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It seems like spring is here (or at least almost here), and I am so insanely excited about that! Here in Baltimore, weather tends to be so temperate that we get beautifully long spring and fall seasons. And by beautifully long, I mean that 7 or 8 months out of the year are full of gorgeous, sunny, 75 degree weather.

Along with the beautiful weather comes a plethora of awesome things to look forward to in Baltimore during this season. Here's a look at just a few of those things to look forward to.

1 // Eat and drink outside, preferably along the water. We're a bit partial to The Boathouse these days for afternoon drinks because it will be guaranteed to make you feel like you're on vacation even if you aren't. And bonus points because they let you bring along your furry friends to sit with you on their patio. A mojito outside on the waterfront patio at Little Havanna is always a win. And it'd be hard to pass up brunch and the tasty cocktails at Waterfront Kitchen, especially with one of the best harbor views you'll find in the city.

2 // Orioles baseball is back! Opening Day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is Monday, April 4th. That's less than a month away! While we won't be going to Opening Day, we'll be there a couple days later for our first game of the season. As always, we opted to renew our season tickets and can't wait for yet another baseball season spent at Oriole Park.

3 // Enjoy a picnic among Sherwood Garden's blooming tulips. Sherwood Garden is a beautiful spot tucked away in the Guilford neighborhood. Each year, about 80,000 tulips bloom at the end of April or early May, depending on the year's weather. It is also home to many flowering trees and other beauties. It's sort of a magical spot, especially when in bloom, and it's the perfect spot to take a blanket, have a picnic, and enjoy the beautiful weather on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

4 // Listen to some tunes at Charm City Bluegrass Festival. We're lucky to have a day full of amazing music during the Charm City Bluegrass Festival that takes place on April 30th in Druid Hill Park. While I grew up listening to bluegrass, this is a definite yes on my spring list. However, for those who aren't as familiar with bluegrass, it should still be on your list. It's hard to go wrong with spending time outside in the company of friends while listening to music and enjoying delicious food and drink.

5 // Take a walk at Cylburn Arboretum. This is another lesser known spot in Baltimore that is truly a gem. The Cylburn Arboretum is a perfect spot to visit during spring because of all of the flowering plants that you'll see. Take a walk on one of the many short trails, bring a camera to snap a few photos, or take a book and enjoy some relaxation in a serene and quiet space.

6 // Take in the installations of Baltimore's inaugural Light City festival. Installations of light, art, and music will be set up along a 1.5 mile art walk along the Inner Harbor during Light City Baltimore. The festival runs from March 28-April 3, and the installations will be free to enjoy each night. While this is the festival's first year and I have no clue what to expect, I'm incredibly intrigued and will definitely be making this a part of my spring experience in Baltimore this year.

7 // Go shopping at the Baltimore Farmers' Market. The bustling market that takes place every Sunday morning under the JFX is back in business for the season starting on April 17th. Grab a cup of Zeke's coffee, stock up on fresh, local produce for the week, or browse arts and crafts made by local artists. It's a low key way to start your Sunday morning.

8 // Take a trip to DC to enjoy the Cherry Blossom Festival. Ok, you're right. This isn't a Baltimore event, but it's still one of those yearly things I like to check off my list. DC is only a quick 45 minute drive away, so it's silly not to spend a day along Tidal Basin soaking in the beauty of the annual spring blossoms. The white blooms make you feel as though you're in the midst of winter snow, yet the sunshine, the sweet smells, and the soft touch of the petals will clearly tell you otherwise. Simply magical! This year's peak bloom prediction is March 31-April 3, but that can change as the date nears. Keep an eye out on the Bloom Watch page to plan your visit accordingly.

9 // Hedge bets on which sculptures will float the best or make it through a pile of mud the quickest during AVAM's Kinetic Sculpture Race. If you've never watched the Kinetic Sculpture Race, it is a definite must do. Essentially, a bunch of sculptures powered by bicycle parts and humans, race around the harbor through an obstacle course including a quick dip in the water at Canton Waterfront Park and a mud pit in Patterson Park. That's the best way to describe the wackiness. It's much easier to just go a see for yourself. It takes place on May 7th this year. Go!

