The Family Has Come and Gone

It's been over a week since I blogged, but I have good reason: my family has been visiting from California. They arrived last Wednesday night and Joe dropped them off at the airport a few hours ago (sans my youngest brother, Brian, who is staying with us an extra few days). We had a pretty packed week of activities planned / sights to see - which I will write about over the next few days - and so we are all exhausted. But it was great to see my parents and brothers, and it was a great opportunity to get to know my new city better.

Since arriving in Philly, I've been a bit of a hermit - mainly focused on unpacking and decorating our apartment, and afraid to venture out. I don't handle change well, and big cities intimidate me (despite the fact that I've lived in San Francisco - I am still a small town girl at heart), so I've avoided much exploration. With my family here, we were forced to get out of the house and navigate the city, ride its buses, and tour a large portion of downtown.

I've come to realize that I really like Philadelphia. The people are very nice (unless they are behind the wheel), the city is pretty clean, and I can't get enough of the old buildings and history! I hate that I am so far from my family and friends, but at least I am living in a place I like and could possibly grow to love.

But that's enough of me making excuses for being M.I.A. ;) - time for something fun: vacation summary!

(er - I guess it would be stay-cation summary for Joe and me...)

Day 1: Thursday, June 20

Thursday's first stop was the Mutter Museum.

It's tough to describe exactly what this place is, so I'll steal the description from their website:  

"America's finest museum of medical history, the Mütter displays its beautifully preserved collections of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments in a 19th century 'cabinet museum' setting. The goal of the Museum is to help the public understand the mysteries and beauty of the human body while appreciating the history of diagnosis and treatment of disease."

Given that it's a medical museum, I knew Joe would be interested. Given that it's supposed to be creepy (skeletons, skulls, body parts in jars of formaldehyde), I figured I'd love it!

I can get a little emotional / sensitive about people dying, so Joe didn't think I could handle Mutter. I told him he was wrong - I could take it - after all, I successfully toured The Museum of Death in LA.

He was right. I couldn't take it.

It didn't start out bad, except that the whole place smelled of formaldehyde (which only I could smell. I'd think I was pregnant if I wasn't already a confirmed bloodhound). The first area was actually pretty interesting. There was a huge display of skulls (139 to be precise) with the gender, location, age, and method of death (if available) of the person who had died. There was a wide variety of people - from a tightrope walker who fell to her death, to a child-murderer who was executed, to a sad number of young people who killed themselves after they were caught stealing.

There was also a very interesting display on Grimm's fairy tales, and real world cases of characters' body injuries/ailments/conditions. For example, there were displays on Rapunzel syndrome and dwarfism. Fun fact - one of the Grimm brothers was pretty sickly and had bad experiences with doctors throughout his life. That's why medical professionals in fairy tales are not looked on with reverence or favor.

At this point, I was ready to rub it in Joe's face that I could handle the museum. And then I went downstairs. Downstairs they had more graphic displays of medical maladies and then the one display that made me leave: a huge display of DEAD BABIES.

Yes. You heard it right folks. A display full of DEAD BABIES. There were skeletons from the embryonic stage right up to full term, and then skeletons of babies who died after birth. I think there was a baby in a jar, but I quickly closed my eyes when I saw something resembling flesh and ran away.

I can take a lot, but I couldn't take that :( Poor things never had a chance at life. And, with my biological clock ticking like it's on speed, I think it hit me especially hard.

So I spent the rest of the time in the gift shop, which was pretty cool. They had some fun things like these plush microbes:

Anthrax

Chlamydia

Bird Flu

After the Mutter Museum, we bummed around a bit and then went on a tour of the historical area of Philly.

This wasn't just any tour, it was a "Grim Philly" tour, where we learned about the darker side of the city's history. Tons of fun stories of prostitution, booze, bodies buried under parks, and even a vampire and ghost story thrown in for good measure.

It was a bit risque, but that made it fun and different :)

***Side Note*** I impressed the guide (and horrified my mother) by knowing what a merkin is. For those of you not full of such naughty facts - a merkin is a pubic wig. In this context, they were worn by prostitutes who shaved their nether regions (to avoid things like crabs and lice and to cover signs of other STDs). At the time, merkins were made of beaver pelts. And now you also probably get the beaver thing. ***End of Side Note***

Enjoying our tour

Here are some of my favorite fun facts from the tour:

• High class prostitutes made $60 a "session." Comparatively, the average sailor made $15 per MONTH.

