Notes from me to you

mom is now on her way back to iowa.. and again we had a lovely time despite the first few rainy days here in baltimore. quick rundown (oh, my camera is still being fixed so we had to buy a disposable, thus, picture will be added later!). s

thursday: picked mom up at the airport. we walked all around the inner harbor in the rain! had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen, got lots of info at the b'more visitors center, perused barnes and nobel, walked through the 2 mini-malls, and went to the top of the world trade center building in baltimore to see views of the entire city!

friday: lazy, relaxing day at home with coffee and time to just talk. friday night, with the helpful suggestions from my lovely roomie, sandy, the three of us went to a small, neighborhood-y theater on charles street that had a fantastic tapas restaurant attached (tapas are fancy little appetizers). We had mini crab cakes, roasted squash, potato soup, and lamb meatballs! We saw the movie, Into the Wild http://www.intothewild.com/ See it if you can.. the amazing story of Christopher McClandness.

saturday: oh whatta day! we took a sketchy (word of the day), but awesomely cheap bus into New York city! With the help of a suggested website hopstop.com (thanks, gruber!) and some friendly New Yorkers, we were able to navigate our way from chinatown to the theatre district right up to braudhurst theatre where Les Mis was playing! it was still raining in the city so we pretty much looked like sad, drowned rats! luckily, we'd packed a backpack with a few extra articles of clothing! :) the show was absolutely amazing!!! we had fantastic seats on the first level and we were both in tears by the final song (my favorite!). The actor who played Jean Valjean was incredible... ah. it was all just beautiful. It was, for both of us, the first time seeing a show on broadway.

And praise be, when we walked out of the theater, the sun was out and the rain was gone! yay!!! we enjoyed the bustle of Time Square and wandered around for a while seeing all the interesting people and sites. We eventually met up with Gruber (and for those who read this and don't know, Gruber [nickname] is one of my dearest friends in college.. we were pretty much attached at the hip for 4 years; an amazing woman with whom I share many great memories and though we don't see each other that often anymore, she will always be an important part of my life and one of the many amazing friends who've helped shape me into the person I am today! Thanks, friends! :)). She's engaged nonw, glowing, and as beautiful as ever! We had an awesome dinner at a fancy, little Belgian restaurant called Marts, then said a quick goodbye and headed back to chinatown and back on the bus. At one point we were giggling and giggling about how uncomfortable and sketchy the bus was.. but it sure makes for some good laughs and stories to share and tell.

sunday: i took off for the farmers market at 7:45a with Andrea and Mariah. Mom had originally planned to come with but that was before when we realized were weren't going to bed before 2am! After a quick trip to the usual spots at the market, we headed over to Fell's Point (one of the many neighborhoods of inner Baltimore) and had an incredible breakfast at Mama's on the half-shell, then back to Fed. Hill. Mom and I spent the afternoon walking around the neighborhood and harbor. Had the famous crab pretzels (I don't know if they're actually famous, but they should be! they're medium-sized, warm, soft pretzels with crab-dip smothered over them). That evening we went to mass at my little church just around the corner. :) we stayed after for the hospitality hour and met a sweet little couple from the neighborhood. :) when we got home we watched Love Actually with Sandy. such a great movie and a lovely way to end the lovely day.

monday: tasty, mexican-themed breakfast at home with a little relaxing in the AM then off to the hospital! mom wanted to see where i worked and i was excited to show her (but not excited enough to let her take a picture of me in front of the sign of the hospital.. sorry folks!). I gave her a little tour and then we took off for Fells Point- to the H&S Bakery outlet. Someone at work had recently brought in this package of cookies and called them Berger cookies. She said it was a "Baltimore thing" and since its pretty much just a big hunk of chocolate on a shortbread, I knew mom would love them so we stopped at got some! when we got home we went for another walk up to the actual hill of Federal Hill. Nice and steep.. and a great view of the city. Came home, I went for a run, which unfortunately involved tripping on one of the many cracked sidewalks of this town and skinning my knee. I write of this because I'd like to say, "ouch!" i forgot how much it hurts to skin the knee! that night we decided to order in my favorite pizza of the neighborhood, Boli's, and watch a movie.. which sadly ended up being crude, distasteful, only occasionally mildly humorous (thanks to the 7-year-old actress) and ultimately a waste of time and money- Knocked up. If you haven't seen it, don't bother!

Tuesday: this morning I realized that I didn't want Mom to leave. :( We managed to literally buy her some more time by paying a small fee to change her flight to a later departure! yay! :) With the extra time we headed over to Fort McHenry, which has been one of my favorite places to run/walk/and hangout at (along with the rest of the young residents of Fed Hill and Locus Point). Anyone know about this fort? Its pretty fascinating.. so if you don't know about it and you're not planning to visit me while I'm here, google and learn, my friends! After a walk around the fort and a stop at the visitor center, we drove up to the Cross Street area and had lunch at Metropolitan with more crab dip! :) We then walked around the neighborhood a bit more and enjoyed the gorgeous weather!!! We came back home and spent the rest of our time sitting on the roof deck, enjoying the view, the sun, hot apple cider and some relaxation before heading back to the airport. Mom should be back on the farm in less than 4 hours and I'll be back to the real world of work tomorrow. this time always comes..

It was a great visit and good for my heart to have my mom here. Oh.. and come to think of it, her and I have now been in Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Long Beach, San Diego, De Witt :), Baltimore, and New York in less than 3 months! We also figured out that I've been in/driven through 15 states since May: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virgina, Maryland, and New York! Wow.. what a year! Seems like its all gone so fast but how incredibly thankful I am for all that I've been blessed to experience!

Thanks again for checking in... hope all is well in MN, CA, TX, IA, IL, and everywhere else!

Much love from MD!

LKM ;-)