last weekend

friday we took our first official long-wandering walk in baltimore. we talked about our dream house and watched henry pee all over town. then we ate fajitas and i had chats with rachie. alice climbed our ladder to nowhere.. i realised out apartment is one big cat-style hamster funhouse. [that fragment of a sentence may only make sense to me]

saturday we did lots of goodwill rummaging. peter made a friend while digging through the record bins.. he would hold up a record and ask "have you heard of this." if peter said no he would sing a song from the artist. he was cool. then we ate cheese steaks.

sunday we took another long walk out to have a giant meaty colombian lunch. on the way we saw lots of blooms and some bro strolling around town with a gigantor snake wrapped around his neck. then we got stuck in a downpour. when we got home i admired my first tan of the season and realised my eyes point in slightly different directions.. and one is shaped like a triangle. i am special.

tomorrow i am going to start painting the bathroom.

here is some news:

+ brits love the wire. brits also love opening airplane doors. 1 and 2
+ thank you NYT for writing an article about detroit in the travel section.
+ MSU will play in the ncaa final four. last time this happened it was 2003 and we watched the game at lou & harry's. then the entire town of east lansing was tear gassed.. then peter tried to beat up a fox news anchor.. then johana and i got maced. and so did our taco bell. college rules.

our house

this is our house.. apartment, really.. or loft. penthouse if you're feeling fancy.

mom + dad's visit

henry found a new favorite spot. he's been sneakily sleeping on the guest bed's pillows for the last few days.

my parents departed this morning after a long weekend in town. i enjoyed lots of good dad stories and mom gossip. we've eaten tortillarilla sinaloa, pho, attman's sandwiches, homemade nigerian goat stew w. plantains at "uncle" vincent's, nak won korean bbq, chick'n'trout and crab cakes at duda's. we visited the aquarium, cylburn arboretum [it was closed!], lexington market, antiques row, the downtown enoch pratt library and wandered until we wore them out. i don't have any photos of them from the visit.. just my dad's arm, below.

they needed a vacation as there is a lot of stress back home. grandma and grandpa are showing their years. my mom talked about the possibility of packing up and moving out of state if my father looses his job in the forthcoming 15percent job cut in his department GM. he's been working ungodly hours for over a year now and set up an impromptu office in the living where he continued to work each morning. if he survives this round he'll take another 7percent pay cut, on top of the demotion he was forced to take late last year. but, they are being realistic. so are my oldest sister and brother-in-law who are moving to a smaller place after the company he was working for went bust.

sorry to be a downer. i really do hate talking about the economy. i feel like i've had the same conversation repeatedly since last fall when we moved home. people here are more positive about things, but baltimore does not have 22percent unemployment. this article/video about the couple/neighborhood mentioned somewhere is the past couple years on here [i tried buy couldn't find the actual post] is worth reading/watching. hamtramck is also home to many hole in the wall bars and an excellent all-night diner.

peter has been working diligently on a thesis-related paper. why is everyone around me an overachiever?

something to look forward to:

fun, friends + phoenix

i forgot how wonderful summertime is. after a dismal summer in england two days in AZ reminded me what the sun feels like.

last night i returned from two days visiting one of my most favorite people and previewing what will be a very fun wedding. first, the duncan family and i toured desert botanical garden and saw lots of cati, succulents and chihuly goodness. then we partied with new friends at an engagement celebtation for alicia + cayle. the festivities left me with very little sleep and an serious old lady hangover.

next weekend my parents are coming for a visit. i hope i can keep them entertained and the weather cooperates. yay visitors!

happy almost st. patrick's day.

p.s.

two more stories about detroit. worth reading, but nothing new: 1 and 2

cake

feeling a bit nuts. i just ate a giant bowl of popcorn for dinner. i am turning into my mother. if i start talking about decorative painting or buying miniature dogs please stop me. pleeeeease.

so, today marked a milestone. i've been to europe, ran a marathon, graduated from college, gotten married, lived in another country and now i saw someone get shot. not really, but close enough. at least it wasn't me.

i was heading for the door at villiage thrift i heard a thud sound and then gasps. i didn't see anything outside, but the other ladies nearer to the door assured me that someone has just been shot. i called 911 and tried to give them the address but no one would tell me the street number. by then the store manager had also made a call, but they would not let me off the line without a complete address so i bounced from person to person around me asking for the street number and no one could tell me. this made me frustrated. then i went to the entrance to see if the address was printed on the front door and instead saw the man who had been shot.. someone was asking him why the other shot him or if he knew who did it. he shook his head no and kept pacing back and forth slowly and dripping blood on the sidewalk. he looked dazed. then someone told me the address. then i started crying and couldn't spell my name out for the operator. then i had to leave.

in happier news, a sweet shop opened up in the neighborhood and there's been a duo playing sweet tunes out front all afernoon.

here are some photos of sweets:







1. i made this chocolate cakes w. cream cheese frosting for mom's birthday in 2006. i think.

2. alicia helping ice peter's carrot cake with blue creamcheese frosting. 2006 again. i think

3. chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting [again] and blue coconut + mini cupcakes. 2007

4. rachie's birthday cake.. back in MI wooo!

5. my quarter century cupcakes. amy sedaris's white cake dyed blue w. green cream cheese frosting and twizler pull-and-peel decorations. these made val throw up. sorry val. 2007

6. abby made me an extra special christmas sugar cookie with my name on it. sweet! 2007

7. petey's birthday carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and rainbow candles. 2009

fuck this cake.

reminiscing..

these photos were taken exactly four years ago. i am missing the izzone girls.

andy came for a visit from boston. we fed him zellas and took him to see vito. the next night we ate crab cakes at dudas and drank beers at club charles.. where we finally found the hipsters. the only other place we spotted some was on saturday morning at the northern ave. village thrift.

i just watched the oxford murders, w. elijah wood. i thought i might recognize some places in the movie, as we spent a day there. i was able to spot blackwell's bookshop, which i have a photo of from across the street at the museum of the history of science.. and the gallery of fakes at the V&A in LDN. otherwise the movie was terrible. and no matter how cute you are, it is not ok to eat spaghetti off a lady's chest.

reading this felt like a punch in the stomach. the audio slide show made me cry.. so many familiar places. a picture of an empty gumball machine in the now abandoned summit place mall was the tipping point. i remember freshman year, taking a field trip to the mall to see a student art show that was on display. i was with kelly, i think, and idy. bushman, a dj at a local hip hop station was there, doing a live show on a little stage. that was when there were still places to eat in the mall. and stores to shop in.

we were here when this photo was taken!
i want to go to there
barack brought sexy back, according to the guardian
you can't really dust for vomit.
even worse for young workers, via NYT. at least i'm not the only one.