Craig decided to have a real Christmas tree this year, but we had to warm up first.
plus, drinks inspire creativity, and we didn't want to squash that.
Kirsten came over to help decorate...and drink
it's Plunge, so the tree gets a toilet paper top that Monika made into Santa
the tree came out really nice, and we came out pretty toasty ourselves.
Played a show on Wednesday night in Philly. I don't have any pictures of myself on stage yet, so this is a shot of our opening act on stage while I ran the sound.
and the closing band. We played two set in the middle to a crowd of aroudn 150 of our friends. Free draft beer for the bands all night = a great time.
Next day was Thanksgiving at the shore with my family. It's Monika's favorite holiday...she really loves turkey.
drinks are mandatory in our house, and every day is a holiday
the spread before the dinner. We had tofurkey, of course, but everything else was delicious also. It's not really too difficult to do vegetarian Thanksgiving. Most of the food is already vegetarian, if you think about it.
next night we went to Sisters Nightclub for a burlesque show which happened to coincide with the release of the movie.
don't get me wrong, I still love a good strip club outing, but Burlesque is so much more playful, and no one begs you for cash.
we had a great time, did some dancing, got to see some beautiful ladies, and partied till 2 am. tonight, we do it again.
Cleaning out my phone…here are some random photos from the last month of my life.
Not that I don’t love everyone in Monika’s family, because I do, but the final day of our vacation to Italy we got to spend alone in Rome. There’s a lot to cover in Rome, so honestly I think it’s better to do it in small groups anyway, that way you get to see everything you want to see.
Here is the obviously obligatory shot of the Coliseum. This is where our shuttle dropped us off just before noon. We had until 10 o'clock to see everything we wanted to see. This was pretty high on the list, so it's nice that it's so big, you really can't miss it.
this isn't just a dirt field. well, actually, it is just a dirt field, but the Italians like to call it the Circus Maximus which roughly translates to "dirt oval field where guys in chariots raced in circles and some dude from Ben Hur got killed for real." Pretty cool, huh, a little piece of Hollywood, right here in Rome!
Me and Botgirl inside the big, stone stadium thingy. It wasn't crowded at all and it really was a beautiful summer day. Even though there was a huge line, we got to walk right in cause we roll like that (and we bought advanced tickets).
In Rome (and really, probably anywhere in Europe) you can drink right on the streets. they sell beers at every food vending cart and I took advantage. throwing caution to the wind, and with no idea when the next time I would see a bathroom, I slammed a can of Peroni while strolling around on the Apian Way.
It is amazing that this building/church, The Pantheon, is in such amazing condition since it was built nearly 2 millenia ago. But, I guess they maintain it, which is why you see it's half shrouded in scaffolding.
It's clear that inside has gone through periods of neglect and restoration, and I know that what I see now is probably nothing like what an ancient roman would have seen. Nevertheless, it is amazing that culture has preserved this place for so many years.
In Italy, and most of Europe at his point, Absinthe is pretty common and not all that unusual. They even have a pretty good selection, unlike the States, where you pay an arm and a leg for a shitty bottle for no good reason except that people think it's exotic. In any case, here, I drooled for a minute, but we couldn't stop to drink...we had things to see.
This is the Vatican. It took us half the day to make it this far. Oddly enough, it was pretty crowded, you could take pictures, and it was pretty noisy as well. I guess they just gave up on pretending it's a church and all.
Everything, again, was either marble, granite, or gold. No expense was spared, especially since they didn't have to pay for any of it. To tell you the truth, most of it was probably stolen from other churches that they then burned to the ground. Damn blasphemers.
the thought of it made me want to drink. We had dinner in an cafe and then hung out in the piazza next to it before heading off to the Spanish Steps.
Then we found a bar to relax in and just enjoy being in Rome, knowing we didn't have to drive for hours to another city tonight. We could just relax for a minute. This was an Irish Pub, but hey, they had Guiness, so I wasn't complaining.
In the morning, our hotel had an amazing breakfast spread. We packed up the car and headed out to the airport to say good bye to Italy once again.
Once again, since we ordered vegetarian meals on the plane, we got ours served before everyone else on the plane, had better, warmer food than the rest of them, and scored some drinks.
The cats were happy to finally see us again. They were probably getting to the point of forgetting we even existed, but they seemed to remember us all right. We had every reason to be tired and we slept well that night.
Some things I learned in Italy: When you rent a car, pay the extra money for GPS. The bedbug scare is way overblown. We stayed at 7 different hotels, and never once was there any sign of bedbugs anywhere (and trust me, I checked well). People generally don’t get mad when you speak English. They get happy. You’re a tourist, you’re probably going to be giving them money, and they seem to like that just fine. Having an international phone is handy for drunk calling your friends back home, but not much else. If you’re vegetarian, you will eat quite well. Italy isn’t a big as you might think. If you want to get somewhere, you can, so if you ever visit, make a list of all the Italian cities you’ve ever dreamed of seeing, and get there. It’s not as far as you imagined!
