The Brazilians come to Philly

This past weekend, we had some Philly visitors. Lydia and Joao came down for the weekend, and since Lydia's sister, Danielle, had won tickets to a private Harry Connick Jr. concert in NY and had flown in from Houston that week, she came to visit, too!

It was pretty fantabulous to get to see them and have them hang out with us for the weekend. Thankfully, they all survived the trip down Friday night (on the Chinatown bus, sitting next to the bathrooms - ew), and we were able to curb Lydia's cat allergies with an 11pm run to Walgreens so she could actually sleep at our house (always a good thing).

On Saturday we packed the sightseeing in, going to a Wheaton alumni brunch in Old City, then heading to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the site of Benjamin Franklin's old house, and Elfreth's Alley, amongst other things. It's always fun to have people come visit Philly, because Josh and I get a chance to realize just how much incredible history there is in our city...

After traipsing around downtown, we headed home, cooked up a delicious dinner, and played Fury of Dracula - this time we beat Josh (aka Dracula), and I think it's Lydia's new favorite board game!

Sunday they managed to get out of bed for our 8:30am church service (it was an impressive feat after such a late night), and I'm glad they did! I love having people visit our church. We then watched National Treasure (a fitting thing to do when you have just visited all the major historical sites in Philly), had a late lunch, and drove them back to the Chinatown bus.

It was a quick, but wonderful weekend. We love having people come visit us in Philly... so if you're thinking about it, our door is always open! =)

At the entrance to Ben Franklin's "house"...

We're going to go tour Independence Hall!

Reading up on some AMERICAN history beforehand (Joao is Brazilian/British and needed a little info on how things really went down...)

Grabbing some Independence Hall photos...

Visiting the old Senate/Congress building...

Visiting the Liberty Bell. A must-do in Philly.

Elfreth's Alley - the oldest, continuously lived in neighborhood/street in the US:

The newlyweds catching a quick smooch... shh, don't tell!

The whole group - since it's the only picture of all of us!

Lydia & Joao, we love you guys! Come back soon! (And Danielle, if you're in from Houston, please come, too!)

Zoo Adventures

Fact: I love visiting the zoo.

For quite a while, I wanted to be a zoologist when I grew up, and many of my daydreams revolved around befriending animals and living in the wild with them. Granted, they often possessed magical abilities (which is one more reason I should live in Harry Potter's world and go to Hogwarts), but it still counts as that whole loving animals thing.

When we were in Seattle last month, Josh and I went on a zoo adventure to the Woodland Park Zoo, along with my little brother Jacob, my dear friend Patye, her precious daughter Amelie, and my friend Wes from Wheaton who now lives in Seattle. It was pretty fantastic.

Some things to note:

• Josh had his first burger from Dick's - a MUST for Seattle visitors.
• Amelie is an absolutely beautiful child and I adore her.
• Jacob is a good child-holder and stroller-pusher.
• My hand is indeed smaller than a hippopotamus's.

To Whet Your Appetite...

I like pictures. We know that, yes? Of course.
I like Seattle. We know that, yes? Of course.
I like desserts. We know that, yes? Of course.

SO... what could be better than pictures of desserts in Seattle, right?! Well, aside from eating the desserts yourself while in Seattle... not a whole lot!

A few weeks ago, one of our Seattle adventures was a trip to the zoo with some beloved friends. This trip happened the day after my birthday... meaning I had my new camera. Now, the zoo was fabulous and wonderful, as all zoo trips should be (more on that later, I promise)... and it was also tiring, as all zoo trips should also be (it's just in the rules). So, what better way to refresh ourselves after a trip to the zoo, than by going and getting delicious cupcakes?!

I can't thank Patye enough for introducing me to Trophy Cupcakes. For one thing, the cupcakes are INCREDIBLE. They are carefully handcrafted, completely unique, and absolutely beyond delicious. For another, this place is just so darn cute! Beyond their beautiful and scrumptious cupcakes, they've got a whole variety of vintage decor and party supplies... not to mention an assortment of lattes and espressos. At $3 a cupcake, it adds up quickly (we bought 4: ate 1 there and took 3 home to share), but it's definitely worth it. I'm already looking forward to going back at Christmas!

I'm not going to say much else, other than this: Trophy makes the BEST cupcakes I have ever had in my life, and if you live in the Seattle area, you need to go. There's one in Wallingford and a new store in the U District. They are fabulous. Check out their website for hours... and for FLAVORS. There are five core flavors available everyday, then another 4-5 available depending which day of the week it is... ranging from Lemon Coconut (my favorite of the ones I tried), to Chocolate Peanut Butter, to Snickerdoodle, to Chai Cardamom. Seriously, people, go get some.

Kicking it Colorado Style

So, since I'm working on catching up on some long-ago promised posts...

