September and October 2011

Wow, I haven't written for two months...seems like I have some explaining to do! So, on a more intimate note, I think September was a hard month for me. I think Month 1 in Philly was all exciting and new and full of constant new discoveries and going going going. A month in, things settled into a little more of "real life." Meaning, other than work, gym, and Matt, I didn't have too much of my own life here. Not that that should be any surprise, but I began to realize the challenges of a move and a new city. It's funny, because in September, my weekends were pretty busy!
One weekend I went to Baltimore for a wedding shower and got to visit with some of my college girlfriends, especially Jackie and Lisa, and truly enjoyed the time we spent chatting for hours, drinking wine, and spending time together. During Restaurant Week one night Matt and I went to an Israeli restaurant, and another night Caitlin and I checked out a nice Italian place. The following weekend, my Dad visited. And while he complained about every aspect of my Philly life, from the stairs, to the narrow and windy roads, to the brick pattern on houses, we had a nice visit! We visited my Grammy Laura in Jersey City too, which was nice. Another weekend Matt and I stayed local and did a little walk at Wissahickon Trail, and went bowling at North Bowl.

The challenging time was during the week. I'm very fortunate to have a very nice work schedule, where I normally finish my day around 330pm. Now, it's great if your life is all hunky dory and such, but if I simply went home to my apartment and had 6 hours of free time ahead of me, at times it felt lonely and a bit dismal! Some tears were shed, some homesickness ensued, and then I realized I needed to get out there!

So, on October 5 I went to volunteer orientation at PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society) in Old City in Philly. It was nice to have something to do that was all mine and was also a good thing for others (the animals) than just me! I think this was a great turnaround point for me. I volunteer with the animals just a few hours each week, but what's great is, they are quite flexible and pretty open to volunteers whenever they can get some help. So at times I was feeling a little lonely, I'd call up and ask if I could come by and help you, and alas, I felt better! The shelter I volunteer at has 2 dogs in big rooms, and then probably maybe about 40 cats in individual "cages", and two bigger cat rooms where maybe 5 or so cats hang out in each room. It is really enjoyable and I feel like while I'm helping the animals, they're helping me too!

On October 10, Matt left for 5.5 weeks of training for work. We knew this was coming for a while, and I knew I needed to feel "okay" in Philly on my own for this time period to not be a lonely one for me, in a new city and all. Since he has left, I have gone to NYC for a wedding and got to spend time with a lot of UD friends (and Matt flew in, so nice!). On a week night, Caitlin and I went to Sex and the City Quizzo one night through a meetup.com event which was a fun time! My Mom came and visited for 5 nights, and we had a great time and also visited my grandmother in Jersey for her birthday weekend.

Oh also, did I mention I won a 2012 Vespa???!! I won it by signing up online for "green updates" which also appeared to have entered me into a contest to win a Vespa as well!

Here are a few photos from Sept and October!

End of August and Labor Day Weekend!

During the last week of August, Matt was away for work, so I ventured out a bit during the week. Wednesday night I headed downtown and went to Vintage Wine Bar and Bistro, where I met up with Peter, who I used to work with at Suffolk in Boston. A new job took him to Philly and he moved down one week after I did! This bar was really cute and cozy, I loved. I enjoyed some sangria and white wine, and an appetizer, while chatting with Peter and several of his mutual friends. I was a little nervous about being downtown after dark (still getting comfortable with downtown, etc) so after Sips I headed home and relaxed at my apartment.

Thursday, September 1, I attempted to participate in my first “Meetup.com” event with some ladies. The plan was to meet at a bar for some drinks then go to the movies together. It didn’t exactly work out well, though! I have issues with my gps and its old maps, so I couldn’t find the bar. So I decided to just go to the movies, and waited around but never saw a group of girls that looked like they might be looking for me, haha. Alas, after I had left my apartment the group leader had provided her number, but due to my lack of a smart phone, I didn’t receive it. So what did I do?? I got some popcorn which I overloaded with butter and salt, a coke, and enjoyed the movie. :) I’m sure future meetups will go better!

