Blog title suggestions?

Well, I don't suppose that I can legitimately use this blog title for too much longer now. City of Brotherly Love Follies just doesn't have quite the same ring to it either, so I need to brainstorm and will kindly accept suggestions.

Spent the weekend in Philly doing the Big Move. Packed up my car (again) with all of my worldly possessions and drove it off to my new apartment. Quite possibly the easiest move-in ever. It did not rain during the drive, nor when we were bringing everything inside (despite the forecasts for basically a monsoon in the NE because of a tropical storm. I bought a brand new air conditioner AND a desk from people that live in my building so I literally had to ride the elevator, hand over cash, and take it up to my place. The apt does not have central air, this is not unusual up here, and I had been planning on just keeping the windows open and buying like a fan, figuring the weather will cool down in a few weeks. But the AC unit was cheap and well, now it can be a cool little oasis. Basically, these were major scores.

Made the obligatory trips to Ikea and Wal-Mart. Got a great kitchen table with chairs and a side table. Pancho put them together (with a little bit of my help!) and so quite wonderfully I now have a functional and furnished apartment. Hung all my posters which made me think the place looks a bit college-y but now it totally looks like my place. It's very cute. I love hardwood floors. No pictures yet but thats because I only half unpacked so it looks a little cluttered. We fixed the stove which hadn't been working. Just needed to put a match to the pilot light (another non-Florida thing. all the stoves are pretty much gas. Freaks me out a little that its going to leak and I'll be overcome with fumes in my sleep.)

Explored my neighborhood a bit. Went to dinner at this amazing Vietnamese place on my block. Pancho was in heaven. He would eat Vietnamese or Thai every day if I let him. We had these giant bowls of pho. Panch seems convinced that I will be flocking there on really cold nights for a hot dinner to warm my soul. (He was really emphatic.) Then we went to a bakery for breakfast. It solidified my sense that I will love eating in Philadelphia. I mean, it was the most typical bakery with different breads, coffees, and pastries, right down the street. Exactly the type of place I have always wanted to live in close proximity. I mean, the best thing in Boca was Panera?

Anyways, the neighborhood has a great vibe. A little eclectic, caters to students, lots of little eateries and bookstores. All within walking distance. We had a great weekend. A very refreshing getaway for our relationship, too. It was nice being by ourselves and out and about. Sort of like a date weekend.

It was weird setting it all up though and then getting in the car to go away for a week. But I figured I would rather come back to Bmore and hang out than be in Philly by myself without school yet. I'll be spending the next year alone, why add an extra week.

Back in the Florida sunshine. Got in to Coral Springs on Saturday night. Went to hibachi for dinner for the first time. It was really cool, couldn't really believe that I hadn't done it before. Just been hanging out for the most part. Nothing that I need to do, and no one to see besides my parents. We went to church yesterday, and I don't regularly attend, pretty much when I'm visiting my Dad or for the holidays, but its sort of like a new, young, Baptist (I think?) church, lots of music and video graphics and stuff. Anyways, the theme was about maintaining a healthy marriage and the pastor was saying how in the U.S. that wedding ceremonies tend to be more rigid, a ceremony more than a celebration (the service part, not the reception) but he was like once in awhile there are exceptions and then proceeded to play the JK Wedding dance video from YouTube. I was cracking up.

And we went to Publix, which I have so dearly missed. Publix-brand yogurt that is just the right flavor and doesn't have fruit chunks? Being able to buy alcohol at the grocery store? Lots of produce that always seems to be in season and looks good? Yes, please.

Mad Men is also off to a good 3rd season. I'm anxiously anticipating whats going to happen with the JFK assassination since this season it is supposed to be 1963. !

Called in sick today. Felt crampy this morning so I thought why not? I have a sick day left and its my last week of work anyways. Slept all morning. It was glorious.

Its just starting to hit that its mid-August and almost the end of the summer. Where did it go? In fact, where did the last 8 months go? Looking back, it was such a mixture of boredom, relaxation, stress, and activity that I don't honestly know what to make of it. Moving to Baltimore, settling in, applying to grad schools and then all that waiting, figuring out what to do for the summer, moving again, the monotony of commuting, getting things together for Penn, and all the while trying to figure out what my relationship was and had evolved into. Just been feeling run-down a little, so trying to remind myself how good life is, enjoy the time before life really gets hectic with grad school. (Saw the syllabus for one of my classes. 16 books.)

Going to Florida on Saturday for a few days, see my Dad, get to the beach, enjoy a little of the heat and humidity that has been missing from my summer. :)

5 years

Tried out Ethiopian food for the first time on Friday. Went to Dukem, the only place to get Ethiopian here in Bmore, and it was fantastic. Although when Pancho and I first got there and couldn't figure out the menu nor a single word of what our waitress said, we were a little skeptical, and probably more so when the food arrived. It was on a giant metal hubcap looking thing, with various mounds of different veggies and sauces with a big mound of steak tibs all on this spongey bread. Once we started digging in and scooping up the mixtures with the bread bits it was delicious.

Got to attend/work the swearing in of the new Justice Sotomayor! The judicial oath ceremony was literally 4 minutes long (I recorded it at home on CSPAN and really, we initially fastforwarded over the clip because it was going forward by 5 minute intervals). Really amazing, she is incredibly nice. Stood right next to her several times. It's going to fun finally being able to talk to visitors about our new Justice.

Pancho and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary Sunday. I both cannot believe it has been that long (5 years just sounds like a long time, like its serious or something) but also that it has only been that long (once I start thinking about what all of this time has encompassed, its almost surprising that we've fit it all in). But the day was very low-key. He took me out for Cheesecake Factory Godiva cheesecake and drinks last night and today made jambalaya for dinner. Had tried to make plans to go to the beach but the nearest ones are like 2.5-3 hours away and that just seemed a bit silly for a day trip. SO. We went to the Baltimore public pool. which...was....interesting. and also where I was lifted up into the air and then pushed underwater by a 300-lb stranger. yep.

Watched Frost/Nixon. Nixon was such an odd guy. Very paranoid about his enemies and bitter about elitism and intellectuals. The movie made it interesting to see what happened to him after his resignation. I mean, he essentially dropped off the public radar after this interview.

When I went to the Nationals baseball game last night after work, I saw David Gregory!!!! I was standing outside waiting for Pancho's brother to meet us, and I look over Panch's shoulder and I thought OMG, I know that face. He walked right behind me and then passed by our group again a few minutes later. I should have said hi. Ugh. Not saying anything to him or Pete Williams leads me to think I will probably be speechless if --no, when-- I see Brian Williams. Oh well, it was still really cool.

We've started watching Weeds from the first season. Fantastic show. Mary Louise Parker is awesome. Already into the 3rd season just this week. :)

And I've been reading Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen, a book I got for Christmas and am only now just getting to... But its about the Everglades and west coast of Florida at the turn of the century, when it was still frontier land and basically only outlaws lived there. I'd never heard of it before, but apparently its like this great American epic. The book is big (900 pages) and apparently it was originally conceived as a 1500 page novel in the early 90s but the publisher made the author trim it down to 3 separate novels. They got all this acclaim and then a few years ago Matthiessen felt like it wasn't right and so he re-worked them all into one novel again (which is what I'm reading) and it is amazing.

Also, we now have a new Supreme Court Justice.