Back in July, I went out to Denver for a week for the Street School Network annual conference. It happened to be held at Colorado Christian University, which is where my friend, Eric (aka "Teetz") was working (he's since moved to DC for a new job... closer to Philly, woohoo!). Eric is one of the infamous "Brown House Guys", as is his old roommate (since he has now moved to DC), Tyler. See what's happening here? Go to Colorado for a work conference... see friends who work on campus and live close by! It's a pretty sweet deal! I didn't get any pictures with those two (the broken camera strikes again), but we DID go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! I was quite disappointed that I couldn't go to the midnight showing... I had to wait until 8:30pm to go see it, can you believe that? But I did see it, and that was probably a very good thing (it would have gotten really ugly otherwise... it was already a, uh, challenge, to wait that long).

In addition to that, one of my roommates from college, Bethany, also lives outside Denver, so she and her husband, James, came down and brought their two kiddos, Helen and Joshua, to come see me! I hadn't met either of them yet (since it'd been almost 3 years since I'd seen Bethany), so it was quite a treat. Here are a few pictures Bethany caught of me with her little ones:

Joshua's cheeks were just too kissable to resist, and Helen is one smart little cookie...

Also, one of the evenings, those of us from my school in Philly drove down to Colorado Springs (where I lived way back in 1994-97) and visited Garden of the Gods and had dinner at The Broadmoor Hotel's "Golden Bee" restaurant. It was an English pub that had a real live piano man! (There's a picture of him here!) I was so impressed -- he had all 150+ songs memorized... music, lyrics, and what page they were on in the songbook, too! The whole restaurant was singing along with him. It was great! Though I hadn't expected the jaunt down to the Springs, it was fun to see everything again (though it really all did seem a lot smaller than when I was 12). I didn't get any pictures of the piano man, but I was excited that my camera let me catch a few during our Garden of the Gods hike...

The Garden of the Gods used to be one of my favorite places to go when we lived in Colorado Springs. It's so beautiful, and is a free park open year-round. Add to that that it's set right against the foot of the Rocky Mountains and Pike's Peak, and it's just an incredible place to be. We saw this guy on our way out...

It was a great trip, all in all. Though it was the longest Josh and I have been apart (I know, totally mushy), I really enjoyed seeing my friends and the breathtaking Colorado beauty. Anyone want to meet up with me next year? ;-)

The Windy City

So, remember a reeeeaaalllly long time ago when we went to Chicago? Yeah, back in April.... well, I'm finally writing about it! Better late than never, right?

One of the great things about working at a school is that I get school holidays off. I don't get the summers off anymore, but it's still pretty fantastic to get 2 weeks off at Christmas and a week off for spring break. This year, Josh and I found some good ticket prices, and jetted to Chicago for my spring break. He'd only been to Chicago once for a day when he was in college, and since I went to Wheaton College (right outside Chicago), I have a bunch of friends who moved to the city after graduating. Josh also has some friends there now, so we were pretty excited for our trip.

Despite the fact that my camera was being seriously moody (it has since been laid to rest after a prolonged, painful death), I still managed to get a few pictures. Not many, but a few. So, here's to them.


The first day we were in Chicago, it snowed. Even though it was the beginning of April, I suppose we shouldn't have been too surprised. But my dear friend, Peju, put us up in her cute apartment, and we warmed up quickly.

The next day, we went out to Wheaton, and got to see some of my old friends (who were freshmen when I was a senior), spend a good bit of time at Arena Theatre, as well as meet and catch up with a bunch of my old professors. We sat in on chapel and a few classes, and even led a class with my mentor, Dr. Henry Allen. A lot of my friends tend to stay away from Wheaton after they graduate, but I found it really encouraging to be back for a couple days, visiting and talking with friends and professors, and sharing that part of my life with Josh. I think he "gets" that side of me so much more now.


After a couple days in Wheaton, we headed back into the city to see more friends. We got to see some of Josh's friends (including one of his best friends and their week-old baby!), and some of my friends. (Above are some of my most favoritest women ever.)

We also ate at a lot of great places. While I can't say it was the best food I ate all week (though it was quite good), probably the most interesting was America's Dog. It's a hot dog place that serves hot dogs from all over the US... pick a city, and you'll get what they put on their "traditional" dog. Devin got really hungry and wanted to eat them all... and yes, I admit it, I tried a fried twinkie. (Which totally made me think of Wall-E, and how the only remaining food after hundreds and hundreds of years were twinkies... how's that for all chemical preservatives and no real food food?)


We also played a few games of Munchkin and Munchkin Booty (a great game which I'll need to review at some point). Devin proceeded to carry both games around all day, which elicited a number of comments and questions, especially about Munchkin Booty (the pirate version of Munchkin). I think the best was the astonished woman who asked, "Does that say Munchin' Booty?!"


We went to Millenium and Grant Parks, walked by the Art Institute, went to the Bean and took Bean pictures (very important), and also walked up the Magnificent Mile and out by Lake Michigan...

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic trip, and wonderful to see so many good friends (many of whom aren't pictured here -- remember the camera that refused to work). I only wish we'd had longer to catch up more. So, my suggestion is all you Chicago people come visit us out here in Philly! We've got a very comfortable guest bedroom that could be all yours. =)