Thursday, December 10, 2009

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? I decided to test this theory this past weekend. Brian, David, Jimmy and I spent the weekend exploring Philly. We’ve all been before so we were able to bypass the standard tourist attractions (or most of them) and spent the weekend checking out new sites but focusing on Christmas, chocolate and food in general.

We got into Philly at almost midnight on Friday night and naturally had to start out by sampling the local cuisine – Philly Cheesesteak… and a sample is all we needed. We tried out two places who claim to be the original, Gino’s and Pat’s, and both were horrible. Really, the cheesesteak wasn’t even good enough to finish (of course finish we did-it is food).

Naturally we started Saturday off with a big breakfast. Followed shortly by a stop at Naked Chocolate Café-a fantastic chocolate café-for some hot chocolate. But this wasn’t just any hot chocolate. This was European Hot Chocolate and it was crazy thick and ridiculously rich. But man was it good.



The rest of the day included some shopping and hanging out at Macy’s and watching the Festival of Lights-a six story wall of Christmas lights, inside Macy’s that take shape with changing Christmas music and narration by Julie Andrews. We also stopped by Philadelphia’s Christmas Market, just outside City Hall. It was a little disappointing, but to be fair, we wouldn’t have lasted long anyway. It was snowing and we were all freezing.


We also made quick stops to check out the Philadelphia Train Display and Reading Terminal market for some more chocolate, cookies and ice cream.



After heading back to the hotel to warm up, we all decided we were too full to move. So naturally, we forced ourselves to get up and head out to eat at Max Brenners. The whole point of trying Max Brenners was for their famous chocolate. Unfortunately after forcing ourselves to eat, we couldn’t even handle desert. Of course to make up for this loss, Brian and I bought some European style hot chocolate mix to take back to DC.

On Sunday we did some more shopping and then stopped by Longwood Gardens. It was absolutely incredible. Definitely the highlight of the weekend.


















All in all , Philly was a great experience. And no-there is no such thing as too much Christmas or Chocolate.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Outer Banks

Last weekend Jimmy and I went down to the Outer Banks with David and Brian. It was such a great weekend. Friday was gorgeous. The sun was out and it was crazy warm. We spent half the day in the water and the other half playing beach games.

I also found a new way of getting around the beach. Driving!!! So much easier and tons of fun!



There are some 'wild' horses on Ocracoke Island (horses that are coralled-does that make any sense?). Jimmy loved watching the horses.



And we all loved exploring the island, the lighthouses, shops and we even got to take a ferry!






Jennifer, Bryan, and Katelyn

Jennifer, Bryan and Katelyn all came up two weekends ago and we had a blast. Jimmy was glowing the whole weekend! He had so much fun wrestling with Bryan and Bryan even let Jimmy win a few times.


We all loved taking turns holding Katelyn. She is so cute!


We all carved pumpkins. I was boring and made the standard jack-o-lantern. Jimmy and Bryan's was much more interesting.



We also tried decorating a haunted ginger bread house. I can't stress the word "tried" enough. The icing was way too runny and everything just dripped down the sides of the house.




I'm pretty sure Bryan spent more time eating the icing and toppings than decorating. But I'm definitely blaming the house on Bryan-I don't want people realizing how bad I am at decorating.

What a great weekend!