I think I'm finally starting to grow up

Well, not fully a grown up, but almost there.

I've been in Philly now for 6 years! I can't believe it. It's almost as long as I lived at home in NJ before leaving for college (that was 7 years). I almost left after the first 2 years here when my fellowship ended and I couldn't find anything in town. Obviously, I found something here and have loved the city ever since.

I wanted to start looking to buy something 4 years ago, but my brother and others told me to wait, that the bubble hadn't burst yet and it was going to. Now that the bubble has burst and prices have gone down a bit (as well as the $8,000 credit for 1st-time buyers) I am ready to throw my hat into the ring!

I found a realtor, thanks to Lisa, and we went to see our 1st 2 places today. They were both in center city -- 1 in Wash Sq West and the other in Rittenhouse.

The one in Rittenhouse (21st & Spruce) had the most gorgeous living room (thought I took a picture, but I guess not) on the first floor, with high ceilings, crown molding, hardwood floors and huge windows. However, the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen were all downstairs in what used to be the basement. I will say, the windows downstairs were large and let in some light, but b/c they were right on the street, I'd have to keep them covered up all the time for privacy. Plus, the bedrooms were tiny. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling it. So cross that one off my list.

The 2nd house we looked at was at Cater and Lombard.


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It was a trinity w/ a little add-on for the kitchen. For those of you not from Philly, trinities are 3-floor houses that are usually something like 12x12 or 15x15. They are basically 3 rooms stacked on top of each other. The stairs are a bit narrow and steep (like spiral stairs but not as bad in my opinion). The living room is on the first floor, the den/office/2nd bedroom is on the 2nd floor w/ the bathroom (tiny), and the master is on the top floor. The master was interesting in that they opened up the ceiling to pitched roof and made a tray/loft of sorts. It's a great way to add in more storage to such a small place. The kitchen was off the living and actually a nice size w/ full-size appliances. The sink was small, but that would just keep you from leaving dishes in there and not putting them in the dishwasher. Out back was a cute little narrow patio. The house is on a cute little cobblestone side street. It was one of those places where it was cute, but it's not one that I "must have" just yet. I'll just keep it in the back burner. Oh, and it had a nice basement w/ a full-size w/d. Definite plus!






Of course, with any Center City plus, parking will have to be on the street. I've been so spoiled parking my car in an assigned spot in a garage. When it snows, I don't have to worry about shoveling. At least my car is 10 years old so I won't mind keeping it out in the elements.

Tomorrow, I'm scheduled to look at close to 15 more places. These will all be in Fairmount and will be bigger than what I looked at today. Wish me luck!

Is it over already?

I just got home from a week down the shore on Long Beach Island with my family. It was a great week filled with sun bathing, bike riding, relaxing, playing w/ my nieces and just spending quality time w/ the family.

My youngest niece finally started walking, so she spent much of the week walking as much as she could. On our last day on the beach, she finally got up the nerve to walk on the beach and the 2 of us took a walk across our beach. It was so cute as she pointed at the sea gulls and steered away from the shells.

Speaking of shells, I don't know what was up, but there were a ton of barnacles that washed ashore on shells and anything else they could attach themselves to.

I love this picture of her devouring a watermelon on the beach.

My oldest niece is a full-fledged little girl. I can't get over it. She loves learning about new things and asking you what things mean. She has a book on the human body w/ experiments to boot and loved having us read it. This book came w/ a box of things used to demonstrate certain aspects of the body. There was a stretchy band for a muscle, a filter to demonstrate how the kidneys work, etc. There was that and the geography pop up book that I brought her. With each area we talked about, she asks what storms it has. The girl is obsessed w/ natural disasters.


We lucked out and had great weather all week. When everyone in the Philly and NY metro areas was dealing w/ torrential downpours, flooding, funnel clouds, hail, etc., we had beautiful, sunny days on the beach. Only one day did we come in from the beach due to the clouds, but it didn't rain and passed right by us. It cleared up and we went back out on the beach. Also, only 1 morning did the wind come from somewhere other than the south. It was a west wind which meant that the biting flies would be out. We equipped ourselves with OFF and it seems only my mom and I were attacked. We came back after lunch and the wind had shifted and the flies were gone. I'm telling you, you could not have asked for a better week weather wise.


I had a great time w/ everyone and am sad that it is over.


A great picture of my sister w/ the girls:


Finally, these are just some fun videos of the girls from the week:

Bag lady

A few months ago, I went to 4th Street and had my first introduction to Fabric Row. I don't sew, but it's a great place for buttons and other accessories too. I went with Andrea and Lisa with the intent of buying fabric to make drawstring bags. Andrea was kind enough to do the sewing for me (again, I don't sew) and made me two bags soon after our trip. Since then, Miss Andrea has designed several tops, she has become a sewing diva making a bunch of clothes, and then all the other things that come into it. Needless to say, she's been busy!