Friday morning we tried out Sabrina’s Café for brunch which was fun sitting outside and then picked up a few groceries at the Italian Market. Friday night Matt told me he had something planned for us, and after we cooked a yummy salmon dinner, we headed into the city. Every first Friday of each month is Gallery night in Old City Philly where you walk in and out of galleries, drink champagne, etc. We delighted in our somewhat lack of appreciation of art together. Haha, we had a very nice time (once we actually found parking!) Then we went to a restaurant that Matt had heard of and had a delish cheese plate and wine flights-yum!

Saturday Matt and I went to Dorney Park (amusement park) and rode all the rides, roller coasters, water rides, etc--barely any lines, no sun beating down…all around fun!

Sunday he once again surprised me with plans. We went to a winery in Chadds Ford, PA where we did a wine tasting. We then met up with several of his coworkers and hung out drinking wine, listening to live music, talking, and getting to know one another. Later that night we went out with Matt's roommate and a big group of new people to the bars in Manayunk.

Monday I was lazy and we ran some errands, grocery shopping, and tried a new recipe with Matt’s new rice maker which I kind of love!! Good week and weekend!

My first three weeks in Philly!

As you may or may not know, during the first weekend in August, I moved down to Philadelphia, PA. My blog is dedicated to traveling, however, I word argue living in a new city is quite similar to traveling in many ways. Lots of new people, new culture, new foods, new places to visit…So my blog is involving my new “travels” in Philadelphia, as well!

My Mom and Hollis were such a HUGE help with my move down, driving the Budget truck rental down and helping with all the unpacking, along with Matt and I. During that weekend we enjoyed some cheese steaks and some yummy German food on South St. Matt and I showed Mom and Hollis Main Street of Manayunk, which is really cute with a variety of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, boutiques, etc. Hollis, my Mom, and Matt were all such great help with my move, and I am definitely indebted to them!

What I've been up to in Philly since I've been living here:
I’ve been doing a lot of cooking with Matt and trying new recipes: I cooked Pollock (type of white fish) for the first time, Matt’s turkey burgers, Rachel Ray recipe of a honey mustard chicken on a rosemary kabob, shopping for fresh and delish foods in the Italian Market followed by a picnic in Fairmount Park overlooking the Schuylkill River. Another Rachel Ray recipe of farfalle pasta with a cashew pesto. Made Mom's meatballs. Turkey tacos on a Sunday evening. Chicken wings, and Sunday afternoon lasagna.

Philly Sips: Every Wednesday evening during the summer, 5-7pm, select bars participate and offer $2 beers, $3 wine, $4 featured cocktails, and half priced appetizers. This is all very exciting to me mainly because Massachusetts does not allow Happy Hour in the entire state...look it up! Caitlin and I checked out Marathon on Market St and Table 31 downtown week 1, Caitlin, Matt and I went to Smokin Betty's week 2 (then to Matt’s softball game), Week 3 Matt and I went to Public House near the Art Museum area.
After Sips at Public House, watched Matt's softball team and witnessed their first win, followed by Quizzo at Urban Saloon with the whole team, and winning $40 off the bar tab!

Manayunk-my neighborhood! Kildare's for beers, the Couch Tomato for a good pizza, Saxby's on a Sunday morning for coffee after Church (by the way, there is a gorgeous church in Manayunk-stunning, definitely a hidden gem). Good first weekend out going to Bourbon Blue and Manayunk Brewey with Matt and Caitlin, finishing up with some late night pizza at Caputo's.

Visit to Lowe's for apartment improvement stuff like light bulbs, paint, scrapers, level, screws, putty, shelves, etc. Not my favorite place on Earth! Definitely man’s land, in my opinion.

Saturday morning spent getting our PA licenses at the RMV (sad!), visit to Reading Terminal Market to see all the amazing foods, cheeses, butchers, meats, seafood, food stands, delis, bakeries, etc. IKEA for more apartment stuff. Hurricane Irene and learning to play chess (nerdy).

And that's about it for now!

Meredith, NH/Lake Winnipesaukee again!

