Bleu cheese cupcakes and French clowns

April 30

So I’ve worked at Bath and Body Works for over three years now and decided that I would de myself (and my bank account) a favor and transfer to one here in Philly. It’s about a mile and a half from Friend P’s apartment, so it’s totally possible to walk to work and back. So I went in today to see the manager and confirm that they’re going to let me transfer. The store is smaller than I’m used to, but it’s inside a mall that closes at 7 every night except Sundays. I thought that was pretty cool because then I would still have time to socialize at night. I talked to the co-manager and she put me on the next week and week after’s schedule. It’s such a great feeling knowing that I’ll at least have some source of income. I’m a little bummed because I had just gotten a raise at the one in Newport and since the price of living is lower in Philly, they wouldn’t be able to keep me at the same rate. Still, it’s a job.

After another mile and a half walk back (that’s three miles all together), Friend P and Roomie told me about a cupcake festival that was going on in Northern Liberties. Ummm, yes?! We decided to drive over since that area is pretty far from where we were and Friend P showed us a little more of the town, including China Town which was pretty crazy. Northern Liberties is an up and coming neighborhood with a lot of Hipsters. Since most that part of Philly used to be the industrial part of the city, most of the buildings are converted warehouses. Roomie and I decided it’d be a good place to look for apartments since they’d most likely be larger and newer. Unfortunately we got to the festival near the end so everyone was packing up their booth. It was held in a courtyard surrounded by apartments and small cafes and restaurants. I got gelato for the first time and now I understand why people love it so much! I got half creame brule, half Nutella and oh my goodness, it was heavenly! One of Friend P’s friends who met us there managed to grab Roomie and I a cupcake from a vendor who was closing up. Silly us took a bite without asking what the flavor was. It was bleu cheese. We spit our bite out and threw the offending cupcake away.

That evening was the closing night of the Arts Street Fair that was happening in City Center so after parking the car back at the apartment, we walked over. The city had blocked off one of the major streets down town for the street fair. It was really crowded with booths where you could get your face painted, or buy some art, or look at other people’s art and listen to music. We sauntered down the street with everyone else till we got to the end where there was supposed to be a big finale that started at 7:30. Well, it was 7, so we decided that because we were so close to the front, we’d stick around. In front of us was an enormous crane and two platforms on either side. So we waited and waited. Then when we were done waiting, we waited some more. Finally at 8, these two French clowns got up on the platforms and lit fires on little stakes on the platforms. They were yelling something, but no one heard because they didn’t have microforms. After about 15 minutes of inaudible French clowns, we decided to cut our losses and left to get food. We ate at a restaurant called Devil’s Alley. It was a cool atmosphere with yummy food. I had a turkey sandwich with cranberry mayo. DELISH! 

I was so happy when we finally got back to the apartment because I was super tired after walking all day. I think it's going to be necessary to buy more comfortable shoes to walk around the city in. My poor beloved jellies are not going to cut it!