Warm & Sleepy

It was about 7:00 pm and I was vacuuming frantically while my husband was working hard in the kitchen making his AMAzing tomato soup. I dropped the vacuum and ran some laundry upstairs and came back down yelling about "how could we have forgotten the cheese when we were making grilled cheese!?" My darling husband asked me to take a deep breath and relax, reminding me that we are now in a city after all, the store is a 5 minute walk away.
I always get like this before people coming over. I know it is crazy, that our friends are always people who won't care if there is a speck of dirt on the floor or cat hair in the corner. But no matter! I still freak out trying to get things ready. I come by it very honestly, it is not my fault. I grew up watching my dear father do the very same thing. He is a very logical and level headed man but when guests were coming over, he went into overdrive trying to get everything perfect. If it were not for the casualties of our families who got in our way, it would be a very sweet and well intentioned thing. We just want our guests to be happy.
Our first guests arrived and they brought 3 delicious cheeses with them to snack on before dinner. It is like a switch was thrown somewhere in my brain. Suddenly I was not stressed and I started smiling. Voila! I ask my friend to come with me on the walk to the store while her husband hangs out in the kitchen with mine. She obliges and we end up having a great talk on the way. We are standing in front of the cheese and my phone rings. Turns out our other guests have arrived and brought a fair amount of cheese with them as well! So, per usual, I have freaked out for no reason at all. However, I am someone who believes everything happens for a reason. All was not lost as we had some great girl talks on our walk.
The rest of the evening was wonderful, the soup was delicious and so were the grilled cheese. We were all warm with full bellies which made us sleepy. So instead of playing Cranium as planned, we curled up in the living room to watch The Simpsons. All in all a great evening with great people.
Why was I freaking out again?

What to Do

As my job search continues I have found that I need breaks from my job of job searching. Job Job Job Job. This runs through my head constantly. Everyone I talk to asks about it and although I accept that this is the way adults begin conversations, "So, what do you do?" "How is the job search?" "What are you looking to do?" I still cringe every time. The last of these is the hardest of course. I went to school as a Philosophy Major with an Ethnic Studies Minor. This is not conducive to a specialized job search. The truth is, I don't know what I want to do. I have no idea.
This time is not the best time to find a job either. With the holidays and the economy, there are not many people excited to hire right now. But alas, I will keep trying.

Bridgid's

Very soon after moving we noticed a tiny place with no real windows to speak of set back about a block off of Fairmount. There was a sign that said Bridgid's hanging above a door tucked under a warmly lit overhang. We were curious but without having the slightest glimpse inside we had a moment of trepidation as we stepped up to the door. As we opened the door all that melted away as we found ourselves looking at a cozy, lively bar with a small dining room beyond it. There was a fire burning and people smiling letting us know that this was a good idea.

We were seated immediately and found the menu to be quite organized and full of comfortable options. They arrange the menu by price making it very easy to plan your meal. They have a great long list of amazing beers and specials listed on the chalk boards on the wall. Today marks our 20th day of living in Philadelphia and we have already visited Brigid's three times. We have sampled their hummus, pork nachos, chorizo nachos, perogies, beef taquitos, salad with blue cheese crumbles, fish tacos, veal sliders and mac n' cheese with hotdogs. These items are all from the top of the menu, we have yet to venture towards the bottom where they have many more options. One of which I am looking forward to trying is their honey fried chicken. I realize the items we tried sound like basic bar food but they are better than that without being more expensive. They have many "nicer" options.

In case you can not tell, I love this place. We truly lucked out being able to walk to Bridgid's.

