Romance Highlights

Last week I flew out to San Antonio for RWA which was fabulously hot.

Seriously, that Texas heat!

I stayed in a gorgeous bed and breakfast on the Riverwalk. It was beautiful. It was also about a half mile walk to the conference, which was a good thing...

I got my exercise in so that I could enjoy even more of those margaritas and Mexican food!

As always RWA was full of romance and creativity and super inspiring and talented writers.

Here are the highlights:

Philly Brunch

While I was in Philadelphia, I had to stop and see these girls who had managed to make the trip up (from Houston and DC respectively).

We did our typical Starbucks meet up in Newtown where we sat outside and talked. Then we perused the Gap Body in main street and walked over Ritas and sat on the stones for more chatting.

Tracey showed us pictures from Maui (a two week honeymoon is my new ambition in life).

Then on Sunday we went to New Hope, one of my favorite places, and where I got my tattoos back in the day. We decided to try Cafe Blue Moose for brunch.

It was a good decision. 

We sat on the patio out back, overlooking the garden.

I had Egg Wrap which was delicious. 

Tracey had Skylar's Egg Sammy and Linds had the Classic Egg Sandwich. 

We gobbled them all up.

After relaxing with some tea, we headed out to window shop.

But not before reading the Blue Moose story on the bathroom wall. The restaurant was founded by two teenagers, Skylar (14) and Pat (15) looking for something to do on the weekends. (!) When it opened, the restaurant was the first 100% youth-run restaurant, which is pretty awesome, especially given how lovely and delicious it was.

New Hope is always wonderful in the summer. On weekends you can see everything from horse drawn carriages to Harleys lining the street. And the shops are a mix of new and vintage--but everyone is friendly.

Before we left for home--and our respective long trips home--we posed for a picture.

City of Sisterly Love

This past weekend I jumped in the car and headed down to the city where I was born-- the city of Brotherly Sisterly love -- to participate in the Color Run, aka #YArunsa5K.

I even talked some of the girls into joining me.

The run was fabulous. So many great YA supporters were there. I managed to run the whole 5K (my first!) and I only got color in my eye once.

But no trip to Philadelphia is complete without a few staples -- especially if the people you're with are newbies to the city.

When we arrived in Philly, we checked into our hotel (the Holiday Inn near the stadium, which was super convenient and a great choice for the run!).

Then we headed to one of my favorite places: Elfreth's Alley.

The buildings were all built back in the 1700 and 1800s, and it's a pretty close depiction of what the city looked like back then.

There was some peering down alley ways.

And some exploring.

Then we were off to get some dinner.

Obviously we needed to have Philly Cheesesteaks.

We hopped over to Sonny's on Market St and snagged an outside table.

Then we ordered: Cheesesteak Hoagies for all of us, but a side of Bacon Cheez Fries.

It was as good as ever and we were very quickly finished.

Even though this might not have been the best "pre-run" idea, we decided that we needed to check out Happily Ever After. Next to Sonny's, the sign called to us and we headed over to check it out.

Only to find they seriously spoke to our nerd sensibilities.

We had some samples. 

I skipped fro-yo and got a giant s'more because it's summer and I have a thing for s'mores. 

Then, even though it was dark, we walked to Penn's Landing and looked out over the water.

And then passed Independence Hall where we also spied the Liberty Bell from behind some glass.

All in all it was an awesome night. The only thing left after the Color Run the next day was Rita's.