During a weekend in mid July, I made my way up again to Meredith, NH to join my friend Lauren at her family's lake house. Lauren had told me a lot of great things about the house which her family enjoys basically year round and I was really hoping to come see it and enjoy it with Lauren before I moved. Luckily, we were able to! Lauren's friend Ashley was visiting too, so it was great to catch up about our old sorority times and about what we've been up to since we last saw one another.

We had a nice and relaxing weekend. We started off with a family/friend dinner Friday night, and then spent Saturday at the small beach along the lake. Later in the day, we got to go out on jet skiis and zip around Lake Winnepesauke. I even got to drive for a little while which was very fun!
It was just a nice and fun weekend, laying out in the sun, packing sandwiches for lunch, grilling, enjoying happy hour, and playing board games later at night. It was nice to get in that quality time with Lauren before my move! Was a great, classic summer weekend at the Lake.

Meredith, NH/Lake Winnipesaukee

During the last week of June, my co worker and I attended a conference in Meredith, NH. My Mom and Frank's wife came along with us to enjoy the 2 night stay. While we were there, we enjoyed great weather and a lovely setting for a conference!
Our first night, we started off at the hotel bar and got some drinks and appetizers, while relaxing. Later on, we went to Canoe, a favorite restaurant of Frank and Charlene's. I had a delish Surf & Turf Mac & Cheese with steak and lobster meat!! Wow was that a heavy dish; I had plenty of leftovers!
While Frank and I spent our time in the conference during the day, the ladies walked all around Meredith, poking in and out of different shops, enjoying some icecream, chit chatting, etc.

The second night we went to the Dox Bar and had some yummy corn fritters & calamari appetizers, with some Watermelon mojito-ish drinks (but not Frank, he of course had beer!). Later on for dinner we went to a restaurant called Camp. It was so cute, set up like going to summer camp.

Who could complain about a conference set in a lovely town on a lake? Not to mention enjoying it with great company. I couldn't get over all the cute little Adirondack chairs set up all over the place in town!

Dewey Beach, Delaware

During the last weekend of June, I traveled to Philadelphia, then joined up with Matt to spend the weekend in Dewey Beach, Delaware. I was pretty excited to introduce Matt to my old stomping grounds where I lived during Summer 2007, the summer between college ending and grad school beginning. We arrived Friday evening, and promptly headed out to Taco Toss at the Lighthouse and enjoyed some drinks and $1 tacos! More importantly, we met up with Meg, who I hadn't seen in quite some time!

We did a bit of bar hopping from here. From the Lighthouse, we stopped at an Irish bar for a drink, then off to North Beach, and finished at the Starboard for old times sake! It was a great night of fun company and live music, Dewey Beach style!

Saturday Matt and I ate some breakfast at Sunrise Cafe and headed to the beach for a few hours for some sun and swimming. Then we took the Jolly Trolly into Rehoboth where we walked around a bit and got some lunch and a beer sampler at Dog Fish Head Brewery. And of course, we enjoyed some ice cream, as well. Later on we headed back for a little rest, then picked some crabs for dinner!

We then got ready and headed out to the Rudder to meet Caitlin and Jill for a night out! We enjoyed some Orange Crushes and live music at the Rudder, which is definitely my favorite bar in Dewey.

While we had to head out early on Sunday, Matt and I got up early and enjoyed some the make-your-own Bloody Mary bar at Starboard, with some yummy eggs benedict with crab meat (you know, Eggs Delmarva!). After that, we packed up and headed out back to Philly for Matt's work and my bus home. While we had an awesome time in Dewey, we both agreed we couldn't handle Dewey TOO often, and that we must be getting old. Haha! :)

My new stomping grounds: Philadelphia

During the second to last weekend in May, I went down to visit my boyfriend, Matt, in Philadelphia. As you may or may not know, he was offered a new job that led him to Philly in January 2011. Ironically, this visit to Philly was a little different because I had learned just before my Ireland trip that my job agreed to transfer me to Philly! So this visit was not only to see my wonderful boyfriend, but also to visit where I would be living!
We had an excellent weeked. Of course I had a cheesesteak while I was there! Matt and I went to Monks, a Bavarian restaurant, for some yummy food and a few Bavarian beers. After that, we headed back to Manayunk and grabbed some drinks at Manayunk Tavern.

