Fun weekend

We had a great weekend!

Although I did not request to be off work Sat & Sun, it just worked out that way on the scheduled. Sat morning Spouse & I met Steven for a late breakfast, then we returned home where I broke down some cardboard boxes and stuffed them into the recycling bin, which made room for me to assemble a set of garage shelves onto which I put some stuff to get it better organized.  Then I spent a little time weeding the front flower beds before taking a shower.  

Then Spouse & I went to the 5 year anniversary celebration of the Jusst Sooup Ministries facility.  We became acquainted with the Dunnings who founded and run the soup kitchen when they were our neighbors 10 years ago.  But 5 years ago they were surprised with a fabulous state-of-the-art soup kitchen facility and residence and were featured on ABC's "Extreme Make-over: Home Addition" in 2011.  The celebration was a big barbeque and a chance to visit with founders Dale & Ken whom we like so much.  

Later that evening we went out to dinner with Steven & Thad, and then I did my last Boy George performance of the summer in the Legends show.  Several colleagues from work showed up which was a big surprise.  After the show I mingled with the audience, posed for pictures, and accepted some tips!  People really, really enjoyed the Boy George/Culture Club songs and I received 2 $10 tips!!  Once my work friends left I continued chatting with some folks I met after the show.  A straight couple named John & Lucy were nice, but rather inebriated so I didn't mind at all when they said they had to go while they could still walk.  I also met a couple from Philly named Charles & John.  Actually, they're not from Philly; they moved there less than a year ago.  But Charles has been in real estate so we had that in common and both guys were a lot of fun to hang out with.  I gave them my business card and hoped they'd reach out to me, since I'd told them I was going to Philly the next day.  I didn't get home until 2am.

Then Spouse & I were up at 7:30 Sun morning so we could meet Steven & Thad at 8:30 to spend the day in Philly.  We started with a trip to Trader Joe's to stock up.  We typically go to Trader Joe's when we visit our family, but the last couple times were visited we didn't have time, so we were out of everything.  Next we went to the mid-century warehouse to oogle all the lovely pieces.  They're only open to the public twice a month, on Sundays, for 4 hours.  Spouse & I found this lovely dining table that would be perfect for our dining room since its 2 butterfly leaves make it expand to nearly double its original size.  

This table can seat 10-12, while our current dining table only seats 6.  We didn't buy the table but Spouse said if it was there in 2 weeks he'd make an offer.  I predict he'll find a way to talk himself out of that, as much as we both liked it.

Next we went to lunch at Matt & Marie's, an Italian-style sandwich shop, and then onto Century 21 department store.  I got some new underwear (to replace some old pairs) and a new wallet.  Spouse got a shirt.  We got home about 6pm.

What a great weekend!

Weekend fun

I started my weekend by going with Joe P to see "A Christmas Story" at our local community theatre.  It was a musical based on the movie, and we both enjoyed it a lot.  (Spouse doesn't care for community theatre or musicals so I always go with Joe P.) 

Spouse heard that his mom was having some health issues, so he decided to leave Fri evening and go visit her.  He stayed overnight and spent some time with his sister too.  Fortunately his mom's follow-up on Sat went very well.  I had Sat off work so I went to breakfast with Steven & Thad, took Marvin & Walter for 2 nice walks since it was in the mid-60s, and then put on some Christmas CDs and began writing/addressing my holiday cards.  This is an activity I enjoy every year.  That evening I had a light dinner and then performed as Elton John in the Christmas Legends show. When I got home, Spouse was back.

Sun morning we met up with Steven & Thad and drove to Philly, about 2 hours from here.  Our 1st stop was the mid-century furniture sale.  We weren't planning to buy anything, but still enjoy looking at cool furniture and home accessories.  While there I saw this coffee table that is identical to the coffee table we had growing up.  Its by Lane and the style name is 'Acclaim'.  I think it was a wedding gift to my parents from my grandparents.  Seeing it brought back nice memories.  I wonder if my parents still have it?

