48 hours in Philadelphia

11 hours in flight ..5042 .. and 48 hours later we've returned from a foodie wedding filled weekend... and here's my wrap up.

Friday night we landed in Philly an hour late (boo) and we were taken out to dinner at one of Stephen Starr's restaurants (think of him as the Michael Minna of Philly). We dined on an array of family style dishes with the highlights being the foie gras muscles, lobster fried rice, and beef short ribs. We topped it off with cocktails (try the white peach sangria) and the chocolate bento box for dessert.

Cherry water ice

After that, FH decided that he wanted a cheesesteak so off to South Philly we went. We tried Gino's and its definitely different (i have come to learn the difference between chopped vs not chopped, and I'm a chopped fan).Make sure you know whether you want it "wid" or "widout" prior to ordering - with or without onions for us out of towners. Another seemingly Philly thing was water ice. I'd NEVER had it before and I tried cherry. It was so good, especially with the humidity.

Independence Hall

Saturday morning we slept in a bit because of the time change and then we wandered about old town Philly. I have to be honest with you - I'd never been to Philly before so I had no idea what to expect - but the old part of town is just gorgeous. It reminded me of Boston. It's truly a town rich in US history - the brick buildings, cobblestone streets, and frequent history sights of interest we came upon just led to the charm of this town. Independence hall was just gorgeous, despite the work being done to the outside.

And just across the street is the liberty bell. Not going to lie - I didn't wait in the line that was about 400 people deep.. but did snap this photo at one of the windows. See? Liberty bell without the line.

After all this walking FH and I were parched, so we decided to try a local brewing company and headed over to Triumph Brewing Co, which was like a brewpub. Huge amount of beers on tap and you can see where they actuall brew the beer upstairs. Try the avocado fries with a cold beer and life is good.

We followed the Delaware River walk back home and decided to try another cheese steak place on the way back to the house... and Shank's delivered. So yummy, definitely try this if you love a good cheesey gooey cheese steak.

Mandatory outfit shot - top: Zara, jeans: target. IT'S CATS. I mean come on. If this was longsleeved I'd buy it too..

Saturday night we headed over to an old estate called Andalusia. It was simply stunning. The weather, the location, the vibe of the wedding, cocktails in an english garden, dinning on the banks of the river - it was just perfect. The bride was simply gorgeous and if our wedding is even half as gorgeous as theirs then we definitely did something right. We danced until 12:30 before getting on a bus to go back to downtown Philly and had a sing a long with the others on the bus.

Yesterday before our long flight home we had brunch at a little cafe before walking back toward downtown. We rested and then had dinner at Philly's newly opened Shake Shack. Yes - the one in NY is now in Philly (please come to SF next!). We had gelato, a drink on the square, and then before we knew it we had to head to the airport.

Coconut gelato

And that wraps up an amazing weekend! I'm exhausted today due to all the flight delays and the time change but so happy for our friends who got married, and even mroe happy to have discovered a new city. Until next time, Philly, keep it real.

Where to eat:
Buddhakan, 325 Chestnut St, Philadelphia.
Gino's Steaks, 1219 South 9th Street  Philadelphia,
John's Water Ice, 701 Christian Street
Triumph Brewing Company, 117 Chestnut Street
Shank's Steak's, 901 South Delware Ave at Pier 40
Shake Shack, 2000 Sansom St
Capogiro Gelato, 117 South 20th Street
Rouge, 205 South 18th Street,



Things to see:
Independence Hall & Liberty Bell, 41 N 6th Street  Philadelphia
Delaware river walk
Andalusia
Rittenhouse Square
Avenue of the Arts
Little Italy

Modern red

Modern red must also be code name for orange, because I swear this sweater is orange. It's even more orange when you join coworkers for a Euro Cup game at a German restaurant... (doh, it wasn't planned).

JCrew Factory: Vneck in modern flame; Blouse: H&M, Skinnies: Banana Republic; Necklace: Tiffanys (gfit)

Apologies for the frazzled hair and wrinkles as it was the end of the day. I own a normal JCrew version of the vneck and the factory version is just a bit thinner but I still love it. If it ever goes on sale again I'll prolly snap up another color or two just because they are so great to layer.

