new crown molding, reappointing brick, finish oiling ceilings, painting walls, hanging up trim, and refinishing the floors. in that order. i think.

the living room isn't done *yet* but i'll continue to document it's finishing touches.