Tag: philadelphia | Page 2 | Kimberussell.com

Holy crap I’ve been Gutenberged

Dec 10 2018

It’s been a while. I know. I’m popping in here tonight to give an update on what’s been going on as well as to try WordPress 5.0, which changed up its whole writing experience with an editor called Gutenberg. I could install a plugin that restores the old editor but what’s the point? Change happens. (I’m also trying to postpone handling the vats of clean laundry upstairs that needs to be folded.)

New Phone! (okay bolding on the fly is pretty neat)

After a literal 8 months of hemming and hawing (during which WM got 2 tattoos and a new Apple Watch) I upgraded my iPhone from the 6s to the XR. Why? Because Apple is never going to bring back TouchID or the headphone jack so may as well jump into the change rather than fight it. The camera is pretty nifty and because I bought it on 12/1, I snagged it in the Product(Red) red color. Which I promptly covered up with a case. My old phone was 16GB and I kept running out of space. This beauty is 128GB and I haven’t put anything new on it because I enjoy seeing that gigantic free space bar.

That night we went out to dinner to celebrate my brother’s 39th birthday.

Touristing!

Our good friend C was in town for the Pax ~~Unlimited~~ Unplugged show in Philadelphia. He extended his stay and on Monday and Tuesday we did the tourist thing! Now how do I add a photo?

(clockwise from upper left) Dressing up as Vikings at the Franklin Institute | THE BELL | Dressing up at the Museum of the American Revolution | a teen’s answer to “What did Hamilton learn from his time in Philadelphia”

(that wasn’t bad.) This is my favorite photo of the trip:

Professionalism!

On Wednesday and Thursday I was in Atlantic City for the MASAE annual meeting. It’s the local chapter of the association for association executives. I guess that’s me. It was a good meeting.

It freaking SNOWED, so I had to console myself with a beachy drink.

The meeting was at Harrah’s Marina. I’d probably go back just so I could sit by their gorgeous indoor pool all day. And I lost $60 on stupid craps. (Just kidding. I love craps.) C’s mom came into town because she’d never been to Philadelphia, so WM and I met them for dinner.

On Friday I attended a management training session, which was pretty good. I’m not currently supervising staff (TNP is not a very vertical organization) but the tactics were good nonetheless. Friday night WM and I took C & mom to Iron Hill Brewery in Maple Shade. They have a beer called Reindeer’s Revenge that I love. It’s 9% ABV, so boozeiat emptor.

By the way, I’m kimberussell on Untappd. A beer drinking app seems odd but it’s helping me narrow down the beers that like. Also, this new editor won’t let me handcode HTML. It’s all WYSIWYG.

Every time I hit return to start a new paragraph it gives me a new “block” on the page. Weird. The drop cap is cool but kind of unnecessary. Because of that I can see myself abusing the hell out of it. The last thing this blog needs is drop-cap pomposity.

Saturday morning we went out for breakfast with C&Mom and then WM dropped them off at the airport. If you’re keeping track, I ate out Friday 11/30, then again on 12/1, 12/2, 12/3, 12/4, 12/5, 12/6, 12/7, and 12/8. Most of those meals included wine or beer.

Tomorrow is the monthly Show Us Your Books linkup! And this is the hair color I think I want.

That was an excuse to test how I embed things.

Maybe this update isn’t so bad after all?

The fruits of a four day weekend

Aug 20 2018

I’m super glad I went to the beach on Friday, because it was the best day of the four days I had off.

On Saturday my credit card and I dressed up and met friends for tea at the Mary Cassatt Tea Room at the Rittenhouse hotel for swanky Afternoon Tea.

It was so worth it. The company was amazing, and although you’d think teeny sandwiches like this wouldn’t be filling but with a pot of tea, a glass (okay two) of sparkling wine, and a selection of tiny desserts even I, queen of the neverending appetite, was satiated.

Sunday I did my grocery shopping and general running around. I dried some more oregano and harvested basil to make pesto, which I’ll post about later this week. And it was SummerSlam night. You know I’m a WWE junkie.

Today I wanted to make sure I was back on track for food this week. I found this recipe for Honey Lemon Chicken Bowls from Gimme Some Oven and gave it a whirl.

The kitchen smelled amazing, and not only do I have four ready to go for this week, but I have 2 more servings that we can use for dinner one night.

I also did a crapton of laundry and even worked out. It was a good weekend! Tomorrow it’s back to the grind and I have to try and remember how to be a productive member of society.

Friday 5: Regionalism

Aug 17 2018

Happy Friday! This is my last Summer Friday of the summer (weeps, gnashes teeth) so I spent it the way I tried to spend every Summer Friday – down the shore.

via GIPHY

I made that animated gif! It’s 1994 all over again!

basic beach … collage

We got home around 3. I took a shower, had some fast food for dinner and parked myself outside with a stack of magazines to let my hair dry naturally to give it some beachy waves.

Left: What I think my hair looks like when I let my it air-dry.
Right: What my hair actually looks like when I let it air-dry.

***

Time for the Friday 5! This week’s theme is regionalism, which looks to be interesting. Let’s get to it!

1. What regional colloquialism in your area would baffle people from elsewhere?

For anyone new, I live in Southern New Jersey, a quick 20 minute train ride from Fluffya — I mean Philadelphia. The big regional word lately is jawn. It’s a word you can drop in for any noun you’d like. I’m all up in this jawn. I gotta get some of that jawn. That jawn I linked explains more.

2. What’s something you call by a name that differs from what most people in your region call it?

The train I take to work is called the PATCO High Speedline. When I was a kid it was called the Speedline. Today, most riders call it PATCO, like they’d refer to SEPTA in Philly or BART in San Francisco. I still call it the Speedline though, because old habits die hard.

3. What’s a normal food in your region that people in other regions might be weirded out by?

People from elsewhere seem to be weirded out by Jersey’s pork roll and the region’s scrapple. I think every region has their own weird meat product, though.

4. What’s something in your area with an official name almost nobody refers to it by?
Many people still call ATMs MAC machines, because the first version of it here was called the Money Access Center.

5. What are the names of some convenience stores in your area?
7-11 has always been around. Royal Farms is staking a claim. But South Jersey’s heart is already taken by one. Wawa. Home of Hoagiefest (which sadly ended two weeks ago). Where the area’s rich and poor rub shoulders as they pour themselves delicious coffee every morning.

I love Wawa.

***
This is day one of a four-day weekend. It’s going to be great, and I am going to be a hurting pup in September when I end up having to work five-day weeks again.

I've been blogging for over 16 years and I'm apparently one of the few over-40 female bloggers who haven't sold out to THE MAN yet; hence this blog remains quirky, homespun and unprofitable. No big.

~~Wife. Dog lover. Slob.~~ I live in Southern New Jersey with my husband WM, and our dogs Ollie and Murphy. I work a fun (really!) office job in Philadelphia. So if you're looking for a childless, slightly round, marginally boring GenX woman's blog to follow, you've come to the right place! :)

Kimberly's bookshelf: read

The Awakening

by Kate Chopin

Welp, that ended abruptly. The version I have includes additional short stories, which I thought were part of the book, so when this story ended, I thought the second half of the book would be the others' responses to ... the events that...

tagged: fiction, women, and own-ebook

We Should All Be Feminists

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

So very good. Beautifully written, and really hits home. It was refreshing to read about feminism in a viewpoint other than that of my white, middle-aged, ladyfriends. :) Every middleschooler should be issued a copy of it. It was supe...

tagged: nonfiction, borrowed-from-library, and women

Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly

tagged: nonfiction, history, and women

Tag - philadelphia