Next we stopped at Joe's Pizza where you can get gourmet pizza by the slice.  It was really good!!  Then we went to see the huge video display at the Comcast Center, followed by meandering through not 1 but 2 Christmas markets.  It seemed strange to see people ice skating outdoors while it was 68 degrees.

Next we drove down Pine St and the Gayborhood but didn't get out since many places close early on Sundays.  Next we stopped in at Trader Joe's, and then had dinner at the famous Penrose Diner, a Philly institution.

Finally, we drove through a small south Philly neighborhood known for the excessive, over-the-top Christmas lights and decorating before hitting the highway.  We got home at 8:30, watched a little TV and went to bed early.

Weekend highlights

Its hard to imagine the weather being much less conducive to walking around Philly on Sat. The temperature was in the upper 30s as it alternated between rain and snow the entire day. Oh, and did I mention it was very windy too? We used umbrellas but the wind drove the rain and show under them.

When we arrived in Philly around noon we started with lunch at Pietro's. We had soup, salad, and pizza. Then we had a driving tour of Philly and Thad pointed out places of interest such as museums, beautiful old government buildings, and places where he used to live and work. Then we checked into the hotel and walked across the street to Reading Terminal Market. After walking around and getting the 'lay of the land' we took advantage of the vendors' desire to get rid of baked goods for $2. The 4 of us purchased 5 different desserts and enjoyed a Dessert Extravaganza along with some hot coffee. The coffee was especially nice on such a cold, blustery day. Since it was raining/snowing I wore a water-resistant windbreaker but it wasn't warm enough. (My warmer coat isn't water-resistant.) I felt like I was cold the entire weekend. Then we went to Macy's which is located in the old Wanamaker store. What a gorgeous building! Neither Spouse nor I bought anything, since Macy's isn't really our style. Afterward we rested in hotel room until it was time to get ready for dinner. The 4 of us took a cab and met up with Joe P, Allen, and Matt & Stacy for dinner at Farmicia. But after we'd been sat at our table our waiter advised us that they had no gas (which power the stoves and ovens) so they could not provide any hot food! We decided to go to plan B and went around the corner to Fork. I think the dicey weather was the only reason they were able to seat our party of 8 without a reservation. I had wild mushroom risotto which was delicious. After dinner Joe P went with the 4 of us to a bar called the Bike Stop to see some guys in Halloween costumes. Then we walked over to to Tavern on Camac to see more. It was a fun night!

Sun morning walked across the street again to Reading Terminal Market and had breakfast at Down Home Diner. Afterward we walked around the Terminal some more. Fortunately the weather cleared up. It was bright and sunny, but still cold. We packed up our stuff, checked out of the hotel, and headed over to Trader Joe's in the car so we could stock up on our favorite items. (We don't have Trader Joe's near us so we stock up when we're in Philly or in VA visiting family.) Then came home and relaxed and caught up on emails.

It was a very nice trip, although the weather surely could have been nicer.

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

A friend sent me this and I laughed out loud!A randomly placed price tag can change the entire meaning!

Once again I was disappointed with this season's winner of Project Runway. The last season where I agreed with the winner was when Christian Siriano won. This season it was Anya, or Last-minute Lisa as I call her. Anya allegedly just learned how to sow a few months before the show began. She never seemed to have a clear vision of what she was designing, and always appeared to fly by the seat of her pants. I was especially surprised that the judges didn't slam her for the fact that her Fashion Week collection had little diversity. While other designers made dresses, pants, tops, jackets, gowns, and tanks, Anya made 10 flowing shapeless dresses in tropical prints. Perfect for women who live on cruise ships!

I saw this on facebook and really liked the message.
I've had lots of property showings this week, which is a good thing since you don't sell houses if you aren't showing them. None of them wrote an offer yet but I believe at least 1 of them is getting very close.