Fast forward to last night. I show up at Rosie's and there's Andrea with a bagful of bags for me. In addition to the 2 smaller bags she made me in the blue and purple batik, she sewed up 6 little bags and 3 big bags! As much as I love blue and purple bags, I LOVE the hot sauce fabric! It's just great. I think I still have some other fabric left over. Unbelievable. I figured I'd get maybe 1, or 2 bags if I was lucky, out of the piece of fabric I bought. Nope. And the best part? The fabric I bought had to be no more than $20 altogether.



So, after taking a picture of the beautiful bags Andrea made for me, I thought I should also photograph my actual bag obsession -- Piddleloop. I've keep buy these bags b/c I love the fabrics and Jen is awesome. However, they are all over the place. I finally decided to "organize" a bit and threw some nails in my closet to help me maintain some sanity and here is what I came up with.



The sad part is this does not include my wedge bag, several 4x6 pouches, a few larger pouches, a triangular bag, and a lone Piddly that I forget to put a nail in for. Yikes. That makes 6 project pouches, 7 piddlies, 1 wedge, 1 triangle, and a few other miscellaneous flat pouches. They are great for holding onto my hibernating projects, as well as for make up or toiletries when packing.

I think I'm done for now. Now to tackle the yarn exponentially growing yarn stash . . .

Guess what I did last night . . .

I went to see Paul McCartney last night at the new Citifield stadium (fka Shea Stadium)!


The Beatles were the first concert to be performed at Shea so it was only fitting that Paul "christen" the new stadium. Actually, I hadn't even planned to go, let alone even knew about it, but my friend sent me an email on Thursday that her SIL couldn't make it and would I like to go. Yeah, like I hesitated. Yesterday was my compressed day anyway so it wasn't too hard to hop on a train meet her in midtown.

It was steamy hot out and everyone new the skies were going to open up at some point during the show. We lucked out b/c our seats (by choice) were under an overhang and when the skies finally did open up, we were bone dry! No ponchos or umbrellas needed, thank you!

The show was great. He played a few things I wasn't familiar with, probably newer solo stuff, but a lot of great old stuff too.

Here's a list of some of the songs he played that I can remember. I should have written the set list down like we did at dead shows, but I wasn't thinking. I did find a site this morning that did post the whole set list, so I'm just going to write down the ones I knew and loved:

Drive My Car
Jet
Got to Get You into My Life
Long and Winding Road
Band On The Run
Let it Be
Hey Jude
I've Got a Feeling
Something
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace A Chance
Back in the USSR
Eleanor Rigby
Live and Let Die

He did 2 encores. I can't remember where it was in the encore (or which one), but he talked about how almost a year ago to the day, he was asked to help close out the final concert at Shea w/ Billy Joel and that he felt it was only fitting that he should extend that same offer and so . . . Billy Joel came out and performed I Saw Her Standing Therewith Paul. It was great! The rest of the encore rocked as well. I hate it when folks end on a mellow beat and was glad that Hey Jude and Let it Be (as awesome as they are) were earlier in the show.

Encores:
I Saw Her Standing There
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band

I'm sure I'm missing some of the Beatles stuff, but I can't recall, and of course I have no idea what some of the solo songs were toward the beginning.

I'm having issues uploading a video or two of the show at the moment, so that should be added later.

Pucker up, baby!

It's done!


This is Pucker from Norah Gaughan's Volume 4. I saw this pattern and just had to make it. How I managed to wait this long (got the pattern back in March/April) I do not know. I love it so much that I may make another one with different yarn (to mix things up a bit).

When I wore it yesterday I got a lot of great compliments. A co-worker kept telling everyone to come check out my new top. Funny, 2 out of 3 of my favorite tops have been Norah Gaughan's designs and both were made with Seduce.

Well, here's one more shot b/c it's just too cute!

Family time

Last weekend I made the long drive along the PA Turnpike out to Johnstown to visit my grandmother. The whole family was there and believe it or not, it's always a good time. I'm definitely fortunate that my family gets along so well and we enjoy spending time together. A trip to Johnstown usually involves chilling out in the backyard by the pool and this trip was pretty typical, including friends and cousins stopping by to say hi.

Leah was all about the bubbles and had a great time trying to catch them. We got Alex in the pool, but even with water wings, she didn't want to let go. I offered to teach her how to swim but she refused.


On Saturday we drove out to Pittsburgh to celebrate my aunt's 60th birthday. It was great to see her as well as some of my great aunts and cousins that I don't get to see very often. Sure, I could post pictures from the party, but really, this is the best one of the bunch:


Precious. Oh, and little Leah is just too cute!