On Saturday, in the morning, we went to see one apartment in Manayunk which we both thought was great. We then walked to Main St and grabbed a yummy breakfast. A little later we went to see an apartment complex that was not so great, haha. Then we went downtown to the Rittenhouse Spring Festival and enjoyed some outdoor eats, some awesome weather, some drinks, and just a fun festive atmosphere.

Later, in the afternoon, we went back to his house and rested and later cooked a yummy and healthy dinner together. After dinner we went for wine and dessert at Cooper's wine bar.

Sunday morning we played some games of tennis where Matt beat me, as usual, unfortunately! We also practiced teaching me parallel parking which was difficult for me, but Matt was extremely patient and nice. We did some quick food shopping, and then met Caitlin for lunch in Manayunk at an Italian restaurant! We hadn't seen each other in TOO long, and Matt and Caitlin got to meet one another. After that, I had to pack up and head back to Massachusetts. It was a great weekend and really helped me get an idea of where I wanted to look for apartments, and great to spend time with Matt and see Caitlin again. :)

Ireland: The Emerald Isle! Days 7-9

Day 7: We started our day in Galway with a delicious breakfast at our hotel. Then we set out and went souvenier shopping around, which we had held off from during our whole trip so we wouldn't have to lug stuff around. During our shopping, my Mom bought herself a Connemara marble ring, which was so pretty. Later on back at our hotel, I kept trying it on and decided I would get a matching one so we could have matching mother/daughter rings from our trip. So cute!
We had a good fish and chips lunch at McDonagh's, pretty famous for fish and chips. After that, we decided to go back and take a little rest and nap at our hotel.
Later on, we went walking around Galway more. One of the women at the jewelry store suggested the Asian Tea House, which had won many awards as the best restaurant in Ireland. We were craving some different food, so we were excited! The food was great and we had an excellent dinner. I loved how they didn't use MSG like in the US, and the food tasted much lighter and less greasy.
This night we decided to take it easy, and just hung out at our lovely little chic boutique hotel and enjoyed some Irish coffees and a bread & butter pudding dessert. It was a nice and relaxing evening.

Day 8: After two great nights in Galway, today we were catching a train back to Dublin. Once again, we enjoyed a great breakfast, and then spent the morning napping, hanging out at the hotel, reading. It's so pink and funky at the hotel, it was nice to stop and enjoy it.
Later, we went back to Milano for our last lunch in Galway. We made our way to the Galway train station, and had a lovely train ride back to Dublin. During the 2.5 hour ride, we both napped, read, I wrote in my journal, etc. When we arrived in Dublin, we were staying at the Jury's Inn this time, near Christ Church Cathedral. When I was in South America, I met a friend named Keith, who was from Dublin. We've stayed in touch and friendly, so we went to meet up with him. We met Keith at Fibber Magee's and sat outside with him and his friends where we enjoyed beers and some heated discussion on the US and politics--all the things you don't discuss over beers! haha. It was nice to see my old buddy!

Once we left, we headed to Temple Bar and decided to have our last Ireland dinner at Gallagher's Boxty, which was also the place of our first dinner in Ireland! There was a long wait, so we went to a bar across the street for a pint and some fun, live music. At Gallagher's, we had another delicious meal! The Gaelic Boxty-with steak, pancake, and mushrooms in a yummy sauce, and the onion and mushroom w/ potato dumplings in a blue cheese cashel sauce--delicious!!! We gobbled the whole thing up since it was about 11pm once we finally ate! As you can see by Annie in the photo, we walked back to our hotel and the city was bumping! :) It was a great last night in Ireland.

Day 9: I had a craving for crepes so we walked along the streets of Dublin in the morning, and found a crepe stand! Then we stopped at a cafe and enjoyed coffee (Annie) and tea (me). We then walked to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was so huge and beautiful and strangely haunting. It really made me think about time and history over the years.
We then headed back to the hotel to pack up, check out, and head to the airport.