Speaking of clients, 1 of my clients sent me box of chocolates as 'thank you' for helping them get to know the area and narrow down the home search for them. They sent the chocolates from some place in OH where they live so I'd never heard of the company before, but the chocolates were amazing!

I saw this on facebook and just had to share it.

Spouse & I are going to Philly this weekend with Steven & Thad. Of course the weather has suddenly changed. Today its cold and windy and tomorrow they're forecasting rain and possibly snow in Philly. I'm sure we'll have a great time anyway.

Have a great Halloween weekend!

Weekend highlights

This past weekend we went to Philadelphia with Steven & Thad to see some of the famous Christmas sights. (All photos may be clicked to enlarge them.)

We left at 9am and arrived in Philly at about 11am. Our first stop was Macy's, located in the old Wanamaker's bldg. We watched the famous Christmas light show (narrated by Julie Andrews) which was really cute.

Immediately afterward we listened to Christmas songs played on the world's largest working organ. Not that I'm a huge organ music fan, but I think Christmas songs sounds wonderful on an organ. Then we had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant called Viet Nam, an old favorite of Thad.

Next we stopped at Termini Brothers Italian Bakery (one of mine and Spouse's favorites) inside the Reading Terminal Market for a little something sweet. Spouse had a chocolate chip cookie and 2 biscotti while I had a dark chocolate disc filled with macadamia nuts.

Then we headed back to Macy's to walk threw the Charles Dickens Village. There was a huge line for it and it turned out to be kinda lame. (I would recommend the Christmas light show and the organ music, but not the Dickens village.) Then we left Macy's and went inside Kenneth Cole for Spouse and inside LaCoste for Thad. We also walked through some bldgs to see the Christmas trees. I found this one to be gorgeous.

Afterward we stopped in at the Christmas Village, a collection of open air stalls selling Christmas ornaments and decor, hats, gloves, scarfs, and gifts. Spouse got 3 cashmere scarfs for $20.

Then we went to the Comcast headquarters lobby for the huge, impressive 3-D Christmas video display on the lobby wall. We arrived 20 minutes early. Here's Spouse, Thad, and me waiting for the show to start.

The 3-D show was so life-like!

It was really cool!

After being on our feet all day we finally checked into our hotel and relaxed a bit. (Steve got us gorgeous rooms at the Hyatt at Penn's Landing for $70.) Although it wasn't in the most convenient location, it was really nice, and our room was on the 17th floor and had a lovely view of the river and Ben Franklin bridge. Spouse & I watched the Christmas boat parade from our room.

Then the 4 of us met up with our friends Joe P and Allen for dinner at Maggianos.

We decided to order from the Classic Family Style menu and the 6 of us shared caesar salad, chopped salad, spinach and artichoke dip, stuffed mushrooms, chicken parmesan, lasagna, pork medallions, veal and mushroom ravioli, peppermint ice cream cake, and tiramisu. OMG!! Needless to say we all left there stuffed.

After dinner we went on a self-guided driving tour of the over-the-top Christmas decorations in South Philly, where Spouse's family is from. That was really fun!

Sun morning we had breakfast at South Street Diner, then did a little shopping at Ikea and then stopped in at Kindy's (over-priced) Christmas decor store before heading back to DE.

We had a great time with our buddies in Philly!

Weekend highlights

We spent the weekend in Philly!

One of the Bobs road with us and the other Bob road with Steven & Thad. We arrived at Bobby Flay's Burger Palace downtown where we met up with Bugs & Roger, Thad's sister Robin, and Thad's friend Alan. We had a delicious and surprisingly affordable lunch at Bobby Flay's. I had the Napa Burger (topped with goat cheese, water cress, and honey mustard) and beer-battered onion rings. Yum!

Then we drove just outside Philly to Merion PA to the Barnes Foundation. Albert Barnes amassed one of the most impressive and valuable art collections in the world with more than 800 paintings by masters including Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, and Cezanne. I don't know anything about art, but it was really cool to be able to view all of those masterpieces in one building. The collection is estimated to be worth about $25 billion.

