Right Side

My mom gave me great advice yesterday. She said the best gift is something frivolous (lipstick, handbag, ridiculous kitchen goods) and a good book. Here’s my favorites from 2012.

Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud, Jonathan Safran Foer

This book had me laughing and crying on the same pages. I couldn’t put it down, because I fell in love with the main character. While some complain it was hard to read, the curiosity and innocence of the main character stole my heart and reminded me that working with kids is truly a gift. How Safran Foer did it, I’ll never know.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And other Concerns) Mindy Kaling

Mindy writes in the opening that her book is not better than Tina Fey’s. I would beg to differ. She is funny and wise, a gift that rarely coincides. I loved her witty writing and refreshing take on life. Similar to Bossypants, I love that Mindy also struggled through her 20′s just like the rest of us, and made it out on top. The rest of us can only hope that survival equals a book deal. Girl power!

Every Last One, Anna Quindlen

This is not  a book I would usually read, as the protagonist is a mother of 3 in her 40s. Somehow Quindlen managed to create a deep bond between the main character and I, only to tear my heart in two. One of those books that stays with you long after the final page has been read.

Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo

One of my girlfriends in Philly recommended this book to me. It’s a true story about a boy who “dies” during surgery and goes to heaven, able to recount specific details to his family and friends. Inspiring to read, even through the dramatized passages.

The Hunger Games Trilogy, Suzanne Collins

Apparently Collins stole the idea behind this book from someone else: guess what? I don’t care because I skimmed through these three babies in only a few days. Definite beach reads but totally worth it. #teamgale

Bonne lecture

Sometimes when life is spinning by you, all you need to do is book a ticket to France. I was invited to a wedding in a 13th century abbey in the south of France this summer, and somehow I couldn’t refuse.

Plus, I had some friend therapy seeing my old rommates from our little yellow kitchen. We rented an apartment and fell in love. We had our very own French appartment and our French friends in town from Paris for the wedding even stayed one night and cooked us dinner. It was so cozy: my Scot even brewed me his very British tea in the evenings before bed.

Toulouse was our home base for the week. We listened to jazz at Toulouse plage, had a few rounds at the local student bars, took walking wine tours and generally traipsed about the city visiting museums and vintage books shops, tasting local treasures.

We took a few days trips, one being to Carcassonne, the Medieval walled city, and the other to Lourdes, France. Lourdes was an absolutely amazing experience. I have never seen such beauty in devotion, and it is something to appreciate no matter what you truly believe in.

And of course, watching the marriage of our friend was simply amazing. In true French fashion, we  huddled in an tiny, ornate chapel somewhere in Southwest France. The reception was in a restored Abbey just a few miles down the road. The champagne, dancing, and brunch the next day in a huge country chateau made it a weekend I will never forget.

Talk about therapeutic. No matter what the price, sometimes it takes a wild adventure to make you realize that even if you don’t shave your legs everyday and sometimes you daydream during important conference calls and you love a little too much just when you should be guarded, that’s really living.

This  June I went to San Diego for work and extended my trip a few days to enjoy the city and surrounding area. I was so excited to visit SD after my 5th grade project to “spend a million dollars” was a trip to San Diego with a visit to the zoo. It surpassed all my ten year old expectations by far! While I had never heard of “June gloom” (the weather in SD can be rather cloudy in June) we lucked out after a few cloudy days and got lots of good sunshine.

Eating and Drinking Downtown – Visit the Gaslamp district by going on a tequila or local brewery tour! San Diego is known for its Mexican food, and the carne asada fries at La Puerta with some delicious local beer was one of my top meals I had there. El Vitral also had excellent food and tequila! The outdoor section looks over Petco park, so even if you can’t make the ball game there’s excellent spectator seating over lunch. For evening drinks, try Altitude, a rooftop bar looking over the baseball stadium. Gorgeous on summer nights!

Day Trips: Defintiely take the ferry to Coronado, a lovely beach town where the Naval Base is. I walked through the downtown to Hotel del Coronado and took in the beautiful views, treated myself to ice cream, and if I had more time would have rented a bike. A perfect day trip. Further out is Oceanside/Carslbad, where I caught up with a friend and went surfing. It is absolutely beautiful and a total California activity. Don’t forget the post-surfing trip to In-and-Out burger, (order everything animal style). Another amazingly beautiful area is La Jolla (soft J people), a ritzy part of town famous for its sun bathing sea lions. The breath-taking views reminded me of Les Calanques in the South of France. A must see.

