Everything, tonight.

Have you ever gone somewhere or done something that was just SO much fun/SUCH a good time that it just kind of makes you sad to go back to every day life?

That sounds way more depressing than I mean it to be.. but anyway. Have you ever felt that way?

I'm going through this weird funk right now because of 2 things. First was Mexico - we seriously had such a great time and I haven't stopped wanting to go back immediately since! (And I pinky swear promise I'll actually get around to posting recaps and pictures sometime this century.) Second was my most recent trip to Philly this past Sunday to Monday. It wasn't anything super exceptional.. just hung out and went to a baseball game with some of my closest friends.. but a part of me wishes it could have lasted longer.

Le sigh.

With all that forlorn nonsense out of the way, I'll just get to the pictures from Philly! I drove up after work to meet up with bff's AKA and Eric for some drinks and go to the Phillies vs Braves game. Seeing as I absolutely loathe both teams (go Mets!) I was more down for some drinks and general hanging out. Sure, I'm 25 and an adult and mature and all that. I also like to have a good time every now and then!

We started out at McFadden's, which is attached to the ballpark and also where Miss AKA works (hello discounts!). After a few drinks (in an attempt to not spend $8 for a beer in the stadium), we headed into the game with our fab standing room only tickets. It was all that was available/all we could afford.. I couldn't believe how packed it was for a Sunday night game!

Silly Phillies fans.

I think I watched about 5 minutes of the game. Food and drinks seemed much more interesting. I even caved in and chowed down on half of a hotdog because, come on. Ballpark hotdogs are freaking delicious.

Have you ever had Chickie's and Pete's crabfries? OMG so good!!

I had a somewhat surprise guest come to Philly for the night as well - my long time friend from high school who I haven't seen in years. We'll call him Irish Boy.

It was super great to see him again - definitely lots of catching up to do!

After the game we headed back to McFad's for a while for some dancing..

..then off to another bar/pool hall for some darts and more good times!

Yeaaa, we're those obnoxious people.

All in all.. a really fun, awesome, fantabulous night. For so many reasons. Like I said, nothing special, just lots of happiness and smiles!

I hope everyone else had a weekend that was just as super cool!

Fear the goat!!

It's been SO crazy here at work today. Not only are we prepping for our little holiday party this evening, but there a bajillion and two meetings going on on top of that, creating utter chaos.

Well, not chaos, but I've hardly had time to go through my blog reader, much less write anything. What is the world coming to?!

My weekend in Philly wasn't all full of my self-realization and me being a whiney mess. I seriously did have fun!

Friday night, bestie AKA and her friend Lil picked me up in DC and we made the drive up to Philly together. Once my other friend, E, got out of work, we hit up Mad River.. a bar/club notorious for its sketchy atmosphere but kick butt grooves (top 40 nonsense). Drinking, dancing, diner food at 3am.. you get the idea.

Can someone please tell me why I'm holding my Coors Light like a badge of honor in all the pictures? Blech.

I conked out on E's couch around 5am. I'm seriously getting too old for this.

Saturday I managed to get my booty out of bed couch by 9:30am (and I actually felt ok.. it's a Christmas miracle!). AKA and Lil picked me up soon after so we could get ready for the Army/Navy game at 2:30pm. The plan was to run a few errands and tailgate for a bit.

First, we got the essentials:

Nonmetal flask and hand warmers, oh yes! Missing: Navy beer cozy.

Then we needed to get to the stadium, park, and scalp tickets since we didn't have any. We somehow made a left and missed a turn around along way and ended up going about 5 miles down i-95 South.. aka, not where we wanted to be. Once we made our way back into the city and the stadium, we found a good tailgating lot to turn into. As we're turning, this guy is on the side of the road yelling that he's selling tickets.

Naturally, we veer over and ask to see the tickets and notice that he's selling them for face value.. so we take them. After we each shell out $65, we're trying to find a parking spot and Lil announces "THEY'RE NOT IN THE SAME SECTION!!!"

Apparently looking at only 2 out of the 3 tickets was a bad idea, since two were together and one was way off in east bumblefrick.

UGHH.

After some panicking, we decided that we'd just camp out on one of the ramps that takes you between sections, which ended up being totally fine. And we probably had a better view than if we actually sat down.

Anyway. After we calmed down, we had a pretty lame (by which I mean awesome) tailgate with Dunkin and Miller Lite, with Ke$ha playing in the background (don't judge).

