A Good Weekend - No Doubt About It!

Hey Bloggy Friends!

I hope you've all had a nice weekend. It sounds like some of you may have had a pretty rough week. Let's all send our good thoughts toward Rick. He had a car accident this week. He is doing fine, thankfully, but I know car wrecks are very unnerving. I love you, Girl!

We've had a very relaxing weekend. It was nice, considering last weekend was so busy. Friday night we didn't do much but hang out at home. We watched "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie. I'm not usually a fan of her movies, but I'm glad I gave this one a try. It was very good.

Saturday was a lot of fun. It was a cold day, but we toughed it out so we could get outdoors. We were headed in the direction of Old City when we decided to stop at a cafe on 10th and Pine for coffee. While inside we learned there were auditions going on that afternoon for a black, gay singing competition. How could I pass that up? The judges had already shown up before I finished my espresso, so they welcomed me in to audition. I sang "Yesterday" by the Beatles, and "Coal Miner's Daughter," by Loretta Lynn. I am proud of my performance. They will be selecting ten finalists from the audition, who will perform once again for the judges. After that they will narrow it down to three who will sing for the top prize in late April. I'm supposed to hear something from them in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted. I'm not really looking to move forward, but the audition was definitely a rewarding experience in itself.

After that bit of a detour we continued on to Old City, where we planned to look for two ottomans. We didn't end up finding anything, but we did stop by this lovely cheese shop called Old City Cheese Shop. How's that for an original name? We tried a few cheeses, and finally settled on a triple-crème named Delice de Bourgone. It was so good. On our way home we stopped at Whole Foods for a whole grain baguette, so we could try a little before we headed out to dinner.

For dinner we tried a new restaurant called Effie's. Effie's is a family owned, Greek B.Y.O. I walked by on Pine the other day. I love Greek food, and it had a charming look that reminded me of restaurants we saw in Europe. Our meal was very good. For an appetizer we tried a sampler platter of hummus, baba ganoush, and tzatziki (a greek yogurt dip). For my entree I decided on one of the specials, salmon cooked with navy bean puree, tomatoes and asparagus. It was great. Alan had baby lamb chops. He really enjoyed his too. The service was a little awkward at times, but that was made up for when they treated us with two cups of Greek coffee on the house! We were wired, but it was delicious! After dinner we walked back to Old City to finally see "Doubt." I've been wanting to see this film forever, but for some reason the show times never agreed with us until now. It's a great movie. I know I'm going to sound dreadfully cliché when I say this, but how could any movie go wrong when you have both Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in it? They really are phenomenal. The movie itself seemed a little off-balanced at the end, but it definitely leaves you thinking, or maybe even a little DOUBTful that you understood the real meaning of the film at all. I think you have to look a little past the basic storyline, and try to see that there's an underlying power struggle going on between the men of the church and the women, or at least one woman. It's a good example of how too much pride can lead you too far down the wrong path, even if you're a nun! Check it out.

Wow. This is getting a little long. I'm going to try and wrap Sunday up as quickly as I can. We had a great day, despite the fact that it actually snowed again. I'm so ready for the warm weather. On our way to get produce at the Reading Terminal we passed a used furniture store called Uhuru. We always walk passed on the weekends to see what new things they may have received, but there's usually nothing to write home about. Today, however, there was a gorgeous desk there that we both fell in love with. We've been using a desk Alan has had since he was in college (that I despise), but have casually been looking for a replacement for a while now - and it didn't take us a second to know this one was it. It was everything we've been looking for and then some. It's an antique, tiger-oak desk from the early 1900's. It has a top that folds down, several unique drawers and compartments, and even two neat magazine racks built into each side. We love it so much. After a little bargaining with the sales lady we decided to take it home. We spent much of our late afternoon rearranging the office/guest room with our new addition. I didn't waste a split second taking that other desk apart and pushing it out the door!

For dinner Alan made tilapia roasted with cherry tomatoes, rosemary and olive oil. On the side he served steamed green beans, and a hearty helping of garlic, dill mashed potatoes. Yum! I hope you all have a great night. I'm going to post some new pictures of my niece, Kennedi Reese, in the coming days. Stop by and oogle over how cute she is! I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Joshua