In Blogtimore

21st Century Family: the Letts

2008-11-24T18:48:00.016-05:00

To: Amy, Crystal, Lauren, Da, Ma, Jamie, Jonathan

I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU
3:40pm

From: Lauren

SAME!
3:44pm

From: Da (web-cam style!)

I can't wait to see you either!!!!!! Love, Dad!
3:48pm

From: Jamie

SAME HERE!!!
6:24pm

From: Jamie (Crystal)

AND ME TOO!!!
6:28pm

From: Jonathan (& Amy)

US (TWO) TOO!!!
7:46pm

From: Ma

8:13pm

Points for creativity to Mom! Her phone doesn't have a camera.

I'm taking the bus to Philly tomorrow afternoon and driving to upstate New York with my cousins for Thanksgiving. CANT WAIT.

It's November

2008-11-08T12:54:00.013-05:00

On Halloween in Baltimore there was a rumor circulating like wild fire that a gang was initiating new members, which called for killing 31 people, and when we heard by way of phone from a friend who lives outside of Baltimore, we were told that 4 had already been killed. This was at 8pm. Traffic in Fell's Point was horrible and people in silly and sultry costumes were littering the streets.

After dinner in the less-congested Little Italy, the murder count had arisen to 8. Well naturally it was just a rumor, but hey, this is Baltimurder so you had to at least consider it. Phew!

We made these costumes (also some for boyfriends) and walked around in them a little. That's all my Halloween requires.

My forest fire outfit was entirely last-minute. I was more concerned with turning Garrett into our nation's pride.

Amy and Nick: tacos who love tacos.

"Your meat is exposed a lot more than Amy's is... it's almost vulgar."
"Amy said the same thing!"

What a cute bunch.

We're going to NYC next weekend! I will be purchasing my first alcoholic beverage at 12:01 am on Sunday, and then we'll have a party back in Baltimore in the pm. And I will go to class at 9 on Monday morning and tell Tony Shore that I have a hangover.

Flirting with Adulthood, or Just Buying Stuff?

2008-10-20T22:49:00.003-04:00

Last night Amy received an e-mail saying that Harbor News would be closing either today or tomorrow. Having joined the mailing list in order to be notified when the new Vogue Collections comes out, she was horrified. Also, I was horrified because we'd only just found out about Harbor News and it has a sweet abundance of foreign mags. Naturally, we paid HN a visit because we've decided that magazines are completely worth it and in order to become elegant, cultured grown-up women we gotta stock up.

When we got to HN, we were like, "it totally doesn't look as though you're going out of business--what does it mean?" It meant that the Japanese magazines were all 47% off. And it means that I spent $52.

Sophisticated 20-somethings fashion mag has good hair. And this booklet on Sleepy Flower. What more could you want?

These young ladies' mags came with swag. They also taught me that scrunchies are cool!

Really good Spring 2008 French-to-Japanese (or is it Japanese faux-French?) mag. Overwhelming! Amy got Spring 2007 which has Gaultier's saintly hotties.

This flowers mag is all roses. It wants to give me additional roses in a smaller format: Rose Book 600. Thank you, flowers mag!

As to whether Harbor News is actually closing, we are uncertain. But I think I will go back tomorrow to check out the next batch of J-mags the nice lady said she would put out!

Amy and I bought fancy cheeses from Whole Foods on the walk back to our apartment. My cheese is supple, flavorful, and from Greece. Other things my loan money is covering now include:

This lovely vintage satin blouse (sigh)

... and this sweet-A son-of-a-jackal!

30 bones (60% off.) Rock it. Thanks I will.

And finally, I pined for these all summer but just found them half-off. The rest is history.

While moving to the East coast fosters economy (?), I miss spending money I don't have with my Midwest friends.

Y'update

2008-10-15T02:25:00.004-04:00

1. Went to NYC last weekend (2 weeks ago) for the first time ever. Had a great time.
2. Boys came to visit last weekend. We spent one day in DC and 1.5 in B-more. They buy us lots of food.
3. A painting on my main blog (click.) Is that weird if I use two blogs simultaneously? W'ev.
4. Sorry if you were excited to see photos of my room, it is still lacking in a few pivotal personal touches.

1. NYC

Stayed with Tricia, went to lots of galleries.

We saw Built to Spill. Doug Martsch cutest man ever.

Bought fun cheap goods in China Town. Four fried dumplings and a big yummy rice patty, $1.75.

I saw scary things in this market.

Also enjoyed a quick romp around the MoMA.

And an even quicker romp around 5th Ave.

I spoiled myself with this $3 hot dog.

Anthropologie was doing sexy fem things, as usual.

2. DC/Boys

More street meat!

Monuments!

Art Academy friends were visiting DC, too.

This photo is staged, but the gist of it is true life.

We had a birthday surprise for Nick. As Amy brought out the cake, one of our roommates returned on the freight elevator with 6-8 friends, who all joined in singing.

Official National Bohemian Beer pint glass featuring official Natty Boh mascot, Boh. He has one eye due to the alternative lifestyle he has lead.

"Baltimore's Pride."

This weekend is fall break. My cousin Julie who lives in Philly is coming to play with us! We might go over to Philly to visit my cousins Heather and Paul this weekend or next. When we do, we're eating authentic Philly cheese steaks.

