philadelphia

I'm back :)

After graduation, I just wanted to take a little time to decompress...plus we had a couple really busy weekends planned...so I took a little hiatus from blog-land. But I'm back at it to share some pictures from our mini trip to Philadelphia at the beginning of August. It's gonna be a long one folks...

Packed and ready to go with my new CalPak carry on!

Aaron was already in Philadelphia for work, and I flew out Friday morning to meet him. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, the first thing we did was grab lunch. We ate at a little hole-in-the-wall brewpub that he loves called Monk's Cafe. I had the Seitan Cheese Steak, which was basically a vegetarian version of a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. It was made with tons of mushrooms, onions, and nectarine cheese - delicious!

After lunch, we walked down to the historic part of Philly to do a little tourist-y stuff. There were so many pretty buildings and interesting statues. We thought about going in Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed), but the line was huge and you needed tickets...which were sold out. So we head over to see the Liberty Bell. It was fun doing some sight-seeing, but it was blistering hot, so we head back to the hotel for a bit.

Independence Hall

Liberty Bell

We also found time to grab some ice cream, of course. There is an interesting little place called Sweet Charlie's over by the historic area. They have a unique way of making and packaging your order...it is all made to order and then combined on a super cold surface, then rolled into little spirals. Aaron loved his, I wasn't to keen on mine, but it might just have been the flavors I picked.

After a quick rest and outfit change, we head out for dinner - this time to a different part of the city. Aaron had heard good things about a brew cafe called Tired Hands in Ardmore, PA...and I am so glad we went. The food was amazing - my favorite meal of the trip! I had the grilled cheese with smoked cheddar on house-made bread, and vegan potato salad (to die for). Aaron also had the grilled cheese, but got spicy kimchi with his meal.

{PS. as you can probably tell, all diet related ongoing went out the window during this long weekend ha!}

Grilled cheese with dijon

House Fermented Kimchi and Vegan Potato Salad

Saturday morning started out with sleeping in... in a major way ;) We are usually woken up by the dogs bright and early - even on weekends - at home...so even though I really missed them, it was nice to just sleep to my heart's content.

We head back downtown for some lunch around midday - this time to a little Mexican place called Lolita. Again, amazing food. If there is one thing I can say about Philadelphia, the food is awesome! I had fish tacos, a watermelon margarita, and Aaron and I split chips and salsa.

We head back to the hotel after lunch because it was SO DAMN HOT. I wanted to shower and have time to cool off before the Coldplay concert later that night. We took a nap (or at least I did lol - the heat makes me so tired!) and then got ready. I put a lot of effort into it...which was honestly all a waste of time haha. The heat and humidity were so nasty that all hairdos and makeup were sweated off in no time.

Once we arrived at Lincoln Financial Field, none of it mattered though! The sun set, it cooled off (slightly) and Aaron and I - along with like 60,000 other people - got to see the most amazing band in the most amazing concert. The place was totally packed, I've never seen anything like it.

I cannot describe how incredible it was. I'm sure you all know, or can imagine, how it feels to see the one band/singer/songwriter you love the most perform live. Let's just put it this way, two of the songs for our wedding are Coldplay songs. I held it together and only cried once during "Fix You", which is our wedding processional song (happy overwhelmed tears haha!).

Basically, they were amazing, their music is beyond - just the best, and every single person was happy, dancing, and singing along. The energy was indescribable. Such as perfect way to end the trip and my weekend in Philly! <3