Philadelphia is My Home

08
Nov

Scarred For Life

Author: Momish, Category: Attractions, Entertainment, Family Friendly, Local News, Nightlife, Philly Tourist, Something to Do

When I was around ten years old, my girlfriend and I sneaked into her parent’s bathroom and started snooping around.

We found a bottle of her mom’s perfume and went to town.  We dabbed it all over our wrists and behind our ears, just like grown up ladies do before a fancy night out on the town.

Then my friend dropped the bottle.  It fell into the toilet, where it promptly shattered into a million pieces when it hit the porcelain.  A more apt description would be that it exploded.  Glass went flying in every direction and one sharp piece sliced an inch gash in my leg.

I still have the scar.  As far as scars go, it isn’t that big.  Yet, it is there.  For life.  It doesn’t smell like Oscar de la Renta anymore, but I notice it every time I am wearing a skirt and cross my legs.

Every scar has a story.  Some funny, some heart breaking, some just bizarre.  But a story, none-the-less.  This is why I think the exhibit Thin Skinned Thick will be mesmerizing.

Photographer Amie Potsic’s collection examines scarring in an artistic, beautiful way.  And each photograph is accompanied by the subject’s story behind the scar.

The exhibit’s grand opening is this Friday at 6:00 PM at the Sol Mednick Gallery (The University of the Arts, 211 S. Broad St., 15th flr. 215-717-6300).  Continues until December 14th. 

OK, so there’s lots of time, but why wait? Everyone loves a good story.  But more importantly, eveyone needs a chance to see beauty where we never thought to look before.

21
Sep

Thrill Me

Author: Momish, Category: Attractions, Current Events, Entertainment, Nightlife, Philly Tourist, Something to Do

Thrill me, chill me!

I love Halloween and am beginning to see the signs of this great season everywhere. (Just go into any CVS, orange and black assault you the second you walk in)

I’m always looking for the fun things to do around this time.  There are lost of hayrides and pumpkin picking farms.  The one thing that is right in our back yards which I have never done is Terror Behind The Walls at the old and creepy Eastern State Penitentiary.

I would think just being in that place at night would give me enough chills.

Has anyone done this?  Is it worth the price? (tickets start at 20 bucks!)

13
Sep

Bloody Good Ballet

Author: Momish, Category: Attractions, Entertainment, Family Friendly, Nightlife, Philly Tourist, Something to Do

The Pennsylvania Ballet is performing Dracula again this year.  And indeed, it is a bloody good ballet!

The costumes and set design of this ballet are magnificent.  I have seen it twice and each time was mesmerized by the contrast between the graceful and beautiful dances against the gloomy and sinister settings.

 Kids too would like this ballet due to it’s special effects and easy-to-follow well known story line.  Lots of beautiful fairy tale like costumes paired with dancers flying around stage (literally). 

 Performances begin October 26th, just in time to jump start that Halloween feeling.  They even have a performance on Halloween, if you aren’t bogged down with taking your little ones trick or treating that is.

I will probably skip it this year, seeing as I have already seen it.  But, you never know.   This kind of stuff never gets old.

If the full priced tickets are too steep for you, remember you can always show up an hour before performance time and try your luck at scoring half priced tickets.  Considering this is the third year they are doing this ballet, chances are good that most regulars and die-hards have already seen it.

Here’s a tip: Go in pairs for the half priced tickets.  Last time we went to the ballet an hour before show time, there were three of us.  The best seats they could give us were in the nose bleed section.  Meanwhile, we saw plenty of empty seats much closer, but only with two seats together at the most.  Therefore, I suggest going in even numbers so you can break up into pairs and get the best seats available!

Visit the PA Ballet website for more details about Dracula and other upcoming performances.  Dracula runs from 10/26-11/03.

22
Aug

Drive In Movies!

Author: Momish, Category: Free Events, Kids, Nightlife, Philly Finds, Something to Do

When my old car started giving me trouble, I quickly signed up for PhillyCarShare, just in case.  I figured if it finally did break down, I could just do the PhillyCarShare until all things were fixed.

Then I bought the new car.  (Relax! I am not going to go on and on about the new car.)  The point is, since I bought the new car, I never did get a chance to use PhillyCarShare in the end.

Still, I am glad we still belong to it, otherwise I wouldn’t know about the drive in movies they are sponsoring.  Once a week, all over South Philly, they will be hosting a drive in movie.  You don’t need a car, just maybe a cozy blanket or lawn chair.  And you don’t need money either!

Oh, and I called just to double check and they assured me it is free to the public, not just CarShare members.   