This weekend FH and I are off for our last wedding before ours - we're headed to Philly for the weekend. I'm especially excited as I've never been to Philly before and am fully prepared to eat a cheese steak (or 2) and see the liberty bell. Aside from that and the wedding, I'm hoping to explore a bit of a new city before hopping on a plane and coming home.

Speaking of weddings, we are now under TWO MONTHS! Can't believe how fast time is flying but to be honest I'm so excited. RSVP's have been rolling in and the responses/notes that people have been writing in make opening the mail that much more exciting. By far has been the best from my future brother in law which made me laugh for quite a bit.

The weather here in SF has been nice, albeit windy so I've been trying to soak up time outside on lunch breaks. This little guy was my buddy the other day and made me smile.

Hope your weekend is great... any big plans on your agenda?

What I wore to meet the President

On a Thursday back in May I was given a day off work to attend an event and have the amazing opportunity to travel to Seattle and to actually meet the President of the United States. So I grabbed my tiny carry on and filled it with clean pressed blouses, skirts, tights, and heels. After standing outside waiting to be let in, having lunch on the floor of the Paramount Theater, and then being whisked backstage I got to meet the President.

And here's what I wore...

Blazer: H&M. Skirt: JCrew. Blouse and Cardigan: Banana Republic. Heels: Cole Haan

And here's some other random pics from my 24 hours in Seattle:

Dave Matthews on stage before the President came out

  

Blue trees downtown

The Paramount!

Sun setting over SeaTac before heading home

And in case you were wondering, he is the nicest guy ever. ;) Even though I got completely tongue tied, it was just an amazing experience. Again, a big thank you to my MIL and to my boss for giving me the day off. ;)

Who is the coolest person you've ever met... and what did you do/say?



June Challenge

So, my whole idea of a shopping ban for May didn't go so well. I finally got fed up with my color lacking wardrobe and set out to purchase some items that would brighten things up a bit.

And bright my wardrobe has become. The May roundup:

JCrew: Biennial Satchel in red. Striped bow flats. Red eyelet pencil skirt. Mint green tippi sweater and modern red vneck (coming Monday, eep!). I really can't wait to pair the stripes with the red eyelet pencil skirt. And I have to say, of course, all the items were on sale. Huzzah!

Nordstrom: Frenchi blazer in cobalt (for 28.90!), polka dot blouse, and my much lusted after Sam Edelman spiked flats.

Gap outlet: Mint green tank, cobalt sweater, kelly green skinny jeans. (linked to similar items).

Via polyvore

Target: White cropped jeans (!), pink tunic, and The Webster patterned tank (never would've thought to get this, but its adorable).

Photo via polyvore

And perhaps the big finale, from Neimans, the Tory Burch natalya wedge in black.

Which friends, leads me to a shopping hiatus for the month of June. And perhaps July. I used the word banned for May and that just seemed to spurn my need to shop. And with two weekends away this month, I'm hoping I can reign it in.

So far, the responses to my new clothing items have all been positive. I've gotten a lot of compliments from coworkers and it makes me feel more confident in myself and what I'm wearing.

Outstanding items to get at some point: Tweed jacket.

That's it for now.... have a fantastic weekend!

Ode to the J Crew Biennial Satchel

I'm not gonna lie - I'm a former handbag addict. Perhaps I shouldn't say former as much as I should say recovering. I had been eying the J Crew Biennial satchel in store and in the catalogues ever since I first saw it sometime last year. And a few weeks ago when it got marked down online, and had an additional 30% off, well I bit.

Here I am trying the bag on in store. It was love at first sight.

Today's outfit in a dressing room: Blazer and crops: Gap. Bag and blouse: J Crew. Scarf: Jason Wu For Target.

