This is the last post regarding our trip to Philadelphia for Convention (enter: synchronized "awwww....")

We finished up business during the morning and afternoon on Saturday.  Lunch involved a trip back to the Reading Terminal Market - I am officially in love with that place and quite jealous that we don't have one of our own!


Here's a cute photo we took along the way.  (I <3 my camera's timer...)

Saturday night?  Banquet time!!

I think we clean up nicely... :)

And Pauline stopped by to visit, too!

The best part of the evening?

We were given an award!! We were given the On Target Award (we actually tied with the Beta Chapter) and we are so proud!!

Translation of the On Target Award?  We (and the Beta Chapter) received the highest score on our On Target Report, which basically summarizes our activities and efforts over the past year.
  

Here's all four of us with our plaque!

And here's a photo of the whole group...

Definitely a fun weekend with my girls!! :)

Day Two of the Convention Adventure is complete!  (And it was another scorcher at 103 degrees!!)

In the middle of the day, we had a 3 hour break to grab some lunch and take a tour of Independence Hall.  We opted to walk over.  Please forgive me for not taking very many photos...  Did I mention how warm it was?  (Mom and Dad - remember the Gettysburg reenactment day?  Yeah... like that...)

Anyway!  Here are a few snapshots!  

We headed over to see the Liberty Bell but apparently the fire alarm had gone off so they evacuated the building and we opted to just take a photo through the window instead of wait around for them to let everyone back in (apparently they had already been waiting for 30 minutes...)

Next up? LUNCH!

We went to the Reading Terminal Market to see what we could find.  It was so fun!  There were all kinds of vendors (produce, seafood, baked goods, etc.) and they had all kinds of little restaurant kiosks!  Added bonus - air conditioning!!  We found a cute little deli stand and got some delicious sandwiches.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for the afternoon portion of Convention.  We had Dr. Samantha Sutton, who is an engineer-turned-life-coach, speak to us about designing our lives - i.e. determining your dreams/goals and then how to help yourself achieve them.  We ended the evening with a networking event over appetizers at a restaurant downtown.

The girls and I grabbed a light dinner and then decided to get a little frozen yogurt for a pick-me-up!  We found a cute little place called Sweet Endings (Kaleigh you would adore this...)

You basically have a wall of flavors and you can mix and match as many (and as much - you pay by the ounce) as you want in a "little" container...

...and then just add your toppings!  They had all kinds of candies, fresh fruits, syrups, etc.  Yummmm!!!

Our favorite flavor?

(sorry about my reflection... and the overall poor photo quality... we were semi-rushed with this one...)

Epic success.  :)

Justine, Alyssa, Emily and I are in Philadelphia for a few days for our sorority's International Convention! 

Thus far?  It has been tons of fun and we have met so many great new people! :)

We had a little time to wander around downtown Philly this evening - although it was an-almost-unbearable 97 degrees (complete with humidity).

We wandered around a bit and took a few photos but the heat (and Justine's crutches) kept us from getting too carried away... 

(It was the Convention logo.... we HAD to visit it...)

Two super nice (who didn't look like they would run away with my camera) ladies took these photos for us.  They were also able to strategically angle it all so that you don't even notice the huge crowd of people behind us filming some kind of rap video! :)

Juuuuust as we were hitting a state of melted, we piled back in the car and had a little adventure in search of dinner.  We just kind of drove (along a cute winding road by the river) until we came to Mt. Airy - adorable.

We settled on theWine Thief Bistro - Amaaaaaaaaaazing.  (I had the Scallop Risotto - did I mention it was amazing?)

After dinner (and a slight detour to Jersey) we wound up at The Franklin Fountain for some old-school ice cream!  (They actually gave it to you in little cardboard Chinese-takeout-esque containers!  I wanted to take a photo soooo badly but given that it was 93 degrees still at 10 PM it left to little time between "ice cream" and "melted puddle" status to even consider whipping out the camera...)

I loved the old-fashioned shop (or should I say shoppe?) though and it was the perfect ending to the day!  (And guess what Dad?! They had Hydrox cookie ice cream!!! I couldn't resist... it was amazing...)

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!!

I saw this video earlier today and I thought it was kinda funny/adorable and worth sharing! :)

Julia Roberts is one of the commonly mentioned celebrity knitters and apparently always keeps knitting close by when she's on the set!  So if SHE can bring it to work with her.... hmmmm.... :)

I realize this maybe a little difficult to believe, especially given my lack of ANY cooking posts at this point (forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned...), but I love cooking as much (if not more) than crafting!

I am completely psyched (hello '90s!) about the most recent addition to my collection: the Cuisinart Griddler!

These babies usually come with a pretty heavy price tag, but I was able to snag this one from Woot! for only $39!

Now, you may be asking yourself why I might be so excited over such an appliance... 

One word: panini.

Isn't she beautiful?

(Please excuse the horrible white balance in these photos... I was too excited to worry about it...)


You have the option of using it closed (grill plates sandwiching your sandwich) or open-faced!

The other side of these grill plates are flat (sorry, I didn't take a picture - but it's just like an actual griddle surface).

I'm seeing pancakes and french toast somewhere in the near future!

You can also purchase waffle iron plates - incredibly tempting...  (I adore that I can use this in so many different ways - saves on storage!)

There was no way I was waiting for breakfast, though - Thursday night snack seemed as good a time as ever to take her for a trial run!  (Not all of my kitchen appliances are women, FYI.)

One of my favorite types of paninis?  Soppressata, provolone, and pesto on Italian bread.

Yummmm!!!!  Now, just heat up the griddlerrrrr.... aaaannnddd...

Green means go!!!  Sandwich IN!


(I realize "red means hot!" is also logical... too bad... we're sticking with green on this one...)

Ohhhhhh yeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhh........

(I realize this was a semi-lengthy post, full of excessive photos, given that the end result is just a sandwich... but it was a damn fine sandwich.)

And may it mark the beginning of future food posts to come!