Something noteworthy is our flights with Aer Lingus. What an awesome airline! We enjoyed flying very much with them. All seats had individual tvs where you could watch loads of recent movies, TV shows, and listen to lots of different new albums, and even play games. They fed you a lot, even with dessert and tea/coffee at different times. The attendants were nice and professional. Everything was on time! For anyone who flies often like myself, you know experiences like this can be rare with airlines. So if you're ever deciding whether to fly Aer Lingus--go for it.

In conclusion, my mother and I had an excellent trip. We saw many places, did plenty of fun activities, got to see a lot of Ireland, got to not only see but enter and meet the occupants of my grandfather's old house! We ate loads of good food, enjoyed plenty of pints, had some Guinness, saw the city and the countryside...but most important, made wonderful memories together while traveling. Definitely a trip to remember. :)

Ireland: The Emerald Isle! Days 4-6

Day 4: On this day, my Mom and I had a full day of touring the Ring of Kerry. Along the way, we saw Moll's Gap, Ladies View, the Torc

Waterfall, and visited the grounds of the Muckross Castle. During our drive, we encountered a little friend on the road walking in the other direction!

We had a funny little adventure due to the wonderful guidance of our Frommer's Ireland book. He recommended to visit Glenbeigh- "sweet little seafront town with streets lined with palm trees and a sandy beach." We arrived at the town and didn't see any of that! Mom ended up going into the gas station, where the teenage attendant explained the palm trees weren't doing so well this year...check them out.

Anyways, we continued on through Cahersiveen, Waterville, Derrynane, Caherdaniel, and took a little interesting side journey to see Staigue Fort. The fort itself wasn't worth seeing, but I did enjoy Mom's worrying since we were off the beaten path. From there, we continued on through Sneem and finished back in Kenmare. It was a full day's journey! After a nap, we had a delish dinner at Davitt's, where they had some nice live music with fiddlers. For dessert, we had Irish coffee with a Banoffi pie--biscuit bottom, toffee, bananas, and cream--yummy!

Day 5: Today we spent the first half of the day journeying from Kenmare to Dingle. The ride was so beautiful to the town of Dingle! We went through rolling mountains, rolling green fields spotted with cows, sheep, lambs etc. When we arrived in Dingle, we had some delicious fish and chips. From there, we did our obligatory pictures in Dingle.

After that, we headed to Tralee, towards our place for the night--Ballyseede Castle! This was definitely one of the best parts of the trip-staying at a castle in Ireland for the night. Our room was so spacious, and we had slippers and robes to wear. :) We walked around on the grounds, played with the clever little dog of the castle, enjoyed a drink at the bar, learned some history of the haunted castle, then had a cool 2 course dinner in the dining room of the castle!

After dinner, we hung out at the bar with other travelers, enjoying a drink and writing out postcards to friends and family. Ironically, I had a hard time sleeping that night in fear of encountering the ghost....luckily, no ghost sightings this time.

Day 6: After a lovely stay in Ballyseede Castle, we left in our little nerd mobile on a full day's journey. We drove from Tralee to the Cliffs of Moher. Neither my Mom or I were really impressed with the cliffs. While they were of course beautiful, it was very touristy and crowded here. Sometimes it's hard to enjoy beautiful parts of nature with crowds of people speaking a million different languages, all trying to get pictures of their own.

We stopped for lunch and ice cream at a little restaurant in Doolin, and then headed to Galway, driving through the Burren. Mom and I were singing while we drove around all the hairpin turns. We stopped at the Galway airport and returned the rental car, then proceeded to our adorable hotel: The House Hotel. It was an adorable hotel, very nicely decorated, in an awesome location. We walked around Galway a bit, and getting a yummy dinner at a place called Milano. It was almost like a Bertucci's, haha. We enjoyed dinner, then deaded out and grabbed a glass of wine at a bar called "The Front Door." From there, we went to Taffe's, and spent a while there enjoying some drinks and some great, modern Irish music. On our walk home, we were surprised by how hopping it was in Galway on a Wednesday night!

Ireland: The Emerald Isle! Days 1-3

My first big travel entry! My Mom and I went to Ireland for 8 nights, 9 days from May 5-May 14.