A Quick Thanks

I am taking a moment to give thanks. My dear sister has been giving thanks every day for something on Sleep All Summer and I am taking a page from her book, or should I say blog.
My day has been considerably better than the last few as I have spent it opening wedding presents. Now of course this means many thank you notes to write but I wanted to put out there in the universe a huge thank you for our many blessings. My husband and I are lucky enough to have a great circle of friends and family. Our two circles mesh together to form one rather seamlessly.
I sit here with a mountain of cardboard boxes and wrapping paper next to me. I am not exaggerating as I often do. I can not get to the stairs or the kitchen. I have no choice but to clean it otherwise I can not eat or go to the bathroom. Even though this is a large project to get through, I can not help but grin.

Klein's Supermarket

Today I decided to explore a little. I Thought I should get out after my earlier fiasco and burn off some steam. Alright, I wasn't that angry about the hoax but I sure was tired of staring this computer screen of mine.
I got all suited up to go for a run and took off down the road. After running for a really really long time...I came upon a small supermarket and I needed a few things. Let me just say Klein's Supermarket on Fairmount and 24th is really a great little place. I was in there just a short time and I had at minimum 3 different staff people greet me with a friendly hello. Perhaps I was more noticeable due to my sweaty appearance but all the more reason to avoid me I would think. I found everything I needed and began my trek back home.
I looked Klein's up online when I got home and found they have been in business since 1892 and are currently run by a 4th generation of brothers. Their website is great with updates on what produce is coming in and from where.
Ok, also while poking around on my computer...avoiding writing wedding thank you notes this time...I watched two videos which are personal favorites of mine. I hope you will enjoy them too.
First: Roomba Driver
Second: I like to call this MANAAAYUNK
I have seen this video many times and when driving through Manayunk the other evening it was all I could hear in my head.

$MONEY$

That is what it is all about isn't it? We are in recession and I am in the midst of my big job search. Probably not the most opportune time to be in such a position. I have spent the first three hours of my morning on Philadelphia Craigslist, Monster, and inadvertently the Career-Network.
I say inadvertently because I was lucky enough to fall prey to a bogus craigslisting. I found something that sounded remotely interesting (hooray!) and took the time to send my resume to the email address. I received an immediate automatic response from HR with a link asking me to fill out their application and re-attach my resume to expedite the process.
Ok....
So I took the time even though this is highly annoying. At the bottom of this particular posting it asked me if I am interested in continued education or not. If I said possibly, it took me to many online schools for me to choose from
Alrighty... that's strange.
Things seemed to be definitely getting off track from this job that sounded just enticing enough. So I went back, and clicked the button that snootily says, "No, I am not interested in continuing my education." and I immediately got redirected to good ol' Career-Network.com (BOO!).

Thank you jerks-trying-to-get-my-information for wasting my time when I am frustrated enough with the job search. Check out this link to see that I was not the only one swindled by these pirates http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/378/RipOff0378747.htm

So It Begins

It is 10:30 am on a Tuesday morning and here I sit in our beautiful new-to-us living room with an exposed brick wall, setting up a blog... Tuesday mornings used to consist of juggling phone calls and emails with vaccinating puppies and kittens and planning shelter events. Quite a bit different from the quiet living room I sit in now.
About two months ago I began a whirlwind journey that led me to this moment. I was lucky enough to marry a wonderful man, go on an amazing honeymoon, and move to Philadelphia, seemingly all at once. The wedding was perfect with both a formal and relaxed atmosphere at the same time. Friends and family gathered from all over to celebrate with great food and libations. We were even fortunate enough to have an absolutely incredible fireworks display thanks to the hard work of some dear friends.
After the wedding we had two weeks to pack up our place and move it all to a Philadelphia storage unit and then we were "whisked" away to New Zealand through two 13 hour flights in a row. Well worth the time in the air as we had just about three weeks to explore the diverse scenery of the two major islands. Should you ever get the opportunity, by all means, go to New Zealand. (The above picture is of an new, unfurling fern. This is called Koru, a common Maori symbol for new beginnings, growth or movement.)
When we got back we had a day to recover and sleep and then the very next day we were in Philadelphia moving from the storage unit to the house and then Thanksgiving happened and BAM! It is Tuesday and I need a job....