Philadelphia!

Last weekend I went up to Philadelphia to visit Maggie & Dave! Since Maggie is an official Philadelphia tour guide- it was literally like having my very own personal guide all through the city, and one that I love hanging out with! It was incredible. We saw pretty much all the iconic Philly spots on Saturday, and some lesser known ones along the way too. Here are some of the highlights-

Love Park

Me and Maggie the best tour guide ever in front of Independence Hall

Liberty Bell!

The Reading Terminal Market

Home of the Best Sandwich in America

Elfreth's Alley- the Nation's oldest Residential Street

Walk along the river

The United States Mint (where we also met up with Karen who had driven up with me to visit a friend)

A Bastille Day celebration at Eastern State Penitentiary- where we watched a cabaret parody of the French Revolution which culminated in 3000 Tasty Kakes (which I learned are from Philly) being launched into the crowd from the prison walls. It was amazing. And terrifying. And delicious.

Afterwards we got to take an evening tour of the prison. Which was pretty cool, and eerie!


Later that night we met up with Dave back in Narberth and went to their favorite local pub, where I ordered Jennie's new favorite sandwich in America- The Johnny. or maybe the Tommy. Whatever it was it was delicious. And enough to feed 8 people. And yes that's cranberry sauce

And all of that was Saturday! The following day Dave made us waffles in the morning (which were amazing) and then we explored Narberth and surrounding areas, relaxed some, made dinner, and watched a movie.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend! Thanks Maggie & Dave for hosting me! Your tour guide tip is in the mail...

Texas family

My family from Texas has been out visiting this past week and it's been a blast! Here we are all out to dinner for Joel and Louisa's 17 wedding anniversary- I can't believe it's been that long!

And tomorrow I move out of my house and into a friend's house for the next 7 weeks. It's been a busy time!

Blackfriars Playhouse

I got my Mom tickets to Twelfth Night at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton for Mother's Day. It's the only replica in the world of the Globe Theater in London, and they do plays in the style of original Shakespeare with the lights on and everything (except they have female actors too). I've always wanted to go there- but it was way better than I even imagined! The play was incredible and it was just a really fun setting. I definitely recommend it if you ever have the chance!! We couldn't take any pictures inside, but here we are in front. (My Dad came too)

San Francisco!

Last week I flew out to San Francisco to visit my brother and sister-in-law and meet my new nephew! It was a blast!

Here I am with Granny Thollander. Famous for such things as Granny Thollander's Applesauce, sending me $20 bills in college to buy pizza for me and my friends, and praying for my friends in alphabetical order. She is wonderful! (Also we happened to match)

Jon & Melissa live across the bay from San Fran in a town called Martinez, the home of John Muir- who founded several national parks! Melissa, Luke, and I strolled his grounds and toured his house- here it is!

The next day we all went to the town of Tiburon. Our original plan was to catch a ferry to Angel Island (the Ellis Island of the West) but we didn't make the ferry in time. However, it was a beautiful day and we were all happy to just hang out in Tiburon! We ate lunch at a restaurant over the water and then strolled along the coast. There were beautiful views of San Fran and the Golden Gate Bridge across the water.

Friday we went wine tasting in Livermore, which is about an hour east of San Fran. It was warmer that day, but still beautiful, and just awesome to hang out together! 

On Saturday my Aunt and cousins came over and we had a cookout and swam in the pool at Jon & Melissa's. It was about 90 degrees that day so perfect pool weather. All in all the week was a great combination of relaxing, doing fun activities, and best of all hanging out with my new nephew- who is so fun and so adorable!

Cleaning out

My parents are getting the upstairs of their house re-carpeted this week, so they asked me to come over and go through some of the stuff that was on the floor of the closet in my old room. Let me tell you... I found some gems.

The Fish Head! This "famous" Thollander fish head has been given out every Christmas by my brother Matt to a very special family member. He couldn't find it this past Christmas. Well today I found it in a box in the closet- it still had the frosting on it from where he hid it inside a ginger bread house the year before.

I found several fantastic samples of my writing from elementary school. I was seven when I wrote this:
"I have three bruthers. sumtimes there mean but sumtimes there not mean. there names are Matt, Jon, and Joel.

"I get up at 7:00 and I go to bed at 7:00. Sometimes I sleep good but some times I sleep bad. I like to go to sleep. I'm good at gowing to sleep!"

 I do remember LOVING to go to bed. I would get mad at my parents if we got back past my bedtime.

Now this was an impressive (and gross) find. 21 year old hair. It's now in the trash.

Lisa Tullo's Bible from our high school Bible class that I apparently stole from her.

And this gem! Remember her??? Gosh I cannot remember her name- help me out!

There is a lot left to go through in coming weeks....I'm excited.

I've posted about this before...

But there's a guy who does amazing chalk art on the downtown mall. "Sam Welty" is his name (or so says his signature). Well today I took a group of folks from work downtown and we saw him working on his next piece! He had finished one on foster care and was working on Stephen Colbert. I went up to him with my folks and asked if he was indeed Sam Welty. He confirmed and I told him I loved his work- I felt like I was meeting a celebrity! He was really nice and even gave some chalk to one of my clients to draw with. Here is his work to enjoy:

Foamhenge and beyond

Today I embarked on a journey with a few friends to somewhere I have long wanted to go in Virginia- foamhenge! A life sized replica of Stonehenge made completely out of foam. And believe me- it did not disappoint!

And to sweeten the deal it happened to be near another (possibly more well known) landmark- the natural bridge! Also with out natural bridge tickets we got entrances to a butterfly room (which was surprisingly cool), a wax museum (terrifying and creepy), a native american village (complete with disgruntled reenactor who just complained about his job the whole time), and the natural bridge caverns (icing on the cake). I had no idea how many fantastic wonders were in one town!