Happy Birthday, Mr. Bill-ident!

Hi Bloggy Friends,

I hope your Monday is off to a lovely start. We had a great weekend. Alan was at a conference in New Hampshire last week, so it was nice to be able to spend the past few days together. I believe it's healthy to have some time apart now and then, but a week is quite enough.

I haven't been doing birthday blogs lately, because I have a hard time keeping track. I can hardly tell you what the date is from one day to the next. I couldn't let today go by, however, without sending a special wish to our good friend Bloggy Friend Bill. The reason for taking the trip to Maine recently was partially in celebration of his birthday. We had a marvelous time. It was wonderful to have the chance to spend more time with him so we could get to know each other better. I was happy to find that I liked him just as much as I thought I would - no, even better. He is an exceptionally interesting person, with a heart that overflows with compassion.

Have a great birthday, Bill. Thank you for stopping by my blog nearly two years ago to say hello. I'm very proud of the relationship we've been able to cultivate mainly through email and bloggy comments. Your presence has definitely shined a bright light into my life. Enjoy the hell out of this day!

Love, Josh

P.S. Enjoy Bill's latest video project below!

Trip to Maine, Pt. 4

Hi Bloggy Friends,

How is everyone doing? I'm doing well. It's really gloomy in Philadelphia today. I'm not going to complain, though. We've had a lot of nice weather lately, so I think I can handle a little rain. I just hope it doesn't decide to linger too long.

I wanted to stop by to post the final video in my "Trip to Maine" series. In this video I am focusing on the side trips we took away from the cabin. So far it may seem like we hung around the house all week, but we actually did get out everyday to explore the surrounding area. Bill has been vacationing in Maine for many years, so his experience made him the perfect tour guide. He led us on several excursions to places like Acadia National Park, Schoodic Point and up 1500 feet to the top of Cadillac Mountain. The views and the landscapes we witnessed were stunning.

I've really enjoyed working on these videos, because it has given me a chance to reflect on what a nice time we had together. Maine is such a beautiful state. I'm so happy I had the chance to visit there this summer. I look forward to familiarizing myself with other parts of the New England area in the near future. Thank you so much for stopping by to share my experience with me. I hope you are all having an amazing summer. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Trip to Maine, Pt. 3

Hi Bloggy Friends,

I hope everything is well where you are today. It looks like it's shaping up to be a beautiful day in Philadelphia. This has been a great week as far as weather is concerned. I haven't talked much about it, but we have begun to get more serious with our house hunt. We've taken a few trips out with our realtor, and have seen several places we liked. We still haven't seen "the one" yet, but we have plenty of time to see more. I'll be back with more details about that later.

The reason I'm here is to share with you the third installment of my Trip to Maine series. Another one of my favorite parts about the trip was being on the water. We were blessed enough to have a cabin that sat right on the shore, so we made sure to get out in it everyday. We could swim, take the paddle boat or the canoe. The weather wasn't so great during the first of the week, so being out in the boats was a little scary. The water was choppy, tossing us around like Beyonce's boobies when she does the shimmy. Thankfully, as the week progressed the sun came out and the water calmed down, making our lake adventures much more endurable. Swimming and paddling boats was a great way for us to get exercise throughout the week. It's how we started most of our days.

I hope you enjoy the video I threw together. There is one more in the series coming soon. Have a great day. I'll chat with you later.

Love, Skipper Josh

Cover Girl.

Hey Bloggy Friends,

Whitney Houston released the cover art for her latest album today. The release date is slated for September 1st. I know some of you are fans, so I thought I'd stop by to show you. I think she looks great. I really hope the music is good. I'd love to see her have a smashing comeback.

Have a great day. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Trip to Maine, Pt. 2

Hey Bloggy Friends,

I hope you're having a nice day. Has the weather been as perfect where you are as it has been here? The sun has been shining everyday and the temperatures have been amazingly warm. Jude says this may be the best summer she's seen in Philadelphia since she moved here ten years ago. I'm loving it.

I'm stopping by today to share the second video in my Trip to Maine series. This film focuses on the time we spent inside and around our quaint little cabin. I think the moments spent here may have been my favorite of the trip. The cabin was thoughtfully equipped with many important essentials, like spices, teas and water. We got a lot of use out of the kitchen, cooking dinner at home nearly every night. We (by we I mean Alan and Bill) prepared several fabulous dishes, like grilled salmon, Indian curry and baked mahi-mahi. We ate really well, and if you could imagine, we drank well too.

I hope you enjoy the short amount of footage I threw together. It's been fun to go back and reminisce after being away for a few weeks. It really was a special trip. Have a great day. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Mom and Derek's Visit

Hi Bloggy Friends,

I hope you're having a nice weekend. This is our first weekend alone in more than two weeks, so we've certainly enjoyed it. Sadly, I said goodbye to my mom and brother on Thursday night. We had a really nice time together. This was my mom's first time visiting the east coast, and I think she really liked it.

