Star gazing in Philly

An upcoming movie, The Dark Fields, has been filming in Philadelphia for the month of May. Starring in the movie is Robert De Niro ("You talkin' to me?") and one very handsome Bradley Cooper.

Knowing these guys were in town for the month meant that I kept my eyes peeled around town. From time to time I saw the production trucks and a few trailers, but never the actors themselves. Not until they used an empty building a block away from my office and turned it into the set of a campaign center — in New York City.

They turned the blocks around my office into NYC look-alikes by changing the street signs, bringing in NYC taxis, NYPD cars, MTA buses, Don't Honk signs, and so on. It was pretty entertaining to see all of the NYC-themed items around the set!

Here's Brad and Bob (he said I could call him that) filming a scene in front of a pretty sweet Maybach. Bob is the gray-haired guy to the right of the pole...Brad's on the left of the pole in the red tie.

My office building, located at 19th & Market in Center City, was suddenly at W. 54th & 7th Ave. (That's my building in the background.)

Bradley is pretty dreamy...he's probably my second favorite Brad!

Philly Flower Show

This year my mom and I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show, the oldest and largest indoor flower show in the world! She and I went in 2008 and had a fabulous time — but I think this year's show topped it! The 2010 theme was "Passport to the World" (which was particularly appealing to me).

Keep in mind that everything in the photos is made from flowers/plant-life! There was large display for each of several countries...including India...

Singapore...

Netherlands...

And so on...

There was so much to admire at the show, including some pretty awesome displays and tons of eco-friendly ideas.

The photo above was a hanging display with cut flowers in glass vases that were hung from the ceiling with fish line. The whole thing was 3D and very cool...I believe it won an award at the show too!

We loved the front porch displays too.

All in all, it was a great time! It's especially amazing to see how the convention center was transformed!

Split Lip Rayfield

We got a taste of Kansas in early March when Split Lip Rayfield came to Philly to do a show at a small club (The M-Room). Brad knew the band well, as they have frequented the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival, which has taken place annually in his hometown of Winfield, Kansas for as long as he's been around (and longer!). This was my first experience with Split Lip, and they were definitely impressive!

There are three band members (used to be four, but one passed away — RIP Kirk Rundstrom), three mics, and three instruments...typically a banjo, mandolin and/or acoustic guitar, and a gas tank bass. Yes, I said gas tank bass, a homemade instrument with one string that a skinny little man plays furiously. It was a great show!

Clever crime in Philly

For the second time in the past few months, I've come across something that I hope never happens to my car (and I've had my car stolen in Baltimore). I have to say, I've never seen anything like this!

It happens to newer cars (new Hondas, from my experience) that have alloy wheels. Someone (or I'm assuming several people) jacks your car up, puts a few milk crates under it, and steals the wheels! No, not the hubcap...the whole wheel! So you can't even have the car towed b/c all that's left is the rim!

Reason #49 to not get a new car until I have a garage or gated lot...

Old friends are best

I took a quick trip to Florida last weekend to visit some old (not in age though!) friends and their growing families for a few days. It's an amazing thing when friends that you've known for more than 15 years start having babies!

I stayed in Winter Garden, FL (near Orlando) with Jen and Greg and their 13-month-old little boy Tyler. Jen, Tyler, and I went to Disney World on my first day.

It was so fun to take Tyler on classic rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World. We got to meet lots of characters too!

Ty especially loves Mickey and Minnie...go figure! I think Mickey and Minnie liked him too! 

Waiting in line for his first carousel ride...standing like a big boy!

 And waiting for the parade on Main Street USA...

On Saturday and Sunday, we hung out with Amy, Jon, and their latest adorable addition Megan, who is 4 months old.

She's a spitting image of her mother, and we had fun getting acquainted! All in all it was a great trip. Not only was it sunny and 70, but it was so nice to spend time with some great friends. Thanks Jen and Amy!

The best mirror is an old friend. ~George Herbert

I end with a little video I took of Tyler and me playing trucks. If anything, it's got to make you smile!

The aftermath

The snow stopped Wednesday evening, but it seems like that was just the beginning! The city remained shut down all day Thursday, again with suspended mail, public transportation, city hall, schools, universities, etc. My company was closed for the second day in a row (and Wednesday was the first time in 25 years that they closed!).

I went for a couple of walks today and was able to take some pictures of the streets around my neighborhood. Here's a shot of my block. Note the tree limb that has 1) crushed a couple cars, and 2) made the street impassable.

 It was a beautiful, sunny day in the neighborhood, and as long as you didn't spend too much time fixating on the damage and the slush, it was rather enjoyable to be outside!

 

  

And yet another road blocked by a fallen tree. This one miraculously fell in the 2-foot gap between two cars. Lucky!

 

You can see my building in the distance (pointy top w/a light at the top). I guess I'm actually going to have to show up there tomorrow...and I get to walk the whole way!

Snowmaggedon

We had a huge snowstorm the week before Christmas that dumped about 2 feet of snow on Philly. I've lived here for 5 winters now, and that was by far the biggest storm I had seen in the city! (See blog post It looks a lot like Christmas.) And now, in the past week, we've had two more huge snow storms.

Call it Snowmaggedon, call it Apocalypse Snow...whatever you want to call it, it's been messy! The first storm dumped 28 inches in Center City over the weekend. The view outside our door...

And my car, which I thankfully haven't needed yet.

So that was Saturday/Sunday. Tuesday comes along, and we have another blizzard warning in effect for 4pm Tuesday until midnight on Wednesday. Say what? All schools, government offices, postal services, stores, and public transportation shut down. Not to mention that the highways were all closed, and Mayor Nutter said that anyone who was "non-essential" was to stay put. The police even told the local news crews, who were reporting from various local towns, to get going...ha!

I got cabin fever and decided to spend some time outside. This is a shot of our patio while it was still snowing. The black rim in the background is our table...

Check out that grill mound!

And I thought I would try my hand at making a snowman...it's been a long time! I was probably a tween playing with the Hollander boys the last time I made one...

This evening the official announcement was made that this is the snowiest winter in Philadelphia history (70.3 inches so far this season). I could swear that Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz (local meteorologist) got choked up on the news when he said, "No matter how old you are, you probably will never experience a winter like this in your lifetime, again." Tear.