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.

Vacation

We're off on a mini vacation. I'll check in with you all next week!

Disney Video

A quick talk with a couple of friends over the weekend again brought to light my love for almost all things Disney, especially Disney World.

While just about anything Disney can capture my attention for at least a few moments, I have an especially soft spot in my heart for Disney World. I love the place and turn into a 5-year-old again any time I have the opportunity to go. In fact, hubby and I are looking forward to taking our own little munchkin when he or she is old enough to go.

Anyway, I was reading Neatorama last night and was excited to read about this cool tilt shift video that Disney World did to celebrate their 38th anniversary. It's a really neat time lapse video of a day at Disney. If you aren't already a fan it might just make you want to go.



FYI, if you're interested in more nifty tilt shift videos check out Keith Loutit's videos on Vimeo. My favorite is the Mardi Gras video.

LIFE Photos- 30 Dumb Inventions

I just saw this over on BB-Blog (which always has great posts, by the way) and I thought that the photo was simultaneously terrifying and hilarious. Who thought a Baby Cage was a good idea?!

The photo is part of a LIFE Magazine online photo gallery called 30 Dumb Inventions. Head on over there to read about more fun things like the Anti-Bandit Bag, Motorized Surfboard, and Illuminated Tires. Happy clicking!

It's here, it's here!

Ork Posters has finally finally finally come out with a Philly poster. Love it. Just have to find a place to put it. It may have to grace my office at work. If you're not from Philly, they have lots of other cities too.

Have You Visited Any of These Places?

Photo of Canary Springs at Yellowstone National Park via Budget Travel

Budget Travel magazine recently published an article called "8 Places Every American Should See". The list that they compiled was pretty interesting, and did not contain all the usual suspects. Their must-see places were (I've highlighted those that I've visited in purple):

Sears Tower
Gettysburg
Yellowstone
New York Harbor
Monticello
Graceland
Pearl Harbor
Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church

Yellowstone is absolutely on my list of places to see before I die and I do hope to see the others some time soon too. I kind of love this since it varies from some of the icons that usually make lists of this type. So what do you think of the list? How many have you visited?

Feather Earrings

I've been digging these earrings from Erica Weiner Jewelry for over a year new. I think they're just so simple but chic at the same time. I am SO ready to click purchase and have them be mine, all mine; but I've also been hemorrhaging cash lately and am trying to conserve a bit. I haven't gone so far as to implement what my friend Helen calls austerity measures, but there might have to be some drastic lifestyle changes in the near future. So, I will lust away for a bit longer. That, or I'll just crack and buy them! Look at all of Erica Weiner's beautiful stuff here.

Falling From the Sky

Photo via philly.com

So, apparently the Frankford El is crumbling. I mean, big chunks of concrete falling off regularly. SEPTA just rebuilt this sucker in the 1990s and now they're having to sue the engineers that screwed this thing up. What's SEPTA's stop-gap measure? Wire mesh where the concrete is crumbling. Hmmmmm, do you think a little bolted wire mesh is going to hold up a train hurtling forward in at, what feels like, 40 mph? I don't think so.

I ride this contraption every freakn' day and I'd really appreciate it if they would get this whole structural malfunction thing under control. If you want to know more, the full story is here.

A Purchase

This print from Etsy seller Katie Daisy is the first thing that I've bought for the nursery. Yeah, I'll let that sink in for a moment - the nursery. So that little tid bit will be my official announcement on this blog.

I've had my eye on this print for a while now since You Are My Sunshine is something that the hubby and I used to sing to each other when we were first dating (sickeningly sappy, I know.) At one point I even bought him a little music box that played the song. It's only fitting that the same sentiment be in the new addition's room.

For inquiring minds, she or he is supposed to arrive February 26th. We'll see if the Dumpling takes after me or hubby by how timely she/he is!

Conundrum

So I have question for the brilliance of the blogosphere.

A friend (who doesn't read this blog, BTW) gave me a lovely pair of earrings for my birthday. I decided I wanted to wear them today and started to take them off of the paper backing they came on and one broke in my hand.

I know the company where she bought them and I went online trying to find them in the hopes that I could contact them and have them send a replacement. I couldn't find them online so my friend must have purchased them some time ago or bought them on super sale or clearance. I'm torn- do I tell me friend about the mishap in the hopes that she still has the receipt and we can exchange the earrings? Or, do I just suck it up and pay a jeweler to get them fixed (they really are lovely.) I hate to see my friend's hard earned cash go to waste on a product that is defective and should be replaced by the company but I also don't want her to feel bad about it or like I'm asking her to replace them. So, what would you do?