LONGWOOD GARDENS - WARNING: THIS IS MIRANDA POST

Today felt like a relaxing Saturday (bonus: it's only Friday!) because I was off work and out exploring Longwood Gardens with my mom, sister and niece. It's the perfect time for me to visit because it's TULIP TIME and they are my ultimate favorite flowers.

This (above) is the best looking tulip I've seen and it also has a great name to go along with the jagged edges; a pirate tulip - that is clearly not the latin name.

Arr! Look at me petals, matey!

 Miranda was excited all day about the flowers which was cute because she would walk up to them, stop and exclaim, "WOWWW!!" Sometimes she said the word so forcefully it looked like she was about to topple over from it. Being able to walk up to a flower and rip the petals off was such a joy to her; even if her mother did let her kill a few plants or two.

Now, even though my mom and I were completely happy to wander around the 1,000 acres of beautiful landscaping taking skillions of pictures my sister kept pestering us to go to the children's garden. This is where little kids can go on scavenger hunts, learn about nature and, most importantly, get soaking wet in their clothes making their parents upset - Miranda was no exception to the rule. She is a lean, mean water splashing machine.

After the soaking, we didn't do much else; just wandered around chatting and chasing the baby. The nice thing about Longwood is that it's a place where you can set your own pace. We spent about 4 hours there and didn't get to a lot of things.

But that's okay because today I became a member and can go there any time I want.

-happy face-

I'M SUPPOSED TO BE AN ADULT?

March 27, 2012.

It marked a very important date in all of our lives.

Did you celebrate? Did you party?

I sure hope so because .... 

I TURNED 30!!! WAHOO!!

Fogo de Chao Key Lime Pie = <33

To celebrate this momentous occasion my family (including the in-laws, of course) trekked up to Philadelphia to get our carnivore on at Fogo de Chao. This restaurant is my new favorite place in the entire world because where else can you get all-you-can-eat meat on a skewer served table side? 

There is one very important rule when you eat here though:  

This is a meat jog, not a meat sprint.  

Take your time because there's more where that came from.  =)

During the meal, Teresa, Kyle and I all were relatively calm and stayed classy (hahaha, classy...) even though we were busy eating entire cows. Karen, however, clearly became possessed by the spirit of the cow...

The birthday celebration continued through Monday and straight into my actual birthday. Trying to outdo the delicious key lime pie I had, Don Pablos handed me a giant sombrero while they sang to me. Ole! I was also  given a free dessert which was basically fried dough covered in powdered sugar and liquid sugar. Sugar, anyone?

And just when you thought that my birthday couldn't possibly get any better.... we went out for margaritas (unfortunately, no pictures were taken of me guzzling the sweet, sweet tequila) and because 30 is the new 20 - err, 21! - I went a little wild. By the time the night ended I was five margaritas deep and hoping to make it to work the next day.

What did I do when I got home at 9:30pm slightly intoxicated?

...besides calling Teresa...

I took pictures of myself with my new iPad, of course!

Then I passed out.

Good times. Here's to being the big three-ohh!

50 FLIGHTS. 1,088 STEPS.

On Saturday, I completed the Fight For Air Climb with the American Lung Association. It was fifty flights of steps at the Logan Center in Philadelphia, PA. We climbed to support research for lung cancer, emphysema and COPD, asthma, etc. Some of my extended family has exercise-induced asthma and I have issues with breathing during high allergy season (especially if my aunt Agnes gets us lost in the pollinated woods, do NOT forget that inhaler). The climb was a great way to raise awareness, raise money and also get my exercise in for the day.  =)

Our team was sponsored by Barclays and included myself, uncles Shem and John and my aunt Marie.

I trained for the event at the YMCA for about 2 months. They have a stair climber that is like a miniature escalator so it was easy. When I first started, I could barely stand the stair climber for 5 minutes. That thing really is like torture! But since then I've come to love the torture and am up to climbing the Eiffel Tower (100 flights) in 30 minutes. I'm trying to interval train now to bring that time down.

For the Climb for Air our times were:

Marie: 13:22
Shem: 13:59
Christine: 15:36
John: 16:17

I don't know how well I'd have done if I didn't train; I'm still not in the best shape but keeping up with my triathlon running aunt is pretty good.

The view  from the top

After we huffed and puffed up the stairs we headed to this diner-restaurant called The Continental for breakfast and mimosas. Yum! It was the fanciest diner food I've ever had; can you say Brioche French Toast with Apple Compote?! YUM! Shem was so excited that he even did a pole dance on the way!

... and here is the delicious!

I know, I know. You're jealous. Maybe if you do the stair climb next year I'll take you out to breakfast too... and oh, uncle John? I owe you $20. Don't forget! It was definitely a great way to spend the morning even though I was up early on a Saturday. Maybe next year we'll be "century climbers" and do 100 flights of steps. Hahahahahaha!!!

yeah. right.