2006-05-14 - 3:50 p.m.
I'd never been to Philadelphia before last week, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. My very first impression was that everyone was just so polite. The city struck me as a hybrid of Boston and New York. Another friend commented that it reminded him a little bit of San Francisco, but I've never spent much time there, so I wouldn't see that part of it. I went down on Wednesday, and spent the end of the week wandering around the city and shopping while NB worked. We went to a Phillies/Braves game, and sat in the company box, which was very cool. We also had dinner with NB's roommate from sophomore year in college, which was fun.Friday after NB got out of work, we headed south to Atlantic City for the hell of it. Having been there once, I feel no need to return. We lost our money in about twenty minutes apiece. I had fun, but NB was frustrated. It's hard to have a night out at a casino when you only plan to spend $80 if the lowest blackjack table you can find is $15 minimum bet. Oh well. I had fun, and I promised NB I'd take him to Foxwoods on a Tuesday night this summer so he can play on a $5 table and spend some time at a table.
Saturday we headed up to NYC, and spent the afternoon in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which was absolutely beautiful. I can't explain how lovely it was. If I had anything like that around here, I would be a season ticket holder. Saturday night we met up with NB's friends down in Tribeca, and went to two different places. The second place we went was amazing. It was called Park, and it must have been built from an old parking garage. It was HUGE, and open-air, with a really creative use of the space. Plus they played great music on their dancefloor -- any place that gets NB grooving gets the thumbs up. I hit the wall (slammed is more like it) just after two, so we went around the corner for pizza, then got a cab back to the upper east side and crashed at my cousin's place.
Sunday, we went to brunch with my cousin, then walked through Central Park because it was such a gorgeous day. Honestly, this was the first time that I ever thought I might be able to live in New York. We walked through the Great Lawn, and it was just wonderful. I could totally picture myself packing a picnic and a book, and bringing Boo down there on a Sunday afternoon to watch the people and relax on a blanket.
I ended up catching the train back up, and NB drove back down to Philly. It was actually a pleasant ride up -- I sat next to a really interesting guy and knitted the whole way back. I have to make it a point to go down there more often. I hadn't been in about three years. I should really take advantage of having friends and family there that I can crash with.
So that was my little mini-vacation before I dove back into classes. I found out I got a 3.87 last semester! My classes started this week, as well as my clinical, which I'm going to absolutely LOVE. I'm working with an Ob/Gyn up in Derry, NH, and my first day was last Wednesday. It was so great, and I'm looking forward to going back this week. I can tell I'm going to learn a ton. For some reason, I'm feeling really motivated right now. Maybe it was the brief spell of warm weather I got. Maybe not, though, because it's totally shitty right now, and I'm still feeling pretty motivated. Seriously -- rain for eight straight days is NOT my idea of a nice spring May. Just in the last three days, I think my town has gotten around ten inches of rain. Isn't that SICK?! The average rainfall for May is 1.2 inches! We've gotten ten times that! And it's not even the middle of the month yet!!! Gah!
Boo's getting gigantic, and he's awesome as ever. He weighs twelve pounds now -- that's four times the size he was when I got him. Can you imagine? I also realized yesterday that this is my first Mother's Day! As far as I'm concerned, he counts as a child for me. So happy Mother's Day to me!