• Charles Dickens HATED Philadelphia. Before he died, he asked that no statues be erected in his honor anywhere. Philadelphia is the only city in the world to have a statue of Charles Dickens. 

• Drinks of the time were so strong you could light them on fire. If they did not light on fire, it meant that the bartender had watered down the drinks. If caught doing this, by law the bartender had to give you 6x the amount you paid in booze.

• During the yellow fever epidemic, 2/3 of Philly's population left or died. The bell of Christ Church rung so often for those who had died, the mayor eventually told the church to stop because the constant ringing was freaking people out.

• Betsy Ross had 3 husbands - 2 were pirates. Speaking of pirates, John Hancock was also a pirate and pirates invented the first cocktail (beer, citrus, sugar, and rum).

• In the 19th century a gentleman's agreement was made stating that no building would be erected that was taller than William Penn's statue atop Philadelphia City Hall. If this agreement was broken, a "terrible curse will befall the city." In the 1980's a building surpassed William Penn in height, and the Philly sports teams immediately started playing poorly. When the Comcast building was erected in 2007, someone put a bronze replica of this statue at the very top. A year later the Phillies won the World Series. Then, someone stole the statue, and the teams once again are struggling.

 *** I can't be held responsible for the validity of these facts - I'm just repeating them ;)

As you can probably tell, the tour was super informative and a ton of fun. I highly recommend anyone visiting Philly go on a Grim Philly tour.

And now that I've finished day 1, I'm going to head for bed. More to come tomorrow...

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Wedding Anniversary #2

Yesterday, Joe and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. We spent the morning bumming around the apartment (it was a strict no unpacking or cleaning day!) and around 2 p.m. I decided that it was time for us to buy a new mattress.

Backtrack a bit: if you recall, Joe and I tried to do things the cheap way and so we got a free mattress off of Craigslist. The "free" mattress ended up costing a bit, as we had to rent a U-Haul to get it and then paid professional cleaners to clean it. We couldn't sleep on the mattress until the cleaners came due to the fact that it smelled like a casino and Philly is the #1 city in America for bed bugs. So that meant sleeping on an air mattress. The cleaners were supposed to come on Thursday, but there was lightning which meant we had to postpone until Monday (the day before our anniversary). Monday night, the mattress was still damp from the belated cleaning (thanks humidity) and so we decided we'd sleep on our newly cleaned sofa bed for a night and then have the awesome present of a mattress to sleep on for our anniversary (after 2 weeks mattress-less).

Of course, that didn't work out. All day Monday I kept feeling like I could still smell smoke radiating from the mattress. Joe thought I was imagining things or was smelling the cleaning chemicals instead. But my nose is that of a bloodhound (for reals) and after the nagging feeling that we still had a smokey mattress refused to fade, Joe finally stuck his nose in the mattress and agreed that he smelled smoke too.

Yes! (because I was right)

Dang! (because that meant finding a new mattress)

***Side Note*** Look, I am a California girl. California is very strict with smoking laws, and Californians treat smokers like pariahs. I am not used to the smell of cigarette smoke. Joe had one cigarette a few years ago when we were still dating (bad future dentist) and when I kissed him three days later I COULD SMELL THE SMOKE IN HIS MOUTH!!! And this is the mouth of Mr. Oral Hygiene.

Told you I am a bloodhound.

(Joe, by the way, isn't a smoker and hasn't smoked since).

My point is that cigarette smoke is something I just can't handle - even a faint smell is too much, there was no way I could sleep on this mattress. ***End of Side Note***

After deciding I was right (as usual - ha!), we immediately headed to a mattress store in the hopes of a quick decision that wouldn't alter our anniversary night plans. We ended up spending more time driving to and from the store than in the store itself, because I found what I thought to be the perfect mattress. We bought it and headed home to freshen up.

***Side Note*** As I type now, I am laying on our new mattress for the first time since it was delivered this morning. I don't like it :( We have 3 weeks to decide for sure if we like it or not. If not, we can return it and get a different mattress without penalty... but the thought of prolonging this stupid mattress saga totally defeats me. Why oh why does my body have to be so darn picky? First my nose, and now my bones - which are yelling at me that the bed is too firm and definitely firmer than it felt in the store). ARGH!!!!!!!!!! ***End of Side Note***

After freshening up, we rushed to the movie theater and got there just in time for This is the End, which was HILARIOUS! Not a movie you'd want to see with your mom, though. Unless your mom likes pot and jokes about a particular part of a male's anatomy...

