to baltimore.

oh, baltimore.

as many of you know, we've shared a bit of a love-hate relationship for the past thirteen months. 

we initially moved to the city and were really excited about it all-- ready to explore and adventure and enjoy everything that the city had to offer. 

but as school heated up, the weather heated up (oh, this miserable east coast heat!!), and then suddenly it was the coldest, gloomiest winter. and we found ourselves itching to leave baltimore. 

spring rolled around, and with it came the blossoms and riots, and we were torn between the beauty of all of the trees and the unnerving feeling of your neighborhood being looted and seeing smoke from car fires outside your windows. we were itching to move to d.c.

but then something kind of crazy happened. we spent some time in the community-- helping patch things up a bit and distributing food in some of the areas the rioting affected the worst. and we suddenly felt this new kind of ownership and love for the city we couldn't wait to leave. 

i have loved getting to know so many community members as i work in the hospital, and we have both thoroughly enjoyed building friendships with so many lovely church members here. 

our fate in the city is currently a bit unclear, as well. since mateo was recently accepted to the university of maryland and george washington university (!!!), he'll be spending much more of his time closer to d.c. i will still be working or attending school at hopkins here in baltimore, so we've still got some planning to do. but there is a possibility of change in the air, and thus, we want to take advantage of every last second of baltimore we can this summer! 

and since we've found ourselves thirteen-months into a city we feel like we don't even know incredibly well, we've created a bucket list of sorts-- things we must accomplish while calling ourselves baltimoreans. and the good news is, we're going to share as much of it as we can with you all! so without further ado...

the baltimore bucket list: 

1. aquarium, and a lot!

2. visionary art museum

3. woodberry kitchen

4. ft. mchenry

5. orioles game

6. walk the jones fall trail

7. patapsco state park

8. explore fells point 

9. locust point ferry

10. find the best greek food in greek town

11. paddleboats in the harbor

12. baltimore art museum

13. shake shack

14. tapas at la tasca

15. crab cakes

16. pitango gelato

17. find the best gluten-free pasta in little italy

18. eat as many papusas as humanly possible

19. baltimore ship tours

20. baltimore science center 

21. pirate tour of the harbor

22. fed hill park (okay, disclaimer: this photo was taken from fed hill park after a photo shoot, so obviously we've already been there/done that. but we love the view so much that we really will just have to do it again and again!) 

and no doubt, this little list is just going to keep growing. which is why i call upon YOU, baltimoreans. tell us what we're missing on this list!!! please keep in mind that i currently have a bit of an insane school schedule and the immune system of a goldfish (?), so we're opting for more of the slow-paced, toddler-friendly activities ;) 

we can't wait to share a million and a half adventures with you. 

p.s. we got another puppy. can you believe we got another puppy?! she's the cutest ever and merits her own blog post; don't you worry.