Baltimore RULES

When Matt and I embarked on our road trip for Christmas one of our main stops was Baltimore. I didn't know anything about the city, so I visited a trusted source for travel info, the Let's Go Girl section of BUST magazine's website. BUST did not disappoint!

We mainly explored one street in Hampden, our first stop being 9th Life. Here the funky silk screened t-shirts took centerstage. I snagged a curve hugging blue number with the store's name and a Native American pin-up girl on it. Pictures soon...

Next, one of my favorite shopping pasttimes, perusing a used book store for vintage dance books. I picked up this amazing hardcover about the Diaghilev era of the Ballet Russe:



Found this apron for six bucks at the three floor gloriousness that was Avenue Antiques



Then the highlight of the shopping trip...Atomic Books and it's sister store Atomic Pop. It's fabulousness truly deserves it's own post. More self-published zines than I had ever seen in my life. I went a little crazy...



Picture: Volume one and two of Persepolis, (I read it in a day - it's pretty amazing), Scrappy Zine, Making Stuff and Doing Things, The Anti 9-5 Guide, My Paper Crane Milk Plush, re-usable shopping bag with a skull and cross bones and apparently a big ole' leaf of weed, which I did not notice when I bought it. Hopefully my students won't either!

I could have spent days just on this one street. I had to resist the call of the knitting shop this time. Hampden seemed like such a cool arty community - I can't wait to return!