Here's To 27 Years! (There and Back Again: A Blogger's Tale)

If you noticed Halloween was suspiciously absent from my October wrap up, you’d be right! Halloween was an event this year, and deserved a post of its own. Buckle up and make a snack. This is going to be one hell of a journey. 

---

Five years and some months ago, life got… weird with a worldwide lockdown. I started a blog to try to cope with the changes, and shared it on a thread in a Goodreads book club in response to the prompt “Bring out your blogs!”. (It just so happened to be Carolyn who created said thread.) One thing led to another and I may or may not have slid into her DM’s platonically. God, what a meet cute, amiright?! 

Anywho… countless blog comments, texts, buddy reads, pictures of food, and memes later, we finally FINALLY met in the flesh to celebrate Halloween and my birthday together. What a weekend it was! It was the bookish blog collab we all needed in our lives. I am so incredibly grateful to Carolyn and Circe for opening up their cozy home to me for five glorious days. 

---

The drive from Ohio to Maryland is officially the longest I’ve been on the road all on my lonesome. I was quite excited at the prospect of tackling this milestone, along with visiting a large city despite the anxiety they typically give me. I gave Samwise a nice cleaning, changed his oil, and replaced wiper blades in preparation. Last minute, I decided I needed my audiobook for the journey to be a special one. Initially I thought I’d continue my reread of LoTR since I’d be on my own adventure, but pivoted last minute for the best possible choice for the occasion: Circe by Madeline Miller. 

The journey was just stunning. I hit the road before even a sliver of light tried to peek out over the horizon. It was a gloriously rainy and gray autumn day once the sun did rise, and the peeps of sunlight that lit up the autumn leaves below me in the Pennsylvanian hills and valleys just took my breath away. The melancholy fall vibes could not possibly have paired better with the somber drama of Perdita Weeks’ narration if I planned it myself. 

---

Carolyn and I mused that it was entirely possible we would not recognize each other, given we’ve never actually met in person before this visit. Thankfully, I had no trouble at all recognizing my sister! (I like to think she had just as easy a time recognizing me, but maybe she just hugged every redhead that walked into the cafe that day until one hugged back.) Either way, it was a glorious moment I will cherish forever. Bless her beautiful soul, Carolyn then fed me cake and peach tea. She really knows how to treat a lady. After we loaded up on a queen’s ransom in cakes and snacks, we split and the visit began in earnest. 

Unfortunately for Circe, my entrance to the apartment came as a complete sneak attack, so I managed to steal some kitty time before she decided to riot. I’ll call that a win. After a delightful lunch (Naturally Carolyn is also a leisurely slow eater) and chat, we went exploring some cute shops around Baltimore. This of course brings us to bookstore #1 of 5: Snug Books. I was on the hunt for a hard copy of Circe, but ended up leaving with Vagabond by Tim Curry as well as an adorable book-dragon bookmark. I was going to wait until the paperback came out, but I’m currently reading the memoir and I’m now so glad I have it in hardcover. 

Our return home commenced our first tandem cooking experience. Carolyn is 100% at fault for my spam obsession, and paid reparations in the form of spam pasta, salad, and our birthday cake slice of the day: Tiramisu cake. No complaints here.

---

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and this one was extra special. We visited Poe’s house in Baltimore. Though it wasn’t quite what I was expecting the museum to be, I’m still incredibly glad I got to explore the space and listen to the passionate tour guide. Immediately following our romp through Poe’s home in life, we visited his resting place in death. Why has it taken me this long to visit a graveyard on Halloween? It was an incredible experience. 

Carolyn had the amazing idea to stop at The Horse You Came In On, which is generally thought to be Poe’s last stop before he passed. We split an app platter and I got to try Maryland rye in the form of a mule. (Would certainly recommend it!) We took advantage of the gorgeous day to bop around the area and visit some adorable shops afterward. I bought an inordinate amount of tea, got embarrassingly excited about a body of water, and munched on some chai and sweets with my pal. 10/10 would do again. 

You knew there was going to be at least one bookstore stop today, right? We visited Charm City Books first, and my self-restraint for the trip immediately went out the window. I left with four books, but that’s okay because I was supporting a brick and mortar indie bookshop. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! Bookshop #3 was a cute house-turned-shop called Ivy Bookshop where I purchased an additional two books. Ivy had a really adorable shelf for the booksellers to showcase their current reads. It also had a cute windy bookcase, but I was too busy ogling to take a picture of it, silly me. 

