Review of Date Nights

In the past month, we've had a couple of really spectacular date nights.  

I almost neglected to post about our first ever Roller Derby experience.  How could I ever forget! Luckily, my SIL's blog reminded me since she and her husband also attended their first bouts recently!

So, Clark's band-mate's fiancee is a roller girl for the Broad Street Butchers (Broad St is the street that runs through the middle of the city).  Bouts occur once a month in Philly, so mid July we found ourselves on Temple's campus attending our first bout.  It was a lot more fun and exciting than I anticipated.  Volunteers were walking around with signs that read: ask me about Roller Derby! and the commentators were hilarious. Between the bouts there were hula hoop entertainers, there were very alternative looking  cheerleaders, and the Broad Street Butchers even had their mascot wandering around. No lack of entertainment at these bouts, let me tell you! 

Cheerleader and the mascot.  The kid above is holding the mascot's cleaver.  Awesomeness.

Doesn't it just look like a blast!?  We'll miss August's bouts but hopefully our schedules will align and we can attend some more roller derby action in September.

Moving on, Clark has been desperately trying to find the best bbq establishment here in Philly.  We've tried a couple of places, but nothing seems to live up to his standards.  Last Saturday we tried Sweet Lucy's in NE Philly, which people rant and rave about here.  Ketchup based and not impressive. Not bad, but not great.  Nevertheless, we didn't let the inadequate bbq dampen our moods...we had a show to get to!  From Sweet Lucy's we drove over to the Electric Factory to watch The Lumineers and Old Crow Medicine Show. It was AMAZING.  It was a sold out show, as nearly every show The Lumineers have played has been.  Though Old Crow was headlining, I think most the spectators were there to watch The Lumineers (us included).  However, Old Crow did not disappoint, and they sound phenomenal live.  And at the very end, Old Crow brought The Lumineers on stage, as well as the Milk Carton Kids (the opening act).  I just love when there is cameraderie between bands.  It was such a blast and I'm so glad Clark and I got to spend such a fun night enjoying good music. Someday I'll risk bringing the DSLR to shows.  Someday.

The Lumineers playing Ho Hey.  They ended with Stubborn Love, which was brilliant.

Old Crow Medicine Show

I sure do love successful date nights that don't just consist of dinner and a movie (which is how ours usually go!).  

I throw fits over stupid things

like trying to print my damn signature.

For a specific purpose in our lives, we have to send a document to an undisclosed foreign country for an undisclosed reason.  And our signatures on the document must match our previous signatures that this company has on file.  Oh dear. I have always had terrible penmanship, and my signature has been...evolving...for the entirety of my adult life. That's a nice way to say that it is never consistent.

Let's just say we had to print out multiple copies of the same document so I could try to get my signature correct.  I was nervous because I wanted to ensure that my signature wouldn't vary too much from the one on file, but then I started to freak out and take out my frustration on Mr. Clark.  At one point (I was probably on my fifth attempt) I thought he was crowding me and yelled can you please not hover over me?!  He was like four feet away from me. Not even near me.  I am a terrible wife sometimes.

Luckily, we got though this situation successfully, got the document off in the mail, and then Clark took me to IKEA to buy us a dresser.  He is the best.

Three cheers for having a nice husband AND having a dresser that will match our bed frame! 

A haircut in an unexpected place

 Boy gang, I'm really pleased that my google search did not lead me astray.  I googled best place to get a haircut in Philadelphia, and a lower-end, highly rated Chinatown salon was the fourth option to pop up.  The yelp.com reviews were unbeatable, so I decided to give Perfect Cut Hair Salon a chance. The reviews were also helpful in identifying who to request to cut your hair and who to stay away from.  Whew. Glad I didn't have to find out the hard way.    

Many of you are probably thinking uhhhhh, ok... so what did she do to your hair?  The answer is: nothing very drastic, but she did honor my requests of keeping my length, adding several layers, and thinning my thick hair.  Ahhhh, it feels so much lighter and has so much more volume!  It's so nice to find someone who knows exactly what they are doing and actually listens to their customers!  Best $20 I've spent all year.

Now if only I can convince Clark that bangs are a good idea again... but he feels that I look too much like Velma from Scooby-Doo with the glasses and bangs combo.  So until I don't wear glasses anymore I am not allowed encouraged to have bangs.

teaching Clark a lesson

You may be wondering why I would ever take and post a picture of a roll of toilet paper.  Welp, today Mr. Clark learned a valuable lesson.

Clark is someone who likes to use the last of the toilet paper, and then set a new roll near the holder but not replace the old roll. Know anyone like this? It just kind of annoys me.  Today Clark learned that he too must take on the adult responsibility of replacing the old roll of toilet paper on the holder.  Whew.  I've been holding out for a while, and he acknowledged my lack of consistency this afternoon: 

Clark: Hmmmmm, it looks like you aren't replacing the toilet paper roll any more.

Me: Yep.

Clark: You haven't been doing it just so I would start doing it.

Me: Yep.

I'm grateful for this recent opportunity to teach Clark that as a spousal unit we must share the responsibility of replacing new rolls of toilet paper.  It's only fair, and our marriage will be strengthened because of it.

Worth the splurge?

Hi guys.

I need some advice.  Probably because I'm a super cheap person and am having trouble justifying the cost of this dress:  

It's sooooo pretty, but is it worth the splurge?  I do like that the reviews are extremely positive, which is what I always depend on when purchasing something online.   

