the city of sisterly love

After months of planning and delays, my girls and I finally were able to take a shopping excursion with Suzanne, Hayley and Rachel Taylor. Our original plan was a simple trip to an Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie on the western shore. We finally had a day set and then a truck drove off the Bay Bridge and made that route un-enticing with rubbernecking delays. So last minute, Suzanne and I decided to go north to Philadelphia. Turns out the stores are just minutes apart from each other there with an H&M and a Zara thrown between them for good measure.
We plugged in the trusty TomTom for assistance with navigation (this was a waste of time and causes more confusion than confidence, but I feel since we have it I should use it) and headed out with a truckload of excited girls and their mothers. We got to the first town and made an emergency stop for coffee, snacks and the bathroom. I think we'd been in the car for 13 minutes. Then it was on the road again, car reeking of Doritos and sour cream and onion Sun Chips at 10 a.m.
Just over two hours later, we pulled off 95 to a slight backup into Philly and Voila!, we were there! It was so simple to drive into the historic district of that city that I am ashamed to say I hadn't been there since my twenties! We found a parking garage that had a lovely circular center graced with potted plants for their attendants to wait in while business was slow. I've never seen the attempt of decoration in a parking garage before. Nice touch.
First it was down to business. We were all trying to be caring of each others desires while searching out a lunch venue so we wouldn't buy stupidly out of complete hunger frenzy. We had to settle the beast of the belly before getting to the serious shopping. We spotted a packed cafe with wood-fired pizzas resting on diner's tables. It was agreed. Lunch was good! I don't remember the name of the establishment but it was on Walnut Street between 16th and 17th streets on the southside of the street, halfway down the block. It will be the one with packed tables. Suzanne and I shared a simple pizza with green peppers, mushrooms and onions. They're made with fresh mozzarella and the thin crust was crispy with that wonderfully gritty fire-grazed blackness brushed on by the flames. Hayley's and Rachel's had squash, peppers and onions with fresh basil leaves. My girls had the homemade raviolis which looked wonderful, but since they shared there wasn't any extra for my tastebuds so I have to take them at their word that it was tasty.
Then it was on to Urban Outfitters where they could part with summer earned dollars. Overall I think we were all dissappointed in the poor quality and high prices on the merchandise. Yeah, we all still spent money there, but I feel as though they are a really bad version of an Anthropologie wannabe. It felt dirty in there as though everything wasn't just designed to look as though it were from the 70's and 80's, but actually had been sitting in its dust on the same uncleaned shelves since those past decades.
We left there after somehow spending at least an hour if not more, and went to Zara's ( I think that's the name, I don't see a bag lying around) It was a breath of fresh air after the previous store. Fresh and CLEAN. We were giddy with the choices, running up and down the stairs with great excitement. Honestly, we were country bumpkins set free in the city. We weren't even trying to be "city-cool". We bagged some treasures and moved onto the queen of all stores, Anthropologie. When my little shop grows up, I want it to be an Anthropologie.
I swiped more onto my plastic than I will ever confess out loud to anyone and I have NO GUILT over it. My favorite purchase was an oatmeal colored tunic length cardigan with chunky floral embellishments and a fabulous button. There are thin creamy stripes running vertically between what appear to be panels, which give it a graceful twirl. Yes, I am wearing it right now, as I write, in case you were wondering.It is so soft I believe there may be a touch of cashmere in it, but I don't want to take it off to look at the tag. When my camera is charged I will take photos and post them. When my girls and I had shopped ourselves out, we walked across the street to a pretty little park to relax and await our friends. It was bustling and deeply green with musicians playing at the gate ( a truly motley bunch. They were having fun, but I can't say anyone else was bowled over by them). We were exhausted and yes, hungry again.
The Taylors crossed the park to meet us and we decided to start heading over to the restaurant that our visiting pastor Len Stuart had talked about Sunday as he preached. It was an Iranian Hookah restaurant called, The Aromatic House of Kebabs. After we'd walked many blocks with our arms burdened with packages we decided after consulting with a passing pedestrian that it would be wise to hail a cab. In our case two cabs. Suzanne and her girls took off in the first cab. Someone stole the second cab so the twins and I walked 2 blocks before another one came by. We were grateful to sink into its hot, smelly interior. Somehow, even though we walked two city blocks closer to our final destination, our cabbie charged us more for our ride. I'm still mulling that over. Okay, Aromatic house of Kebabs. Small place, one server, one bus boy on duty. People scattered about with long ropes from the Hookah pipes to their lips, fragrant scents enveloped us upon entrance, so it was already living up to the "aromatic" part of its moniker. We served ourselves from the soda case and the Taylors all ordered healthy tea. We dithered over our menu choices not having a clue what we were actually ordering, but we all went with chicken or lamb kebabs served either on large naan style bread flats or with basmati rice or baked potatoes. With a starter of hummus and pita, the food started flowing. The hummus was wiped out by all in record time. The kebabs were juicy and covered in a creamy cucumber sauce flavored with mint. Roasted tomatoes were bursting with flavor from the flames. The bill for all six of us to waddle out of there contentedly was $109 and some loose change plus a tip. That's crazy good for all the food we had! I'll be waiting for the next visit. We took cabs back to the parking garage, plugged the TomTom back in so it could be just as unhelpful as ever and set off home. The moon hung over the city as we left and God was praised for His goodness.