Rockabilly, Rittenhouse and Ritz Theatres

After a very college weekend last weekend for Halloween, I had a very city weekend to make up for it. There are certain things about living in Philadelphia that I would hate to leave.

Free music and good food are two of those things. I went to my first Free at Noon, which is a concert put on by WXPN, our local radio station. I invited Rachel to come with me and she agreed without even asking what kind of music it would be. Its good she didn't know ahead of time, because she probably would have said no if she'd known JD McPherson did throwback rockabilly R&B type music. It was an amazing show - he sounded exactly like he does in recording and the stage presence was to die for! Then it was off to Center City for the entire afternoon. We all know I love Underdogs, and as much as I hate to go without Sam since he loves it too, I went anyway before we sat and watched birds and shopped. 

I drank a lot of tea and almost finished two papers that are do in the next few weeks on Saturday, so I rewarded myself by taking me out on a date. If you ever forget about yourself, it's a great move because you'll always be grateful to yourself for taking you out. I went through all the works, did my makeup and dressed up. It's a great self-care step.

My date of choice was a panini at the Noshery and a movie in Old City. I had been waiting to see Perks of Being a Wallflower but I couldn't wait anymore! The movie was beautiful. It broke my heart about three times over, but I was okay with it. Some of the cool parts about going to a movie alone include getting to sit wherever you want and crying without any shame. I walked through the lit up streets of Old City in a romantic haze when I left the theater.

After a fulfilling weekend, it's back to the grind. Except the grind includes ABC Family movies and coffee since I got ahead yesterday. Hope everyone else had a nice weekend, if not, do something for you today, because you deserve it.

Smiles, Morgen.

Museums and fall weather.

 Sam was here, again...Not as though I'm mad about it. His visits never seem quite frequent enough though they happen about every two weeks. I actually am so distracted in the mean time that it seems like it's only a few days between visits. This weekend we were fortunate enough to have lovely autumn weather and got to see great friends. The very cool part was that the Smithsonian was having Free Museum Day. Living in Philly, I am fortunate enough to be close to a bunch of museums - we decided on the Academy of Natural Sciences. The area there is really pretty with a big fountain in the middle. Of course we had to go to Rittenhouse afterwards and get our hot dogs from Underdogs.

Saturday night was quite chilly so we got coffee and hot chocolate from Seven Eleven to cuddle at the Bell Tower. Talked about dreams and stuff and took in a wonderful night in the city. So we wandered through the city until it was time for the bus to pic up my boy and whisk him away to western Pennsylvania. 

Now I'm left to write this paper about revolutionary women and their view of marital institutions - hope everyone gets to have as great a start to the week as I do!

Smiles, Morgen.

Pumpkin frozen yogurt and planning a future

The weekend was spent mostly with my lovely roommate, and getting some good time to think about what I'm doing with my life. Friday afternoon was spent in Rittenhouse Square with pumpkin frozen yogurt. Can I just say how excited I am for everything to be pumpkin flavored for the next few months, I love it! I wandered around the West Philly/University City area for most of the day on Saturday, spending some quality time with myself and eating Indian food.

I finally did some hemming and started a scarf that Sam picked out the colors for, which I worked on all day yesterday while watching Twin Peaks after my homework was done.

This fall weather makes me feel a little more serious, like I need to be figuring something out and I need to have a plan. So I'm sure within the next few weeks I'll try to over-think it and plan my life out, which will undoubtedly change by next year. For now, I've come into my own as a Women's Studies major who is interested in gaining experience in sex-positive sex education. I'm hoping to start looking for internships soon. It's comforting to atleast have an idea to cling to as far as what I want to do.

Smiles, have a good week!
Morgen

A weekend of free thrills.

It's come to my attention that I actually live here now - like I eat my cereal and sleep here, but I also have to shop and make friends here. I really enjoyed my classes this week and it's pleasant to spend my week engrossed in my studies. The weekend was a lovely break to come back to my sense of self, as usual. On Friday night, we went out for First Friday and attended a gallery where one of the Tyler School Of Art Professors was showing. Following the gallery, we wandered through Chinatown but ended up at Jimmy Johns back on campus for a late night dinner. 

Saturday started off with an intense track work out and a heavy breakfast. I then found myself back in Rittenhouse square, where there was a cute little farmers market set up and I had a few minutes to work on a reading assignment. I took a detour through a residential block of southern Philadelphia and saw these beautiful homes on my way to picking up Rachel. One of my favorite past times in the city, is just walking through neighborhoods like this and imagining how it would be to live there.

After picking up my lovely friend from work, we walked a lot of blocks because the eastbound subway was down to get to this free concert featuring Maps & Atlases, Frank Turner and Yo La Tengo. Within a half hour of being at Penn's Landing, the rain started coming down. Rachel and I waited under the umbrella for the bands to start. The rain did not stop at all that night till almost 11:00. So Rachel went back early but I stuck it out and did not regret my decision to stay! The bands were amazing and it was my first concert alone which was a liberating experience.

Here I am at the end of it, catching up on sleep, readings and sunshine. It's a beautiful day out today. Hope everyone else's weekend was equally enjoyable.

Smiles, Morgen.

The boy & big city.

The first week of classes finished up on a very good note. All of my classes have been a great experience so far. I love that just about all my classes are things I am passionate about, especially my women's studies and human sexuality. I celebrated the weekend with a visit from the boy, but he got here quite late on Friday, so I got to spend some time relaxing on the empty campus while everyone was at the football game.

We spent some time catching up with his friends, ate at an adorable gelato place and exploring the city that has become my temporary home. It's always pleasant to get out of North Philly and see the more picturesque, older parts of Philly. Additionally, some green space in Rittenhouse is a nice break from the concrete. Now I'm winding down, doing some reading and listening to Voxtrot.I'll try to do an outfit post or something during the week this week.

Have a lovely week everyone, smiles,
Morgen

Dwindling Weekends (Part Three) plus a Monday!

The weekend itself was pretty low key. We celebrated Sam's graduation and his brothers with a party thrown at his house. The most eventful part of this was when the boys played jazz for about twenty minutes at a time. I adore watching Sam perform and play his guitar because he is so happy to do it. Some of our couple friends showed up later in the party and we all ate and had some laughs since we hadn't all been together for a few weeks. After the party we went to watch fireworks at the park, where the boys decided to take their shirts off and we all sang "When My Time Comes" by Dawes at a borderline disturbing volume.

Thanks to Sam's parent's we got to go to Philly for the day and see Good Old War perform at Union Transfer as his birthday gift. It was a new experience to travel together but we made quite the pair since we are both so into planning things down to a tee. We spent the afternoon in South Philly, walking through the neighborhoods of older town houses and grabbing a malt on South Street. After working up an appetite from walking for a few hours, we headed into Center City and Rittenhouse Square. The hot dogs we got from Underdogs on 17th street were fantastic, especially because they were accompanied by great tunes and friendly staff! I will definitely be making this a regular stop whenever I'm in this area. To regain some strength and rest up before the show, we got coffee and pastries from a French bakery and sat around in Rittenhouse park for a few hours of people watching, reading and talking about dogs. We made our way north for the concert before the doors even opened. Good Old War had a great DJ spinning oldies tunes and a pleasantly surprising funky folk band opening for them.  Of course, Good Old War was awesome especially because Sam sang along to every song, since they're his favorite band. We had to leave early to catch our train home, but it was okay because the day was perfect. I'm looking forward to having memories with Sam in Philly, so when I go to school it will feel a little more like home.
Smiles, Morgen.