THE PHILADELPHIA ADVENTURE

Katie and Matt move to the big city.
~ Sunday, September 19 ~
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Life in September has been good, overall. There are still a lot of things I’m having trouble with—missing friends, getting lost all the time, coming up with a reasonable and sane schedule, making NEW friends—but I am not here to dwell on the negative, people. We are slowly making our little place home and that is nice. 

We just got back from dinner with our east coast fam, Midge and Steve. We went to the Rittenhouse art fair (didn’t find anything) and then out to an excellent Italian dinner nearby. I’m forgetting the name of the place…but because of the strict liquor laws here in Pennsylvania, many of the restaurants are BYOB—which means they have incredible food. Matt and Steve both had lamb shanks over ricotta gnocchi (and they made horrible baaaaahing sounds as they were eating), Midge had veal ravioli, and I had seafood linguine. We’ve been eating well, to say the least. With Matt gone to NY and back all the time, we are trying to have one date night per week. Last week we went to the White Dog Cafe in West Philly and had a hamburger and mussels. Matt shot mussel juice on my face and into my hair and the table of people next to us laughed at us…it was pretty silly. 

This month…

Matt got a new computer and I got an iPad (on loan) from work. Both are dreeeeeeeamy, although I think the iPad is a little bit dreamier. 

Jeb started sleeping in the shoes again. He did this sometimes in Tucson, sleeping in the closet. One night we heard him rustling around and he was literally sleeping on top of all of our shoes—so we dragged his bed in there and he is such a happy boy when he’s there. It’s like his little apartment. 

We almost have all of our pictures up. I just realized the other day that we have almost NO wedding pictures up. I think we have one. We should get on that. But the big Arizona poster is in a place of prominence on the first floor, right smack dab in the middle of the wall as you walk down the stairs. The big stuff is in place. 

Our coffee grinder broke. For those of you who know Matt well, you know this is a BIG DEAL. I guess it’s also a big deal for me, because I’ve become fairly coffee dependent. Anyway, he’s been tinkering and trying to fi the coffee machine when he’s home. Today I was laying around in bed before my run and heard “wrrrrrrrrrap, wrrrrrrap, wrrrrrrrap”: Matt trying to file down the coffee grinder parts to make them fit better (?).  

It’s nearly bedtime, and Matt and I are here in bed surrounded by…5 Apple products. SO. SICK. We need a “no lappies in bed” rule. Night night! 


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Earlier this week I had a good day at work and, excited to be coming home after such a good day, put my phone on top of the car and then drove away. I smashed my iPhone. I mean, screen = tiny glass fragments. The upside of this is that I got Matt’s (newer) iPhone and he got to get a NEW iPhone. Our conversation went like this:

Me: I broke my phone.

Matt: I’ll go to the Apple Store tomorrow morning. 

No, “why weren’t you being more careful?” or “why did you have your phone on the roof of the car? Haven’t we been over this before?” Nope, the whole thing was solved in a matter of hours and as a result, I get to show you the photos Matt had on his old iPhone. Some selected shots of life at CASE in Manhattan and at RPI in Troy. Enjoy!


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~ Monday, September 6 ~
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Some randoms, first.

Hi, all. We are still alive! I have a long list of things to tell you, then I’ll post some pictures. 

1. WOW, is it cooling off here. We have been sleeping with the windows open since we got here, but last night we actually got COLD. Some of the leaves on the trees are starting to turn already. 

2. We bit the bullet and joined the co-op. We now are eligible to get cash back when we buy our 10.99 per pound local, organic cherries!

3. Matt got a job. A few, actually. But the best is his still-to-be-titled gig at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY. They run the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE) out of the offices of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill Architects (SOM) in Manhattan. Did you catch all those acronyms? He is taking the train to NYC every day for the last half of the week to teach for RPI/CASE and traveling to Troy to work on prototyping projects. Between that and the classes he picked up for PhilaU when we first moved here, he is a busy little boy. 

4. We still do not have a couch. Ugh.

5. School started two weeks ago and teaching is so fun! I think my favorite part of my job so far is going to university-wide meetings and seeing all of the faculty in their elements. Did you know that the camoflauge worn by troops in the Middle East was designed at PhilaU? I am loving learning about all of the design fields.

6. Jeb is being SO BAD lately. I am running with him most days of the week, but whenever we take him to the “dog park” (basically just a huge swath of forest) he is gone for hours at a time, literally. The other day Matt was there for TWO HOURS with him. We have to do something about this. 

7. I am still training for the marathon, but it is really hard running alone. I miss you, Dana! I just get so dang bored. I also have no sense of how fast I am running, or if I’m running enough, too much, etc. I need to meet some running friends. I go to a running group once a week, so that’s helping a little bit. They’re all much faster than me, but rather than make me feel bad about myself, it’s cool to watch them go. Kind of like going to Workout Group in Tucson. 

