sports and socializing for the sun

Today is going to be gorgeous! It's already 60 degrees and it's only 7:45 a.m. so it's not surprise that we'll be seeing warm sunshine all day with temperatures over 80! But don't get used to it - most every day for the next two weeks is forecast to be dreary, rainy and otherwise unappealing. So here are some ideas to soak up the sun after work today without wasting a minute getting back in your car (assuming you live in or around Patterson Park, that is...for the rest of you, well, let this be incentive to move here!):

• Throw on your sneakers and go for a walk, jog or run! No matter what your fitness level you can burn some calories and enjoy the first signs of Spring in the Park. My favorite path, loops up to the Pagoda and then back down around the Boat Lake, but with almost three miles of paths I'm sure you can find one you like.

• Grab a racket and play some tennis! Who cares if you're embarrassingly bad - it's a fun and social way to get outside and move around, and a great sport to learn for lifelong fitness and fun

• Knock on a few doors and throw together an impromptu game of football or frisbee (or bocce or badminton if you have 'em) in the grass

• I'll make this one easy: bread + boat lake = duck feeding frenzy! This is just as fun as an adult as when you were a kid, believe me

• Watch some BSSC games! I swear it's more fun that it sounds. Many an evening has been spent with a beverage, Puppy and N taking in the action on the field across the street. Adults playing social sports, like kickball, is always funny, trust me

• Have drinks or dinner at Bistro Rx, or walk down to Sautee. Both have outdoor seating

Oh, so many other options, but I want to hear what you plan to do to enjoy your afternoon and evening!

love k

P.S. photo of the pagoda by my lovely talented friend Jen!

return home

EcoFest and Baltimore Green Week!

Now, I'm no new ager or modern day hippy, but I do love the earth. If you can't say the same, well, you probably can just stop reading here? But I mean, really? You don't love the earth? Huh. I digress. Anyways, Saturday April 16th kicks of the 8th annual Baltimore Green Week, sponsored by Baltimore Green Works and I for one and super excited! Unfortunately, the EcoBall already happened (next year, though, I am there!) but there's a great line up coming.

SO, to kick it all off on the 26th is a day-long festival! Start the

day with the Mayor's Annual Spring Clean-up. Hit the streets and alleys, clean the park,and plant some flower or mulch your tree pits!

Once you've worked up a sweat and done your dirty due diligence, unwind at EcoFest in Druid Hill Park. From noon to 5 p.m. there will be live music (N will be playing at 4!), great locally - sourced food (Patterson Park's own, Damian Mosely, will be serving up his amazing Blacksauce Kitchen eats!), and awesome info from local

organizations and producers. Try out some yoga, bike around the reservoir or take a flower arranging class (just bring a vase!).

The week continues with lots of activities around the city, so please be sure to check out the full schedule of events on the BGWeek website. There really is something for everyone!

Anyone want to join me on Saturday? Let's carpool and go green!

love k

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reasons to love your snow-cation

I know that a lot of you are getting stir-crazy, cabin-fevered, and downright cooped up. Your car is stuck behind a four-foot wall of snow that is currently growing by about an inch an hour. Your job is making you take vacation days because you can't get there. Your street hasn't been plowed, so digging out your car was a huge waste of time. Your dog still has to be taken out, even though you'd rather nest up in a blanket.

You're sick of it.

I hear you. I really do. There are a lot of things about 3 feet of snow that put a damper on your daily rituals, that interrupt your life and throw you off kilter. But just pause and re-frame this situation - your car is stuck, so you've been walking places instead; your job is making you take vacation days, so you've been mandated to make the most of it and go have fun; you dug out your car and worked some different muscles than your regular workout; your dog frolicking in the snow is a total hoot.



I'm not saying you can't gripe and moan a little, but make the most of your lil' snow-cation! Here are a few things I've been doing that have made my snow days a blast:
* spontaneous girls' breakfast at my house, complete with fried eggs, hash browns, and sauteed peppers
* sledding in the little park by Ellwood
* trying to build an igloo, failing, and making it a snow fort with twig flag with my lovely ladies * lots of long dog walks around the park
* group dinners
* watching The Corner
* neighborhood superbowl get together
* wine and good company
* snow cookies (white chocolate chips instead of regular!)
* walking to work and running in to friends and neighbors
* working together, laughing a lot, making a load of amazing memories.



What are your favorite, positive things about all this snow snow snow?


love k

return to home

swings, smiles, sunsets and a celebrity patterson parker

Just a few things to make you smile this Friday evening while you unwind for the weekend...no particular order, no particular theme, just goodness:

I took my niece to the swings in the playground across the street the other day, and it was awesome. When was the last time you let a simple pleasure fill you so fully?

