Perfectly Validated

twentysomething girl 1: I like that I should really be preparing for this presentation that I have in an hour... But instead, I'm preparing for a fake vacation with my fake boyfriend.

twentysomething girl 2: HAHAHAHA yesssssss.

twentysomething girl 1: Well, really, it's for a fake/could-become-real vacation/boyfriend!

twentysomething girl 2: Yes! So could-become-real, in fact, that you really need a real passport!

twentysomething girl 1: It's good to know my priorities are in check.

twentysomething girl 2: Yes, you're perfectly validated.

Keep Calm and...

Confession: Life/Work have turned me into a little ball of stress lately. Ok... fine. To be fair, I suppose I'm often a little ball of stress. I guess it would be more accurate to say that lately, I'm just... a... a slightly bigger than my typically little ball of stress. Regardless, when I walked by a store this morning that displayed five of the below prints lined up in the window, I knew it would make the perfect post for today, if for no other reason than to remind me to, you know, breathe. At least every now and then:

from weheartit

It's nothing too earth-shattering - this "Keep Calm and Carry On" design has been floating around the blogosphere for quite some time now, but still... It's pretty. And the perfect little mantra for me to keep in mind. Well at least it was perfect... until I found THIS little gem:

from daydreamlilly

It's so true! It's simple math: Cupcakes = A Happier Bethany. And if worse comes to worst, and there's ever such an occasion in my life that things can't be made even a little bit better by a cupcake, then there's always... magic:

from weheartit

Brilliant! A Patronus Charm - THAT should surely do the trick! (Side note: This may or may not be a slightly obscure Harry Potter reference, for all of you silly non-wizard-loving PTTP readers. Which really, between Megan, Liz, and Jamie finally giving in and jumping on the J.K. Rowling Bandwagon recently, are there even any of you left??).

Alright, back to the madness and... Keeping Calm and... Such.

Kites, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

As many of you might recall, NYC lost a couple of its really good ones this past Spring. I pretty much started a countdown to Kristen and/or Alyssa's return the second their planes took off.

So when Alyssa told me a couple months ago that she: A. got a great new job (wee!), and B. wanted one of her first big splurges to be a trip back to the City, well, let's just say there was much skipping and squealing down Third Avenue that day. And the best part? She was coming in for the weekend of Megan's Half Marathon in Philly! This clearly meant only one thing, two syllables:

Road. Trip.

By the time our double decker bus rolled out of Penn Station at 9:15 the Saturday morning before last, Meg had an entourage of 8 of us girls. We were ready for a touristy-and-fun-filled trip to the City of Brotherly Love, armed with Pumpkin Spice Starbucks and maybe just a bit too much luggage for an overnight trip. As we flipped through our NY Mag's, Glamour's, and In Style Weddings' (ok, I guess that was just Amy...) we tallied up our collective goals for the trip:

• Carbing up with Megan Cheering Megan on, obviously!
• Pictures. Lots. Of. Pictures.
• The Liberty Bell (more specifically, "Kiting" it with Tracey and/or Amy, my fellow Thetas on the trip. Kidding. But not.)
• Reid Rosenthal (See him? Hug him? Marry him? All of the above him?)
• Running up the Rocky steps, even though I'm pretty sure none of us have seen any of the movies... meh.
• Philly Cheesesteaks? For sure. Cheez Whiz? Undecided.
• Avoiding any and all people dressed in costumes
• Brunchy brunch brunch

I'm happy to report that in our 29 or so hours in Philadelphia, we successfully checked just about everything off our lists, and then some. These photos can't possibly do all of the giggles and delicious calories justice, but here's a peek at one of the best weekends ever:

Oh, well hello there, Reid. Thanks for welcoming us to Philly... Alyssa and I will now fight for your affections.

Despite our best efforts, we hadn't been wandering historical Philly for more than 20 minutes when we ran into our first Costume Situation. Sorry Meg. We tried.

Oh yes. Yes, we did. Theta Love.

I really do love history.

"Hey guys. Give me your best Patriotic Pose..."

I may or may not have Googled "Chick-fil-A, Philadelphia" within 10 minutes of checking-in to our hotel... NYC doesn't know what it's missing.

Cheers to Meg! Sure, she may have been in bed at this point, but it's the thought that counts.

Check out those pink (Meg) and blue (Stephanie) shorts go!

The Cheering Section

Theta Love for Megan! (p.s. two Kites in one trip?! Oh, I'm a happy girl.)

Meow (Video to come... Get excited.)

xoxo

Chick-fil-A v. Boys

All I've wanted to do since last night was blog about the fabulous time that was this weekend, i.e. Alyssa's Return to NYC/Philly Road Trip '09 for Megan's Half Marathon!! However, life/sleep/lack of proper lunch hour just haven't allowed for such things. It will come eventually, but in the meantime, please enjoy Kristen's and my brief and to-the-point Gchat convo on the events:

Kristen: i know you're busy, but i just thought i'd tell you that i'm patiently awaiting a blog post on this weekend :) that's all

me: hahaha you read my mind! it’s annoying when life is too busy to blog ;)

Kristen: i know it

Kristen: i hate it when corporate america rains on my parade

Kristen: btw, any Reid [Rosenthal, a.k.a. Alyssa’s and my adorable husband-to-be Philly native of the latest season of The Bachelorette] sightings?!

Kristen: i figured there would be hysterics

Kristen: so i'm going to err on the "no" side of things...

me: hahahha… sadly, nope. other than Alyssa finding a local Philly mag with his face on the cover

me:but there WAS chick-fil-a involved... which is perhaps just as delicious

Kristen: haha, absolutely

Kristen: chick-fil-a never disappoints, boys do

Ha. Done and... done.