The City of Brotherly Wind

This weekend I visited my friend Lauren in good ol' Philadelphia. I'm too tired for sentences and paragraphs, so a simple list to recap my weekend will have to suffice:

1) Microwaved cheeseburgers in plastic wrap HAVE to be the worst idea for a plane meal EVER. Talk about a funky smell in a closed cabin for 3 hours.
2) A forecast of "rain all weekend" followed by very little actual rain is a good thing indeed.
3) Man, is it windy when it's supposed to rain but doesn't!
4) A big, warm double chocolate chip cookie and a cup of coffee will make you forget about how cold the wind is, and ease your mind of anything that's been troubling you - at least temporarily.
5) Ohio State football rules (44-0 over Minnesota)!
6) Halloween costumes never cease to amaze me. I really wish I had a picture of the girl in the cat ears and tail who had, among other things, coins and a plastic watch glued to her shirt. What, exactly, are you trying to be? We definitely enjoyed the two guys in Revolutionary War outfits, though.
7) Memo to cab drivers everywhere - if you aren't familiar with the neighborhood you're asked to drive to, ask directions from your riders at the outset, NOT 15 minutes into the trip when you're taking them through a rather sketchy part of town, which you've gotten to by merely hoping you're going in the right direction, followed by admitting you used to drive in New York and moved to Philly just two weeks ago and have no idea where you're going. And then definitely don't ask those riders for the fastest way back to downtown as they are exiting the cab because you "want to get back quickly." Yeah, buddy, that's what we were thinking half an hour ago. I do wonder if he ever made it back to City Center... (Reminds me of a very memorable NYC cab ride in 11th grade, which I'm sure my mother remembers fondly and about which I may have to blog in the future.)

8) Long walks with Winston (at right, with hydrant) in crunchy leaves leave little to be desired.

9) Waffles = perfect Sunday morning breakfast
10) An extra hour of sleep felt soooo good... not to mention two days without alarm clocks!
11) I miss New England! Penn looked enough like it to make me nostalgic.... Especially when we were walking down a trail with a covered bridge and a tiny waterfall and there were people riding horses and little kids collecting the biggest leaves they could find (unfortunately I did not have my camera with me on this walk)...

Why didn't I do any work this weekend? Why don't I care? Why can't Houston have seasons? And still stay 70 degrees year-round? Why didn't I miss my flight back on purpose?