Then we headed back to downtown Philly where we checked in at the Marriot Residence, across the street from the gorgeous City Hall building. Our room was on the 7th floor with a fantastic view of City Hall. I took this photo while laying on the bed.

Then we walked to Reading Terminal Market with Bugs & Roger for a snack. I got a dark chocolate 'wheel' filled with macadamia nuts from Termini Brothers bakery. Then Roger and I split a piece of Pumple cake from Flying Monkey. Pumple gets its name by combining pumpkin and apple: pumple. Pumple cake consists of pumpkin pie encased in chocolate cake (layer 1) and apple pie encased in yellow cake (layer 2), then frosted with buttercream icing. It sounded so intriguing we had to split a piece.

We both liked it, but it didn't have the 'OMG' factor I was expecting. Next we went to the Macy's that now occupies the old John Wannamaker's building. It is incredible! The grand court is open to the 4 floors above it and you can watch/hear an organist playing the largest organ in the world. Learn more about the organ here. In addition to providing music for daily shopping, the organ and grand court are also used for concerts and extensive holiday light shows. Its truly a spectacle everyone should see when in Philly. Then we went back to the hotel room and relaxed for a while before changing clothes for dinner.

Steven & Thad, The Bobs, Bug & Roger, and Spouse & I met up with Alan and Joe P at Knock. I had a delicious dark rum marinated pork loin with grilled mango and rice. The food and service were excellent and we all enjoyed our meal together. Afterward we walked to the Bike Stop bar, Tavern on Camac bar, and the famous Woody's bar.

Sun morning we enjoyed a free breakfast at the hotel and hung around talking for a while. Then we packed up, checked out, loaded our luggage into the cars, said goodbye to Bugs & Roger, and headed to Moriarty's for brunch with some local area guys who will be going on the cruise next month. We met several nice, friendly guys and enjoyed the brunch. Then we strolled through Outfest Pride festival before heading to the cars and leaving for home. We arrived home at 4:30 and just hung out the rest of the evening, and watched some shows on the DVR.

The weather was fantastic - sunny and in the mid/upper 70s during the day and a little cooler at night, which was ideal for all the walking we did. We had a great time and I can definitely see more day and weekend trips to Philly in our future.

Crush du Jour: Drew Pare

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.


After last week's .5 lb weight gain, Spouse was back to following Weight Watchers with a vengeance and lost 7.5 lbs this week! In 14 weeks he's now lost a total of 57 lbs. As you can imagine, many of his clothes are just too big now. Fortunately he had some smaller size clothes that he is now able to fit into again. But to treat himself for doing so well he went on a little shopping trip this week and got 5 new shirts and 3 new pairs of pants in his current size.


My friend Jared sent me this:
with the subject line: "You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy a tasty bagel".

My friend Lisa in NY posted this piece about fall decorating with gourds on Facebook and I found it to be hilarious!! Enjoy. (Note: contains profanity.)

Jared also sent me this in reference to that wacky conservative DE senate candidate who is against everything, including masturbation:
We are spending this coming weekend in Philadelphia. Steven & Thad, the Bobs, and Spouse & I are meeting up with Bugs & Roger, Thad's sister Robin, and Thad's friend Alan and going to the Barnes Foundation to view the magnificent art collection and gardens. We also plan to attend a brunch for fellow passengers on our Nov cruise and attend the Outfest street fair. Should be a fun weekend!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Crush du Jour: Derrek Diamond

Weekend highlights

I mentioned on Fri that on Sat we were taking a day trip to Philadelphia with Steven & Thad. Wow, what a day!!

We left at 9am and got to Philly about 11am. We started with a driving tour that allowed us to see much of the beautiful downtown architecture.
Thad lived in several neighborhoods of Philly so he had a tremendous knowledge of many of the original and current uses for the lovely buildings we saw. We also drove by several historic landmarks such as the Liberty Bell, Joan of Arc statue, William Penn, and many museums and "free" libraries. I thought it odd that the signs all referred to the libraries as free, since I was not aware that any libraries charged admission.