Things to Do and Visit: Sea World was great, the only slightly frightening part was the rehearsed, cheesy rock concert style Shamu show. The first time I had ever seen something like that at an aquarium, it was interesting. Balboa park was the most beautiful area, Spanish style architecture everywhere and amazing museums and of course, the zoo! While the zoo is expensive, it is one of the nicest in the country and I loved having the employees around the explain about the personalities of the different animals and the gossip inside the glass. Didn’t even mind that I was older than all of the kids there! I also caught a game at Petco park and watched how the Padres played on the west coast.

Favorite Moment: One night I stayed in Ocean Beach, a very hippie part of town. We sat by a bonfire at night and listened to the ocean, only to wake up the next morning to have breakfast on Ocean Pier and watch the surfers wait patiently on their boards for the perfect wave. A wonderful trip indeed to a unique, relaxed, delicious city. My top trip of this year.

unlimited coffee

when you break the yolk of a perfectly cooked egg over-easy

speaker phone calls with all my siblings

running through the fall leaves

HUGS

fire pits

the express lady wishing me an awesome day – every morning!

 what are some of your favorite simple pleasures today?

Since I’ve been trying to get invited to the Diner en Blanc celebrations in Paris and New York for years now, I was overjoyed to find a new Diner en Blanc pique-nique coming our way in August! Here are some photos from the event.

How fabulous! My day finally came when I can fest with others who splurge on smelly cheese and appreciate the timelessness of white as a fashion statement. Diner en blanc is the most refined event to come to Philadelphia since Tory Burch’s birth in 1966.

Diner en Blanc is all the rage because of its secrecy. Invite only, you must pack a picnic. No jest: large baskets, cumbersome tupperware and champagne glasses encouraged! The location is kept quiet (a pop-up party at City Hall? Rittenhouse Square? Art Museum steps?) until the final moment, when throngs of picnic-goers show up basking in the glory of inclusion.

Let me (french wanna-be, cheese enthusiast, lover of clean, classy fashion) be your guide to Diner en Blanc Philadelphia (the above sandwhich was created by me during a real, Parisian picnic at the Cinema en Plein Air).

The Ultimate Philadelphia DEB picnic basket:

• Baguette: Le Bus (whole wheat just doesn’t cut it the way sugary fatty white baguette does, but they have some bangin’ multigrain baguettes)
• Cheese: DiBruno and Brothers, Burrata Cheese (they even have a video)
• Charcuterie: Claudio’s Prociutto de Parma
• Headhouse Farmers Market: Jersey ‘Mater (Heirloom)
• Olive Oil: Garces Trading Company
• Guilty Pleasure Picnic Item: Fried Chicken from Federal Donuts or my homemade choc chip cookies
• Champagne: Veuve has always been a personal favorite (donations accepted)

Please, I am willing to do anything to attend this event (baking? picnic basket building? I’ll even use my trusty Schwinn to transport your items the night of the event to avoid mussing your white frocks!). Send love to a wanna be Frenchie in Philly. Invite her to DEB and make her dreams come true.

I have been absolutely loving urban life.

After living in the countryside for a year, I’m back and ready for action. My little orange Schwinn bike was my last step: although not as good as “Anna Karenina” (my baguette-sticking-out-of-basket antique blue French bike), she does the trick for rides along the Schuykill.

I have been seeing Philly from all sides: beer running club by the river, French get-togethers at the Sofitel in Rittenhouse, weekends in No Libs and empty Memorial Day Weekends at Headhouse Market eating all the cheese.

I’d have that day again.

My mother’s last words were to be careful in sin city. I somehow had no trouble abiding by her advice, as I acted as more of a scared puppy trying to avoid noise, flashing, and crowds for the majority of the trip. As we were flying in, I longed to be dropped off in the mountains and gorgeous gold deserts we passed by. Instead, we landed on the strip.

I got to Vegas and got the taxi-cab spiel about the greatest city in the world. Movies were mentioned, the fanciest hotels, the city that never sleeps. The car door opened and the doorman commented on the lightness and portability of my bag. I told him real women pack light, and could he please take me to the lobby so I wouldn’t get lost. I got lost anyway.