I've been searching for the perfect lace dress since last summer when we were in Oz.  DownEast Basics had a beautiful lace overlay dress last year, but of course the smaller sizes ran out of stock nearly immediately and I missed the boat on that one.

  I've been hoping ModCloth will post a nice lace dress soon.  So far, the majority of their lace dresses are strapless or just too short.  

Anyone have any insight/advice for me? Should I pull the trigger or just sit tight?

I lost motivation this past month....

Yep, sure did.
Maybe it's the fact that it's summer and I'm a little depressed we can't go on any cool vacations because of school/Clark's enslavement @ the country's greatest hospital (I just threw up a little bit in my mouth because it's really not. Just talk to Clark.) Or maybe it's the fact that summer semester isn't nearly as stressful as last semester and I'm just trying to enjoy every moment of carefree life rather than seek solace through cathartic blogging. I don't know.

Nevertheless, things have been happening around here.  We had more Australian visitors.  Apparently they are the only people who want to visit us. We watched the fireworks on the 4th as they exploded over the Art Museum.  We also took an impromptu trip to Baltimore.  We took some pictures around Philly with some friends.  We've been hunting for the perfect place since our lease is up at the end of August.  We found it and it's just on the cusp of West Philly.  Ahhhh, so exciting!

Instead of dragging on and describing these happenings with my stale writing, I'm just going to post a bunch of photos, and maybe (most likely) a comment or two.

We visited Kyle and Kim during Baltimore's Sailabration.  The Inner Harbor was packed, with probably a minute percentage of ship enthusiasts.

If this isn't considered "capturing the moment" then I don't know what is.  Too cute!

Inner Harbor.

The kids got hot and ran through some misters.  I should have joined them, but I would have been the oldest by at least 22 years.

On the train ride home, Greta showed off her skill of applying pretty pink lip gloss.

We've also had some pretty amazing rain storms here.  I love them.  Not only do they bring cooler weather, but they are just so intense!  

We went out one Saturday and took some photos with our friends, the Geilmans.  It was a little bright so in most photos I have either both eyes or one eye closed. Guh. The downside of a sunny day.  Here's a sample of a few that made the cut.  Can't wait to see what Megan can do with photoshop!

We showed them the Woodland Cemetery, and decided to take some pictures just before heading downtown.  

...But then things took a turn for the worse. I won't even bother to post the rest!

We stopped at the Reading Terminal Market for some Hatville Deli goodness.  Sure do love their corned beef sandwiches. I think Ben and Megan liked them, too.

I just had to post a photo of Ben and Megan.  They are too cute and so much fun to be around!

Selecting containers of Wasabi peanuts.  Gotta stock up when we stop at the market.

On the 4th we watched fireworks from a park near the Art Museum.  Pretty dang spectacular, if I do say so myself.  The point and shoot doesn't do the display justice, but there were so many instances where I was like this must be the finale, and then it wasn't.  I love when that happens.

We tried to show our most recent Australian visitors a good time by spending the first full day of their visit having a Phun Day in Philly.  Oh, we are so clever. It actually happened to be the hottest (pretty sure I'm correct) day of the year.  Our day started off with a stop at the Waterworks.

Waterworks and the Art Museum.

I don't think I could ever get tired of this view.  Pretty awesome.

The line to take a picture with the Rocky statue was unexpectedly long, but we made our visitors wait in line.  Who visits Philly and doesn't get a photo with Rocky? 

Swimming is not permitted in fountains throughout the city, but I guess when the temperature exceeds 100 degrees, law enforcement has mercy on the citizens.

How novel! A plug hanging out right near the Art Museum.  I had no idea...

Unfortunately, our Aussie friend Courtney (sister of our friends Jade and Levi) succumbed to the heat and we had to head home for a bit. Lesson to all: ALWAYS stay hydrated in hot weather.  This is advice coming from a future NP.  Yeah, I would listen to me.

After Courtney recovered, we drove downtown to visit Love Park, Game Pieces Plaza, Macy's, the market, the Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall.  Can you read the sign below?  It says NO SWIMMING.  

But let's be honest.  When it's 100+ degrees, the rules go out the window.

We couldn't help ourselves either.  The water was so refreshing!

Please note that Independence Hall no longer has scaffolding surrounding the top.  If this doesn't get people to want to visit us....well, I just don't know what will.

The next day we wanted to take them to Amish Country.  However, the shops and little village in Intercourse is actually closed on Sundays so they opted for Atlantic City instead.  We were happy to oblige, as this may have been their only opportunity to see AC. 

Clark and I strolled all the way down to the carnival.  It was a long way but we cooled of a little with some Rita's.

Threshold to the overpriced rides.  We stepped through just to say we've been on the Steel Pier.

Clark and I decided that if we were to drive all the way to AC, it would be a sin not to take advantage of the beach.  So after our incredibly long stroll along the boardwalk, we managed to change in the Versa, and hit the water.  Don't make fun of my outfit.  Salt Water sandals go with everything, don't they?

We almost didn't make it onto the beach due to this Caribbean jam band.  

Clark could hardly pull himself away.

Mr. Clark, lookin' good with his farmer's tan!

We were actually impressed with AC this time around.  I think we'll make an effort to go back for a full day of swimming and sun bathing. 

And that, my friends, has been the last 25 (26?) days in review.