I'm a leather gal - and the leather on this bag is AMAZING. It's probably the softest bag I own now - even softer than bags that I own that are much more expensive. It's a true red (even though the photo above doesn't show it) and I can fit it over my shoulder. The only thing that worries me a bit is color transfer from dark jeans or scratching, but I guess all leather is prone to that. The bag has three zipped compartments and the above pic is holding my wallet, makeup case, headphones, sunglasses, kindle, and a few other miscellaneous items tossed in. I could fit my ipad in there too, but I don't like taking it to and from work so it remains at home. But really - this bag would be perfect to travel with too!

Better pics of today's outfit:

Anyway. Life has been hectic. Work is good and it's hard to believe that in about two weeks we'll be going to Colorado for the first wedding of the season.

Also, for what feels like the first time ever, I bought a pair of white jeans. Thank you target, for cute affordable items that I can test the waters with.

Outstanding summer wishlist items:

Spiked shoes, mint colored sweater, another pop of color blazer, the Asos Penguin blouse I found online the other day..

In wedding news... invitations are here and going out this week. I have a dress fitting on Saturday and my sister and mom are helping me with some stuff :) Trying to keep it a secret... shh!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far... so looking forward to this weekend and an extra day to sleep in!

Favorite things

Things lately have been so busy - in fact I can't even believe that we are almost at the 90 day mark to the wedding countdown. Where does the time go?! Even though we are knee-deep in May here's some things I've been loving lately..

All shades of blue:

Blouse and skirt: JCrew, Cardigan: Banana Republic, Shoes: Anthropologie

Legging jeans and blazer: Gap, Lace shell: Banana Republic, Scarf: H&M (thanks mom!)

Ladybugs in my in the back garden near my windows..




This leopard print blouse from Zara:
 

The JCrew biennal satchel I picked up on uber sale...

Seattle for 24 hours with my future MIL to meet the President...

And that's about it! It's Friday, the sun is out, it's also payday, and I can't complain!

What are some of your favorite things as of late?

 

Mixed metals

I've come to the realization that I really don't post too much about my jewelry pieces - so I'd love to share some of my favorite and most worn items with you. It's a collection of silver, white gold, and yellow gold. I used to primarily wear yellow gold (my grandparents are old school and always believed that its not real gold unless its yellow...) but as I've gotten older I've gravitated more toward white. And I've started to mix and match pieces without feeling as if its against a fashion code.

My everyday wear on my left arm



Since I'm right handed my left wrist bears my watch and my engagement ring. A few years ago I decided that it was time for a grown up watch and I saved up to get my beloved Michelle diamond CSX. I love this thing. Just the perfect amount of bling and it's still grown up. Plus it has the date. Love! And of course, my most favorite piece of jewelry - my tacori engagement ring.

I got the silver knot at one of the bay area's many arts and wine fairs that pop up during the summer. I'm blanking on who its by, but I love it because its so simple yet feminine at the same time (I found this similar one but in yellow gold through Dogeared). And the fearlessness necklace was a present from my soon to be mother in law when I graduated college. Whenever I feel as if I have a daunting task ahead of me I put it on to remind me to not let fear stop me. But what's really awesome about this necklace is that the proceeds benefit Mariska Hargitay's foundation for assault victims. Click here to purchase this necklace.

Two more dainty pieces. D for David - another purchase from an art and wine festival. I was wanting something with his initial on it and I searched and searched until I found this one. The gold one is a piece that I got off etsy with my first ever big bonus from work. It's a bit of a reminder to myself of how hard I've worked and to not forget that. Purchased from Three Black Cats - Karen is an absolute gem!

My charm bracelet - which I recently dug out of my my jewelry pouch and have decided to start wearing again. Pictured are charms for my high school and perochial school graduation as well as a sweet 16 charm. I also think I need a few more charms for it though, such as 2007 for my college graduation and perhaps a 2012 one for getting married. Or maybe a cat. Opinions are welcome!

As for earrings, I usually have on a small pair of diamond studs that I got on my 13th birthday which are set in yellow gold.

And that's some of my favorite stuff... what are some of your more often worn jewelry items?

PS: Stay tuned.... I'll hit 100 posts soon and am planning a giveaway!