After the movie, we went to dinner at a restaurant nearby called Pod. It's Asian Fusion / sushi. Joe and I aren't sushi fans, but there was a wasabi-crusted filet mignon on the menu that looked delicious...

It was.

We also had pot stickers and they surprised us with a special anniversary dessert:

Of course, we had to continue our anniversary photo tradition:

Yesterday...

And last year's - just for fun :)

Today my family arrived in Philly for a week's vacation. It's going to be a lot of fun, but I am already exhausted because I spend the entire day unpacking, cleaning, and cooking. I guess this will be a good challenge for the new mattress - will I wake up refreshed? Or will the firmness make it tough to sleep (no pun intended) and make me a real pleasure to be around tomorrow? I guess you'll just have to tune in later to find out...

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Weekend Re-Cap

This has been a crazy nutso few days. My family is flying in on Wednesday, and our apartment is still a disaster zone (cannot fathom why it takes so long to unpack!) We've been doing a lot around the house to get ready. Sunday was spent at Ikea, Target, Costco, and Home Depot (a quad-fecta - is that a word? - that has been done on 3 of the 14 days we've been in Philly - that's 21.42% of our time in our new city). And today was a fun-filled 10 hours of unpacking, cleaning, and laundry.

I WANT THIS DONE.

On a happier note - we did get a bit of relief on Saturday. One of my dad's best friends works for the USGA, so we were able to get free tickets to the US Open (which was right outside Philly this year).

I come from a big golfing family - but am not a golfer, myself (unless you count mini-golf, which I kick butt at). I have to say that going to the US Open has made me appreciate golf a lot more. Joe is thrilled at this, as he went to the US Open in San Francisco last year and fell in love with the sport.

It took me a bit to catch on - every time I heard cheers I was convinced there was a hole in one - but I soon realized that golfing fans cheer a lot and holes in ones very rarely happen.

I have to say that I was disgusted by the amount of Tiger love. He is a terrible human being who cheated on his pregnant wife with a Perkins waitress (among many, many others). I saw women with Tiger shirts on and couldn't believe that they were willing to forgive such a disgusting human being. Gross. I also couldn't believe the number of popped collars and tucked in shirts. Tucked in shirts I didn't mind, they were actually a fond memory of Catholic School, but those popped collars sure made me laugh.

All in all, super glad to have had the opportunity to go. What a cool once-in-a-lifetime event!

Me and my $125 value (but free for me!) US Open ticket - way too exhausted to turn this pic the right way

Since we were at the Open, on Saturday we didn't get anything house related done. Pretty disappointing because my uncle and cousin (my cousin goes to Drexel, which is also in Philly) were going to visit our apartment and then take us out to dinner. I was bummed at how terrible our place looked, but hopefully they will get a chance to see it all put together.

We went to dinner at this great restaurant nearby - and the walk to and from the restaurant really reinforced how beautiful this city is:

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Date Night!

Joe and I received a lot of advice before getting married. One of the best things we were advised to do (by our instructors at our church engagement classes) was to go on a monthly date night. We started the tradition immediately, and haven't missed a month in the over 30 months since "passing" the class.

We don't always spend a lot of money, but we do always get out of the house. Usually it's dinner and a movie (we try to be careful with money, so we don't go out to eat or to movies very often, which makes it special), but sometimes it's something more unique like laser tag or Chuck E Cheese.

I highly advise any married couple to make a point to go on a date at least once a month (that, and to read The Five Love Languages). 

Last night we decided to do our June date night and went to an amazing Mexican restaurant nearby called Distrito. It's owned by Iron Chef Jose Garces, and will probably become our go-to place in the neighborhood. I kept it simple and had a couple of margaritas, a chicken enchilada, and a quesadilla (it's all small plates - I didn't have two entrees haha). Here's a picture of the enchilada from their website:

There is no picture of the quesadilla, but it was hands down the most delicious quesadilla ever. I felt lame ordering such a simple dish from a restaurant owned by an Iron Chef, but after one bite didn't mind how lame I looked. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After dinner, we went to see The Hangover 3.