Vegas is the land of frivolousness, of course the gambling and the drinking, but also the expense of indulging in just about anything. Shopping, massages, entertainment, partying: it seemed to me that some people live for that kind of stuff.  I weaved my way in and out of the casinos, watching ladies in bikinis deliver drinks at 9 in the morning.

I tried to envision it, and if I had a million dollars, I would book a room at Caesar’s Palace for a week with four of my besties (yes I said besties). We would rock bikinis and drink cosmos in the pool, just like another episode of Sex and the City.

Instead I snuck out before the conference to read at the pool before any hungover 20 year-olds could block my sun rays. Vegas just wasn’t my cup of tea, but I’m glad I saw it, even though I was forced to listen to “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” jokes from my co-workers for a solid month.

I love this article listing 30 things every woman should know before 30.
In the meantime, live for today.

This was me before going to Florida – knowing that I will see my one and only Kristie!

Look how excited I am! I was really going to Florida for work, but I was able to squeeze in a few days with my girl, oh, and HP. We magically got upgraded to a five star hotel! Can you imagine our luck? That kind of stuff only happens to fabulous people (winkwink). The Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando was absolutely beautiful! The pools and hot tubs were amazing, although the food was very overpriced and the little shop for take away food was very poorly managed.

Our first thing on the agenda was take the shuttle to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, to check out Harry Potter World! To say I was like a little kid in a candy store would be too literal to be a metaphor. I was running around Honeydukes screaming with delight at the novelties that fell out of the pages of the book. Zonkos even had extendable ears!

One of my favorite parts was waiting for the ride and walking through Hogwarts. They built Hogwarts so incredibly realistically, it was almost more fun waiting for the ride than going on it! If you grew up reading Harry Potter like me, I would highly advise a trip to Universal. I am not a theme park lover, and I had a great day with Kristie. We also had lunch in Mythos, which is definitely worth the wait for an awesome lunch spot. The food is delicious and it’s worth the money to get out of the heat and relax for a few hours.

After a tiring day, these girls had only about enough energy to lounge in our robes and drink red wine before falling asleep at 9PM. While we didn’t party, we did spend Sunday morning getting some sun and saying our last goodbyes. The weekend went by so quickly! I will miss ma cherie Luckily she is moving to DC in the fall!

I was off to the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever stayed in for a conference. For an amazing treat, stay at the JW Mariott in Orlando. It had the best food, pool, and service I’ve ever experienced!

So the sixth month mark is coming up on my new job, I’ve been living in the city for two months now, and what do I have to show for myself?

City Hall at NightMargs and guac at El Vez

The Mummers Day Parade

I’ve been doing everything everybody else has been doing for a  long time. I am just a little late to be doing it. Exploring Frankford Hall in Northern Liberties, old city classics like Eulogy Belgian Tavern, pretending I am French in Rittenhouse Square’s Parc, and NY day brunch at Sabrina’s in Fairmount has all been really fun and I am finally starting to get a good feel for the city.

This morning, I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, but never gathered the strength. I jogged to Federal Donuts for breakfast. After reading about it on blogs, local papers, and even (GASP) the NYT,  it became a realistic connundrum: how do I make it to Federal Donuts before they run out of donuts? With no car, no bike, and no willpower to get up early, the options were seemingly desolate. Then, I used Googlemaps last night to confirm that Federal Donuts is exactly 1.5 miles away from my apartment, making it a clean 3 mile Saturday morning jog (and a clearly counteractive activity).

Let me tell you, this was the cutest little donut shop I’ve ever seen. In the adorable neighborhood near 2nd and Washington, the sweet lady who served me was wearing skinny jeans and had those hipster red lips. Ignore the fact that I was sweating, wearing my workout gear, and in line for a donut. I took an immediate bite and the “cake” exploded in my mouth with buttery, creamy, textury goodness while the spices were sweet yet not overwhelming. The willpower I then used to stop eating and continue jogging was unfathomable, even now as I write this. Luckily, it was packaged in the most charming way that I kept my form tight and managed to make it to my front door and brew some coffee.

I asked for the Apollonia, and it did not disappoint. A mixture of mocha, orange blossom, and some kind of cinnamon spice -  I loved it! Way better than any donut I’ve ever had. Now, should I jog back for fried chicken tonight?