It seems as though Libra season was a blur this year. And not because I was so busy with an endless social calendar. But moreso because I was in a fog attempting to stick to my routines and taking things one day at a time.

However, if you surround yourself with an amazing support system, they ensure you take the time to celebrate you even if life is throwing some wicked curve balls.

So let's see...what birthday behavior did I indulge in THIS year?!

First things first, after a social media conference in the city there was a rooftop with my name on it at Revolution House. Caren & Liz indulged me by staying out late on a work night for drinks, appetizers, and pizza. Since my house was empty and I was not in a state to be alone (more on that later), I was more than grateful for this distraction.
And before my few days off from work, there was sassy mugs, flowers, a new book AND notebook with fancy pens, white chocolate, Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes, AND wine.  You know all Libra things.
As soon as I left the office that day, I headed straight to Lisa's chair for some color and a cut. All I knew was that my mood called for DARK hair and I left the rest up to her. I knew I could trust Lisa to give me what I needed just in time for my date with Bogs at 10pm that night.

Since sleep has been hard to come by I figured why say no, right?! And what is even more shocking is she beat me there. That NEVER happens. She grabbed me a wine flight to ease some of my anxiety before we went to go see The Hate U Give. This movie was great, however, I feel like they left out some vital parts from the book. If you have seen the movie and read the book, hit me up - I want to discuss.
My next date was with Price. We had a deal. If I took him to see Venom, he HAD to sleep alone. I felt like the previews were too scary - but he was insistent and loved every minute.
Now we all know I love a Sugar Factory celebration even though I have only experienced it once. YOU GO GIRL! When I found out they had an Atlantic City location, I KNEW this would be my family request especially since Price didn't have a soccer game that weekend.

Apparently, someone was taking selfies and applying filters as I slept on the way back

Birthday mani with a peanut butter cup martini. Yum!

We had to refuel after all that shopping at Grand Lux Cafe with bellinis, lunch, and red velvet cake before meeting Maya and Ja'Niyah to see A Star is Born. This movie was gut-wrenching. And WHO knew Lady Gaga could blow like that?! My heart is not ready to listen to the soundtrack, but one of these days I will download it and indulge.
This leads us into my birthday, which I was not ready to face. But one foot in front of the other AND remember to breathe, right?! I am not going to lie - I laid in bed for most of the day and may have cried a bit too. BUT my parents told me I should go to lunch/dinner with Anthony. So that's exactly what I did. He took me to Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar where he indulged in a rum tasting and I punked out of my rum punch because it was too strong. More sangria please?! Yet their sweet potato donuts rolled in vanilla sugar with a coffee caramel dipping sauce was heavenly.

Did you know October was both national pizza AND national dessert month?! So you know I had to make an outing for JUST pizza. I was originally going to just go to Bar Lucca, but I told Bogs we were heading into the city and my new shoes were joining us.

We ended up at Porta and I immediately fell in love with the decor. Somehow Bogs spotted a fried grilled cheese on the menu, which came with a side of their homemade sauce. Now if you know me, I was definitely on the fence about trying this BUT the pizza I was all in on. Uhhhhh...color me surprised when I loved it after the first bite and ended up eating my half. I guess trying new things aren't that bad after all, huh?!


After we left, I had one more request. This was literally the only thing I knew I wanted to do for my birthday. Alex had created me a drink with lavender a few weeks prior at Somo Manayunk and said he would make it for my birthday. Imagine my face when he told me he couldn't remember exactly what was in it. BUT Ryan was working and told me he would come up with something for me to try. Once again, they did not disappoint and it was love at first sip. I am glad Bogs loved it too because she said she had heard about this drink enough. LOL! We also had some beignets while I sipped on my second specialty drink. Nom.
Now my mom made a comment to me a few weeks prior that I needed to come alive again. I think my parents' birthday gift was tied into assisting me with this...I was so excited when she told me she was going to take me to NYC to see a play on Broadway. And not just any play, American Son with Kerry Washington. I just had to promise not to fan girl.

Who does she think she is?! LOL!

What made this trip more special to me is the fact that I know my mom doesn't particularly like NYC. The congestion drives her up a wall. YET she sacrificed her comfort so I could do something I love.

There is just something about a refreshing glass of sangria on a hot, summer day.

What's your go to mixer to serve at your parties?! Is your preference based on seasons and the weather?

Per dictionary.com, feen is defined as: to desire greatly. And make no mistakes about it...everyday I desire my kick of caffeine immensely. Remember that time I decided to visit more local coffee shops instead of relying soley on Starbucks for my fix?! Well my hand was forced last month, but I will let Drea explain...

If you know Holly or I, then you know there's one thing we both love: Starbucks coffee! So imagine our dismay when one of our top spot was plastered all over the news for racial profiling of two black men. To make matters worse, the incident occurred right in our own backyards in Center City Philadelphia. Starbucks' white chocolate mocha is great and all -- dreamy even -- but another thing to be said about both Holly and I is we don't do well with injustices.

Admittedly I was probably a little more heated than Holly in this particular case. Earlier this year, I read Shirley Chisholm's book Unbought & Unbossed casuing me to toe the line of becoming downright militant since the start of 2018 (we'll save those details for another blog post perhaps). So without question, I was NOT going to be patronizing Starbucks any time soon. I was officially on strike.