***Side Note*** Thursdays are $5 movies at the nearby theater, which the bargain shopper in me is insanely excited about (so excited, in fact, that I saw The Purge solo earlier in the day - Joe doesn't like scary movies). I love to go to the movies, but rarely do because I think they are too expensive, so I'm going to take serious advantage of these $5 Thursdays. ***End of Side Note***

Anyway, back to The Hangover 3. I heard a lot of people dissing on it, so I wasn't too excited about seeing it. But everything else was sold out or something we weren't even remotely interested in, so we gave it a shot. IT WAS SUPER FUNNY. No, it wasn't as good as the first, but it was still a good movie. I was literally lol'ing a lot (and I don't think it was the two margaritas, because I wasn't the only one literally lol'ing). Once again, I remembered that you need to just screw the critics. They don't know what people like. Critically acclaimed movies typically stink, and critical stinkers are usually awesome.

And my favorite character was in it!

Hint: my favorite character is NOT Heather Graham

Joe's review of the movie "I may be overselling it because people were so negative about it - but that was a really good movie. The only people who wouldn't like it are people who didn't like the first two, and if you didn't like the first two, why the F are you going to the third."

I think we'll start a weekly movie review on the ole' bloggity blog here... :)

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Life on an Air Mattress Continues

A few months ago, I discovered thrift shopping and have been (slightly) obsessed ever since. So when we needed to buy some furniture for our new apartment (both because it's bigger than the last and because our pod didn't fit as much as we expected), I wanted to go the thrifting / Craigslist route for what we could.

So far, it has been highly successful - we've gotten two dressers, a cabinet, a (p)leather love seat, a sofa bed, 3 bar stools, 2 bedside tables, an area rug, and a mattress.

All of it is in great shape - except the sofa bed and mattress. The sofa bed was bought at a thrift store and is covered in hair (yum) and the (free!) Craigslist mattress smells like a casino and looks like the previous owner was a profuse sleep sweater.

Neither was bad enough that I'd pass up the deal, but we definitely wanted to get them professionally cleaned before sitting or sleeping on them.

Since our sofa bed wasn't able to be delivered until yesterday, the earliest we could schedule a professional cleaner was for today. This meant sleeping on an air mattress for 10 nights. We sucked it up and thought of the $$$ we'd saved.

So when today arrived, I was pumped that the air mattress would be retired and I'd have a real bed to sleep on. But, alas, we were not so lucky. Mother Nature decided a thunder and lightning storm was in order, and since all of the equipment for the cleaner is outside (the hoses are all that are brought in), we had to postpone until MONDAY. That's four more nights of sleeping on an air mattress.

People asked (jokingly) how Joe and I could survive a cross country drive without killing each other. Ha! That was nothing compared to two weeks of less-than-stellar sleep on an air mattress. Monday won't come soon enough.

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First Impressions

Well, hello friends. Long time no type.

We arrived in Philadelphia a week ago today, and finally have internet (as of about 20 minutes ago). That means I can get back to blogging. Yay!

We also finally have gas for our stove/oven (as of about 2 hours ago), so that means we can have REAL COOKED FOOD TONIGHT! Boiling water will be pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened to me in days.

(It's amazing the little things in life that you miss when you can't do them!)

So what are my first impressions of our new city-of-residence?

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The Good:

(1) Our Apartment

I absolutely flat out LOVE our apartment. I can't say enough positive things about it. It's old (built in 1899!) so there are a few quirks (runny toilet, low clearance on the stairs - even I have to duck, and lots of floor creaking) - but that's nothing compared to the charm and the SPACE. We have two bedrooms (one will be Joe's office), high ceilings, a kitchen island, and a large bathroom.

For fun's sake, here's what was going on in the world the year our apartment was built:

• The Treaty of Paris (ending the Spanish American War) was ratified by the US Senate
• The first death by car accident occurred
• The paperclip was patented 
• Antarctica was discovered
• Al Capone was born 

That also means our apartment existed before the Titanic sunk or World War I - in other words, Mary Crowley of Downton Abbey would have been 8 years old

(2) The People

I don't want to come across as a California-hater, but I don't find the people in CA to be very friendly on the whole. So far, everyone we have come across in Philly has been super friendly and helpful. I was a bit concerned about this given the stereotypes about East Coast attitudes, but either those stereotypes are wrong, Philly is a major exception, or we have just lucked out this first week. Fingers crossed it is not the latter.

