I so needed Saturday

This past weekend, I went to Philadelphia for a conference. I decided that on Saturday after the conference, I would spend the remainder of the day practicing some much needed self care with one of my all time favorite activities - sight seeing and history. So I started the day off with trying to find a Starbucks (I also decided to completely indulge myself) before I went to the conference.

Betsy Ross' House

I happened to find one downtown that just so happened to be across the street from Betsy Ross's house. How cool that the history of the city is so integrated in its everyday happenings. I am a history junkie. I decided right then and there that I could definitely live in that city just because of the history factor. After the conference (which was in a way sketch part of town), I headed back downtown and hopped on a double decker bus tour. I really think that's the best way to learn some fun facts about the city. We saw SOOO much.

Eastern State Penitentiary

One of the sights that we saw was the Eastern State Penitentiary. Wow, that is the most intense scary looking prison I have ever seen in my life. The purpose was to cut people off from the outside world and force them to serve their sentences in solitude. I was starting to feel bad for them until I learned that when Al Capone was there, he had an Asian rug in his cell, had a private chef, and weekly visits from his "manicurist" (that's how the tour guide said it and I'm sure there are a lot of things that could be substituted there but I don't know which is right ...).

Rocky!

And of course a big highlight was the Museum of Modern Art where we got to see this statue of Rocky. I learned that the steps that he ran up are actually towards the exit of the museum. The front of the museum only has seven steps.

After the bus tour, I went walking around the city for several hours. I actually talked to strangers and got them to take some pictures of me. And along the way I realized that I have an obsession.

People have probably heard me before mention that I like history and love historical markers. I like to pull over when I'm driving so I can read them. No lie, there are probably 20 pictures of historical markers from walking around the city. I had to take pictures so that I could have reminders about everything I was learning. I would even walk out of my way in order to read what they had to say. Although a lot of Philadelphia's talked about who was born in the city. I prefer the ones that talk about what happened in that spot.

At the end of my trekking, I went and saw the Liberty Bell. No lie, the state Pennsylvania is misspelled on there. I never knew that. And then I hiked out to Jim's Cheesesteaks and stood in line for an hour and a half so that I could try one of these infamous sandwiches. I trekked back out to Independence Hall and had a picnic dinner surrounded by history that shaped this country. And then I was back in my hotel room at 7:30 pm, took a nap, watched some tv, and then slept. I didn't think about school work or research or internship. I got to relax. It was great.

On Sunday, I took a leisurely drive back home and took a detour through Delaware so that I could grab brunch out there. Granted, I ended up eating at a Dunkin Donuts but, still, I went to Delaware :-)

I was so not ready for this week to start.

New Beginnings!

I arrived in Catonsville late this afternoon. 18.5 hours and 1200 miles. This is the longest solo roadtrip that I've now done twice except this time it was freezing outside! I had some snow along the way too and am now crossing my fingers that I don't get sick.

Riding alone in a car on New Year's Day provides an ample amount of time to sort out one's feelings and thoughts. I had several in depth conversations with myself along with some awesome singalong song time. One of the biggest conversations that I was finally able to sort my feelings out on has to do with marriage. I even talked with my friend Ashley about this briefly. She had made a comment in a blog awhile ago along similar lines but equated hers to shopping for cars. Anyway ....

One of the biggest things that I find myself thinking about is the state of marriage in our country. All too often, I meet people who have gotten married recently and I ask them how married life is and I hear way too many times that nothing is different than before. All that's changed for them is that there is a piece of paper. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not passing judgment on anyone about their choices. I'm simply stating that I don't want this to be me. When I get married and someone asks me how it is I want to tell them that it's amazing and wonderful and more than I could have imagined it to be. This is why I refuse to live with a guy before marriage and I'm not going to engage in certain activities. I want my marriage to be sacred. I don't believe in divorce (except of course in situations such as abuse ..) and I never want to be another statistic. I have a tattoo for my grandparents that symbolizes their 50+ year marriage that was wonderful and strong and full of love. That's the kind of union that I want to have. I want to be that marriage that everyone wishes they could have.

Obviously this is a conversation that I will have with who I date. And in my head in the car it was much more eloquent but I wasn't about to write the level of detail and explanations that I had in my head in this post. All of that isn't really for the world to know ... like I said I want my relationships to be sacred and special.

Speaking of relationships ... I spoke with I last night. I get all giddy when I get a text message because I hope it's from him. It was a short conversation since he was on break at work and I had just checked into a place for the night. But at the end, he said how do they say? sweet? sweet dreams? :-) Yes, they say sweet dreams. I am so looking forward to seeing him. I have a ton of things to get done tomorrow but I secretly hope he offers to run errands with me. Fancy date, I know but we're still in the getting to know you stage. I don't need formal structure all the time. And what I'm liking about this right now is that it's a very personal private thing. Only five people know about him - my sister, the woman I live with, and three friends. It's not that I want it to be a secret, I just want to give it the best shot without the pressures from everyone about where it's going or what's going on. My sister already said something that I would have heard from a lot more people if more people knew. Other than her, my friends and Kathleen seem excited for me :-) You might be wondering why I'm writing all of this up here if it's so private? First of all, hardly anyone knows I have this blog and two, I haven't really talked about him or said his name so you have no idea who he is. It's still private :-P

But enough for now, I need to learn to be succint in my posts. No one reads the long ones!
Night!