Stop and smell the roses

There are some lovely, rural views along the drive from my parents house in NJ to Philadelphia. Every now and then, I have to remind myself that it's okay to stop and capture the moment (even if it means that I won't make superb time on the drive back). Here are some shots from a recent drive — I was lucky enough to catch a beautiful, stormy sky behind a horse farm on Bear Tavern Road.

Sit. Stay. Good dog!

We had the pleasure of doing a little dog-sitting while my parents took a Southwestern jaunt. Bubba came stayed with us for a week and got to live the life of a city dog for a while. I did my part to at least try to find him a little grass on our walks each day. It was the least I could do!

For those of you who don't know Bubba, he is one cool dog...
He is a rottweiler mix — possibly with some basset hound (see legs) or chow (see tail and black tongue). He's about 80 lbs...but has legs that are about 6 inches tall, which makes him somewhat of a low-rider! He doesn't really fetch or play around too much....not really there for your own amusement. But he's a very even-keeled presence and is definitely a loyal friend to have around!



Like any visitor to Philly, Bubba wanted to see the sights:

He ran the Rocky steps...











 Visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art...








And enjoyed the Philadelphia skyline...










I think we did a good job of tuckering him out each day, so he slept a lot too. Aside from the shedding, he was a pretty good house guest to have around!






Oh, and by the way, SuperDog wants to wish you a Happy Halloween!

View from the top

Despite the fact that I hang out in a cube eight hours a day, I actually have pretty cool view! I have three sides to my little cube on the 35th floor of the building...

And one of the three sides of the cube is a window...

In fact, working in a building that is sided entirely in glass offers some great views from all angles! Because I seem to enjoy the views from all sides so much, I thought I would share it! Click on the pictures, and you'll be able to see them close up.

(View to the south. And yes, I can see where Brad works from my desk!)

(View to the east. Richie Sambora — guitarist for Bon Jovi — bought a condo recently on the 46th floor of Two Liberty Place. It was the highest priced condo ever sold in Philadelphia's history!)

(View to the north — my favorite one (probably because it's my neighborhood!))

Summer concert recap

This August we saw a handful of great concerts, a favorite summer pastime for us. There's nothing like a cold beer and great music outside on a summer night! We had a pretty eclectic line-up this past month — Elton John and Billy Joel on August 1, Stephen Marley and Snoop Dog on August 7, and Allman Brothers and Widespread Panic on August 21.

Elton John and Billy Joel
Brad and I went to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert at Citizens Bank Park (the Phillies' baseball stadium) with Jeremy and Monica. We lucked out and got a beautiful summer evening that was sandwiched in between two days of severe thunderstorms and flash flooding — what luck!

(Photo cred goes to Brad...nice shot!)

These two legendary performers are both about 60 years old, and they can still put on a great show! To start they show, these two rose from the floorboards at their pianos, which were set up dueling-piano style.

(A fun tidbit: Reese Witherspoon, her kids, 

and Jake Gyllenhaal are sitting right in 

front of Elton John, who is the piano to 

the left in this picture.)

They played a set together, then each did an individual show, and then played together again for a total of more than 3 hours of music! I saw Elton John at Radio City Music Hall several years ago (thank you, Jeremy!), but I never saw Billy Joel and was glad to cross him off of my concert wishlist before he stopped touring.

Together they played songs that included Your Song, Just the Way You Are, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, My Life, I Guess that's Why They Call it The Blues, Uptown Girl, The Bitch is Back, You May Be Right, Benny and the Jets, Candle in the Wind, and Piano Man.

Stephen Marley and Snoop Dogg
The following weekend we were at another concert, this one called the Blazed and Confused Tour. I'm pretty sure we were the oldest people there (which turned out to be rather obnoxious — let's just say that I'm unimpressed with young adults today!). Nonetheless, we found a way to enjoy ourselves and the great music! The concert was at Festival Pier, which is an outdoor venue right under the Ben Franklin Bridge on the Delaware River.