Today Amy and I are taking the bus to a Taco Bell where she will post herself, dressed as a giant taco, urging other people to eat tacos. This is the first in a fab lineup of TB-related performances I've enjoyed helping her brainstorm for.

Fun Times USA, Inc.

2008-09-21T17:15:00.002-04:00

This is a fun weekend. Tricia came from NYC to play with us!

We've been trying to do lots of fun stuff. See fun stuff here:

Crabs pt. II

Climb on Stuff

Friendshipsville, located in Franz West USA.

Walkin' Round!

Takin' Paparazzo Pix of a Dan Deacon.

This show was right by our house and that was sweet, because we got to learn about it and decide to go 5 minutes later. We got there an hour later, because we had to find an ATM, but we made it just in time to see tooly hipsters and MICA students being videotaped moshing to Rage Against the Machine. Ah, feels like college! Then Dan Deacon played and that was pretty cool too.

Amy and I have to actually start making stuff for school and it's hard.

King Arthur & Co.

2008-09-17T01:26:00.009-04:00

This morning I was awoken by King Arthur, one of my roommate's three cats that live exclusively in her room when they aren't sneaking out through the top of her wall to take twilight strolls across a big insulated pipe that spans the length of my room, sprinkling hearty, age-old building dust as they go, and dreaming of days when they didn't live all in one room.

The King Arthur does not posses foresight. At 5 o'clock this morning he sat on me and cried about being stuck in my room. Then he cried while he was scared of me as I tried to pick him up to escort him back to his incestuous castle. "Whatever, King Arthur!" Next I knew I was waking up to the most pathetic thing I have ever seen: King Arthur perched on his hind legs, front legs fully extended like scissors, crying because he could not climb the the ladder to my loft like a real human king.

Other pets have naughty times too! Mew likes to sneak up through a small place in my loft and go spelunking through Empty Box City. Louie gets reckless every once in a while and gnaws on a personal belonging of Amy's or tries to find a place to poop inside. Other than that he is pretty well behaved for a Boxer.

And so cute?

Superfirsts!

2008-09-09T23:02:00.011-04:00

Lured by its charming location and the prospect of eating lots of samples, Amy and I finally made our way downtown to the Superfresh this weekend.

The free food exceeded any expectations. The labyrinth-like setup was endearing. The produce was pristine!

Inspired, we bought sushi with raw fish. Then we realized that neither of us had actually consumed raw fish sushi before and proceeded to bond over fear/delight in its foreign texture and susceptibility to airborne viruses. Not really, we just adored it for being super fresh.

Amy is taking the opportunity to indulge in a variety of seafood while on the east coast. She wants to eat all the craziest sea meat. I find this both thrilling and unsettling.

I give myself two pictures because it's my blog.

On a completely unrelated note, grab a mirror and see if you can find a syn for vom in this next pic.

Gotta love backwards barf.

Busy in B.

2008-09-01T22:02:00.000-04:00

Hello all. Considering I've been here for almost a week I have got some major 'splainin to do.

First a patchy tour of our 12,000 sq. ft. warehouse apartment.

Here we have the stage. Our bikes and are around the corner by the freight elevator that opens into the apartment. Amy found legitimate evidence that Dan Deacon played here last August.

Kitchen and bathroom/laundry to the right.

View from the commons-y area. Amy's room is the purple box on the far left and the hideous pink/purple combo belongs to the bar.

View of commons-y area, or giant room of old furniture and junk. At the end is the hallway that leads to 4 bedrooms.

My room is still in transit between horrendous mess and livable, attractive bedroom and I will post before and after photos when everything's done. Hopefully you will find the transformation inspiring, even emotional, as I do.

At the very end of the building behind some bedrooms there is this secluded chill pad. So chill.

Cute pets Louie and Mew. More on them later.

Now for boyfriend times. Garrett and Nick are here and we have been eating at way too many restaurants and seein' what there is to see.

Amy and I enjoyed our first whole crabs at Cross Street Market on Saturday. Though known as veggie throughout the Midwest, on the east coast she is a seafood fiend.

Also been doing the tourist thing.

Tourists love couples pics, of course.

This restaurant was a little bit of a disappointment, but fortunately Captain James also has a tasty-looking crab shack across the street. Today we had lunch here, and ate dinner at a dog-themed pizza pub. Baltimoreans love purebred dogs.

Baltimore is great for walking and riding bikes. There are so many neat places nearby. So many purebred dogs to look at and admire.

School starts tomorrow. Amy and I didn't get into all the classes we wanted (I got two, she got zero and isn't even enrolled for 15 credits) so we are going to show up early and try to plead our ways in. It better work because that's why we came here. When we tell them that it will probably work.

Pre B.

2008-08-23T05:00:00.000-04:00

One of my roommates phoned me the other day. She said that our living room has a bar and a stage. While a person would be foolish to hope for even one of these aforementioned party-enhancing amenities in a new apartment, we will reap the benefits of both. And by both I mean primarily the stage.

Amy and I will be playing house with the following:
May, Joy, Kitty, and Neal
a cat and a dog

It's almost too endearing to be true.

My new address will be:
309 East Federal St., #F501
Baltimore, MD 21202