Personally, this call to arms presented a real problem for me and I'm not just referring to the knee-buckling sensation (H: sometimes I exclaim YES as I am driving from that FIRST sip) from taking my daily first sip of white mocha that I was now depriving myself from. No, it was deeper than that. Because of the boycott, I had nowhere to settle in for work each day! Last summer I started a new job that allows me to work from home. Because of this new lifestyle, Starbucks had become a convenient space for me to set-up shop as I sit and crank out award-winning masterpieces about the latest happenings in business school education. It was perfect. Free wifi, strong drink, and the sound of espresso machines and uptempo music to get me in the flow of things.

Now I had no place to go. Or so I thought! I went to my phone and asked the Google gods to give me some Starbucks alternatives. What I found was a whole new world of coffee shops that were not only nearby, but they were marked by beautiful ambiance that made me say, "Starbucks who???". Below is a round up of me and Holly's Philly tour of coffee shops, our thoughts and reactions to each, and our top picks.

CAFE WALNUT
The first stop was Cafe Walnut. Being that this was my first stop, I initially thought I'd hit the jackpot. I stumbled on this hidden gem as I looked for a place to sit and work following a work lunch in the Old City area. Immediately, I loved the charm of Cafe Walnut. I went down into a cellar-type space to place my order and make my purchase; then climbed the stairs to find an open space filled with tables, chairs, work benches, and high top seating. My favorite part was the openness and the variety of seating. There were tables and chairs for group meetings or single high top chairs facing the hustle and bustle of Walnut Street if you just wanted to zone in on your work, but with a good view. The location was serene and good for productivity, but the coffee left much to be desired. Even with an extra pump of flavoring, my caramel flavored latte didn't have much of a caramel taste to it at all. That's annoying since you can probably imagine, I'm a bit of a coffee snob (note: I get that trait from Holly).
Pros: Charming, cute, good view
Cons: Coffee was blah, parking is a hassle

THE DAILY GRIND
Next up was The Daily Grind in Jenkintown. I ended up here after a doctor appointment in the area and once again needing a place to sit down and work. I initially liked Daily Grind, but eventually the excitement of it wore iff. First of all, I don't like that it's inside a mini mall. Something about sitting inside of a mall takes away the coffee shop feel. The coffee was much better than Walnut Street Cafe, but again, the (coffee) snob in me was not impressed. The other thing to note about The Daily Grind is noise level. Because it's inside of a mall space, the lunch hour gets pretty hectic and pretty loud. Thank goodness I don't go anywhere without my headphones. On the flip side, the food at The Daily Grind was alright and the staff was super friendly. Say hi to Brendan for me if you go!
Pros: Parking lot, friendly customer service
Cons: Bad coffee, uncomfortable seating

ONE SHOT CAFE
Here's where things start to get fun. One Shot Cafe in Northern Libs made me squeal with excitement as soon as I entered. Cute coffee shop at its best and an A+ for ambiance for sure. The best part is when you climb the stairs to the second floor. Your eyes are met with a living-room like space filled with big comfy sofas and shelves on top of shelves of endless books. If you'd rather sit at a space that's less sleep-inducing, there are various seating options including a cute little window-seat nook with pillows and a view of the street below. There's also a random motorcyle parked on this floor just because. And I dig that.

H: I NEED to get down here

The noise level in One Shot is perfect for getting work done and, in fact, may be a little too quiet. I overheard someone mention, "It's like a library up here." My first time ordering food at One Shot was fairly disappointing as both my breakfast sadwich and coffee were lukewarm with a somewhat bland taste. But they made up for it the next few times. Their smoked salmon is tasty and I nearly hurt myself on their breakfast burrito. With that said though, One Shot Cafe is a bit pricey. The breakfast burrito and cofee were about $20 bucks. Not ideal for someone just looking to scarf down some food while she works.

Pros: Ambiance, food, noise level
Cons: Not so great coffee, pricey

PALMERA COFFEE 
As I was headed to One Shot Cafe one day, I was cruising down Girard Ave when Palmera Coffee caught my eye. From the street, you could see that it had terrific window seating and I could even tell that the inside seating and ambiance would be adorable. I had no idea just how adorable. I walked in and instantly thought Palmera would be crowned my favorite of the coffee shop tour. The space is beautiful! I don't think words can do it justice so I took a gazillion or so pics to share. Immediately, I shot Holly a text and told her she had to visit this one with me. Her next work from home day happened to be the next day so we made the trip and "worked" there all day on a Friday.

H: In the midst of a social media hack for one of my client accounts, this was a great idea - although my stress levels were high, a change of location gave me the motivation I needed to buckle down and just KEEP troubleshooting after a long night working.

Though Palmera gets the top grade for ambiance, there are a few cons. First, I'm not sure what it is, but for some reason the food here always leaves me feeling sick. I've tried a breakfast and a lunch option and both times were not good for me. A second downside here is two-hour parking. While there are ample spaces, the parking authority folks are out and so having to go move your car every two hours gets old. Finally, the seating. As much as Palmera gives me the heart eye emoji face, there are no cushions on any of the seats and all of the seats are HARD. By the time I worked all day pulling together an article, my little tail was in much pain.


Holly's Cons: Parking, you have to spend $5 to use your debit card

FEINE
H: Feine is located in Conshy. As I walked in one Sunday after brunch, I immediately fell in love with the decor and the lattes were delicious.

Honey Lavender & Lucky Charm Lattes

Pros: Outdoor seating, ample parking availaible, decor, customer service, books available to read, board games on a shelf