Philly!

So I made it to Philly after a bumpy airplane ride. Luckily I was next to a silent girl, so I could watch my movies in peace and just read when I wanted. The ride from the airport to the hotel took WAY long...went in one of those vans that drop people off a few at a time. And I was in the last hotel. Definitely NOT doing that for the way back - it'll be a taxi all the way.

Met Alicia (from UK and now living in US) at the hotel (poor thing had been waiting for 1/2 hour). We plopped my stuff in my very large amazing room (it's almost the size of my living room/dining room combo), checked out the cool river/Penn's Landing view, and then, feeling a bit of hunger, took off to find a place for dinner.

We walked up and down Market St and finally, in a side road, found a place to get some steaks...something we were both hankering for. And I got my fav Pennsylvania beer, Yuengling lager (pronounced ying-ling). We ate well...then needed to walk some of it off...before finding a cute, very cute, old fashioned ice cream store. It was fantastic. And the ice cream was good too!

We then walked back, hung out and tried to keep me awake past 10. I happily made it to 11:00 while watching the Discovery Channel.

I slept okay, though woke up around 6:45am...sigh...and Alicia got up around 8am. We then hung out more, talked, showered and tried to decide what to do. As it was in the 90s (or 30s c.), we decided that shopping in the outlets was in order and we hit Franklin Mills. As I only have one small suitcase and didn't want to buy another, I was restrained...only a few teeshirts, two pairs of jeans and a pair of work shoes for me (and yes, that is restrained when you think about the exchange rate). And all of them are 'needed'...I don't fit into my current jeans, my current black work shoes are shot, and I don't fit well into my nice tee-shirts...so all of this will replace old stuff (though I'll keep my smaller jeans in hopes that I return to that size someday! Yes, I am a girl.)

I start up in my conference in a bit...hopefully it will be useful and good. I'll let ya know!