Books purchased:

• Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama

• Circe by Madeline Miller

• Hansel and Gretel by Stephen King and Maurice Sendak

• Will There Ever Be Another You? by Patricia Lockwood

• Every Rising Sun by Jamia Ahmed

• Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon and Mu Collection

We polished off a day already jam-packed with Japanese curry ramen (after I basically forced Carolyn to make it by knife-point after seeing pictures of the meal for years), miso soup, and strawberry soft cream cake. Circe even tolerated sharing the same room with me during dinner. It was a good night all around. 

---

It’s still astounding I had the opportunity to share my birthday with someone so dear to me. I even got to make a new friend! (heheh, my evil plan of stealing all the friends is coming to fruition!) We started off the day with a kimchi showdown in which everyone was a winner, then took off to the monster-themed art show of my dreams. How much money did I spend here? Too damn much. Regrets? Hell no. My house loves me for the stunning prints and magnets I made off with. 

Lunch was a tasty affair at Miss Shirley’s. The gumbo was a solid choice, and the monster dirt pudding was honestly a no-brainer after the art show. 

After a cozy afternoon of video games, it was time for the birthday feasting to begin! Dinner was a lavish and decadent event at Carolyn’s favorite Chinese restaurant. We ordered so much food, the server looked frankly concerned for us. She surely doesn't understand the magic of leftovers. 

Speaking of magic, Circe gave me the sweetest little birthday gift anyone has ever blessed me with–herself. Little nugget decided to cuddle right up with me for some snuggles while I read Galatea by Madeline Miller. I was a little salty that she refused to autograph my copy of Circe, but this gift more than made up for it. We then polished off the night with a mocha cake that won the spot for my favorite slice of the weekend. God, I love coffee. 

---

Mournfully, this brings us to my final full day in Baltimore. We started our adventure with a cheeky stop at bookstore #4, Barnes and Noble. I intended to leave with a copy of Godzilla vs The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but found a different treasure called Justice League vs Godzilla vs Kong. Yep, I’m pretty predictable. 

We tooled around Ellicott City and visited some cute shops. We had lunch at an adorable Syrian restaurant, where I had the best cup of coffee of my entire life. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. I swear there’s been a shift in the chemical makeup of my brain. It was there Carolyn and I split a remarkable chicken shawarma pizza and Syrian fries. Fantastic. May everyone who works there always find the cool side of their pillow.

We made our last bookstore stop of the trip at Backwater Books, where I fell in love with some art, mooned over the bar, and purchased Butter by Asako Yuzuki and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. For those of you keeping score at home, that makes the final book purchase tally 10 books. I have zero regrets for my choices. 

Shortly after befriending Carolyn, I read and loved Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. I became incredibly intrigued by H Mart, and was devastated to learn I live several hours away from the closest one. Carolyn swore to introduce me to them one day. Five years later, that day had come at last. Holy crap… I’m in love. Okay maybe there was an ounce of regret for all the books I bought when I saw all of the food I could have splurged on with that money. That did not stop me from amassing a pretty significant haul. Dear god, I just want to go back. 

Then we put all that shopping to good use in the kitchen for dinner! I’ve been introduced to the most incredible sausage stir fry paired with Tteokbokki, a potato stir fry, rice, kimchi, and HOLY CRAP CAROLYN KNOWS HOW TO MAKE A ROLLED OMELET?! Can I get married a second time?! Of course, we enjoyed our nightly slice o’ cake and settled into a cozy reading vibe. I attacked Carolyn’s collection of Cat + Gamer by Wataru Nadatani with my eyeballs while she read my new Jinji Ito book. Good times were had all around. 

---

Just thinking about going home makes me sad all over again. Nevertheless, I will persevere for the good of the blog. 

Our last day together was shortened by my need to drive home safely. Boo, responsibilities! We wandered over to the mall, ate some cookies, and headed back for our last lunch together. I’m so glad we decided to eat in, because Carolyn made the most amazing noodles in a peanut sauce. The only thing that could pair with peanut butter is a rich chocolate ganache cake. What a heavenly meal!

O! Tragedy! We packed up my Jeep, I said goodbye to Circe, and I started my journey back home. My Jeep did threaten to break down at the top of a remarkably steep hill in eastern PA. I like to think Samwise was offering to let me return to Baltimore for an encore. Alas, I did return home. I missed my own furballs immensely, so it was a bittersweet moment. 

---

All in all, it was an incredible weekend. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. I’m immensely grateful to have such a dear friend (and furry niece) in my life. I can say without a doubt in my mind that this was the best birthday I’ve ever had. I’m so sad it’s over. I’m so excited for our next batch of shenanigans. For now, we will have to leave it to the text threads and blog comments.