(3) Proximity to UPenn

Being this close to UPenn is not only very convenient, but is super exciting because we can actually SEE Joe's dental school every day (we're just 2.5 blocks away). When seven months ago we weren't even sure he would get accepted anywhere, living mere minutes from the school that will make him a dentist is a real "pinch me I must be dreaming" experience.

I also love that being so close to the school means that there are cute little bars and restaurants and it feels "college-y." University City is over the river from Downtown Philly, so we aren't living in the middle of things. Plus, there are actually trees and available parking spots!

The Bad:

(1) This Ain't the Burbs

I'm not a fan of big cities. Even though I had to spend an hour each way commuting to work in San Francisco, it was worth it because we got to live in the burbs. We were 10 minutes from Costco, Target, Trader Joe's, Michael's Crafts, a mall, and pretty much every other store you could possibly want.

Living in Philly means that running errands is an event. You can't just quickly run to the store - you've got to plan it out. Target is at least 30 minutes away (that's without traffic, which is pretty much a certainty) and Costco and a mall are closer to 40 or 45 minutes.

It also means that I am going to have to seriously suck it up and get over my driving anxiety or I will be a prisoner in my own home.

***Side Note*** I got my driver's license while living in a town so small it didn't have a stoplight. I never got used to driving in cities or on freeways, and with commuting via public transit and Joe preferring to drive rather than be a passenger, I haven't had much time behind the wheel for a few years. This has only made me more nervous of a driver. ***End of Side Note***

(2) Humidity and Bugs

California is pretty awesome in terms of not having a lot of bugs and not having humidity. The temperature hasn't been bad since we've been here (it's rained half of the days), but the humidity makes me feel disgusting. I am definitely not used to it, and I'm scared to think how gross I'll feel when it gets hotter. I also have several bug bites. No mom, we don't have bedbugs. Speaking of bedbugs, Philly is the #1 city for bedbugs in the US. How nice.

(3) Liquor Laws

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, you can only buy alcohol at liquor stores (besides bars and restaurants, obviously). Because the free market can't sell alcohol as it pleases, that means it is grossly overpriced. So long cheap Costco vodka :( Thanks puritans.

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All-in-all, I think I'll be happy enough here for four years. This apartment sure makes it easier to be happy. Once again, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I'll include pictures soon - but right now it is a total disaster zone.  

 

 

 

 

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Another Change of Plans

I'm the ultimate planner. Every single thing in my life is analyzed, decided upon, plotted out, and executed. But what I have found on this road trip is how fun spontaneity can be. Deciding to stay in St. Louis an extra few days recovering from my cold felt great - not only was I able to spend more time with my in-laws, but I got to relax and make decisions based on how I felt, not what had been decided upon.

So after two full days in Virginia doing some super awesome (but ultimately, very tiring to my still recovering self) activities from my road trip binder, I felt freer than I typically would to call uncle. I was tired. I was getting grouchy. I didn't want to look at any more museums or historical sites. I didn't want to pay any more admissions. I didn't want to update my blog with summaries of what we had done. I just wanted to be home.

***Side note*** It helps that Virginia isn't too far from our new home. We'll have time to see these sights (and more) over the next four years, and I am sure I'll appreciate them a lot more when I'm not so burnt out! Plus, my family is visiting us later this month and we are doing lots of touristy stuff with them. I need time to recover from tourist-overload before they get here. ***End of side note***

We called our new landlord to see if we could bump up our move-in date from June 6 to ASAP and were told we could pick up our keys Monday afternoon (based on our move-in date they hadn't yet gotten our apartment ready from the previous tenants - which is totally understandable). Since we had about 48 hours to kill, we figured we'd end the trip with a bang, and drove from Charlottesville, VA to Atlantic City (a 6 hour drive).

So here we are. It's noon. I'm still in bed and plan to lay here a bit longer. Once I get my lazy self up and showered, we'll explore the boardwalk, maybe hit the beach, and then tonight we'll do some drinking, eating, and gambling.

I couldn't be happier with this decision.

And apparently, Atlantic City is always "happy":

 

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