Hampden Blues (and Green's)

B and I have been looking for places to live for a while now. I would prefer to have roommates, so that way we have the opportunity to meet new people, have a built in person to hang out with, and just generally grow in the world.

So in our attempt to live somewhere other than B's father's basement, I have emailed dozens of people renting out rooms in their houses (or houses that they rent). And every response that I get is a polite, but resounding "no".

I suppose that B and I are death to attempted rented rooms. We're a couple (who insists on living together. What a drag, and how boring!) with two cats. If being a couple wasn't bad enough, we also have to find someone (or someones) who don't mind two tiny beings running around their house (who also isn't allergic. Or have an animal that doesn't play well with others) .

This search is two things to me: a beacon of hope and a source of despair. While I would love to stay positive about the whole thing, sometimes it's tough. The only places I've found that would take us was... well, let's just say it's not up to our standards of living (which aren't too high. I swear). But the idea of getting out of the basement and living above ground, keeps me afloat. While it would drain my bank account, it would all be worth it to not have to go home to a place that I don't want to be.

That leaves us with two options. Option 1 is to just get our own place (this is the most likely option of the two). While it would be a bit more expensive, and we would actually put out an effort to meet people, it's the easiest solution. Bonus points for being able to decorate in any way we want, and not having to ok our overnight guests through someone else. Option 2 involves magically meeting another person (or couple) who is looking to move into the same neighborhood that we are, around the same time, that we get along with and doesn't mind the cats. Once that (simple) thing happens, we all go looking for houses to rent, together, until we find something that we all like. And we live happily ever after, the end.

Of course, with all of this stress happening, we do have the stress of picking out the neighborhood we want to live in. Now, I know that my first love affair in Baltimore was with Federal Hill, but it was a fling. Federal Hill can be (and is) quite expensive, and "yuppie" as B puts it. Fell's Point is too Frat for us, and Canton is where hipsters go to buy their first house (we're not there yet!). So we went to Hampden, to explore. And we (yes this time it's a we, not a me) fell in love! Hampden is like the Baltimore equivalent to Williamsburg Brooklyn. Only, it's less expensive than other neighborhoods, not more. It's funky, with enough punk in it to be hip. There are bike posts everywhere, and it seems that cutoff shorts are a uniform. We would be walking distance to our new favorite bar/restaurant, Holy Frijoles. And close enough to B's friends, that we could all easily go biking around Baltimore without hassles.

Oh yeah, and we're also getting our bikes this weekend!

mine:


B's: