Weekend Wrap Up
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Phew! What a weekend. Dare I say that I am happy to be back at work just to have the chance to relax? I think I was just super tired to start with. We had a busy weekend - but we've had busier. It got really cold here in the past few days. So I think the Winter blahs are creeping up on me.
OH! Aside from my whining about how tired I am, does this post seem especially sparkly and smell sorta like a new car? If it doesn't, it should! I am typing it from my brand spankin' new laptop. And thanks to all the side work I've been doing, I should have it paid off in the next two weeks.
Anywhoooo. Saturday was our really busy day. We went to Philadelphia for a craft show that was being held at the Broad Street Mission.
This wasn't your usual Christmas craft show with knitted scarves and crocheted toilet paper cozies. These were real artists and super cool crafts, jewelry, clothing and letterpress items (swoooon! letterpress!) We met up with my friend Kiely. That was nice for me because C wasn't really interested in the show. He wrangled Izzy while I drooled over tiny coffee cup charms constructed from recycled watch parts.
Kiely was excited about Jay McCaroll being there. Project Runway isn't really my thing so I wasn't really concerned with him but he did have some super cute bags for sale. For being a 'known' designer, I think his prices are pretty reasonable. Shame he didn't have this on his table:
I would have bought that in a heart beat!
I ended up leaving the show empty handed though. However, I took lots of business cards. I didn't think to bring much cash and really didn't have enough on me to buy anything. But I will definitely be checking out these artists online. I was so impressed and inspired by each vendor at the show.
After the craft show we walked down to City Hall to see the Christmas Village.
After crossing over Broad Street we could let Izzy have the run of the sidewalk. If you've never been to City Hall in Philly, it's basically an island in the city surrounded by a busy circle of traffic. C and Izzy were running along and Izzy was screaming at the top of her lungs. It was so funny. She was competing with the noise of city and losing the battle. But like any good sport, she enjoyed the game despite the loss.
Mother of the Year that I am, I remembered Izzy's blanket and scarf (she won't wear a hat) but no gloves. I ended up giving her mine and she was quite pleased with that. They are fingerless gloves and she delighted in torturing me by telling me to 'fix it mommy!' when she kept jamming three little fingers in one section.
Christmas Village was a nice stroll but honestly I wasn't terribly impressed. I think maybe I was just anxious to get to the Wanamaker building. It's Macy's now but it will always be Wanamaker's to me. I wanted to see the classic light show they have every year and the window displays. I was not disappointed by the displays! I was so impressed. Each window told part of the story of "Yes, Virginia", each display constructed entirely from cut paper. This story is based on actual events. In 1897, a little girl named Virginia O'Hanlon, wrote to the New York Sun newspaper and asked if Santa Claus was real. Editor Francis P. Church's reply to the little girl was "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist ..." Read more.
I adore paper art. Seeing a flat sheet of paper brough to life with a pair of scissors, a few simple folds and couple of curls makes want to dance around and sing like I am in a full scale Broadway production. How can you not be impressed by this:
As you may have guessed I am also a fan of Real Simple magazine and their paper art scenes that are included in every issue. I really love the way these artists turned something so simple into something so rich and decadent.
When C had enough of my gawking at the windows (and freezing his tail off) we finally made our way inside Macy's to see the light show.
Izzy really enjoyed the show. It wasn't a huge reaction - I think she was worn out from all the fresh air and next to no nap at all. As you can see in that last shot, C was pretty beat too.
I was having a great time until some jerk-off tried to lift my wallet out of my bag. I had it under my arm (it's a large wallet) for quite a while and my diaper bag was hanging on the back of the stroller. I decided to finally put it back in the bag since I was standing right next to the stroller. No sooner did I put it back, deep into the bag did I see this guy sidling up to me. Previously no one was standing near me. I am one step away from stroller and the bag and this man is inching his way over, pretending to look at something on his phone. Finally he is close enough that I am getting a tad wary of him and I see him sort of lean and take a look into my bag. Of course at this point I wasn't going to give him any further chances to confirm my suspicions. I stepped back over so that I was standing directly behind the stroller. You'd have thought I lit a firecracker under this man the way he scooted away from me.
I would also like to draw your attention to the stalker that keeps showing up everywhere I go. This nut followed me to Dutch Wonderland a few weeks ago too! ;)
Afterward we did a little more running through the city:
And said our goodbyes to Auntie Kiely:
Hope you had a great weekend too!