Rush hour ain't so bad when it's Friday and the sun and clouds add up to this image against downtown:

I nominated one of our very own for Baltimore Magazine's Top Singles and she won! Congrats, Amina - now we all have printed proof that our neighborhood has some real catches :). You'll find the full article and list in this month's Baltimore Magazine, along with a feature article on the best employers in Baltimore (and they're all hiring - and THAT is some good news!)

Have a save, restful, warm, fun weekend, Patterson Park!

love k

block buds unite to make taste buds happy

Need something Spring-y on this gray day? In the same vein as my post about indoor home projects to keep you busy this winter, here is one to get your outside ready to rock, and your summer and fall table bountiful. If your back yard is anything like mine, there isn't exactly room for a full seasonal vegetable, fruit, and herb garden - you have to pick and choose. But then you end up with an unmanageable amount of rosemary, and more sage than anyone could ever need. Peppers and tomatoes are awesome but they all seem to ripen in waves...hmmm....

So while at a neighbors the other evening, I got to talking about herbs and flowers and he mentioned that he'd had an enormous crop of mint. Mint! I forgot mint last year! While adding it to mental thing-to-plant list, I had a though: Why not try to divvy up herbs etc over a few different households? A sort of uber-local CSA of sorts. Not only could you get an AWESOME variety of veggies, berries and herbs that you alone could not produce, but it might also do some nice neighborhood bonding along the way. Why not do a monthly pot-luck alley BBQ where you try to use the literal fruits of your labors?

Between a CSA, block CSA and the farmers market, you could really keep things local and delicious this summer! Make some friends, eat fresh food, share the work...what's not to love? So get out there and meet your neighbors and start brainstorming what you can bring to the table.

love k

people on parade!

Right as BARCStobefest was wrapping up, The Great Halloween Lantern Parade was kicking off! Also rescheduled due to rain, the Parade expanded to an afternoon-long affair this year, with a Magic Hat beer garden, lots of venders, street performers and food to get the crowd fired up for the post-sundown Parade. And what a sundown it was:

As the stilt-walkers and other crazy parade performers lined up, I snapped a few shots with that crazy sky behind:

There was Patterson Park pride with the neighborhood crew - check out these lanterns!

Finally, with a roll of drums and matches flaring, the parade was under way! We staked out a spot about half way around the Parade route and watched as the caterpillar of paraders headed toward us:

Hundreds and hundreds of paraders marched by, accompanied by drum bands and cheers. With fantastic lanterns showcasing amateur and professional artistic abilities all around, it was a true celebration of local creativity. Here's another video, just for good measure (and because I just figured out how to add them!)

What a great Parade, and so befitting for the Great Halloween Lantern Parade's TENTH anniversary! Congrats to the Creative Alliance for another successful year. And, once again, thank you to all those who came to my benefit to help make this event possible.

love k

benefit bonanza

OH what a party it was! Friday night saw the culmination of two months of hard work for me, with my Masquerade Benefit taking place and raising about $1000 for the Creative Alliance! With cocktails, nibbles and masks galore, neighbors and friends celebrated until three in the morning.

Rather than prattle on, I think you'd all prefer a few pictures instead?

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came and donated so generously! 

love k

trains, planes and automobiles

Last week, seven of us patterson parkers headed to Milwaukee for the annual NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute conference, paid for by Banner Neighborhoods (thanks Eric!). Four of us took the train to Chicago - a 17 hour trip in and of itself - to take in the countryside and remind ourselves just how darn HUGE and varied our country is.

The conference was fantastic, with workshops, fieldtrips, lectures and action planning. All in all, it taught us all new skills for community organizing and development as well as presented us with different viewpoints and challenges that communities across the nation are facing. It was so inspiring to hear about all the fantastic efforts by volunteers and individuals in hundreds of neighborhoods in America. Take Enderis Park, a neighborhood of 1200 households, that raised over $50,000 in a few years to help revitalize their park, with home tours and other simple endeavors.

Having completed the CLI's conference, our team is now able to earn a grant of $2,000 to help our neighborhood's ongoing efforts to continue growing in a positive direction. As of now, we will be applying for the funds to help us positively market our neighborhood, build a snazzy website, and enhance our home tour (the Enderis Park home tour brought in over $15,000 in three years! Wow!).

Of course we had some fun, too, with a train ride, a day in chicago, 4 days in Milwaukee:

 

 

Aaand I had to include the Victoria's Secret Runway wings portraits..

Funny how I'm making the same face in all three of these...I was just that excited!

 

The most important thing I took away from the conference was that we each do make a differece, that it is the accumulation of minor acts that bring us together in relationships of respect, reciprocity and trust. We can never see any act of kindness as too small, or any gesture of empathy as insignificant.

It all adds up to make our community, our neighborhood, our nation and our world a better place to live.

love k