Tonight’s movies is Rocky being shown at Capitolo Park (where ever that is).  However, I won’t be going to this one because it’s freezing outside, for one thing.  Second, we have tickets to see Wicked tonight.  So, I may try to catch next week’s, An Inconvenient Truth, because I think I am one of maybe a dozen people who hasn’t seen it yet.

Click Here For Full Movie Schedule

All shows begin at dusk.

29
Jul

Quartermania For The New Car Challenged

Author: Momish, Category: Atlantic City, Jersey, Nightlife, The Shore

I had one girl’s night out during this vacation and my husband had his very own boy’s night out.  No kids, just single sex adults catching up and having a care free time.

For our night out, us ladies decided to head out to the Tropicana.  The Quarter has a great atmosphere for strolling around, window shopping and grabbing a great bite to eat - not to mention an over priced fancy drink or two or three or…

We headed out around 10 PM, totally jazzed to finally be out and on our own.  I swear, we weren’t in the car but all of three minutes when all of a sudden we hear “Whoop. Whoop. Whoop.”

Sure enough, I was getting pulled over.  Two cop cars sandwich us and shine glaring lights into the car.  I quickly checked with my friends and they assured me the light we just went through was indeed green.  We all had our seat belts on.  I was baffled.

The cop strolls up to the window, does the usual “license and registration” spiel, then starts waving his hand in front of my car.  All smug like, he asks me, “Do you see this, ma’am?” 

“WHAT? WHAT? Did I hit something? OH MY GOD!”

He looks at me like I have a third head and says, “Calm down ma’am, I am trying to tell you that your lights aren’t on.”

Freaking new car. 

Apparently, the dashboard is fully lit even when my headlights aren’t on.  Totally threw me off ’cause I never had a car where the dashboard was fully lit without my lights on.  Luckily, I just got a finger shaking and off we were again.

The Quarter at the Tropicana has many nice restaurants and bars to enjoy a night out.  However, when the clock strikes midnight, anyone over forty should run for cover.  Especially now, with the new nightclub Providence.  I am sure it is a fun place if you are hip and trendy, but once we saw the go-go dancers in the windows, we quickly realized we were a little off base.  Luckily, the Trop also has Tango’s, an old foggie bar with decent wine.

Naturally, being three women out on their own, we were chat up by drunk guys straggling in between the casino and The Quarter.  The young male attention we got definitely went straight to our heads.  Because on the way home, when a red sports car filled with good looking guys pulled up along side of us and started beeping, we were fully prepared to inform these poor lads that we have seven kids between us and they should just give it up.

I rolled down my window, but before I could break the sad news to them, one of the kids screamed, “YOUR LIGHTS!!! TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS!”  Then they sped away laughing.

Freaking new car.

15
Jun

It’s Friday! Do I Hear a Happy Hour Calling?

Author: Momish, Category: Nightlife

It’s Friday! And you know what means? HAPPY HOUR!

Well, truth be told, Friday hasn’t meant Happy Hour to me in quite some time. Two years and 9 months, to be exact. But, today it does! I am heading out to meet friends I use to work with over in Jersey. {I know, I know, this is a Philly blog - but what can I do?}

Somehow I have finangled with my husband a Happy Hour night on the town. I am talking a bonafide Happy Hour night, as in leave directly from work. None of this running back home, feed the kid, run the dishwasher, give her a bath, then show up at 8 o’clock when everyone is half lit and heading home.

Back in the good old days when I worked in Center City and Happy Hour was a weekly event in my life, one of our favorite haunts was Oscar’s Tavern on Samson Street. Now, from the looks of that place, one would scratch their head as to why it would be an attractive prospect for such a young and hip professional crowd. But we never had a bad time there and the drinks are cheap, which is always a sure magnet.

If you’ve ever been in Oscar’s, you know how small it is. It is basically a row home with a bar, some old booths and beat up tables. Then there is the teeny eeny little aisle going down the middle. Each time we went there, we would marval at the folks already buzzed and dancing in the isle as if they were at Studio 54. We would stare, point, shake our heads in disbelief. We did this as if it was our first time there. We did this as if we weren’t aware of the fact that three drinks later we too would be bumping and grinding in that tight space, completely oblivious to the poor sod who was desperately trying to squeeze by so he could get to the bathrooms before he peed his pants.

Those were good times. Happy Hours in Center City were (and I guess still are) the best. Eating BBQ’d burgers on the roof of TGIF’s, licking the Tang off your Buzz Aldren at Continental, paying through the nose for a domestic beer at Davio’s…

<sigh>

I have been out of the loop for a while now though. So tell me, O’ wise and trendy hipsters, what is the latest happening place to be at 5:00 on a Friday night? Maybe I can squeeze out another night off from my husband soon and organize my own Happy Hour get together, fool myself into thinking I am still cool.