Day 1: The first day we arrived around 6am. Amazingly, we were able to check into our hotel at that un-Godly hour, and chose to sleep for 2.5 hours. From there, we explored Dublin. We walked around near Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral, and walked all the way to the Guinness Factory where we did the tour. My Mom and I both had our one and only Guinness of the whole trip that day. Yuck! After that, we needed another nap, as it was later afternoon then, and the jet lag was catching up with us. We later headed to Temple Bar area, a nightlife hotspot in Dublin, where we had a delish dinner, and a fun night out!

I have heard mixed reviews of Dublin from other travelers, but I liked it. I felt like it was a city I could live in. Wasn't my favorite city in the world, but I suppose it reminded me of Boston in some ways. Walkable, historic, cute. I enjoyed it. :)

Day 2: The next day we had a leisurely breakfast and took a train to Cork, heading southwest. That took about 3 hours, and then we got to see the "real" Ireland--rolling green hills, sheep, cows, farmland. After getting settled in our B&B in Cork city, we went to dinner at a trendy restaurant called SoHo and had some good dinner and drinks.

I would have liked to enjoy Cork more, but unfortunately, it didn't really work out that way. It was more of a stopping point along the way from Dublin to the Southwest of Ireland. From what I saw, it looked pretty nice.

Day3: This morning after a yummy breakfast at The Garnish House, we set off to get our rental car. It was my first time driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road!! A little funky at first, but just fine. Plus, we had a major nerd mobile and that was very small and easy to handle. First stop, the Blarney Castle, so we could kiss the Blarney Stone! Did you know my family (the McCarthys, formerly the MacCarthys) once owned the Blarney Castle? Well, "we" did! Anyways, that was a fun time. The grounds are really nice there, and it was fun to kiss the stone. Kind of gross though if you think of all the lips that have touched it. I swore my mouth felt dirty afterwards. They say they wash it down everyday...but I've ALSO heard the locals pee on it. Food for thought-yum. Anyways, I kissed the Blarney Stone but Annie was too scared since you need to lie on your back, grasp some handles, and lean backwards upside down. Ha! Now I have the gift of gab, as if I didn't already!

Next, we began our McCarthy journey. One main event in this journey to Ireland was to see the house that my grandfather, who was born and grew up in Skibereen, Ireland, lived. The circumstances were quite funny. It's a long story but worth telling. Our instructions from a cousin who had been there were: go to a bar on the main street in Skibereen and find Michael Duggan at the bar. Apparently he's always at the bar and EVERYONE knows him. So, we get to the main street in Skibereen and see a bar. Long story short, we go in Bar 1, no one's ever heard of him or even the area dear old Grandpa lived. Bar 2, same story. Bar 3, closed with some random non-English speaking people outside it. Return to Bar 1, try to call Michael Duggan, he doesn't answer. They were really unfriendly in there anyways, (rare in Ireland), so we sadly moved on. I was feeling irritated and annoyed by our lack of info and that the most important part of our trip may not happen.
So my Mom had been told Grandpa lived on "the road to Kilkileen." So I decided to type Kilkileen in the GPS. After about 10 minutes of driving, we had to take a left down this super narrow, grassy road. We were unsure, so we stopped at a B&B and Annie went in to ask for help. We showed him the picture of the house we were looking for and he said he knew it and would drive us! So he (a 70ish Irish man) jumps in his car and leads us...to the wrong house. I hold up the picture and he insists it's the right house, but then states "I'm colorblind." Haha!
Ironically, while we were driving to the wrong house, my Mom says "That's the house!" and pointed, I slammed on my brakes, but I had to keep driving and following the man.
So we backtracked after the colorblind/wrong house incident and Annie was right!

We then ended up meeting the elderly couple who lived there, going in the house, touring it, and getting a chance to spend time in the house where my mother's father, my grandfather, lived in! It was a wonderful experience to share with my mother-especially on Mother's Day! :)

From there, we drove to Kenmare and after a little resting in our B&B, we went for a nice Italian dinner (haha, yes, in Ireland) and then to hear some traditional Irish music. This resulted in us dancing with an 80 yr old man who smelled very badly, like bacon, from some intense dancing. I couldn't understand a word he said due to his Irish brogue. That was a trip!

To be continued...