baltimore shmaltimore

in may when my mom was in prague visiting she mentioned to me the unveiling of my grandmother who passed away in august of 2010 and asked if i wanted to go. i wasn't present for the funeral and so of course i said yes. i didn't really understand, though. but i asked some questions and found out after atleast 11 months pass, you go to the cemetary and unveil the headstone that was made. say some blessings, yada yada. jewish customs.

anyway, i hadn't been to baltimore in 2 years. for those who don't know, i lived there for 4 years. it was pretty nostalgic. we got to stay with my amazing and hospitable friends paola and alex. they recently got engaged on a rooftop in paris. swoon. :) they have a gorgeous, large, victorian apartment in a great neighborhood called bolton hill. it is only a few minutes away from where i used to live. it was so nice to wake up and relax on their adorable balcony... last time i was there they had just moved in and it was pretty bare. now it's full of life and plants on every ledge... their art. furniture that alex's mom designs... and new paint colors on all the walls. so lovely. really.

so, back to the top. we got in on wednesday nite. we picked up our rental car after we landed and i hopped in the drivers seat and headed to the city center. passed by my old apartment, and the tattoo shop i got my elephants in. i managed to get a peakage of my tattoo artist who was standing outside... then we proceeded to my friends house. we relaxed and chatted it up and introduced my mom and gathered up some ideas on where to go to dinner. iggies it was. it's what i had been thinking about for weeks before our trip. it's a small restaurant that sells napoli style pizza. byob as well. we picked up some samuel smiths and new castle. the host dropped them in a bucket of ice and we ordered two pizzas and two salads. delicious of course. mmmm.

i'm noticing how much detail i am going into and if i don't stop this is going to be an incredibly long post full of words that you'll want to just scan/scam/whatever. i'll try and be more to the point from now on... fingers crossed.

thursday- we visited my grandpa. my mom hadn't seen him in 4 years and for me it had been 2. he's an interesting character... to say the least (and in the kindest of ways.) he goes into "spiritual seclusion" for months and sometimes years on end...as my mom likes to put it. he's an odd ball. really. believe me. i've been keeping in [minimal] contact with him over the years and i wasn't counting on him wanting to see us, but when i wrote him a letter to tell him we were coming to baltimore he said he was ok with human contact. haha, so we took utter advantage and headed on over. he only lives 5 blocks away from where i used to lived. the visit was really great. uplifting and sweet. we caught up on the newness of our lives. a lot had changed since the last time we saw eachother. my mom and i massaged his back and shoulders and then he made us lunch. good visit.
-after that we headed 35 minutes north to my friend anne's. she made us delicious teff bread with homemade whipped cream. i got to see her kids... logan got so big... and brianna, wow... she's so adorable. they were leaving with their grandma to go see their very first movie. so cute. anne's house is amazing. we got to take a nice walk all around her house picking wild flowers and herbs that was made into a bouquet for paola. i really missed anne and the "getaway" that is her home... in the "country"... it's so peaceful. i always loved going over there once a week to do laundry.
-later that evening we met up with my uncle robby who was visiting from san francisco. we went to fells point to eat berthas mussels.

friday we headed to the cemetary and met up with some of my family who reside in baltimore. we said some blessings, placed some stones, and got out of the scorching 100 degree weather and headed to attmans deli... my cousins own it. it's a very famous jewish deli that has been around for 95 years. we stayed there for like 3 hours just talking. guess what happened to me... my iphone died because... well... i was bored.
-after lunch we toured around baltimore. my mom and uncle were in nostalgia mode.... seeeing their old stomping grounds; the home they grew up, the hospital they were born in, the schools they went to, their friends houses... it was cute, but i had seen it all before. the thing i was most looking forward to? trader joes. i filled up our cart with so much shit. 100 dollars worth. chocolate goodies, turkey jerky, tons of amazingly priced spices....  trader joes needs to come to florida.
-for dinner we all went to obryckis for crabs. i'm so glad paola and alex got to join in on the feast. my uncle robbie treated us well. it was so much fun getting messy and wearing bibs.

saturday we relaxed on the porch... then went to lunch with my mom and paola to milk and honey cafe. so amazing. this was literally a block from where i used to live. they opened up a year ago. it is so beautiful inside. we shared some yummy sandwiches and salads. really wish this was there when i used to live there. it would've been a place i'd visit... probably too much. after lunch we headed to the mall to shop. did a little damage... kinda. bought some new dresses i am happy about. side note; urban outfitters is taunting me so badly. i was looking at their sales pages yesterday... 34 pages worth... and wanted so much stuff. what is this shopping bug i have right now? it needs to disappear. my mom got introduced to the 2 story forever 21. ohhhh geez. that took forever.
-went home, packed my suitcase to the brim then my mom and i headed to the airport at 5.

so all in all... i was so happy to stay with my friends. i loved seeing my grandpa, anne and my uncle. the food was great and being able to drive all around the city was awesome(considering i don't get to drive much in florida at the moment.) it really felt as if i was in europe at times. the architecture is so similar. it was a short trip but it was nice to get away from florida. i plan on taking matt in the next few months to show him around. i think he'll really like it. i miss city life...

that's all folks.
(picture post will happen soon. check facebook as well.)