Cacti Coasters!!

I saw these on Clive Roddy's etsy page and holy cannoli, they are so cute!! What a clever idea. I just love it.

 

B.'in Good with Jaeden

Sunday afternoon I picked up Jaeden in Philly, ready to hit Blackbird Pizzeria in Center City and then walk around and explore. Then it started to spit. Not rain so much, but the sky over the city as we crept down I-95 was foreboding and ominous. "God damn it!" I said with considerable irritability. "I really want pizza today and I brought the wrong effing bag and left my umbrella at home. We can't walk around in the rain. This sucks."

Jaeden is, like so many of the kids in my life, utterly unflappable and totally adaptable to any situation. So, we decided to hit the Main Line and go to Blackbird in November. I knew there was a place on Lancaster Ave that I wanted to check out, but damned if I could remember after wracking my pea-sized brain for twenty minutes. With much ennui, I turned to Jaeden and asked, "Can we just go to Panera and get you a grilled cheese with bacon? Is that okay?" I was totally playing him. I knew all I had to say was "bacon" and Jaeden would be 100% on board. He was.

(Please note that while Jaeden looks miserable, in actuality he is not. It's all a front in an effort to look super cool. Thing is, he already is the coolest of the cool, no matter what.)
 
We pulled into the parky lot and walked to the Panera entrance and what was right next door. Like, right next door? B. Good. "Oh my GOD!! That's the place! That's the place I was trying to remember!!" We looked at the menu on the glass beside the door and I told him they had burgers that were not vegan. "I could go for a burger..." Jaeden said, suppressing excitement at having a juicy cow rather than a grilled cheese. 

I love a place that accommodates various diets and B. Good had meat for the lad and yummy vegan grub for lil' ole me! I was so beyond full after I cleared my plate and totally had a case of the itis. I looked across at Jaeden and said slowly, "Oh my god...I am so freakin' full right now...I feel like I'm about to give birth...to a veggie burger and fries...Ughhhhh....." Then Jaeden smirks and says, "Aw...it has your eyes." It was so cute and so Rosemary's Baby that I couldn't help but laugh. Such a great guy and I am really looking forward to our Center City adventure at the beginning of November - rain or shine!


Morris Arboretum

Last weekend Anne and I went to Morris Arboretum. Neither of us had ever been there before and it was just gorgeous. A perfect day with a blue, blue sky and a bold, bright sun to accompany the cool, early Autumn winds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Booked & Ready to Go!

So next year's adventure is planned and booked and I can't wait!! Twenty-two days total from the middle of March until early April. First I head to Italy, one week in Positano then three days in Rome. After Italy, I hit Antwerp for three days and then to Ireland for a week. There's a slight possibility that Natalia will be flying to Dublin and we can meet up. (More on that when I visit her in NYC next month.) As much as I'd love to see Scotland (oh the Highlands....) I know that traveling alone to a new place comes with oodles of stress and that is NOT what this adventure is about. It's about relaxing and trying to wrap my head around turning forty in May. I just want to be somewhere else, somewhere wonderful and somewhere that I can think about the remainder of my life and what I intend to accomplish. Oh, and indulge in marinara pizza, wine, Belgian waffles, chocolate, crisps, chips, and Guinness. It is a vacation after all...

(photo kidnapped from freepik)

Society Hill

Random Art Sighting in Queen Village

Guard Dog

Farley basically won't let anyone mess with a sleeping Bailey.