I took them to Old City one day where we had a chance to see some of Philadelphia's historical sites. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and took an hour long historic carriage ride through Old City and Society Hill. I've never been big on guided tours, but my mom enjoyed the break from doing so much walking. Coming from a small town where she's used to driving everywhere, she's not much of a walker. This is something we had to take into account as the week moved along.

One of her favorite spots was the Reading Terminal. She loved browsing the shops, munching on local-made cookies and buying gifts for family members back home. I loved seeing how much she enjoyed being there. This was definitely her "cup of tea."

Later that day we drove out to the Wissahickon Valley to have brunch at the Valley Green Inn. It's a beautiful place with an old tavern that has been converted into a restaurant, surrounded by lush grounds that you can hike in for hours. I knew mom would love it here, since the restaurant specializes in country cooking, and it took her out of the bustling city for a few hours. I hit the jackpot again!

On Thursday Derek and I woke up early to catch a Chinatown bus to Manhattan, where we spent a full day trekking across the city. We spent some time in the Williamsburg and Park Slope neighborhoods in Brooklyn, then hit up the Village, Soho, Greenwich and Chelsea before hopping the bus back to Philly later that evening. Derek is moving to NYC in the fall, so it was good for him to get a sense of what's in store. Hauling our behinds around the city, however, left us both exhausted, so we were happy to get back home.

It's always so sad to see them go, but I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time with them in Philadelphia. It's not often that I'm with my mom when she's outside of her comfort zone. This really helped to remind me about what an amazing, charismatic, funny person she is. I couldn't ask for better. She's my sunshine.

I hope you all have a great night. Click HERE for a gallery of photos I took during their visit. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Trip to Maine, Pt 1

Hey Bloggy Friends,

Now that my mom and brother have left town, I have time to work on videos from our trip to Maine. I've broken my series into different parts, the first of which is called "On the Road." Since we spent a total of 25 hours on the road getting there and back, I thought it would only be right to dedicate one whole video to our experience driving together. Besides some heavy traffic outside of Manhattan, the trip was relatively smooth. On the way up, because of a three hour standstill, we decided to break the trip into two days. We stopped for the night in Portland, Maine. On the way home, however, we mapped out a new route which avoided New York City all-together. The total mileage increased, but we gained up to three hours that we probably would have spent sitting still in a traffic jam. Because of this, we were able to make it home in one trip. We were thrilled.

I hope everyone is having a great night. Stay tuned for more videos of Maine, and photos from my mom and brother's visit. We had a wonderful time together. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Back from Maine and at it Again!

Hey Bloggy Friends,

We returned home from our trip to Maine on Friday night. This time around we found a more efficient route and were able to drive the entire way in one night. The drive was pretty painless, even though it took a little over ten hours.

We had such a wonderful time in Maine. I don't believe I've been on a more laid back, relaxing vacation in my life. We took it easy, did as we pleased and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I'm so thankful Bill came up with the suggestion. I'd love for you to check out some of the photos we took over the week by clicking HERE. I also plan to have a few videos soon, so check back for that!

Saturday we were invited to our friend Tim's for a Fourth of July barbecue. We had a nice time, but after a full days worth of driving the night before, we were pretty tired. On Sunday my mom and brother rolled in from Kentucky around 11:30 in the afternoon. It's so great to see them, but with all this activity going on, I'm starting to feel a little pulled at both ends. I plan to show them around the city this week, and maybe even make a few side trips outside of Philadelphia.

Have a great week. I'll chat with you soon.

Love, Josh

Maine-ly Saying Hello.

Hello Bloggy Friends,

I hope this post finds you well. The clouds finally parted and we've had gorgeous, sunny weather over the past two days. It's been great. The three of us have certainly started to feel very much at home here in our little red cabin. We've been cooking in every night, and spending our days doing what we call "half days." We start out in the morning doing some sort of physical activity around the cabin, whether it be swimming, canoeing or taking a walk down the road. In the second part of the day we venture out to see what awaits us beyond our cozy home base. Yesterday we drove to Acadia National Park where we took a long walk along one of the Carriage Trails, and then drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain to witness the breathtaking views. When I say breathtaking, I mean it literally. We were so high up that it was hard for us to catch our breath at first!

Today we went to a lookout point called Schoodic Point, where we watched the angry waves of the Atlantic Ocean come crashing onto the rocky beach where we stood. It was a classic Maine experience. So neat.

Now we're about to grill veggie burgers and soy dogs. After all the walking we did today, I'm famished. Have a great night. I'll chat with you soon.

Love your Maine Bloggy Friend,

Josh

Taking in the scenery.

Alan stopping by a creek on the Carriage Trail.

Who wears short shorts? Bloggy Friend Bill!

Me on the way to falling flat on my face before a nice group shot.

Witch Hole Pond in Acadia National Park.