For her birthday, I knit my aunt up a quick little airy scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts in Rowan's Kidsilk Haze that she can wear to work. She loved it and proceeded to wear it the rest of the day even though it was 80 degrees out.


Finally, everyone has a theory who Leah looks like. I think it's the most common conversation when you are around babies. So, I think she takes after my brother Eric most of the time. My mom says she looks like me. I never saw it. But, then I saw the pictures of Leah I took w/ the bubbles and thought of a b&w picture of me from when I was 12 months and I do see some of the similarities. Do you?

Fourth of July Weekend

I had a nice long weekend to spend with friends and family. On Thursday, I drove up to NJ to see the family. Katie was in town w/ the kids so that was an added bonus. I had a great time playing w/ Alex and Leah. Leah and I did laps around the downstairs w/ her holding onto my hands. I think that's why my back is bugging me! Alex was fascinated w/ bones, eyes and the digestive system, thanks to some really cute books (Young Genius) my mom picked up for her. They were really cute. I definitely recommend them.

Friday night we went to the pool for dinner. Both girls wanted in the pool. Leah was hysterical. At the time, she was standing and holding onto the edge. She wanted a ball on the other side of the baby pool, so what does she do? She sits down and starts to crawl over to get it. No big deal, right? Yeah, I think the mouthful of water freaked her out. She did it so quickly, no one had a chance to stop her from doing it.

That night, Alex stayed up late and went w/ us to see the fireworks at Tenafly High School. She did a great job, considering the noise.

Of course, I never remember to get a picture of her w/ me . . .

I came back to Philly for the 4th. It's hard to be away when you've got a huge concert in your backyard. They say that it is the nation's largest free outdoor concert. This year, it was The Roots and Sheryl Crow. I really enjoyed The Roots and Sheryl Crow was good as well. Sherry, Lisa and Sherry's husband joined me in the festivities.


It is still hard for me to view fireworks to anything else other than the War of 1812 Overture. I think it's from my days in DC and watching the fireworks on the Mall. Usually, Philly has some theme and this year it was "Great Orators." I didn't understand it when I read it online, but then in person it was even odder. Basically, the fireworks were set off to great American speeches w/ a little musical interlude b/w speeches. B/c of that, the fireworks were pretty mellow. They did, however, include a lot of my favorite fireworks which I like to call weeping willows.

Triathlon Training - Weeks 5 & 6

Week 5
Well, b/c I'm writing this update a week late, I can't remember much of what occurred during week 5. Week 5 ended w/ the Philly Tri weekend, which is what I had originally planned to do, but decided I'd wait until Sept. Boy am I glad I did. It was sooooo hot! The sun was just brutal on folks at the end for the run. I saw folks around miles 4-5 of the 10K and was pleased to see that many folks were walking at this point. One concern I have always had is that I'll mostly be walking since I'm not a runner. By the looks of things on Sunday, I'll have no problem w/ that!

Also, my knees were bugging me after my ride that Saturday and I'm sure it didn't help that I followed it up w/ a run/walk the next day. I've been trying to take it easy after that.

Week 6
This was a crappy week on the training front. I was in NYC Monday night, bailed on Tuesday b/c I was exhausted from being in NYC the night before, Thursday was traveling to NJ and Saturday was traveling and the 4th. So basically, all I really have done since last Sunday was spin and strength train on Weds. and run/walk for all of 30 minutes on Friday. Very sad training week. I will finish it out w/ a bang and ride at least the 18 miles I have on my schedule.

I'm hoping that this week will be a little better. Problem is I have a dinner on Thursday night in Conshohocken and then I head to Johnstown on Friday where I'll be traveling 4 hours on Fri. and Sun. and then will be in Pittsburgh on Sat. Hmmm, when do I fit in exercising AND catching up w/ family. I think I will bring my bike so I can try to fit something in. My grandmother's pool is small, but maybe I can swim some laps while I'm there too. At least w/ that, I can swim laps at night if I want to.

As for fundraising, I have raised almost $1800 so far, which means I am just over 50% from my goal! Thanks to everyone that has made a contribution so far!

Siesta

Well, I finally finished Siesta (ravelry link). I like it, but I want to try and re-block it one more time. It's just a little long. Still, here's a dark picture of me modeling it earlier this week.



On another note, I was on West River Drive on Sunday and notice this Blue Heron chilling out just below the dam.

Yum Yum

I took the train up to NYC yesterday afternoon to meet my brother and sister for dinner and to see Rock of Ages (fun reliving the hair bands of the 80s). I took an earlier train and met my friend for coffee. As I was walking down 9th Ave., I couldn't help but notice the Yum Yum love in the area.

Do you notice something odd in this picture?


And this is just two doors down from the intersection:

Basically, you've got Yum Yum, Yum Yum Too and Yum Yum III all within 500 feet of each other. They must really like Thai food in that neighborhood!