10 // Head to Woodberry and enjoy some craft beer. The good old standby Union Craft Brewing has now been joined by Waverly Brewing Company just across the light rail tracks. Both offer outdoor seating and often have food trucks hanging out on a Saturday afternoon. Baltimore's craft beer scene has been steadily growing over the last five years, and I certainly won't complain about that.

11 // Take in the city view during a walk around the reservoir in Druid Hill Park. Once the weather gets nice, we often find ourselves enjoying as much of our free time as possible outside. On any given evening, we'll load the pup into the car and take her for a walk in Druid Hill Park. One of the best views of the city happens to be from the loop around the old reservoir. And when you're done taking in the view, enjoy another trail in the park. You'll probably even see some deer!

12 // Enjoy a free concert at Canton Waterfront Park during First Thursday. One of our awesome local radio stations, WTMD, puts on a free concert series called First Thursday. While the first concert of the year hasn't been announced yet, the series starts on the first Thursday in May. Take some chairs, a blanket, a picnic, and meet up with friends for what is always guaranteed to be good music along the water.

13 // Load your bikes on the car and pedal along one of the many bike trails in the area. While this usually requires a short drive out of the city, it's nice to get outside and enjoy some green scenery. The Baltimore area has so many fantastic bike paths, so it would be silly not to take advantage of them. One of our favorites for a leisurely ride is the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail.

14 // Go hiking in one of the various state parks. Once again, it's a quick drive out of the city, but it's easy to find some good hiking all over the Baltimore area. We find ourselves hitting the trails most weekends as soon as the weather is nice. For a quick drive, head to Patapsco Valley State Park or pull over at one of the many roadside trail heads of Gunpowder Falls State Park. If you're up for a beautiful afternoon drive and a gorgeous hike, head up to Rocks State Park.

If you're a local, what are your favorite things to do in Baltimore during the spring season? What do you look forward to every spring?

Listening to my record collection every night while cooking.

Designing several new lines of cards.

Anxiously awaiting on proofs from the printer and plates for some letterpress cards.

Planning a paper pop up shop for April.

Waiting on spring to arrive for good.

Watching The Daily Show online most nights to lighten the heaviness of our current Presidential elections.

Cooking something new every Saturday night.

Drinking an extra cup of coffee this morning after a long and crazy week.

Excited about a busy spring filled with awesome opportunities.

Looking forward to warm and beautiful weather next week.

 

What are you currently up to? Happy Friday, my friends! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Andrew is an architect, so naturally, when we travel we tend to make a lot of pit stops at various places of architectural interest. A couple springs ago, we spent a long weekend in Asheville and spent a day at The Biltmore Estate. Last September, when we were driving back to Baltimore after spending a week in Vermont, Andrew made it his mission to make a pit stop at another Vanderbilt home. We ended up making it a two for one and stopped at FDR's house as well, but I thought I'd share a few photos from the Vanderbilt Mansion today.

Sometimes, it's sort of fun to think back to a time when these immense houses were built, imagine strolling through their gardens as if they were your own, and wondering what lavish and elaborate parties had been hosted there. It's an entirely different time and lifestyle that makes one think of The Great Gatsby. And while the mansion in Hyde Park is only a fraction in size and scale to that of The Biltmore, it's still sort of fun to transport yourself to that era.

Have you been to any of the Vanderbilt properties? I just imagined sitting in these gardens with a book or sketchbook all day.

February went by so quickly even with an extra day, that I missed the fact that yesterday was the first of March until later in the afternoon. March is here, and with it has been nice weather! I'm not getting too excited though-- rain and possible snow showers may be here on Friday. BUT warmer weather and the outdoors will soon be a constant, and that lifts my spirits.

With a new month here, I thought I'd check in once more on my goals for this year. Some have been going much better than I could have anticipated, and others are not coming along at all. Here's a quick look.

1 // Continue learning new things. While I didn't take a class this past month like I did in January, I'm still learning. We've decided to dub Saturday nights "New Recipe Saturday," so I'm learning a new recipe each week. I'm also getting back into some old habits like playing the guitar more regularly again, so I've learned a few new songs. I've also learned some new business related things that pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit.