OH! Aside from my whining about how tired I am, does this post seem especially sparkly and smell sorta like a new car? If it doesn't, it should! I am typing it from my brand spankin' new laptop. And thanks to all the side work I've been doing, I should have it paid off in the next two weeks.
Anywhoooo. Saturday was our really busy day. We went to Philadelphia for a craft show that was being held at the Broad Street Mission.
This wasn't your usual Christmas craft show with knitted scarves and crocheted toilet paper cozies. These were real artists and super cool crafts, jewelry, clothing and letterpress items (swoooon! letterpress!) We met up with my friend Kiely. That was nice for me because C wasn't really interested in the show. He wrangled Izzy while I drooled over tiny coffee cup charms constructed from recycled watch parts.
 |
| Patiently waiting :) |
Kiely was excited about Jay McCaroll being there. Project Runway isn't really my thing so I wasn't really concerned with him but he did have some super cute bags for sale. For being a 'known' designer, I think his prices are pretty reasonable. Shame he didn't have this on his table:
I ended up leaving the show empty handed though. However, I took lots of business cards. I didn't think to bring much cash and really didn't have enough on me to buy anything. But I will definitely be checking out these artists online. I was so impressed and inspired by each vendor at the show.
After the craft show we walked down to City Hall to see the Christmas Village.
After crossing over Broad Street we could let Izzy have the run of the sidewalk. If you've never been to City Hall in Philly, it's basically an island in the city surrounded by a busy circle of traffic. C and Izzy were running along and Izzy was screaming at the top of her lungs. It was so funny. She was competing with the noise of city and losing the battle. But like any good sport, she enjoyed the game despite the loss.
Mother of the Year that I am, I remembered Izzy's blanket and scarf (she won't wear a hat) but no gloves. I ended up giving her mine and she was quite pleased with that. They are fingerless gloves and she delighted in torturing me by telling me to 'fix it mommy!' when she kept jamming three little fingers in one section.
Christmas Village was a nice stroll but honestly I wasn't terribly impressed. I think maybe I was just anxious to get to the Wanamaker building. It's Macy's now but it will always be Wanamaker's to me. I wanted to see the classic light show they have every year and the window displays. I was not disappointed by the displays! I was so impressed. Each window told part of the story of "Yes, Virginia", each display constructed entirely from cut paper. This story is based on actual events. In 1897, a little girl named Virginia O'Hanlon, wrote to the New York Sun newspaper and asked if Santa Claus was real. Editor Francis P. Church's reply to the little girl was "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist ..." Read more.
I adore paper art. Seeing a flat sheet of paper brough to life with a pair of scissors, a few simple folds and couple of curls makes want to dance around and sing like I am in a full scale Broadway production. How can you not be impressed by this:
 |
| Check out the detail in the little girl's eyes! |
As you may have guessed I am also a fan of Real Simple magazine and their paper art scenes that are included in every issue. I really love the way these artists turned something so simple into something so rich and decadent.
When C had enough of my gawking at the windows (and freezing his tail off) we finally made our way inside Macy's to see the light show.
Izzy really enjoyed the show. It wasn't a huge reaction - I think she was worn out from all the fresh air and next to no nap at all. As you can see in that last shot, C was pretty beat too.
I was having a great time until some jerk-off tried to lift my wallet out of my bag. I had it under my arm (it's a large wallet) for quite a while and my diaper bag was hanging on the back of the stroller. I decided to finally put it back in the bag since I was standing right next to the stroller. No sooner did I put it back, deep into the bag did I see this guy sidling up to me. Previously no one was standing near me. I am one step away from stroller and the bag and this man is inching his way over, pretending to look at something on his phone. Finally he is close enough that I am getting a tad wary of him and I see him sort of lean and take a look into my bag. Of course at this point I wasn't going to give him any further chances to confirm my suspicions. I stepped back over so that I was standing directly behind the stroller. You'd have thought I lit a firecracker under this man the way he scooted away from me.
I would also like to draw your attention to the stalker that keeps showing up everywhere I go. This nut followed me to Dutch Wonderland a few weeks ago too! ;)
Afterward we did a little more running through the city:
And said our goodbyes to Auntie Kiely:
After we went our separate ways, the three of us headed to South Philly for some lunch. We had to make the ultimate choice between Pat's and Geno's. It was actually pretty easy because Pat's didn't take cards
and the line at Geno's was ridiculous and it was too cold out.
So in the end we went to the sports bar that was in between the two.
After lunch we called it a day. When we got back to our car, I noticed this and thought it was really funny:
Which one is smaller? Can you tell? *Sigh* One day we'll have a normal sized car. :)