8. We are slowly starting to make some friends. Today we went on an unexpected tubing trip down the Delaware River with Kristen (see blog #1 from Philly) and her friends. It was veeeeery cold. 

9. Alina came to visit last weekend! And she convinced me to go to our college friend Erin’s wedding this past weekend in San Francisco. I felt very cosmo, going from coast to coast in a short period of time. 

10. Aaaaand, I just realized I have 11 papers to grade and a class to plan before 8am tomorrow. Night, night!


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~ Monday, August 16 ~
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First 1st day of school: for the Moms and Becky, in Tucson. This is me on our front stoop this morning, all dressed up for my first professor day. 

I am just home from school and laying in the bedroom with the little window unit AC working at full speed. It is hot and humid here. Today was my FIRST first day of school—adjunct orientation. We had quite a showing, and the day flew by. As I sat in my office at 5:30 and waited for Matt to come get me, it still felt like 9:30 in the morning. Tomorrow is my first day of new faculty orientation, followed by another day of that and then convocation (!!), when I get to wear my fancy faculty robes and walk to welcome the new students. I’m actually really excited about that. 

Anyway, I just wanted to post and say that I haven’t felt so busy in a long, long time. By the end of my time at VOICES, I felt like I had the routine down. Things that would take me hours when I first started took me only a short little while by the time I finished. Now I wonder what those tasks will be for me in a few years, here. I get home and I’m just exhausted, unable to process anything but my Salem witch trials book (which, BTW, I only read the “good” parts, i.e. the parts where people get pressed to death for having moles that look like teats for familiars), and Meet the Kardashians (free on Apple TV…I know, we totally need to get cable). It’s taking all of my energy just to get to work and be prepared. 

I missed my good friend’s wedding this weekend. =( And Erin, I am desperately trying to make it to yours…I know I am late in sending the little RSVP card. I’m just trying to juggle and figure out how to be responsible. Sigh. 

Off to the grocery store to buy something green for dinner. Night night. 

P.S. If anyone can figure out how to get the comments on this thing working, that would be awesome.  


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~ Tuesday, August 10 ~
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Jeb and I just got back from a walk and we are sitting here in the dining room just dripping in sweat. I forgot how extensive the personal hygiene process has to be in the humidity—none of this Tucson wear-your-clothes-for-three-days-straight-cuz-they-just-get-dusty business.  Anyway, I’ve been trying to take photos of the house but I can’t get the light right. This is from the other night, and it’s a little blurry (sorry, Krista). As you can maybe see, we’re having trouble getting the dimensions of the rooms right. They are so small! In the living room, if we put my Baba’s blue chair facing the TV (which is on the wall), then we have no room for a couch without creating a “hallway” of furniture, as Matt puts it. I have full faith he’ll figure it out. 

Jeb and I just got back from a walk and we are sitting here in the dining room just dripping in sweat. I forgot how extensive the personal hygiene process has to be in the humidity—none of this Tucson wear-your-clothes-for-three-days-straight-cuz-they-just-get-dusty business. 

Anyway, I’ve been trying to take photos of the house but I can’t get the light right. This is from the other night, and it’s a little blurry (sorry, Krista). As you can maybe see, we’re having trouble getting the dimensions of the rooms right. They are so small! In the living room, if we put my Baba’s blue chair facing the TV (which is on the wall), then we have no room for a couch without creating a “hallway” of furniture, as Matt puts it. I have full faith he’ll figure it out. 


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~ Monday, August 9 ~
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On Sunday morning Matt and I went to brunch at Cake with my new colleagues (and friends!) Katharine, Aurelio, Brendan, and Stacey. 

I’ll just say, I’m glad I went for a long run that morning. 

P.S. Did I tell you I’m training for the Philadelphia marathon on November 21? There’s got to be a lot of running going on to counteract all this eating.


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My good friend Adam once failed a math test in college and his teacher told him, “You fail test! Must do better next time!” I’ve always thought about that teacher whenever I try something and it doesn’t work out.  On Saturday night our new friend Mary Beth took us to Northern Liberties (AKA “where the young people live”) for dinner. We walked around and around and around and around and couldn’t find anything that didn’t have an hour long wait and bitchy hostesses. Everyone was drunk, or on their way there. And everyone was DEFINITELY cooler than you are. Just so you know.  We failed dinner—must do better next time!  P.S. Eventually we ended up eating pho in Chinatown…so it all turned out OK. But we will plan better in the future. P.P.S. That’s us entering the madness that was Northern Liberties, above.

My good friend Adam once failed a math test in college and his teacher told him, “You fail test! Must do better next time!” I’ve always thought about that teacher whenever I try something and it doesn’t work out. 