2 // Become stronger and healthier. I'm still feeling like I haven't gotten back on track with this. We're going to the gym Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of each week, but I haven't been back into my yoga routine. I majorly fell off that horse during Valentine season. There was simply no time during the day to take an hour from my daily schedule to do yoga. I needed to be working on orders instead. I'm hoping to get back into that routine this week.

3 // Streamline my wholesale program. This is still a constant work in progress. I'm currently working on my spring line, which is taking much longer than I had anticipated. I need to get a bunch of designs to the printer, and then reshoot a lot of photos this month for my catalog. The biggest endeavor will be making the leap to creating a wholesale website.

4 // Identify when I'm sabotaging myself and take active steps to change that. There were a lot of frustrating things that happened in this past month, which I don't exactly feel like mentioning. However, they left me annoyed and sometime unmotivated due to complete and utter frustration. Definitely wasted a lot of time doing other things when I could have been more productive during the second half of February. On the flip side, sometimes I need that mental break after going non-stop since November. March is my slowest month, so it's time for me to continue to push myself to be productive when I try to sabotage myself instead. Lots can get done when I'm not filling orders 24/7, so it's time to take advantage of that.

5 // Start blogging regularly again. I've stuck with it! I've blogged every single weekday so far this year with the exception of two days that I took off for vacation. Some days I feel as though I don't have anything to write. Other days, I have an entire list of posts I could rattle off. Blogging for two months straight has definitely pushed me in many ways, and I think for the better.

6 // Take more photos. Still a total fail. What is wrong with me?! I seriously need to strap my camera to my body. We went on an awesome hike on Sunday. You would have thought I would take my camera. Nope! Ooops. I completely forgot about it. Still trying to get back into that habit.

7 // Make time for myself and the people in my life. Yes. This has been working! I've spent a lot more time with others in the past month. I've also felt like I'm taking more time to do the things that I enjoy-- going to the coffee shop during the day, spending time reading or playing guitar in the evenings, etc.

8 // Spend more time traveling. My passport application is still sitting on the kitchen counter. Oy. I need to have Andrew take my photo so that I can get that squared away. We're also falling behind in planning anything for this spring, so I'm not sure what will happen now. In other news, I just ordered a Fodor's book for California. We have airline miles that are going to expire, so we're planning a trip to California for September. We'll be road tripping and AirBnbing it throughout the state.

9 // Continue to minimize and organize our house. I'm still working on this. After getting rid of a bunch of stuff in my studio, I still need to get rid of more. We dropped off two bags of clothes at Goodwill recently, and I need to dive back into the closet to do a little more minimizing. The final plan is to completely reorganize my studio and change the work flow set up so that it's more efficient. I've got my work cut out for me.

And that's it, folks! So far, 2016 is going fairly well. How are your goals coming along?

 

What does Monday night look like around these parts? Picture this. Andrew sitting on the floor, painting our front door and trim. Me lounging in a comfy chair, guitar in hand with an iPad nearby to look up chords for various songs. I started with Boy & Bear's "Arrow Flight" simply because I wanted to learn it. And then the games began.

Andrew chose a letter followed by a vowel, and I would play a song from the first artist I knew that started with those letters. He chose S and U. Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home" was first. And through the same course of picking letters, I moved on to Moon Taxi's "Morocco," Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Possess Your Heart," Simon & Garfunkle's "The Boxer," and Jimmy Fallon's "Tebowie."

Before we knew it, "Tebowie" morphed into a Bowie sing along of "Moonage Daydream," "Modern Love," and "Space Oddity" with Andrew picking up a second guitar and playing along. Fingers tired, we set down the guitars and listened to Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars starting from "Starman" onward at a volume level probably completely unnecessary for 10:30 at night.

Sometimes we have friends ask us what we do in the evenings instead of watching TV, and if I were to answer that question honestly, most nights would look something like this. A little random and impossible to recreate because they're all different. And usually, at some point in the evening, we find ourselves in fits of laughter, much like last night when I sprang "Tebowie" on an unsuspecting Andrew.

When was the last time you listened to an album at full blast just so that you could really hear it? Or let the evening decide which form it was going to take on its own? If you don't have plans this week, shut off the tv, put down the phone, and let things happen.