I know I looked like a man, it's ok.

Like our beer cozies? Fear the Goat!

Now I'm sure you're wondering what we put into our plastic flasks, and I'm sure you wouldn't guess if you tried.

Bailey's. We put Bailey's, of all things, thinking we'd put it in the hot chocolates we never bought.

Whatever. It was fun trying to pour it..

...and figuring out where to discreetly hide it on our bodies.

We decided on inside my fuzzy boots (with AKA's help).. and inside AKA's pants. Yep.

Ta da! Then it was time to hit up the game. The hand warmers did not work the way the were supposed to and we forgot about the flasks, but Navy won, which was the important part!!! (I should mention that the reason we vote Navy is because AKA's bro is in the Navy and is currently deployed.)

After the game, we headed to McFadden's, which is attached to the Phillies Stadium nearby (another reason Philly rocks is because all their stadiums are located within half a mile of each other.. so convenient). We drank some more and danced some more and met a super baby-cute seaman (heh get your laughs out now) who was dancing with and chatting us up.

After we had our fill of McFad's, we headed back to center city for a bite to eat and go out more.

This was when I decided I was done for the night and went to bed around 11pm. Thus concludes my Philadelphia adventures, December 2010.

But as you can see, I seriously did have a GREAT time out in Philly with my bestie and others :) I love visiting, but I have to say that I'm seriously stoked that the Army/Navy game will be in DC next year. Fun times and able to go home when I want to. Score x10.

Hope you all had great weekends too!

((all personal photos. don't steal 'em.))

Wisdom and other wise things

Prompt 10: Wisdom
What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?
(Author: Susannah Conway)


Sort of a cop out answer, but a true one: my wisest decision was to skip class one night and go to the Weddingbee meet-up instead. Read about it in prompt 7: community. It really opened up a lot of doors and pushed me to keep up with blogging and be an active voice on Twitter.
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Short and sweet and to the point. Partially because I haven't been keeping up with my regular blogging (but that's ok, right?) and I have lots of randoms floating through my head now.

> I'm going to Philly this weekend! I get to see a few of my besties, among other amazing friends who I haven't seen in forever. I'll also be going to the Army/Navy game on Saturday.. my best friend AKA's brother is currently deployed in the Navy, so we'll be rooting them on as we try to keep warm in the freezing cold (but that's what alcohol was made for). Super excited!!

Us at the game 2 years ago.. damn I look tired.

Also, since I'll be in Philly, I'll be missing out on one or two of the Reverb10 prompts. I'm a little bummed because I've been so good about keeping up with them, but hey, no one's perfect, sî?

> A bunch of Christmas gifts are arriving in the mail (ones that we ordered for other people, not ones for us, boo). But I'm still excited!! I really want to share them with you guys because they're pretty kick ass, if I do say so myself (and I DO), but I'll have to wait until after the holidays due to nosy friends and parentals (love you guys!). I seriously get more joy out of giving someone a really awesome gift than getting one myself. For realz. This will be a fantastic Christmas :))

> I'm a little bummed because I never heard back from my Kitty & Canine Gift Exchange buddy.. so the little crazies won't get any extra presents this year :( Which I guess makes sense, because they have definitely not been little angels, heh. Oh well. Although it is kind of sucky because it's like back in elementary school, when people hand out Valentine's Day cards and some people had 25 and others (hi) had 1 (ok I had like 4). From the teacher. Oh god I'm having terrible flashbacks. We're done here.

> I posted this on Twitter, but my book wreath that I mentioned here actually came out kind of decent!

Much bigger and not exactly the ruffle-y look I was going for, but I'll take it :)

> It's beginning to look and feel a lot more like Christmas to me. I found out over Thanksgiving that my mom, her hubby, and his 2 kids will be joining us at Scot's parent's place in upstate NY for a few days right after Christmas. You have NO idea how happy this makes me; Christmas is a big deal in my family (both parents are Lutheran pastors) and I haven't seen them for it for the past 3 years. So I'll get 2/3 of my family near Christmas, and the other 1/3 (dad and stepmom) over New Year's. Pork-fect.

> Our holiday cards? In the mail!! I haven't shared which one we chose because, like the gift thing, I want it to be a surprise ;) Will reveal soon!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and for those of you in cooler climates, bundle up!!