On Saturday night our new friend Mary Beth took us to Northern Liberties (AKA “where the young people live”) for dinner. We walked around and around and around and around and couldn’t find anything that didn’t have an hour long wait and bitchy hostesses. Everyone was drunk, or on their way there. And everyone was DEFINITELY cooler than you are. Just so you know. 

We failed dinner—must do better next time! 

P.S. Eventually we ended up eating pho in Chinatown…so it all turned out OK. But we will plan better in the future.

P.P.S. That’s us entering the madness that was Northern Liberties, above.


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~ Sunday, August 1 ~
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We are settling into our new neighborhood, due in large part to the kindness of our neighbors. Naomi Street is in this small little section of West Mt. Airy called “Bluebell Hill.” I’m no Philadelphia expert by any means, but here’s how the neighborhoods seem to break down: West Mt. Airy is kind of an old money place that borders on Chestnut Hill, which is a REALLY old money kind of place. Huge stone mansions, carriage houses, cobblestone streets, the whole nine yards. Chestnut Hill seems right-of-center to me—I went to a running group workout at the Chestnut Hill Academy last Tuesday night and wound up running next to grass tennis fields with court after court of kids dressed all in white taking their tennis lessons. Fancy. West Mt. Airy doesn’t seem quite that fancy, but we’re still surrounded by huge houses. The Bluebell Hill section, however, has these tiny dollhouse-sized rowhouses that sit on the edge of the park. Our neighbors a few houses down have a rooster and keep chickens, and the street is very diverse. Our house-mates (who live in the twin that occupies the other side of the house) are a plumber and a yoga teacher. My new friend Mary Beth, who is also a professor at PhilaU, lives across the street. The woman in the picture, above, is Kristen, one of Matt’s new mountain biking friends. Last night she hosted a party for nearly everyone in the neighborhood. Everyone came (which I thought was impressive) and had hot dogs and beer—the diversity of people in the neighborhood is really cool. Kristen is a competitive cyclist and bought a house around the corner after living in the house where we are now for some years. She is also the ED of a nonprofit, Gearing Up, which teaches women in transition how to bike. Brenda (the blurry woman sitting down in the photo) is our across-the-street neighbor who volunteers to take women out on rides. In her professional life, she’s a gardener at a big estate in the main line town of Narberth. Our new neighbors are too cool! 

We are settling into our new neighborhood, due in large part to the kindness of our neighbors. Naomi Street is in this small little section of West Mt. Airy called “Bluebell Hill.” I’m no Philadelphia expert by any means, but here’s how the neighborhoods seem to break down: West Mt. Airy is kind of an old money place that borders on Chestnut Hill, which is a REALLY old money kind of place. Huge stone mansions, carriage houses, cobblestone streets, the whole nine yards. Chestnut Hill seems right-of-center to me—I went to a running group workout at the Chestnut Hill Academy last Tuesday night and wound up running next to grass tennis fields with court after court of kids dressed all in white taking their tennis lessons. Fancy. West Mt. Airy doesn’t seem quite that fancy, but we’re still surrounded by huge houses. The Bluebell Hill section, however, has these tiny dollhouse-sized rowhouses that sit on the edge of the park. Our neighbors a few houses down have a rooster and keep chickens, and the street is very diverse. Our house-mates (who live in the twin that occupies the other side of the house) are a plumber and a yoga teacher. My new friend Mary Beth, who is also a professor at PhilaU, lives across the street.

The woman in the picture, above, is Kristen, one of Matt’s new mountain biking friends. Last night she hosted a party for nearly everyone in the neighborhood. Everyone came (which I thought was impressive) and had hot dogs and beer—the diversity of people in the neighborhood is really cool. Kristen is a competitive cyclist and bought a house around the corner after living in the house where we are now for some years. She is also the ED of a nonprofit, Gearing Up, which teaches women in transition how to bike. Brenda (the blurry woman sitting down in the photo) is our across-the-street neighbor who volunteers to take women out on rides. In her professional life, she’s a gardener at a big estate in the main line town of Narberth. Our new neighbors are too cool! 


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I thought I’d post some pictures of our new ‘hood, which is AWESOME. Right out our door is the entrance to the Wissahickon section of Fairmont Park, which is the largest urban park system in the nation. It’s incredible. Both Matt and I have played in the park nearly every day since getting here, running and biking and stuff. Jeb is also loving it. These pics are from one of our first evenings here—a nice night for us is to eat dinner and walk Jeb down to “dog beach,” which is basically just a bend in the river near our house. There’s lots of pups there and tons of sticks to be thrown. And it’s deep! Jeb is worn out every day. 


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~ Saturday, July 31 ~
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G-spargs have landed.

Updates to come, including WAY too many dog pictures.


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