Much of our time was spent in Center City, but we also drove through other places such as the Italian Market in South Philly, Antique Row on Pine St, Fairmount Park, Manayunk, and several beautiful residential neighborhoods like Washington Square, Rittenhouse Square, and East Falls. We passed by the house where Grace Kelly lived.

Then we were ready for lunch. Steven & Thad picked the lovely French creperie Beau Monde where we got a table on the patio. The weather was perfect for outdoor dining.
I had a delicious crepe filled with grilled chicken breast, leeks, olives, goat cheese & lemon butter. It was amazing. View their menus here.

Next we headed to Termini Brothers Italian bakery for dessert, a favorite of mine & Spouse.

For almost 90 years Termini Brothers have been making incredible Italian baked goods such as canoli, cakes, biscotti, and cookies. When you walk in the door you feel as though you've been transported back in time. Notice the black and white tile floor, the pressed tin ceiling, and the bakery cases made of wood and glass.

When you're ready, a woman dressed all in white places your selections on a stainless steel cookie sheet, then ties up your box full of goodies with twine. Spouse & I each got a canoli to eat right away, a box of assorted Italian cookies, some assorted biscotti, a package of pizzelles, a caramel pecan bar, and a dark chocolate macadamia wheel to take home. OMG - I can not even BEGIN to describe how delicious this stuff is!!! But why take my word for it? They will ship to you!

We went inside several antique, vintage, and one-of-a-kind art stores along Antique Row, then continued our driving tour.

Our next stop was a surprise: Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Prior to moving to DE, Thad was a project manager for the company hired to furnish and decorate the Phillies stadium. I once referred to this part of his career as "sports decorating" and it stuck. So Thad arranged for us to have a private tour so we could see his "sports decorating". Our mutual friend Joe (who lives outside Philly) met us there.

Not just the stands, but we also got to tour many other private/VIP areas the general public never sees, such as the Diamond Club, players club, hall of fame, and more. Although I know little-to-nothing about baseball, it was exciting to get a 'back stage', 'behind the scenes' tour. We looked all over for the plaque acknowledging Thad's contribution to the beauty and function of the stadium, but couldn't find it.

Next the 5 of us went back into the Gayborhood again to Giovanni's Room, one of the few remaining GLBT bookstores. It was colorful and cramped, just as you'd expect. There was a reading going on upstairs so we kept our visit brief and quiet. But while there, Steven opened up a magazine and saw a guy with whom I played beach volley ball last summer!

We walked next door to Mixto for dinner. It was an attractive brick and wood restaurant that felt cozy despite its large size. I started with a Mojito, then had Bandeja Tipico for dinner. Its description puzzled me: seared steak, crispy pork rind, arepa, avocado, rice, fried eggs, beans, and maduros, so I had to try it. I thought the ingredients would be all mixed together sort of like paella, but they weren't. Each ingredient was placed on the plate individually. It was quite unusual and tasted fantastic!

Our last stop was to have dessert at Max Brenner Chocolate from the Bald Man. The name alone was intriguing, but once we looked at the dessert menu, I knew I was in heaven. I was way too full from dinner to eat a full dessert myself, plus I knew I'd have a terrible time trying to decide on just one, so I told Spouse to pick whatever he wanted and we would split it. He chose the Munchies Waffles (page 2) which were perfect, and coffee to wash it all down. There is nothing quite like good quality (high cocoa %) dark chocolate. Its like truth serum to me.

We bid our friend Joe goodbye and headed back home. Steven and Spouse sat in the back since we knew they'd be asleep in no time. Thad and I chatted all the way back to DE. We got home at 11pm.

We had a terrific day and really enjoyed everything we saw and ate.

Sun we both slept in (surprise), had lunch and ran some errands. Later we went to a potluck at Deb & Greer's which was nice. We watched a little TV before turning in early at 10:00.

Crush du Jour: Marcello Baca