Stephen Marley, son of legend Bob Marley, started the show off and was awesome! I'm pretty sure that there's no better reggae voice out there right now!



Stephen Marley is on the far right of the photo — my favorite part of this picture, however, is the little boy on the left who waved the Jamaican flag for literally the entire performance along with several other Marley children! Marley played a lot of songs from his new(er) solo album, and he also covered a lot of his dad's songs (e.g., Punky Reggae Party, Buffalo Soldier, Is This Love, Three Little Birds), which were fantastic!

Snoop Dogg (I too am amazed that I went to see him) was pretty entertaining too. Perhaps Brad is better-suited to write about Snoop?



Allman Brothers and Widespread Panic
Finally, we went to the Allman Bros/Panic show at the amphitheater across the river in Camden. Not only were we heading to a great show, but we got to take the ferry there (I love a good boat ride)!

And, Dad. This tangent's for you — a dedication to the USS New Jersey 
(pictured below), which resides in the Delaware River between Philly and Camden! 
This ship was built in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and launched 
December 7, 1942. Due to her outstanding service record, the USS New Jersey 
holds the distinction of being the most decorated battleship in naval 
history (Wikipedia taught me all of this).

I digress. Widespread Panic, one of Brad's favorite bands, came out first and had an awesome set! Band members from Panic made appearances throughout the Allman Bros' set as well, and it was awesome to see a bunch of middle-aged (or older) men jamming out on stage!



You'll notice Greg Allman sitting to the left in this picture at the piano/organ, which is generally where you'll find him (even when he's the lead singer on the song!). All in all, it was a great night! Here is the end of "One Way Out"...enjoy!

Clemente Park

Brad and I like to play basketball and frisbee at Clemente Park, which is about a half-block from our apartment. The park serves many functions — dog park, soccer field, baseball/softball field, basketball court, playground, recreation center, a place to loiter, etc. The park once served another function, as it was the location where the intro to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was filmed! In the opening scene of the intro, you can see Will Smith playing bball in the park. From the different angles in the intro, you can see the school in the background...

...the baseball field...

...and the recreation center, which has since been painted into a beautiful mural. And isn't the cloud in this picture just perfect? I was rather pleased.

So, while Will Smith raps about a childhood in West Philadelphia, he actually filmed in good old Fairmount at 18th & Wallace. Of course, the park and neighborhood have since had 20 years of gentrification and demographic shift!

Oh baby!

I got to see two great friends the weekend before last, Amy and Jen. We've been friends for over 15 years — yikes! A couple of years ago, my friends were all getting married. Now, all of a sudden, my friends are having (or have) babies! Amy is in her second trimester, so it was a perfect opportunity to throw her a shower (while she could still fly up from Florida). My mom graciously hosted the event in good old Branchburg.

 
And no, we didn't all plan to wear navy — total coincidence! The baby shower, of course, also doubled as a perfect opportunity for me to make lots and lots of baby-themed cookies.

Since Jen traveled north with her family in tow, I also got to visit with my nephew (to be!) Tyler, who is about 6 1/2 months old. I love this kid! I met him for the first time when he was 3 months old, but this was Uncle Brad's first time meeting Ty. We had a great time playing with him! Tell me he's not adorable. I dare you!

The farther away my good friends get, the better it is to see them! And just for old time's sake...

Our new digs

The lovely city of Philadelphia is where Brad and I call home. I moved here in 2005, and Brad joined me in December of 2007. We both have a lot of love for this city!

We moved to a new place in June, and I've been very slow to post photos of our new digs (sorry!). I finally took some shots and will post them here. There's a good chance that we will paint, but for now you can see the place as it currently is.

Our block:
Kitchen:
Pantry:Living room:
Dining room:
Bedroom:
Walk-in closet/laundry room:
Patio (my favorite part!):



We love to have guests, so if you're interested in taking a trek to the City of Brotherly Love, I know two adept tour guides (ahem, I'm talking about Brad and me). Come one, come all!