Put a little Spring in your step!

Unlike chilly Chicago, 

Spring actually comes in April in Philly...

which is super awesome. 

Everyone (myself included) is noticeably happier. 

Here are some springtime pics of our hood. 

~~~~~

There are cherry blossoms around every corner.

Having never spent a spring 

in a city where these bloom,

I have to admit, 

I'm super enchanted.  

This giant beer has nothing to do with Spring...

I'm just happy I found a Happy Hour

with $5 Dos Equis Amber...

and friends to enjoy it with on Friday nights :-)  

Spring also means garden parties. 

Zack is a grill master. 

So good. 

We've also had one of those super hot days.

(86 degrees to be exact)

Which lead to strawberry DQ soft serve. 

Springtime selfie with the pup. 

Not having a porch means 

repotting plants in the living room...

very very carefully, 

I might add. 

Nice addition of JDog doing stretches on the sidelines too. 

New fav diner! 

 I mean really?!

How kickass is that sign...

and the dessert case? 

Anywhere with a case of desserts

gets my vote. 

Rewatching the Hunger Games

lead to rereading Catching Fire this weekend.  

Jax was not a happy camper,

as he too knew Spring meant more outside time.

And last but not least, 

Anthony has final crits soon...

So stuffing nutella inside chocolate chip cookies

seemed like the best medicine

to help him make it through the upcoming week. 

Now he'd better hurry up & come home

before I eat 2 dozen cookies. 

:-) 

How about you? 

How's spring shaping up? 

For my friends in Chicago 

with snow on the ground...

come visit! 

I'll save you some cookies!

(maybe)

Fallin' for Philly

In the past 10 years, 

I've lived in 5 (very) different cities and towns.

Something I've noticed recently? 

Every place has a season. 

The season the city comes alive. 

The happiest version of that city. 

Yes, it definitely depends on the people living there too...

I mean, I would never move to a city 

whose season is Winter. 

Everyone always talks about the winters in Chicago. 

But for those who have lived there, 

Chicago is a Summer city. 

Bloomington? 

Easily Spring. 

....and Philly? 

Fall. 

Most definitely fall. 

Don't believe me? 
Here's some very convincing evidence. 

 Didn't know Martha Stewart lived in my neighborhood. 

People here take their window dressings very seriously. 

And their house cats ;-) 

Oh, and Jax wasn't sure what to make of this guy. 

"Hey....should I fight him?
Because I totally will... 
In your honor of course."

"Pretty please?"

hahahaha. 

I think Summer cities are my personal favorite. 

Of course, fall is pretty easy to love too.  

What about you? 

Filly Fun!

Now that we're getting settled in, 

we've had some time to go exploring in Philly. 

Here's the score so far

(in order of importance) 

:-) 

1. Unpack - check!

Our place is compact, 

(almost no kitchen!)

but everything now has a home...

and it's in a great neighborhood. 

 And yes, 

there is an amp in our fireplace :-)

 Little pieces of Chicago!

2. Get job - working on it :-)   

I've had one phone interview (QVC)

and have another tomorrow (Anthropologie).

Please send prayers, 

cross your fingas, 

think nice thoughts 

about me finding a jobby job. 

3. Find Bears bar - check! 

There is only one in the city. 

...and....

it's 4 blocks from our house. 

...and....

everyone there was awesome.

Bear Down!

4. Hit up the Italian Market - check! 

For those of you in Chicago, 

the Italian Market is a cross between

the Des Plaines market, Seattle's Pike Place

and then add in tons of meat and cheese.

We were in heaven. 

 Oh and we definitely got a lot of boos

for our Bear's gear. 

The guys in the meat shop 

almost kicked us out ;-)

Soft-shelled crabby sandwich?!

Yes, please! 

Di Bruno's House of Cheese was my fav.
We had to leave quickly
or we would have spent all
of our rent money on cheesy goodies.
hahahahah.
I'm not kidding. 

5. Find Rocky stairs and run them - check! 

YAY! 

The cheesesteak count
still sits at zero,
so there will be more posts soon!  

The mission at hand...

Just a quick update on Philly! 

We made it, yay!

Operation
"Find places for 24 feet of stuff"

is going pretty well...

However...

Operation
 "Don't drink all the scotch

while setting up house"...

not so much :-)

Drinking and moving just go so well together.
 hahahaha

But we're alive, well, and getting adjusted.

Thanks everyone for the prayers during our journey!

Oh, and a HUGE thanks to Poppa Bowers
for driving out with us and sharing in the moving fun
(and the scotch) ;-)
We love you so much!