Reunited with the bestest! :)

My best friend Debbie moved up to Philadelphia earlier this year for her postdoc, and I’ve been wanting to visit her for a while now. Dan assured me that he could watch Mio for a weekend while I took the bus up from DC to go hang out with her, so I was able to finally make the trip this past weekend! As much as I missed Mio and Dan while I was away, it was so nice and relaxing to take a break from motherhood for a couple days and enjoy some girlfriend time. I’ve known Debbie since we were freshmen in high school, and my fondest memories are of us hanging out in college together, being roommates and watching movies and just chatting and pigging out on delicious eats. Last weekend felt almost like those good old college days all over again!

I woke up at dark o’clock to go into DC and take the bus from Union Station up to Philly, and got there in the late morning. We promptly headed over to Chinatown to get some dim sum!

Dim sum brunch at Ocean Harbor
Dim sum  at Ocean Harbor. We ordered a lot more on top of this, but the dumplings are always my favorites!

 

After brunch, we got us some bubble teas and walked around some of the parks in Philadelphia and UPenn’s campus.

 

Domino sculptures in Philly
Domino sculptures in Philly

 

Giant gamepieces
Giant gamepieces

 

In the city of brotherly love!
In the city of brotherly love!

 

Cool structure in the middle of UPenn's campus
Cool structure in the middle of UPenn’s campus

 

Later in the afternoon, we went to the movie theater and watched Sofia Coppola’s latest film The Bling Ring. It was really interesting, especially because it’s based on true events and how accurate its portrayal is.

 

Stopping by Magpie for some delicious pie!
Stopping by Magpie for some delicious pie!

 

The menu at Magpie
The menu at Magpie. So hard to choose!

 

We settled on Berry Lavender Crumb.
We settled on Berry Lavender Crumb.

 

Digging in!
Digging in!

 

Gourmet banh mi with chicken and duck confit
For dinner, we had gourmet banh mi with slow-cooked chicken and duck confit. So amazing!

 

We stayed up late chatting and watching criminal documentary shows like 48 Hours, and reminiscing about high school and college days! It felt like we were in our old dorm room 251 Slusher all over again (except Debbie’s apartment is much much nicer!). We got to sleep in until almost 11am the following morning (unheard of these days as Mio is usually sure to wake me by at latest 8am), and then we went out to get some lunch before I had to catch the bus to go back down to DC.

 

Eating shabazzi fried chicken from Federal Donuts at Rittenhouse Square.
Eating shabazzi fried chicken from Federal Donuts at Rittenhouse Square.

 

Goodbye Philly, it's been a fun (and delicious) weekend!
Goodbye Philly, it’s been a fun (and delicious) weekend!

 

Many thanks to Debbie for her awesome hospitality and taking me around to eat so many delicious things and see such cool sights in Philadelphia! I felt like we ate so much in a short weekend — my tummy, heart and soul returned to DC full and happy. ♥ Thank you so much bestest!