A few weekends ago, I was having a bad morning. Edie hadn’t slept well and Lou was whining for canned whipped cream for breakfast. I was trying to cook unwanted scrambled eggs while Edie simultaneously demanded to be held while wiggling to get down. The house was a mess, the cats kept jumping on the counter, Lou was standing on the tops of my feet to get my attention, and I could feel myself coming undone. Intuiting my subtle behavior (I was a borderline monster), Rob neutralized the situation with an episode of Paw Patrol and suggested I take two hours to go do something for myself.

It turns out his acknowledgement was enough. Suddenly, having the choice to leave or stay opened me up to readjust my mood, and that slight adjustment was enough to buoy me back to homeostasis. I felt grateful to have a partner who recognized the need to take a beat, and that made me want to hang back and finish making eggs for him while our children picked Cheerios from between the sofa cushions. In the end, I stayed and enjoyed a slow morning with my family. But it got me thinking about all the amazing things we parents can do for ourselves in two hours. It’s the perfect amount of time to get out of the house and do something alone without carrying the guilt of leaving your spouse a man down.

Here are a few places where you can spend an hour of your time (with travel time and a stop for coffee built in) and restore your peace or body or sanity or whatever else those barnacles have taken from you.

Intuitive Wellness: I seriously almost didn’t include this one because its such a special, perfect place and I’m selfish and didn’t want to share. But who am I to deny the achy, stressed people of Baltimore their 60 minutes of holistic, healing, heavenly massage? Book an appointment at this Roland Park sanctuary and win the battle Legos have waged on your feet.

Movement Lab: Have you ever taken a sound bath? Or hung upside down like a beautiful bat? Or jumped so hard on a trampoline that not peeing yourself a little feels like a miracle of physiology? Movement Lab offers really diverse classes in an incredibly inclusive, accessible environment. I walked into my first anti-gravity (!) class thinking I’d be carried out by paramedics, and by the end I was trying to catch glimpses of myself in the mirror because I needed to see how cool I looked hanging upside down. (I actually looked pretty terrible but I was still wildly impressed.)

The Ivy Bookshop: Get a coffee, take yourself to The Ivy, and strike up a conversation with their staff. Let someone who knows and loves books guide you around until you find the perfect one. Remember that the internet is convenient but the algorithms telling you what to buy haven’t actually read the book. Use the remainder of the hour to read in your car with the heat on.

Lake Montebello: Do a lap or two. Parking is easy, the path is flat, and the lake is pretty. Get out and move your body while listening to a podcast (might I suggest Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend?). I’m also really interested in getting into roller blading, so maybe you could buy a pair and do that, and I can decide if you look cool enough for me to invest in the sport as well.

B.Willow: This is one of Lou’s favorite places so I feel a little bad going without him, but whatever. It’s a very calming space (they just opened a new Canton location, which I’m assuming is equally tranquil) and it’s so nice to wander around, choose a plant, dig in soil, and bring something beautiful into your home.

A bar: I have the great fortune of living within walking distance of several lovely food and beverage establishments, and have no shame in taking myself to a bar stool and enjoying a drink like a damn adult. Order something pretentious like a craft beer in a special glass or a cocktail featuring a mostly irrelevant garnishes. Pull out the book you picked up from The Ivy during your last jaunt, and pretend to read while spying on all the 23-year-olds complaining about how tired they are. Refrain from commenting because getting into bar fights is not what this restorative two hours is all about.

Behind the wrought-iron gate at the corner of Aliceanna and South Ann Streets, visitors will find two things: hundreds of handpicked books—displayed on wall-to-wall shelves, stacked on tables and benches, perched in the windowsill—and Julia Fleischaker, the owner of this new independent bookstore in Fells Point.

Since officially opening Greedy Reads in March, Fleischaker has transformed the cozy bookshop into a neighborhood salon of sorts, a breeding ground for community and community.

After spending nearly 20 years in book publishing, the Montgomery County native came to Baltimore in November and fell for the city’s community spirit and dedication to local businesses. Surprised by the neighborhood’s lack of bookstores, Fleischaker decided to take over the former Maja Jewelry space and stock it with a collection of novels, nonfiction, and kids’ books that balances the bestsellers with lesser-known gems.

“There’s a joke in publishing that everyone who works in the industry either wants to write a novel or open a bookstore,” says Fleischaker with a laugh.

Greedy Reads, named after the can’t-get-enough feeling of browsing for a book, is a one-woman operation, and it’s teeming with personality. Something that sets it apart from other bookstores is its thoughtful variety of titles, with an emphasis on books by women and people of color, as well as Fleischaker’s recommendations and frequent visits from Audie, her labrador-greyhound mix.

In addition to hosting a monthly book club, hanging handwritten “Why I’m Greedy About This Book” notes from customers, and organizing readings and talks from notable authors, Fleischaker plans to expand the store’s charitable components to local and national causes.

“A lot of people think reading is very serious and solitary,” says Fleischaker, “but books can bring people together, and mostly, they’re just fun. I want my store to say that.”

When architects Megan Elcrat and Phillip Jones opened Co_Lab co-working space in the spring of 2016, they envisioned the front portion of the building would one day become a bookstore with a focus on architecture and design.

That time has come.

Co_Lab Books opened in Old Goucher with a soft launch this month and will hold its grand opening in January.

It’s obvious that it was created by people who have made careers out of having a good eye. The look is clean and minimalistic, modern with wooden shelves, paintings by local artists on the walls, and a large, well-lit wooden table at its center, ideal for browsing some of the large art books. Subject matter runs the gamut: architecture theory and criticism, how-to guides, typography, crafts and DIY, city living and urban planning, and a Baltimore section that will expand in 2018.

“We were hungry for a design bookstore in Baltimore. We just thought there was a hole there,” Elcrat says, speaking for herself and on behalf of her husband, Jones. “We’re trying to be more holistically about design,” she adds, leafing through the book Hybrid Modernism and eyeing its large, gorgeous photographs of movie theaters in South India—one of many titles chosen for its showcase of architectural styles.

Behind the bookstore is the workspace of several freelancers (writers, app developers, a lawyer), people who work remotely for larger companies, and nonprofit groups, such as Bikemore, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition, and Child Justice. Though not all the tenants work in art and design fields, many do, and several of them recommended books to add to the store inventory. With two small children of her own, Elcrat stocked several picture books, too, with artwork as beautiful as their messages.

To engage more with the community, Elcrat, who also teaches architecture at Maryland Institute College of Art, plans to hold author talks and other events in 2018.

“Having a storefront presence is kind of an excuse to hang out with people,” she says.