Happy Hanukkah!

I wanted to pop in to wish all those who celebrate a Happy Hanukkah. As a Jew married to a Catholic, I get to enjoy the best of all the holiday festivities that there are to offer this time of year.

In celebration of a holiday that encourages the consumption of fried foods and teaching small children to play with fire and gamble, I wanted to share a few of my favorite blue and white Hanukkah goodies from Etsy.

Holiday Designs

Gorgeous abstract Star of David from Silver Dot Jewelry Designs

Can't forget Baby. I'll have to get one of these onesies from Max and Magnolia next year

Stained glass menorah from jist designs

The seller, jbenka, has this table runner listed as a Christmas item, but I think it would look lovely on a Hanukkah table. Just don't let your latke grease stain it!

West Virginia

Some photos I never got around to posting from when hubby and I visited my sister in West Virginia earlier this fall. We took a ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad. It was freezing the day we went, but beautiful. These photos are from the train ride.

Ginormous

For all those inquiring minds...yes at 7 months preggo, I am ginormous. Alas, I know I will only get bigger from here.

Dreaming Of....

I've been craving some goodness from Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington DC. Hubby and I went there on our anniversary trip to DC back in October. Hey, what can I say? Only the best for us.

How can you not dream of a place that serves yummies like this?!

Yes that is a chili half smoke, chips, fries, and a milk shake. It was simultaneously disgusting and heavenly. I wanna go back. There are many reasons that I'm not a dainty flower of a woman, food like this being the #1 culprit.

Garland

I think I want to try and make this cute bunny garland for the nursery. Any of my craftier friends want to help?

A Bit of Cuteness

Some things you just have to smile at. Someone should tell these ducks to use the up escalator.

Snow Globes

I'm not normally a snow globe kind of gal, but I'm digging these from West Elm. The bunny one might just have stolen my heart.

Thank You Cards

I have a ton of generous friends and family, which means that I always have someone to write a thank you note to. The other day I saw these great pigeon thank you cards by Happy Menocol on the blog simple + pretty and just fell in love.

Now I realize that most people find pigeons kind of gross. In fact, one friend I know calls them city rats with wings.

However, I tend to admire their ability to survive and thrive in urban environments.

And if you ever happen to just sit and observe a pigeon, they can actually be quite pretty. Some have iridescent feathers and others are that lovely mix of brown and white.

I think it's easy to appreciate them from afar. If one ever pooped on me, I'm sure my opinion of them would change rapidly. However, my grandmother always said that it was good luck to be splattered with bird droppings. I don't know HOW that could be good luck but you didn't question grandma.

First Thing for Baby

Besides the Pearl Jam onesie that we bought at a concert last month, until last night hubby and I hadn't bought anything for the baby. We just picked out a paint color a week or so ago and now work has begun on the nursery.

So, last night we did a little shopping and found this swivel glider that didn't make me want to run screaming from the store. We're getting it in a canary yellow chenille. I like it, but I don't love it. So much of what's available for baby/nursery furniture is hideous, but what's a pair of expectant parents to do? So, I definitely sacrificed style for comfort in this instance. It's very comfortable and the weird hump on the back makes a good place to rest your head. The fact that we had a 20% coupon helped to soften the blow too.

We also got the matching ottoman.

Next up I'm going to start searching Craig's List for the crib that I want.

iPod accessories

I seriously think I need one of these skins for my iPod. Yes, I'm a classic iPod kind of gal. All are from Gelaskins and they make them for all the all the iPod and iPhone products.

Well, Hello There Gorgeous!

Hi All! Are you still out there? Well, um....I haven't posted in over a month. Ooops, sorry about that. No excuses but to say that I've been busy and super self absorbed. When I've had downtime I've been occupying myself by staring at blank walls and feeling Baby move, which leaves very little time for blogging.

However, it's made me sad to think about Just a Girl in Philly sitting there languishing without any new posts. I don't want this to be just another abandoned blog. I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things. Heck, if nothing else I can bore you all to death with baby stuff.

So, I'll make this my triumphant return to blogging. I'm not promising daily posts or anything close to consistency but I'll try and put up some interesting/pretty things now and again.

This is what got me out of lurkedom....

Isn't this succulent wreath just about one of the prettiest things you've ever seen? Love it, want it. It's made by etsy seller April Hiller. Found via Absolutely Beautiful Things.