We packed up in Bologna, and hit the road towards Venice, which is about 3 hours northeast. When we got to the dock, the boat to take us to Venice was still half an our away.
Let's drink! Seriously, though, when I opened my suitcase to get out the bottle of wine and beer I had stowed, I discovered that the bottle of beer had leaked, making most of my shirts smell more like beer than the regular whiskey smell. Not big deal. Aired them out later. Drank beer immediately.
Venice has no roads with cars, only canals. We sung "I'm on a Boat" all the way to the dock.
This is the center of Venice, St. Marks Square. An amazing church that I only wish I could share photos of. And lots of open air cafes and tourists, to be honest.
This is a glimpse into the extensiveness of the interior. Every surface is marble, or gold, or granite. In every style. This shows the diversity of the columns on the front corner of the church.
We went a bit off the beaten path to grab lunch at a small cafe. The paninis were great....
...and so were the drinks.
This is like the South Street of Venice. I guess it's a bit touristy, and there's no doubt about that, but it's still beautiful anyway, and I love crowds.
But we found a borderline Steampunk Bar, and Monika and I enjoyed some delicious cocktails and free sushi!
I think the touristy thing settles down, and the vendors go home at night, but....
we headed back to Bologna, where we met this guy, who apparently exchanged free drinks at the hotel bar for the opportunity to put his arms around young, American girls.
As always, check the entire photo gallery of day four here.
Had lunch with Kreg at the local bar. others may disagree, but we've decided it's actually a pretty damn nice place. Brand new, good drink specials, craft brews on tap, and 4 dollar forties on Sunday for football. And they have a deck...really, what's not to like.
Technically, I work at the arcade at the Mart also. I just need to find a way to play for free. Pinball is one of the greatest games ever...the better you are at the game, the longer you get to play.
the first of three floors at NFL Films Lab.
I hope you all voted today. It's a neccesity.
We decided to play it low key for Kat’s birthday, and so just the four us went out. Kat chose Bar Ferdinand, a fancy little place in Northern Liberties in a newly renovated section of town. This section is called The Piazza, and it’s pretty damn nice. It was built on the site of the old Schmidt’s Brewery and includes apartments, restaurants, store and artists’ studios. At the one end, there’s a huge LED television overlooking the courtyard. Last night, game 1 of the World Series was on.
This is a view of the Piazza. It's across the street from the restaurant we dined at. It was a damn fine place to sit back with a beer and a cigar, and watch the World Series in beautiful weather.
These are the apartments that overlook the Piazza.
Bar Ferdinand has lots of tapas, which is basically the same as saying “expensive, small appetizers.” That being said, they were all delicious. We all shared everything we ordered, and had many drinks as well. The atmosphere was great, and it was busy but not crowded on a Wednesday night, so it was nearly perfect dining.
The seasonal craft brew list. I had the "Abbey of Christ in the Desert" Belgian Ale that was unmemorable, and the delicious Duck-Rabbit DoppleBock! Highly recommended.
but, the evening was all about a night out with close friends.
Fun with my retro camera app! This is just a few quick snapshots with the pinhole camera. This app is awesome, and I highly recommend it to all my photo friends. It’s got a bunch of vintage cameras, with crazy customizable settings, considering it’s a cell phone camera.
a photo of a photo lab. but digital. how ironic. this very technology will put me out of work!!
I don't know why, but I like this one
more to come…
I have been running around, cleaning up all the loose ends from vacation. Had to sanitize all the clothes just in case we got some bed bugs along the way, but I’m pretty sure we’re clean because I checked all the rooms before we slept in them. Perhaps the bedbug problem isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be. I stayed in average hotels, 7 different ones in 7 nights, and found no trace of bedbugs at any of them.
I’m sick, also. Not sure how it happened. Traveling can do that to you. Ten hours on a plane back from Italy can do that to you for sure. And, perhaps, the jolt of being on a care free vacation and suddenly having to work the next day can certainly contribute to a weakened immune system. Not so funny thing is, because I had not started this year expecting to go to Italy for a week, I’m not sure I even have any days off left to take a sick day anymore. Gotta check with the boss today.
I am working on a small collection of photos to post from our trip. I easily took over a thousand. We were in 9 different cities over the course of a week. I was in more churches in 7 days than probably the last ten years combined. But, vacation was over, and we were back to reality in no time. So…back in the Berlin Mart…
Originally wanting to call his new store "Mother fuckin' Spices, Nigga'," and then the tamer "Spices 'n Shit," Bob finally settled on the more PC name of "Spices and Stuff."
I organize and label like a fiend. I think the store had to up its budget on labeling tape since I've landed there.
For the Eagles game, I made individual tin foil bowls of nachos for everyone. Worked out pretty good. I considered making a whole blog about how to do it, but the picture should pretty much explain everything you need to know.
On The Verge of Tears 